A lifetime of mutual devotion
At this moment, the answer is self-evident.
The other person whose expression changed was naturally Li Chongyu, who was seated in the audience.
He must have already thought of the name Su Rouhua had given him.
Meanwhile, the other person in the "Eternal Life" series, his own sister, a woman named "Eternal Life," stood clearly before him in the main hall, mercilessly mocking his background.
The fruit of the father's lifelong secret affair, which he could never make public, and the product of the mother's indulgent yet calculating love transactions.
These are the brother and sister who stand at this moment, looking at each other as if separated by a vast chasm, beneath the jade steps of the Southern Dynasty.
Ironically, they have names with such auspicious meanings.
May you live a thousand years!
Li Chongyu's usually strong and composed face revealed an indescribable look of sorrow when he suddenly heard the words "May you live a thousand years."
The last person to change color was someone even Qiu hadn't expected: Emperor Xie Lang, who sat on the dragon throne.
He was about to help the princess up, but his hand remained outstretched in the air.
Whether the foreign woman's words were true or false, whether they were part of a long-planned scheme or a result of unexpected setbacks, none of it mattered to him, a man seasoned in political intrigue.
Importantly, he heard a name that had long been forgotten.
He departed from the Purple Terrace to the northern desert, leaving only his green tomb facing the twilight.
That was the last glimmer of light in the shattered, golden dreams of the Southern Dynasties. It is a name that still lingers in my heart when I wake up in the middle of the night, realizing that the towers are locked and the times have changed.
But to his surprise, this name was being gently mentioned by the blonde, blue-eyed foreign beauty before him.
We were complete strangers, yet it felt like a lifetime had passed between us.
This magical name instantly transported him back twenty years to the pilgrimage of the previous Marquis of Guannei, Li Mingyuan.
At that time, Xie Lang was still the Right General of the Palace Guard, holding a spear and guarding the golden steps and red steps of the palace.
The upright posture of Li Mingyuan at that time, and the carefree figure of Li Chongyu in front of him now, blurred and overlapped in his vision.
The father and son are actually very similar in physique and temperament.
He remembered feeling a slight sense of shame when he first saw Li Mingyuan.
Both were soldiers, and their ages were not far apart. Since his youth, the Marquis of Shuofang Army had been riding horses, fighting against the northern barbarians, and recovering the land of Youyan. He had fought countless battles in the yellow sands and had few rivals.
Even without the flamboyant makeup and elaborate headbands of the nobles and scholars of the capital, anyone could tell that this was a true man.
In contrast, the well-dressed Imperial Guards clearly lacked the true heroic spirit forged on the battlefield.
But he had also witnessed firsthand the brilliance in Li Mingyuan's eyes, which, after a brief burst of intense light, dimmed and vanished.
Because on the steps of the imperial palace, Li Mingyuan saw the person he could never have in his entire life.
At that time, Xie Lang witnessed the former Marquis of Guannei, Li Mingyuan, carrying three Han Dynasty portrait stones, walking step by step to the palace, to present the distant tokens from Chang'an, which had traveled across time and space, to Empress Da Huan, a talented woman of her generation who was well-versed in poetry and literature and had a fondness for bronze and stone artifacts.
Behind Empress Shangguan stood the alliance of aristocratic families from the Jiangzuo region, represented by the century-old Shangguan clan.
Under the circumstances at the time, many people in the court privately believed that, compared to the licentious and incompetent Sima clan, the Empress was perhaps the one worth meeting and discussing matters of state with.
Of course, the truth is not so. But only those close to the palace guards, such as Xie Lang and Li Lanxiu, would know this.
The empress had long since fallen out of favor. If it weren't for this court audience, where Li Mingyuan specifically requested to see her, she would have been confined to the inner palace at that moment.
Sometimes Xie Lang was amazed by the subtlety hidden beneath Li Mingyuan's heroic military spirit.
