In ancient times, the powerful and wealthy seized power step by step.

When people are immersed in deliberate busyness, the days fly by, and another New Year arrives.

Last year, Zhu Qingyu had just returned and hadn't recovered yet, so she didn't participate in the tomb-sweeping activities on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Zhu Qingyu was fully recovered and of course had no reason not to participate. So, with a chicken in her left hand and a duck in her right, she followed her family to the mountain to sweep the tombs.

Like the ancestral graves of countless other families in Sichuan, the Zhu family's ancestral graves are located on a barren mountain. They only visit once a year. The most difficult part of each visit is to carve out a path through the overgrown weeds and wild trees on the barren mountain, where there is no way to even step, to find the ancestral graves.

Fortunately, the Zhu family ancestral graves have a stele with inscriptions, making them somewhat easier to decipher.

Zhu Lansheng and Zhu Qingfeng, carrying sickles and hoes, led the way by cutting grass and chopping branches, while Mei Tang and Zhu Qingyu followed behind carrying offerings. The four of them trekked through mountains and rivers until they reached a general location, where they began to search.

Zhu Qingfeng was the tallest and could see the farthest. Looking up, he saw a corner of a tombstone peeking out from among the grass and trees on the distant mountain, with the character "Zhu" written on it. He immediately pointed at it:

"Found it! There it is!"

So the family moved uphill again, with the father and brother leading the way, while Zhu Qingyu openly fished. After they cleared away the weeds and branches blocking the way, they slowly followed behind, carrying the offerings.

After the weeds on the high places were cleared, a small purple flower appeared on the freshly cleared path.

Zhu Qingyu stared blankly at the small purple flower that had grown from Dingsheng Pass in the north to Shuzhong in the south. Looking up along the winding path, she realized that the small purple flower was growing more and more as it went up, until it reached the grave.

Yes, Zhu Dashan even picked purple flowers for her back then. The little princess and Lord Gu's tastes are sometimes quite similar.

Now the grave is covered with small purple flowers; the little ancestor must be quite happy.

As Zhu Qingyu was thinking this, she was walking up the path when she suddenly heard Zhu Qingfeng say hesitantly:

"Blessings, sir?"

The long-unheard address of "Lord Zhu" suddenly boomed into her ears. Zhu Qingyu abruptly looked up at Zhu Qingfeng, her face filled with shock, and asked:

"Brother, what did you say?!"

Zhu Qingfeng parted the weeds, looked at the exposed stone tablet, and said:

"I made a mistake. This is written as Lord Zhu, not our family's ancestral grave."

Zhu Lansheng stood a few steps away from Zhu Qingfeng and replied:

"Since we all share the surname Zhu and are both elders of the Zhu family, let's set up the offerings together. Hey, Qingyu, the mountain path is steep, don't run so fast!"

Zhu Qingyu ignored him, still holding a chicken in her left hand and a duck in her right, and rushed past Zhu Lansheng like the wind. She ran all the way to the tombstone, cleared away the weeds that had not yet been cleared in front of the grave, and the complete words on the tombstone were revealed.

A gentle breeze swept through the mountains, rustling the ancient purple flowers, the five-hundred-year-old tombstone, and the stray hairs on Lord Zhu's forehead. It brought a message from his beloved from five hundred years ago to Lord Zhu, who was kneeling before the grave, stroking the tombstone and suddenly bursting into tears:

"Lord Zhu, we are too."

......

On Gu Heng's second birthday, Gu Zhao welcomed an old friend to the governor's mansion in Shu.

Shen Xu was ordered to go out on official business. He passed through Sichuan and came to visit Gu Zhao, bringing her a letter from home.

While Gu Zhao was reading the letter, Gu Heng sat quietly beside his father, eating his snacks without making a fuss.

Two-year-old Gu Heng bore a striking resemblance to Lord Zhu. Shen Xu stared at her and asked:

"Is your family pressuring you to get married?"

Gu Zhao looked at her grandmother's letter and replied:

"I have a wife, and Hengjie has a mother. She's just been held up by something, but she'll be back."

Shen Xu looked away and echoed:

"That's true. A day in heaven is equivalent to a year on earth. She's only been back for two days, so she might be too busy for the time being."

