Chapter 62 Chapter 62 Finale (Part 1)

As soon as the new emperor ascended the throne, he issued two edicts.

First, to open up the special examinations to select talented people from all over the world regardless of their background to serve as a reserve for the country;

The second is to grant amnesty to the whole country. Except for serious crimes such as treason and parricide, the sentences of other prisoners will be reduced by one level, and refugees who return home can also be granted land.

Under the new policy, the atmosphere in the court was completely changed.

The injustice of treason suffered by the late Prince Chen was cleared up in just half a month after investigation by a group of veteran officials including the Imperial Censor Kong Jinghe.

Prince Chen was posthumously named Emperor Xiaokang and enshrined in the Taimiao, where he was worshipped along with emperors of all dynasties.

As Meng Liangyu was brought to justice, dozens of old cases were retried one after another. In just two months, countless injustices were redressed, shocking the government and the public.

The new emperor issued an edict to reduce taxes and levies, open granaries to release grain, encourage agriculture and sericulture, and develop water conservancy...

Although the people knew that the new emperor was disabled, their support for him did not diminish in the slightest, and his kindness was praised in the streets and alleys.

The capital city was swept away by the gloom of several months, and the people were jubilant as if it were a festival. Shangyang Street was filled with music and singing all day long.

Deep in the streets not far from the palace, an elegant mansion stood quietly. At this moment, on the highest attic, Xinyi, still wearing a lilac long dress, was leaning on the railing and gazing into the distance, overlooking the lights of thousands of homes, as bright as the stars.

"This is what he wants." She smiled faintly.

Uncle Chen walked out of the room and gently covered Aunt Xue, who was lying on the recliner, with the cloak draped over his arm.

He slowly approached Xinyi's side and stared into the distance with her. "Why did you reject the Imperial Household Department's selection invitation? Isn't that exactly what you wanted?"

"What do I want?" Xinyi suddenly retorted loudly. Uncle Chen glanced at the sleeping Nanny Xue. She quickly lowered her voice, but her tone was still angry: "Uncle Chen, don't talk nonsense!"

As soon as Qi Yu ascended the throne, many important officials in the court came to inquire with Chen Bo, asking him tactfully whether His Majesty's leg disease would affect the continuation of his offspring.

After learning that His Majesty was in good health, court officials came forward one after another, either nominating their own daughters of marriageable age or noble ladies from their families, begging His Majesty to fill his harem and appoint a queen as soon as possible to strengthen the foundation of the country.

Xinyi's father, who was wrongly implicated in the case of Prince Chen's treason, was posthumously conferred the title of marquis after being rehabilitated. As a noble lady from a marquis's family, Xinyi was naturally among those invited to participate in the selection.

But her mood was completely different now. She folded her arms and sighed, "I became the emperor, and I have three thousand beauties, but not one of them is what I want."

"Do I have to stay in the palace, waiting for your favor every night? Uncle Chen... I can't imagine a life like that."

Uncle Chen smiled and shook his head, "Being an emperor or a concubine is far from as simple as you think."

"So, I'm not suitable." Xinyi suddenly smiled at him from outside: "I still miss the days in Qizhou more."

"Uncle Chen, please tell the young master that Xinyi is going back to Qizhou."

*

Winter always comes earlier in the mountains than outside the mountains.

At night, the team set up camp.

The news of the new emperor's ascension to the throne had spread throughout the army, and morale was inevitably greatly reduced. In addition, due to the shortage of food and fodder, everyone had to tighten their belts and eat less.

Fortunately, as long as they cross one more mountain, they will receive support from the Dian army. After that, they will cross the canyon behind the mountain and join up with the main army.

In the main tent, Lin Zhen was staring at the coarse cloth in front of her in a daze. She knew that once this news was passed on to Qi Yu, there would be no turning back.

Perhaps, this is the best ending for her and Ji Sui...

She clenched the coarse cloth tightly and found that she had broken out in a cold sweat and her hands were shaking uncontrollably.