But with just one glance at Empress Shangguan, Xie Lang knew that Li Mingyuan had already understood.
He clearly remembered the overwhelming amazement and emotion that Li Mingyuan, a man of great ambition and integrity, felt when his gaze fell upon the Empress.
Then, looking at the melancholy smile in the Empress's eyes, his eyes revealed pity and tenderness.
With just that fleeting glance, he lowered his head and never mentioned the portrait stone again.
It was a man's inferiority complex towards a woman he could never reach, as well as his understanding and hesitation regarding her difficult situation.
Looking north to the Central Plains, all the ambitions and prior plans for the recapture of Chang'an turned into a speechless defeat when they truly touched the strict barriers of the top Han Chinese aristocratic families and the precious flowers nurtured within those barriers.
The Empress instructed her servants to put the portrait stone away, and after exchanging a few polite words, they tacitly agreed not to discuss anything further.
Li Mingyuan's meeting with the Empress was a once-in-a-lifetime event. After that, he either secluded himself in the palace or went to the battlefield, and they never had any further connection.
But the memory of their meeting remained vividly in Xie Lang's mind.
People today are mostly selfish; though I don't say it, you should know.
He helped people and then left without a second thought; would he really be a man in vain?
That was also the last time Empress Shangguan appeared in public.
Xie Lang had also heard the rumors circulating privately in Jianzhang City recently about the three Han Dynasty portrait stones.
When the Marquis of Guannei from the previous dynasty paid homage to Empress Shangguan of the Great Huan Dynasty, he presented her with three earthen bricks unearthed from an ancient tomb. The elegant empress accepted them politely without saying a word at the time, but afterwards ordered them to be thrown into the latrine and pigsty, refusing to look at them again.
Whether the previous Marquis of Guannei, Li Mingyuan, was the one who was disrespectful first, or whether Empress Shangguan was the one who was disrespectful first, has become one of the topics of private discussion among the powerful and influential people in the capital recently, with the arrival of the current Marquis of Guannei, Li Chongyu.
Whenever Xie Lang was present, even though he was now the emperor, he still spared no effort to clarify the facts of the time by speaking his word.
Whether others believe it or not is beyond his control.
He was present at the time and knew very well that Li Mingyuan had no intention of disrespecting him, and the Empress also sensed Li Mingyuan's deep feelings, so she remained silent.
It was a tacit understanding and mutual respect that came from just one glance.
The Empress's feelings for Li Mingyuan were probably only those of respect for a border hero and a famous general on the battlefield.
But when Li Mingyuan looked at the Empress, his gaze, momentarily lost in admiration, betrayed a deeper emotion than he had hoped for. Xie Lang understood, simply because he, too, harbored the same secret within his heart.
This will not diminish his respect for Li Mingyuan.
But who exactly grasped Li Mingyuan's mindset at that time so perfectly, and then exaggerated and publicized it?
The reason why the former Marquis of Guannei, Li Mingyuan, ultimately decided to ally with the crumbling Great Huan Dynasty, with the Grand Secretary Shangguan Jin as the commander-in-chief, to jointly wage that unprecedented cross-river battle—wasn't the shadow of Empress Shangguan, who had once captivated him, present in this decision that ultimately cost him his life?
It's not that beauties ruin heroes, but rather that within the melancholy of beauties lies the splendor of high-class families, with gold-painted eaves and deep courtyards, where spring willow catkins drift into the boudoir window and inkstone, and summer koi leap across the lotus pond, their shimmering waves like embroidery on screens and bamboo carvings on combs.
On the Twenty-Four Bridges, by the misty waters of Wumen, a beautiful woman with a delicate frown and a heart full of joy needs a stable and prosperous world to nurture her. Only a century of continuous ritual and music, and a peaceful and enlightened political situation, can produce a beauty like Shangguan Yanxiu.
