Crossing a Thousand Years to Rekindle Our Fate
Chapter Two: The Mystery of Shen Estate, Memories of a Past Life Awaken
The night in Chang'an was even quieter than Lin Wanqing had imagined.
Moonlight slanted down between the eaves, and only a few lanterns that had yet to go out remained along the bluestone street.
Lin Wanqing followed Shen Changyuan through one narrow alley after another.
She had no idea how long they had been walking. She only knew that the footsteps of the men in black behind them had gradually faded into the distance.
It was not until Shen Changyuan stopped before a large black gate that she finally let out a breath of relief.
"We're here?"
Shen Changyuan nodded.
"This is Shen Estate."
Lin Wanqing looked up.
A plaque with gold characters on a black background hung above the imposing gate. It bore only two simple words.
Shen Estate.
There was little decoration in front of the gate, but a bronze lamp stood on either side.
The flames were faint, illuminating the fine patterns scattered across the stone steps.
A strange feeling suddenly came over Lin Wanqing.
It was as though she had been here before.
Not today.
A very long time ago.
"What's wrong?"
Shen Changyuan noticed that she had stopped.
"Nothing."
Lin Wanqing shook her head.
"It just feels a little familiar here."
Shen Changyuan's gaze darkened slightly.
"Familiar?"
"Yeah."
She stared at the gate.
"I think I've seen it in a dream."
Shen Changyuan did not ask anything else.
He pushed open the gate.
"Come in."
The hinges gave a heavy groan.
The estate was utterly quiet.
Compared with the streets of Chang'an outside, there was almost no sound at all.
Green bamboo grew thickly on both sides. When the night wind passed through, the leaves whispered and rustled.
Lin Wanqing followed behind Shen Changyuan.
As they passed through a covered corridor, she suddenly stopped.
"Wait."
Shen Changyuan turned back.
"What is it?"
"This place..."
She looked at a small courtyard ahead.
A wooden plaque hung above its entrance.
—Snow Listening Courtyard.
The instant she saw those three words, another scene flashed through her mind.
Snow filled the sky.
Plum blossoms bloomed throughout the courtyard.
A woman sat beneath the covered walkway, brewing tea.
A man stood beside her, draping a white cloak over her shoulders.
The woman smiled and said, "Changyuan, this year's snow came earlier than last year's."
The man replied, "Then we'll add charcoal sooner."
"You're always so boring."
"As long as you aren't cold, what's wrong with being a little boring?"
The scene vanished in a flash.
Lin Wanqing suddenly came back to herself and reached out to steady herself against a nearby pillar.
Shen Changyuan immediately walked over.
"You saw it again?"
Lin Wanqing's face was pale.
"Yeah."
"What did you see?"
"Snow."
She looked up at him.
"And... you."
Shen Changyuan said nothing.
But Lin Wanqing noticed the hand gripping his sword hilt tighten.
"Who was that woman?"
Shen Changyuan was silent for a moment.
"She was you."
Lin Wanqing froze.
"You mean... she was me?"
"You, a thousand years ago."
The night wind swept past.
Bamboo shadows swayed.
As Lin Wanqing stared at the courtyard before her, a fear she could not put into words took root in her heart for the first time.
If the woman in her dream really was her, then how many secrets about her past life were buried within Shen Estate?
"Let's go inside and take a look."
Shen Changyuan pushed open the courtyard gate.
Snow Listening Courtyard was very simple.
An old plum tree.
A stone table.
Several rooms.
There was even an ancient well in the corner of the courtyard.
Lin Wanqing walked to the plum tree.
She reached out and lightly touched its trunk.
The next moment, a woman's laughter suddenly sounded beside her ear.
"Changyuan, look."
"The plum blossoms are blooming."
"Don't you think they're beautiful?"
"Mm-hmm."
"You didn't even look carefully."
"I was looking at you."
The woman was silent for a moment.
Then her laughter rang out.
"When did you learn to say things like that?"
Lin Wanqing abruptly pulled her hand back.
The scene before her vanished again.
She breathed heavily.
"I... heard it."
Shen Changyuan stood not far away.
"Heard what?"
"Someone talking."
"What did she say?"
Lin Wanqing looked at him.
"She said the plum blossoms had bloomed."
A complicated emotion flickered in Shen Changyuan's eyes.
"She planted that plum tree herself."
"A thousand years ago?"
"Yes."
Lin Wanqing slowly moved closer to the tree.
"It's still alive."
"Someone at Shen Estate has always taken care of it."
"Why?"
Shen Changyuan did not answer.
After a long while, he finally said in a low voice, "Because she once said that if the plum tree ever withered, it would mean she truly wasn't coming back."
Lin Wanqing's heart trembled faintly.
"So you've always had someone care for it?"
"Mm."
"For a thousand years?"
"Mm."
His brief answers were heavier than any words could have been.
Lin Wanqing suddenly did not know what to say.
She was not the woman from a thousand years ago.
At least, that was what she believed now.
Yet the man before her seemed to have spent all this time guarding a memory that belonged to someone else.
