Chapter 82 I Forgive You "Your Majesty, she........."
As soon as Gu Xi left Cining Palace, she felt a little out of breath.
Zhu Yin helped her find a stone bench to sit down. She tried to check her pulse, but found that her hand was trembling slightly and she couldn't figure it out, so she gave up.
It should be in the next couple of days; her life is coming to an end.
Gu Xi sat for a while and recovered. Just as she got up to return to Weiyang Palace, snow suddenly began to fall.
She had only taken two steps when a young eunuch approached from a distance and handed her a note, saying that someone had invited her to meet in the Imperial Garden.
Her eyes lit up when she opened the letter!
It's Yao Yao!
Gu Xi led Zhu Yin quickly toward the Imperial Garden. When they arrived at the agreed location, Yu Xinyao was nowhere to be seen. Only a man dressed in plain white robes stood there with his back to her.
The man turned around at the sound, and when their eyes met, both of them were startled.
"Lord Bai?" The man was none other than Bai Xingzhi.
Bai Xingzhi regained his senses and respectfully bowed, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty the Empress."
Gu Xi quickly said, "Lord Bai, there's no need for such formalities."
Seeing Bai Xingzhi again after regaining her memories made her feel somewhat lost, and she unconsciously clenched her sleeves.
The two looked at each other in silence.
Bai Xingzhi stared at Gu Xi calmly for a moment, then suddenly cupped his hands in a gesture of respect and said, "This humble subject has unknowingly disturbed Your Majesty the Empress. I shall take my leave now."
As he turned around, something suddenly fell off him without him noticing.
When Gu Xi noticed him, she tried to call out to him, but he had already walked far away. She squatted down and picked it up. After seeing what it was, she quickly ran after him.
"Lord Bai, here is your jade pendant!" Gu Xi said breathlessly as she took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the orchid-patterned jade pendant before handing it back to him with both hands.
Bai Xingzhi looked intently at her and said nonchalantly, "It's just an ordinary jade pendant, no need to be so nervous..."
Gu Xi almost blurted out, "How could it be an ordinary jade pendant? This is clearly..." Realizing something, she quickly fell silent.
Bai Xingzhi took the jade pendant from her hand, casually tucked it into his waistband, and never took his eyes off her.
"What is Mingming?" His Adam's apple bobbed, and his eyelids drooped slightly to hide the turbulent emotions in his eyes. "You remember now, don't you?" His voice was very low and his tone was calm, but his tense jaw still betrayed the concern in his heart.
"I'm sorry..." Gu Xi's voice was barely audible, her eyes reddened and brimming with tears.
He did so much for her, but she completely forgot him.
"You did nothing wrong to me..." The current outcome is entirely his own choice, and he has no one else to blame but himself.
He raised his hand to wipe away her tears, but lowered it just before his fingertips touched her. Finally, he said in a hoarse voice, "Don't cry."
Gu Xi hastily wiped away her tears with her sleeve, her nose slightly red.
"You've lost weight..." Bai Xingzhi looked at her with eyes full of tenderness and urged, "Take good care of yourself."
Gu Xi nodded frantically, tears welling in her eyes, "Take care of yourself too!"
"Yes, it's cold, let's go back." He smiled gently, his tone filled with tenderness that belonged only to her.
He watched Gu Xi's departing figure and murmured to himself, "I've thought more than once, if I had given up everything to go find you that day," he looked down at his hand that had just been raised and lowered, "wouldn't the person standing beside you now be me?"
The only answers he received were the howling cold wind and the swirling snow.
*
Gu Xi returned to Weiyang Palace, but in the end, she still did not tell Bai Xingzhi the truth about what happened back then.
She didn't know how he had gotten through all these years. If his hatred for his mother was an obsession, she was afraid that if she told him, he would realize that he had taken revenge on the wrong person and hated the wrong person, and he wouldn't be able to bear it.
Now that the Empress Dowager has fallen from power, he has achieved his wish, so let's put an end to everything from back then.
Gu Xi lay on the chaise lounge to rest, but her hands began to tremble uncontrollably again. Zhu Yin quickly went to call Yun Ke over.
