Song Yihuan once mentioned Feng Tingyun's white hair when they were in the mountains and thought his hair was naturally white.
However, that's not the case.
Feng Tingyun was originally named Yun Tingfeng. He was the eldest legitimate son of Emperor Yunxuan of Yanyun and the crown prince of Yanyun.
His mother was Mu Qinxin, the queen of Emperor Yunxuan and also the saintess of the Que Ling Clan in Yanyun.
Yanyun believed in the divine bird Zhuque. The Que Ling Clan was said to be able to communicate with the God Zhuque. Therefore, every emperor of the royal family had to marry into the Que Ling Clan. This was a rule established for thousands of years and had never been violated.
The children born to the emperors of Yanyun and the women of the Que Ling Clan would receive the blessing of the divine bird Zhuque at birth. If the child was a boy, he would be regarded as the successor to the next emperor. If it was a girl, she would be the most noble princess.
However, when Feng Tingyun was born, he was blind. Some people privately spread the rumor that Mu Qinxin, the saintess of the Que Ling Clan, had offended the God Zhuque, and the God Zhuque had punished her. Emperor Yunxuan was no longer as respectful to Mu Qinxin as before.
Nevertheless, according to the convention, Feng Tingyun was still made the crown prince.
Fortunately, although Feng Tingyun was blind from birth, he was extremely intelligent. He not only had a great memory but also had more sensitive hearing than ordinary people. He was not as useless as Emperor Yunxuan thought.
Since Feng Tingyun was blind and Mu Qinxin worried that it would be difficult for him to succeed to the throne in the future, she sent him back to the Que Ling Clan when he was four years old and asked the elders of the Que Ling Clan to teach him self - defense skills.
As a result, Feng Tingyun spent two - thirds of the year in the Que Ling Clan.
The great elder of the Que Ling Clan taught Feng Tingyun to identify positions by sound and self - defense skills. The second elder taught him medicine, the third elder taught him poison skills, and the fourth elder taught him how to identify herbs.
All of Feng Tingyun's current skills were learned in the Que Ling Clan.
When he was in the Que Ling Clan, a little girl often came to play with him. She was the daughter of the third elder, named Ximin. Ximin didn't know his identity as the crown prince of Yanyun and always called him "Senior Brother".
Ximin was lively, cute, and full of tricks. Knowing that he couldn't see, she took good care of him in the Que Ling Clan. Whenever there was something delicious or fun, she would always share it with him. She would also often pull him into the woods at night, sit on a high platform, invite him to enjoy the moon, and talk to him about her own worries.
Feng Tingyun was naturally cold - tempered. At first, he was not enthusiastic about Ximin and almost gave no response. But even the coldest heart would melt under Ximin's enthusiasm. He gradually began to care about Ximin. He not only brought gifts for her from the Yanyun Palace but also shared his inner troubles with her when they enjoyed the moon together.
As they grew up day by day, their feelings for each other gradually deepened. They didn't know when the affection had already taken root in their hearts.
Feng Tingyun knew that every emperor of Yanyun had to marry the saintess of the Que Ling Clan. Ximin was from the Que Ling Clan and the daughter of the third elder. In his heart, he had already regarded Ximin as his wife.
However, something went wrong when the Que Ling Clan was deciding on the saintess. The saintess was someone else, his cousin Mu Qingrou.
Mu Qingrou knew that Ximin was her greatest threat, so she started to make trouble for Ximin. In order to prevent Ximin from getting close to Feng Tingyun, Mu Qingrou secretly used many tricks. Ximin knew that there was no possibility between her and Feng Tingyun, so she gradually drifted away from him.
Feng Tingyun didn't accept that Mu Qingrou was the saintess of the Que Ling Clan. Ximin fully met the conditions to become the saintess of the Que Ling Clan. He just didn't know why the position of the saintess fell on Mu Qingrou.
Feeling something was wrong, he ordered people to investigate this matter. Unexpectedly, his actions touched the interests of the Mu Clan. There were many memorials impeaching him in the court.
In addition, several of his younger brothers were eager to pull him down from the position of the crown prince and take his place. For a while, he had a hard time in the court. Even his mother advised him to let the matter rest. Since he liked Ximin, it would be okay to take her as a concubine.
Feng Tingyun had been in the whirlpool of conspiracy and power struggle since he was born. He lived with darkness all his life, and Ximin was the only color in his life. He would never let Ximin be wronged.
But precisely because of this, Ximin became his weakness.
It was a very ordinary afternoon. He avoided the guards and came to the place where he and Ximin had agreed to meet. But no matter how long he waited, he didn't see her figure. He felt something was wrong, so he went to the third elder's house.
They said that Ximin had contracted a strange disease. The disease came suddenly, and there was no medicine in the world that could cure her. She could only lie in bed and wait for death.
Feng Tingyun couldn't believe it. He broke into the house and felt Ximin's pulse. Sure enough, as the third elder said, Ximin's pulse was the most chaotic he had ever seen. He tried all the herbs in Yanyun but couldn't save her fading life.
Feng Tingyun remembered that there was a miraculous herb called "Fenglin Flower" in the imperial mausoleum of Yanyun, but the mausoleum could only be opened after the emperor ascended the throne.
This power struggle finally ended with him successfully ascending the throne. However, his mother and the Mu branch of the Que Ling Clan all died in this struggle. He finally opened the imperial mausoleum of Yanyun as he wished and got the Fenglin Flower he wanted.
But when he rushed to Ximin's side with the Fenglin Flower and wanted to treat her, she stopped him.
"Senior Brother, you were born a son of heaven protected by the God Zhuque. You should lead the thousands of people in Yanyun to live a prosperous life. I'm just an ordinary sparrow in the mortal world. I have no lofty ambitions. I just want to be well - fed and dressed warmly and be able to bathe in the sun freely. We are not the same kind of people. We are destined not to be together. Please let me go."
Feng Tingyun was heart - broken. After returning to the palace, he sat quietly on the Queyou Platform for three days.
The betrayal of his siblings and relatives made him increasingly tired of being an emperor and the so - called imperial power.
He abdicated the throne to his younger brother, Emperor Yunxiang, and made an alliance with him that he should not start a war with other countries.
After leaving the palace, he took the Fenglin Flower again to find Ximin. He wanted to be an ordinary sparrow like her, take her away, and roam the world.
Unexpectedly, Emperor Yunxiang sent killers to ambush on the road. Ximin, who had been cured by the Fenglin Flower, blocked the poisoned arrow shot by the killer for him and died in his arms.
Before she died, Ximin raised her hand and gently stroked his cheek, smiling and saying:
"Senior Brother, you are more suitable to be a care - free divine doctor than an emperor. If there is an afterlife, I will definitely find you by any means."
He was extremely grief - stricken. Holding Ximin's body, he jumped off the cliff, wanting to end it all. But fate played a trick on him, and he survived at the bottom of the cliff.
After burying Ximin at the bottom of the cliff, his hair turned white overnight.
Since then, there has been no longer Yun Tingfeng, the prince of Yanyun, in the world. There is only Feng Tingyun, the "care - free divine doctor".
He traveled to Yanyun, Beidi, Xirong to save people with his medical skills, and even went to the State of Yu, just hoping to hear the most familiar call during his travels in the world -
"Senior Brother, so you are here."