That wretched vixen has disguised herself as my wife!

"It's ok."

Upon hearing this, Fang Zhiyi simply smiled.

"Sister Fang, where is your mother? You've been away alone for so long, isn't she worried about you?"

Miss Xie's expression also turned somewhat sad.

She was a child who was spoiled by her father and couldn't imagine what the world would be like after losing his protection and love.

Everyone in the capital knows that Xie Yunqi's mother is the second daughter of the current prime minister, a gentle and refined lady from a prominent family, and she and Xie Jichuan were childhood sweethearts with a deep and loving relationship.

Xie Yunqi thought to himself that these people only said she was gentle and kind because they had never had the chance to see their mother's fierce and wrathful appearance at home.

Miss Xie caused trouble outside, and when she gets home, she'll have to kneel on a washboard with Commander Xie.

A father and daughter who were fearless and powerful outside the home only realized the meaning of "there are always people more capable than you" when they got home. They knelt until their knees ached and they dared not move.

Xie Yunqi thought that if his father were to pass away one day, he would definitely stay by his mother's side and protect her in his father's place.

"My mother?"

Fang Zhiyi still had a slight smile on her face, but what she said made everyone's hearts tremble.

"That day, she died too, along with her father."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Lu Zhao covered his face, wanting to ask this young lady why she was so good at asking questions.

There's so much to say, but you just have to bring up the most sensitive topic, causing someone even more pain!

"sorry."

Xie Yunqi shuffled a few steps to the side, shuffling his knees, and carefully took Fang Zhiyi's hand, shaking it nervously.

"It's okay, I know what Xiaoqi wants to tell me."

Fang Zhiyi gently patted her head, her expression tender.

"Xiao Qi is trying to tell me that even though my father has passed away, there are still other people in the world who care about me and miss me, right?"

"Ok!"

Xie Yunqi nodded emphatically.

"Don't worry, it's been a long time."

Fang Zhiyi gently brushed her fingers across the young lady's forehead, smoothing out strands of hair for her.

Aqing sat quietly to the side, her head bowed, the firelight flowing in her clear, glassy eyes.

Jiang Jingming looked at Aqing and remembered that her family members were all gone. He could probably empathize with her at this moment.

But there are still people in the world who care about her and worry about her, so no matter what, we must continue to try to live on.

Thinking of this, Jiang Jingming composed himself and looked at Fang Zhiyi again.

From her eyes, Jiang Jingming read her tacit approval, a tacit consent that said, "Ask whatever you want, it's okay."

So he finally asked the most crucial question.

What exactly happened that day?

"That day..."

Fang Zhiyi paused slightly, momentarily lost in thought.

So everyone remained silent, waiting for her to gather her thoughts before speaking.

“I grew up in a valley on the far north border of Liangzhou with my parents. Liangzhou is a bitterly cold place in the far north, where the ice on the snow-capped mountains never melts. Because it is so cold, there are few people. Sometimes you can walk for dozens of miles in the snow and not see a single person. It is a very lonely place.”

Fang Zhiyi didn't directly talk about what happened that day, but instead murmured to herself as if lost in memories.

Zhige City is the northernmost city in Zhongzhou, but it is separated from Liangzhou by a magnificent and long mountain range, which people call the "Dragon's Backbone".

The Dragon Ridge Mountains shielded Zhige City from the frost of Liangzhou, so Zhige City still had normal seasons, with only the winters being cold and snowy.

The vast Liangzhou region was perpetually winter, so the people who remained there had to make a living by ice fishing and by hunting snow bears for their pelts to keep warm.

Jiang Jingming imagined a desolate place where snow was falling heavily and everything was white.

Thousands of birds and all-rounders.

It's truly lonely, even more so than the winter in Zhige City.

"But just as there are oases in the desert, there is also a valley in Liangzhou, where spring lasts all year round. When the mountain wind blows, the grass grows and the birds fly, and all kinds of flowers bloom together."

Fang Zhiyi suddenly smiled, her smile as gentle as a spring breeze.

In an instant, the ice and snow that Jiang Jingming had imagined melted away, and even the loneliness of a thousand years dissipated.

"Valley of Forgetfulness?!"

Xie Yunqi clapped his hands and suddenly raised his voice.

"Xiao Qi knows too?"

Fang Zhiyi was somewhat surprised and raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Of course I know!!! It was Master Wen who told me!"

Xie Yunqi rubbed his hands together excitedly, as if childhood memories had been awakened.

"He said that in a place farther than the ends of the earth, there is a place called the Valley of Forgetfulness, which can only be reached by crossing the highest snow-capped mountain. There, flowers bloom all year round, petals fall in abundance, birds and beasts can understand human speech, and the flowing spring water is the most mellow wine in the world. As long as you drink it, you will forget all the troubles of your life."

There is obviously no such magical place in the world. Jiang Jingming smiled unconsciously as he looked at the young lady's longing expression.

Master Wen had probably heard the rumors about the Valley of Forgetfulness before, but when he told the young lady about it, he added some rhetoric to make the child happy.

I never expected Miss Xie to have such a good memory; she still remembers it so clearly even now that she's grown up.

Now that she knows it's fake, Master Wen will probably have to bear the brunt of her anger and have a handful of his beard plucked out.

Chapter 112 Dust on the Road

"No, not at all. At least the spring water I've drunk from wasn't wine."

Fang Zhiyi smiled gently and shook her head slightly.

"what!"

Xie Yunqi scratched his face, but didn't get angry. He just obediently waited for Fang Zhiyi to continue.

Jiang Jingming watched her silently, thinking to himself that the young lady had actually become quite human today.

"However, compared to the icy and snowy world outside, Forget-Worry Valley is indeed like another world. If Xiao Qi were to see it, he probably wouldn't be disappointed."

