In the second year of Yanxi, Princess Roujia and Shen Jinghong colluded with Beiliang, betrayed the country, and attempted to usurp the throne. The evidence was conclusive and they confessed their crimes and were executed. Yelu Jing was beheaded and displayed to the public, and his body was sent back to Beiliang together with Yelu Zhen's body.
More than half of Beiliang's 300,000 troops were annihilated, and the rest surrendered. Beiliang sent envoys to Dingjing, the capital of Chen State, to surrender
and negotiate peace. The nobles headed by the Zhou family attempted to abandon the city and defect, but were stripped of their titles and demoted, and severely punished.
Prince Ding's crime was vindicated, and Emperor Yanxi Liu Chen
was wise and brave, and regained the support of the people. Mu Zhuohua was promoted to Minister of Rites for his meritorious service in suppressing the rebellion, and participated in the peace talks between Beiliang and the state.
The setting sun sank into the mountains, half covering the blushing face, and the flowers all over the mountains were also stained with an ambiguous halo, swaying gently in the warm breeze of late spring.
At the foot of Fuyun Mountain, people who went outing returned home, following their own shadows. In the wilderness not far away, there was a petite figure who seemed to have been standing for a long time, with no intention of leaving.
The gold paper in front of the tomb had been burned out, and the ashes were blown up by the evening wind and flew away. Mu Zhuohua looked at the two names on the tombstone with melancholy. They had never been together in their lifetime, and only after death could they be closely dependent on
each other underground. Her thoughts seemed to be blown away with the ashes, and she did not notice the approaching footsteps behind her until she was hugged from behind by a pair of arms and fell into a solid and warm embrace.
Mu Zhuohua was stunned, and her consciousness seemed to be revived. The world around her also slowly became clear, and the fragrance that made her feel at ease and nostalgic surrounded her tightly.
"Today is their seventh day. I heard from the Ministry of Rites that you asked for leave to come back, so I thought you must have come here."
Liu Yan's voice was warm and low, as if with a hint of warmth, which slowly activated her cold blood.
"You have been hiding from me these days. Are you still blaming me for not telling you about your plan to fake your death?"
Mu Zhuohua lowered her head slightly, and was silent for a long time before she said in a hoarse voice: "I was originally blaming you, but when I saw them just now, I suddenly didn't want to..." She held Liu Yan's hands, interlocking their fingers, "I'm very happy that you can come back alive."
Liu Yan was stunned when he heard her words, turned her body to face him, saw her slightly red and swollen eyes, and said softly: "Have you cried just now?"
Mu Zhuohua lowered her eyes and did not deny: "The princess is still very good to me."
No matter what her thoughts were, she did help her several times and protected her. She could see the love and care in the princess's eyes.
But the things she did really made it difficult to escape death...
Even if the Princess Zhenguo gave up her reputation to protect her life, she couldn't protect Shen Jinghong's life.
She didn't like this world at all. Only the Princess Zhenguo was the one she dared not hurt, and only Shen Jinghong had all her truth and walked into her heart.
"Zhuohua, we are different from them." Liu Yan held her in his arms and let her lean on his chest, "We have a lifetime to spend together."
"Liu Yan, I thought you were dead that day, and I thought about living and dying with you for a moment." Mu Zhuohua leaned on his neck and whispered.
She heard the beating of his heart suddenly pause, and then his hoarse voice came from above her head: "I'm sorry..."
He remembered that day when she thought she was dead and cried so sadly, but he couldn't tell her the truth. The strong regret and self-blame in his heart surged up again: "I didn't want to hide it from you all the time, but I was not 100% sure at the time. I just wanted to let Zhimo tell you about it after things were settled."
She had a high fever and was in a coma for three days. When she woke up, she saw Zhimo standing in front of her bed and told her that Liu Yan was not dead. She could no longer remember her mood at that time. She seemed to think that she was still in a dream, and it was another unreal truth. But she quickly regained her calm and rationality and figured out many things.
