"Ye Qingmei?"

Fan Xian was incredibly shocked. He subconsciously whispered the name. He never imagined that his mother's name would appear on the stone tablet in front of the Imperial Court.

He maintained a calm expression, but his heart was filled with turmoil. Why was his mother's name on the stone tablet in front of the Imperial Court? Even though Miss Ye of the Ye family was the wealthiest woman in the world, she shouldn't have enjoyed such a privilege, which even the emperor couldn't. Moreover, his mother's mysterious death must be related to the royal nobles of Qing kingdom. Although Uncle Wu Zhu said that all of Ye family's enemies had been killed in the upheaval ten years ago, who could guarantee that the relatives of those enemies hadn't remained in the court?

Even now, Ye Qingmei was clearly a taboo name, and all of the Ye family's property had been confiscated into the Imperial Treasury, with Ye's businesses becoming royal merchants.

The Imperial Court brazenly placed Ye Qingmei's name at the entrance. Although Uncle Wu Zhu had said that few people knew his mother's name was Ye Qingmei, the royal family holding the reins of Qing kingdom must know. Wasn't Director Chen being too bold? Didn't he even care about the royal family's face?

However, after seeing the short stone tablet, Fan Xian finally understood what Uncle Wu Zhu had said in Danzhou.

"Not many people know that Miss is called Ye Qingmei. Others just call her Miss. But the name Ye Qingmei, even now... it must be quite famous in Kyoto."

Fan Xian rubbed his hands, lowered his head, and walked forward, thinking that with such a sign standing in front of the Imperial Court, which everyone in Kyoto feared, it would be hard for Ye Qingmei's name *not* to be famous.

All of these mental activities happened in a short time. He concealed his expression, adjusted his sleeves, and walked eastward expressionlessly, as if he hadn't seen the name at all.

It was precisely because he saw this sign that Fan Xian couldn't help but think of the Prime Minister's daughter he was about to marry. According to his father, her mother, the Eldest Princess, now controlled the property that originally belonged to the Ye family. If there was anything in this world that he felt he naturally deserved, it was that property. It was a very subtle feeling.

Originally, Fan Xian had learned from Teng Zijing where the Lin family's daughter lived now, but knowing the woman's background and status, and knowing that Kyoto was a place full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, he definitely wouldn't dare to sneak off for a peek. He had come to the Imperial Court to find his teacher, Fei Jie, hoping to use the Imperial Court's extraordinary means to see the woman who was confined to her sickbed in advance. He also wanted to ask his teacher to help him look at the woman's condition.

Unexpectedly, Fei Jie was not in Kyoto. Fan Xian was a little annoyed. Did he really have to wait until the wedding night to know what the other person looked like? No, he warned himself, he had to find a way to sneak a peek. In case there was something wrong, he'd have some time to prepare for eloping.

As he walked, Fan Xian became even more annoyed. He sadly realized that he was completely unfamiliar with the roads, having just arrived in Kyoto. He walked back and forth on Tianhe Avenue twice and still couldn't find where his family's carriage was parked.

He happened to see a child walking along while chewing on a string of candied hawthorns. Smelling the sweet scent, Fan Xian felt an indescribable familiarity. He quickly ran forward, snatched the string, took a bite, and confirmed by the taste that it came from the same stall as the one he had eaten earlier. Only then did he ask where the stall was located.

The child was frightened, thinking he had encountered a masked candied hawthorn robber. Finally, Fan Xian's two copper coins calmed him down, and he carefully pointed in a direction.

Fan Xian followed that direction and walked for a long, long time. The result was sadly discovered, the child was taking revenge on him. This was clearly not where he should be. This place had actually reached the outskirts of Kyoto. Fan Xian didn't know this, otherwise, he would have been very proud of his stamina and sad about his intelligence.

This place was desolate. There was a temple.

In the incomparably prosperous city of Kyoto, finding such a desolate place was not an easy task. Perhaps "desolate" wasn't accurate. To be precise, it was extraordinarily clean. There wasn't even a speck of dust on the temple's eaves and beams.

He looked up at the black wooden structure in front of him and couldn't help but think of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing from his previous life. However, the temple in front of him was much smaller, lacking the sense of mystery connected to the mandate of heaven and possessing more of a beautiful aura of the mortal world.

The front gate was painted a deep black, which appeared very solemn. Above the door was a rectangular horizontal tablet with the words "Qing Temple" written on it.

Fan Xian licked the sugar residue off his teeth, looked at the two yellow characters above his head that represented holiness, and a feeling he couldn't describe welled up in his heart.

This was Qing Temple, rumored to be the only place in the Qing kingdom that could communicate with the ethereal Temple, the royal family's temple for sacrificial ceremonies.

When he was in Danzhou, Fei Jie had said that the Temple of Heaven was three *li* outside the Kyoto palace. Fan Xian had always thought it meant a place three *li* away from the palace, never imagining that "outer three *li*" was a place name.

Fan Xian opened his mouth wide. Before coming to Kyoto, he had thought that since the people in this world couldn't find the Temple, he must also come to the Qing Temple Temple of Heaven to see it, because a question that had been bothering him for sixteen years, he didn't know if he could find the answer here.

Why did he come to this world?

When he read novels in his previous life, Xiang Shaolong had a reason, and later time-travelers also had reasons. Later on, there was no need for a reason.

But Fan Xian himself was deeply puzzled. He needed a reason, a reason that could explain why he, clearly dead, would be reborn into this world.

He never expected that the child's random directions would lead him to the Qing Temple. This realization gave him a slightly dizzy feeling. Perhaps... there was a mysterious connection between himself and the Temple, a very strange fate.

He firmly believed in this, firmly believed in the fate brought about by a string of candied hawthorns.

Stepping forward, the surroundings were silent. Fan Xian gently pushed open the heavy wooden door that seemed to have not been opened for many years.

……

……

"Stop!"

A stern shout came.