Chapter 60 Chapter 60 Dreaming

Li Cheng had always believed that the culprit behind Liang Yuan's murder was the emperor and empress, who sat high in the imperial court. Later, he discovered that not only they, but he himself was also one of the murderers.

After the high fever for a few days, Mingyue and Yuhu, who had been serving Liangyuan, came to report that Liangyuan went directly to see the prince after returning from Prince Xian's Mansion that day.

But for some reason, after being gone for almost a minute, I became distracted when I came back. I felt like a flower on a branch that had lost the sunlight and rain, and was gradually withering.

They asked Liang Yuan, but she refused to say anything and just changed the subject. Sometimes when she had some free time, she would stare blankly at the incense burner in the house. As she stared, tears would well up on her cheeks.

They said Liangyuan had come to see them that day, but Li Cheng hadn't seen them. He and Li Fu were discussing the Crown Prince's Hundred-Day Banquet. At the time, it was a long-held tradition that if the Emperor and Empress personally poured wine from a golden cup for their grandson and sprinkled it beneath the Bodhi tree, it would bless the grandson with a healthy life.

But the golden cup carved with a five-clawed golden dragon is an imperial utensil, representing the supreme imperial majesty. This can also be interpreted from another perspective, that this child is the next crown prince chosen by the emperor and empress.

When the Crown Prince and the Empress proposed the matter, the usually benevolent Empress was unwilling to agree, offering numerous excuses, hinting, in part, that the child was weak and might not outlive you. Furthermore, although he was the eldest grandson, his mother was of low status. You would eventually marry the Crown Princess. If you established the Crown Prince early, what would become of the legitimate child born to Li Cheng and the Crown Princess?

Li Cheng was unable to persuade the Emperor and Empress, and was worried that Liang Yuan would be overthinking after giving birth and would be saddened to hear that Zhou Er was not favored. However, Li Cheng never expected that the conversation with Li Fu that day would be one of the triggers for Liang Yuan's own death.

I remember one night, Liang Hanzhang retired to bed early. The prince had just returned from outside, feeling cold, and was bathing in the bathroom.

After putting on his white inner garment, he blew out the light and walked out. He saw that the young lady had fallen asleep. Her porcelain-white face was peaceful, and the quilt covering her body fluttered slowly with her breathing.

The prince felt warm in his heart. He put down the white jade hook, leaving only a small lamp beside him, and lay down beside the young lady, holding her soft body in his arms as usual.

Liang Yuan let out a moan, her thick eyelashes fluttering. After a moment, she opened her eyes and woke up. Seeing the man beside her, she hugged him back with some attachment, and said in a soft voice, "Your Highness."

Li Cheng bit her ear and said, "Call me darling." Then he said, "Did I wake you up?"

Liang Yuan shook her head and yawned delicately. Her eyes were misty with sleepiness, pure and beautiful. She glanced at Li Cheng lightly, as if to say to herself that he was shameless.

The prince was slightly startled by the shimmering eyes. He had no idea what was going on, but suddenly a surge of blood rushed to his head, and his lower abdomen felt hot and uncomfortable.

The prince secretly despised himself in his heart. Liang Yuan had just come out of confinement and her body had not yet recovered, yet he could have such a beastly thought.

The prince channeled his energy into his dantian, trying to push back the overwhelming surge of desire. But the woman in his arms seemed to have touched something she shouldn't have, and when she looked up at the prince, she saw through the mystery.

She did not hesitate, but turned over and straddled the prince, with her upper body lying on the prince's body, her lips and teeth pressed against his. Her soft black hair fell from her shoulders and onto his wheat-colored chest.

Her glutinous teeth bit the prince's earlobe, and her voice was sticky, like honey: "Your Highness, may I serve you?"

"Kiss?"

The prince already felt his blood boiling. When the word "kiss" came out of the woman's red lips, he looked at such a beautiful woman, a rare beauty in the world, and immediately breathed like an old cow panting, with a burning gaze.

But in the end, relying on his strong self-control, he put the woman down, opened the curtains and prepared to take a cold shower. The prince never claimed to be a gentleman, but he felt that he could not do such a thing to his wife who had just come out of confinement.

It’s better to go to the bathroom and take a cold shower to put out the fire.

As he was putting on his shoes by the bed, the beautiful woman, who had just been charming and charming, put her arms around his slightly slender but extremely strong waist from behind and said in a seductive voice, "Where are you going, dear? Is there something about me not serving you well?"

As he said this, he moved his hand down.

