Chapter 258: [Tianyin Pavilion] Soft Bones

""

"What."

When Duan Yihan came out with his lute, he was the one to whom the youths of the Wuling were competing for the head, and the song "Red Silk" was the most beautiful songstress of all time.

"My mother, by chance, met Nan Gongyan, the Lord of the Ninth City of the School of Confucianism. He knew some poetry and songs, was sweet-talking and handsome." Mo Ran paused, "My mother fell in love with this man."

Xue Meng, shaking her head in disbelief, muttered, "How is that possible?"

"How could Nan Gongyan refuse the offer of a beautiful woman?" says Mo Ran. Mo Ran said, "But after all, he was a man of position and status, so he didn't dare to tell a musician the truth about himself. So he told my mother that he was a businessman from Linyi and was living here."

"This is at least a betrothed relationship, day and night, does your mother not notice?"

Mo Ran laughed coldly: "If she had known, there wouldn't have been so much later. Nan Gongyan was a good liar, and he only lived in Xiangtan for a short time, so my mother had no time to discover his roots. Later, a letter came from Linyi. When Nan Gongyan received the mysterious letter, he left Xiangtan in a hurry."

"Didn't your mother ask him where he was going?"

"He left in the middle of the night without even saying goodbye to my mother. They were lovers for months, but Nan Gongyan left behind a stack of silver leaves and a piece of paper with the word "don't miss" written on it, and disappeared."

A female cultivator sighed, "Alas, these theater singers and heralds are the hardest thing to find is a genuine person. It's pitiful."

After she finished her sigh, she couldn't help but be curious and continued to ask, "And what happened afterwards? Did your mother resent being abandoned by her lover and ask someone to find him?"

Mo Ran shook her head: "My mother is gentle and kind, and a bit cowardly. When she was abandoned, she would only swallow her bitterness and would not seek trouble. But it wasn't long before she found out she was pregnant."

When Mrs. Wang heard this, she let out an "ah", her eyes were quite sad, and she looked at Mo Ran, not knowing what to say.

" theater is willing to continue to take her in. But only if she doesn't give birth to a child. A woman who has had a baby doesn't dance as well anymore, and they don't do business at a loss."

Mo Ran closes his eyes.

"When my mother refused, the mother in charge asked her to pay a large sum of money for her body. So she paid all her savings, all her jewellery and her embroidered shoes to the workshop, and earned her freedom to go to Linyi to find my father."

Mrs. Wang said softly, "How could she, a penniless woman, walk from Xiangtan to Linyi?"

Mo Ran said, "There's someone to help her."

"Who is it?"

"Xun Fengruo." Mo Ran said, "Xun sister knew that my mother had left theater and chased her out of the city in the night, she gave all her spare money to my Mother and told my mother that if she couldn't find my father, she might as well come to the Zuiyu Building to look for her, and the two sisters could live a good life."

Master Xuan Jing sighed, "Such righteousness is underestimated by these frail women."

Jiang Xi asked, "What happened then? Did your mother find Nan Gongyan?"

Mo Ran was quiet for a moment and snorted, "Found him. Even though Nan Gongyan left a false identity and name, my mother found him without much trouble."

Someone said in amazement, "Is there such a thing as a Tongtian?"

" Tongtian's ability is not there, it's just due to coincidence."

The people looked at each other with some suspicion on their faces: "What a coincidence, the lord of the School of Confucianism rarely shows his face."

"It's true that they don't show up much," Mo Ran said with a grimace on his face, "but the Confucianism School does have a banquet to celebrate weddings and children's births, and they receive congratulations from the city tower. Don't they?"

The crowd was stunned: "The letter Nan Gongyan received at the beginning, was it urging him to go back and get married?"

Someone else recalled, "Ah, I remember, Nan Gongyan's wife was the daughter of a wealthy family. I don't think he had no choice but to leave the courtesan he was betrothed to and go back to marry the rich girl."

Mo Ran looked extremely indifferent: "There was no compulsion. Nor was he going back to get married. The mysterious letter he had received was actually a message from the head of the School of Confucianism telling him that his wife was in labour and that he should go back to be with her."

Now even Xue Zhengyong, who had been silent, turned pale as he said, "So Nan Gongyan was actually married when he was visiting Xiangtan."

"Well." Mo Ran lowered his eyes, it was hard for him to tell such a story now, but his face was no longer too bitter, he calmly said, " Nan Gongyan came to take a break because his wife was pregnant and her health was not good, so she was prone to miscarriage. He met my mother and liked her, so he lied that he had never married to win her heart."

