Abandoned woman's glory

Chapter 229 Sudden death (finale)
After that day, I stayed in Wangyun Temple for two days.

Maybe it was his order to go on, no one came to disturb these two days, clean water and food were placed at the door regularly, except for the rustling sound of the bamboo leaves outside the window when the blue wind blows, the entire Wangyun Temple was as quiet as a tomb .

I have been in such a grave for eight years, and today, I am determined to really come out.

When the door was opened, Yu Sui'er and the others were already waiting outside. They were all relieved when they saw me coming out by themselves, and hurriedly surrounded me to serve me. After I took a bath, I changed into a goose yellow dress , combing her wet long hair in front of the bronze mirror, and asked while combing, "Where is he?"

He is always by my side when I have something to do on weekdays, but today I have been out for so long, but I haven't seen him.

Yu Sui'er seemed to hesitate for a moment before leaning over and said: "In the imperial study. Several adults came from Zhaoye yesterday and are discussing state affairs."

My hands paused slightly, then continued to comb.

After a while, I finally finished washing, and I got up and walked out. It was the beginning of July, the weather was the hottest, and it was also the time when the scenery in the imperial garden was the best. Walk forward slowly, and after a while, you will arrive outside the Imperial Study Room.

Before he got close, he heard a deep voice from inside: "This matter has been settled, there is no need to discuss it again."

The voice was so hoarse, it felt like a sudden gust of cold wind in the hot summer, I stopped in my tracks, only to hear a few hesitant voices from the study room with the doors and windows closed: "But -"

"I said it, there is no need to discuss it again."

As soon as the voice fell, the door opened, and he was about to go out when he met my eyes unexpectedly, both of them froze for a moment.

Standing behind him was Wei Yusheng and the others. When they saw me, they also had complicated expressions on their faces, and they hurriedly came forward to kneel down and said: "Long live the emperor, long live, long live."

"Let's get back together." I stepped forward: "I'm in a bad mood these days, all my loves have worked hard."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"You all came here from Zhaoye, you are exhausted by boat, take a good rest." I waved my hand, and those people retreated knowingly, he took a look at them, and walked up to me: "Are you feeling better? "

"never mind."

Although he looked at me, his dark eyes seemed to flicker, as if he wanted to avoid something, I just watched him, and said softly: "Will you accompany me to a place?"

"where?"

"Today is Qixi Festival, there will be a lantern festival and Qiqiao outside, you can go out with me for a walk."

He was stunned for a moment.

Although Empress Xuanyuan was buried with national ceremonies, I did not let the whole country fast and become vegetarian for her, and I did not even have any condolences, so the feasts and marriages of the common people will not be affected. Today is Qixi Festival, and there will even be a lantern festival by the river as usual , but I can see why he was surprised.

Even if I am at odds with my mother, I shouldn't be in the mood to have fun; even if I am in the mood to have fun, it shouldn't be with him.

But I stood in front of him and waved calmly: "Let's go."

There is indeed a lantern festival by the riverside, and indeed many people come out to celebrate Qixi Festival. There are also some women who hide in boudoirs on weekdays. A round of full moon hangs on the dark sky, reflecting in the moat to reflect the bright moonlight, Many emotions after the war slowly dissipated in this night.

I walked slowly on the embankment side by side with him.

At first, we were still in the crowd looking at the surrounding scenery. I wore a light veil on my face to avoid being recognized, which was not very conspicuous, but the person next to me was tall and handsome, but with a cold His silver mask was somewhat eye-catching. Amidst the surprised eyes and whispers around us, we had no choice but to leave the crowd and take a walk on the quiet embankment.

After a while, there were more and more people, and some people began to put river lanterns by the river. The exquisite river lanterns flowed slowly downstream along the river, and the candlelight was slowly reflected in the river. In a trance, I just felt like the stars falling in front of me. Entering the world, the beauty is so misty.

I watched in a daze, and after a while the hoarse voice whispered in my ear: "Do you like it?"

"Ah."

Then there was no sound around me. When I turned around, I saw his back squeezing into the crowd, lowering his head and smiling faintly. At this moment, I heard a group of people beside him saying something while setting off river lanterns——

"Unexpectedly, the queen of our Xuanyuan country is gone, and she was buried without a sound. This is something that doesn't happen in any country."

