In the early summer of the fifty-seventh year of Chen Xia, the emperor passed away and the crown prince succeeded to the throne. The prime minister was abolished and a cabinet was established. Jiang Yi became the youngest cabinet minister.
Jiang Yi had resigned from the court, but later suddenly returned. The emperor and the crown prince never pursued his frivolous behavior, even though the censors of the Censorate were upset for many days.
Jiang Yi casually caught an example and killed a chicken to scare the monkeys. After one person died, no one raised any objection since then.
Perhaps because they haven't seen each other for a long time, many people have forgotten what kind of person Jiang Yi is. Although he looks elegant and handsome, his methods are terrifyingly cruel and he can easily take someone's life with just a smile.
What's more, the emperor and the prince are obviously protecting him. Anyone with a little vision can see that Jiang Yi now cannot be provoked, and Jiang Yi in the future is even more impossible to provoke.
Just like the eldest prince who was obviously against the crown prince and making things difficult for him, after the emperor passed away, Jiang Yi used the quickest, simplest yet cruelest means to wipe out all the counselors he had recruited, and then the crown prince, who had ascended the throne, issued an imperial decree to banish him to a remote place in the northwest where no one lives.
The eldest prince's mother, Concubine Shu, almost cried her eyes out for this, but now that the emperor has passed away, the prince will not care about her at all.
Nangong Xuan might have been soft-hearted and kind in the past, but the emperor's distrust at the time completely made Nangong Xuan, who was kind by nature, never soft-hearted again.
After he ascended the throne, Shao Jingyu and Jiang Yi became the two sharpest knives in his hands, one for external wars, and the other for eliminating all disharmonious factors at hand.
A colleague who had a good relationship with Jiang Yi once privately advised Jiang Yi that Nangong Xuan, who had now ascended the throne, could use him to get rid of the minions he disliked, and one day he would use someone else's hands to get rid of him.
Jiang Yi smiled and didn't care.
The man asked him why he trusted Nangong Xuan so much, Jiang Yi said, "It's not trust."
But there will never be such a day.
No one understood what this sentence meant.
No one understood his behavior.
Even Nangong Xuan didn't understand.
He didn't care about anything and wasn't afraid of anything. The number of enemies he made didn't seem to matter to him. No matter how difficult it was to implement a policy, he would still go forward without hesitation. The Ministry of Revenue had more and more money, and more and more people were afraid of Jiang Yi, and more and more people secretly wanted him dead.
Nangong Xuan shielded him from all the rumors in the court and the public and talked with him in the imperial garden.
By then, five years had passed since the death of the previous emperor.
People always change. At first, Nangong Xuan trusted Jiang Yi very much, but when he really reached that position, everything changed.
They are wary, of course they are wary of Shao Jingyu who commands a large army, Jiang Yi who holds sway over the government, and perhaps even his younger brother who is far away in Peking. The higher they stand, the colder their hearts become, and the more suspicious they become.
But later, he was still afraid that Shao Jingyu would deprive him of his military power and order Nangong Ye to return to the court every year, but he was no longer afraid of Jiang Yi.
Because Jiang Yi had taken a path with no way back from the very beginning.
A road that no one would like without the emperor and Bai Xin.
Having touched the foundation of the aristocratic family, Jiang Yi would not survive for more than a few days as long as the emperor no longer protected him.
Later, even his former in-laws, the Jiang family, began to become dissatisfied. Jiang Yi ruthlessly severed ties with the Jiang family and became alone.
He had no family, no wife, no children. The Jiang Mansion was cold and gloomy, with only a few scattered old servants.
Many people said that he was partial and perverted the law, and that he was corrupt and accepted bribes, but Nangong Xuan had seen that over the years, Jiang Yi had not even changed the jade pendant on his waist, and he had even worn the silk tassel on it for a long time.
If the policies he implemented had not ensured that the people had enough food to eat, increased the amount of money in the Ministry of Revenue, and reduced the years of corruption and bribery, he would really have been labeled a treacherous minister.
Who could blame the emperor for not touching him no matter what? It was lonely at the top, and there were always countless people who wanted to pull him down.
Those who know him pity him, while those who don’t know him curse him behind his back.
Nangong Xuan felt a little bit reluctant, so he took the rare opportunity to drink a cup of tea with Jiang Yi, which was still the Biluochun tea that they were both familiar with. Nangong Xuan even made a decision for him, asking him to tone down his edge and ease the relationship with the important officials in the court.
Jiang Yi waved his hand and said no need.
If Jiang Yi could be persuaded, he would not be Jiang Yi. Or maybe someone had persuaded him before, but that person is no longer here.
When Jiang Yi left the capital, he told him that he would return to the capital in the end of spring. Indeed, he came back in the end of spring, but he was alone.
He asked him where Princess Lin'an was. Jiang Yi had a complicated expression, like joy and sadness. Finally, he said calmly,
"I'm leaving."
Nangong Xuan had seen how deeply Princess Lin'an loved Jiang Yi, so how could she leave? How could she bear to leave?
But Jiang Yi insisted that she was gone.
Nangong Xuan felt a slight pain in his heart for a moment, and suddenly realized that leaving did not have only one meaning.
Maybe she had an accident and left forever.
