In that instant, the eyes of the two people who once thought they could never live without each other met again after so long, but neither of them uttered a single word.
Perhaps I don't know how to say it, or perhaps I can't say it, or perhaps... there's no need to say it anymore...
Watching Mei Zhixuan's angry departure with his men, leaving without a single word of concern or explanation for her near-death experience, Xuan Yuan Yue was utterly astonished, and her heart instantly turned ice-cold.
Using the light from the lanterns held by the departing crowd, Xuan Yuan Yue casually glanced around.
Only then did they discover that there were about twenty or thirty black-clad men lying haphazardly on the ground, their bodies being cleaned up by the few guards who remained behind.
Looking at the bloody scene before her, she took a deep breath and silently closed her eyes.
Jinlan gazed at Mei Zhixuan's receding figure for a while, then looked at Xuanyuan Yue's face, which was filled with despair. Just as she was about to say something, her peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of a black waist tag hidden in the grass by the lake.
She hurried over and carefully picked it up, examining it closely from all angles. She was extremely surprised and rushed to Xuan Yuan Yue's side, quietly holding it up to her face and whispering, "Princess, look! What is this?"
Xuanyuan Yue slowly took the waist token from his hand, but was instantly stunned. She then looked into Jinlan's eyes and said, "This...this isn't...how could this be?"
A vague premonition suddenly welled up in her heart, but before she could think about it, she quickly put it away in her sleeve pocket. She looked around and, seeing that no one had noticed her, hurriedly left with Jinlan.
That night, in the Empress's palace.
The guards at the gate suddenly heard a series of urgent footsteps approaching. They rubbed their sleepy eyes, lazily straightened up, and stuck their heads out to peek outside.
Qi Liao suddenly recognized the imposing figure entering from outside the door, and hurriedly stumbled down to kneel again, bowing his head and loudly proclaiming, "Greetings, Your Majesty! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"
The shouts outside the door startled the maidservants serving in the inner palace. The maidservant stood up abruptly and went to wake the Empress Dowager, who had been confined to her bedside for most of the night because her good-for-nothing son had finally committed such a disgraceful act. She had just closed her eyes: "Your Majesty, it seems that the Emperor has arrived. Why is the Emperor coming so late?"
The Empress paused for a moment, then, as she was being helped to her feet, she felt a growing irritation: "They're all useless servants. The sky hasn't fallen, so why are they in such a panic?"
At this moment, another maid pushed open the door and stammered, "Your Majesty, it's the Emperor. The Emperor and the Third Prince have come together..."
While changing her clothes, she said impatiently, "So what if you're here..."
She paused for a moment, as if suddenly realizing something was amiss: "What did you say? The Third Prince? That wretched boy, what is he doing here in the middle of the night?"
The maidservant, unaware of the reason, could only shake her head and hurriedly went forward to help him change his clothes.
Supported by her maid, the Empress stepped out of her bedchamber and bowed to the King of Dongning: "Your Majesty, I pay my respects. I wonder why Your Majesty has come to my bedchamber so late at night? Has something happened?"
Seeing the King of Dongning sitting there with a stern expression, she stood up straight and glanced sideways at Mei Zhixuan behind him. Mei Zhixuan then stepped forward, bowed, and said to the Empress Dowager with a pained expression, "Your subject greets Your Majesty. I have no choice but to visit so late at night and disturb Your Majesty's rest. May I ask Your Majesty, what have I done wrong to offend my brother and Your Majesty? Please enlighten me!"
The Empress was already furious, and seeing this face only fueled her anger. She shouted at him, "You scoundrel, what do you mean by that?"
Mei Zhixuan continued, "If it is truly my fault, I will leave it to Your Majesty to deal with. I only ask that Your Majesty not implicate my wife and children. They are always well-behaved and have never shown the slightest disrespect to Your Majesty."
The Empress Dowager found it absurd and said with a wry smile, "Nonsense, I don't know what you're talking about."
Mei Zhixuan gritted his teeth: "If I am not wrong, then why did my elder brother first attempt to take advantage of Yue'er during the day, causing her to have a moment of despair and nearly fall to her death? And now, at night, my mother personally sent someone to assassinate Hai'er..."
The Empress was stunned upon hearing this. She glanced at the King of Dongning, who sat high above her, and interrupted Mei Zhixuan through gritted teeth: "You scoundrel, have you lost your mind? How can you spout such nonsense?"
Mei Zhixuan confidently replied, "Your subject would never dare to falsely accuse the Empress Dowager, and of course I can prove that what I said is absolutely true."
Then he pointed towards the door and ordered, "Bring him in!"
Everyone looked toward the entrance and saw a masked man in black being led in by two guards, who were holding him up by the back of his hand.
As soon as the man in black entered, he knelt down and begged the Empress for mercy: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I failed in my mission and did not succeed in assassinating the Third Prince and his family of three. Please punish me, Your Majesty."
After carefully examining the visitor, the Empress Dowager asked in bewilderment, "Who...who are you? I don't know you."
The man in black then took out a jade-colored waist token carved with dragons and phoenixes from his pocket, raised it high above his head with both hands, and said, "Does Your Majesty not remember? This is the token you gave to your subordinate!"
