Son (3-in-1 Mega Chapter)

Most people have no interest or need to delve into the root cause of phenomena; all they need is a seemingly reasonable explanation, nothing more.

Even if the explanation is full of perfunctory, vague, and misleading concepts, it doesn't matter. After realizing "that's how it is," they will put on an air of complete understanding and explain it to others when the opportunity arises.

The difference between mediocrity and genius lies simply in understanding "that's how it is" versus "why it's like this."

Of course, it's not to say that Qin Yanan was mediocre in Liu Chang'an's eyes, but women... when they are dominated by emotions, their need for "why is it like this?" is greatly reduced; they just need an explanation of "so that's how it is."

"This coffin contains Shangguan Dandan."

Facing Qin Yanan, looking at her familiar face and feeling an increasing sense of closeness, Liu Chang'an's trust in her grew stronger.

Moreover, Li Hongfang also knew that Shangguan Dandan was in the coffin. Since Li Hongfang hadn't been killed to silence her, informing Qin Yanan wouldn't be considered a threat.

Many things can be told to others, but Liu Chang'an is not an instruction manual; he doesn't explain everything clearly to everyone he meets.

A hint of confusion flashed in Qin Yanan's eyes as she turned to look at the transport vehicle parked under the shade of a tree. Inside the quiet behemoth was a heavy coffin. She still remembered the bright and distinct vermilion lacquer painting, and the various metaphorical patterns: dragons, phoenixes, the Heavenly Emperor, golden crows, and other strange beings.

If it weren't for the many unusual things happening to me, it would be very difficult for a modern adult to immediately grasp the mysterious abilities of this coffin.

She had already experienced it before, but only regarding the coffin itself; she hadn't considered what might be inside. At the time, Liu Chang'an said that there might be a zombie or a living person inside the coffin, but Qin Yanan didn't take it too seriously.

But now Liu Chang'an told her again.

"Shangguan Dandan?" Qin Yanan had no recollection of this name. She thought carefully, flipping through her memories, books, news, and hearsay, but she couldn't find this name.

"Oh, that's Shangguan Dandan, the daughter-in-law of Emperor Wu of Han, who became empress at a young age and empress dowager at fifteen." Liu Chang'an remembered. Few people knew Shangguan Dandan's real name. History only recorded that she became empress dowager at fifteen and then became grand empress dowager.

Qin Yanan opened her mouth slightly, her naturally raised eyebrows curving with tension in her eyes. She pointed a finger at Liu Chang'an, looking at him incredulously, "How is this possible!"

Nothing is impossible.

"I don't know who Shangguan Dandan is, but of course I know Empress Shangguan. She became the youngest empress at the age of six. She was the granddaughter of Shangguan Jie and the granddaughter of Huo Guang. Later, she adopted Liu He as her son and made him the crown prince. Liu He respectfully called her 'mother.' Later, she issued an edict to depose Liu He. She became the Grand Empress Dowager at the age of forty and was buried with Emperor Zhao, who had been dead for nearly forty years, in Pingling Mausoleum when she passed away."

"You're good at history."

"This is common sense, okay? It was taught in history class. I've been to Pingling Mausoleum, and the scale of this Empress Dowager's tomb even surpasses that of Emperor Zhao. Now you're telling me that Shangguan Dandan... let's just say her name was Shangguan Dandan, my great-grandfather brought her coffin to you?" Qin Yanan felt that the absurdity of this matter was no less than if she were about to become Ye Sijin.

Decades ago, a teenager broke into the Xiangnan Province Museum and stole a large number of precious cultural relics, including the now-national treasure "Curved-Hem Plain Silk Gauze Cicada Garment).

This incident caused a great sensation and had a significant impact. However, things were very different back then compared to now, and the management of many museums and cultural relics was quite chaotic.

At this time, to excavate a tomb of Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan's stature and steal her coffin without anyone noticing is simply a pipe dream.

"History is sometimes just a story; anyone can make it up. Take Liu He after he left Changyi, for example. He was clearly a gentle, kind, fair, upright, dashing, elegant, dignified, noble, and sunny young man, yet he was wrongly accused of being tyrannical, incompetent, and having defiled the late emperor's concubines," Liu Chang'an said dismissively. "Actually, being an emperor is a slightly interesting thing, but not really."

"You seem to have a very good impression of Liu He. It's a pity that history has already sealed his fate, making him infamous for being the first emperor to be deposed by his ministers." Compared to speculation about people's hearts and conspiracy theories, Qin Yanan naturally tends to believe the history books when faced with historical truths that no one has ever witnessed... It's not that she doesn't have doubts, but without any evidence, what basis is there to exonerate Liu He?

