For a fleeting moment, Sun Xiaoxiao almost thought Princess Pingzhao had a cold smile on her face. But upon closer inspection, she saw only two clear, glistening tears on the other's beautiful face.

Princess Pingzhao, with tears streaming down her face, quickened her pace, until finally she started jogging!

Sun Xiaoxiao opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Aaaaaaaahh ...

Sister Ye Chu is so beautiful... even when she's running she's so beautiful... this back view is like a goddess descending from an idol drama...

Princess Pingzhao rushed into the main hall, where the emperor was reviewing memorials. After a series of mysterious and inexplicable exchanges, the prince consort's entire family quietly departed.

Sun Xiaoxiao's entire family was utterly dumbfounded!

"They'll definitely storm the execution ground next," Xiaoxiao's father said confidently. "Then they'll wail and mourn at the execution ground, and the emperor will release them. They'll fake their deaths, live in anonymity, and become an ordinary couple!"

My father has been immersed in TV dramas for many years and is obviously an expert in this field, writing the later plot in a very convincing way.

The mother clenched the crumpled paper in her hand. "It would have been better to just kill He Ji! What a load of rubbish about faking his death!"

Sun Xiaoxiao said nervously, "No way, no way? I also hope He Ji dies soon... Then Princess Sister will be mine, hehe... Beautiful widow..."

“Jing Fengnian loves playing this game.” Dad was very experienced. “When he filmed ‘Lonely Palace,’ that princess and her husband faked their deaths and went into seclusion. It was disgusting.”

"Shut your mouth! Do you want to listen to the TV or your chatter?" Mom gave Dad a light kick. "If you don't like watching, go back to your room and make your bed!"

The scenario predicted by Xiaoxiao's father did not occur. The prince consort's family was convicted of disrespecting the emperor and was swiftly executed. Collateral relatives were either exiled or beheaded. The favored maids who had once humiliated the princess were all sent to the palace as slaves.

Compared to the drawn-out, heart-wrenching, and melodramatic plot of the first half, the second half is absolutely thrilling and exhilarating!

Kill! Kill! Kill them all! Leave no one alive!

Love, nobility, talented young men, heartbreak, tragic romance, and years of misunderstandings—all are crushed to dust in the face of absolute imperial power, like a grasshopper caught under a gravel cart!

At the end of the story, He Ji, with a ferocious expression, berates Princess Pingzhao as a cold-blooded and heartless person who does not cherish the old affection between husband and wife; while just a window away from him, Princess Pingzhao is in her study practicing calligraphy, and her brush happens to be writing the line "Suddenly it takes flight and grows wings, in an instant it loses its way and is swept away by the waves and sinks into the mud and sand".

After finishing the last stroke of the character "沙" (sand), Princess Pingzhao looked out the window. A crow flew across the sky and disappeared into the distance.

"quack--"

The crows returned to the trees, and the leaves fluttered down, covering the ground.

A withered willow leaf falls onto a head of white hair. The camera zooms out, revealing an old woman with gray hair and tattered clothes standing under a willow tree, gazing intently at the crows perched on the tree.

Sun Xiaoxiao was startled, thinking that Ye Chu had aged so quickly. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the other person was not Princess Pingzhao, but the favorite maid of the Imperial Son-in-Law He Ji!

Although there were some differences in appearance, and the wrinkles were several times more pronounced, the mole on the other person's face looked exactly the same as when they were young. Coupled with the subtle hints from the camera, Sun Xiaoxiao recognized it immediately!

"That happened many years ago," said the white-haired palace maid. "The Prince Consort was the best man in the world..."

Beside the white-haired palace maids, some sitting and some reclining, surrounded a group of elderly palace servants with similarly white hair and tattered clothes.

Upon hearing this, the palace servants mocked, "Chunliu, you're being silly again!"

"Believe it or not," Chunliu muttered to herself, "the prince consort has already promised me that once I get pregnant, he'll dump that old hag and marry me as his concubine..."

The white-haired palace maids laughed heartily, their laughter carrying far and wide.

The crows in the tree cawed twice, as if in response to the women's laughter.

-----------------

The scene shifted, and the melodious sound of opera singing rang out, startling Sun Xiaoxiao!

She stared blankly at the screen, instinctively reaching for the remote control, only to suddenly realize that her palms were already wet.

What happened?

Sun Xiaoxiao rubbed her hands together and realized that her palms were sweating for some reason.

“This ending…” Xiaoxiao’s mother muttered, “is so strange.”

“Exactly,” Xiaoxiao’s father chimed in, “It’s so inexplicable. Does this mean the whole episode is just Chunliu’s memories?”

Xiaoxiao's mother rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. "It's kind of creepy. It's the New Year—let's continue watching 'The Legend of Qingyun' tomorrow."

"What's so creepy about it?" Sun Xiaoxiao retorted instinctively. "You guys seem pretty engrossed in watching it."

Mom opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything coherent, so she could only say, "Anyway, I feel really creeped out."

Sun Xiaoxiao felt as if something was lingering in her mind, but she couldn't put it into words. The only thing she was sure of was that the feeling wasn't the so-called "unfollowing"; on the contrary, she now really wanted to see Ye Chu.

Sun Xiaoxiao scurried back to her room like a monkey, turned on PiliPili, and started watching clips of Hua Kui Mianmian. But she felt like she had a fire burning inside her, making it impossible for her to concentrate!

Her mind was filled with images of Princess Pingzhao—Princess Pingzhao's hands, the jade Buddha around Princess Pingzhao's neck, Princess Pingzhao's face that seemed to be sculpted from marble… In the end, there were even the words Princess Pingzhao wrote, the tears Princess Pingzhao shed, and the slightly narrowed eyes of Princess Pingzhao when she looked at the emperor.

what is going on?