The main text ends here. "She was his empress, and also the end of his life..."
Banban's words implied that if she wanted strong and healthy entertainers for her amusement, Ying Zhao would not object, just like Ji Changyue had done back then.
Ying Zheng questioned, "What kind of entertainment are you having?"
“You know perfectly well what I’m asking,” Banban tilted his head back, deliberately waiting a moment before answering, “It’s about striking the chime bells.”
"I can do it too."
That night he insisted on striking the chime bells.
On the bed, Banban touched his abdomen and said, "My cousin doesn't have any excess fat on his body."
Ying Zheng didn't speak. Could he say that he usually took care of maintaining his figure? He also used the same products she usually used to care for her cheeks.
As winter arrived and the new year passed, Ying Zheng's birthday celebrations were made particularly grand this year, marking his forty-ninth birthday, a significant milestone from any perspective.
He was on tenterhooks, and to make matters worse, he caught a chill when he got up early in the morning and felt slightly feverish.
Ying Zheng watched her feed him medicine. As she fed him, tears fell into the medicine bowl. She pretended to be nonchalant, wiped them away, and raised her smiling face to pick up the spoon.
"It seems I was originally supposed to—"
Before he could finish speaking, his mouth was covered tightly. "Cousin, you've always avoided these things. Why are you saying them today?"
He laughed and laughed, squeezed her wrist, picked up the medicine bowl and drank it all in one gulp.
After taking the medicine, she hurriedly summoned the imperial physician to examine his pulse again.
He was still smiling.
"What are you laughing at!" She was genuinely frightened, tears welling up in her eyes.
"You laugh at my past fear of death, while you are so composed. Now the situation has changed." Taking advantage of her momentary lapse in attention, Ying Zheng uttered these words in one breath, and then felt a sense of lightness wash over him.
She immediately pinched his lips, not allowing him to say anything nonsense, her eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.
He had no choice but to signal that he would stop talking.
The imperial physician came in to examine Ying Zheng's pulse and, after a careful examination, said that Ying Zheng's illness was simply due to excessive liver fire, which, combined with the cold, caused the internal fire to flare up. The clash between the cold and heat caused him to fall ill.
Taking some medicine will cure the illness.
Banban was still not at ease, and after the birthday banquet, she eagerly brought him the medicine and watched him drink it.
The night was deep, and the two of them nestled together under the eaves, watching the moonlight. For decades, they had spent countless nights like this, but each time their feelings were different.
"When I was little, I would lean against my cousin like this, wondering when he would finally rest. I was so sleepy."
What about when you grow up?
"When I grow up..." she pondered for a moment, "when will my cousin finally rest? I'm so sleepy."
Ying Zheng: "Hmm?" He turned his head to look at her leaning on his shoulder.
"I was forced into it when I was young, but I did it voluntarily when I grew up." He brushed it off, still feeling a little embarrassed.
Ying Zheng gently stroked her cheek with his fingertips. "You've suffered."
“I didn’t suffer.” Banban held his large hand. “Although I went to Qin with my cousin and felt lost for a while, I don’t regret marrying him. You have never mistreated me. I have received both your love and your power. How could I have suffered?”
Ying Zheng paused, then lowered his voice, "The Ji family is my mother's maternal family. Even if we are not destined to be together, you can still enjoy the blessings of the Qin royal family without having to work so hard. You will live a carefree life. My cousin always complained about being tired when she was young. Now, how could she not be tired? Ordinary women don't need to learn so much. Knowing how to manage a household is already considered virtuous, but my cousin is proficient in everything, so naturally she has suffered."
These are all things I had to learn in order to be by his side.
"It's because I want my cousin to be my queen that I made you learn it."
Banban was stunned for a moment, never having heard him say such a thing before, and couldn't react for a moment, "Cousin...?"
"No." Before she could think it through, she denied him. "My cousin wants me to be queen, and I want to be queen myself..." She touched his face. "My cousin was so gentle today."
"Weren't you gentle before?" he asked with a smile, his voice extremely slow and gentle.
"He's never been this gentle before." She couldn't resist wanting to kiss him.
Two faces drew close, their shadows overlapping on the ground.
After the kiss, she whispered, "Do I have any wrinkles on my face?"