When Liu Yan got into trouble, she was so concerned that she didn't notice Liu Chen's obvious abnormality. Later, she recalled what he said and his expression at that time, and finally understood what he meant. No wonder Liu Chen said that Liu Yan must die, and said that he didn't tell him the truth about Concubine Yun's death. It turned out that Liu Yan had told everything about the cause of death of the late emperor and the late queen mother long before Shen Jinghong told Liu Chen.
Mu Zhuohua sighed: "You let His Majesty know the real cause of death of the late emperor, aren't you afraid that he will really get angry and kill you?"
Liu Yan sighed: "His Majesty... is really angry."
That day, he found out about the collusion between Yelu Zhen and Shen Jinghong, and knew that the Yelu brothers and sisters wanted to harm him, so he made that decision, and joined Liu Chen to play a trick and design Beiliang to join the game. This matter was dangerous step by step, and no one could predict it, but if it succeeded, it would bring peace to the Chen Kingdom for a hundred years.
So he told Liu Chen about what happened on the night of the fire and even the real reason for the defeat in the war that year. For a moment, he could not accept the truth of the death of the previous emperor, nor did he want to face the fact that Shen Jinghong betrayed him. He stared at him with red eyes full of hatred, and his hands tightly grasped his collar, asking him why he wanted to kill his father, and whether those soldiers were more important than their blood relatives.
He really hated him...
Liu Yan let him vent his emotions, and then handed the secret letter with all the strategies and steps written down to Liu Chen. In the envelope, there was also a fake death drug.
Liu Yan said to Mu Zhuohua, "I'll give him time to consider whether to carry out this plan. I didn't tell you because I can't guarantee whether His Majesty will use that medicine in the end. What was delivered to the Tiger Prison that day might be real poison."
"Then how dare you bet!" Although things had changed, Mu Zhuohua was still worried about it and clutched Liu Yan's clothes anxiously, "What if His Majesty believes Shen Jinghong again, or he is angry with you because of the death of the late emperor and wants to kill you!"
Liu Yan patted her hand soothingly, and said softly, "He is the child I raised. Although he is sometimes arrogant and willful, he is sincere and kind. I am willing to believe him. What I am more worried about is that Shen Jinghong will see through His Majesty's acting skills and something unexpected will happen."
However, Shen Jinghong did not see through it, which was naturally because... his anger and resentment were real.
"If that is a fake death drug, then why did His Majesty give me the token to let me save you?" Mu Zhuohua frowned in confusion and said in doubt, "Could it be... that there is no fake death drug in the wine?"
However, Liu Yan did not answer her. He frowned and his face suddenly turned pale, as if all the strength in his body was drained away in an instant. He choked and fell on Mu Zhuohua with his eyes closed.
Mu Zhuohua supported Liu Yan's body in fear and shouted his name loudly: "Liu Yan! Liu Yan——"
In Prince Ding's mansion.
After Doctor Wan gave Liu Yan acupuncture, he asked Zhimo and Zhijian to take turns to input internal energy into Liu Yan to promote the smooth flow of internal energy in his meridians. However, this treatment seemed extremely uncomfortable. Liu Yan still frowned and sweated in his coma.
The candlelight reflected the solemn expression of Doctor Wan. Zhijian was inputting internal energy into Liu Yan. Mu Zhuohua and Zhimo stood aside and looked at him worriedly.
Zhimo asked: "Doctor Wan, how is the prince's health? He has had meridian pain from time to time in the past few days. Once an attack occurs, it can be severe pain or coma."
Doctor Wan asked: "How often does it happen?"
Zhimo said: "It's not certain. The shortest interval is six hours, and the longest is about two days."
Doctor Wan stroked his beard for a long time and pondered in silence.
Mu Zhuohua looked at Liu Yan's face with worry, thinking of the token Liu Chen gave him that day...
"Doctor Wan, is it possible that the drug that the prince took that day was not a fake death drug?" Mu Zhuohua looked at Doctor Wan and asked with a heavy heart.
