Chapter 27, the thirteenth cycle!
Chapter 27
Jiang Xiang was no easier to kill than Chi Zhanlan Ce, but since he was there to kill, he cleaned up his own mess and didn't bring too many people with him.
Thus, the graves dug for others eventually become one's own burial ground.
"How dare you..." Zhang Yuanmou opened his mouth, taking a step back. The Yan family army had already moved, their bows and arrows heading towards the imperial city guards, while cold blades slashed down from behind, their killing intent constant.
Swords clashed, and Zhang Yuanmou gritted his teeth, trying to protect Jiang You and leave. But the gate was tightly closed, and Yan's army blocked their way out, reversing the power of life and death.
He glanced back at the dwindling number of Imperial City Guards, then at Jiang You beside him, his hand clenching into a fist. "Prime Minister Jiang, I will avenge you."
As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped on the guards beside him and tried to climb over the roof of the front gate. The guard was kicked away and died under the Yan family army's sword.
"puff!"
A knife pierced through his chest from behind. Zhang Yuanmou fell heavily to the ground, opened his mouth silently, convulsed, and breathed his last with resentful eyes.
Yan Shuang stepped forward, drew her knife, and continued fighting.
If Miss Ye said she would leave no survivors, then tonight we cannot let a single one go.
The moment Jiang You made his move, he knew he had no chance of winning. His somewhat cloudy eyes were fixed on Ye Xiren, as if he couldn't understand how he could lose to her.
"Why?" Jiang You frowned, puzzled. "Second Miss Ye, how did you get involved?"
The Ye family evaded assassination attempts time and again, and this Second Miss Ye was still able to command Yan Danqing's men. Why did Yan Danqing trust her so much? And how did she manage to lure Chizhan Lance into a trap?
He had dealt with the Crown Prince of Northern Yan before, and that man was not easily fooled.
Holding the token, Ye Xiren slowly spoke: "If I said it's all about fate, would you believe me?"
"Fate? It seems it truly is destiny." Jiang You's body seemed to deflate, aging ten years in an instant. Then, he closed his eyes completely, swallowing his regret and resentment. "Heaven didn't grant him a long life..."
After the fighting ended, the Ye residence returned to silence.
Countless people lay dead in the courtyard. Even though these people had come to kill them, Ye Xiren still felt a pang of discomfort. She looked away and exhaled, "Transport them to the Northern Yan embassy. Be careful not to be discovered."
Yan Shuang nodded and moved the corpse away with Yan Jiajun's men.
Ye Xiren turned her head back.
Behind her, Ye Pei and the others stared at her in disbelief. After Yan Jiajun left the scene, the entire Ye family huddled under the eaves of the corridor, watching the unfolding events in stunned silence.
Their eyes met, and they remained completely silent.
Ye Xiren: "..."
The Ye family: "..."
For a moment, I didn't know what to say.
Ye Xiren didn't know how to explain, and the Ye family was quite shocked, their eyes wide open, unable to come to their senses.
After a long pause, Ye Changming opened his mouth, swallowed hard, and was the first to speak: "Ye Xiren? You're my sister Ye Xiren, right?"
He limped forward, touched her, and turned Ye Xiren around to see a small mole behind her ear. Still unable to believe it, he asked, "If I don't have enough money and ask you for fifty taels of silver, how much will you give me?"
Ye Xiren: "...Get lost."
"Very good, it's my sister, Ye Xiren." Ye Changming gasped, followed by a series of incredulous questions, "Wait, when did you become so powerful? What are the Yan family's men doing here? That's the powerful Prime Minister Jiang You... and you just killed him?"
He rubbed his head, wondering if he was dreaming.
But the spot on my body where I was kicked still hurts; it feels incredibly real, not like a dream.
“He came to kill us. Today, it’s either him or us who die. Xixi did the right thing.”
Ye Pei, having recovered his composure, grasped Liao Changying's still dazed hand, and looked at Ye Xiren with a meaningful gaze: "However, my second daughter is indeed remarkable, a hidden talent..."
Ye Xiren: "..."
Half an hour later.
Sui An Tang
"...That's the situation, believe it or not." Ye Xiren's mouth was dry from speaking. She picked up the teacup next to her and drank it all in one gulp, then sighed silently.
The hall fell silent instantly, once again becoming completely still.
Ye Changming spoke first again, his mouth wide open and his eyes unfocused: "I suspect I'm really dreaming..." What seemed more like a dream than Ye Xiren's "decisive and ruthless" demeanor was what she was saying at that moment.
He pinched the spot where he had been kicked; it hurt a lot.
Ye Changming spoke with difficulty: "So, you really did encounter a ghost or a deity... You were trapped between the first and third day of the third lunar month. The clues you received were not passed on to you by someone else, but were obtained through repeated rebirths. This is the thirteenth time?"
Ye Xiren nodded.
Ye Changming gasped.
Ye Xiren had said it twice already, and this was the third time. After the Buddhist hall yesterday, he didn't believe it; after Ma Shan left today, he still didn't believe it; but now…
The events that had just occurred were still vivid in her mind: she had produced so much evidence; she had cooperated with the Yan family army to kill Chi Zhanlan Ce; she had witnessed the death of General Yan; and she had mobilized the Yan family army.
Every single thing is true. Words can deceive, but facts cannot.
The truth is, how could his obedient and gentle younger sister have become someone who dared to order the killing of the prime minister and the vice minister of state without changing his expression if she hadn't experienced something?
The room fell silent again. Just as Ye Xiren was wondering if they still didn't believe her, Liao hugged her tightly, and hot tears fell onto her face as she sobbed.