Li Cheng's face was frozen, and he suppressed the throbbing in his heart as he pulled the woman's wrist away. His voice was hoarse and full of lust: "My dear, your body is not fit for your favor yet. Wait a few months, okay?"

When Liang Yuan heard what he said, she didn't know what she was thinking. She suddenly lost her enthusiasm, coldly withdrew her hands, and said expressionlessly: "Then your highness, please go."

Li Cheng didn't know why her mood changed so quickly. Then he remembered that the imperial physician had once told him that women would have strange personalities after giving birth. In addition, he was now burning with desire, so he didn't care about all that. He responded and prepared to go to the bathroom.

Liang Yuan sat within the Xiang Fei-colored bed curtains, her petite figure veiled in darkness. Li Cheng sensed a burning gaze from behind him. When he turned to look, he saw Liang Yuan staring at him. Her eyes, always full of life and energy, now held a hint of resentment and sadness.

Li Cheng's mind was filled with a thousand thoughts. For some reason, he suddenly felt as if Liang Yuan and he were from two different worlds. Now, she was sitting there peacefully, right beside him, her innocent little face filled with his thoughts and eyes.

But at that moment, the prince suddenly felt as if he could not hold on to anything, and something was about to slip away from his palm.

An unreasonable fear came over him, and the prince no longer had any other romantic thoughts. The passion and desire in his body disappeared like the tide.

He turned and walked towards Liang Yuan and heard her weak voice: "Your Highness, if I die one day, will you be sad for me?" The prince was shocked and didn't know why she asked such a question.

He sat back on the bed, held her hand, and said in a low voice, "What nonsense are you talking about?! You are a lonely man, and you have the True Dragon Emperor protecting you. This kind of thing will never happen."

The Crown Prince was inexplicably flustered, wondering why she was acting like this tonight. The Eastern Palace was heavily guarded, and all food was tested for poison by medical officers. The Emperor and Empress had also relented, stating that it was only a momentary outburst of anger and that they would not kill Liang Yuan.

No one would hurt her, no one could hurt her, so why would Liang Yuan have such thoughts? Could it be that she had already decided to die?!

The prince thought about this possibility and felt that he couldn't ignore her sudden emotions. The imperial physician had long ago explained that women tend to be overly worried and insecure after giving birth, so as a husband, he should naturally be more tolerant.

He hugged the girl, kissed the tip of her hair gently, and coaxed her hoarsely, "Our Zhang Niang, you must live a long life, to see our Zhou Er grow up day by day, to see the babbling Zhou Er grow up with a bent back, white hair, and loose teeth, right?"

He coaxes her like a child.

Liang Hanzhang looked at the man she had slept with for countless days and nights, the man who held supreme power and was also the father of her child. For some reason, a smile suddenly stretched across her lips.

She hugged the prince back, buried her face in his arms, and nodded, "I naturally believe in Your Highness."

She said in a muffled voice, "But everyone will die one day. My parents have little kinship with me, and in this life I am only worried about Zhou'er who is still in his infancy. If I unfortunately pass away one day, Your Highness must promise me that you will take good care of Zhou'er and not let him be bullied."

The Crown Prince was deeply distressed upon hearing this. When had she become so pessimistic? Had someone been gossiping about her recently? Or had she already known about the Empress's threats to him?

Li Cheng thought about it and felt that the last one was the most likely. It must be one of his servants who noticed something and told Liang Yuan about it. When he got the chance, he would definitely deal with it.

He softened his voice to comfort her: "Zhang Niang, have you heard some rumors about the Emperor and the Empress? Don't worry, the Empress has already said that she was wrong. She was just anxious for the moment and didn't really want your life. You are alone, no one can do anything to you, not even the Emperor."

Later, Li Cheng realized how hypocritical and foolish his words were that night. The queen said nothing would happen, and then poisoned him to death.

How could he be so confident that the emperor and empress would not deceive him, and would not say one thing to his face and another behind his back?

Li Rong felt both regret and hatred. He hated himself for not being able to protect the one he loved, and he also hated the emperor and empress for not being able to tolerate even a weak woman.

It was not until later that I heard Mingyue's two maids report that during that period, Liangyuan would sometimes mutter to herself when she sat alone, "Will he give me poisoned wine?"

The two maids didn't know who this "he" was, but Emperor Jianping understood Liang Yuan's muttering.

At that moment, Li Cheng suddenly realized that Liang Yuan had overheard his conversation with Li Fu that day and heard "pour wine" as "poison wine". Combined with his own confused remarks, Liang Yuan believed that he was going to kill her.