He chuckled, then cupped her face in his hands and looked at it closely. "Unfortunately, no." His expression gradually turned serious. "My cousin is like a goddess from heaven; she will never grow old."
"Really? You're just trying to make me happy." Banban pushed him away irritably, but she couldn't stop the joy in her heart, and kept touching the corners of her eyes and face.
She indeed rarely developed wrinkles, and what Ying Zheng said wasn't a lie. On the contrary, Ying Zheng was always worried about national affairs, and some lines appeared between his brows from frowning. His skin was fair, so even a slight frown was very noticeable.
However, this does not detract from his overall charisma; on the contrary, it enhances his charm.
The two sat for a while, then returned to their bedchamber. She applied a face mask for him and they started talking about all sorts of trivial matters.
As they talked, they started laughing and joking and couldn't control themselves.
He didn't want to pass on his illness to her, but she wouldn't listen.
The two of them were wrapped up tightly in the blankets, and she was moaning and groaning, sometimes feeling comfortable and sometimes uncomfortable.
Sure enough, she took the medicine the next day as well.
Ying Zhao spoke earnestly, asking if the underground heating in the palace wasn't working properly due to the cold weather, and reprimanded many palace servants.
The prince was angry, and surprisingly, neither of the couple refuted him.
He dared not cause any more trouble. Ying Zheng was focused on recuperating, and within two days he recovered on his own. He then turned back to take care of Banban.
She was not as healthy as Ying Zheng, and it took her four or five days to fully recover.
After this year, life is back on track.
On this day, Han Fei requested permission to marry Princess Yang Jiang. Ying Zheng raised his eyebrows in surprise and teased him, "Han Fei, after all these years, you've finally come to your senses?"
Han Fei: "...Your Majesty is joking."
Ying Zheng granted his request, and the wedding was scheduled for the second half of the year.
On the day of Yang Jiang and Han Fei's wedding, both Banban and Ying Zheng attended, serving as the officiants. Ji Chenghong remarked sourly, "What a grand affair, Grand Tutor Han."
Li Si, with his hands tucked into his sleeves, nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes."
Yang Jiang said to Banban, "He was the one who begged me to marry him, and I deliberately ignored him for four or five years. He deserved it." She scoffed dismissively, "Who told him to reject me back then?"
Banban laughed out loud.
Yingyue said, "That's how it should be, otherwise how would he know how precious you are? Men are all shameless."
Banban chatted and laughed with them, but in her heart she thought that she and her cousin seemed to have never thought about these emotional games. It was all natural and inevitable. Was it because she met a good husband that things turned out this way?
She decided to treat her cousin better from now on.
When Ying Zheng learned of this, he was both amused and exasperated. He said in a serious tone, "It's not that you've met a good husband, but that your husband deeply understands what the consequences of losing his wife would be, and he believes he cannot bear such consequences."
Banban wrapped her arms around his neck and swayed gently, "My husband will not lose his wife."
"So I won't do anything wrong."
"Have I done anything wrong?"
"Let me think about it."
"? You still need to think about it."
"Just kidding." He pinched her cheek. "You've never done anything wrong."
She muttered, "I knew it," and then said thoughtfully, "I don't think I've ever called my cousin by his name."
She wrote mostly by name, and when she was angry or upset, she would read out the full name, but not by affectionate names.
He rarely called her Chengyin properly, occasionally calling her Banban, but mostly referring to her as cousin or empress.
Cousins.
Such a title may seem unremarkable, even quite ordinary, but it is unique to them.
When they were young, their feelings for each other were simple, and they called each other cousins.
Later, when they fell in love, they still addressed each other as cousins, which is called remaining true to each other.
"Ah Zheng..." she murmured.
His heart skipped a beat, and he gently brushed the strands of hair from her forehead. "What's wrong?"
“Anyone who is close to my cousin can call you A-Zheng, but ‘cousin’ is a name that is unique to me.” She shook her head and gave up. “I still prefer my cousin.”
Ying Zheng also believed that calling someone by their name would only create distance.
It's a very peculiar taste.
Cousins are an unbreakable bond etched into their very bones, a connection like a red thread forged in blood. Just as there is no romantic love between them, they are still the closest cousins in the world.
