"It must be Zhang He'an's doing—the device followed me here... He activated it." Moxun took some time to accept the truth that she was Li Qingxun.
She pressed her throbbing temples, barely managing to piece together the sequence of events.
Her soul had been affected by the device, and after a century, she was reborn as Moxun of the Medicine King Valley.
The top priority now was to find the device. Its radiation was intense, and prolonged exposure would shorten anyone's lifespan. Something so dangerous—Zhang He'an wouldn’t keep it close, would he?
After some thought, Moxun suspected Zhang He'an had left the device in the royal tomb of the Southern Chu Kingdom.
She decided to head there.
But considering the current state of Southern Chu—Emperor Li Yuanli was purging rebellious nobles, turning the kingdom into a bloodbath—Moxun’s headache worsened. These ungrateful descendants! The Southern Chu she had painstakingly built in her past life was now being ruined like this!
Infuriating!
Moxun immediately went to bid farewell to Shen Wei and embarked on the long journey to Southern Chu. Along the way, she encountered Shen Wei’s younger brother, Shen Xiuming.
Now a semi-powerful official, Shen Xiuming carried himself with authority. When he learned of Moxun’s plans, he tried to dissuade her, but failing that, he personally escorted her to Southern Chu.
The kingdom was in chaos.
Moxun took advantage of the turmoil, slipping into the royal tomb with great difficulty. After searching every corner, she still couldn’t find the device.
Where had Zhang He'an taken it? Could he be carrying it on him? But with his frail constitution, how could he endure the device’s intense radiation?
She didn’t linger in Southern Chu for long. Emperor Li Yuanli had a nose sharper than a hound’s—he caught wind of her presence and sent assassins after her. Dodging and fleeing, Moxun was eventually captured by Zhang He'an, who had come looking for her. He took her back to the Yue Kingdom.
Moxun was used to this by now.
Years of chasing and escaping, an endless cycle. She was exhausted, body and soul. On the carriage ride back, she gripped Zhang He'an’s chin and said, "If I die, so be it. Why force me to live on? Don’t you know that device is dangerous—its radiation is lethal."
Zhang He'an knew she had regained her memories.
Calmly, he replied, "A-Xun, one lifetime isn’t enough. Not nearly enough."
His dark eyes held an unmistakable madness.
Moxun never imagined that the Zhang He'an she had playfully teased a century ago would harbor such terrifying obsession.
She warned him, "The device’s energy is limited. One more use, and it’ll be depleted. Zhang He'an, don’t keep it on you. Seal it away somewhere."
Zhang He'an responded with a vague, "Mm."
Whether that meant agreement or not was unclear.
...
The two returned to live in seclusion at the Medicine King Valley.
Now that her memories had returned, Moxun no longer bothered running. But Zhang He'an, affected by the device’s radiation, grew weaker by the day. Worried, Moxun began concocting medicines to treat him.
In this era of rudimentary technology, where even medicine was partly toxic, Moxun worked to refine her methods, extracting the purest essence of herbs before giving them to Zhang He'an.
The medicine was bitter.
Yet Zhang He'an always drank it in one go.
He cherished every second with Moxun.
Aside from forcing him to take his medicine, Moxun also urged him to exercise. Zhang He'an insisted, "I’m perfectly healthy."
Moxun scoffed, "Healthy? Hardly. Your stamina isn’t what it used to be."
Zhang He'an: "..."
So he started working out.
They settled into life at the valley, ignoring the outside world’s storms, living like the most ordinary couple.
"A-Xun, where do you really come from?" Zhang He'an asked one day after finishing his medicine, tilting his head curiously.
A century ago, he had observed anomalies in the stars—Moxun’s arrival had disrupted the heavens. Unlike any woman of this world, she had always intrigued him.
After two lifetimes together, Moxun saw no reason to hide the truth.
She told him she came from another time, a world of advanced technology. There, monogamy was the norm, and women had equal opportunities. She had been a physics professor, a top researcher at her institute, until an experiment gone wrong sent her to this world.
"What is physics?" Zhang He'an asked.
