From watching the sunset paint the green mountains on the horizon to finally revealing a serene night, it captivated the heart.
The night sky over the grassland is still filled with countless stars.
The Milky Way still shines brightly overhead, unchanged since time immemorial, yet in the blink of an eye, everything has changed.
I remember that year when Tuoba Ze first brought me to this grassland, and that's how I truly got to know Tuoba Hong.
The time they spent together, the places they went together, the patients they treated together, along with the love, hate, affection, and sorrow between them...
Every little detail feels like it happened just yesterday; everything is still such a clear memory.
But he has truly left this world forever.
At this moment, Yi Shangyun sat here, in the same place where he had chatted with others, and saw the same night sky.
Thinking back to those days and those memories, I can't help but silently shed tears.
She murmured to herself, "Second Prince, you must also long to see this starry sky again and hear the free wind here, right?"
He paused, still deeply saddened, and continued, "I had planned to return you and then leave to find a secluded place. If I couldn't return to where I came from after rescuing Dingxiang, perhaps I would simply live out my days in seclusion. But then, he appeared..."
Thinking of the slight changes in Tuoba Ze upon seeing him again, a glimmer of hope appeared in Yi Shangyun's eyes: "You don't need to worry, the eldest prince didn't make things difficult for me. He just wanted me to stay by his side to atone for my sins. I now realize that deep down, he actually loves you, his younger brother. Although Emperor Jing only gave me six months of freedom, it should be enough."
After thinking it over carefully, he said, "There's something you've never mentioned before, and I never thought it before either. I suspect there's some special reason why the Crown Prince is like this now. His nature doesn't seem to be irredeemably wicked."
With this thought in mind, Yi Shangyun quietly made up her mind: "So I've decided to stay and help him. If you're watching over me from heaven, please bless me and help me. After all, the Crown Prince is your only family left in this world. I believe he will definitely get better..."
Just then, Tuoba Ze suddenly appeared behind her and said, "It's so late, why don't you go back? What are you muttering to yourself here? You're not thinking of sneaking away, are you?"
Hearing this, Yi Shangyun was startled and stood up abruptly, retorting, "Who wants to sneak away? Do you think everyone is as untrustworthy as you?"
Unexpectedly, Tuoba Ze suddenly stepped forward, grabbed her wrist, lifted it up, and brought it extremely close to her nose, saying, "Who are you calling a liar?"
Faced with this sudden close proximity, Yi Shangyun was terrified. While struggling in his grasp, she cried out, "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go..."
Unexpectedly, Tuoba Ze showed no intention of letting go; on the contrary, his grip seemed to tighten even more.
He even threatened her, saying, "Now you belong to me, the prince. I can do whatever I want with you, and you have no choice but to surrender. Perhaps then I will consider..."
But before he could finish speaking, he suddenly realized that the woman's struggling strength was gradually weakening in his hands.
Immediately afterwards, Yi Shangyun appeared limp and about to collapse.
Tuoba Ze then said, "What are you doing? What's wrong with you now, you cunning woman? What tricks are you trying to pull?"
It wasn't until Yi Shangyun collapsed onto him that Tuoba Ze frantically called out to her.
"Hey...you woman..."
"Wake up..."
"Wake up..."
"What’s wrong with you?"
What's wrong with you?
Seeing that she was dazed and confused, only mumbling "Hot..."
He was on the verge of losing consciousness, and his face was unusually flushed. Tuoba Ze quickly reached out and touched his forehead, and immediately let out a gasp.
"Why is this damn woman so hot?"
Without a moment's hesitation, he quickly knelt down, swept Yi Shangyun up in his arms, and hurried back.
Upon returning to the felt tent.
Tuoba Ze placed Yi Shangyun on the couch while anxiously ordering the maid, "Quickly, bring in the medicine! This woman is burning up with fever!"
The maid hesitated and did not do as instructed.
Upon seeing this, Tuoba Ze raised his voice and shouted, "I told you to hurry up and get the medicine, are you deaf?"
The maid knelt down abruptly and explained, "Your Highness, please calm down. I did hear what you said, but this young lady is pregnant and she is quite ill. I'm afraid she can't take ordinary herbs."
Tuoba Ze, of course, did not understand these things, and only said, "Why can't she eat it? Are we just going to let her wait to die like this?"
The maid said timidly, "Ordinary herbs might harm the fetus in his womb."
Upon hearing this, Tuoba Ze said nonchalantly, "It's just an unformed embryo. So what if it's damaged? Can't we just not have it?"
Just then, a sound came from Yi Shangyun, who was in a daze.
"No……"
"don't want……"
"Don't hurt my child."
"don't want……"
"You promised me..."