The two surrounded Gu Xi. After Yun Ke finished taking Gu Xi's pulse, she didn't say anything, but couldn't stop crying. Zhu Yin immediately understood and also started crying.
Gu Xi comforted her, "Don't be sad, everyone has to die..." She was lucky enough to have lived many more years than expected.
After Yun Ke left, Gu Xi lay on the chaise lounge for a long time, staring blankly upwards, lost in thought.
She suddenly got up, walked to the cabinet, took out a wooden box from the back of the cabinet, and sat down in front of the dressing table.
She opened the wooden box, inside which were two musical scores and a hairpin.
She took out the hairpin and stared at it for a long time.
The jade hairpin had lost its luster and was now a dull, dark bluish-gray, much like her face now, which was also dark and ashen.
She turned to Zhuyin and said, "Zhuyin, go prepare lunch and have Huayue invite the Emperor over. Tell him I would like to dine with him today."
She hadn't eaten with him for a while; she had been worried that he would find out about the child, so she tried every way to get rid of him whenever he came.
After Zhu Yin left, Gu Xi carefully groomed herself in front of the bronze mirror, applying makeup, lightly touching up her lips, and finally pinning the hairpin he had given her into her hair. She smiled contentedly at herself in the mirror.
Before long, Xiao Heng arrived. His hurried footsteps could be heard from inside the house. When he opened the door, his dark hair was slightly disheveled, and his eyes were filled with joy.
Gu Xi sat at the dining table and looked up at him. She did not get up to greet him, but just smiled at him. Suddenly, the light in his eyes lit up.
During the meal, Xiao Heng would occasionally put food on her plate, which she ate one by one. The baby in her womb was unusually quiet today, making no fuss at all. Perhaps the baby knew that this was their last time together.
My child, it's my fault for not being able to wait until the day you came. Our fate can only be continued in the next life.
After lunch, Xiao Heng held her for a short rest. Gu Xi obediently snuggled against him, rubbing against him like a kitten.
Looking at her shallow breathing in his arms, Xiao Heng felt a surge of emotion that almost overwhelmed him.
After waking up, Gu Xi glanced at the snow falling outside the house, and still picked up her zither to invite him to go to Bihe Garden together.
Inside the pavilion of Bihe Garden, a zither and a xiao played, starting with a childhood tune, then moving on to "Wild Geese Landing on the Sandy Shore," and then to all the other pieces they had performed together in the past.
From day to dusk, it never stopped.
The music of the zither flowed like a spring, conveying the notes of the pentatonic scale; the lingering sound of the flute echoed around the painted beams. The world seemed to suddenly lose its color; such tacit understanding was unmatched by anyone else in the world.
Xiao Heng's gaze followed Gu Xi with fascination, as if he was afraid that she would disappear if he wasn't careful.
The snow outside the pavilion fell heavier and heavier. As dusk fell, Xiao Heng took Gu Xi's hand and walked back to Weiyang Palace step by step.
That night, Gu Xi told Xiao Heng what she had learned from Cining Palace.
She knelt on the bed, cupping his face in her hands, her gaze gentle yet firm. "Aheng, I know you've never received parental love, but that's not your fault."
But there are many kinds of love in this world...
"To you, I am the love of a man and a woman; to you, Brother Che is the love between brothers; to you, Steward Zhao is the love between master and servant; to you, Lu Yong is the love of a childhood friend..." she continued, "To you, Aunt Xu is the love of an elder for a younger generation; and to you, Lord Bai... he is the love between a ruler and his subject, a love between comrades-in-arms." Perhaps there is also the love between brothers.
"Don't dwell on the past. If you look at the present and feel with your heart, you'll discover that many people actually love you..."
She said earnestly, "You are worthy of being loved..."
Xiao Heng stared at her intently. Her clear eyes held an unprecedented certainty, and at that moment, he seemed to suddenly believe what she said.
Gu Xi's eyes were filled with warmth, and her voice was filled with earnest expectation, "Promise me, don't dwell on what you didn't get in the past, cherish the people who are by your side now and in the future, okay?"
