Chapter 185 Extra 1
After his death
The new emperor, Li Yue, had a childhood sweetheart who had passed away three years ago.
The childhood sweetheart's name is Zhu Qingchen. He was born in the same year as the new emperor. The two grew up together and were as close as brothers and were inseparable.
Later, when the new emperor went out to conquer the princes, Zhu Qingchen stayed in Fengxiang, taking care of all matters and providing military equipment and rations for the front line.
The new emperor trusted him very much. Zhu Qingchen was very young, just a newly-wed, but he was already the ruler of Fengxiang City, in charge of farming, hunting, military and political affairs. The new emperor even gave him the key to his private vault and the tiger talisman of military power for safekeeping.
It’s a pity that Mr. Zhu’s health is not very good, and he has had this weakness since his mother’s womb.
If you take good care of yourself in your daily life and become a leisurely young man from a wealthy family, perhaps you can live out your life in peace.
Unfortunately, he was born in troubled times, had a kind heart, and was determined to pacify the world and save the people from dire straits.
So he worked hard to assist the new emperor.
One winter day three years ago, nomadic tribes from the grassland invaded Fengxiang. Zhu Qingchen went out of the city to inspect the soldiers' garrison. On the way back, it snowed heavily and the group was trapped in the snow for only half a day.
But after returning, Zhu Qingchen caught a cold, developed a high fever, and fell ill.
Taking medicine or sweating will not help.
This dragged on for four or five days. One evening, Zhu Qingchen seemed to be getting better. His complexion became rosy and he looked more energetic.
He ate a bowl of steaming cream cheese, leaned back on the pillow, and asked his servants to bring over the documents that had been piled up recently.
He spent half an hour summoning officials in the city and arranging all affairs to ensure that the people in the city could spend the winter safely.
He met his friends again, chatted with them, and reminded them that the fighting situation on the front was tense, and his funeral should not be too grand, wasteful, or even to shake the morale of the troops.
By the time the friends realized something was wrong, it was already dark.
Zhu Qingchen leaned on the pillow and said only one sentence: "Don't tell Li Yue, don't be sad."
After saying this, he fell down limply.
His friends rushed forward, gathered around him, shook his hands, and shouted his name.
After an unknown amount of time, the friends cried out at the top of their lungs, lost their strength, and fell to the ground, as if they had finally accepted the fact that Zhu Qingchen had left.
Friends found Zhu Qingchen’s arrangements for his funeral in the document that Zhu Qingchen had just approved.
The body will be placed in Wenyuan Hall. You can order a coffin from a shop on West Street. Ten taels of silver will be enough, and the shop will also provide incense, candles and paper money.
Friends don't need to be too sad. If you really miss him, just write an obituary for him when you think of him.
When he was buried, there was no need for any burial objects. Just put together with him the toys he played with as a child, the articles he wrote, and the wooden horse that Li Yue helped him repair when he was a child.
He said he couldn't run and had to rely on the wooden horse to carry him.
He also said that he had a short life and was too young to afford a grand funeral.
But everyone knew he was just trying to save money.
The war on the front line was tense and he didn't want to spend too much on such things.
Everything went according to his wishes, except for one thing——
The friends still sent someone to tell Li Yue, who was far away at the front line, about this matter.
They all knew the feelings between Li Yue and Zhu Qingchen, and also knew Li Yue's temper.
If I don’t tell Li Yue, I’m afraid he will go crazy when he comes back.
As a result, just as the person they sent to deliver the letter left, Li Yue came back.
It turned out that a few days ago, when Li Yue learned that Zhu Qingchen was trapped in the snow and bedridden, he had already arranged everything and rushed back without stopping.
Unfortunately, it was still a step too late.
Zhu Qingchen was sent to Wenyuan Palace, and Li Yue rushed back only after he was settled.
After all, we didn't get to see each other for the last time.
Li Yue held the coffin and reached out his hand in disbelief to touch Zhu Qingchen's cold cheek.
Then he increased his strength, rubbed Zhu Qingchen's cheeks, held his face, and pressed his cheeks tightly against Zhu Qingchen's face.
In a place where the candlelight could not reach, while no one could see, Li Yue hugged Zhu Qingchen's face tightly and gave him small kisses on his cheeks.
Until the guards came forward and pulled him away.
Afterwards, Li Yue took the official uniform that Zhu Qingchen had worn, climbed onto the roof and the city wall to summon the soul, and also invited Taoist priests to perform rituals.
After three days of hard work, the roof was covered with thick snow. Li Yue stood in the vast expanse of white and cried bitterly.