Nangong Xuan didn't know how to comfort Jiang Yi for a moment, because he himself was also a little sad when he heard the news. Thinking of that bright and flamboyant woman still left a heavy mark in his heart.
Perhaps a deep wound was engraved in Jiang Yi's heart.
His first wife passed away, and he finally found someone he loved again, but they still separated. Nangong Xuan recalled the heart-wrenching pain he felt when the Crown Princess left him, and left the Jiang Mansion with a sigh.
Jiang Yi could guess what Nangong Xuan was thinking. He might feel that Nangong Xuan had a miserable life and felt sorry for him, but he didn't explain anything.
Such thoughts from the superiors were beneficial to him, and Jiang Yi would not do anything unnecessary, even though he was not too sad.
Just as the letter said, he had another memory that he would cherish for a long time. He knew that Yan Yiming also had feelings for him. He would no longer have a nightmare that would make him regret his whole life. That was enough.
These are enough to sustain him for a long time and enough for him to repair this broken country.
Later, if you can't hold on any longer, if you miss your partner too much, choosing death is not a difficult thing to do.
Even, perhaps, it was a relief.
He told his friends that he didn't care what others thought of him, not because he trusted Nangong Xuan, but because he never thought about living too long.
About ten years, about twenty years later, Jiang Yi put on a brand new Luota. Maybe all these Luotas became old, and maybe the painting left by Yan Yiming slowly lost its color.
It won't be long after all.
So he worked tirelessly and overdrew, and acted on his own will despite the opposition of his clan. He was injured several times and was assassinated. After that, the emperor sent his guards to be with him.
Some people even proposed marriages for him, including the emperor and the empress dowager, but Jiang Yi rejected them all.
That year, Nangong Xuan finally re-established the Queen. Jiang Yi asked him if he still thought about the Crown Princess. Nangong Xuan waved his hand and sighed, "Of course I wouldn't."
"But I can't even remember what she looks like."
More than ten years have passed since the Crown Princess passed away. He still drinks Biluochun, but he can't remember what she looked like.
Jiang Yi smiled and said, "That's fine."
The emperor did not understand. He thought he was talking about re-establishing the queen, but he did not realize that he meant he had forgotten what the Crown Princess looked like. After all, the Crown Princess was somewhat similar to A Ming. If the emperor did not remember, he was the only one who remembered.
So he said this was fine.
He still remembered her, and if there was an afterlife, he might be able to find her again.
Jiang Yi chuckled, but then coughed lightly. Uncle Li beside him walked up to him worriedly and asked him if he needed to see a doctor. Jiang Yi waved his hand and said no.
"But……"
"Go down," Jiang Yi said lightly.
In the middle of the night, Jiang Yi's coughing was still clear. He suddenly dreamed of the day after he left. He did not see Yan Yiming's appearance after he left, but he dreamed that she cried for a long time holding the letter.
Jiang Yi wanted to continue watching, but he woke up from the dream. Yan Yiming's face disappeared again. Jiang Yi suddenly hated his gradually weakening body.
So he invited the imperial physician again the next day. He no longer felt the stuffiness in his chest at night, but he did not dream of Yan Yiming again, so Jiang Yi poured out the medicine in the bowl again.
Uncle Li looked at the willful Jiang Yi, but he was helpless.
It is said that a person who is too smart does not live long. Jiang Yi is undoubtedly the smartest person. He has worked so hard and endured so much hardship over the years that Uncle Li could only secretly wipe away his tears behind his back.
He thought of the woman Jiang Yi brought back many years ago, and the way Jiang Yi smiled every day when she was with him. Suddenly, he couldn't remember how many years it had been since Jiang Yi smiled like that.
Jiang Yi said that he was grateful to Yan Yiming for staying with him for a while, and that he would live well and would not make her feel guilty.
But he broke his promise. He didn't make her feel guilty, but he didn't live well.
He let her go and live his own life, but he couldn't live his own life well.
When the last silk ribbon gradually lost its color and began to become half new and half old, Nangong Xuan seemed to have discovered something. He summoned Jiang Yi into the palace and said that he was going to appoint a crown prince and wanted to ask Jiang Yi to be the crown prince's imperial teacher. For the first time, Jiang Yi rejected Nangong Xuan so clearly and asked him to choose someone else.
Nangong Xuan put away his smile, and he told Jiang Yi that love was not the only thing worth devoting one's life to in this world.
Jiang Yi smiled, but she was worth it.
Nangong Xuan knew that he could no longer persuade her again.
Jiang Yi left anyway. He dismissed the servants and left the house. That night, a huge fire broke out in the Jiang Mansion. The fire was so big that it could not be put out in time. No one escaped, including Jiang Yi.
Some people said that he finally got his retribution, but only Nangong Xuan and Li Bo, who was crying like rain, knew that he was the one who set the fire and he had no intention of running away.
He endured for twenty years, but finally couldn't bear it any longer. At the last moment, he seemed to hear Yan Yiming's familiar voice, and she said see you in the next life.
Jiang Yi smiled, watched the fire spread, and closed his eyes.
Well, see you in the next life.
The author has something to say: The last hard days are over, and there will only be sweetness in the end, guaranteed.
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