Some people were furious and said, "This is a real beast."

"The wife at home is pregnant, but she's out on a trip and she's having another baby outside, ugh."

"This Duan Yihan is also unlucky, can Nan Gongyan recognise her?"

The answer was self-evident. The crowd's anger and indignation was tempered by a look of pity for Mo Ran. But Mo Ran was not so concerned about what people thought of him, he just went on to tell the story of his mother.

For the first time in two lifetimes, he had opened up about a secret. He was relieved by the pain, but also by the relief.

Mo Ran said, "At that time, Linyi had a banquet to celebrate the birth of a son to the Lord of Confucianism School. When my mother went to the corner tower of the Ninth City, she saw Nan Gongyan, with his wife and son in his arms, greeting the people at the front and throwing cakes. My mother did not go back to him. She had run out of money and couldn't even afford to pay for the journey back to Xiang, so after half a year she gave birth to me in an abandoned woodshed in Linyi."

Jiang Xi asked, "So you went back to the Xiangtan Zuiyu Building afterwards?"

Mo Ran shook her head: "When I was born, my health was very poor, and I was too sick to run around when I was less than a month old. She begged all the doctors in the city to see me, but no one was willing to help her.

That year, the frail mother appeared before her lover with her kitten-like newborn baby in her arms, winded.

There was no joy in that man, only endless consternation and trepidation, and even anger.

He had a lovely wife and a child, the daughter of a well-known and promising family, and a lovely, white son, and a happy and harmonious family.

She's not nice.

Why should he recognise them?

Fearing that she would make a scene, Nan Gongyan gave her enough money to get out of the Confucianism School with her child, and Duan Yihan, holding on to her last hope, said with tears in her eyes, "The child hasn't been named yet, can you"

He glared angrily, his face as blue as iron: "Get out and hurry up This is not my child, don't you give me face, get out"

She was roughly shoved out the door.

There was no time to grieve, the little baby in her arms even cried so faintly, her hands and feet were cold, like a dying cat, curled up in her arms.

When she called to him, he opened his dark eyes and looked at her, not at all mischievous, very good and quiet.

She fought back tears and carried him to the medical clinic.

The doctor in the medical center yelled at her, "How many times have I told you, we are not a medical center, how can we give your child medical treatment for free without money?"

She was busy pulling out the coppery money Nan Gongyan had given her and sent to her, her hands fumbling for fear that someone would frighten the infant son in her arms.

Her eyes shone with despair and she kept bowing her head, "Rich, doctor, rich. Please, please do me a favour and save my child. Look, he's so young."

It was only that they had been annoyed by this woman and the poultices and herbs for the children were not cheap, which is why they had refused her so rudely. Now that the woman was able to pay enough money, their attitude was better again.

Herbal medicine, acupuncture.

He was so sick that he had to stay in the medical centre.

Mo Ran's condition was unpredictable, and it took several months before he finally recovered. By this time, Duan Yihan had very little silver left in her possession. She thanked the doctor and left with the baby in her arms. As winter was approaching, she was afraid that her son would freeze again, so she had a small jacket and a small quilt made.

After all this, the money was gone and she could not return to Xiangtan. But as Duan Yihan sits in the abandoned woodshed, looking at the little one with her finger in her mouth, giggling at herself, she feels happy and at peace.

She has never been a contented person.

"What shall I call you?"

Little children babble and can't talk.

Duan Yihan builds a fire and teases his baby by the fireside, holding him to keep him warm.

When the child laughs, she laughs with him.

The fire flickered and burned, the house was poor and dilapidated, but she felt warm from the fire, and she rubbed his little face, making him kick his little feet and giggle.

She thought for a moment and said, "How about we call you Mo Ran."

Mo Ran sucked on his finger, his eyes slithering at her.

Duan Yihan's face seemed forlorn for a moment: "I don't know what your surname should be, you can't be Nangong, but you can't be Mother either, Mother was given this surname by the mother in the theater, you follow me, it's always a bit strange for me to just call you Mo Ran, okay"

Mo Ran smashes his fingers happily, not nodding or shaking his head.

"Little Mo Ran, when spring starts, we will go back to Xiangtan." Duan Yihan stroked his soft foetal hair, "Mother can play the pipa and dance. There is a Xun girl there, she is my good sister, she must like you very much, be a good girl and learn to call her aunt early. When you meet her, you must say hello to her, so that you can have sweets, do you know that?"

She took his delicate, young fingers in hers and said gently.

" Mo Ran, wait a little longer, the winter will soon be over and we will go home when the spring flowers bloom."