Just then, a bell suddenly rang from deep within Shen Estate.
BOOM—
Lin Wanqing looked up.
Shen Changyuan's expression changed instantly.
"This is bad."
"What happened?"
"Someone entered the estate."
As soon as he finished speaking, the urgent shouts of the guards came from the distance.
"Young Master!"
"Someone broke in!"
Shen Changyuan drew his sword.
"Stay here."
"But—"
"Don't go outside."
He turned and left.
Lin Wanqing stood where she was.
She knew she would not be able to help.
But for some reason, a powerful unease filled her chest.
It felt as though she were about to lose something important.
Almost instinctively, she tightened her grip on the Moonshadow Jade in her hand.
The pendant suddenly grew hot.
A faint red glow emerged from its center.
Lin Wanqing froze.
"What's happening?"
The red glow grew brighter and brighter.
Then a faint voice came from within the pendant.
"Go to the secret chamber."
Lin Wanqing jerked her head up.
There was no one around.
"Who is that?"
There was no answer.
But the voice sounded again.
"Go to the secret chamber."
Lin Wanqing looked toward the rooms.
She did not know why she believed the voice.
But her feet had already begun carrying her inside of their own accord.
She pushed open the innermost door.
There was nothing unusual about the room.
A writing desk.
Several bookshelves.
And an ancient painting hanging on the wall.
The painting depicted a woman.
The instant Lin Wanqing saw that face, she froze completely.
It was her.
Not merely similar.
Exactly the same.
The woman in the painting wore a pale blue-green dress and held a sprig of plum blossoms in her hand.
Her eyes, brows, nose, and lips—even the tiny tear mole at the corner of her eye—were identical to Lin Wanqing's.
Beneath the painting was a single line of writing.
—"My Wife, Wanqing."
Lin Wanqing's breath stopped.
"Wife?"
She stared at the painting.
Could it be...
Had she truly married Shen Changyuan a thousand years ago?
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door.
Lin Wanqing turned around.
But she saw no one.
Then she noticed a bookshelf against the wall.
At the very bottom was a thin crack.
She reached out and pushed.
RUMBLE—
The bookshelf actually slid to the side.
A hidden door was revealed behind it.
Lin Wanqing stared.
"The secret chamber?"
She remembered the voice from before.
Then she walked inside.
The secret chamber was not large.
Several eternal lamps burned along the walls.
A stone table stood in the center.
A wooden box rested on it.
The box was already somewhat old.
A single character meaning "moon" was carved into its lid.
Lin Wanqing reached out and opened it.
There were no gold or silver treasures inside.
Only a letter.
Four words were written on the envelope.
—"To be opened by Wanqing."
Her hand trembled slightly.
She opened the envelope.
The handwriting inside had grown somewhat blurred with age.
But she could see the first sentence with perfect clarity.
"Wanqing, if you see this letter again one day, it means you have returned."
Lin Wanqing froze.
Her heartbeat began to quicken.
She continued reading.
"I don't know whether you in this life still remember me."
"Nor do I know whether, a thousand years from now, you will still be willing to believe me."
"But there is one thing I must tell you."
"When the Moonshadow Jade took you away, I thought it was fate's punishment for me."
"Only later did I realize that it wasn't the end."
"It was the beginning of our next meeting."
Lin Wanqing's eyes grew slightly red.
She did not know why she felt this way.
The letter had clearly been written to the Lin Wanqing of a thousand years ago.
And yet every word seemed to be speaking to the woman she was now.
She continued reading.
"After you left, I spent my entire life searching for you."
"I searched through every ancient text and traveled across the whole world."
"Some said you were dead."
"Some said you had merely returned to your original world."
"I never believed them."
"Because you once promised me."
"No matter how many years and lifetimes separated us, you would find me."
At that point, Lin Wanqing's tears finally fell.
She did not know whom those tears were for.
The unfamiliar self from a thousand years ago?
Or the man who had waited a thousand years?
Just then, the clash of weapons suddenly rang out beyond the secret chamber.
CLANG!
Lin Wanqing whipped around.
Someone was approaching.
She quickly tucked the letter away.
But the moment she turned, a figure appeared at the entrance to the secret chamber.
It was not Shen Changyuan.
It was a man wearing a black mask.
He looked at the letter in Lin Wanqing's hand and gave a cold laugh.
"Just as I thought."
"You found it after all."
Lin Wanqing took a step back.
"Who are you?"
The man did not answer.
He advanced toward her one step at a time.
"What she failed to accomplish a thousand years ago won't be accomplished in this life either."
"What do you mean?"
The man raised his hand.
A hidden weapon shot toward her.
Lin Wanqing instinctively dodged.
The weapon struck the wall.
Just as the man prepared to attack again, a flash of sword light suddenly streaked past.
Shen Changyuan charged into the secret chamber from the entrance.
His blade blocked the black-clad man's attack.
"Get out."
The masked man glanced at him.
"Shen Changyuan, do you really think her return can change the ending?"
Shen Changyuan's eyes were icy.
