"Empress Houtu, you are the mother of the earth, you guide people towards goodness, your spiritual voice shines for all eternity. Empress Houtu above, please accept my bow." After bowing to the statue of Empress Houtu in the Houtu Temple, Zhou Fugui said with a solemn expression, "I am Zhou Fugui, a native of Yan Yun Lu Ming Township. My father passed away when I was young, my family was poor, and I am a humble person. Today, I have found a good woman, Princess Yanzun Gui Murong Huiying. I am deeply grateful that she does not abandon me. With such a wife, what more could I ask for? I wish to be united with her in this life and the next, to grow old together, through three lives and three worlds, never to betray her."
"Brother Zhou!" Murong Huiying's eyes welled up with tears upon hearing this. She looked at Zhou Fugui with a mixture of emotion and joy, then also knelt gracefully before the statue of Empress Houtu and said slowly, "The mystical bird of heaven descended and gave birth to Shang. By swallowing the mystical bird, Qi was born. I, Murong Huiying, a descendant of Qi, do not worship you. But as a wife follows her husband, today Zi Yue will bow to you together with her husband Zhou Fugui. Zi Yue and Third Brother vow in heaven to be birds flying wing to wing, on earth to be trees with intertwined branches, never to betray each other through three lives and three worlds, until seas dry up and rocks crumble, and our hearts never change."
What Murong Huiying said earlier was about the origin or ancestor of the Xianbei people. The Xianbei originated from the Donghu, and the Donghu originated from the Feng-surname Dong Meng Shi Wei. After the Shang Tang dynasty destroyed Dong Meng Shi Wei, they migrated north and merged with the Northern Yin Hu people established by Wu Geng. The Xianbei people gathered at Xianbei Mountain and were named after it.
Therefore, the Xianbei people were actually descendants of the Shang people, descendants of Yan and Huang. However, during the process of ethnic changes, they merged with many northern ethnic groups.
Zhou Fugui only had a vague understanding of these matters, so he asked in surprise, "Qi? What the heck?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Their intimate vow and promises of eternal love were ruined by Zhou Fugui's question. Murong Huiying was so angry that she couldn't contain herself. She pinched him hard and chided, "You were fine just now, why are you being indecent again?"
"Ouch..." Zhou Fugui grimaced in pain from the pinch, "Aren't you afraid of pinching your husband to death?"
"It would be fine if I pinched you to death!" Murong Huiying tilted her delicate chin, as refined as a white lotus, and then smiled.
"You and I are one couple, why be so formal?" Zhou Fugui also raised his eyebrows and said with a sly grin, "Tell me, what positions are we going to try later?"
Like newlyweds after a long separation, Zhou Fugui was already impatient...
"What positions?" Murong Huiying's beautiful eyes widened as she looked at Zhou Fugui and asked in surprise.
"That is..." Zhou Fugui, with a mischievous smile, whispered something in Murong Huiying's ear. Seeing her crystal-clear ears, he couldn't help but kiss one.
"You... you are simply... too shameless... The gods above, aren't you afraid of blaspheming them?" Murong Huiying, blushing furiously, pushed Zhou Fugui away and chided.
"Haha!" Zhou Fugui let out a laugh and glanced at the statue in the hall, saying, "Look, do you see? There's the Goddess of Childbirth and the Goddess of Sending Off Children. If we don't act wildly, how can we have children? Will they pop out of rocks?"
"That doesn't mean..." Murong Huiying suddenly felt exceptionally happy at the thought of having a child with him. However, women, whether Han or Xianbei, had at least some decorum. So, she collected her smile and said in a low voice, "Zi Yue likes you and is willing to be united with you, through three lives and three worlds, never to betray you. But... you cannot demean me..."
"Oh, so it is my fault then." Zhou Fugui nodded with some disappointment.
A woman like Murong Huiying deserved at least basic respect. If he wanted to do something, it should at least be on their wedding night. As for that time at the Left Virtuous King's mansion, it was merely an accident.
"Brother Zhou, Zi Yue doesn't... doesn't... are you angry?" For some reason, the dignified princess of the Great Yan Kingdom was acting like a timid young wife, cautiously asking a Han general, who was considered a low-class servant by the Xianbei, for forgiveness. Murong Huiying asked cautiously.
"Haha, Yingying, you underestimate your husband too much, don't you?" Zhou Fugui said with a hearty laugh, "The ocean accepts all rivers, embracing them makes it vast. Your husband is not a narrow-minded person."
In fact, the more Murong Huiying acted this way, the more Zhou Fugui liked her.
"I know, Yingying's husband, Zi Yue's prince consort." Murong Huiying's heart was filled with joy. She smiled sweetly and softly.
There was no one else in the main hall of the Houtu Temple, only Zhou Fugui and Murong Huiying. They were flirting with each other in the hall, thinking no one knew. In reality, two Daoist priests, one thin and one stout, who were peeking from the doorway, overheard them.
This further solidified the two Daoist priests' assumptions. They were a pair of lovers eloping to this place...
