Chapter 144 The Opposition That Cannot Be Ignored
The years he spent in Tianshuo were the days when he dreamed every night of going back.
As long as this plan succeeds, his Xihe will return to him, and he will return to the days he once dreamed of.
Even if Xihe would resent him after knowing everything, after drinking Beiyuan, Xihe would forget everything and become a blank sheet of paper for him to write on.
So even though he knew Xihe would be in pain and despair, he still...
"But you still did it." Xihe breathed a sigh of relief. She seemed extremely tired, half of her body leaning against the stone table. "Sometimes I think we are both ridiculous. We clearly no longer trust each other, but we insist on not letting go of each other because of love."
They strangled each other's throats, refusing to let go, entangled in life and death, and not retreating a single step!
Xiao Mingxuan's calm heart was now filled with a sense of panic. He keenly sensed that Xihe was gradually drifting away from him. Since he came to power, he hadn't felt this out of control for a long time. "Xihe, if you can persuade Nangong Yan to pave the way for you, Zhao Chengning and Zhao Jinyuan will both survive. Can you... pretend this never happened? Let's start over."
The moment the forces of Lihua Palace took action, Xiao Mingxuan knew that he had lost the confrontation.
The two brothers of the Zhao family survived, and Emperor Jingyuan would not let him go. Beimo suffered heavy losses, and he would not show mercy to him after he came to his senses.
But Xiao Mingxuan didn't want to think about all this. He looked at the blood-stained Beili military camp, and there was no ripple in his heart. The lives of those people were nothing but grass to him.
He had been chasing power for half his life, but at that moment it suddenly seemed like nothing.
He couldn't hold it, and suddenly he didn't want to hold it anymore.
I buried my hatred in my heart for more than ten years, and in the end I had forgotten what I wanted.
The moment the star fell, an indescribable panic surged in my heart.
He really wanted to see his little girl, so he came to the general's mansion despite the risk of being discovered.
"Xiao Mingxuan, you can't treat me like a chess piece that can be discarded at any time, and at the same time, you're so affectionate that you ask me to forgive you. What do you think of me? Your dog?" Xihe let out a bitter smile as she repeatedly questioned, "You want me to be your lover, so I have to be your lover. You want me to be your chess piece, so I have to let you control me without regrets? In this world... how can such a good thing happen?"
The body that had lost its spiritual power was like a broken bone being reshaped. After working for most of the day, Xihe's spirit was almost exhausted. She supported herself on the stone table and slowly stood up, wanting to go back to sleep.
Suddenly, a pair of arms appeared behind her and pulled her back, and Xihe fell into a cold embrace in an instant.
It is the hottest summer now, but my hands and feet feel cold.
"Xihe, come back to me, okay?" Xiao Mingxuan's expression was filled with sadness. The farewell in the little girl's moment of turning away deeply hurt him. He said in a hoarse voice: "If you don't want me to attack Tianshuo, I will withdraw my troops. If you don't want me to go to Beili, I will go back to Tianshuo with you. Whatever you want... I will give it to you. From today on, I will put you first in everything, okay?"
In the past, Xiao Mingxuan knew very well what he wanted.
He wants both power and Xihe.
But with the changes in the world, the scale had long since shifted, but... he realized it a little late.
"It's too late." Xihe shook her head and tried to struggle free, but ultimately failed.
"It's still in time!" Xiao Mingxuan's words were filled with a bit of urgency. "I'll make it up to you. Come back and be my little sun, shining on me, okay?"
Xihe glanced at the untouched cup of tea on the table with a half-smile, "Don't lie to yourself. You don't want me to be the sun hanging in the sky, otherwise this cup of Beiyuan wouldn't appear in front of me."
Xiao Mingxuan's body stiffened and his arms loosened slightly, and Xihe immediately broke free.
She picked up the cup of tea, tilted it, and the water slowly flowed down the rim, landing on the ground and wetting the petals mixed in the soil. "I have to admit that I do have an extra weight on your scale of weighing the pros and cons, and I should be thankful for that. I've been holding onto a stone for more than ten years, and it's finally warm."
She leaned against the tree trunk behind her, lowered her head and played with the cup in her hand, her expression unclear. "But if you want me to be your caged bird, you might as well kill me directly. I remember saying this many years ago."
"I remember." That was when they were in Jiangnan. Xiao Mingxuan would go crazy whenever he touched Zhou Tingchuan. Xihe had said something similar once, "But you also said that you wanted me to follow you, forever."
"So it still counts?"
"I did."
Before Xiao Mingxuan showed any joy, Xihe added, "But that sentence was directed at you back then, not you now."
"What do you mean?" Xiao Mingxuan's face changed.
"Even if you had some ulterior motives back then, you never hurt innocent people." Xihe has always been very clear about what she is doing. No one is perfect, and she does not force everyone to have a clear mind, let alone someone like Xiao Mingxuan who has been a hostage since childhood and has experienced many hardships.
She knew all of Xiao Mingxuan's little thoughts, but she pretended not to know because she cared about him.
Even though he had a gloomy mind in the past, he would never hurt irrelevant people.
Xihe could see that beneath Xiao Mingxuan's cold mask, in his icy heart, there was still a glimmer of hope for the world.
So Xihe was willing to indulge him.
"But since you came to power, you've been secretly slaughtering the Jiangnan gentry. To seize military power, you even slaughtered General Ningyuan's entire family. To quickly gain control, you've killed tens of thousands of soldiers! To attack the Tianshuo Imperial City, you've even allied with the Beimo Desert, hoping to put my two brothers to death." Xihe took a deep breath. "They didn't die because of their mistakes, but because of your endless desires. What makes you think that someone like you would still let me keep my promise?"
She knew clearly that she was facing a completely different Xiao Mingxuan.
Her little brother had already stayed under the city wall that year and would never come back.
"But this is the only way I can survive!" Xiao Mingxuan never felt that he had done anything wrong. "If I don't fight, I will die. The Beili royal family is undercurrent. If I don't kill people to seize power, I won't be alive now!"
"I know." Xihe smiled, "I understand what you did, but... I don't accept it."
Everyone has his or her own stance and a set of unknown ways of behaving and doing things.
Born a deity, Xihe looked down upon all living things. Compassion was a responsibility bestowed upon her by her Creator. She could neither shirk nor retreat.
The love of everyone in the imperial city made the little princess understand love and see all living beings in family and friendship, so she could not be as reckless as Xiao Mingxuan and hurt innocent people who had no cause for harm.
Xiao Mingxuan is caught in a strange vortex, and he can only protect himself by killing others. The undercurrent of the Beili royal family does not allow him to have any compassion or weakness.
Times make heroes, and the past determines our position.
Once upon a time, they refused to give in because of their feelings and were destined to go their separate ways.
Now, they gave in because of love, but it was too late.
What stands between the two men is bloody human lives and an opposition that cannot be ignored.
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