Zhimo also said: "Doctor Wan, you said that kind of turtle breath powder can only make people hold their breath for twelve hours, which is minimally harmful to the body and will not cause the abnormal movement of Yuanluo Flower. But after the prince drank the poisoned wine that day, he vomited blood and was in a coma for three days and three nights. He had no breath. If there was no trace of residual warmth in his body, he would be no different from a dead person."
Doctor Wan didn't seem surprised after hearing what Zhimo said. Instead, he had a glimmer of enlightenment. He said: "The poison that the prince took that day was indeed not the turtle breath powder I gave him."
Mu Zhuohua's heart sank suddenly: "Your Majesty poisoned the wine?"
"It wasn't him." The voice was hoarse and weak, but it came from the bed.
Liu Yan woke up at some point. He opened his eyes and looked at Mu Zhuohua steadily.
Mu Zhuohua hurriedly walked over to sit beside him, and together with Zhijian, she helped him sit down with his back against the pillow. She took the opportunity to press his pulse with one hand, and felt his pulse beating strongly, and finally she felt relieved. "How can you be sure that His Majesty didn't poison you?" Mu Zhuohua held his wrist, and felt her palms getting cold, as if he was even warmer than her.
Liu Yan patted her hand soothingly and smiled, "I'm fine, you don't have to worry."
Doctor Wan looked at Liu Yan and said, "I can't say who tampered with the wine, but from my observation, the prince must have taken another kind of fake death drug that day. This drug is overbearing and fierce. It will make people really fall into a state of near death, paralyzed all over, with no breath, and unconsciousness. It will take at least a month to wake up from the state of fake death. Therefore, the person who wakes up must be seriously injured and very weak. This medicine is called Lihunsan."
After Liu Yan "died" that day, Zhijian was ordered to replace Liu Yan's body and put a corpse that had been prepared in the coffin. The corpse belonged to a death row prisoner. After being processed and disguised by Doctor Wan's magic hands, not only did his facial features look exactly like Liu Yan, but even every scar on his body was very similar. Even if someone was interested in checking, they would not find anything unusual.
Zhimo said, "But after the prince took the medicine, I took him to a secluded place. The prince was in a coma for three days before he woke up. It was far less than a month, and his body was severely damaged."
When Doctor Wan heard him say this, he actually smiled and said, "That's because the prince has two strange poisons and strange medicines. The prince still remembers that I once said that the Yuanluo flower feeds on vitality and lives with the host, and it will never die."
A glimmer of light flashed in Liu Yan's eyes: "Doctor, what you mean is that after my vitality is cut off, the toxins of the Yuanluo flower will also weaken?"
"That's right, you must put yourself in a desperate situation in order to survive." Doctor Wan Shen said with emotion, "But who dares to gamble with their life? I am also worried that the toxins in the prince's body are complicated, so I gave you the Turtle Breath Powder with the lightest effect. Turtle Breath Powder is not a real state of death, but the Soul-Separation Powder is different. Taking the Soul-Separation Powder is just a serious illness for ordinary people, but the toxins in the prince's body are complicated, and the person who gave the medicine is not familiar with pharmacology and toxicity. He didn't know that the Soul-Separation Powder would cause serious damage to the prince's body, and he didn't know that it would accidentally eliminate the poison of the Yuanluo Flower. Under the false death, the vitality is cut off, the toxicity of the Yuanluo Flower will be eliminated, and the Snow Dust Pill will take the opportunity to devour the toxins of the Yuanluo Flower. This kind of pain is unbearable for ordinary people, but the dead cannot feel it. During the three days when the prince was in a coma, the toxins of the Yuanluo flower were more than half eliminated by the Xuechen Pill. The Lihun Powder was no match for the Xuechen Pill and was also eliminated. Therefore, less than a month later, the prince woke up early. The trauma to his body was caused by the competition between the two toxins in the body. Every time the prince had an attack of severe pain in recent days, it was because the toxins subsided and the stagnant meridians were recovering. The prince got a blessing in disguise, and now the Yuanluo flower toxins in his body have been completely eliminated. "
When everyone in the room heard this, they widened their eyes in disbelief. After a moment, surprise appeared in their eyes.