With nothing else to do, Moxun sat beside him and began teaching like a professor: "Physics is the study of how the universe works. See that apple tree? When an apple falls, why does it drop to the ground instead of floating up? Because of gravity. A man named Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation to explain it."
Zhang He'an: "Who is Newton? Do you know him?"
Moxun: "..."
Zhang He'an showed great interest in physics, and Moxun, enjoying the role of teacher, spent her free time instructing him in modern math and science.
It turned out one should never underestimate the learning ability of a former imperial scholar. Zhang He'an grasped the new concepts with astonishing speed.
Impressed, Moxun remarked, "If we were in my time, I’d recruit you as my graduate student. After graduation, I’d keep you at the lab—working for me for life."
Zhang He'an caught the word "lifetime" and smiled faintly.
Listening to Moxun describe her extraordinary world with pride, he held her hand and whispered, "A-Xun, do you want to go back?"
Moxun lowered her gaze in thought.
The past felt distant now. Having lived two lives, her longing to return had faded.
She had put down roots here.
So she shook her head. "The chance of going back is slim. Staying is fine."
Zhang He'an pressed a reverent kiss to her palm. "A-Xun, wherever you go, I’ll follow."
Time passed quietly. Over a decade later, faint wrinkles marked their faces.
Then, on an ordinary afternoon, Zhang He'an lay napping under a tree when he suddenly felt short of breath, his vision swimming. The soul-deep tremors he hadn’t felt in years had returned.
Struggling to keep his eyes open, he gazed into the distance.
The mountains stood serene, the valley peaceful. Moxun had gone to town to buy wine—she’d said they’d have roast chicken tonight—but she hadn’t returned yet.
Zhang He'an exhaled slowly.
He closed his eyes calmly.
A-Xun, this time, he would go first.
...
...
Moxun was in town buying wine. Over the years, Zhang He'an’s health had declined—the device’s radiation had taken its toll.
She was anxious.
Almost terrified.
All she could do was prolong his life as best she could.
Now, she understood Zhang He'an’s desperation from a century ago. Watching a loved one wither while powerless to stop it—the agony was unbearable. Every morning, she feared opening her eyes to find him gone.
Just as she left town, a group of black-clad men blocked her path. Moxun bared her teeth. Even the peaceful Medicine King Valley had enemies?
Alone and outnumbered, she had no choice but to surrender.
She had assumed her kidnappers were bandits from the Yue Kingdom, but after being shoved into a carriage and jostled along a long journey, she found herself in the distant land of Southern Chu. When she stepped out of the carriage, Li Yuanli, the emperor of Southern Chu, clad in a black-and-gold robe, stood before her.
Moxun was utterly bewildered.
It wasn’t until Li Yuanli produced a strange device and claimed he had stumbled upon it by chance, asking Moxun to explain its function, that she realized the man was out of his mind.
At first, Moxun refused to speak, adamantly warning Li Yuanli that the device emitted dangerous levels of radiation and contained trace amounts of neutrino elements. Activating it would shorten the user’s lifespan.
But Li Yuanli dismissed the risks. Eventually, he forced the activation method out of her.
Locked inside a cavern, Moxun grew increasingly anxious. Days had passed, yet Zhang He'an had not come for her.
It was strange.
Her unease deepened with time. Two years later, when Li Yuanli activated the device and summoned Shen Wei’s soul into this world, Moxun finally understood—Zhang He'an was already gone.
After Shen Wei arrived in Southern Chu, the two women recognized each other. Both from the same era, they had endless topics to discuss.
Moxun noticed Shen Wei’s burning desire to return to the modern world. Having lived two lifetimes, Moxun had come to accept this unfamiliar time. But Shen Wei was different—strong-willed and fiercely independent, she never adapted.
Together, they staged an act, and Shen Wei successfully returned to her original body.
Moxun traveled back to the Valley of Medicinal Herbs in the Yue Kingdom. The houses had collapsed, overgrown with weeds. Zhang He'an was nowhere to be found—not even his remains. Perhaps he had perished on his way to search for her, reduced to dust in the wilderness.
Moxun felt lost.
An overwhelming loneliness consumed her.
