Chapter 371: The Four Solitudes Retracing the Path

Just like that, Lu Fang hurried out of the palace and went straight to Yuhang Guild Hall where Gu Qing was staying. When he found him, he didn’t bother to say anything and quickly brought him to the palace.

The carriage was passing through the city. On the way, Lu Fang was still worried and asked Gu Qing carefully. At that time, he was still thinking, if Gu Qing knew the whereabouts of his old friend, what should he do?
Should I cover up for my benefactor and old friend? Or should I tell the truth to His Majesty who is suffering?
Fortunately, after asking, Gu Qing found out that he didn’t know where Li Yaoguang and Ji Mo were. The two had not shown up in the past five years. Even the five-year share of Xinhai Pavilion was still in Gu Qing’s hands.

After listening to Gu Qing’s sincere words, Lu Fang felt relieved and disappointed at the same time. What’s more, he couldn’t help but worry about the current situation of his old friend. He just hoped that Ji Mo could be more reliable and help them take good care of their best friend.

Lu Fang brought Gu Qing all the way into the palace, not forgetting to remind them of the precautions. Gu Qing paid his respects, and Shen Yue asked him questions anxiously. Gu Qing remembered Lu Fang’s instructions and carefully told Shen Yue everything he knew. After hearing this, Shen Yue was greatly disappointed, and waved his hand to send the two away in despair. He suffered from insomnia that night.

In the middle of the night, he sat alone in the garden, raising his glass to the bright moon in the sky, feeling melancholy.

“Yaoguang, Yaoguang, time has passed, where are you now? Are you okay? Are you living a happy life? Are you together with that annoying guy? Are you happy? Why don’t you give me any news? Do you know that I am thinking about you?”

Unfortunately, no one answered.

However, at the grand court meeting the next day, the left and right prime ministers, who had contacted all the ministers to prepare for remonstrances, saw their young emperor sitting on the dragon throne with a tired face and claiming in a weak voice that he was ill and needed to go to the palace to recuperate. They knew that all the talk of establishing a queen and remonstrances were nothing compared to the health of the king.

Everything must be done with the emperor’s health in mind. What else can they say at this critical moment? They can only suppress their doubts and persuade His Majesty to put the emperor’s health and the country first. However, they don’t know that their emperor is also a ghost. The so-called self-cultivation is actually playing tricks with them. He willfully took his confidants and left the palace overnight.

In fact, even Shen Yue himself didn’t know what kind of mood he was in when he retraced the path he took to meet his beloved girl in the past.

He ordered Ying Yi and others to hide behind with a large number of guards, while he himself put on the coarse cloth clothes of ordinary people, set up a carriage, and drove out of the city east to Tongzhou. He recalled the past events, pretending to be Li Yaoguang, and followed the map to retrace the route Li Yaoguang took to the south with his family when he fled.

He walked and walked, and after leaving Tongzhou, he abandoned the carriage and traveled through the mountains and forests. He came to the place where he was assassinated and in danger that day, and found the tree with the mark of Yaoguang. Shen Yue stroked the mark, and recalled the scene at that time in his mind. Shen Yue smiled unconsciously.

He continued searching in the mountains and found the place where he had settled. He walked to the place where Li Yaoguang had killed the tiger and found the tree where the tiger had died of hatred. Looking at the place where he had fallen, he sat there in a daze for a long, long time.

He once again set foot on the Xujia Village, which had long since recovered its prosperity. He walked through the rebuilt houses and alleys of the Xujia Village and met the village chief, who looked much older but still in good health. He didn’t know that he was an emperor. Here Shen Yue was regarded as a benefactor and accepted the warm hospitality of the people in Xujia Village. However, he never heard a word about Li Yaoguang from them.

Yes, he has never been back. Even Xu Yi is in the Dongping Marquis Mansion in Kyoto, being his uncle Cheng’s adopted son. How could his Yaoguang come here!
Shen Yue concealed his disappointment and continued to move forward.

He continued south all the way to Wuding, checked into the inn where he had stayed with Yaoguang at that time, went to the Linhai Pavilion where he had hidden at that time, and even found the cellar where he had lived under the cloth shop which was no longer in Linhai Pavilion, and stepped onto the city wall where he had fought side by side with him. The past was still vivid in his mind, but there was no trace of the old friend anymore.