After crying, Li Yue cheered up and began to arrange Zhu Qingchen's funeral.
The original coffin worth ten taels of silver could no longer be used, and the incense, candles and paper money that came with it could no longer be used.
Li Yue replaced Zhu Qingchen's coffin with a heavy one that required sixteen people to carry. All the coarse cloth in the hall was replaced with silk, and the candles were replaced with longevity candles.
His friends showed him the document that Zhu Qingchen had written before his death. Li Yue took only one look at it and became furious.
"What do you mean by unlucky and short-lived? Zhu Qingqing is the most blessed person in the world! If I say he deserves it, then he deserves it!"
In order to be worthy of Zhu Qingchen, Li Yue hastily offered sacrifices to heaven and ascended the throne in Fengxiang City, and gave Zhu Qingchen a long title.
For three days and three nights, he sat in the Wenyuan Hall, holding a thick and precious piece of wood, holding a carving knife, and carving the title on it stroke by stroke.
He summoned several civil servants in the city and asked them to write an article for Zhu Qingchen.
He said that when Zhu Qingchen was born, a strange phenomenon appeared in the sky.
He also said that Zhu Qingchen was a deity who had descended to earth and had now returned to heaven.
The officials had all grown up with them and were skeptical of Li Yue's words. Li Yue then said, "Zhu Qingqing and I grew up together. How could I not know whether he was a deity or not?"
There was no other way, the officials could only write according to what Li Yue said.
The funeral rites lasted for 49 days.
Li Yue sent people to urgently dig a mausoleum outside Fengxiang City and temporarily placed Zhu Qingchen's coffin inside.
Li Yue swore in front of the mausoleum that he would bring Zhu Qingchen to the capital within three years.
After finishing these things, Li Yue took a short piece of brush that Zhu Qingchen had used when he was a child and rushed back to the battlefield.
Zhu Qingchen had warned him before that it was best to keep a low profile and not to take the lead in anything.
But now, among all the people, Li Yue was the first to proclaim himself emperor.
This attracted the attention of various rebel forces and the imperial court at the same time.
They attacked Li Yue together and directed their spearheads at Li Yue at the same time.
The most serious incident was when the enemy generals mocked Li Yue.
They said, Zhu Qingchen was the only one who died, so how could he be as good as his mistress who died?
Li Yue was riding on a war horse, wearing a helmet and holding a long spear. His eyes immediately turned red. He rode into the battle and killed all the enemy generals.
The last general happened to be the one who laughed the loudest.
He fell off his horse and begged Li Yue to let him go, pissing his pants.
Li Yue did not hesitate. He raised his knife and slashed it. The man's round head fell to the ground and rolled far away.
Now, everyone knew that the dead Zhu Qingchen was Li Yue's Achilles' heel.
When shouting and cursing in front of the battle, even if you are cursing Li Yue himself, you cannot curse Zhu Qingchen.
But even if they said nothing, Li Yue was still invincible. He led his army all the way south with unstoppable force.
Despite being ambushed several times and being seriously injured, he continued to attack the city.
Three years later, Li Yue captured the capital.
He killed all the royal family members and corrupt officials of the previous dynasty, arranged for the guards of the capital, and rushed to Fengxiang without stopping.
He wants to take Zhu Qingqing over.
In addition, he wanted to add another one to Zhu Qingqing's series of titles——
Queen.
When everyone in the capital heard the news, Li Yue had already brought Zhu Qingchen's coffin to the palace.
The officials from Fengxiang City were shocked but not surprised.
Li Yue and Zhu Qingchen had a deep relationship. Although it was absurd for Li Yue to do such a thing, it was not beyond their expectations.
They are also very good friends with Zhu Qingchen, so even though they are shocked, they will never interfere.
This is what Zhu Qingchen deserves.
But the aristocratic families in the capital don’t think so.
Making a man the queen is absurd enough in itself.
It is simply unbelievable to make a dead person the queen.
After discussing it, several noble families knelt in front of the palace gate and asked the new emperor to revoke his decision.
These noble families were originally the remnants of the previous dynasty. Li Yue disliked them in the first place and spared their lives mainly because Zhu Qingqing was also a scholar and he would not like to kill innocent people indiscriminately.
Now, this group of people are asking for trouble.
Li Yue did not give them any chance to argue. With a wave of his hand, the group was dragged away by Li Yue's personal guards before they could even kneel down.
The execution will be carried out on a later date.
The people from the noble families were so frightened that they almost fainted.
Even the emperor of the previous dynasty would never dare to treat them like this.
There are many branches of the family, and all in all, there are more than three thousand people.