"It's not just this one? In which country has a daughter forced to kill her mother? This is too much for heaven and earth to tolerate. If it is really a big burial, will she have the face to show it?"

"This kind of person is worse than a beast, what can't be done?"

"Shh, keep your voice down so that no one can hear you."

Seeing those people turning around to go up the embankment, I hurriedly lowered my head and walked under a willow tree next to the stone bridge, stood for a while holding on to the trunk, and then saw him walking over with anxious eyes: "Why did you come here? "

I didn't answer, just looked at his empty hands: "..."

His face was also a little ugly, I immediately guessed that maybe he just saw that I was not where I was, and was worried that something might happen to me, so the river lantern was also thrown away, I smiled lightly and said: "Go again Buy one."

He glanced at me, his eyes more serious, as if looking at a strange me wearing a mask, I didn't say anything, turned around and walked towards the busy street.

After the Great War, people really needed something to ease the terrifying and depressed mood. This time the Lantern Festival was not considered prosperous, but it was extraordinarily lively. Both sides of the street were filled with all kinds of glazed lanterns, revolving lanterns, exquisite The river lanterns were so dazzling that people couldn't take their eyes off them. Such a beautiful scene almost made people forget that Meng Jing had just experienced a big battle, with corpses strewn all over the field and blood flowing like rivers.

Perhaps, there is nothing that can be remembered forever, love or hate.

I walked to a shop where I bought river lanterns, picked up a river lantern and looked at it, it was a lotus lantern, very delicately made, the light pink petals looked crystal clear, I couldn't put it down, I turned around and said: " This is not bad."

But when I turned around, I found that no one was behind me.

I remembered that when I walked over just now, a stream of people happened to squeeze over and almost knocked me down. Could it be that time that they dispersed us?Thinking of this, I hurriedly turned around and went back to look for him, but as soon as I turned around, I felt something was wrong.

Over the years, I have also struggled on the battlefield, and I have experienced a lot, and my vigilance is much higher than ordinary people. Immediately, I can see a few abrupt figures in the crowd, which seem to be approaching me, but I always Turning around, those figures disappeared all of a sudden.

I don't know when the wind blew up, and the lanterns on the street were swaying, and the moon was covered by protruding clouds.

I stood at the entrance of an alley, watching the turbulent crowd slowly dissipate, a familiar figure squeezed desperately from the other end, finally came to me, grabbed my shoulders: "You are here!"

He looked out of breath, as if he had just experienced a big battle, I glanced at him and nodded.

"Are you OK?"

"It's okay," I shook my head, "I just didn't expect there to be so many people today, and the lanterns I just bought were all crushed."

After speaking, he looked down at the lotus lantern in his hand. The petals were a little broken. He also looked down and looked at the sky: "It's too late, let's go back early."

I thought for a while and said, "You can accompany me to set off the river lanterns. Anyway, there are no people there now. Let's go back after the river lanterns are set off."

He glanced at me.

The crowd quickly dissipated, and there were only some lanterns left on the street that hadn't been cleared away, and the two of us alone. It seemed that it was only a blink of an eye from the peak of prosperity just now to the present loneliness. He was silent for a while: "good."

Then he accompanied me to the river, where there were already many river lanterns floating down from the upper reaches, the candlelight reflected on the river surface, which looked extraordinarily charming, I squatted down lightly and lit the broken river lantern, Gently put it on the river surface, the water gurgled, and the river lantern drifted down the water.

"Do you know?" I looked at the sparkling eyes and said softly, "People say that this river in Mengjing will flow to the sky. If a relative dies, you can put river lanterns in this river. I will pass on what I want to say to him.”

The person behind him breathed hard, and after a long silence, he said, "What do you want to tell him?"

"I want to ask him to forgive me."

"Forgive? Forgive you for what?"

I didn't answer him, just stared blankly at the river lamp that belonged to me slowly disappearing at the end of the long river, maybe it had already flowed to the sky, and brought my words to that person, then I stood up and looked behind me He smiled slightly: "It's nothing, let's go back."

After I finished speaking, I walked back. He stood on the embankment for a while, looking at my back from a distance, and his gaze also integrated into the sky full of stars, but it was deeper and deeper.