Tuoba Ze thought about their deal for a moment, then looked extremely impatient and said angrily, "Damn woman! What a nuisance."
He then ordered the maid, "Have someone quickly fetch ice from the snow mountain."
The maid was shocked upon hearing this and looked at Tuoba Ze's face: "Your Highness, you wouldn't possibly be thinking of..."
But Tuoba Ze shouted sternly, "Enough nonsense, hurry up and go! If anything happens to her tonight, I, the prince, will take your life."
The maidservant hurriedly got up and went out to deliver the message.
Looking at Yi Shangyun's extremely distressed appearance, Tuoba Ze said, "You woman, I must have owed you something in my past life. I really don't know whether keeping you by my side is to atone for my sins or to collect a debt from me."
It felt as if we had just gone through a period of chaos and turmoil.
It wasn't until almost dawn that the cloud on the clothes finally cooled down from that extremely dangerous temperature.
The candlelight was dim.
Tuoba Ze continued to silently watch over her, watching as her complexion gradually returned to normal and she fell asleep peacefully.
Before I knew it, I was completely mesmerized.
The image of Yi Shangyun saying those words flashed before my eyes once more.
"To love someone is not to whisper endless sweet nothings to them, but to tuck each other in under the covers at night..."
In an instant, he seemed to suddenly understand something, and actually reached out and tremblingly tucked the blanket around Yi Shangyun.
Just then, Yi Shangyun, still half-asleep, uttered a series of murmured sounds.
“Wei Mingxuan…”
"No……"
“Xuanyuan Han…”
"Come back quickly..."
"It's too late..."
"It's too late..."
Upon hearing this, Tuoba Zedun snapped out of his daze, quickly withdrew his hand, his expression changed drastically, and he began to mutter curses, "She really is a promiscuous woman, so shameless. Just how many men has she had?"
In a fit of anger, he got up, turned his back, and stormed off.
The next morning.
As soon as Yi Shangyun opened her eyes, she saw a maid walk in.
So she struggled to her feet and thanked him, saying, "Thank you so much for taking care of me last night!"
The maidservant approached and said with a smile, "Miss has finally woken up! But the person who stayed by your side all night was the First Prince, not this servant!"
"Tuoba Ze?!" Yi Shangyun could hardly believe his ears.
He then asked again to confirm, "You mean, Tuoba Ze guarded me all night last night? How is that possible?"
The maid said, "The young lady had a high fever all night, and the Crown Prince was extremely anxious. Since the young lady is pregnant, she cannot take medicine indiscriminately. So the Crown Prince ordered someone to fetch ice from the snow mountain overnight. He used the ice to cool himself down before using his own body to lower the young lady's temperature."
In an instant, Yi Shangyun's pupils dilated in shock. He wrapped himself tightly in his clothes and exclaimed, "What? You're saying he used his body for me..."
The maid quickly explained, "Miss, there's no need to worry. The Crown Prince has already ordered someone to wrap you in a blanket, so there's no skin contact between you and the baby. This will ensure that you and the baby won't get too cold."
Yi Shangyun thought to himself, "Has this Tuoba Ze gone mad?"
So he hurriedly asked the maid, "Where is Tuoba Ze now?"
The maid thought for a moment and said, "The Crown Prince took care of you all night and seems to be feeling a little unwell. He should have just rested now!"
Yi Shangyun was genuinely worried, so she hurriedly got up and said, "Quickly, take me to see him!"
The maid told her, "Before the Crown Prince left, he instructed me that if you wake up, you should rest here and not go there again, so as not to pass on your illness to you!"
Then, she added, "To be honest, from childhood to adulthood, I have never seen the Crown Prince treat a woman with such care, gentleness and tenderness!"
At this moment, Yi Shangyun was also thinking to himself, "What kind of person is this Tuoba Ze?"
"From childhood to adulthood..."
Suddenly realizing what the maid had just said, Yi Shangyun asked anxiously, "You mean, from childhood to adulthood, you and Tuoba Ze have always taken care of him? Then can you tell me about your eldest prince's past?"
The maid suddenly sighed, "Actually, from childhood to adulthood, the eldest prince has been quite pitiful!"
Yi Shangyun asked, puzzled, "What do you mean? He is the eldest son of the old king of Beilie, practically second only to the king. How can you say he is pitiful?"
The maid exhaled a breath of stale air, poured a cup of milk tea for Yi Shangyun, and slowly began to speak.
"When the eldest prince was young, he wasn't like this. Because he was the queen's first child, she took care of everything for him personally, attending to every detail of his life, from his daily routine to other matters, showing him great care and affection. Therefore, the eldest prince, in turn, was very sensible and filial, enjoying her company. But later..."
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