147. New Year’s Eve

In the village outside the city, withered branches were covered with snow. Rong Zhixu stood in the courtyard, wearing a cloud-white fox fur coat. He was like a flowing cloud in the wilderness, standing in the afterglow of the setting sun, gazing into the distance in the direction of Jinjing City.

"Your Highness."

Hua Qing's somewhat helpless voice sounded from behind. Rong Zhixu turned around. She knew that this was an old lady from the Dingbei Marquis Mansion. Even Rong Se and Liang Shenyu treated her with courtesy. Moreover, she had no ill feelings towards this elderly lady, so she nodded slightly.

"It's getting dark." Hua Qing sighed, "It's getting colder after nightfall. Your Highness, please don't stand here. Dinner will be ready soon. Go back to your room."

"Thank you." Rong Zhixu lowered his eyes, "I'll go in a moment."

Rong Zhixu obviously had no mood to eat. She had never witnessed a mutiny with her own eyes, but she had read in books how brutal coups were, and how each one was accompanied by swords and blood. Now she didn't know the situation in the capital, and she really couldn't eat.

Hua Qing could only sigh upon seeing this, and thinking of the Regent, his expression became a little complicated.

As the sky gradually darkened, the sunset glowed brightly, red clouds filled the sky, and golden light shone brightly. A light blue figure suddenly appeared in the glow, as if falling from the sky. Rong Zhixu only saw the girl coming with the glory.

Lan Ying jumped down from the wall, landed gracefully, and smiled as she rushed towards Rong Zhixu who was still in a daze.

"Princess! I'm here to pick you up!"

Rong Zhixu was caught red-handed and subconsciously reached out to catch it, but was instead hugged in Lan Ying's arms.

"I'm here, I'm here. Let's set off now and return home at night, but you won't spend New Year's Eve outside the city." Lan Ying said quickly.

Rong Zhixu finally came back to his senses. He was stunned but also delighted. He asked quickly, "Why are you here? Is everything okay in the capital?"

Lan Ying then let her go, with a bright smile between her eyebrows and eyes, and nodded gently, "Of course it's fine, the storm has stopped, the master asked me to pick you up, everything is fine."

Rong Zhixu finally breathed a sigh of relief, took a half step back, held Lan Ying's hand and looked her up and down.

"Don't worry, I'm not hurt." Lan Ying said with a bit of regret, "It was all done by my second brother. I just climbed over the palace wall. The group of people who stayed in the palace to assassinate the master didn't have the courage to fight. When they saw that we were more in number, they surrendered!"

"You." Rong Zhixu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but still breathed a sigh of relief, and said softly: "That's a good thing, as long as everyone is fine."

Lan Ying nodded repeatedly, grabbed Rong Zhixu's slightly cold slender wrist with her backhand and shook it.

"Well—time to go back."

The last rays of the sun hid behind the distant mountains. Before nightfall, there was still a last glimmer of light, like a guide.

.

On New Year's Eve, the first year of Jiancheng, which had not yet begun, came to an end. All the relatives and cronies, led by Cao Lun, who had controlled the government, were imprisoned. The emperor, who had been on the throne for half a year, wrote a sin edict, making the crimes of the previous emperor public, and asked to abdicate, handing over the throne to the new emperor.

Rong Se still had to handle all subsequent affairs, but this time Rong Se brought along the future emperor Rong Zhan. He had never dealt with government affairs, and even if he was talented and willing to work hard, he still needed time to adapt. However, when reading the memorials, Rong Se found that this junior should not be underestimated, especially his insights on state affairs, which were much better than those of Rong Jing, the fool.

"Uncle, how do you plan to deal with Cao's cronies?" Rong Zhan asked humbly, "And the one in the palace... the Empress."

"You are the emperor, you decide." Rong Se said ambiguously. He did not believe that Rong Zhan would leave trouble for him. Since he had decided to give up power, Rong Se did not want to arouse the suspicion of the new emperor for no reason. He immediately stood up and said, "There is a bedroom prepared for you in the palace. After the coronation ceremony, you will be the emperor. It is not a bad idea to live in the palace now. I will take my leave now."

He had already done what he wanted to do, and the rest naturally fell to Rong Zhan.

He let go cleanly and left quickly, leaving Rong Zhan with a lot of government affairs and retiring with honor.

Rongse returned home late at night. It was already dark, but the lights in the city were still on. Lanterns were lit in front of every house, and lights were also lit in the house. Looking around, thousands of lights were lit up, illuminating the long night.

This is the custom of Dajin on New Year's Eve, the lights are never turned off.

"Qiangzhou, is there no news yet?" Rong Se asked in the carriage.

Yun Chu, who was driving, paused and replied, "It should be soon. Don't worry, Your Majesty. The Jinbei Iron Cavalry is strong and has powerful horses. They also have a rare talent like Zhong Yichuan. The Dingbei Marquis is also well versed in military tactics and is brave and good at fighting. They will not be defeated."

Rong Se was silent for a moment, then responded with a low “hmm”.

After Rong Se returned home, he found that Lan Ying had already brought Rong Zhixu back, and also took Hua Qing to the palace, so he just said: "That's good, it will be more lively to celebrate the New Year together."

The kitchen was bustling with people cooking dumplings, but Rong Se went back to the bedroom alone. There was no oil lamp in the room, only a paper lantern with a luminous pearl in it that emitted soft light, and the shadow of the words were reflected on the wall.

With the help of this soft light, Rongse ground the ink himself, spread out the letter paper, and picked up the pen to write.

"Sanlang, you see your words as you see them."

