"Boom..."
A sudden, deafening roar erupted in the night sky, piercing through all barriers of the world, yet still deafening.
Immediately afterwards, a dazzling bolt of lightning appeared, as if the wrath of the heavens was about to tear the boundless sky apart.
South of Xiqin City.
In a quiet courtyard hidden deep in the city, the candlelight is dim and the ground is covered with fallen red petals.
A faint light emanated from inside the room.
Tuoba Ze, who had just fallen asleep and only taken a nap, was suddenly awakened by the rolling thunder that reached his ears and sat up.
Large beads of sweat were dripping from his forehead, and his white robe was soaked through. He was still screaming in shock when he sat up.
"Don't go..."
"Don't go..."
"No……"
Only after seeing everything around me clearly in reality did I realize that it was all just a nightmare.
Yet, somehow, it felt so real. Slowly, I came to my senses and shifted my gaze to the raging rain outside the window.
"Why is the rain so heavy tonight? It's like I've never seen such a downpour in my life!"
It seemed difficult to fall asleep again, thinking that Mei Xiyuan had been back in her home country for some time now.
He was even more unable to sleep because he had not received a single word about her since he had instigated the plan to use Dongning's forces to destroy Xiqin.
Since I couldn't sleep, I got up and went to the window.
I reached out and pushed open a window, gazing out at the deep night rain between heaven and earth.
Listening to the sound of the heavy rain pounding against the floor in the yard, his gaze suddenly became very long.
Suddenly, a strange sense of loss welled up inside me.
He couldn't help but recall the nightmare he had just experienced. In the dream, the young Tuoba Hong smiled innocently and waved to him incessantly.
He couldn't tell whether Tuoba Hong's wave was a summons or a farewell.
But that smile was clearly the most radiant, pure, and innocent smile they shared during their carefree childhood days together.
If he hadn't seen them again in his dream, he would have almost forgotten that there was a time when they were very good brothers.
In an instant, his brows furrowed, and he muttered to himself in confusion, "What are you trying to say? Why would I have such a dream? Damn it! Could something really have happened to him?!"
Even with this thought in mind, he was still uneasy, so he called out to the guards outside the door: "Someone come here."
Soon, the door was pushed open from the outside, and a guard stepped forward to ask, "What are your orders, Your Highness?"
Tuoba Ze hesitated for a moment, then thought about it again and said, "Go and investigate the Second Prince's recent whereabouts. See who he's been with lately and what he's been doing."
Upon hearing this, the guard suddenly raised his eyes and looked at Tuoba Ze's back, feeling quite puzzled.
He then spoke, "Second Prince?"
"Your Highness, didn't you order that no one should pay attention to anything concerning the Second Prince? You even said that even if the Second Prince were to die in the street and his body were to lie there, you wouldn't need to be informed? Why is Your Highness doing this now?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Tuoba Ze suddenly turned around and shot him a cold glare. Startled, he quickly lowered his head and obediently accepted the order: "Yes, sir! I will go and investigate immediately."
After the guards left, Tuoba Ze turned back to look out the window at the pouring rain.
But my heart had already been stirred by the torrential rain.
Ever since Tuoba Hong's body was forcibly removed, I've been locked in this huge hall.
Yi Shangyun had no idea how long she had been shouting and banging on the palace gates, her voice hoarse and her hands numb, but she still hadn't received a single response.
Thunder roared and lightning flashed incessantly.
Accompanied by the thunder and lightning, the immense energy of countless fragments of memory impacted Yi Shangyun's brainwaves.
Having exhausted all her strength and unable to bear it any longer, she slowly slid down the door panel and collapsed to the ground.
Then, resisting all input, he covered his ears tightly, raised his head, turned his face to the sky, and roared with all his remaining strength.
"Don't die"
"Don't die"
"don't want"
...
Ever since she was secretly brought back to the Western Qin Palace from Lu County by Emperor Jing's men, despite the many people around her telling Yi Shangyun what they knew about her past,
However, even after hearing it from others, Yi Shangyun still felt that it was all just a story.
Until this moment, because of Tuoba Hong's passing, she was heartbroken and unexpectedly regained all her memories of the past, from the beginning to the end of her journey to this parallel universe, in this rainy night, as if she had just woken up from a dream.
At this moment, thoughts turn to Wei Mingxuan, Xuanyuan Han, and all these other people and events…
All of these memories are so clear and vivid.
If sadness and longing both had a sound, then at this moment, they would undoubtedly both be equally deafening to her.
The torrential rain poured down all night and showed no sign of stopping until dawn the next day.
Apart from the rain, the gates of Changning Palace, which had never been so quiet before, were finally opened again.
Accompanied by a loud "bang..."
After the palace door was opened, a guard walked in, carrying a black wooden box in his hands.