She heard footsteps outside the tent, and hurriedly turned the coarse cloth over and covered the tray.

Ji Sui entered the tent and glanced at the untouched porridge on the table. He asked, "It's getting cold. Why don't you eat it yet?"

As he spoke, he walked towards the table, but was suddenly stopped by Lin Zhen, "Cold... I'm so cold..."

Ji Sui stopped and held her hand. His palm was surprisingly warm. He put his hand on her forehead and said, "Lin Zhen, you may have caught a cold and are running a fever. I'll go get a basin of water..."

"No!" Lin Zhen suddenly hugged his waist, "I don't want you to go out, don't leave me."

Lin Zhen looked up at him, his eyes misty, perhaps due to the fever.

Ji Sui lowered his head and held her face in his hands, "Okay, this general will not leave."

He untied her hands from around his waist, squatted down and carried her onto the couch.

He was about to get up, but Lin Zhen hooked her arms around his neck again, pulling him close, her chest heaving violently, her eyes looking at him intently.

Ji Wei couldn't help but frown, raised his hand to pull her hand, and said in a heavier tone: "Lin Zhen, you are sick."

Lin Zhen seemed not to hear his voice. Seeing that he refused to give in, he could only raise his head with all his strength and try to cover his lips.

She kissed him rapidly and without any reason.

Ji Wei held her head with his hand, lay down close to her, and bit her lightly: "Lin Zhen, stop messing around."

But she didn't want to listen, didn't want to listen.

She fumbled with his collar, trying desperately to untie it, but the more anxious she was, the more mistakes she made, and she couldn't untie it at all.

The mist in her phoenix eyes condensed into tears. She still tightly grasped his clothes, looking at him with hazy eyes, "You want me, please..."

The tears fell into her hair, but it seemed as if they fell into his heart, burning him.

She seemed to be venting her despair, but also seemed to be expressing endless attachment, as if she wanted to merge their flesh and blood into one through such intimacy.

Ji Sui's movements were always gentle and restrained, and he tried every means to comfort her. Only when the person in his arms slowly calmed down from the afterglow of passion and fell into a deep sleep did he pull away and hurriedly pour cold water over her body to dispel the unreleased fire.

Picking up the bucket, he went out of the tent to fetch hot water.

*

When Lin Zhen woke up, his high fever had subsided and he felt much more refreshed.

She rubbed her forehead, and the memory of last night gradually came back to her. She then remembered that she was out of control last night and forgot to send the tray out.

She hurriedly got up and walked over, only to see that the tray had been moved from the edge of the table to the middle, and the coarse cloth on it had been neatly arranged.

She suspected that Ji Rui had moved it, so she quickly turned the cloth over to see - fortunately, the handwriting was still there.

After a while, the internal soldier entered the tent and took away the tray, and Lin Zhen's heart finally settled down.

*

After another half month's trek, the team finally arrived at the foot of the mountain and rested temporarily in a deserted temple before nightfall.

In the middle of the night, the sound of a cart suddenly came from outside the temple. The personal soldiers around Ji Bai were instantly alerted and drew their swords.

A gray-haired old man staggered in, leading a skinny mule. Behind the mule was a cart piled with dead branches, and a little boy was sitting on the dead branches.

The blades of several knives emitted a cold silver light in the moonlight, which startled the old man.

It was pitch black outside. The old man obviously didn't expect that there would be soldiers stationed in the dilapidated temple. He stood at the door with a nervous expression.

Seeing that it was just an old and weak grandparents, the soldier put away his knife and lay down again.

Seeing that the soldiers had no intention of making things difficult for him, the old man slowly pulled the mule cart to a corner, removed the shaft, and carefully took his grandson down from the dead branch.

Only Shizhu, who was lying on the side with her arms folded, was still staring at them with eyes like a hawk.

