His love for her was so deep, yet it was too short to last. Did she intend to drag his family down with her, subjecting them to the perpetual misery and poverty of Ningguta?
As they passed the moat, weeping willows gently brushed the water's surface, one layer of swirling petals covering another. Yan Ning pulled off the two jade pendants from her neck and threw them into the calm river, creating a weak, feeble splash.
Upon seeing this, Heshen looked somewhat surprised. He blurted out, "I have already found the plaque for Tianxiang Courtyard and sealed it in the study of Qinxin Garden. Once the auspicious purple glow appears, you can return to the place you have been longing for day and night!"
Yan Ning turned to look at He Shen, whose expression was filled with pain. She knew that he was finding it difficult to let go when he said those words. She smiled and said, "When De Xuan returns, I want to take him to guard Fu Kang'an's mausoleum!"
The warmth on Heshen's face faded. She was willing to stay, but not for him. His face beneath his dark robe grew even more somber, a bitter smile playing on his lips. "If I were willing to take you far away, to find beautiful scenery and live in seclusion, would you be willing to come with me?" He looked at Yan Ning, who had her head bowed. He knew the answer in his heart, but he still wanted to hear her say it, to see if there was a trace of reluctance on her face when she rejected him.
Yan Ning lowered her head, no longer looking at Heshen. She didn't want to give him hope, nor did she want to make him feel guilty towards his family because of her. Since fate had brought her here, she would stay here anonymously. She had already failed her mother and Binli in this life; she couldn't fail Heshen's hundreds of family members as well.
After searching for the mystery of time travel for decades, just as everything was about to become clear before her eyes, she stayed behind.
For the sake of Fukang'an's words, "Let us support each other through thick and thin, and never be apart," and to prevent Heshen from further damaging the "Fu" character stele and implicating his family in exile to Ningguta, Heshen felt at ease knowing that being exiled to Ningguta was a mercy from the Emperor. However, Yan Ning knew that his family would not have to suffer the harsh cold of Ningguta.
Three days later, Dexuan followed Agui back to the capital. He did not understand why Yan Ning wanted to take him away from the capital, nor did he know that Heshen and Fu Chang'an had worked together to remove his name from the Fucha family genealogy. His name was no longer mentioned in any official documents or edicts.
On the eve of her departure from the capital, Yan Ning went to the Fucha residence to retrieve the items that Fukang'an had left for her before his death. Xi Ying, who had been living in Changting Garden for a long time, learned from De Lin that Yan Ning had returned and went out of her courtyard to wait for her at Jianguozhai. The moon was high and the sky was dark, and Jianguozhai, being uninhabited, had not been lit for a long time.
Xi Ying wore a plain-colored cheongsam, her hair held up by a single silver hairpin, her sickly face revealing her advanced age. Yan Ning, startled by her appearance, stumbled back, patting her chest a few times to catch her breath. "Why did you startle me here?"
Xi Ying's expression was calm as she entered the courtyard and slowly walked towards the weapon rack. Under the moonlight, the weapons still gleamed with a cold, silvery light. She brushed the dust from the weapons and said slowly, "Do you know that when I first married the prince, I practiced martial arts here with him?"
Upon hearing Xi Ying mention Fukang'an, Yan Ning clutched the painting Fukang'an had drawn for her tightly, her eyes immediately reddening. "Now, I have no connection with the Fucha family anymore! You and he will be buried together in the same mausoleum after death, that is what I owe you all these years!" After saying this, Yan Ning turned to leave, but Xi Ying called her back.
"If it were only you who were removed from the family genealogy, given the Emperor's and Heshen's treatment of you, the title of Prince would surely have been inherited by Dexuan. I am grateful to you for how you have treated Delin. I have already told Delin that the one who will be buried with Fukang'an in the same grave in the future is you, the one who raised him to adulthood!"
Yan Ning turned around in astonishment. She didn't want De Xuan recorded in the family genealogy, mainly because she feared that history would be rewritten and affect future generations. She had thought that if she stayed here, she couldn't hope to be with Fu Kang'an through thick and thin. She looked at Xi Ying, the ruthless woman who had once taken the lives of several people, who now seemed indifferent to everything.
At dawn, Fu Chang'an and Heshen patrolled outside the city gates, while Dexuan easily drove his carriage out. Yan Ning lifted the curtain on the carriage window; several miles away, another person on horseback followed behind. Yan Ning couldn't see his delicate, feminine face clearly, but she deeply remembered everything he had done for her, and this was the only thing she could do for him in this life.
De Xuan, with his keen hearing, had heard someone following the carriage before Yan Ning. He endured it for a long time, but the sound of hooves continued relentlessly. His face hardened, and he cracked his whip a few times to warn those behind him to stop. Yan Ning couldn't help but look at her son. Like Fu Kang'an, he could hide everything in his heart. He was wary of the rumors circulating in the capital, yet he never revealed a trace of it to Yan Ning. No wonder she wanted to take him away from the capital; he only asked a few questions before quickly packing his belongings and urging Yan Ning to get up.
Yan Ning was pleased that although De Xuan had not spent much time with Fu Kang'an, his respect and love for Fu Kang'an were evident in his words and actions, and Fu Kang'an would surely be gratified if he knew this in the afterlife.
Fukang'an's mausoleum is located in the same place as General Fuheng's mausoleum, several dozen miles from the capital. However, due to the rugged mountain roads, it takes longer to reach the site.
Yan Ning had already found a field not far from the mausoleum at the foot of the mountain, where there was an old house abandoned by a farmer. After the two arrived, De Xuan repaired the old house in half a day. After cleaning it up, he helped Yan Ning down from the carriage.
As he gazed at the distant mausoleum, he asked Yan Ning, "Mother, are we going to stay here and guard Father's tomb like this for the rest of our lives?" He had heard rumors about Yan Ning, but only because the Emperor Emeritus was still alive did the Emperor dare not act recklessly towards her. Now that Yan Ning had disfigured herself, he was even more determined to protect the reputation of his great hero father, which was why he had agreed to let Yan Ning leave the capital and come here to guard the mausoleum. But his martial arts skills were going to be wasted here, and he felt a pang of resentment.
Fukang'an, at Dexuan's age, was already a young general praised by everyone. If it weren't for Yan Ning constantly holding Dexuan back these past years, he would have long been worthy of the position of general and leading an army. Yan Ning felt guilty towards Dexuan, knowing that Dexuan's thoughts were the same as Fukang'an's.
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