As the guard entered, his eyes scanned the surroundings several times.
Finally, in a dark corner of the hall, they found Yi Shangyun, who had been curled up in a ball with her knees drawn up to her chest.
He walked up to him and stopped.
He casually tossed the wooden box in his hand onto the table beside him and said arrogantly, "His Majesty is merciful and has left you some of that Northern Fierce Dog's ashes."
As he spoke, he clapped his hands with a look of utter disgust and said, "It stinks! What bad luck!"
From the corner came a hoarse, questioning voice: "You burned him?"
"Hmph..." The guard's lips twitched, and he let out a chilling laugh, saying, "Burning him instead of grinding him to ashes is already letting him off too easily..."
As he spoke, he suddenly looked at Shang Yun's face and saw that there seemed to be thousands of sharp swords waiting to be drawn in his eyes. His imposing manner made the guards standing to the side dare not say another word.
He gasped, turned around quickly, and fled as fast as he could.
Yi Shangyun stared blankly at the wooden box on the table. To this day, she still couldn't believe it, couldn't accept that Tuoba Hong had left her forever.
Instantly, two streams of hot tears slid down her face.
That night, Yi Shangyun, who had been leaning against the corner and sitting on the cold floor, finally slowly stood up.
He stepped forward and carefully picked up the wooden box.
She recalled the moment she met Tuoba Hong, that gentle, kind, and benevolent man.
All the memories, every single detail, suddenly brought her to tears again, and she kept apologizing.
"In the end, I still killed you..."
"sorry……"
"sorry……"
"sorry……"
Perhaps overwhelmed with grief, her legs suddenly gave way, and Yi Shangyun collapsed to the ground once more, holding Tuoba Hong's urn as she leaned against the table.
After an unknown amount of time, Yi Shangyun finally wiped away the tears on her face with the back of her hand.
With a sidelong glance, he saw the last drop of blood that Tuoba Hong spat onto the pot of pink peonies before he died.
Yi Shangyun finally understood: "Peony is also known as Jiangli. So you had already hinted at it to me. It's all my fault, I didn't realize it sooner."
"Could this be the flower of separation you planned all along to give me? How could you do this? I told you I would definitely take you away from here. Why wouldn't you believe me? Why didn't you wait for me? Why?"
But now she knew that nothing she said would make a difference; all words seemed so pale and powerless, unable to bring anything back.
It seems that all I can do is keep saying "I'm sorry" to him.
These were the three words that Tuoba Hong had told himself countless times before his death, words he would never hear her say again in this lifetime, but now he could only say these three words himself.
Just then, another "creak" sound came.
Then someone else pushed the door open and came in.
The heavy rain made the light inside the palace extremely dim.
Upon hearing the sound, Yi Shangyun slowly glanced towards the doorway.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out that Zhang Zhiyuan had led a young female medicine girl into the room.
For a moment, Yi Shangyun suddenly called out to the medicine girl with delight, "Dingxiang, is that you?"
Just as he was about to get up, he suddenly realized that the woman's face was not Dingxiang, whom he had been longing to see. So he withdrew his smile and sat back down on the ground.
She didn't want to pay any attention to Zhang Zhiyuan, so she turned her gaze back to the wooden box in her hand.
After Zhang Zhiyuan entered the room, he had the maid who had come with him to deliver the food put it down, and then told her to go outside and wait: "Go outside and wait, I have something to say to the young lady!"
"Yes!" After the young medicine girl went out, she gently closed the door behind her.
Zhang Zhiyuan stood there, looking at Yi Shangyun's disheartened and dejected appearance, which truly made him feel sorry for her.
After a moment's hesitation, she walked towards Yi Shangyun, comforting her as she did so: "The dead cannot be brought back to life. I hope Your Highness will find solace in your grief! In truth, all of this was caused by the Second Prince..."
Yi Shangyun didn't even want to look at him; she felt utterly disgusted by him.
Before he could even open his mouth, Yi Shangyun coldly retorted, "Murderer, you are unworthy of being a doctor. Get out of here..."
How could Zhang Zhiyuan not understand Yi Shangyun's feelings at this moment? He knew that any explanation he gave would be useless.
Perhaps, in a couple of days, when she has figured things out herself, I can tell her the truth.
With this thought in mind, Zhang Zhiyuan sighed softly and turned to leave helplessly.
But just as they were starting to move, a voice suddenly called out, "Wait..."
Zhang Zhiyuan stopped and turned around again.
Looking at the wooden box in his hand, Yi Shangyun suddenly said, "Second Prince, don't be afraid, I'll take you home!"
After saying that, he slowly stood up, ignoring everything in the hall, including Zhang Zhiyuan himself, and walked to his side and stopped. Without even looking at him, he coldly said, "Take me to see Emperor Jing."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com