Leaving the mountains, the two did not use teleportation talismans but walked out slowly.
Chu Yi had taken the genetic repair solution given by Lin Xi, and coupled with her originally good physical fitness, she felt even better after consuming it.
The two ambled leisurely down the mountain. The Emperor Lin Mausoleum was located in the western suburbs of the capital. They passed by the city gate and then left.
"Aren't you going to take a look?" Lin Xi glanced towards the city and asked Chu Yi.
"No, what would be the point of going?" Regarding the fact that the Grand General's mansion was currently holding a funeral for her, Chu Yi didn't have any particular feelings.
After all, the person lying in the coffin wasn't really her. As for Fu Yanchen, when she was about to die, she had thought of him and regretted not going to the northwest with him.
But being alive now, Chu Yi didn't regret it as much, because she deeply understood what she would experience being with Fu Yanchen. He was an exceptionally domineering and authoritarian person. Following him would mean she must give up her own career.
And she had always believed that giving up one's career for a man was a very insecure thing to do. Even in a different world, she held the same view.
Chu Yi was unwilling to be a caged bird for Fu Yanchen. She wanted to be a soaring eagle in this world, though she also needed to adjust her way of doing things now.
She hoped something like this recent incident would never happen a second time. Although there wasn't a single scar on her body now, the memory of each lash striking her was still vividly fresh.
Who doesn't have a temper?
However, thinking of the deeply grieved Fu Yanchen still stirred some emotion in her heart. A frontier minister was not allowed to return to the capital without an imperial summons. Fu Yanchen had rushed back directly. After her affairs were settled, she didn't know how that petty-minded emperor would deal with him.
Maybe she should talk to Siyu later, have her subtly hint something to Fu Yanchen?
Lin Xi nodded upon hearing Chu Yi's answer and didn't say anything more. The two headed in their predetermined direction.
After they left, a gate guard in armor stared hard at their retreating figures, blinking his eyes.
The person next to him noticed and joked, "Gangzi, what are you looking at?"
The guard called Gangzi said, "I think I saw Doctor Chu."
His words brought an instant silence to the entire city gate area. Both the guards and the people undergoing inspection to enter the city all looked in the direction Gangzi had indicated.
But not even a shadow could be seen. After a long while, a woman waiting to enter the gate began wiping her tears.
"Heaven is truly unjust. A good person like Doctor Chu is gone just like that." Chu Yi's popularity wasn't just talk. She would set aside time on the 16th and 17th of each month to treat impoverished commoners.
Inspired by her, doctors from other medical clinics would also offer free consultations on those two days. Both medicine and consultation fees were charged at the lowest possible standard.
The saying "the poor cannot afford to fall ill" applies across all times. Before Chu Yi appeared, if a poor person fell ill, they either waited to die or gambled their entire livelihood on the chance of a cure.
Chu Yi's arrival was like a catfish, stirring up and changing the medical market of the Jin Dynasty capital. Some clinics resented her, but more followed in her footsteps.
When the poor could afford treatment and more people survived, who wouldn't be happy?
Some villages had even quietly built small shrines for Chu Yi. News of her death had spread throughout the capital, and many among these people had come to see her off one last time.
"Perhaps Doctor Chu couldn't let go of us, so even as a spirit, she came to check on us," someone in the crowd remarked. The noisy crowd fell silent again.
Then, as if by prior agreement, they knelt down and kowtowed in the direction Lin Xi and the other had gone.
A vast crowd knelt. Seeing this scene while invisible, the tears Chu Yi had been holding back finally welled up.
"Shall we go?" Lin Xi asked Chu Yi.
Chu Yi nodded, crying, and then walked away without looking back.
News of Chu Yi's presence at the city gate spread throughout the capital in no time. Many people rushed towards the gate. Fu Yanchen galloped on horseback towards the city gate. The commoners there had already spontaneously begun burning paper money.
Some placed sacrificial offerings they had brought from home along the path Lin Xi and the other had taken.
Fu Yanchen reined in his horse, standing amidst the smoke, his eyes full of desolation.
Xu Siyu also came. She lifted the carriage curtain and watched quietly, rotating the ring on her finger, sending the scene to the group chat for Chu Yi to see.
Chu Yi's mood instantly sank. She hadn't expected those ordinary people to bring sacrificial offerings for her—offerings like chicken, duck, fish, and meat that they wouldn't even eat during the New Year.
She wondered if she should appear before the people. But then she thought, everyone knew what she had experienced in the prison cell. Appearing now without a single scar would be signing her own death warrant.
She didn't continue watching, as they had already arrived at the Emperor Lin Mausoleum.
The Emperor Lin Mausoleum was built among steep mountains and ridges. Beside the mountain gate was a guardhouse. Further inside, the so-called research station, from the design of the entrance to the furnishings inside, looked exactly like the old-style gas stations commonly seen along highways in Yunnan Province.
Lin Xi's complicated feelings upon seeing this gas station instantly turned into six dots: ...
Chu Yi had already composed herself. A faint smile appeared on her face as she said, "When Siyu and I first came here and saw this, we were also stunned. We walked in full of confidence, thinking we could solve our fellow countryman's puzzle, but we ended up being completely clueless."
"Let's go in and take a look."
The exterior of the Emperor Lin Mausoleum was guarded by many sentries in black clothing. They stood as straight as pine trees. Seeing them was like seeing soldiers standing guard in later generations.
The two entered the main hall. Many poems were inscribed inside, all encouraging and urging study, each with the original author's name written beside it.