“My Xixi died twelve times…” Liao Changying’s trembling hand stroked Ye Xiren’s neck, “It must have hurt a lot, right?”
This is the precious treasure she holds in the palm of her hand, the pearl she carried for ten months and gave birth to. For the past sixteen years, she has been afraid that she might get hurt, sick, or sad.
But without her knowledge, her daughter had already died twelve times!
Liao's sobbing could be heard right beside me.
For some reason, Ye Xiren didn't cry when the order to kill was given, she didn't cry when the head was beheaded, and she didn't cry when she was exhausted from running back and forth and couldn't move her feet... But now, hearing the crying, her eyes suddenly reddened, and she felt wronged and sad.
"It's alright." Ye Xiren took a deep breath, smiled, shook her head, and said softly, "Mother, don't worry, it just hurt a little, but I lost consciousness quickly, it's not uncomfortable."
Liao cried even harder.
Ye Changming opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
His hands, which were lying to the side, suddenly clenched into his thighs, the veins on the back of his hands bulging. "Yesterday" was the second day of the third month. His sister told him that she was trapped in "rebirth." At that time, she had already died six times. The first time she told them this was after she had died four times...
She must have been very scared and helpless at that time, right?
He, however, thought his sister was making up lies and kept eating sunflower seeds to encourage her to continue, not taking it to heart at all.
Ye Changming lowered his head. How much pain and pressure must he have endured to go from being afraid and trembling, asking his family for help, to becoming like this now, firmly and decisively ordering the killing?
Ye Pei turned her head away and quickly wiped away her tears.
A moment later, he looked away and looked at his daughter sitting opposite him. She was still the same person, but the innocence and naivety in her eyes had disappeared, replaced by a resolute look. Such a dramatic transformation is always accompanied by pain.
Ye Pei remained extremely calm, speaking each word with utmost composure:
"No matter what happens in the future, no matter who dies, as long as you are alive, you must live on. Don't let everything start over after death and go through an endless cycle. There is no medicine for regret in this world. If there is now one, there will definitely be a price to pay."
Ye Xiren pursed her lips, "I will save you."
“No, you don’t understand.” Ye Pei shook his head, his eyes serious. “We don’t need to be saved. You are the one who has experienced this bizarre ordeal. You need to save yourself.”
Ye Xiren was the only one trapped in a predicament from which she could not escape.
She was trying to save herself.
Upon hearing this, Ye Xiren was stunned.
Liao Changying felt increasingly distressed, her eyes reddening, and her voice trembling uncontrollably: "I would rather there was another person in this world who had the same experience as you... at least, someone could help you."
It was the thirteenth time before they finally found out.
If there is a next time, they will forget it completely, and Xixi will still be all alone.
Ye Changming wiped away his tears, regained his composure, and turned to ask, "Father, what can we do?"
"Let Xixi live. As long as she lives, time will move forward and will not come back to the beginning."
Ye Pei looked at Ye Changming and gave the instructions:
"Take the seal you have and have Jiang Sui take you to Lord Zheng Wenjue. Go secretly. Jiang You's death is a big deal. Have him help with the aftermath. Make sure the Ye family isn't found out. Clean things up and pin everything on the Northern Yan people."
"After that, go to the Bai family again. The secret letter that the Second Prince of Northern Yan has been made Crown Prince has just been delivered to Jiang You. He wants to get rid of us before the news is made public, so he must not have told the Emperor yet. No one knows about this news now. Tomorrow morning, have Bai Chengguang help spread the news in Nandu that the Second Prince of Northern Yan has been made Crown Prince and has declared that he will avenge Chi Zhanlan Ce."
Ye Changming nodded emphatically, stood up, and quickly left Sui'an Hall, leaning on his cane.
Since Ye Pei couldn't go, he had to go in person. Time was of the essence, and he couldn't afford to delay, so he went right now.
Inside the hall, Ye Pei let out a breath and sat down next to Ye Xiren. "Changying, go get paper and pen. Xixi, tell me your story again."
-
As darkness deepened, the cold moon hung high in the night sky. The southern capital was utterly quiet, shrouded in darkness, lost in a peaceful dream.
Meanwhile, the Ye family's Sui'an Hall was brightly lit with candles.
"I don't know how to escape this so-called cycle. I thought that saving the Ye family would be enough, but during the seventh cycle, even though my family was already out of danger, I was still reborn after I died." Ye Xiren held her teacup and shook her head.
Ye Pei ran his fingers over the paper, making the seventh and eighth circles with his wolf-hair brush, his brows furrowed. "But after this time, you will return to the third day of the third month, and never return to the first day of the third month again."
The cycle changes, and time becomes even more pressing.
"I also find it strange. At first, I thought it was the last time, but then I found out that wasn't the case." Ye Xiren couldn't understand it. She had felt something was strange before, and it still felt strange now as she reviewed it.
Liao replaced the heater for her, poured her a cup of hot tea, and sat down beside her, lovingly embracing her and draping her cloak over her shoulders. The warmth in Liao's arms gradually warmed her.
Ye Xiren's expression relaxed.
In the lamplight, her mother was with her, her father sat opposite her pondering, and her brother was out working hard for her... Even if things were to reopen, and they forgot everything, Ye Xiren would still remember the warmth of this moment.
“No.” Ye Pei paused, his eyes changing slightly. “There must be some reason that caused the cycle to change. You are in the cycle, and we are in your cycle time. The things that happen to us and the changes that result will only affect the direction of the cycle, not the cycle itself.”
“Only if something changes for you, or for something else related to the cycle, can the root of the cycle be affected. I think this is crucial.”
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Author's note: We cherish our warm family!
Yan Danqing: ? ?
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