Therefore, when Li Yue went to court, many court officials knelt down in opposition.
Li Yue was determined to kill someone, and no one could persuade him.
"If they don't want Zhu Qingqing to be the queen, then I will send them to see Zhu Qingqing and let them talk to her themselves!"
The court officials knelt on the ground in a huge crowd, including some officials from Fengxiang who had come with them.
The Fengxiang official said sternly, "Your Majesty, Lord Zhu has always been kind and tolerant. Now he has killed three thousand people in one go. I am afraid that Lord Zhu will not be at peace in his afterlife."
Li Yue clenched the armrests of the dragon throne, suppressed his anger, and thought for a while: "Don't kill the side branches, but kill all the relatives of the head of the family!"
The court officials were still dissatisfied: "Your Majesty, there are several hundred of these family heads and relatives in total. There is no offense. They just knelt in front of the palace gate for a while and didn't say a word. I'm afraid..."
Li Yue suddenly stood up, overturned the table in front of him, turned around, and with a swish, he drew the long sword from the wall and cut the table in half.
"If they don't allow this person to be killed, and they don't allow that person to be killed, then who can be killed? They didn't say it, but I know exactly what they were thinking. Don't they just think Zhu Qingqing is not worthy of being the queen? Is it their turn to make trouble whether Zhu Qingqing is worthy or not?"
He held up his sword and walked towards the courtier who had just spoken.
"I have made up my mind. I will establish a queen and kill the nobles. Anyone who dares to say another word will be thrown into prison immediately!"
As soon as Li Yue finished speaking, everyone, whether standing or kneeling, hurriedly bowed down and begged His Majesty for forgiveness.
There were only a few old ministers who came from Fengxiang City. They were in their sixties or seventies and had lived enough. They stood in the hall with their necks stiff, refusing to bow their heads.
Li Yue's eyes were red, and he walked towards the standing court officials with a sword in hand.
"Do you have anything else to say?"
Just as Li Yue was about to swing his sword, he heard a loud shout from outside the hall.
"Your Majesty, are you going to kill these elders who watched Master Zhu grow up in front of him?"
A young official, who was also a friend of Zhu Qingchen and Li Yue, ran in from outside the palace gate holding Zhu Qingchen's tablet in both hands.
The moment he saw Zhu Qingchen's tablet, Li Yue's expression immediately softened.
The friend stood in front of several old court officials and said, "Qing Chen has always taught students not to kill innocent people. Qing Chen has a kind heart and usually goes outside the city to distribute porridge and medicine. If Qing Chen were to step on the corpses of hundreds or thousands of people and become the queen, Qing Chen would definitely be disturbed if she knew about it in the afterlife."
"Your Majesty and Qingchen have been childhood sweethearts and have grown up together. Their relationship is even deeper than that of ordinary friends like us. But now, why doesn't Your Majesty understand the truth that we all understand?"
Someone took the lead, and other officials followed suit.
"Your Majesty, we know that you are grieved, but you just killed a group of royal officials not long ago, and you can't kill more."
"If this becomes a trend, everyone in our Great Zhou will be in danger, fearing that they will be killed if they disrespect Lord Zhu. Worse still, if someone makes trouble and frames you, our Great Zhou will be in danger."
Li Yue doesn't care about these things. He only cares about -
"If Your Majesty insists on doing this, no one will dare to mention Lord Zhu in the future. Everyone will be as silent as a cicada and dare not say more. Is this what Your Majesty wants to see?"
"If Lord Zhu knew about this in the afterlife, I'm afraid his soul would be disturbed. How can Your Majesty be able to meet Lord Zhu in the future?"
"Besides, Lord Zhu is also from a branch of a noble family. His family was demoted to Fengxiang, which is why he and Your Majesty have this fate. Your Majesty wants to kill all the noble families now. Does he want to kill Lord Zhu as well?"
Li Yue clenched the sword in his hand, feeling melancholy for a moment, not knowing what to say.
He raised his head and looked around at the magnificent hall. For a moment he didn't know where he was.
The surrounding scenery, the people around, and the words they speak are all unfamiliar.
He understood nothing and knew nothing.
Only the three words "Zhu Qingchen" in his friend's arms and on Zhu Qingchen's tablet were familiar to him.
With a "clang", he threw away his sword and snatched Zhu Qingchen's tablet.
"This is mine."
He held the tablet, turned around and walked towards the dragon throne.
The court officials looked at his back and suddenly felt that since unifying the country and entering the capital, the new emperor seemed to have lost a lot of weight overnight, and his back looked bleak.
