The Three-Life Stone

Lin Mo passed away, and fell into a deep sleep at the age of sixty.

Lin Xuan brought the person back and buried him in the imperial mausoleum. Hua Xiaoyao's days seemed to be empty, but she didn't notice it.

Lin Yue and Zhu An have a good relationship. They were pregnant with their second child at about the same time. They talk about parenting matters every day and share their experiences in raising children. Zhu An is not stupid. She knows about the love story of Hua Xiaoyao and Lin Mo from the bits and pieces of Lin Yue and Lin Xuan every day. Now Lin Mo and Hua Xiaoyao have returned from a long journey and are separated by heaven and earth. Lin Yue and Zhu An agreed that when the child is born, he will bring the child to Hua Xiaoyao to see the excitement when he can walk. Children under two years old are the cutest and adorable and they don't remember anything.

Hua Xiaoyao's days in a daze only lasted a few days. She planned to go traveling by herself. Hua Xiaoyao seemed to be proving that she was living well without Lin Mo, just like she was living well when Lin Mo didn't have time to find her. Now, she had one foot in the coffin, and she wanted to be free and easy in these last days.

Hua Xiaoyao packed her bags and was about to go out when an old voice was heard.

"Where are you going, sister?"

Hua Xiaoyao turned around, the smile on her face deepening: "An Nan? Why are you here?"

"Sister, you still remember me. You haven't visited me for tea for all these years." An Nan came over and took Hua Xiaoyao's arm, without any loss of affection due to the passage of time.

Hua Xiaoyao and An Nan walked down the mountain together: "You shouldn't be in the harem as your concubine, how come you have time to come to me."

An Nan walked slowly with Hua Xiaoyao, her lips curled up: "I haven't come to see my sister for a long time. The last time was when Yue'er gave birth. Every time we met, we just glanced at each other and didn't say a few words. Now that the emperor has left, my sister didn't go to see him. I wonder if they know where he is going?"

Hua Xiaoyao smiled and said, "Yes, after all, we need to be careful about our words and actions in the palace. I didn't expect that we are all old in a blink of an eye. I don't know what happened to the two orange cats now. As for where I am going, why should they know? If my old arms and legs knew, would they still let me go out?"

"Sister, you're thinking about the cat more than your sister. It looks like you're planning to go on a long journey again this time when you come down the mountain."

Hua Xiaoyao's crow's feet deepened when she heard this disgusting joke. She smiled and patted An Nan's hand. Silence was more powerful than words, as if she was returning to the past.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, a carriage stopped under the shade of a tree. An Nan took Hua Xiaoyao on the carriage. Hua Xiaoyao didn't think much about it and was a little confused: "Where are you going, sister?"

"Sister, this time Lin Yue and I have agreed that I will come out to accompany you for some time. Wherever you go, I will follow you."

"Are you crazy?"

"Yes, sister, you are so old now, you won't want to walk around and take a look, get off the car and get off the boat from time to time, you and I will take this carriage and take a leisurely stroll along the way."

Hua Xiaoyao was helpless. The carriage was already heading towards the city gate. As she got older, she was not so particular about food. On the way, An Nan packed some fruit tea at room temperature and some light food. The carriage was moving very slowly. When the two of them were in high spirits, they sat outside the curtain and sang. Hua Xiaoyao remembered Lin Mo playing the flute, and she lowered her eyes and smiled.

The wind blew their hair. Without any musical instruments, An Nan and Hua Xiaoyao clapped their hands to beat the rhythm. The sounds of horse hooves, wheels, and nature accompanied them.

When they came across a nice village, the carriage would stop at the door and the two of them would walk and stop from time to time. Occasionally, they would have a meal and stay overnight at a farmer's house and pay some copper coins. Whenever they had a quarrel, Hua Xiaoyao would look at this old woman who had never grown up and say something like "what are you going to eat or play with?" and then the two of them would be as good as before.