But this winter, after all, was a little too long.

In that year, the Lower Fairy World was infested with ghosts and Linyi was forbidden to enter or leave the city, so Duan Yihan was unable to leave.

She went to work in a shop to earn some money to support her family. But there is no such thing as a secret, and somehow someone revealed to Nan Gongyan's wife her husband's affair, and soon afterwards, the bakery where Duan Yihan was employed kicked her out for no reason at all.

Since then, Duan Yihan has been ostracised and, unable to make a living in Linyi, has had to beg with her young son. On several occasions, she sang softly and quietly in the street while Nan Gongyan walked past her on his horse in anger and with a large entourage behind him.

He was weak-minded and tried to avoid her.

Duan Yihan is soft but proud. She sings Xiangtan's ditty and doesn't even look at the man, let alone cry out in the street at her former lover for why he is so ungrateful.

He didn't actually understand how reserved this lute lady was at all.

"Look at her tear-stained face, her ragged clothes and kind face, she does not know me when I meet her on the road, what is she staring at me for?"

Someone passed by her and tossed her a coin by hand.

She then, like the magnificent Lady of the Fairy of Music in those days, bowed her eyes in blessing and said softly, "Thank you, Master, for your kindness."

As the days went by, the Lower Fairy World beacon went on and on, Linyi stayed on the sidelines and the wall of resistance was erected.

This was erected for five years.

Mo Ran is five years old.

One day Nan Gongyan had a quarrel with his wife and was so upset that he wandered from one side to the other, wandering through the Western Market. It was a beautiful day and he looked at the jewellery shops and pastry shops with little interest. There were also old men playing games under the big banyan tree.

Linyi has always been a blessed place, and what does it matter how many people die in Lower Fairy World? They've been singing and dancing here for a hundred years.

Nan Gongyan walks over to watch the older men play chess.

He was travelling in regular clothes and the crowd couldn't recognize him, so he happily pointed out the high stakes on the side, causing the lords to finally get annoyed and drive him away.

Nan Gongyan, unhappy with his defeat, takes a few steps forward and stands again at the base of a large tree, looking at a gold embroidered bird cage hanging from a branch, in which the embroidered-eyed bird cries crisply.

Nan Gongyan stood under a tree and thought about it, perhaps because the sunlight was so good and soothing, and suddenly he thought of the gentle girl in the Xiangtan building more than five years ago.

He tilted his head, teasing the embroidered-eyed bird, and said, "Aye, can you sing a Xiang song?"

The embroidered-eyed bird, of course, does not sing, but chirps.

Nan Gongyan then sighed and hummed the ditty that Duan Yihan had sung to his ears countless times years ago.

Suddenly, I heard a clear voice behind me, someone chanting softly, "The clouds in the wilderness are low, the wind is cold, and the snow and ice are sealing the well." The voice was like pearls and jade, and the celluloid tinkled.

As if in a blur, he turned back suddenly.

He hadn't seen her for a long time because he had been deliberately avoiding her, but at this moment, across the bustling downtown, the crowds coming and going, he suddenly saw that slender, gentle woman again like in his dreams that he hadn't dared to say to his wife for so many years.

He meets her again.

Duan Yihan is standing on the street with a weak child, mother and son, her eyes downcast as she sings a ditty that was once hard to buy, hoping to win the mercy of a passing gentleman and a meal.

She sang softly, "There are millions of pedestrians in front of and behind these big roads and hills"

Countless people came and went in front of her, and no one stopped for her.

The song is good, but it's not a physical object. She has to sing it herself, and no one wants to pay for it.

"It is easy to say goodbye to my husband and hard to see him, I am looking at the cold waters of the Guan River." Suddenly, a pair of shoes with gold silk and jade appeared in front of her eyes, and she heard a man humming the tune she had not finished humming, "The number of flying letters does not arrive, and the tears on the well are waiting for you to see them."

Duan Yihan froze for a moment, then slowly lifted his eyes.

She saw him again.

He is still as handsome and dignified as he was over five years ago, extremely handsome looking. He had not aged at all, and the years had left no trace on his face.

Duan Yihan saw his own reflection in his eyes. From the delicate flower of five years ago, she has become a frosty, unattractive girl.

But the way Nan Gongyan looked at her was somewhat affectionate at the end.

His wife had heard of his past love affairs, and although she did not dare to say so explicitly, she was displeased. Today, when he stands before Duan Yihan and sees her in such a state, he feels some guilt and pity in his heart.

Duan Yihan stops talking, drops his eyelids and stops singing.