War always makes time pass very slowly, because every moment is difficult, with countless blood running, countless screams resounding in the sky, countless people fighting, and countless people cursing.

When the war ended, time passed quickly.

After occupying the entire territory of Xuanyuan Kingdom, I issued orders through the commanders from all over the country and carried out drastic reforms. From the white tiger, Xuanyuan to Qinglong, all adopted a unified weight and measure. All flags, coins, including taxes, etc. have official It was formulated and promulgated by the whole country. Naturally, some resistance was encountered during this period, but overall the results were good.

At the same time, the relocation of the capital was also under planning. After several months of construction, the palace in Chang'an was basically completed, and some important documents and manuscripts in Mengjing and Zhaoye Palace were also transported to the new capital.

However, there is one more important thing that I have not done, which is enthronement.

Empress Xuanyuan is dead, but the whereabouts of the jade seal of Xuanyuan Kingdom is unknown. I have not ascended the throne for a long time, and the decree issued is also the decree of Qinglong Kingdom. This was born.

That day in the court, I had been forced to question by the ministers, and when I finally returned to the palace, I felt cold sweat on my back, so I took off my long robe, and I was about to change into a thin shirt just now , The door was pushed open at once.

He stood at the door, and when he saw me at first glance, he was also stunned.

I unhurriedly pulled up the long gown that stretched across the ground, covering the **** back, and then looked back at him: "What's the matter?"

He coughed lightly, as if trying to cover up something, but his voice was still a bit strange, and he walked in and said, "I heard that you are arranging an autumn hunt."

"Ah."

"why?"

"At this time of year, it's autumn hunting."

I sat in front of the dressing table and slowly combed my long hair. He frowned and walked behind me: "But you know very well that this is not the time for autumn hunting!"

He is right. Although there is no foreign war now, the situation in the court is not easy. In addition, there are voices of opposition to the relocation of the capital, especially in the south. There are even students from many academies who have signed letters, which makes people panic. Time autumn hunting is indeed not the right choice.

But I smiled lightly and looked back at him: "I'm tired too."

He froze for a moment, looked at me, and I said: "These days you accompany me to review the memorials every day, and you don't go to sleep until midnight, aren't you tired? If being the emperor is such a hard job, even a little There is no time to be happy, so why am I still the emperor?"

He frowned and looked at me, as if he was looking at a complete stranger, the empty bedroom fell into silence, only the breathing of me and him could be heard, but it seemed even more lonely.

After a while, he slowly said, "Xing Si, what are you thinking?"

I smiled, turned back to the bronze mirror and continued to comb my long hair: "It's just an autumn hunt, don't think too much about it."

This time, the autumn hunting is really inappropriate as he said. I have also heard vaguely that the official in the imperial court divination has a bad omen, saying that there will be bloody disasters during the autumn hunting, and there will be drastic changes in the country and society. Some officials wrote to persuade the autumn hunting to be delayed, but most officials did not obstruct it.

So, on the tenth day of September, the autumn hunting team headed north and reached the Juma River Valley.

There used to be a bloody battle for royal power here, and the valley was once full of dead bodies, but it has not been seen for several years. Perhaps because of the nourishing soil that is extraordinarily fleshy and fleshy, the entire Juma River Valley has been covered with grass and wild flowers. A vigorous vitality.

When I was galloping on horseback, I could also feel the coolness of the wind blowing towards my face in the direction of the grass, which shocked my spirit. Although the bumps made my heart throb more painfully, this feeling was is incomparable.

Seeing me galloping in front of me, he was still riding closely beside me, with a complicated look on his face.

The horn sounded in the valley, and with a wave of my hand, all the autumn hunting teams scattered. For a while, the birds in the mountains and forests were startled, and the wind was howling, which also broke the long-standing deathly silence here.

I whipped my horse and chased a group of muntjacs into the jungle.

The surrounding forest is lush, so you must be very vigilant when riding a horse, otherwise you will easily hit the tree trunk. After a while, the surrounding guards were gradually left behind by me, only the sound of that person's breathing was still in my ears, Holding the longbow in my hand, I nocked the arrow and aimed at a fat muntjac in front of me.

He also seemed to be holding his breath.