Longing fell on the tip of the pen and blended into the ink. There was idle talk between the lines, but the New Year's Eve coup only flashed by. When he put down his pen, Rongse looked at the last sentence "Take care, come home soon" and was silent for a long time.

He had spent many holidays and New Year's Eves alone, but now that things in the capital were over and he had no worries anymore, his longing for Liang Shenyu suddenly increased.

"My Lord."

Yun Chu's voice came from outside the door.

Rong Se responded: "What's wrong?"

"The dumplings are ready, waiting for you."

“…I’m coming.”

Rong Se put the letter paper with dried ink on it into the envelope, lowered his eyes and smiled softly.

Now he is not alone like in previous years. Although he regrets not having Liang Shenyu, Rongse knows that nothing in the world is perfect. He also knows that he will have many more days and nights with Liang Shenyu in the future.

The New Year's Eve banquet at the palace was not grand, it was just a family banquet. Yun Zhi and Xiao Mufeng sat at the same table, Lan Ying sat next to Rong Zhixu. After three rounds of drinking, they were all drunk. Yun Chu sat at the lower side of Rong Se and chuckled and said, "Lan Ying is honest. In the past, when she was drunk, she always grabbed her subordinates and Yun Zhi to accompany her to fight."

Rong Se didn't drink much, his face was clear, and he smiled slightly, "It's you who are keeping her."

Yun Chu could not deny it, raised his eyes and looked at Rong Se, and said softly: "But the prince has handed over the throne to someone else, who knows that the emperor's heart is like the sea, and he may not destroy the bridge after crossing the river."

A new emperor appoints new ministers. If Rong Zhan becomes emperor, Rong Se's old subordinates will have to be purged. There is no other reason. How can the emperor tolerate officials who are not in the same mind as himself?

The first to bear the brunt were the imperial guards.

Rong Se gave him a soothing smile and said softly, "Don't worry, I have arranged everything."

"But, Prince." Yun Chu frowned and whispered, "You..."

"Yun Chu." Rong Se interrupted him gently, still smiling, and asked, "I have never broken my promise to you. Yun Chu, do you believe me?"

Yun Chu was silent for a moment and nodded.

"That's it." Rong Se looked at the happy feast, with some emotion in his eyes, and chuckled and said: "Lu Shangqian Yu Qingzhou and others are capable ministers, Ji Miaotong is also smart and knows the wind direction. As for the imperial guards... the new emperor will not make things difficult for the imperial guards."

Although he felt that Rong Se's idea was purely naive, Yun Chu couldn't help but want to believe him, so he nodded with a wry smile.

Rong Se said nothing more. After midnight, it was New Year's Day.

Lan Ying leaned on Rong Zhixu, her cheeks flushed from drunkenness, her eyes dazed, the bright moon reflected in her blurry eyes.

"That's great." Lan Ying suddenly said, "I really hope it can be like this every year in the future."

"The little girl is drunk." Rong Se laughed, "Xuan He, it's almost time, take her back to rest."

Rong Zhixu nodded gently and gave Rong Se a beautiful smile: "But she is right, Xuanhe is also so happy for the first time in Chinese New Year. It would be great if it could be like this every year in the future."

Rong Se just smiled, turned to Yun Chu who hadn't drunk much and said, "Let's arrange for everyone to rest. It's so late, everyone should stay in the palace, don't bother any more."

Yun Chu nodded slightly.

After the family dinner, Lian Yunzhi did not return home. He took Xiao Mufeng to live in his former house in the palace. Everything was arranged by Yunchu. After Rongse took a bath in Canglan Nuan Pavilion, he went straight back to his bedroom. After the excitement, he was suddenly left alone. Rongse felt a little sad for no reason.

"next year……"

Before falling asleep, Rongse made his own New Year wishes - he wished for a prosperous and peaceful world, for the general to return home, and for the rest of his life to be stable.

Rong Se fell into a dream again, a world he had never been to, where the original owner controlled this body, but he was seeing everything from Liang Shenyu's perspective.

The scenes flashed by like a revolving lantern, but they were extremely clear. The original owner was cruel and cruel. After seizing power, he acted recklessly in the court and fought with Cao to the death. Liang Shenyu had always been secretly planning and watched the fight between the snipe and the clam with cold eyes.

After the death of Yu Qingzhou and others, the court complained about the original owner until Rong Zhan came to the capital and the original owner discovered his ambition, so he simply took the initiative and secretly eliminated Rong Zhan. In this way, the Regent became more powerful. Dingbei Hou saw that things were out of control. Once the Regent became the only one in power, it would be detrimental to his plan. So he pretended to cooperate with Cao to get rid of the Regent first, and by the way, he used Duan Chao to collude with the enemy and drag Cao into the water.

Kill two birds with one stone.

The original owner, Rong Se, was quite frank. His ambition was never to become an emperor and seize power. He just wanted everyone who had bullied them, mother and son, to pay the price.

Whether it was done by himself or Liang Shenyu, the Cao family got their retribution and Rong Jing's throne was not so secure. The original owner Rong Se was not as aggrieved and unwilling as he had seen in "I and the General Taking Off Their Battle Robes". On the contrary, the original owner Rong Se went to death calmly.

——In fact, he was tired of living.

There are just things that have to be done while alive.

Rong Se understood that the original owner probably lived too depressed. He was unable to get over his dirty past like himself. Revenge had become the only thing in his life, nothing else.

So when the hatred was over, he no longer had the belief to support himself to live.

The original owner drank the poisoned wine calmly, and when he closed his eyes, there was still a smile on the corners of his lips.