Li Yue was holding Zhu Qingchen's tablet and wanted to climb the jade steps and return to the dragon throne, but he seemed to be tripped.
He steadied himself and simply sat down on the jade steps.
He turned around, and the ministers discovered that the new emperor was already in tears beneath the tassels.
He sat on the steps, hugged the tablet, and cried loudly: "Zhu Qingqing, you see, they all bullied me, everyone bullied me, they didn't let me make you the queen, and they also said that you would be angry with me, they are talking nonsense, I will make you the queen! I will make you the queen!"
Li Yue no longer cared about his image. He beat his chest and burst into tears.
When he began to cry, the court officials quietly retreated and closed the palace door.
Through the palace door, at first, I could vaguely understand what Li Yue was saying.
But in the end, Li Yue himself didn't know what he was talking about.
He just cried and shouted "Zhu Qingqing", only the three words "Zhu Qingqing" were clear.
He wanted Zhu Qingqing, he wanted Zhu Qingqing to come back alive.
Finally, Li Yue locked himself in the palace for a day and a night. When he came out, he issued a new decree.
As long as the people in the prison were willing to change their words and say that Zhu Qingqing and he were a perfect match and that Zhu Qingqing should be his queen, they could be released immediately. As soon as the news spread, the entire cell was filled with these words.
"Your Majesty and Lord Zhu are a perfect match!"
"I wish you the destiny to be the queen!"
Li Yue stood at the door of the cell holding Zhu Qingchen's tablet. He laughed out loud at first, and as he laughed, he couldn't help but shed tears.
He and Zhu Qingqing could not be a couple, even in the history books and in people's hearts, they had to be a couple.
*
After this incident, no one dared to object to Zhu Qingchen becoming the queen.
Li Yue personally prepared their wedding.
The red candle burned until dawn, and Li Yue faced Zhu Qingchen's tablet and packed up the things that Zhu Qingchen had left behind over and over again.
Li Yue went against Zhu Qingchen's last wish and did not put all the things he used into his coffin. He kept a few things for himself.
The short brush used by Zhu Qingchen when he was a child, the small collection of poems he compiled himself, the clothes worn by Zhu Qingchen, and the jade crown he wore.
He kept them all secretly.
Li Yue sat on the ground dejectedly, holding a soft cloth, took these things out of one box, wiped them, and put them into another box.
As he counted them, he recalled how Zhu Qingchen used these things.
But at the same time I feel fortunate.
I'm glad that I didn't reveal my dirty thoughts too early.
Zhu Qingqing always believed that they were confidants, monarch and subject, and good friends. If Zhu Qingqing knew, she would not be able to leave peacefully.
Three years ago, Li Yue set himself the goal of unifying the world, letting Zhu Qingqing live in a fine mausoleum, and giving her a noble title.
Now that the world is settled, Li Yue has to start looking for new targets.
He made Zhu Qingqing the queen, realizing the peace and prosperity he had described countless times.
This time, Li Yue set a time limit of five years for himself.
Li Yue packed his things over and over again until dawn and the red candle burned out.
*
One day after Li Yue ascended the throne:
I woke up at the hour of Mao, talked for a while in front of Zhu Qingqing's tablet, and had breakfast with her.
Then go for morning exercises, practice sword, gun or boxing, depending on the situation.
After morning exercise, change clothes and go to court.
The court meeting usually ended at noon, and he would go back to have lunch with Zhu Qingqing, take a nap, and then review memorials after getting up.
He would review memorials until the evening, and might go to inspect the military camp in the evening, or summon the historians to look at their newly written articles and newly painted portraits of Zhu Qingqing and ask them to express their opinions. If not, he would have dinner with Zhu Qingqing.
After dinner, he continued to review memorials.
After reviewing the memorials, he sorted out Zhu Qingqing's things, washed up and went to bed.
When he was young, Li Yue wished he could summon historians eight hundred times a day and ask them to record anything he remembered about Zhu Qingqing.
He asked the historian to write about Zhu Qingqing as the Wenquxing star who was born with a lotus blossoming and the room filled with fragrance and purple air coming from the east; a fairy child who was extremely intelligent and eloquent when she was young, and a fairy boy who could turn stones into gold and beans into soldiers when he grew up.
The historians were always revising their articles, and Li Yue was never satisfied.
Zhu Qingqing occasionally appeared in her dreams and accused him of making up stories and asked him to change them all back.
Li Yue just smiled, and after waking up, he continued to summon the historian.
The more nonsense he talked, the angrier Zhu Qingqing would get, and the more likely she would come looking for him.
