In the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty, everyone was on edge. The reason was simple: the army of the Prince of Yan had already surrounded the last four prefectures guarding the capital and would soon reach the capital.
Apart from the capital city and the northern regions to the northeast belonging to Chu Tianling, all the land of Great Xia was in the hands of the Prince of Yan's Mansion, and Emperor Chu Tianling existed in name only.
In the palace, Chu Tianling dismissed everyone and slumped weakly into a chair, his eyes losing their former brilliance.
A series of footsteps approached, but Chu Tianling didn't even look up. "Didn't I say everyone should leave...?"
"How have you been?"
The newcomer wore a black brocade robe and stood with one hand behind his back.
"You've come..."
Chu Tianling remained calm. He was neither angry nor puzzled as to why the person in front of him could so easily appear in the palace.
"I've come to see you off!" Chu Tianze nodded casually.
"Ha, I've lost this round!"
"Losses and defeats are common in the royal family, but you shouldn't covet my queen..."
"You're just lucky..."
"Consider it luck that I gave you the chance to choose how to die."
"There are still hundreds of thousands of troops in the north. Why should I let you slaughter me?"
"If you thought they were reliable, you would have abandoned the capital and fled north long before I arrived..."
Chu Tianling remained silent. "Spare my child, and..."
Before he could finish speaking, Chu Tianze interrupted, "The Wei family will die!"
He has the blood of the Qin family flowing in his veins. The Wei family once harmed the entire Qin family. If he lets them go, he will be letting down his birth mother who risked her life to bring him into this world.
"My mother was not involved in what happened back then!"
"Her surname is Wei. My patience is running out. I can let your children live as ordinary people."
"...What do you want me to do?"
Chu Tianze pulled out a piece of silk and tossed it over, saying, "Tomorrow at the morning court, according to the decree, I can allow you to 'die of illness.'"
After saying that, he turned and left, and no one came out to stop him.
Looking at the contents, Chu Tianling's lips curled into a faint sneer. After only one glance, he turned and entered the inner palace.
The women in the harem had long since lost any desire to vie for the emperor's favor. Though they lived deep within the palace, they knew that the ruler of the capital was about to change, and that they would all end up being forced to be buried alive with him.
Chu Tianling stepped into the Empress's palace. The once willful and capricious Zhang Miaoke had long lost her flamboyant demeanor, and was only gazing absently at the children playing in the hall.
"Mother, why aren't you playing with Xiao'er..." The nearly two-year-old child seemed to have seen through her thoughts and went up to shake her.
Zhang Miaoke smiled faintly, "Xiaoyang, be good. From now on, when your mother isn't around, you can play by yourself, okay..."
The man in brocade robes couldn't quite understand the meaning of those words.
"Xiaoyang, come to your father!"
"Father!"
The little girl immediately ran to Chu Tianling's side, and Zhang Miaoke said softly, "This seems to be the first time we've been so calm..."
Chu Tianling lowered his eyes, "Xiaoyang will be fine!"
Zhang Miaoke nodded, "Then I'm relieved. I used to be so arrogant, always thinking of competing with that person to see who was better. Now it seems so stupid."
She hated Bai Chuxiao, she hated her from the first time she met her, and she still hates her now. But this woman who refused to admit defeat could go to the battlefield and capture her father alive, while she could only be trapped in this small world, fighting for unnecessary favors, and in the end, her life was decided by others.
Chu Tianling seemed to recall past events as well, his eyes darkening. "I'm leaving now."
Zhang Miaoke nodded indifferently; she knew where he was going. She used to make a fuss, to be jealous, but now all that was fading away, and arguing about it was pointless.
After leaving the Empress's Palace, Chu Tianling entered Fangfei Palace, the palace of Pang Kun's daughter, Pang Qingran. Apart from Zhang Miaoke, only this Consort Pang had twins.
"Qingran!"
Chu Tianling gazed at the woman in front of the bronze mirror, slightly lost in thought.
In the vast harem, if asked who he liked the most, he would say without hesitation that it was Pang Qingran. When he first met this daughter of a general, she had bright eyes and white teeth and a unique heroic spirit. In his opinion, she was very similar to Bai Chuxiao in temperament.
He couldn't help but show more affection, but after getting to know her better, he realized that although she resembled him, she wasn't him.
"Your Majesty!" Pang Qingran stood up and bowed.
Chu Tianling helped her up, "Didn't I say we don't need these formalities in private?"
Pang Qingran forced a smile, "But you are still His Majesty. His Majesty has come to see the child."
With the war at the front lines in a state of chaos, Chu Tianling hadn't set foot in the inner palace for nearly two months, and hadn't even seen her child twice. Now that he had suddenly arrived, she knew that everything was already set in stone.
Do you regret entering the palace?
Looking at her beautiful and spirited face, Chu Tianling asked softly.
Pang Qingran smiled gently, "I regret entering the palace, but I don't regret meeting Tianling. However, I know that the person in Tianling's heart is not me."
Chu Tianling touched her face, paused, and said, "I told you I like you very much..."
Pang Qingran smiled and said, "Your Majesty likes many people, and perhaps I am one of them, but Tianling only likes one person."
Chu Tianling remained silent. "What about Xiaozhou and Xiaoyu? I want to take another look..."
"Sleeping in the back hall..."
Pang Qingran followed Chu Tianling into the inner hall. After waving away the servants, Chu Tianling walked up to the two somewhat similar infants and said softly, "You two must grow up well!"
A single tear rolled down Pang Qingran's cheek. "It's because Father failed to help His Majesty, it's because the Pang family dragged him down!"
Despite being defeated by Xiyue, his father still had hundreds of thousands of remaining troops. If it weren't for the surprise attack by cavalry that appeared out of nowhere, and with the entire north as a support, Chu Tianling would still have a sliver of hope...
Chu Tianling gently wiped away her tears with his fingers. "It has nothing to do with you. The extra army in the Yan Prince's mansion is my third brother's personal guard. My third brother was forced to the opposite side by me and also wants to rebel against me. All of this is my own fault."
Pang Qingran's face was resolute, "No matter what the outcome, Qingran will stay with Your Majesty."
Chu Tianling's eyes reddened slightly as he pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry."
Outside Lin'an City in Qingzhou, there was a military camp belonging to the Prince of Yan.
At night, Bai Chuxiao stood with her hands behind her back, gazing at the crescent moon in the sky, when she heard soft footsteps behind her.
“Fate is strange. The person I casually saved outside Lin’an City back then actually became my husband! I remember when I first arrived in Lin’an, it was April, just like now.”
Bai Chuxiao chuckled softly, not turning around but seemingly knowing who was behind her.
"Back then, Xiaoxiao was pale and looked weak, but when she made a move, her eyes were sharp and she could kill a person with one step. I thought to myself at the time, how could there be such a woman in the world?"
Chu Tianze, still chilled from his journey back, slowly walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulder.
"Was that the only time in Young Master Wuyun's life that he messed up?"
"I didn't run into anyone else during the time I messed up, but I just happened to meet Xiaoxiao. That's what you call fate. Xiaoxiao, our marriage is ordained by heaven and can't be changed."
"Does Young Master Wuyun still believe in fate and destiny?"
"Young Master Zui'an, don't you believe me?"
"letter!"
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