From afar, Hua Xiaoyao looked at a small farmyard where a little girl was catching chickens and teasing dogs. The yard seemed to be decorated normally, except that many of the little gadgets were not common. Even though she had seen a lot of things, these little gadgets were rare.

An Nan saw that Hua Xiaoyao was interested in her and was getting closer to her. An Nan even planned to go to their home to visit, but Hua Xiaoyao refused. During these three days, An Nan accompanied Hua Xiaoyao and watched that family from afar. She could feel that Hua Xiaoyao knew them, but she didn't know why she didn't come forward to say hello. If they left, they would really never see each other again.

Two years passed in the blink of an eye. Hua Xiaoyao and An Nan's carriage was heading back. Not long after they arrived at Taohuajian, Lin Xuan, Lin Yue and others came over. Their eyes were full of worry as if they had a lot to say, but they swallowed their words back when they saw that the two old men looked in good spirits.

In the evening, Duanmu Zhi and four other children came to Taohuajian. Thanks to An Nan and Duanmu Zhi, Hua Xiaoyao heard several clear calls of "Grandma". They had a reunion dinner together that night and talked about family matters.

An Nan stayed there for one night and on the second day accompanied Lin Yue to come to [Wind, Flowers, Autumn and Moon Night] following his recommendation. I wonder how this place has changed over the years.

Hua Xiaoyao looked at someone's sketchbook on the stage, which seemed to describe her entire life. The line "At that time, my black hair would not take a lifetime to measure, and I would be too lazy to let my black hair fall out even when it turned white" portrayed her endless love. She copied this twice, and if the story was a coincidence, the lines in it would not be so coincidental.

Hua Xiaoyao secretly complained in her heart: Lin Mo, how can I not need you in my life? How can you tell that I can't live without you? Why do I look forward to your return every day? I am obviously living a good life. I have been traveling with An Nan for almost the same time as we did back then. How can I be as infatuated with him as in the play? Who is acting out this ultimately a sad drama of a broken heart, sweet and abusive? Hua Xiaoyao and An Nan were drooling from their eyes.

Before leaving, Hua Xiaoyao brought some lychee wine from "Wind, Flowers, Autumn and Moonlight Night" and drank and chatted with An Nan.

Hua Xiaoyao unconsciously began to sing: "People in the audience walked by, and the old colors were gone; people on the stage sang, a heart-breaking farewell song."

An Nan joked: "Sister can also sing opera?"

Hua Xiaoyao smiled bitterly: "I don't know why this paragraph popped up in my mind. Sister, do you still remember that family of three?"

"But it's the family at the head of the thorn tree."

Hua Xiaoyao nodded, and the scene of their first meeting emerged in her mind. The boy was speaking the lines with a cool look, and the girl's face was full of longing and yearning. Maybe she once regretted not seeing the end of the story, but she welcomed the protagonist of her own story, and her male protagonist was not like others, but developed his own style.

From the second meeting, it was not difficult for Hua Xiaoyao to guess their lives, but she just didn't want to fantasize. The last time she saw them, they were making a fuss over a child, and she went to find Nian Nian herself. Nian Nian expressed her feelings about this life. They didn't have their own children, but the adopted girl was extremely lively and brought a lot of happiness to their old age. It was still very novel to experience this new life in their old age.

Hua Xiaoyao didn't know how to describe these three meetings to An Nan. She could only briefly say that they met many years ago. The girl was a few years older than the boy. She first raised the boy according to her own ideas, and then the boy developed his own style and lived a chivalrous life. There was light in the girl's eyes and stars in the boy's eyes. It was like a fantasy story that they spent their lives together and adopted a child when they were old.

After returning to the palace, An Nan looked back on her life and felt satisfied. It was not as brilliant as the story told by Hua Xiaoyao. She didn't know how much luckier she was than the many sisters in the harem. People came and went. Seven or eight of the people who were familiar to her at the beginning had already left, and the two familiar people were still around. She was not only a mother but also a grandmother. Isn't it good to have someone she loves and someone who loves her?