He picked her up and kissed her lips tenderly.
In a daze, it was as if he had returned to the time when he first kissed her as a teenager.
She had just applied medicine to her leg after bruising it while riding a horse. She sat on his lap, hooking her arms around his neck, her youthful face full of innocence and purity.
He held his breath, cupped her face in his hands, as if tasting something delicious for the first time, afraid of hurting her, yet unable to resist the possessive desire boiling in his blood.
From that moment on, he knew that she could only be his, and he could only be hers.
Banban nestled against his chest, counting his heartbeats. Even when neither of them spoke, the atmosphere remained tranquil and beautiful. Their deep love for each other had remained unchanged for decades, and they never grew tired of each other for even a second.
She was just talkative, had all sorts of strange ideas, and acted on a whim.
It can never be quiet.
"I wonder if the soul binding we prayed for when we offered sacrifices to the gods last time has come true?"
"Didn't you say back then that we'd be together for all eternity, and wouldn't we get tired of each other?"
“I didn’t!” Banban emphasized, “I was talking about you.”
"You love to judge others by your own standards, so you must just think that way yourself."
"..." She felt so wronged, yet had nowhere to refute it.
“Then I didn’t this time,” she said dryly. “If that’s really the case, I hope I can remember all the memories between us and come to my cousin’s side as soon as possible.”
"That's too tiring, let me do it instead," he said seriously.
The two discussed for over an hour who had the memory and who should go to find whom.
I don't know why they talk so much about things that have no basis in reality.
He talked to her until she was drowsy, but he wouldn't let it go and tried to convince her of his point of view.
"Alright, alright, go to sleep." Ying Zheng said helplessly, gently patting her shoulder.
Gradually, her breathing calmed down. Ying Zheng stared at her sleeping face for a long time, sighed softly, and lay down to prepare for sleep.
For some reason, she suddenly woke up and mumbled in her sleepy voice, "I forgot to say I love you..." This was a ritual, something she had said every night before bed for years. She thought her cousin was a child, and how could he be more stubborn as he got older? He wanted to hear it, so she had no choice but to say it.
He paused slightly, then pulled her into his arms. "Oh, okay."
Banban regained consciousness. "???"
What do you mean by "oh, okay"?
"oh?"
"Oh, okay?"
She was baring her teeth and claws, trying to pinch his face until it turned red!
He admitted that Fang did it on purpose.
He's just petty.
She demanded that he say "I love you" a hundred times in return, not a single one less, and she wouldn't be satisfied until he said them all.
"hurry up!"
"Okay, okay... I love you, I love you, I love you—"
"I love you."
"I love you."
"I love you."
"..."
"..."
"..."
A soft snore filled the air as she nestled in his arms, fast asleep.
Are you going to recite it a hundred times to yourself? Isn't that a bit silly?
Sigh, so be it. He's just being silly. After all, he truly loves her, not just pretending.
As his voice rose and fell, the snow outside the window stopped, and all was silent except for his own echo and her warm breathing.
Like a sip of hot tea in the dead of winter, or a refreshing sip of ice in the sweltering summer, it is always just right and comforting, no matter when or where.
He began to ponder what love was, and what his love for his cousin was.
At first, his love was fear, control, leverage, and expectation.
Later, it became inspiration, it became nourishment, it became seeing, and finally it became permission.
Only now does he understand that love is unconditional and all-encompassing.
The trees outside the window are carefree, their branches white with snow; the people inside the house are without sorrow, their eyes turned back in love.
As night falls, the sun and moon sleep soundly, the Milky Way is silent, and love hangs low, reflected in the window.
She was his cousin, and his empress.
It is the ultimate destination of his life and the final resting place of his soul.
-----------------------
Author's Note: The main story is now complete!
I've decided on the order of the three side stories for now, and I'll decide the order of the others later depending on how I feel.
First, I'll write a modern side story, then three "what if" scenarios: a forced marriage scenario where the female lead doesn't like the male lead; a widower male lead scenario where the female lead dies after the male lead dies; and a scenario where the historical Zheng Ge (a character from the original novel) and the Zheng Ge from this story switch bodies.
The length of this modern-day side story is uncertain; it could be three to five chapters. I'll start writing it now.
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