However, the two Daoist priests were quite envious. The reason was self-evident. Murong Huiying's beauty was unparalleled. They had never seen such a celestial beauty. They thought she was the Jade Maiden of the Nine Heavens descended to earth. It was just that the man she favored was too ordinary, still a general of the Yan army, still a Han, and still a Han traitor...
In reality, Zhou Fugui was also remarkably handsome. However, men's perceptions of men were completely different from their perceptions of women... The more outstanding Zhou Fugui's appearance was, the more they disliked him. However, the gold he kept throwing out greatly offset this dislike...
"Little Lu Zi, Little Pu Zi, what are you two sneaking around doing?" After Zhou Fugui and Murong Huiying left, as the two Daoist priests were congratulating each other on fleecing a "fool," a tall and thin old Daoist priest emerged from behind the hall and asked.
"Master, you... you... successfully... ascended...?"
"Master, you... attained immortality?"
The Daoist priest surnamed Lu and the thin Daoist priest, startled, quickly patted the gold ingots in their arms and asked.
"Hmph, bothered by worldly affairs, how can this old Daoist cultivate immortality?" The old Daoist priest snorted.
"Wha... what... worldly... affairs?" The two young Daoist priests asked haltingly.
"Hand it over!"
"Ha... hand... over... wha... what?"
"There's... nothing..."
"Master, you continue to seclude yourself for cultivation. We'll serve you good food and drinks later!"
"This old Daoist has cultivated the ability to see in all directions and hear everything. Don't try to hide it from me! Hand it over quickly!"
"N... no... is that right, Senior Brother Lu?"
"Right, not half a copper coin!"
"You two unfilial disciples dare to deceive me? Taishang Laojun, hurry, obey the law!"
"Ah..."
"Master has turned into a thief!"
...
"Fugui, do you know why I've been hiding since I arrived at the border?" Murong Huiying asked as they returned to Huixue Lin City. "It's only in your home that I dare to meet you secretly."
Zhou Fugui held Murong Huiying, riding his horse slowly. He looked at the beauty in his arms and asked with a smile, "Aren't you testing me? Or... giving me a surprise?"
"Not at all," Murong Huiying gave Zhou Fugui a sideways glance and said in a low voice, "If I were to show myself, they would... they would even harm you."
"Yingying, are you referring to that dead pervert?" Zhou Fugui pondered.
"Dead pervert? What is that?" Murong Huiying looked up, her eyes questioning Zhou Fugui.
"That kind of demon who is neither male nor female," Zhou Fugui replied.
"Pfft, my status is noble, and you describe me so disgracefully." Murong Huiying couldn't help but chuckle, then said faintly, "Matters of the court have reached the border."
"Yes..." Zhou Fugui nodded. "I, an ordinary farmer from Youzhou Lu Ming Township, am already deeply mired in a vortex and cannot escape. And you, the legitimate daughter of the dignified Left Virtuous King, cannot avoid it either. This is truly outrageous! I, Zhou Fugui, only wish to live a peaceful life, marry and have children, be filial to my mother, and live out my life ordinarily with my family. Yet, such a small, ordinary wish cannot be fulfilled. Truly... alas, despite the vastness of the world, there is no place for me, Zhou, to reside! The world is too vast to accommodate you and me!"
In the beginning, Zhou Fugui had no ambitions whatsoever.
He inexplicably arrived in this era, which he didn't know where it was. Immediately, he was humiliated and had his engagement broken off, was forcibly conscripted into the army, and inexplicably became a Han traitor in the eyes of the Han people... Then he fought in the south, was exiled to the border to guard it, and so on. All these things were not what Zhou Fugui wanted; he was forced step by step to where he is now.
With food and clothing, a wife and children, a good life, who would want to risk their head every day? Living precariously, facing thorns at every step. If there were any other options, no one would want to live like this.
By now, Zhou Fugui naturally had his own ideas. It was a situation where he was the fish on the chopping block, and others were the cleavers. For the fish to change its destiny, it had to resist to the death, to resist its whole life. This resistance might not succeed, but not doing it meant it would definitely not succeed, and he would be at the mercy of others his entire life, until death.
This idea of Zhou Fugui could also be called "ambition."
"Brother Zhou..." Murong Huiying whispered softly in Zhou Fugui's arms, "Zi Yue is scared, very scared. Scared of losing you, scared of losing my family, scared of losing everything. Brother Zhou, let's run away, flee to the ends of the earth, far from the strife of this world."
"Escaping? Yingying, escaping is not a solution." Zhou Fugui embraced Murong Huiying and gently shook his head. "Didn't we just say it? The world is too vast to accommodate you and me. Where can we escape to? Under the heavens, all are the king's subjects; within the four seas, all is the king's land. Where can you and I escape to? Where is there no cannibalism, no oppression of people by people? Hmph, since there is no way to escape, then let's not escape. It is better to fight to the death and carve out a bloody path."
Murong Huiying felt a chill run down her spine upon hearing this. It was not due to the weather, but due to Zhou Fugui's words, which were filled with killing intent, bloodlust, and ambition.
It was dusk at that moment. A setting sun in the west blazed with fiery red clouds, illuminating the two people and one horse on the snowy plains. It was exquisite, but also somewhat bleak and lonely.