Only Liu Yan did not seem surprised, but he was also a little happy.
He knows his own body best. After waking up from the three-day coma, he felt that the places in his body that had been stagnant for many years seemed to be opening up little by little. Every time he fell into a coma, Zhijian was terrified, but he could clearly feel that after each attack, his body would become stronger. Now he has recovered 60% of his strength in his prime.
Zhijian grinned and asked, "Doctor Wan, do you mean that the prince's poison has been resolved and he will be fine in the future?"
Doctor Wan nodded with a smile, "The toxins of Lihunsan and Yuanluohua have been resolved, but the meridians have been stagnant for four years. If you want to fully recover, you need to take care of it for a year and a half."
Zhimo has always been calm, but at this moment he couldn't help but smile and said, "May the prince live a thousand years, what is a year and a half?"
Mu Zhuohua felt that her heartbeat was both rapid and light. She held Liu Yan's hand tightly, her eyes filled with tears of joy. Liu Yan smiled and held her hand back. One look, one action, was better than countless words.
But this joy was soon diluted by another doubt.
Zhimo asked: "Doctor Wan, where did this Soul-Separating Powder come from?"
Doctor Wan said: "I happen to know that Soul-Separating Powder is a rare medicine, but Taoyuan Villa has this medicine."
Zhimo was surprised and said: "Is it the Princess Zhenguo?"
Mu Zhuohua lowered his eyes and thought, smiled and shook his head: "No, it's Princess Roujia."
Zhijian Zhimo looked at Mu Zhuohua in surprise: "Princess Roujia? How could it be her? Didn't she and Shen Jinghong deliberately try to get rid of our prince?"
Liu Yan didn't speak. He looked at Mu Zhuohua with a smile. Mu Zhuohua sighed lightly and said: "The princess... wants to get rid of Prince Ding, not Liu Yan. One month is enough for her to ascend the throne and sit firmly on the throne. And the death of Prince Ding is a foregone conclusion. Even if he comes back to life, as long as she declares it to the public that it is fake, who will doubt her words?"
Zhijian asked puzzledly: "Then why didn't she just kill the prince?"
Mu Zhuohua looked at the fire on the lampstand. The fire looked weak, but there was also a hint of light and warmth.
"Because... she didn't want to kill the relatives that Princess Zhenguo cared about..." Mu Zhuohua sighed, "She is not a heartless person, but she cares about too few people, so she always seems cold. She would rather betray the world than hurt the only relative she cares about. She can only choose between power and family affection. This is her last good thought."
Mu Zhuohua even had a feeling that she was unwilling to kill Liu Chen and Liu Yan's lives when swords were pointed at each other in Fenghua Palace that day.
Zhimo and Zhijian witnessed Princess Roujia's rebellion with their own eyes, but they still doubted her until Liu Yan spoke.
"She did it." He sighed softly, "Today, I saw a joint tomb at the foot of Fuyun Mountain. There were two names written on it, one was Xing'er and the other was Liu Yuanshou."
Seeing that everyone looked puzzled, he explained, "Yuanshou is the nickname of my brother, and Xing'er is the name of Roujia's biological mother."
He was weak since childhood, so his father gave him this nickname, hoping that he would be healthy and live a long life.
"The body in the fire that day was indeed not my brother." Liu Yan smiled bitterly and said, "I had doubts, but I didn't have any evidence. Roujia's filial piety to her brother was not false, and she really didn't have any real intention to kill me."
Her kindness actually gave him a new life.
He realized that he had never really seen Princess Roujia clearly.
People living in the world have three masks: what is rumored, what is seen with their own eyes, and what is done behind the scenes.
He thought he saw the conspiracy and intrigue behind her, but he didn't know that deep in her cold city, there was also a trace of warmth.
The poison of Yuanluo Flower has always been a knife hanging over Liu Yan's neck, and no one knows when it will fall. Although Doctor Wan Shen said that he might live a long life with careful care, his life would inevitably be bound by his hands and feet, and he could not control his heart. Only at this moment, when he heard him say that the poison was completely eliminated, the heart that had been hanging for many years finally let go.