Without Zhang He'an, and with no way back to the modern world, she could only watch time slip through her fingers, each moment a torment, each day devoid of hope.
A person without hope was no different from a withered tree.
In the end, Moxun chose death.
She knew Shen Wei needed her, but she could no longer bear to linger in this desolate world.
A century ago, she had died before Zhang He'an, leaving him to walk alone in grief.
A century later, he had died before her, and she was left to suffer the agony of longing.
Beneath the silk tree in the Autumn Cool Palace, Moxun gazed up at the towering tree she and Zhang He'an had planted together. The sapling had weathered a hundred years, now standing tall, silently recounting their shared past.
Clutching a silk tree leaf, she closed her eyes and slipped into eternal slumber.
...
...
"Beep—"
"Beep—beep—"
Li Qingxun’s head throbbed with unbearable pain. She tried to lift her hand to massage her temples, but her limbs felt restrained, immobile.
The incessant beeping of machines around her only worsened the ache.
Footsteps rushed in from outside, followed by an excited shout: "Professor Li is awake! Call Doctor Fang! Professor Li is awake—ahhh!"
The voice was so loud it could have echoed through the entire building.
Half an hour later, Li Qingxun finally regained full consciousness. She opened her eyes to find five or six doctors in white coats surrounding her. The one checking her blood pressure was a handsome young physician.
She seemed to be in an intensive care unit, her body wired to various machines.
Li Qingxun was stunned.
Hadn’t she died?
How… was she alive again?
The sterile room required doctors and nurses to wear protective suits. Numbly, Li Qingxun endured their examinations, her gaze drifting to the glass window where she spotted her colleagues and senior professors from the research institute.
Tears welled in their eyes as they waved at her excitedly.
Li Qingxun pinched her thigh—hard. It hurt.
She… had truly returned?
But that was impossible. The device’s energy had been completely depleted, insufficient to bring her back to the modern era. The experiment had been unfinished, a project only she could complete.
Could someone have finished it for her? Had they restarted the experiment and pulled her back?
"Since when did our country produce another physics genius? Who else could comprehend my theories?" Li Qingxun muttered, though her throat burned too much to speak.
Her condition was dire.
After the failed experiment, the explosion had left her in a coma for five years. Now, even after waking, she couldn’t be exposed to modern air yet.
Confined to the sterile room, Li Qingxun received daily visits from colleagues who brought research problems for her input.
But her mind was still reeling, flooded with memories.
She missed Zhang He'an.
Two lifetimes, and only now did she fully grasp the depth of her love for him. She had never truly been able to let go. Now, back in the modern world, he existed only in her memories.
Li Qingxun sighed quietly, heart heavy.
Her colleague, Little Zhang, visited again. Through the intercom, she asked about Experiment No. 1098.
Little Zhang chattered excitedly, "Professor, don’t worry! After the failure, a Professor An from Europe arrived. He used your notes to refine the experiment and prepared to launch No. 1099. But during transport, the core device was damaged in a car accident—it hit a pedestrian, flipped over, and the components were ruined. The experiment had to be halted."
"Still, Professor An didn’t give up. It took him two more years to rebuild the device. Experiment No. 1100 succeeded, and you woke up—oh, and that pedestrian? She regained consciousness around the same time as you. She recovered quickly and was discharged two days ago."
Li Qingxun rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"Who is this Professor An?" she asked. "I’ve never heard of him before. If his research skills are that advanced, remind the director to keep him at the institute. Talent like his shouldn’t be let go."
Little Zhang grinned. "Don’t worry, Professor Li! Professor An has already signed a contract—he’ll be working with us permanently—" Suddenly, he turned and exclaimed, "Ah! Professor An, you’re here! Are you visiting Professor Li? She just woke up and is in great spirits!"
Curious, Li Qingxun looked toward the glass wall separating her from the outside world.
Squinting, she glimpsed a figure in a deep red suit—elegant, refined, with pale, slender fingers.
Professor An stood outside the glass.
Moxun—now Li Qingxun—remained inside.
Just like their first meetings in their past lives, the sight of his moonlit, untouchable beauty left her breathless.
He smiled faintly and said, "A-Xun, long time no see."