No wonder she'd drunk the poisoned tea and then spooked her horse, causing it to fall off a cliff and die. No wonder she'd asked that question that night. No wonder she'd asked him to treat Zhou'er well.

So, that's the reason.

In an avalanche, no snowflake is innocent. Now, when the truth is revealed, no one is truly innocent and can escape unscathed.

The one who hurt her the most and caused her the most pain was actually him, the high-handed crown prince who spoke in high-sounding terms.

This incident was enough to make Li Cheng regret for the rest of his life.

Now, the person he'd thought about day and night had finally appeared in his dreams. Li Cheng wanted nothing more than to hold the little girl in his arms and confess his sins. His sins were so deep that he was doomed to not enter the cycle of reincarnation. Without reincarnation, he would never be able to meet Zhang Niang again.

That's why he believed the monks' and Taoists' words to summon his soul. After his death, in the River of Oblivion, Zhang Niang drank Meng Po's soup, and he couldn't enter the cycle of reincarnation. Thus, he and Zhang Niang would never see each other again.

How could Emperor Jianping endure this?

He is the master of all things. In the three realms of heaven, earth and man, he is the king of the human world. As long as he is sincere and as long as he never slacks off, one day he will have the opportunity to meet Zhang Niang again.

He thought so and said so in his dream. For some reason, the little girl seemed not to see him. She lay on the edge of the grass and played with grasshoppers, muttering softly: "Mammy is not here, Baoer can play."

The scene shifted, revealing a young woman in a pink dress, her hair adorned with a few flowers picked for her by the maid. She nimbly climbed up the tree trunk, jumped down from the small window, and walked over to a dejected young man. She tilted her head and pointed at her own head, "Flowers."

Li Yan knew that the young boy was his former self.

Seeing that the boy didn't respond, she squatted down and sat next to him, pulling his sleeve and calling softly, "Brother."

"Are Baoer's flowers pretty?"

The boy was very indifferent and still did not answer.

After all, the young lady was young, and when she suddenly met a brother with such a bad temper, she couldn't help but pouting and sat beside him sullenly. Unconsciously, tears welled up in her eyes due to grievance.

Li Rong felt distressed when he saw this and wanted to go in and hug the young lady to comfort her: "The flower on your head is very beautiful, I like it very much."

However, he was like an outsider who could only watch all this but could not move or change anything.

In his dream, he could still hear the little girl's clear laughter. Li Cheng missed her so much, but he was pulled forward by a powerful force. Soon, he regained consciousness.

…

After three days of coma, Emperor Jianping finally woke up successfully. All the eunuchs and palace maids who served him cried for joy.

Li Fu cried the loudest.

Li Cheng slowly opened his eyes, and looked at everything in front of him with a hazy vision. He saw Li Huaizhou sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at him with tearful eyes, and kept calling out "Father".

The child was only five years old, after all. Even though he was calm and composed, he was suddenly horrified to see his father, the Emperor, collapse in the hall and remain unconscious for three days. He cried countless times, guarding the Purple Palace every day, hoping his father would open his eyes and call him "Zhou'er" as usual.

Li Huaizhou had no idea that his mother held such a deep obsession in his heart. If he had a choice, he would never disobey his father in Qianyuan Hall again, and he would never let his father lie down for three whole days out of anger.

Li Cheng felt a little weak after lying there for a long time. He looked at the five-year-old child, and the innocent face of the child vaguely reminded him of the little girl in his dream. His eyes welled up, and he raised his hand to stroke Li Huaizhou's hair: "Don't be afraid, Dad is here."

Seeing that his father was finally willing to pay attention to him, Li Huaizhou could no longer hold back and threw himself into the arms of Emperor Jianping, crying, "Father! It was my fault! I shouldn't have said those treasonous words that day. Please don't be angry with me, okay?"

Li Cheng remained silent. He knew the enormous cost of the annual sacrifices, and he knew the civil and military officials were critical of them. But when it came to matters concerning Zhang Niang, he persisted, even if the world reviled him.

He was not angry with Li Huaizhou. On the contrary, he was angry because Li Huaizhou's childish words revealed the cruel truth behind them.

There was no Zhang Niang in the world anymore. Even if he chanted sutras day and night, and spent huge sums of money every year to help Zhang Niang overcome her misfortunes, the girl who had grown in his heart would never come back.

Li Huaizhou's words that day, with a childlike innocence and cruelty, revealed the naked truth before him.

Realizing all this, Emperor Jianping fainted on the ground in extreme grief that day.