Perhaps due to his conversation with Ming Yuexin, Song Jiaye didn't sleep well that night. As soon as he closed his eyes, he started to dream. In the past, his dreams were just snippets, but this time, it was a flashback of various scenes and fragments.
Sometimes, he was a little kid, following a girl of the same age around, vowing to punish the evil and uphold justice and become a hero.
In the dream, he asked the girl, "What is a hero?"
"A hero? A hero serves the country and the people, and has the world in mind!"
"Having the world in mind?"
"Oh, it's useless explaining this to you. With your lack of understanding, you'll never be a hero. You'd better just be the sidekick behind the hero. I'll protect you."
"Okay."
...
In a blink of an eye, he had grown into a teenage boy. His parents forced him to study the ways of governing the country at home. His father seemed to be a prime minister. He grabbed his ear and said, "Son, you're my only child. Our family's future depends on you. You're already this old, but you're still so childish. Running around outside all day, what's going to become of you?"
However, he didn't like studying. The Four Books and Five Classics, and the Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government - just thinking about memorizing these made his head ache. All he wanted was to go out and play. Every day, he waited for his little girl to come and take him horse - riding and wandering through the streets. She always had all kinds of strange and wonderful ideas, which gave him something to look forward to in his otherwise dull life.
This time, his father stopped his little girl at the door.
"Lin'er has to study. You'd better come another time."
"Uncle, I'm here to say goodbye. I'm going to the border with my father."
"Then be careful, little Chu Ning."
"Thank you for your concern, Uncle." As she said this, the little girl waved to Song Jiaye in the dream. But Song Jiaye's hands and feet seemed to be tied. He wanted to keep her, but he couldn't even get up. He could only watch helplessly as she walked further and further away.
...
When the dream reached this point, Song Jiaye woke up.
He looked at his watch. The hands pointed to one o'clock in the morning. After dreaming continuously, he felt as if he had just run a hundred - meter dash. Every bit of strength had been drained from his body. Moreover, it was extremely hot that night. He sat up groggily and reached out to touch himself. Only then did he realize that he was covered in cold sweat.
Song Jiaye got up and took a shower in the bathroom. Maybe it was because he woke up suddenly in the middle of the dream, or maybe the dream was too vivid and unforgettable. Rarely, he still remembered what the people in the dream had said.
In the dream, he couldn't see his father's face clearly, but he remembered that the man called him "Lin'er".
Lin'er?
Song Jiaye couldn't figure it out. Since it was his own dream, why did the people in it call him by another name?
And -
"Chu Ning."
Song Jiaye murmured this name.
He finally remembered the girl's name clearly. Chu Ning, Chu Ning. Did she have the surname Chu?
Afraid of forgetting, after taking a shower in the bathroom, Song Jiaye wrote the name "Chu Ning" in the memo of his phone.
After doing all this, he went back to bed. Because of the heat, he decided not to cover himself with a quilt. He just found a small square blanket to cover his stomach. He lay on his side in bed and searched on his phone -
What does it mean when you often dream of a woman?
According to the Book of Dreams, dreaming of growing up with a woman since childhood.
Yes, this dream had forced Song Jiaye, an absolute rationalist, to turn to superstition for help.
But the explanation in the Book of Dreams was completely off - topic: Having this dream indicates good fortune in wealth, a sign of gaining the trust of others.
Good fortune in wealth?
Song Jiaye snorted.
He didn't need any dream interpretation to calculate his fortune in wealth.
What a lousy dream - interpretation app. It was talking nonsense.
Song Jiaye angrily threw his phone aside, buried his head in the pillow, and went back to sleep.
Haphazardly tossing and turning until the second half of the night, the dream changed again. It was all white, a desolate scene.
People passed by him like a carousel. The dream was filled with noisy voices.
"I heard the queen has passed away."
"Oh, the queen's family plotted a rebellion. More than a hundred members of her family were beheaded. The fact that the queen didn't die earlier is already a sign of the emperor's mercy. How could the emperor let a traitor's daughter sleep beside him?"
"I heard the queen committed suicide."
"Suicide? It makes sense. With her family doing such a thing, she probably didn't have the face to live anymore."
"But it's strange. That old general had a life full of military exploits. Why on earth would he stage a rebellion?"
"A man will risk his life for wealth, just as a bird will for food. Who knows?"
...
In the dream, Song Jiaye walked numbly among the crowd, as if his soul had been taken away. Step by step, mechanically, he walked towards the palace.
At the palace gate, there appeared a group of mourners in white. Three horses with white flowers on their heads pulled a coffin made of golden nanmu, slowly rolling out of the palace gate.
He knew that the girl he loved was lying in the coffin.
"Chu Ning."
He opened his mouth, wanting to shout, but no sound came out. He could only watch helplessly as the mourning procession passed by him. At the end of the procession was a sedan chair carried by eight people. He couldn't see the face of the person in the sedan chair clearly. All he could see was that the person was holding a black wooden plaque, probably a spiritual tablet often seen in ancient - costume dramas.
People said it was the emperor. The emperor personally escorted the queen's coffin, which made many people shed tears of sympathy.
How tragic. The emperor was so tragic. His wife's family wanted to rebel against his throne, yet he still escorted her coffin and buried her properly. What a romantic he was!
Song Jiaye just wanted to snort.
What a romantic. Could a romantic fail to protect the one he loved? Could a romantic force the one he loved to commit suicide?
He was extremely angry. He wished he could rush forward, grab that man by the neck and ask,
"Since you got her, why didn't you cherish her? Why did you force her to a dead end?"
But he couldn't. He was completely helpless.
In the dream, his actions were restricted. He couldn't decide for himself where to go.
It was as if he was watching a TV drama. He was just a viewer, and a viewer had no control over the characters in the drama. So he could only feel angry helplessly, watching the mourning procession walk further and further away. He knelt alone in the snow, covering his face and crying.
Song Jiaye was really tortured by the dream that night. He didn't get up until eight o'clock in the morning, which was very unusual.
Li Qiyu tiptoed upstairs and knocked on the door. There was no answer. Since Song Jiaye hadn't locked the door, she walked in and immediately heard the man's intermittent sobs.
Why was he crying all of a sudden?
Li Qiyu walked further in. Only when she got into the room did she clearly hear what Song Jiaye was muttering.
It was a name.
Chu Ning.