Xiao Heng stared at her, his previously tense jaw gradually relaxing. After a long while, he replied, "Okay."
A faint smile spread across Gu Xi's eyes, as if a heavy weight had been lifted from her heart, and her shoulders relaxed.
Her fingertips traced his outline from his eyebrows downwards, again and again, as if trying to etch his image into her mind and heart.
She stroked his deep eyes, down to his mountain-like nose, and finally landed on his soft lips.
"Aheng..." she called softly.
"I'm here..." He suddenly realized what she had called him, his eyes lit up, and his voice trembled slightly, "Gu Xi, you've forgiven me, haven't you?"
"Yes, I forgive you." She lowered her head and pressed her lips to his, a tear sliding down her cheek and entwining with their tongues.
His kiss was passionate yet tender, tinged with cautious probing, his heart filled with both the ecstatic joy of regaining what he had lost and a sense of unreality, as if he were walking on clouds.
He laid her down on the bed, leaned over her, his eyes bloodshot, filled with restrained desire.
"Ah Heng, be gentle, I'm afraid of pain..." Gu Xi whispered.
Xiao Heng stiffened for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice, "Okay."
He treated her with the utmost tenderness. The woman beneath him gradually became intoxicated with her gaze. Her soft lips, her flushed face, and her soft moans all struck his heart, making him feel both bittersweet and aching.
He knew that the past hurts could not be made up for, and he would definitely treat her even better in the future.
Their fingers were intertwined, their love intense and passionate, as if the end of the world was approaching and the universe was about to collapse.
Finally, the two embraced tightly, as if they both wanted to etch the other into their very bones.
Soon, even breathing could be heard inside the room.
Gu Xi shifted out of Xiao Heng's arms, found a comfortable position, and focused on watching him until dawn.
In the early morning, as soon as Xiao Heng opened his eyes, he saw Gu Xi looking at him with a bright smile, appearing to be in excellent spirits. Her smile was infectious.
He felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction; he hadn't slept as peacefully as he had last night in a long time.
After Xiao Heng got out of bed, Gu Xi followed suit.
She took off his dragon robe and draped it over him, stood on tiptoe to straighten his clothes, tied his jade belt, and then smoothed out the edges of the dragon robe.
Then she pulled him to sit in front of the dressing table, picked up a wooden comb to smooth his hair, tied it up, and finally put the hair crown on securely.
After everything was arranged, Gu Xi stood in front of the door and watched him go to court.
The snow today was even heavier than yesterday, and a thick layer of snow had accumulated in the courtyard of Weiyang Palace.
Xiao Heng was so immersed in the joy of Gu Xi forgiving him that he didn't notice her unusual behavior, assuming that every day from now on would be like this.
After Xiao Heng left, Gu Xi returned to her dressing table, pulled his hair off the comb, took a few strands of her own hair, and tied their hair together, putting them into an exquisitely embroidered pouch.
As a married couple, their life has come to a fulfilling conclusion.
*
On the throne room.
Xiao Heng, dressed in a dragon robe, sat on the throne, exuding an aura of authority without anger. When his eyes swept across the hall, everyone held their breath.
The civil and military officials presented their reports in turn, but they felt that the emperor seemed somewhat different from usual.
When he listened to the music with his eyes lowered, there was always a faint smile on his lips, and he seemed to be in a very good mood. Even when someone made a mistake in their presentation and kowtowed to apologize, he simply said "It's alright" in a light tone, which would have been absolutely impossible in the past.
At this moment, Gu Xiao, dressed in a scarlet military uniform, strode forward, bowed, and stood in the hall, saying in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, recently the soldiers guarding the northern border have reported..."
Before the words were finished, a palace eunuch suddenly rushed in, his face deathly pale, and knelt on the ground. "Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress..."
Xiao Heng suddenly stood up and shouted in a deep voice, "What's wrong with her?!" Her smiling face from earlier today suddenly flashed through his mind, and a strange chill ran up his spine.
The eunuch's voice trembled, "Your Majesty, she...she's dying..."
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Author's Note: Here we go!
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