"At least in this life, I won't let you hurt her again."
The two exchanged several blows.
At last, the masked man suddenly retreated.
"We'll meet again."
With that, he leaped away.
Shen Changyuan did not pursue him.
Instead, he immediately went to Lin Wanqing.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
She shook her head.
Then she handed him the letter.
"What is this?"
The moment Shen Changyuan saw the writing on the envelope, his face turned deathly pale.
"You saw it?"
"Mm."
"All of it?"
"Mm."
Shen Changyuan was silent for a long time.
Lin Wanqing looked at him.
"The letter says I once promised you that no matter how many years and lifetimes separated us, I would find you."
Shen Changyuan did not deny it.
"Is it true?"
"It is."
"Then the me from a thousand years ago... really loved you?"
Shen Changyuan did not answer.
He merely turned his gaze toward the window.
"She was once the most important person in my life."
"And now?"
Lin Wanqing was stunned by her own question the moment it left her lips.
She did not know why she had asked it.
Shen Changyuan fell silent as well.
After a long while, he looked at her.
"The you of today isn't the woman from a thousand years ago."
"So I can't force the feelings from your past life onto you."
Lin Wanqing stared at him blankly.
Instead, those words brought her an indescribable sense of reassurance.
"Then will you help me go back?"
Shen Changyuan nodded.
"I will."
"Even if I really do go back?"
"Mm."
"Even if I never come back?"
Shen Changyuan was silent for a moment.
"I'll send you back."
Lin Wanqing looked into his eyes.
There was no attempt to hold her there.
Only a deep loneliness hidden within them.
She suddenly understood.
This man had waited a thousand years.
But if the true Lin Wanqing could return to the era that belonged to her, he would still choose to let her go.
At that very moment, the Moonshadow Jade in Lin Wanqing's hand shone again.
This time, its radiance was far stronger than before.
The entire secret chamber began to tremble.
The wooden box on the stone table suddenly opened by itself.
There was another jade pendant hidden inside.
It was a perfect pair with the Moonshadow Jade in Lin Wanqing's hand.
Both pendants rose into the air at the same time.
Red and silver light intertwined.
An ancient pattern slowly emerged on the walls of the secret chamber.
At its center was a crescent moon.
Beneath it was a line of writing.
—"One soul, two lifetimes; reunited after a thousand years."
Lin Wanqing stared blankly at those eight words.
Shen Changyuan's expression, however, grew increasingly grave.
"What is it?"
"This isn't an ordinary journey through time."
"What do you mean?"
Shen Changyuan approached the stone wall.
"According to legend, the Moonshadow Jade can only send a person's soul to another time and space."
"But the record here says that you did not truly die a thousand years ago."
"You were merely sent back to your original world."
Lin Wanqing's eyes widened.
"So..."
"You may not be the reincarnation of that woman from a thousand years ago."
"You may be... that very woman herself."
The entire secret chamber suddenly fell silent.
Lin Wanqing looked at her own hands.
Countless fragmented memories began to resurface in her mind.
Chang'an beneath heavy snow.
Laughter beneath the plum tree.
A farewell atop the city tower.
And a man calling her name through the blizzard.
"Wanqing!"
She suddenly clutched her head.
"Ah!"
Shen Changyuan immediately caught her.
"Don't think about it!"
But it was already too late.
A clear memory awakened from the depths of her mind.
A thousand years ago, she had stood atop the city tower.
Shen Changyuan had stood below.
She had asked through her tears, "If I really leave, will you wait for me?"
The man looked up at her.
"I will."
"For a year?"
"I will."
"For ten years?"
"I will."
"For a hundred years?"
He answered without the slightest hesitation.
"I will."
The woman smiled through her tears.
"Then what if it's a thousand years?"
Amid the wind and snow, the man slowly spoke.
"Then I will wait a thousand years."
The scene vanished.
Lin Wanqing opened her eyes.
She looked at Shen Changyuan before her.
Then she said softly, "I remember now."
Shen Changyuan's body went rigid.
"What do you remember?"
Tears filled Lin Wanqing's eyes.
"A thousand years ago..."
"I was the one who made you wait for me."
Shen Changyuan remained silent for a long, long time.
Outside the secret chamber, a peal of thunder suddenly rolled across the night sky of Chang'an.
In the direction of the Imperial City, a flaming arrow streaked across the sky.
The bells of Shen Estate rang once more.
This time, they rang nine times in succession.
Shen Changyuan's expression changed dramatically.
"Something happened in the Imperial City."
Lin Wanqing looked at him.
"What happened?"
Shen Changyuan tightened his grip on his sword.
"The palace gates have been sealed."
"Someone has raised an army."
Neither of them knew that this sudden upheaval was the signal that the tragedy from a thousand years ago had begun once more.
Fate had started turning again.
And this time, could they rewrite the ending they had once been given?
No one knew.
They only knew that on that night, the Moonshadow Jade once again released a dazzling light.
The love and secrets left unfinished a thousand years ago had finally pried open their first crack.