This childish state lasted for a full ten years.
It was not until Li Yue was thirty years old that he suddenly woke up.
That day, he went to the academy to visit students as Zhu Qingchen had done before.
Two sixteen-year-old boys ran past the door, and he suddenly seemed to see his teenage self and Zhu Qingqing.
So, if Zhu Qingqing didn't come to see him, why didn't he go to see Zhu Qingqing?
Now that the world is at peace and the people are prosperous, he has nothing left to do.
Another thing is to train a qualified successor for the world.
As long as he finishes this task, he can go to see Zhu Qingqing.
Thinking of this, Li Yue quickly returned to the palace and sent someone to prepare a list of children from the side branches and hand it to him within three days.
Over the years, as Li Yue grew older and his emotions became more stable, a few court officials occasionally mentioned matters in the harem.
However, every time the court officials mentioned it, Li Yue would demote them. Over time, no one dared to mention it anymore.
This time Li Yue wanted to adopt a child from a side branch family, and naturally no one objected.
Finally, Li Yue chose a six-year-old boy named Li Duan.
He looks honest and quite smart.
On the first day he was brought to the palace, Li Yue held the child's head, made him lean against the wall, and used a dagger to scratch a mark on the wall along his head.
Li Duan was puzzled and looked at him hesitantly, not knowing whether he should ask.
Li Yue used the dagger to deepen the scratch, then raised his hand slightly and whispered: "When you grow up to this size, I can go see Zhu Qingqing."
Li Duan asked in a low voice: "Is it... Queen Zhu?"
"It's him." Li Yue nodded.
"Then I should call him... Queen?"
"Call him Taifu. He doesn't want to be a father all of a sudden."
"yes."
Li Duan is not very smart, but he is hardworking.
In his opinion, life in the palace was very good. There were many teachers to teach him, and his father would occasionally teach him riding and shooting.
Above these masters, there is also Master Zhu.
Occasionally, after teaching him his lessons, the teachers would also tell him about Master Zhu.
In their words, Master Zhu is gentle, generous, and extremely talented, and is the best teacher in the world.
Li Duan held his face in his hands and listened very carefully.
Whatever you think about during the day, you will dream about at night. One night, he dreamed of Master Zhu.
He told his father about this, and his father asked him in detail what Master Zhu had said to him and what Master Zhu's expression was.
But he forgot everything and only said that Master Zhu was a very kind and gentle person.
The father, who was always very observant, did not notice it at all. He just nodded slightly and said, "Zhu Qingqing is very good."
The only bad thing about being in the palace was that every few months, his father would make him stand in front of that wall to see how tall he was.
Seeing that he hadn't grown much, his father looked stern and said with a bit of disgust: "You look like a little chicken, you haven't grown at all, get out!"
So Li Duan left quickly.
When he was ten years old, his father asked him to measure his height again. Suddenly, he said, "Father, I hope the Master will not let you say 'get out'."
The emperor's expression immediately softened. He cleared his throat and said, "Tell him to come to me in person."
After this incident, his father told him to “get out” more and more often.
Li Duan knew that his father actually wanted to provoke Tutor Zhu to meet him. This was called "provocation" and was written in the military strategy book.
In order to please his father, Li Duan had to exercise regularly, eat more meat, and drink supplements every day.
Finally, he grew a lot taller.
When he straightened his back again, leaned against the wall, held the dagger in his hand and slashed at the wall, his father did not let him go. Instead, he put his hands behind his back and turned away.
Li Duan was very happy, but soon he found something wrong.
As he grew taller day by day, his father's figure became increasingly lonely.
Until he was sixteen years old.
After the beginning of spring, Li Yue fell ill.
Li Yue summoned him to the hall, asked him to recite a book, and asked him to demonstrate a set of boxing skills.
Li Yue frowned and looked at him, but he was barely satisfied, so he said to him: "I followed my father to the battlefield when I was thirteen years old. You are already sixteen years old, and I will give you three years of grace."
Li Duan knelt in front of the couch, his eyebrows twitched, and an ominous premonition came to his mind: "Father?"
Li Yue closed his eyes, no longer looking at him, and whispered: "I am going to find the Queen, I am going to find Zhu Qingqing."
Li Duan was stunned for a moment, then rushed to the bed: "Father!"
Faintly, he seemed to hear a strange sound.
"Hello, I'm System No. 1 of the Control Center. They all call me the 'Love Brain' system. I think you are very suitable to go to the small world to carry out the mission."
Then came the voice of my father: "Who the hell are you? I want to see Zhu Qingqing!"!
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