I'm afraid you'll get hurt.
I stood there, stunned, watching the spirit of longevity approach me. He slowly embraced me, instinctively pressing my forehead against his chest. I heard his voice, slightly choked: "Taiping, leave him, before you get hurt."
Breathing became increasingly difficult and urgent, to the point where it was impossible to breathe comfortably.
I raised my head, slowly pushed Changming away, and shook my head: "No, if Mother knew, how could she let me marry him? How could she let Wu Chengsi go?"
A fleeting sadness crossed her eyes, and after a long pause, she whispered, "What if this was originally Emperor Wu's intention?"
Nine,
It took me a long time to fully understand what he was saying. I stared at him blankly, and after a long pause, I asked, "Where is Wu Chengsi?"
I slowly stood up. In that chaotic moment, only one thought remained: I wanted to get to the bottom of things, I wanted to ask him clearly.
Pushing aside the barrier of fate, my tear-blurred vision obscured the direction I had come from, I hurried into the princess's garden. Servants glanced sideways, then knelt in fear in the space my peripheral vision swept across, startling countless crows along the way.
The study was empty. A palace maid who had served Wu Chengsi followed me there, panting. She seemed thoughtful only when she met my bloodshot, red eyes, as if she had noticed something. After a long pause, she carefully chose her words and stammered, "The Prince Consort doesn't usually visit Madam Cheng, but..."
I gradually calmed down.
No one dared to stop me anymore, and the plain sword in my hand gleamed brightly, just like the expression on my face. In no time, I arrived at the residence of Lady Cheng, located in the eastern corner of Chang'an, on opposite sides of the Daming Palace, without interfering with each other.
I just didn't expect him to hide her so well.
Changming never uttered a word, but stayed by my side without leaving for a moment, just as he always had, silently tolerating all my willful and even reckless behavior.
The zither music was intermittently disordered, as if unrelated emotions were plucking unrelated strings. I coldly turned and entered from outside the door, and there was no one else there except Wu Chengsi.
I slowly raised the sword hilt, pointing it towards his heart. With all my despair etched into my cold words, I asked, each syllable distinct: "Did you kill Brother Dan?"
"yes."
"Instructed by the Martial Emperor?"
"Exactly."
"You're the one who lied to my mother and hid Cheng here?"
He raised an eyebrow at me, scoffed, as if laughing at my naivety: "If your mother really killed her, how could she be at ease letting her young daughter marry her enemy?"
I slowly raised my head, stared into his eyes, and asked one last question: "So, that's why you hate me so much. But I want to know," I smiled, "did you ever like me? Even just a little bit?"
Upon hearing what the most amusing thing in the world was, Wu Chengsi laughed uncontrollably, wiping away tears from his eyes with his sleeve. "Taiping, let me tell you." He stopped laughing and clearly uttered his final curse, "Taiping, I despise you, I despise everything your family imposed on me. All the things that caused you pain, all the experiences that humiliated you, give me a sense of vengeful pleasure." He paused slightly, deliberately emphasizing the last sentence, "I have never liked you, not even a little bit."
He laughed heartily, slowly stood up from in front of the zither, and before anyone could notice, he grasped my hands holding the sword. With just a little force, the tip of the sword pierced into his chest.
Bright red blood bloomed like flowers on his chest. I stood there dumbfounded as his right hand gripped the back of mine. It was warm and rough, the kind of hand only someone who had tasted blood would have. That's why it stood out on the day of the horse race and easily attracted my attention when I was young.
That sunless afternoon was only two years away from the day he faced the knife in my hand.
What fills the void is life and death, and separation.
He slowly knelt down in front of me, struggling to look up, and smiled at me: "Why are you crying? You took the sword to kill me, didn't you?"
I wiped the dampness from my face with the back of my hand, unaware that tears had already streamed down my face.
Time seemed to stand still in that moment, as if it were an eternity. At the edge of my vision, beyond the distant mountains, the setting sun symbolized the glorious era of the Tang Dynasty, while my own golden years, which symbolized the beginning of Wu Chengsi's sword strike towards me, had already begun to come to an end.
I slowly squatted down, my trembling hands gently tracing his familiar, sword-like eyebrows and his strong, prominent nose, until finally, as he sank into the depths of death, his lips murmured, "Taiping, I hate you..."
I held him close, looked up, and let the mournful cries echo in my heart.
"I hate you, you make me even more attached to this world..."
I was stunned.
"You sit on that high platform, you have no idea... how many people are watching you when you laugh..."
Tears blurred my vision, and the only thing I could clearly hear was his soft, gentle murmur: "How I wish... I could have met you sooner... long enough that we were both free from hatred..."
I finally froze, my gaze slightly raised—to the spot Changming loved to be, where she could appear before me anytime, anywhere. As if sensing my gaze, the instant my eyes lifted, Changming slowly looked back at me, a smile I had felt so familiar with since our first meeting. Just as Wu Chengsi slowly closed her eyes, her entire being gradually lost its radiance, becoming transparent, like water vapor, about to vanish before sunrise.
His smile was warm, as if it were the last expression Wu Chengsi left in the world when he departed.
He said, "My name is Changming (Long Life), and yours is Taiping (Peace). Long life means no worries, and peace means joy."
Perhaps what he really wanted to say was, "Peace." My name is Wu Chengsi, meaning "peace."
do you remember me?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
