Chapter 100: Final Chapter: Shattered Moon Dust Heart, Eternal Unredemption

The snow fell for three days and three nights and finally stopped.

The thatched cottage beside the former site of the Marquis of Loyalty and Bravery had long been buried by the snow, leaving only a vague outline, like a forgotten grave. The wind blew the remaining snow across the thatched roof of the cottage, making a humming sound, like someone sobbing softly, or perhaps recounting a dusty past.

No one knew that in this thatched cottage, there once lived a mad prince, who spent the rest of his life guarding a dead body; no one knew that in the corner of the thatched cottage, there was a broken jade pendant - it was the only thought of Prince Duan Xiao Jin and the guilty concubine Yun Zhi.

Until a lost woodcutter, in order to avoid the snow, pried open the broken door of the thatched hut.

The thatched cottage was filled with dust and snow, cold as an ice cellar. A brick wall had collapsed in the corner, revealing a half-buried wooden box within. The box had long since decayed, the plain clothing covering it shredded into strips. Only a jade pendant, wedged in a crack, shimmered in the snow, a cold, luminous sheen.

The woodcutter picked up the jade pendant curiously, his fingertips touching the uneven incisions on it. He took a closer look and saw eight words: "Broken moon, dusty heart, neither owes the other anything."

The handwriting had long since faded with age, but the determination with which it was carved could still be seen. The woodcutter didn't understand the meaning of these eight words, but he felt a chill emanating from the jade pendant, which made him shudder. He quickly returned the jade pendant to the wooden box and hurried out of the thatched cottage, as if something ominous was hidden inside.

The wind picked up again, carrying snowflakes and sealing the broken door of the thatched cottage once again. Just like before, the heavy snow buried Xiao Jin's traces and his regrets, but it could not bury the past entangled with love and hate.

Some people said that Yun Zhi had specially engraved words on this jade pendant before she jumped off the palace wall - she wanted to carry it with her with her, saying "we owe each other nothing" and completely sever all ties with Xiao Jin; others said that Xiao Jin engraved the words on the jade pendant after he found the dry bones - he wanted to deceive himself that they had already made peace, but he could not deceive the regret that tormented him at night.

But no matter what the truth is, this jade pendant has ultimately become the only witness to this tragedy.

It had seen the sweet osmanthus flowers blooming in the Mansion of the Loyal and Brave Marquis, and had seen Yun Zhi wearing plain clothes, with stars in her eyes, saying to Xiao Jin, "Who are you?"; it had seen the cold night in the Mansion of Prince Duan, where Yun Zhi hugged the broken hairpin and cried until dawn, with blood dripping down the hem of her skirt onto the blue bricks; it had seen the plain clothes falling from the palace wall, and Xiao Jin's heart-wrenching roar shook off the rubble on the wall; it had also seen the winter night in the thatched cottage, where Xiao Jin hugged the dry bones, repeatedly chanting "Zhi'er", and his tears froze into ice grains.

Today, the osmanthus tree has withered, the palace walls have aged, the thatched cottage has collapsed, and even the people of that time have turned to dust. Only this jade pendant remains where it was, gleaming in the moonlight and snow, a cold light, like a pair of eyes, observing the world's joys and sorrows, watching those who come after them, speaking of the legend of "Prince Duan's Guilty Concubine," sighing, "Don't bully the weak, don't miss out on true love."

The night deepened, and moonlight filtered through the snow, casting a shadow on the ruins of the thatched cottage. The jade pendant lay half-buried in the snow, its inscriptions clearly visible in the moonlight: "Broken moon, dusty heart, neither owes the other anything."

The wind swept through the ruins, blowing up a cloud of snow, as if responding to something.

Perhaps, Yun Zhi truly achieved "neither owed the other anything." She turned to dust with innocence and liberation, no longer entangled by hatred and pain; but Xiao Jin was forever trapped in the "Broken Moon Dust Heart." His regret did not dissipate with his death. Instead, like this jade pendant, it remained in the world and in the hearts of everyone who heard this story, reminding them—

Some mistakes, once made, can never be made up for; some people, once missed, can never be recovered.

The moonlight faded, and the sky in the east began to turn pale. A new day began. The sun would rise, the snow would melt, and the ruins of the thatched cottage would be covered with new weeds, as if no one had ever been here and that tragic past had never happened.

But only the jade pendant knows that in an unknown corner, deep in the years, there is a love and hate that once burned fiercely and also extinguished completely.

All love and hate will return to dust.

Only regret will last forever.