Late at night, Lin Zhen was sleeping soundly when he suddenly heard a low voice in his ears: "General, what they are carrying on the cart is indeed not firewood, but two whole stones of rice! Do you want me to -" He had just paid special attention to the old man's movements. The heavy force when he unloaded the shaft of the cart did not seem like firewood at all. So he went to check after they fell asleep, and it was indeed true.

The mountain they were about to cross was passable, but the road was long and rugged. As far as Lin Zhen knew, their remaining food and fodder might not be enough to sustain them over the mountain.

After listening to Shi Zhu's words, Lin Zhen was already mostly awake, but she was still dozing on her side until she heard Ji Sui's low voice of disapproval, and then she fell asleep again.

When I woke up the next day, the grandparents had gone.

Lin Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and followed the army into the mountains.

At noon, the troops rested at a mountain pass to prepare, the soldiers tightened their saddles, bandaged their horses' hooves, and unpacked their heavy weapons into backpacks.

The firemen dug a stove on the spot, made a fire, and cooked porridge.

Lin Zhen was still lost in thought. She looked at the towering and vast mountain in front of her. Behind the mountain was a long and narrow canyon. The terrain was dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it was an excellent place for an ambush.

And this is also the burial place that Lin Zhen chose for her and Ji Sui.

Although she had already agreed on an ambush plan with Qi Yushi, the communication was made in a hurry, and Lin Zhen could not predict whether the plan would succeed.

If the elite troops led by the king of Dian and Ji Bai's vanguard were allowed to cross the canyon, join the main army, and then attack the capital, the consequences would be unimaginable.

She wasn't completely sure, but she had no choice but to take a gamble.

While he was stunned, a bowl of thick, white porridge was suddenly handed to Lin Zhen, with a few slices of meat in it.

Lin Zhen was slightly stunned - they had clearly been drinking porridge for several days.

"Brothers! Have a good meal today! Get enough energy to go into the mountains!" Shizhu suddenly stood up, and his loud voice echoed at the mountain pass.

Ji Rui sat next to her, a faint smile on his lips, watching the soldiers' excited expressions.

The army suddenly became lively, and the soldiers wolfed down their bowls of porridge. Only Lin Zhen felt something was wrong.

It would take at least five days to cross this mountain. Where did they get all that rice and meat?

She knew that their war horses were very valuable, and the soldiers did not kill a single one even though they were hungry along the way.

Lin Zhen suddenly looked at Ji Sui, pushed away the porridge he handed over, and asked harshly: "You still stole their food and killed them?! This meat——"

She suddenly felt nauseous and turned her head to retch.

Ji Sui sneered: "This general has not fallen to such a barbaric level, but without the strength to move and food, whether they can survive depends on their luck."

After saying that, he picked up the porridge that he was going to give to Lin Zhen and drank it leisurely.

Lin Zhen looked coldly at the soldiers sitting on the ground eating, suddenly jumped onto the back of a horse, and without waiting for everyone to react, he pulled the reins tightly and ran back.

"General!" Shi Zhu wanted to chase, but Ji Sui raised his hand to stop him.

*

When Lin Zhen hurried back, the grandfather and grandson were standing at the door of the dilapidated temple with their eyes wide open.

She dismounted and walked back quickly. Before she could say anything, the little boy jumped up with joy: "That great general really wasn't lying. Someone really came to pick us up!"

"What...? What are you talking about?" Lin Zhen was extremely confused.

"The general bought our food, gave us a lot of silver, and said that a big sister would take us home!" As he said this, he took out a box from his arms and handed it to Lin Zhen with a smile, "Here, there's also this. The general said it's yours."

Lin Zhen's mind went blank. She stiffened her arms, took the box with her fingertips, and slowly opened it.

——It’s a plum blossom wood hairpin.

The one that Ji Sui carved five years ago.

*

The battle at Falling Eagle Canyon lasted for two full days.

The ambush originally set up by the Zhou State was accidentally exposed before the Dian State troops completely entered the heart of the canyon because they were prepared too hastily.

The Dian army, with their keen sense of smell, saw that the situation was not right and immediately turned their horses around and retreated out of the canyon.