"It's a very simple principle. In the Han Dynasty, even Huo Guang couldn't do whatever he wanted based solely on his own ideas. Having a legitimate reason for action was extremely important. If Liu He didn't have such a crime, how could this disobedient emperor have been allowed to Dan Dan an edict to depose him?" Liu Chang'an smiled. "Actually, it's nothing. Huo Guang's lust for power was hard to control, so doing these things didn't matter. Whoever is emperor, it doesn't matter."

"Dan Dan?" Qin Yanan was somewhat surprised by Liu Chang'an's address to Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan. Qin Yanan couldn't be sure if the name Liu Chang'an mentioned was really Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan's name, but it might be. Liu Chang'an seemed to have far more experience and knowledge than her. Zhu Juntang also said that Liu Chang'an had borrowed many rare and unique books from her.

However, the way people address each other reveals important emotions, relationships, and other information in any conversation. For example, Liu Chang'an jokingly calls Qin Yanan" Little Nan Girl." What kind of address represents what kind of relationship? Why would Liu Chang'an address a Grand Empress Dowager from two thousand years ago with such familiarity for no apparent reason?

Liu Chang'an wasn't someone who was always careful and meticulous in choosing his words; that would be too much of a strain and unnecessary. However, Qin Yanan was quite attentive. Liu Chang'an nodded, "Dan Dan."

"The Dan Dan of water?"

"Your eyes Dan Dan."

"Any guy who still flirts with other girls even when he has a girlfriend is a jerk." Qin Yanan's smile was slightly bitter. She didn't really think so, but she found that as they talked, her attention shifted and she felt much more relaxed.

"You've misunderstood, it's just politeness." Liu Chang'an noticed that girls tend to overthink things.

"Thank you for the compliment. You're handsome too."

"In short, this coffin contains Shangguan Dandan, the youngest daughter of the Shangguan Family, who was instructed by her maternal grandfather to issue an edict to depose Liu He." Liu Chang'an returned to the main topic.

"You're not joking, are you?" Qin Yanan looked at Liu Chang'an suspiciously.

"I rarely joke. Most of the time I'm speaking seriously, so I don't know why you think I'm joking." Liu Chang'an shook his head. "I usually only joke with An Nuan to make her happy, and that makes me happy too. Joking with other people feels like I'm giving them too much face."

Qin Yanan felt he wasn't joking; hearing those words really did make her feel a bit irritated.

Does he mean she's not entitled to let him joke around?

Liu Chang'an stood up, intending to go to the carriage, but noticed that Zhou Dongdong was gone. He was puzzled; had her barrier evolved to the point where not only could she not sense the presence of those around her, but others could not sense her presence either?

Just then, Zhou Dongdong ran out of Liu Chang'an's room, excitedly saying, "My stomach is empty again, I can eat again!"

Did you wash your hands?

"I washed it! And I even used some scented lotion."

Liu Chang'an told Zhou Dongdong to sit down and continue eating, then pointed to the delivery truck, indicating that Qin Yanan should follow him.

Qin Yanan was a little puzzled. She casually took out the fruit platter and dessert from the bottom of the food box, told Zhou Dongdong to eat less, and then followed Liu Chang'an.

Qin Yanan was filled with doubts, both questioning Liu Chang'an's statement and wondering how Liu Chang'an made these judgments and where he got the information.

"Generally speaking, I don't care whether you believe that Shangguan Dandan or not, but considering your current mental state and the fact that Ye Sijin is involved, I have no choice but to swallow my pride and prove it to you without complaint." Liu Chang'an closed the carriage door again.

Qin Yanan took a deep breath, feeling both nervous and emotional. It had been over a month since she last came to this carriage, and who knew what she had gone through in the past month? She felt more than just wronged; she was almost going crazy.

"What did you see when you last touched this coffin?" Liu Chang'an's fingers gently rested on the coffin, the cool touch like the small hands of a girl waiting in a plum garden in winter, holding a pile of snow.

"If you can prove that Shangguan Dandan is inside, I'll tell you." Although Qin Yanan had already decided to tell Liu Chang'an, she decided to keep it a secret for the time being.

Liu Chang'an nodded.

Qin Yanan involuntarily leaned back against the carriage, her fingers gripping the folded seat, her nails digging into the cushion, her eyes fixed on the coffin. At this moment, she realized that Liu Chang'an was indeed not interested in joking with her; he could really show her some unbelievable things.

Qin Yanan took a deep breath. There was nothing unbelievable about it. She already had enough mysterious and unpredictable phenomena about her. Whatever happened, she should be able to accept it.

"Dan Dan, I don't know if you're angry that I haven't fed you any young hen these days, but the loaches in the pit are still lively, the children are innocent and playful, and the old man is still full of energy playing mahjong and cards, and likes to be suspicious. I suppose you haven't been affected at all, and have restrained your craving for blood." Liu Chang'an paused, "The little girl who came to see you with me today has been influenced by you. Perhaps her great-grandmother had some contact with your coffin?"

