Chapter 551: A Lonely Man
Inside the Taiji Hall, the candlelight was dim.
Emperor Jing'an was lying on the bed, unconscious. He didn't know what he was dreaming about. His brows were furrowed and he kept mumbling.
"don't want--"
Emperor Jing'an suddenly awoke, staring at the curtains embroidered with dragon, phoenix, and cloud patterns, feeling a bit dazed, unable to distinguish reality from fantasy. He recalled the scene in his dream, where Prince Yu, unwilling to surrender and resolutely committing suicide, still felt a lingering fear.
"Cao Chunxiang, pour me a glass of water."
Emperor Jing'an lifted the quilt and sat up, ready to drink a sip of water to calm his nerves.
No one responded.
In the past, Cao Chunxiang always stayed by his side. As long as he made any movement, Cao Chunxiang would come over and serve him meticulously and attentively.
Even if Cao Chunxiang was not feeling well, he would still wait by his side.
Whenever this happened, he would let Cao Chunxiang go back and rest, and let the palace maids serve him.
At this time, Cao Chunxiang would smile amiably and say, "I have been by your side for dozens of years and understand your preferences best. I am just worried that the palace servants below are clumsy and may not be able to serve you well enough."
"Your Majesty, you diligently attend to the people and govern the country every day, and you have a lot of things lined up waiting for your attention. These tedious government affairs are already enough to give you a headache. I need to make you feel more at ease with other matters."
From then on, he slept in bed and Cao Chunxiang took a nap on the footrest.
While he was handling government affairs, Cao Chunxiang stood by and ground ink and poured tea for him.
Cao Chunxiang seemed to be his shadow, following him wherever he went.
There has never been a situation where there is no response.
Emperor Jing'an called out again: "Cao Chunxiang."
A strong sense of uneasiness swept over him. Emperor Jing'an got out of bed and searched everywhere anxiously for Cao Chunxiang. Unknowingly, he went to the outer hall.
"Your Majesty, you're awake." A young eunuch, upon seeing Emperor Jing'an, hurried forward with a cup of warm water. His voice was hoarse from crying, "Let me serve you some water."
Emperor Jing'an stared at the water cup in the eunuch's hand and reached out to take it: "Where is Cao Chunxiang?"
The young eunuch was startled, his eyes instantly reddened: "Eunuch Cao passed away last night."
Emperor Jing'an's hand trembled violently, and with a "crack", the cup fell to the ground: "What did you say?"
The young eunuch sank to his knees and trembled as he spoke, "Your Majesty, last night Prince Yu rebelled, and Eunuch Cao...Eunuch Cao was killed by the rebels."
These words hit Emperor Jing'an's head like a hammer. His previously chaotic mind suddenly became clear, and those blurry images, which he had deliberately avoided recalling, emerged in his mind frame by frame with incredible clarity.
Emperor Jing'an murmured: "This is not a dream... All this is not a dream..."
At this time, the wound on his shoulder began to ache slightly, as if reminding him that everything that happened last night was real.
Cao Chunxiang died, the third brother died, and the eldest brother also died.
Emperor Jing'an stood there in a daze, everything around him became blurred, distorted, unreal and empty.
He was like a wandering soul, wandering around within the palace walls. Sometimes he wanted to visit Yanxiang Palace, and sometimes he seemed to want to visit the third prince's palace. Finally, he came to the Golden Palace after a lot of twists and turns.
Inside the tall and wide gate, a red carpet stretched straight, leading all the way to the high jade steps. Above the jade steps was the throne that attracted people from all over the world.
For this throne, fathers and sons killed each other, and brothers murdered each other.
Emperor Jing'an walked up the jade steps in the soft, bright sunlight. With each step, a figure flashed before his eyes: Yizhen, Empress Yuanrong, Noble Consort Ling, Consort Xian, Prince Rui, the Third Prince, and Prince Yu.
Until he stepped up step by step and stood in front of the throne that symbolized power, all the shadows in front of him disappeared, and only he was left sitting alone on the dragon throne, looking down on all living beings in the world.
The sunlight that had once enveloped him now slanted down to his feet. No matter how the light and shadow shifted, it could no longer illuminate him.
-
In Huitong Hall, Princess Guangning was wearing a middle-length dress and sitting in front of the mirror. Her fingers were stained with a little lip balm, which she carefully applied on her lips, making the color bright and festive.
She put down the lip balm in her hand and carefully wiped her fingertips with a handkerchief. She caught a glimpse of a corner in the bronze mirror and stared blankly at the wedding dress reflected in the mirror.
At this moment, Yun Shu hurried in and saw Princess Guangning sitting in front of the mirror. She subconsciously slowed her pace and walked to Princess Guangning's side. In the blink of an eye, she caught a glimpse of Princess Guangning's appearance in the mirror and was suddenly startled.
Princess Guangning's face was covered in thick powder, which looked even more terrifyingly pale in the bright sunlight, while her lips were red, as red as blood. These two extremely bright colors formed a strong contrast on her face, making her look particularly strange.
Yun Shu's heart was pounding as she stared at Princess Guangning in the mirror, realizing she was staring at a certain corner. She followed her gaze and saw her staring at the wedding dress embroidered with a mandarin duck pattern on the clothesline.
Unexpectedly, Princess Guangning's tears fell, drop by drop, and finally connected into a line, washing away the indigo painted on her eyes. Her whole face was a muddy blend of black and white, just like Princess Guangning's life which was not clear in black and white.
Yun Shu's heart ached. For Princess Guangning, her days in the Northern Qi palace had been as dark as an abyss, ready to swallow her up at any moment. Now, married into the Great Zhou, she had finally seen the light of day, but Prince Yu's forced abdication had thrown her life back to square one.
She knew very well that Princess Guangning's only obsession was to live well.
In order to survive, Princess Guangning did not hesitate to treat Prince Yu as the person she loved, and used this title to curry favor with Prince Yu in order to get a chance to survive from Prince Yu.
It was not until they got separated from Princess Guangning and Prince Yu that some differences began to appear between Prince Yu and Princess Guangning.
This slight difference was fully revealed last evening when Princess Guangning heard the news that Prince Yu had sent medicine to Concubine Ling.
When Princess Guangning heard that Prince Yu was sending medicine to Concubine Ling and that the Emperor did not want to see anyone from Prince Yu's residence, she summoned the envoys who were escorting the bride and hurried to the palace.
Unfortunately, Princess Guangning was still a step too slow.
Prince Yu just broke into the Forbidden Palace.
Princess Guangning has always been timid. She never wants to meddle in matters that have nothing to do with her, for fear that she will accidentally get involved in the quagmire and bring herself fatal danger.
Yun Shu thought that Princess Guangning would definitely try to avoid the scene like yesterday.
Unexpectedly, Princess Guangning went to the Duke's Mansion and begged the Duke to take her into the palace.
Inside the palace walls, the air was filled with a strong, piercing smell of blood, corpses were scattered everywhere, and blood flowed like a river.
In any other time, such a horrific scene would have frightened Princess Guangning so much that she wouldn't dare open her eyes. But Princess Guangning actually walked through the pile of corpses, stepping on the blood-soaked ground, and rushed to Prince Yu's side.
Princess Guangning's various behaviors made Yun Shu think that Princess Guangning really fell in love with Prince Yu, but when he saw Princess Guangning coming out of the palace, she washed and dressed as usual, and then lay quietly on the bed.
Yun Shu was a little worried, so he lay on the bed board, trying to comfort Princess Guangning.
Princess Guangning seemed to sense her thoughts and whispered softly, "Prince Yu is my savior, so I should go and save him."
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