Chapter 279 My son will take you home
After Xuan Lie's men left, Xiao Nanyue clenched the military token in his hand, and the coldness in his eyes was three times colder than the waning moon in the sky.
The night was as dark as ink. In the huge Yunqiu enclosure, only Fu Yunqing and the solemnly standing Xiao family army were left.
Xiao Nanyan slowly turned around, his gaze falling on the bluestone ground not far away, where two corpses were lying side by side.
His mother Su Xianrou was covered with Helian Cong's bright yellow dragon robe, while Helian Cong was covered with the black cloak he often wore, which was sewn by his mother Su Xianrou herself.
Xiao Nanyue's throat choked, as if a thousand-pound rock was pressing on his chest.
Everything around was silent, with only the sound of the leaves rubbing against each other and the rustling mountain breeze.
Xiao Nanyue fell to his knees with a thud, his knees hitting the bluestone ground with a dull sound.
He knelt forward, one step, two steps... His knees scraped against gravel and dead branches, and blood seeped out, staining the hem of his clothes red, but he was completely unaware.
The moonlight and the torchlight intertwined, casting mottled shadows on his back.
For a moment, his mother Su Xianrou's love and tenderness for more than twenty years, and Helian Cong's extremely relieved eyes before his death, flashed before his eyes one by one.
He didn't stop until he knelt down and approached the two corpses. He banged his forehead heavily on the cold ground. After a long time, he slowly raised his head.
His eyes, which were always as cold as a pond, were now filled with tears.
It was a fragility that had never been revealed in front of others, like glass shattered by a violent storm, so shattered that it was shocking.
He stretched out his trembling hand, and just as his fingertips touched the edge of the dragon robe on Su Xianrou, he could no longer hold back his sobs:
"Mother, Daddy..." His voice was hoarse and inarticulate:
"Son...I'll take you home..."
The tears finally fell, sliding down the angular cheeks, one drop, two drops, landing on the black python robe.
Fu Yunqing stood not far away, looking at the regent who was always strategizing and winning battles from afar. At this moment, he was like a lost child, kneeling beside the bodies of his parents and crying silently. Even he, who was always cynical, had tears in his eyes.
I still remember the last time I saw Xiao Nanyue cry, it was eight years ago, when he learned that his "father" Xiao Beicheng had died of poisoning. He was only fourteen years old, and just like now, he knelt in front of the coffin with red eyes, vowing to avenge his "father".
Now, both parents are dead, years of hatred turned out to be a manipulated conspiracy, and the person he loved has fallen into the hands of the enemy - all these sorrows are like a tide, and even a man of iron can hardly bear it.
That’s him, Xiao Nanyan!
Fu Yunqing walked up and patted his shoulder gently.
There are no extra words, only the warmth from the palm of your hand, silently conveying comfort.
A sharp wind blew through the empty hunting platform, lifting Xiao Nanyan's scattered hair. Between his eyebrows and eyes, besides tears, there was a kind of toughness that was tempered by fire and almost tragic.
He knew that after crying this time, he had to keep going even if the road ahead was filled with dangers and hardships.
Because there is something more important waiting for him to do.
…
After returning home, Xiao Nanyan ordered that Su Xianrou's body be placed in a nanmu coffin and placed in the ancestral hall. The funeral would be held after Xiyan was rescued.
The coffin was covered with her favorite lilac brocade during her lifetime. Xiao Nanyue thought about the broken jade bracelet on her wrist but never took it off.
That bracelet was my mother's favorite thing in her life, besides the sandalwood hairpin.
It was because, it was given to her by Xiao Beicheng eight years ago, the night before he left for the expedition to Nanzhao. She wore it on her wrist like a treasure and never took it off for eight years.
Xiao Nanyan knew that his mother chose to commit suicide because she could no longer live with the deception and revenge she loved most in her life.
All of this stemmed from her deep love for Xiao Beicheng. Even though she resented him so much, she still begged him not to kill Xiao Beicheng when she was dying.
It's a pity that her infatuation was given to such a heartless man, and it was destined to end in tragedy.
It would be fine to leave with the last bit of connection with Xiao Beicheng.