Liu Chang'an was certain that Ye Sijin must have come into contact with this coffin; otherwise, it would have been impossible for the coffin to have caused Qin Yanan to exhibit various abnormalities related to Ye Sijin.

The coffin remained silent, like a lifeless object.

Qin Yanan's ears perked up nervously. It was too eerie for a young boy to speak to a coffin in such a gentle and natural tone, especially Liu Chang'an's calm emotions and expression, which made Qin Yanan's hair stand on end.

But there was no sound. Qin Yanan looked at the coffin, then at Liu Chang'an.

"I didn't expect you to remain silent. Actually, I only need you to do me a favor, to cooperate with me and make a statement to prove your identity. You can rest assured, the girl beside me..." Liu Chang'an glanced at Qin Yanan, "Is very important to me, and I am very willing to trust her."

Qin Yanan avoided Liu Chang'an's gaze, pursing her lips as she looked at the coffin. Was this what Liu Chang'an meant by politeness?

"You just need to say something, otherwise I'll have to tell you the whole story of the emperor and empress dowager back in the day," Liu Chang'an calmly advised.

"Son."

The carriage was so quiet it was as if time had stood still, with only a girl's childish yet indignant voice echoing through it.

Qin Yanan looked around, gripped the seat on the side of the carriage behind her tightly, closed her eyes to confirm that she had indeed heard a girl's voice, then staggered and grabbed Liu Chang'an's arm tightly.

Liu Chang'an could sense that her breathing was very rapid and her lung function was very strong. No wonder she always pressed her hand to her chest when she was emotional, since many clothes nowadays just have buttons sewn on haphazardly.

Liu Chang'an awkwardly withdrew his arm. The first awkwardness came from Shangguan Dandan's way of addressing him, and the second from Qin Yanan's embrace.

"Dan Dan, don't you understand why I've been painstakingly teaching you all these days? How can you call your teacher like that?" Liu Chang'an was greatly disappointed. Even though he was a very patient person, he felt that all his efforts had been in vain, and he was still very upset. Although Shangguan Dandan listened to the lecture very attentively, she didn't treat him as her teacher at all. His plan of "once a teacher, always a father" had been completely ineffective and could not erase the fact that they had a past relationship.

Liu Chang'an had actually addressed countless parents and elders by their titles, and he didn't really care, because those people would all return to dust or eventually disappear. But the fact that this one was still alive made it somewhat awkward.

Liu Chang'an's struggles were futile; Qin Yanan continued to cling tightly to Liu Chang'an arm, pulling him away from the coffin.

Liu Chang'an could even hear Qin Yanan's teeth chattering.

"You... you're really talking to a dead person in a coffin?" Qin Yanan leaned against the carriage wall, tightly holding Liu Chang'an's arm, and cautiously peeked out from Liu Chang'an's side.

"Let go of my hand, can't you just hold my sleeve?" Liu Chang'an remained adamant about what bothered him. "That's not a dead person, at most a zombie. To be precise, from a biological perspective, I consider her a living dead."

"There's no such thing as a living dead in biology!" Qin Yanan exclaimed, finally managing to break free of Liu Chang'an's arm, but still managing to grab his sleeve and lower back.

"Do you need to? Calm down."

"What's wrong with a girl screaming when faced with something so terrifying?" Qin Yanan breathed heavily, with obvious marks on her neck from her taut trachea.

"A girl? I think anyone over twenty should call themselves a woman, let alone you who's already twenty-five, you're not getting any younger."

Liu Chang'an was hit hard.

"Just now, I really heard it, someone calling for their son, or second son, or moth or something..."

"Yes, that's why I said there really was someone in the coffin, and it was Shangguan Dandan. Otherwise, how could I have used the topic of Liu He and Shangguan Dandan to persuade her to speak up?"

Qin Yanan came to her senses and remembered the main purpose of her and Liu Chang'an's visit. It was no longer just about feeling like she was in a "haunted house" or something similar, experiencing a supernatural atmosphere.

"Let's go out, let's go out first." Qin Yanan pulled Liu Chang'an.

The golden hue of the setting sun outside the carriage had faded considerably, and the evening air rose from the shade of the trees. Zhou Dongdong remained seated in her original spot, quietly and earnestly doing what seemed to be the only important thing in her life.

Qin Yanan sat back down in her seat. The cold dish made with pufferfish skin was gone, there wasn't much pufferfish sashimi left, and there was still some broth left from the chicken feet soup with pufferfish. Her and Liu Chang'an's bowls contained some scraps of food, which looked like Zhou Dongdong had put there for them.

"Hurry up and eat!" Zhou Dongdong said enthusiastically. "I've already eaten so many bowls!"