But just as I was about to release the arrow, I suddenly felt a throbbing pain in my chest, worse than before. I bit my lower lip to control my moaning, but with a tremor of my fingertips, the long arrow had already pierced through the air.

With a whoosh, the arrow brushed the deer's ears and flew past, and nailed to the opposite tree trunk with a snapping sound. The deer was frightened and immediately jumped away. The longbow in my hand fell to the ground, and I was immediately covered on horseback.

"Xingsi!"

He immediately got off his horse and came over to support me: "What's wrong with you?"

I held my chest, bit my lower lip firmly, and endured it until the throbbing pain passed and my forehead was sweating, then I said softly: "It hurts a little."

He frowned, and immediately stretched out his hand to hug me off the horse. I was held across his chest by him, and my breathing was slightly suffocated. As soon as I looked up, I met his concerned eyes, that kind of warm eyes The gaze made me relax a little, so I gave him a faint smile: "It's okay, I've been used to it for a long time."

"Have you been in more pain recently than before?"

"No, it's just riding a horse, it's just a little bumpy."

I said it lightly, but he didn't relax at all, and there was almost a word between his brows: "I don't know where Yu He has gone, and he hasn't come back for so long."

"..." My heart trembled slightly, and I immediately said, "Perhaps, it's because Liang Chengxin and the others are hard to find their secluded place. It will take some time, and it's fine."

After I finished speaking, I looked around and heard the sound of running water in front of me, so I said, "I'm going to wash my face."

He nodded, and walked forward with me in his arms. After a while, he walked out of the dense forest. In front of him, there was indeed a stream that was crystal clear, and the wind carried the coolness of the flowing water. By the river, take a silk handkerchief and soak it in stream water, wring it dry, and then gently wipe it for me.

His movements were very light and gentle, as if he was wiping some peerless treasure, fearing that it would break if he exerted too much force.

I looked up at him.

Gradually, his movements became slower and slower, slower and slower, and finally stopped. I only felt his breathing, as if he was entangled with something that couldn't get rid of, and it was still heavy, and this was me and him. Between, always inaccessible distance.

I slowly stretched out my hand towards his mask. As soon as my fingertips touched it, he immediately backed away as if awakened by a start.

"do not move."

I said in a low voice, holding his face with both hands to prevent him from escaping, his breathing became more and more rapid, when my fingertips moved slightly to remove the mask from his face, his breathing was almost gone stopped.

My breathing also stopped.

The last time he took off his mask was in Suzaku. I played with him and slapped him in anger, but I didn’t have time to look carefully at that time. Now that I’m so close, I can see his face. The traces of being slashed by a knife and burned by fire are like dry and cracked earth, and numerous scars are all over the originally handsome face, like a ghost.

Tears welled up all of a sudden, and when I spoke again, I was so choked up that I could hardly speak.

"At that time, did it hurt?"

His breath was suffocating, as if it didn't hurt at that time, but now, it's really hurting beside me, he immediately turned his face to avoid it, but I already said: "You know, Shui Mingji once As I said, she cursed us that we will not see each other in life, and we will not be dependent on each other in death."

He froze, looking up at me.

"Because she knows about it, I won't forgive you, and you won't forgive yourself, will you?"

"..." He slowly lowered his head.

I took another step forward, gently held his scarred face, looked at his trembling red eyes, and said, "But, if I say, I have forgiven you? Will you forgive yourself?" ?”

He was startled, and looked up at me like he couldn't believe it: "Why?"

"I know, this is not what you think, she—Shui Xunyou, she also drugged Shaoyu, I know, I know..."

"Shaoyu?" He froze for a moment, then looked at me hurriedly: "You—"

"The dose of the potion is not much, Shaoyu is awake, so there is not."

I thought he would be relieved when I said this, but at this moment, his eyes became even darker.

"You can forgive me, but I can't forgive myself."

"why?"

"Xingsi—" He looked at me, as if he was being judged, his whole body was empty, and then I heard a hollow voice saying in my ear: "I, too, am awake."

"..."

I froze for a moment, staring at him with wide eyes.

"I'm also awake," he said, "In front of me, there is Shui Mingji and other people. If I want it, or if I don't want it, there are other ways, but—Xingsi, I..."

He didn't continue, and my hands holding his face trembled violently.

