The western suburbs of Guangling Cemetery.
This is the most precious cemetery in Guangling, famous for its location beside the Hulong River and its back to the capital, where countless heroes of the night court are buried.
The people of Guangling attach great importance to this place, regarding it as the burial ground of heroes. They believe that those who can be buried here have already ascended to heaven, hence this place is extremely valuable.
Qi Ruyan also believed the rumor.
Holding a bouquet of lilies, she skillfully walked to the central grave, gently placed the bouquet down, and sat down beside the grave in silence.
The tombstone is clearly inscribed with "Tomb of my benefactor Qianyun".
...
Five years ago.
When Qi Ruyan first came to the capital, she met Chu Qianyun. Chu Qianyun looked very happy and was in good health. She was quite surprised to see Qi Ruyan, because the two had not seen each other for ten years since their last meeting, and she had not received a reply to the letter she wrote to Qi Ruyan.
Since Yun'er was taken away by Chu Qianyun, Qi Ruyan has been kept under house arrest by Qi Yuan, who forbids her from going out and claims that his wife is recuperating at home due to a long-term illness.
Although Qi Ruyan had no power, she had been the matriarch of the Qi family for many years and had ways to contact Chu Qianyun, but she did not choose to ask Chu Qianyun for help, so Chu Qianyun was naturally unaware of this matter.
It wasn't until a pregnant woman broke into the Qi family home and caused a scene several days ago that Qi Ruyan learned that Qi Yuan had been having affairs outside the home.
Qi Yuan was afraid that Qi Ruyan would take the opportunity to spread the news and damage his beloved wife's reputation, so he quickly dealt with the woman and replaced a group of servants. In the end, Qi Ruyan threatened to kill herself, and Qi Yuan finally gave in and lifted the ban on Qi Ruyan.
Qi Ruyan was then able to travel to the capital to visit her son.
Chu Qianyun seemed very pleased with her arrival, arranging for her to stay at the princess's residence and calling Yun'er to meet her.
Yun'er was already fifteen years old. He looked at his own mother with disbelief. Seeing this, Chu Qianyun gently comforted him and explained in a low voice that Qi Ruyan had not come to see him because of her illness.
Qi Ruyan was quite surprised to hear this. She realized that this was how Qi Yuan had explained things to the outside world for the past ten years, and that Chu Qianyun had even sent people to investigate and write letters to inquire about her out of concern.
The two then cleared up the misunderstanding. When Chu Qianyun learned that Qi Ruyan had been under house arrest for ten years, she was furious and said what she hadn't said before, persuading Qi Ruyan to divorce her and promising to help her deal with Qi Yuan.
When Chu Qianyun first met Qi Ruyan, she didn't know what stance to take to persuade Qi Ruyan to divorce. Qi Ruyan even stopped her from going to see Qi Yuan. Understanding Qi Ruyan's meaning, she remained silent.
But today she really couldn't stand it anymore. She had raised Qi Ruyan's child for so many years and had developed feelings for him. She could be considered Qi Ruyan's half-friend, so she dared to speak up and persuade him.
Touched, Qi Ruyan still declined Chu Qianyun's offer, citing Shang'er's sake. But in reality, she simply didn't want Chu Qianyun to help her anymore.
The Qi family was, after all, a wealthy merchant family, renowned for donating gold and grain to the Night Dynasty. Without physical evidence, taking action against Qi Yuan would be extremely difficult. And since Chu Qianyun was doing so well now, she didn't want Chu Qianyun to be distracted by helping her, thus affecting her sisterly relationship with the Emperor.
Chu Qianyun seemed to have guessed Qi Ruyan's thoughts and sighed, "This is the first and last time I've advised you like this. Think it over carefully. After these few days, I will no longer be able to help you."
After saying that, she took off the gold hairpin from her hair and handed it to Qi Ruyan. "This was given to me by my sister. If you regret it, you can use this token to enter the palace and ask to see her at any time. She will definitely help you when she finds out."
After Qi Ruyan returned to Guangling, she heard devastating news from the capital:
In the 15th year of the Chongqi reign, Princess Qianyun passed away. The emperor buried her with the highest honors, and the whole country mourned.