The Empress was immediately speechless, and glared at him angrily: "You're talking nonsense..."
At this moment, the King of Dongning said in a deep voice, "This unique dragon and phoenix auspicious symbol was personally given to you by me. What? Even now, do you still refuse to admit what you have done?"
The Empress Dowager instantly realized she had been tricked, but who could it be? "No matter what you say, I say I didn't do it, and that's final. Besides, aren't that wretched woman and her child perfectly fine? I'd like to see what you can do to me!"
"Although Yue'er and Hai'er survived, do you know there's another person, she..."
Mei Zhixuan seemed somewhat excited and was about to say something more when the King of Dongning frowned, as if he had already obtained the answer he had come to seek confirmation. He then raised his hand to interrupt him and ordered, "Guards, from this moment on, confine the Empress to the palace. Without my order, she is not allowed to step out of the palace gates even half a step."
"You..." Upon hearing this, the Empress felt dizzy and staggered. Her maidservant rushed forward to support her: "Your Majesty the Empress."
"Cough cough cough..." The moment he stepped out of the Empress's palace gate, the King of Dongning suddenly coughed heavily.
The guard hurriedly handed him a handkerchief to gently cover the wound, but suddenly felt a warm current fall into his palm. He slowly opened the handkerchief and saw that a large mouthful of blood had been coughed up. The guard panicked and said, "Your Majesty..."
"Shh!" King Dongning quickly interrupted the rest of the conversation with a shushing sound.
Mei Zhixuan stepped forward to help him up and asked with concern, "Father, are you alright?"
The King of Dongning said in a deep voice, "It's just a slight cold, nothing serious!"
Mei Zhixuan said confidently, "Father, rest assured, your son will definitely find Yun'er."
"Um."
The King of Dongning patted his shoulder and said calmly before leaving with his men.
Mei Zhixuan returned to the entrance of Yimei Pavilion, walking and stopping intermittently. Finally, just as he stepped over the threshold, he suddenly stopped and turned back. The guard asked in confusion, "Why doesn't Your Highness go in?"
Mei Zhixuan pondered for a moment and said, "No need!"
Clouds roll and unroll, the sun rises and the moon sets.
Several days have passed in the blink of an eye, and another Lunar New Year's Eve has quietly arrived.
Suddenly, the snow began to fall again outside the window, landing in this vast palace. The red plum blossoms in countless courtyards shimmered under the light of the palace lanterns and candles.
Still unable to let go of her obsession and unable to choose forgiveness, Xuan Yuan Yue, who had no choice but to return to Yi Mei Xuan, seemed to have finally calmed down a lot during this period.
Only Mei Zhixuan's words from that night remained unchanged, constantly echoing in her ears: "Men, pass down the order: even if we have to drain the entire lake, we must find Miss Yi for this prince. I want her alive or dead..."
She knew that in that situation, worrying about Yi Shangyun's safety was more important than taking care of her feelings, but she still had to admit that deep down, she was a little jealous of Yi Shangyun.
Inside, under the flickering candlelight, Xuan Yuan Yue slowly put down her pen, picked up the words she had just written, and carefully read aloud: "Cutting red sentiments, trimming green intentions, flower messages adorn hairpins. The setting sun and east wind, refusing to let the years pass. Someone adds candles by the west window, sleepless until dawn, laughter turning into the New Year's warbling. Old wine and food. Jade fingers once peeled yellow tangerines, soft fragrance tied to the secluded wine. Returning to the lakeside in dreams, still lost in the mirror's path. Alas, a thousand specks of Wu frost, the cold cannot be dispelled, and again facing each other, plum blossoms fall like rain."
He paused, put it down, then picked up the familiar black waist token that lay on the desk in front of him, pondering to himself, "Judging by the time, the Qin Prince's mansion should have received the message I sent back long ago. I wonder when my uncle will wake up?!"
But the thought of Xuan Yuanhan brought back the image of Yi Shangyun. After a moment's thought, she frowned and sighed, "Uncle, you must wake up! Uncle, do you know that Yun'er is no longer the Yun'er she once was..."
As soon as she thought of this, a gust of cold wind suddenly rushed in through the crack in the window, and the candlelight flickered. She reached out and tightened her cloak, her brows furrowing tightly.
Jinlan's footsteps could be heard outside the door.
"Is Hai'er asleep?" Xuan Yuan Yue asked, slightly raising her eyes.
As Jinlan entered, she pursed her lips and gave a faint smile as she replied, "His Highness is already asleep."
Upon entering, Jinlan went over and picked up a royal blue cloak to drape over Xuanyuan Yue, saying, "Now that the Empress and the Second Prince are both under imperial confinement, the palace is indeed much more peaceful. It's good that the Princess has declined the New Year's Eve banquet in the palace due to illness; it gives us some peace and quiet. Tonight, let me keep the Princess company and pray for the Emperor and Empress of Western Qin!"
Upon hearing this, Xuan Yuan Yue smiled slightly, but then frowned thoughtfully and said, "But that mother and child are only temporarily confined to their homes."
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