Seeing Gu Zhao look up, Shen Xu stood up and smiled:

"I interrogated Manager Liu before he died. I have official duties to attend to, so I won't disturb him any longer. I'm leaving now."

Gu Zhao carried Gu Heng to the door. Shen Xu looked at Sister Heng, who hadn't said a word, and asked:

"Is Hengjie quiet?"

Most two-year-olds can speak some simple sentences, but Gu Heng has never uttered a single word since birth.

Gu Zhao glanced at Gu Heng and replied:

"She's always been steady-tempered, even in her mother's womb."

Shen Xu mounted his horse, and before leaving, he said again:

"Shouming, I envy you a little. At least you have someone to wait for you, and someone to wait with you."

After Shen Xu left, Gu Zhao carried Gu Heng back to the study, took out the paper and brushes for painting, and asked Gu Heng:

"Do you still remember what your mother looks like? You must remember. If your father doesn't come back, you wait for him. When your mother comes back, you must know it's her."

In fact, even without Shen Xu's reminder, Gu Zhao had already noticed Gu Heng's problem of not speaking, so he always seized every opportunity to talk to her more, hoping to help her learn to speak as soon as possible.

Gu Heng sat in Gu Zhao's arms, watching his father draw his mother, nodding but remaining silent.

I don't know if she meant she remembered, or if she agreed to wait for her father.

Gu Zhao was used to Gu Heng's silence, and undeterred, she continued rambling on:

"Your mother's way of speaking is very different from ours. She calls homework 'homework,' asks for the time by saying 'what time,' and calls her 'Mom.' You must remember these things so that you don't misunderstand what she's saying."

Two years have passed, and there is still no news of Zhu Qingyu. Although Gu Zhao replied to his family that he had a wife and Hengjie had a mother, in the quiet of the night, a deep-seated worry still welled up within him, and he couldn't help but ask himself:

"What if she really doesn't reply?"

The messages she had unintentionally left him, messages that belonged only to her, were so few. Gu Zhao was afraid he would forget them, so he would talk about them to Gu Heng every day. He even became obsessed with painting, filling his study with her portraits, and holding Gu Heng in front of her paintings, he would say:

"This is Mom."

Worried that his calligraphy and paintings wouldn't last long enough, when officials who were in charge of building Qingyun Temple asked him what kind of Buddha statue to use for the Medicine Buddha statue in the main hall, Gu Zhao specially painted a portrait of the Bodhisattva based on Zhu Qingyu's appearance and said:

"Jade Buddha".

On the day Gu Heng turned three, Qingyun Temple was completed.

Gu Zhao carried Gu Heng to the top of Qingyun Mountain again. After the clouds and mist dissipated, the sunlight shone down, making the rooftops glitter with gold.

The golden light fell on people, like the Buddha's light shining everywhere.

Facing the Buddha's light, Gu Zhao carried Gu Heng into the main hall, where a jade Buddha statue sat on a lotus platform, its features bearing her likeness.

Gu Zhao stared at the exquisitely crafted and lifelike jade Buddha statue, stunned, and for a moment even thought she had returned.

The usually composed Gu Heng was anything but well-behaved in Gu Zhao's arms. He pointed in the direction of the jade Buddha and arched his body forward, gesturing for Gu Zhao to move forward. His movements were so vigorous that he almost fell off.

Gu Zhao quickly held her down, carried her to the jade Buddha, and asked:

"Heng-jie, what's wrong?"

Gu Heng placed her small hand on the jade Buddha and said:

"Mother."

This is three-year-old Gu Heng speaking for the first time since he was born.

Gu Zhao was too shocked and too happy to speak for a long time, and he looked at her cautiously. He didn't even notice that the originally bright and colorful paintings on the roof of the newly built hall had become mottled, and the newly painted children standing on both sides of the jade Buddha had also become dull.

A group of people barged in noisily, breaking the tranquility of the hall.

A short-haired man dressed in outlandish clothes, holding aloft a small red flag, spoke in a booming voice:

"Friends from Beijing, please follow me. We are now visiting the Medicine Buddha statue in the main hall of Qingyun Temple. It was enshrined during the reign of Emperor Muxuan and has a history of 500 years. It is the temple's most treasured artifact."