At the very front was a display platform. The box on it was identical to the one Lin Xi had seen in the Mary Sue world, with a card slot on the front as well.
Lin Xi took out the cards left by her father and tried them one by one in the slot.
On the third try, the box opened on all sides. Inside, as usual, were some beautiful clothes and children's toys.
A rattle-drum, wood carvings, etc., each exquisitely crafted. On top, as always, was a letter.
Lin Xi stepped forward, took the letter, and opened it. Behind her, the guards gathered at the entrance, standing without entering the room or making a sound.
[Lin Xi: When you read this letter again, probably not much time will have passed since you last read that one, but this is already my fiftieth mission. The path home is one step closer.
You've probably noticed the strangeness in your mother too. Yes, your guess is correct. Your mother is no longer your original mother. If I remember right, her name is Ma Yufen.
The reason she is inside your mother's body is the handiwork of that person who tore through the void all those years ago. In that battle between him and me, I narrowly won, but the anchor point connecting to the Earth dimension—my pager—was unfortunately lost.
That person took it and returned to Earth. However, the method for the pager to bind to a host is extremely stringent, and that one journey through dimensions used up all its energy. It must be fully recharged before it can bind to a new host, and to recharge fully, it needs to be near a blood relative of its previous host.
Once fully charged, it will autonomously choose its next host. The moment you bound with it, I received the message on my end. Wonderful. I look forward to our meeting in some time and space.
Alright, enough digression. Let me tell you about this era. I took on this mission at the request of an emperor from the Jin Dynasty. He hoped I could extend the dynasty's life by several more decades. His reason for this was that during those decades, the Jin Dynasty suffered constant natural disasters and man-made calamities. Out of forty million Jin subjects, after decades of warfare,
only two million Jin commoners remained. Later, the Tujue people invaded the Central Plains, nearly wiping out the Jin people.
However, the fall of the Jin Dynasty was the will of Heaven. My forcibly extending their lifespan by over a hundred years proved ultimately useless; they were destined to perish.
Take Lin Zongxi for example. I took him under my wing and taught him diligently. He seemed to have the makings of an enlightened ruler, but that was only temporary. Upon reaching a certain age, he would become as debauched and tyrannical as his ancestors who lost the kingdom.
Zhaoyang is even less worth mentioning. Things were somewhat better while I was there. Without me to keep her in check, her paranoia surfaces. The trouble is that, because of my teachings, she's very good at pretending. If any companions from later times travel here, tell them to be wary of Zhaoyang.
As for you, my dear, don't concern yourself with the life or death of this dynasty in this era. The regime that will overthrow them is comparatively superior. With the Jin Dynasty gone, everyone's lives will actually improve.
Well, that's all. I should go now, and you should return too. The world is about to descend into chaos; you must protect yourself.
I hope next time we meet, my mission will be complete.]
The letter ends here. Lin Xi stashed the items into her space. Turning around, she was startled by the sight of the full contingent of guards. Looking at Chu Yi, she was standing right next to her.
Seeing Lin Xi turn around, the leader of the guards stepped forward and knelt before Lin Xi with a thud: "Lin San of the Second Generation Emperor Lin Guard, pays homage to the Princess."
Lin Xi was immediately dumbfounded. She had indeed dreamed such dreams of a princess's return in her childhood, but when the dream becomes reality, why is it so utterly embarrassing?
She's been an adult for so many years; she stopped having those chuunibyou dreams ages ago.
After spending so long she could have dug a three-bedroom apartment with her toes, she hurriedly helped the man to his feet. She was then invited inside the inspection point to hear Lin San recount the mission entrusted to them by Emperor Lin.
"My dad said that whatever I want to do, you must strive with your lives to accomplish it?" The sense of secondhand embarrassment deepened, and Lin Xi was a bit overwhelmed.
She found it inexplicably awkward, but Lin San and the others felt differently. They had been here, waiting for Princess Lin Xi, for thirty years.
Their mission had finally arrived. They did not question why Lin Xi remained so young, despite Emperor Lin having been dead for so many years.
In their hearts, Emperor Lin's appearance and the abilities he displayed were no different from a god's. Not only did Lin Xi look to be in her early twenties, even if she were ten or eight years old, they would not have the slightest doubt.
Lin Xi had no intention of staying long in this world. Being a princess and enjoying wealth and honor held little attraction for her.
She glanced at Chu Yi beside her, remembering the commoners in the video kowtowing towards the direction they had left.
She said: "From now on, take orders from Physician Chu and protect her safety."
"The Emperor Lin Guard obeys the command."
Chu Yi's eyes widened. Lin San and the others performed a deep bow towards Chu Yi.
Lin Xi looked at Chu Yi: "I hope you never forget your original intention."
Lin Xi liked Chu Yi very much—her kindness, her dedication to studying medicine. But such kindness is not a good thing in this era, especially when she has no backing. So, Lin Xi would give her a guarantee. She had already given Chu Yi firearms earlier; Lin Xi felt that was sufficient.
Chu Yi's eyes reddened instantly.
Lin Xi chose to leave at the inspection point. She had just picked up her bowl to eat at the homestay when she saw the message from Xu Siyu in the group chat.
Grand General Fu Yanchen has rebelled. All civil and military officials, except for a few die-hard loyalists, have aligned themselves behind Fu Yanchen.
[Ancient Medical Girl Xu Siyu: You know what? When everyone stormed into the emperor's bedchamber, Lin Zongxi was playing hide-and-seek with his concubines. Princess Zhaoyang was also in the hall, amusing herself with her male favorites. It was utterly disgusting.]