"I didn't expect that she would save my life in the end." Liu Yan sighed softly, with a little surprise and more sadness. After all, she was a child raised by the Princess Zhenguo. She still had a soft heart under her hard shell. Although she did not intend to save him, she left a glimmer of hope because of her determination not to kill him. But she herself could not escape, but for her, death was also a kind of relief.
"Liu Yan..." Mu Zhuohua's voice trembled slightly. She couldn't help but hold Liu Yan's hand. Her slightly cold palm revealed her uneasiness. "Shen Jinghong replaced the poisoned wine and put Soul-Separating Powder in the wine. So, was the original wine poisoned or Turtle Breathing Powder? He gave me the token to save you..."
Mu Zhuohua didn't finish her words, but everyone understood her worries.
Liu Yan winked and asked Doctor Wanshen and Zhimo Zhijian to leave the room. Then he said to Mu Zhuohua, "I believe him."
Mu Zhuohua was startled and looked at Liu Yan in confusion. Her almond eyes were soaked with tears, and her eyes were soft and ignorant.
"I know you can't trust him completely, but to me, he is a relative, and to you, he is the king. He has never doubted you, so you can't doubt him."
Liu Yan's voice was gentle but there was an unquestionable power, which shook Mu Zhuohua's suspicion of Liu Chen.
"But I can't do it..." She bit her lower lip and frowned slightly, "Liu Yan, people's hearts will change, especially in that position..."
"Then let's leave together." Liu Yan suddenly interrupted her and said something she didn't expect.
"Leave... leave?" Mu Zhuohua's breath was choked, her eyes flickered, "Do you mean to resign and retire?"
Liu Yan chuckled, covering up the bitterness in his heart: "No, I know you have the ambition to rule the world and the talent to help the world. Letting you retire to the countryside will bury your years of hard work. My departure means leaving Dingjing."
"Where else can you go after leaving Dingjing?" Mu Zhuohua asked puzzled.
"I still remember that during the imperial examination that year, you wrote a policy paper which was said to be 'The Policy of Raising Barbarians.'" Liu Yan smiled and said, "Now that Beiliang has been pacified, the king of Beiliang has admitted defeat and surrendered. He will soon send envoys to the capital to seek peace and beg for submission to the State of Chen. Beiliang is a hungry wolf. Now that it has been crippled, it can only endure humiliation and survive. Are you willing to go to Beiliang with me to completely tame it and complete this unprecedented feat?"
Mu Zhuohua's pretty little face glowed with a different brilliance as Liu Yan spoke, like the morning dew rolling on the petals illuminated by the rising sun, reflecting the dazzling and moving crystal.
Liu Yan smiled as he watched the light gradually brighten in her eyes, waiting for her to agree, but he didn't expect her to suddenly run into his arms, burying her head in his shoulder, hugging his body tightly with both hands, and choking: "Okay, I'll go with you."
The shock was fleeting, and more joy and satisfaction surged in his heart. He hugged her softness and enjoyed her rare embrace. He lowered his head and smelled the faint fragrance in her hair. He once wandered on the edge of life and death, and lost his soul for three days. It seemed that he had stepped on the Naihe Bridge with one foot, but there was always a familiar fragrance lingering around, making him reluctant to leave. He heard her voice calling his name in a crying tone in the distance, and the sound was like the blood of a cuckoo, which pierced his soul. So he turned back to find her voice. Between the vast sky and earth, in the endless sea of flowers, he didn't know how far he ran, and finally saw the little figure who was hugging him and curled up crying.
He leaned over to hug her. He was reluctant to let her get hurt, but he was the one who hurt her the most. He owed her too much love, and he could only repay her with the rest of his life.
Dreams and reality overlapped, and the tenderness in his arms became real. Liu Yan kissed her forehead and whispered, "Zhuohua, I hope you will accept my rest of my life."
In response, he received an extremely gentle kiss on his lips. No matter how many sweet words there were, they could not compare to the intimate touch between lovers. His heartbeat would tell him the answer to everything he wanted to know.
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