Suddenly, there was a deafening cry of killing from behind - the Qizhou soldiers following the Yunnan Army suddenly drew their swords and attacked, blocking their retreat.

Ji Sui led the way, his sword raised high, and shouted sternly: "Kill the Dian bandits! Protect our land!"

The soldiers immediately responded, their roars shaking the heavens and their momentum overwhelming.

Originally, the soldiers thought that the general wanted to use Dian to attack the capital, which was a crime of treason, and the morale of the army was already showing signs of being shaken.

But after entering the mountain, they learned that the general's real strategy was to lure the enemy deep into the mountains and then annihilate them in one fell swoop.

Then they are heroes who save the country!

The morale of the soldiers suddenly soared, and they all fought bravely and risked their lives.

War horses whizzed past on both sides, and Ji Rui sat motionless on the horse, his pair of dark peach blossom eyes looking at another pair of dark eyes.

He remembered what he had said to him that night in the camp, "Your mother is stubborn and stupid. All women are stupid like that, but you are different. You are the son of the lonely king. You are more like the lonely king."

Does he look like him?

He doesn't know.

His mother never told him.

His mother rarely even spoke to him - because he was his son.

That night was the first time Ji Sui met him, but he had hated him for more than twenty years before that.

Ji Sui was originally going to kill him, but now he did it earlier than planned.

Ji Sui suddenly raised the whip, and Chi Heng seemed to sense his master's intention. His fiery red mane flew up in an instant, like a ball of running flame.

The Zhou soldiers lying in ambush were obviously shocked by the scene before them. The order they received was clearly to capture the traitor Ji Rui and the enemy bandits in one fell swoop.

How did this rebel suddenly become reinforcement? !

But it was only a moment's hesitation, and the commander quickly gave orders and rushed down to support Ji Sui's troops.

As dusk fell on the second day, the battle was finally won.

The sky was gray and snow began to fall - the first snow of this winter.

The long and deep canyon was filled with people lying there, some dead and some alive.

And the dying——

Ji Rui was lying on a pile of corpses, his armor blackened by blood, his breathing weak and even.

Snowflakes fell on his fingertips and he moved his fingers slightly.

He suddenly remembered the night when Lin Zhen picked him up. It was also so cold.

Desperately cold.

He once stubbornly believed that she was the coldest person in the world, but when he thought about it carefully, the few warmth he had in his life were all given by her.

Even though he didn't want to admit it, he just longed for Lin Zhen's love.

He even felt jealous of her because he couldn't get what he wanted.

But God seemed to be playing a huge joke on him. Those things he thought were out of reach turned out to be in his hands all the time and never left him.

Those ridiculous, self-consoling dreams he thought were born out of obsession—turned out to be facts he couldn't believe.

She also once held his hand tightly in the mud and refused to let go.

She had also followed him in the middle of the night, peeling off her cold shell, and letting him have whatever he wanted with her warmest and softest side.

She never abandoned him.

He is cowardly and mean, and he has trapped himself in a cage.

Those sharp thorns born of jealousy had hurt her time and time again, so much so that after realizing her love and compassion, he no longer had the courage to face it.

Maybe he really is like him, and he has the same dirty and despicable blood as him.

In Qizhou, he had seen Lin Zhen snuggling up to Qi Yu. They had the same noble character, which was something a despicable fellow like him in the quagmire would never dare to hope for.

If he had never entered her life, she would have married a gentleman as noble as jade and lived a noble and peaceful life.

Lin Zhen was right, he had no way back.

It was the obsession that was growing wildly in his heart that pushed him step by step towards the cliff.

Now that he was finally about to land lightly, he felt unprecedented ease and relief.

The snowflakes were falling thicker and thicker, but strangely he couldn't feel the cold anymore.

His breath gradually became weaker and his consciousness gradually became blurred. He seemed to see Lin Zhen walking towards him in a cloak again.

——It’s great that he can finally go home.