In that stunning glance, Li Mingyuan glimpsed not only the most beautiful woman from a prominent family in the Southern Dynasties, but also the cultural essence left behind by the Central Plains regime in its attempt to avoid disaster, which developed into elegance and spirituality in the Jiangnan region.
In the end, he paid with his blood and his head for that fleeting glimpse of understanding and for the land behind him.
Those people are gone; whether they were beauties or generals, they have all turned into a mound of yellow earth in the grave.
Xie Lang roused himself and faced his own dynasty on this night of revelry and brightly lit candles.
During that pilgrimage, he was merely a silent observer, standing guard behind the throne, holding a spear.
But today, he is a monarch receiving homage on the dragon throne.
There was a beautiful woman of a foreign ethnicity named "Long Live the Emperor," who was a state gift presented to him by Li Chongyu, the Marquis of Guannei in the contemporary era.
It is a reflection and sentiment on that pilgrimage from years ago.
It is a regret from the past, a longing from another life.
If he accepts this gift, could the endless regrets that Li Mingyuan and he once felt be made up for?
Just as Xie Lang's expression shifted and he was about to speak to the Princess to stay, a deep and resonant bell suddenly rang out.
Everyone in the hall looked up at the top of the hall.
However, it was A Qiu, dressed in a crimson wavy dance costume. Seeing that the situation was not good, she had already leaped out of the front hall and silently came to the wooden chime bell frame, which was about ten feet tall, on the side of the hall. She then raised her wooden mallet and struck the largest bronze bell.
The loud, clear, and melodious bell tolled for a long time, echoing throughout the hall and instantly attracting everyone's attention.
Previously, most of the officials and guests were focused on the arrival of Marquis Li Chongyu, followed by the graceful entrance of Princess Wansui and her group of beautiful Hu women, singing and dancing. Next came their enchanting celestial music and dance, a spectacle that seemed to conjure up a Buddhist paradise. For a time, no one noticed the set of chime bells hidden in the shadows of the main hall, which occupied almost an entire painted wall.
When the deafening chime rang out, almost all the guests were stunned for a moment, then stared in disbelief at the huge clock frame. Soon their eyes lit up as if they had seen something incredible.
The entire venue was initially silent, but then immediately erupted in cheers.
The reason is simple: in the ten years since the founding of the Dayan Kingdom, this set of chime bells in the Imperial Ancestral Temple has never been used in its entirety. And the music of bells and drums is undoubtedly the highest symbol of the inheritance of ritual music in the Central Plains and the legitimacy of power.
Ah Qiu's clear voice rang out in the hall, each word distinct and clear:
"It is out of gratitude for the friendship between the previous generations of Marquises of Guannei and the Southern Dynasty that the Music Bureau used the Han Dynasty dance figures on the three Han bricks presented by General Mingyuan—'The Marquis of Shanyu', 'Long Live the Emperor,' and 'Serving the Emperor'—as the model. Master Gu Yishao personally composed a grand piece for the chime bells, which became the dance 'Yan Shi Ning' presented today. May the friendship between the two generations of Marquises of Guannei and our Southern Dynasty last for a thousand autumns and ten thousand years, shining as brightly as the sun and moon!"
At this moment, An Daoling had already led the musicians of the seated and standing ensembles into the rear hall, where they played zithers and lutes together, and bells and drums resounded, indicating that they had entered the next stage.
The first person to stand up from his seat and respond to A Qiu's words was none other than Li Chongyu.
He raised the bronze goblet in his hand and said loudly to everyone in the hall: "May you all be of good faith to me and never betray me. May our dynasty prosper for thousands of years and enjoy eternal peace."
Having said that, he raised his head high, drank the wine in the cup in one gulp, and then slightly raised the empty cup in A Qiu's direction to give a gesture.
This sworn brother only knew that A Qiu was a female official in the palace music bureau, but he did not know that she was the key performer in the "Yan Shi Ning" dance performance. Although A Qiu had already changed her makeup and costume, Li Chongyu still recognized her by her voice.
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