Fang Zhiyi pinched the corner of her mouth and began to speak gently:

"What is extremely rare in Zhongzhou is nothing more than a common roadside weed in Wangyou Valley. Often, small birds with colorful feathers bring me red berries, which taste sour and slightly bitter, but are good for blood circulation and beauty. The noble ladies of Zhongzhou would give anything for them."

Dear sister, do you even need to take care of your appearance?

Speaking of which, why didn't this little bird bring this to the Ghost Doctor? Does it also act based on appearance?

Jiang Jingming couldn't help but silently complain in his heart.

“When I was young, I began to practice medicine with my father, learn about herbs, and memorize ancient books. At that time, my mother would play the zither in the valley, and butterflies would flutter among the flowers. I couldn’t help but watch, and my father would scold me.”

Fang Zhiyi spoke of these things with a gentle expression.

“My mother would smile and speak up for me, saying that spring is beautiful and a young girl’s heart is most precious. But my father would sigh and say that the worst thing for someone studying medicine is to be inattentive and not to think of themselves as a child.”

Jiang Jingming's thoughts were drawn along by her tender tone, as if he were also in the Valley of Forgetfulness, seeing clearly the patterns on the butterfly wings in the spring light.

Fang Zhiyi's image gradually became clearer; she was no longer someone who hid countless secrets, but rather a playful little girl.

"Later on, my father spent more and more time traveling around practicing medicine throughout the year, while my mother still played the zither in the valley every day, but there was an inexplicable desolation in the music. She said that Forget-Worry Valley was still too small to support the ideals of the Ghost Doctor."

At this point, Fang Zhiyi sighed softly.

Jiang Jingming suddenly thought of the ending of the story, and his heart tightened again.

“At the time, I didn’t know what my father was doing while he was practicing medicine in other places. I only knew that he became more and more silent and more and more paranoid, until that day.”

Fang Zhiyi's tone suddenly changed, and everyone's hearts jumped.

"He said that distinguished guests would be visiting tomorrow, and that my mother and I should go to another courtyard in the valley and not go out that day."

“There have never been any visitors to the valley in all these years. I wanted to ask him a few more questions, but he was unwilling to say more. He just repeatedly told me that I must never go out.”

"The other villa was in a cave in the valley. It was so secluded that you would never find it unless you lived in the valley year-round. That night, my mother seemed to have had a big argument with him. They parted on bad terms, and then my mother took me to the villa."

Fang Zhiyi spoke slowly, her eyes filled with complex thoughts.

“My father stood at the door watching us walk away. I couldn’t understand his eyes at the time, but now I understand. It was a final farewell.”

"When I woke up the next day, my mother was not in the other courtyard. She did not listen to my father and quietly went back after I fell asleep. I thought about it and struggled for a while, and then I ran back."

She paused there, quietly watching the fire in the brazier gradually die down.

"Then, I saw their bodies."

"..."

Jiang Jingming lowered his eyes, almost unable to bear listening any longer.

“My father’s body was covered with bloody holes, as if the people of Cenzhou had cursed him, a curse that gnawed at his heart. My mother was strangled by the strings of a zither. From a distance, she looked like she was asleep. I went over and gently shook her, and her head rolled off.”

Fang Zhiyi spoke calmly, but the scene she described sent chills down everyone's spines.

The strings were sharp; instead of suffocating her like a rope, they sliced ​​her throat open.

"Oh my god..."

Xie Yunqi trembled slightly, unsure of what to say to comfort Fang Zhiyi.

"Who is the murderer? How could they be so cruel? They are utterly depraved!"

Lu Zhao gritted his teeth, his right hand gripping the hilt of his sword tightly, suppressing his anger.

"The reason why the Ghost Doctor let you and your daughter stay in the other courtyard must be because he already knew that the visitors were not friendly, so he wanted you to avoid trouble."

Jiang Jingming lowered his eyes and spoke in a low voice.

"There are many rumors about the Ghost Doctor in the martial arts world, but most people don't even know his true face, let alone that he and his wife and daughters lived in seclusion in the Valley of Forgetfulness. The murderer must be someone who had close ties with him."

"Yes."

Fang Zhiyi nodded slightly.

"So I buried them and left the Valley of Forgetfulness, wandering around seeking medicine. It seemed aimless, but it wasn't. At first, I thought that if I kept searching like this, I would eventually find the murderer who killed them. But now I realize that's not the case, because there are just too many people who want to kill him."

She sighed again and looked up.

"I apologize for not telling you the truth all this time. I started from Liangzhou and have already been to Cangzhou, Yongzhou and Cenzhou. Only Zhongzhou is left. The reason I decided to come to Tingpu Manor with you all is because I read about the correspondence between my father and Gu worms in his letters before his death."

"No need to apologize."

Jiang Jingming quickly shook his head.

After all, he also has secrets that he hasn't told anyone yet.

"I should be apologizing. I'm sorry for making Sister Fang think of so many sad things."

Xie Yunqi hung his head, genuinely feeling extremely guilty.

"There's no such thing as suddenly remembering sad things; they'll always be there, making you remember them all the time, so don't say sorry."

Fang Zhiyi's eyebrows and eyes curved slightly, with a beautiful arc like a crescent moon.

Jiang Jingming suddenly understood why Fang Zhiyi always seemed out of place in the world, like a passing traveler who was only staying briefly.

This sense of distance makes her beauty seem more ethereal and elusive, but it's not something she does intentionally.

It's just that everyone in the world who was connected to her has died.

Jiang Jingming couldn't imagine what Fang Zhiyi must have felt at that time. She had grown up in the valley since she was a child, and her life consisted only of her parents, but they both died at the same time.

He died so suddenly, and so tragically.

And so, in the vast Valley of Forgetfulness and in the vast world, she was suddenly all alone.