"You eat it." Qin Yanan had no appetite to continue eating, so she put some more food on Zhou Dongdong's plate, and also put some of Liu Chang'an's plate on Zhou Dongdong's plate.

Liu Chang'an was very dissatisfied. The pufferfish was really delicious, but he couldn't just take it back.

Zhou Dongdong entered the barrier again.

"How can she eat so much?" Liu Chang'an reached out and touched Zhou Dongdong's stomach; it was truly amazing.

Is this the time to be concerned about this issue?

Qin Yanan stared blankly at Liu Chang'an, then at the transport truck, feeling as if it were all unreal.

"That day, when I touched the coffin, I saw the last scene of my great-grandmother before her execution. She was wearing a country folk's jacket. During a mission, the enemy discovered her true identity and forced her to dig a pit to bury her alive... I could feel all her emotions, as if it were my own memory, as if it were something that happened to me..."

Qin Yanan recounted the story carefully, tears gradually welling up in her eyes, her voice hoarse and filled with a sorrowful resentment.

She looked at Liu Chang'an, tears still on her face, yet a smile reappeared, a smile that, mixed with her sorrow and resentment, appeared particularly eerie.

Qin Yanan's emotions shifted dramatically. She suddenly pressed her hand to her chest, hurriedly opened a medicine box from her bag, grabbed a few pills, and gulped them down, gasping for breath.

Liu Chang'an looked at her medicine box, which listed Chlorpromazine as an ingredient. This was a medication for treating schizophrenia. Undoubtedly, from a modern medical perspective, Qin Yanan's symptoms resembled Type 1 schizophrenia. "Ye Sijin" was a manifestation of another personality she had imagined. Chlorpromazine had an inhibitory effect on positive schizophrenia, but it had side effects on Type 2 schizophrenia. The fact that Qin Yanan carried this medication meant she had actually consulted a doctor; otherwise, no one would dare take this medication indiscriminately.

Liu Chang'an silently looked at Qin Yanan, at the lingering emotions on her face, as if that was Ye Sijin he had never seen before.

Having witnessed countless deaths, Liu Chang'an's life, like the long river of history, bid farewell to wave after wave and welcomed new waves after new ones.

No single wave is special. The human heart is initially soft, but as it heals, it hardens and becomes calm.

"Really, that's all." Liu Chang'an looked up at the sky, then reached out and snatched the medicine box from Qin Yanan's hand. "You don't have schizophrenia, this won't help. You're just affected by the magnetic field; you'll recover slowly."

"Maybe a magnetic field is radiation. Can radiation cause mutations?" Qin Yanan said blankly.

"No. A magnetic field is a magnetic field, and radiation is radiation. You mean this coffin also emits radiation, causing you to mutate?" Liu Chang'an keenly sensed.

"I'm tired, let's talk about this another time." Qin Yanan picked up her chopsticks casually, only to realize that she had given all the food to Zhou Dongdong, and then casually put them down again.

Liu Chang'an didn't press the matter. At least he knew the circumstances surrounding Ye Sijin's death. His gaze lingered on Qin Yanan's face, and he suddenly had a strong feeling: what if Qin Yanan could really become Ye Sijin...? Liu Chang'an shook his head. Was that considered malicious intent?

Ge Sheng Meng Chu,

Wild vines grow in the fields.

I am dead.

Who will I be with? Alone!

Who will I share this with? Alone?

Who will accompany me? Alone at dawn.

Summer days, winter nights, after a hundred years, returning to one's dwelling... cannot.

In the winter fields, in the summer sun, after a hundred years, one returns to one's home... but not.

Liu Chang'an looked at the coffin... Qin Peng sent this coffin, probably because he knew the scene recorded in it, and wanted Liu Chang'an to see that scene so that he wouldn't forget the woman who held his hand as they grew up.

Qin Peng had no idea that what Liu Chang'an saw was not what he wanted Liu Chang'an to see.

Ye Sijin's sacrifice has been recounted in many Records of the Grand Historian. Liu Chang'an was not just learning about it now. So many years have passed, and human instinct is to suppress all grief. Only time can heal any real wound, not any beautiful or moving words of comfort.

I've already faced it calmly.

But how can someone who looks exactly like Ye Sijin remain calm and unperturbed when recounting Ye Sijin's sacrifice?

Moreover, Qin Yanan's state just now clearly seemed to have split off into Ye Sijin's personality, only it was more obvious because Qin Yanan forcibly suppressed it.

Liu Chang'an was eager to see what Qin Yanan thought she was as "Ye Sijin" when she was sleepwalking... If he spoke to "Ye Sijin" then, would she respond in "Ye Sijin's" own way?

"I'll come to your place tonight," Liu Chang'an said to Qin Yanan.

Qin Yanan looked at Liu Chang'an with a puzzled expression. "Are you going to her place for a late-night snack?"

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