On the afternoon of the third day of the tenth lunar month.
The snowflakes have been falling since early morning and haven't stopped yet, turning the entire Jade Prince's Mansion white.
In a corner of the Prince's Mansion's back garden, there were more than a dozen red plum trees. At this time, the red plums were in full bloom, and snowflakes fell on the red plum trees, accumulating on the treetops and branches, bending the branches under their weight.
A pavilion stands amidst a cluster of red plum trees. Liang Yihan and Xuan Yuanhao are sitting opposite each other on stone chairs. In the center of the stone table in front of them is a small stove with a blazing fire. A pot of wine is warming on the stove, and its delicate aroma fills the entire back garden.
While Liang Yihan and Xuan Yuanhao were chatting and laughing, Yu Jing hurriedly arrived at the back garden.
Xuan Yuanhao had seen Yu Jing as soon as he entered the back garden. From afar, Xuan Yuanhao saw that Yu Jing looked grim and hurried, and sensed that something was wrong. His previously joyful face darkened, and he quietly waited for Yu Jing's arrival.
Liang Yihan glanced in the direction he was looking and followed his gaze to Yu Jing.
Yu Jing quickly arrived at the pavilion, his face grave. He stared at Xuan Yuanhao's face, remaining silent for a long time before finally speaking in a hoarse voice: "News has come from Yingyang City that the Sixth Prince died last night... When they found him, his body was already cold. News came from the palace that the Sixth Prince died of a sudden illness, but our men saw bluish-purple ligature marks on his neck, clearly indicating that he was strangled..."
As soon as Yu Jing finished speaking, Xuan Yuanhao groaned, his face showing an expression of extreme grief. He clutched his chest and coughed violently.
"Haozi!" Liang Yihan hurriedly stood up, while Yu Jing quickly ran behind Xuan Yuanhao and kept patting his back.
The Sixth Prince was Prince Jing, the sixth son of Emperor Yan. Although he and Xuan Yuanhao were not born of the same mother, they had the best relationship since childhood. When Prince Jing was imprisoned by Emperor Rui, Xuan Yuanhao had repeatedly petitioned for his life, but ultimately could not save him.
Xuan Yuanhao gripped the edge of the stone table tightly until his knuckles turned white and his finger bones made a slight cracking sound.
After a long while, Xuan Yuanhao barely managed to stop coughing. His face was flushed from the violent coughing, his eyes were red-rimmed, and glistening with tears. He looked up at Liang Yihan, his voice hoarse, and said in a low voice, "Yihan, these past few days I have submitted thirteen memorials pleading for my sixth brother. I don't expect him to release him, even if it means life imprisonment, as long as he lives. There has been no response to these thirteen memorials, but there has also been no imperial decree to punish my sixth brother. I thought he had agreed, Yihan, I thought he could spare my sixth brother once, spare his life... I thought he still remembered that he was his younger brother, I thought he hadn't forgotten that we share the same blood. It turns out that all of this was just my naive belief!"
Two lines of tears silently slid down his cheeks. Xuan Yuanhao raised the wine cup on the table and drank it all in one gulp. After finishing the cup, he suddenly threw the empty wine cup in his hand. The celadon wine cup hit the pavilion pillar and shattered into pieces.
"Yu Jing, you may leave," Xuan Yuanhao said in a hoarse voice.
"Yes." Yu Jing took three steps back, bowed, and turned to leave silently.
"Haozi, are you alright?" Liang Yihan sat down and asked with concern.
Xuan Yuanhao let tears stream down his face, but he gritted his teeth and held back his sobs. He picked up the wine pot from the small stove, filled another wine cup with wine, dipped his finger in the wine, stared at Liang Yihan, and wrote the character "反" (rebel) on the table stroke by stroke.
Liang Yihan stared intently at the character "反" (rebel), a smile gradually spreading across his face. He nodded and said with a boastful laugh, "Okay, I'll help you."
"Thank you." Xuan Yuanhao wiped away his tears, picked up his wine cup and drank it all in one gulp. His voice was hoarse as he said, "Yi Han, you know how much better it would be if I weren't born into the royal family. The royal family has no relatives, no relatives at all!"
Liang Yihan watched as Xuan Yuanhao drank one glass after another, and was about to prepare some words to comfort him when she heard a woman's voice calling from afar, "Liang Yihan!"
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