His only daughter, Princess Yuanyin, was not yet of marriageable age, so his adopted son, Qi Yanyun, voluntarily went to the imperial mausoleum to observe mourning for three years.
...
As always, Qi Ruyan thought of what happened back then, and came back to her senses, staring straight at the tomb in front of her.
This tomb is a cenotaph she erected for Chu Qianyun five years ago, containing only the gold hairpin that Chu Qianyun gave her at the time.
When she learned of Chu Qianyun's passing, she was in a daze. Just a few days ago, they were chatting, and Chu Qianyun was perfectly fine. How could she suddenly pass away? But upon reflection, she realized that Chu Qianyun's last words to her contained a deeper meaning.
Perhaps Chu Qianyun already knew her days were numbered, but she was too slow to realize it and discovered it too late.
Instead of taking the gold hairpin to the palace to find Chu Yanxi, she chose this place to build a cenotaph for Chu Qianyun, leaving a memento, hoping that Chu Qianyun could ascend to immortality.
Every year, she would bring a bouquet of lilies to pay her respects to Chu Qianyun, and sit quietly for an hour without saying a word.
Today is not the anniversary of Chu Qianyun's death, but she arrived here a few days early and, as usual, brought a bouquet of lilies.
After a long silence, she suddenly spoke, "I'm going to the capital, and I might not be able to come see you for a few days. Princess Yuanyin is growing up very well and is famous throughout the world. Your sister abdicated in favor of your favorite niece and then went to travel the world. Everyone is slowly getting better, including me. How are you now?"
Silence fell again, broken only by the gentle rustling of the wind through the leaves. A leaf fell before the grave, as if in response.
Qi Ruyan gently picked up the leaf. "I'm relieved to see you're doing well. See you later..."
...
A few days later, at the palace.
Chen Xiao had been preparing for today for the past few days and had no time to set foot in the inner palace, because today was the anniversary of the death of Grand Princess Qianyun.
She got up early to prepare to go to the imperial mausoleum to pay respects to Chu Qianyun. She also sent someone to invite Yuan Yin and her father to go to the mausoleum together, and brought along Qi Yanyun and the Xu Ruyu brothers.
All the officials gathered to await the emperor.
Chen Xiao stood on the high place and looked at Princess Yuanyin. She was dressed in plain clothes and had a delicate and beautiful face, but at this moment, tears rolled down her snow-white cheeks and there was no one beside her.
Chen Xiao frowned and asked, "Why is it only Yuan Yin?"
Ye Yu, the attendant, hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Princess Yuanyin's father... passed away at midnight today."
"What! Why didn't anyone report this!" Chen Xiao was shocked and turned to question Ye Yu and the others.
The eunuchs all knelt down, and Ye Li spoke up, "Your Majesty, please forgive us. It was Princess Yuanyin who forbade us to speak. She said that Your Majesty has only recently ascended the throne and must be busy with state affairs. She did not want Your Majesty to worry. She also said that she knew her father had gone to see her mother, and she was very happy about that."
Chen Xiao quickly walked up to Yuan Yin. Since she didn't know how the original owner of the body had interacted with Yuan Yin, she wanted to comfort Yuan Yin but didn't know where to start.
Seeing Chen Xiao's hesitant expression, Yuan Yin quickly wiped away her tears and forced a smile to show that she was alright.
Chen Xiao suddenly reached out and hugged Yuan Yin, and Yuan Yin hugged her back. The two hugged each other quietly, and she heard Yuan Yin's soft sobs in her ear.
After a long while, Yuan Yin patted Chen Xiao's shoulder, released Chen Xiao's embrace, and said in a hoarse voice, "Your Majesty really doesn't need to comfort me. I know that Father went to find Mother, and I am very happy."
But at the same time, I couldn't help feeling a little sad. With my father gone, I'm all alone in this princess's residence from now on. I'm just not used to it yet; I'll get used to it after a while.
Chen Xiao took out a handkerchief to wipe away Yuan Yin's tears, smoothed her hair, and said gently, "It's only been a month or so, and you've already become distant with me, cousin? If you're not used to it, you can come to the palace and stay for a few days. We haven't chatted in a long time."
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