After the coffin was placed in the ancestral hall, he threw Xiao Beicheng's spirit tablet into the brazier. The wooden plaque engraved with "The seat of the late father Xiao Beicheng" curled up in the brazier and soon turned into charcoal. The rising green smoke still carried the bitter fragrance of aged lacquer.
The replaced memorial tablet was meticulously carved from pearwood, and the nine characters "The Xianbi Su's delicate memorial tablet" were also written by him personally, with a restrained trembling hidden in the strokes of his pen.
The residual incense in the sandalwood incense burner gave rise to a few wisps of green smoke, which swirled around the plain prayer flags on the beam.
Xiao Nanyan suddenly felt sad:
At this time yesterday, mother Su Xianrou was still kneeling on the cushion, twirling Buddhist beads, devoutly praying for her "deceased husband" to be reincarnated.
The Buddhist beads on the cushion still retained the warmth of her fingertips, and on the table was a stack of unfinished embroidery, with lotus patterns woven in fine stitches - that was the belt she wanted to sew for him.
He lived for twenty-two years. Although he was of noble status, everything he wore and used was made by his mother. It was her love for her only son.
But now, my mother's voice and smile are gone. The cold coffin is placed in the center of the ancestral hall. The surface of the nanmu wood is polished as smooth as a mirror, but it cannot reflect my mother's smiling eyes.
I remember when he was a child, he was naughty, and his mother always smiled and wiped his stained hands with a handkerchief, saying: "Yan'er, you must be a gentle gentleman in the future."
Now, the hands that once wiped away the stains for him were forever curled up under his father's dragon robe.
"If Yan'er hadn't revealed the truth..."
Xiao Nanyan muttered to himself, a rusty sweet taste rising in his throat.
If his mother could continue to live in the lie, at least she would still be alive and well. However, even if he didn't expose it, Xiao Beicheng was determined to take revenge, and it was inevitable that he would be exposed sooner or later.
Xiao Nanyan gently touched his mother's spirit tablet, his thin lips trembling:
"Mother, Yan'er misses you..."
After a long while, Xiao Nanyue let out a long sigh and gently pushed open the secret compartment on the altar.
There, he also placed another spirit tablet, which was prepared for Helian Cong.
Xiao Nanyan knew that as the Emperor Tianqi, Helian Cong's body had to be buried in the imperial mausoleum, even if he had left a will before his death.
Even though he was extremely reluctant, he could not let Emperor Tianqi be buried with the former Princess Regent. Not only would it add to the guilt of "incest" between his sister and brother-in-law, but if his mother Su Xianrou were still alive, she would probably not want to have anything to do with this imperial family anymore.
After careful consideration, Xiao Nanyue ordered his men to carry Helian Cong's body back to the palace on a dragon chariot.
Before the dragon chariot was carried away, Xiao Nanyue trembled as he cut off a strand of his mother's black hair and a strand of Helian Cong's black hair, tied them with a red rope, and carefully placed them in Helian Cong's stiff palm.
The inky hair was entangled in the emperor's palm, just like the love and hate that had entangled them for half a lifetime.
Although this pair of young lovers could not grow old together in this life, their marriage might be the last silent reconciliation between these two unfortunate people.
"Daddy,"
He bowed deeply to the dragon chariot and said in a hoarse voice:
"When the new emperor ascends the throne, my son, the regent, will personally oversee your funeral and bury you with the rites worthy of an emperor."
Watching the dragon chariot gradually go away, Xiao Nanyan prayed silently in his heart:
The love and hate of this life have dissipated with the end of life. If there is an afterlife and we are destined to meet again, I only hope that this pair of lovers, crushed by imperial power, can forget their past and find a lifelong companionship in ordinary streets...
Until the dragon chariot disappeared, Xiao Nanyan turned around and looked towards the direction of Feiyun Temple. Across the dark night, he clenched the military token in his hand, his eyes dark and unpredictable:
At noon three days later, whether it was salvation or a trap no longer mattered.
He only knew that if Xiyan made even the slightest mistake, the military power in the world would be nothing more than a sacrifice to be buried with her...
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