He's conscious, he could have done something else, but he—still found me, why, why?
I looked at him, and felt that the sunlight above my head had never been as dazzling as this moment. It reflected in people's eyes chaotically, disturbing my heart—what is this?Is it his salvation?Or is it my sinking?For so many years, he and I have survived almost to the end, but it turns out that we have returned to the original point.

Seeing my pale appearance, he backed away silently, turned around and wanted to leave.

"Tell me," I said suddenly, "if you could start time again, what would you do?"

He stopped suddenly.

"If you could do it all over again, if you could go back to the very beginning, what would you do?"

He turned his head and looked at me: "If time can be restarted, everything will still be the same."

A gust of wind blew, and the petals falling in the forest fell from the top of my head one after another. In such a late autumn, I was fascinated for a while.I stood there and smiled.

He also smiled.

It turns out that everything is still the same, Yingying staring at each other under the bright moonlight of Guigu, the mourners crying in the storm of Yanfu Temple, and the life and death of thousands of troops on the battlefield, it turns out that I am doomed.

He is my catastrophe, even if he is exhausted, he will not be able to reach the shore.

I laughed and burst into tears.

Looking at me, he seemed to understand a little bit. He was silent for a while and said, "Xingsi, have you ever been sincere to me these years?"

I remembered that it was here, by this stream, that he once stood behind me and asked me stubbornly.

But at that time, how did I answer?
I looked at him: "I—"

Before he finished speaking, suddenly, a cold light flashed in front of his eyes.

It was a ray of light faster than lightning, like a meteor across the sky, it sank into my chest in an instant.

I didn't even have time to feel the pain, I only heard the sound of flesh and blood ripping in my ears, a little at a loss, slowly lowered my head, and saw an arrow piercing my chest.

……

He ran towards me frantically and hugged me tightly.

"Don't! Don't! Xingsi—!"

His roar rang in my ears, I fell down, the stream soaked my clothes quickly, blood flowed down, made exquisite sounds along the clear water, and slowly spread towards the downstream, only for a moment , then disappeared.

I raised my head in his arms, the white sunlight in front of me was so scorching, it hurt my eyes, and his flustered figure kept flickering, but I couldn't see his face clearly under the haze.

don't want……

don't want……

What don't you want?

I lay slumped in his arms, my chest slowly felt, it was not pain, but hot, hot blood flowed out bit by bit, just like my last life, and my body, Even in his arms began to become unstoppably cold, no matter how crazy he was, in the face of death, love and hatred were of no avail.

I finally smiled and closed my eyes.

.

Qinglong Ji, the second year of Dingguang, on September [-]th, Qinglong Emperor Xuanyuan Xingsi died suddenly during the autumn hunting in the Juma River Valley.

Unexpectedly, the official historian remembered only one sentence about this shocking event, the word violent death, which ended the life of Xuanyuan Xingsi, the only female emperor in the Central Plains for hundreds of years.

However, there are many records of her death in unofficial history.

Among them, the most widely circulated version is that the ministers in the court thought of the old master, assassinated the empress with cold arrows in the Juma River Valley, and later embraced Ling Shaoyang, the legacy of the Qinglong royal family, as the emperor. However, after Ling Shaoyang ascended the throne, he did not restore the old system. On the contrary, All the systems followed the New Deal enacted by Xuanyuan Xingsi. The capital was moved to Chang'an, which was later renamed Chang'an, which meant long-term peace and stability; the capital of the Eastern Qinglong Kingdom called Ye as the accompanying capital, and was later renamed Luoyang, which was far away from Chang'an. Afterwards, Henan Road, a feudal town that mirrored Chang'an in the distance, was formed, and the hidden danger of the separation of the Eastern Capital was buried.

Moreover, the first thing this ghost-faced emperor did after he came to the court was not to award meritorious deeds, but to kill all the ministers who participated in the planning of the assassination. .

Although until the end, it was not found out who the person who shot the cold arrow was.

Later, a one-armed scholar surnamed Li appeared in the south. His style of writing was undisciplined, with needles in his heart, and pointed out the current problems. In the end, it divided the river with the great Confucian surnamed Liang in the north, forming a very different cultural pattern between the north and the south.

Of course, these are things for later.

(End of this chapter)