Shen Yue suppressed his heartache and loss, gave up Pengcheng and Fengzhou, imagined himself as Li Yaoguang, and headed east along the path she had taken.

He walked along the way, relying on the information he had collected, and went to Yangzhou, went to Jinling, and arrived in Yuhang in a daze. He even went to the bustling Xinhai Pavilion in person. It seemed that he had a great time, but when the prosperity faded and the fireworks ended, his heart was empty…

Go back like this? He didn’t want to.

Once he goes back, he will have to continue to be alone, sitting on the cold dragon throne as his own lonely man.

That was not what he liked, nor what he wanted. At this moment, the particularly fragile Shen Yue chose to continue to escape and indulge. He continued to head southwest, heading straight for Yuezhou.

He wanted to go there and take a look at the place that his Yaoguang had tried so hard to protect. Then he would give up and go back to sit on his cold dragon throne. He promised!
They arrived in Yuezhou smoothly, and experienced everything that Li Yaoguang had experienced here. They even climbed up the city wall, touched the thick bricks full of historical vicissitudes, and looked at the vast land ahead. Shen Yue sighed and warned himself.

That’s it, that’s it, that’s it!
That’s enough, it’s time to end it. From now on, he thinks he will be a qualified emperor and will do what all emperors would do. When he goes back, he will enthrone a queen and end up being a lonely man.

Feeling inexplicably heavy, Shen Yue walked aimlessly on the way back, not following the safe route planned by Ying Yi and the others. Because of this,

As they walked, it rained that day. In order to avoid the rain, they accidentally got lost and entered the forest. After the rain stopped and the sky cleared, they crossed mountains and ridges and accidentally entered the deep mountains, where they came across a peaceful town.

This town looks ordinary, but it is actually extraordinary.

People coming in and out all had peaceful and contented smiles on their faces. They were not panicky or afraid of strangers, and had no intention of harming anyone. Although their clothes were not fancy or expensive, they did not look poor either, and they had no worries about food and clothing.

The most bizarre thing is that this is clearly a small town in the mountains, but it has everything you need. Except for the lack of a government office, it can be said that there are inns, coach inns, clinics, snack shops, fabric shops, grocery stores, jewelry shops, clothing stores, restaurants, teahouses, etc.

Seeing that the people were prosperous and lived and worked in peace and contentment, Shen Yue became more and more satisfied and couldn’t help but put a gentle smile on his face.

He thought that his five years of hard work had not been in vain, and this was the most stable and peaceful place he had ever seen, which made him feel inexplicably happy.

Perhaps it was this lingering feeling of happiness that made people relax unconsciously. Shen Yue wanted to stay here longer, so he ordered Ying Yi, who was following behind him, to disperse and tell the guards not to enter the town to disturb the rare peace. He then walked forward with great interest, ready to take a good look around the small town and feel the rare tranquility.

But he never expected that after taking a few steps, Shen Yue’s thigh suddenly tightened. He looked down and saw that the child was only about two or three years old. He was looking at the pink glutinous rice dumplings, holding the candied haws in one hand and his trouser leg with the other, looking up at him with a smile.

Shen Yue’s heart warmed up and he couldn’t help but lower his head. A particularly gentle smile appeared on his face. He unconsciously reached out his hand, picked up the little girl and held her in his arms to tease and coax her.

“Little girl, whose fat baby are you from? Where are your parents? Why don’t they keep an eye on you and let you run around? Be careful that you might be kidnapped by a kidnapper!”

This glutinous rice dumpling is so stupid that he doesn’t even know how his parents raised him.

Even though she was held by a stranger, the little girl was not afraid at all. Not only that, she also held up the candied haws in her hand and kept stuffing it into her mouth.

Shen Yue couldn’t help laughing, but in his heart he was annoyed again that the kid’s parents were unreliable. He was about to call Ying Yi, who was secretly protecting him, and ask him to send people out to look for the child’s parents, when suddenly, a voice came from the road ahead that was so familiar that it made him want to cry.

“Yu’er, you’re running around again!”

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