" Mother," Mo Ran said next to her, puzzled, turning her head to look at her.

Duan Yihan said, "Mother is tired today, go home."

Mo Ran then nodded obediently and smiled, "Then we'll go back and rest, and I'll think of something for dinner."

Mother and son are trying to leave together.

Nan Gongyan called out to her, "You"

The eyes fall back on Mo Ran.

This child was thin and small, that wore rags and tatters, but knew how to behave and had a pretty face.

Nan Gongyan suddenly realised that it was his own child.

It is his blood and bones.

He reached out and stroked Mo Ran's head.

Mo Ran, unaware of who he was, squinted and let the man rub his dark hair, "Mmm."

Nan Gongyan remembers the year when Duan Yihan came to his house with a kitten-like baby in his arms and begged him to save it.

That's when she said, "He doesn't have a name yet."

"What's your name?" Nan Gongyan asked.

" Mo Ran ."

"Where's the surname?"

"I don't have a surname."

Nan Gongyan then gave Duan Yihan a rather sour look and, on some impulse, he said, "Or else, you will"

Before he finished his speech, he saw a group of Confucianism School priests walking past on the corner.

Nan Gongyan's daze was interrupted.

With a jolt, he seemed to come back to reality.

He meets Duan Yihan's eyes again.

Those eyes that had once looked at him with a crooked smile were now very cold and no longer held any of the phantasmagoric dreams of a spring maiden, even when he was just a few moments away from identifying with them.

She had seen this man through long ago.

Nan Gongyan thus looked a little embarrassed and blushing. To hide this emotion, he coughed lightly and generously gave Mo Ran all the gold, silver and treasures in his money bag.

He patted Mo Ran on the head again, "Your mother sings beautifully, and these jewels and gold are what she deserves."

A slender hand, however, took the money bag from Mo Ran.

Duan Yihan took just one coin from the bag and put it in the broken bowl Mo Ran was holding, then handed the heavy jewels and silver money back to Nan Gongyan.

She didn't say much, just gave him a soft and plaintive blessing, as she would have done to any passer-by who had given her money or two.

She politely said to him, "Thank you, Your Lordship, for your kindness."

With those words, he turned and left.

She was the Xiangtan music fairy, and she was also a star-studded performer, with one song and one dance. She was not a lonely woman when she was in the streets. But now her clothes have faded and her face has withered, and she is forced to sell her art on the roadside and beg for mercy, but she does not feel inferior.

It was on that day, through Duan Yihan's subtle attitude, that Mo Ran became suspicious, and it was only after a lot of questioning and interrogation that he found out about his origins.

"Mother is telling you this because she doesn't want to lie to you. But little Mo Ran, you have to remember not to get annoyed." Duan Yihan said, "And don't ask him to."

She said, poking Mo Ran's little head.

"When the Lower Fairy World disaster has subsided and Linyi allows ordinary people to come and go, we'll go back to Xiangtan."

Mo Ran was quiet for a long time and then nodded, "I'm not begging him, I'm going back to Xiangtan with Mother."

Duan Yihan smiled and said, "I don't know if Xun's sister still recognises me, I don't even look good anymore."

Mo Ran was in a hurry: "Mother, look good."

"Hmm."

" Mother looks best."

Duan Yihan smiled even more broadly, and between her brows and eyes, she really regained the charm of a beautiful woman.

Mo Ran is a little embarrassed and purses her lips, but after a moment she still shows her sharp milk teeth.

"When I grow up, I'm going to find a daughter-in-law who's as heavenly as a fairy and stay with Mother together."

"Gee, you think so well, who's a heavenly fairy to marry you, yo."

Mother and son laughed a little and it was warm as the campfire crackled in the woodshed. It was as if every day would go on like this in peace. The fire and the night gave the poor a false sense of comfort, so that at that moment, neither of them could have foreseen that Duan Yihan's days were numbered.

"It was in the autumn when I was five years old." Mo Ran said, "It was just after mid-autumn. The Confucianism School had been closed to the outside world for a long time and Linyi was running low on food. They adjusted the price of goods, which, in the end, meant that the poor people downstairs should restrain their mouths and not compete with the rich people for food."

Xue Zhengyong was already in a state of mixed feelings and confusion, but when Mo Ran said this, he pondered for a while and then nodded his head.

"Yes, I remember the price increase, Linyi, and then the famine riots before the Confucianism School finally brought it back down again. It lasted for about a year."

Jiang Xi said, "I remember it was six months."

Mo Ran closed her eyes and said, "It wasn't that long. It was a month and five days. It lasted only thirty-five short days."