Past Life
When Liu Yifu came out of Dali Temple, it was snowing outside.
The snow fell heavily, turning the whole world into a silver-white world. He looked up and gazed at it quietly for a long time, until even his eyelashes were covered with a layer of cold air.
His eyelashes gently shook off the fine snowflakes, and his eyes sluggishly stung with tears.
Suddenly, the earnest advice of the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review echoed in my ears:
"You can barely take care of yourself, why are you worrying about others!"
He never took sides and acted without regard for personal feelings, unintentionally offending many people. After the Third Prince ascended the throne, he found some pretexts to demote him and intentionally ostracized him to teach him a lesson.
Those below him, observing his every move, deliberately ostracized and isolated him, as if everyone could step on him, making his situation in the court increasingly difficult.
Logically speaking, in such a situation, he should have kept a low profile and protected himself, but if he had, he wouldn't be Liu Yifu.
Besides, it wasn't just anyone.
That was... Shen Tangning.
When news of Shen Tangning's death arrived, he stood in the courtyard all night.
He always thought that marrying Chi Jingyu would make her happy, but that was not the case. She had an unhappy marriage, and even lost her life because of it.
He suddenly remembered that the last time he met Shen Tangning was at a baby's one-month celebration.
The Xie family had already fallen by then, and her appearance could not be described as haggard; he even thought he was seeing a walking corpse.
She used to love to laugh, and she was used to using a smile to cover up her joy or anger. But at that time, there was no smile on her face. She just sat there blankly, as if the hustle and bustle around her was completely isolated from her.
That famous face in Yanjing was still beautiful, but excessively pale and thin, like a fallen flower after being battered by wind and rain, which would shatter at the slightest touch.
An indescribable shadow crept into Liu Yifu's heart. For a moment, he had a strange intuition that she would slowly wither away; that was her destiny.
So after the banquet, he pretended to be passing by and called out to her.
"Madam Chi."
Shen Tangning raised her eyes, her gaze empty and cold, which made him stop speaking, and then he managed to utter two words with difficulty.
"Feel sorry."
When the Xie family was in trouble, she came to him for help, but Liu Yifu was powerless to change the situation.
He could solve bizarre cases, but he couldn't influence the political situation.
The rise and fall of an empire is an immutable truth, especially when the one in power is determined to succeed.
A ripple appeared in Shen Tangning's eyes, but only for a moment. She slowly said, "Lord Liu, there's no need to worry. You've already done your best."
She was always a reasonable and extremely respectable person, so naturally she wouldn't blame him, but a dull pain arose in some corner of his heart.
He didn't even have the right to comfort her, because they weren't even friends; all he could do was whisper something as they passed each other.
"Take care of yourself."
She paused, her voice soft: "You too."
Who could have known that it would be the last time the two of them would ever see each other, and that "take care" would become their final farewell?
Liu Yifu had a feeling that something was wrong with Shen Tangning's death, and he wanted to seek justice for her.
When his request for an autopsy was refused, he argued with Chi Kyung-ok.
The other party's expression was cold: "That is my wife, the matriarch of the Chi family. How can I allow others to insult her?!"
Unable to contain her anger, Liu Yifu grabbed his collar, her fair face contorted with rage: "Hypocritical! If you truly cared about her, would she have died?!"
Something flashed through Chi Jingyu's mind, and he stared intently at him: "Is Lord Liu truly upholding justice, or is he harboring selfish motives?"
Liu Yifu's gaze slowly hardened; of course, he had his own selfish motives.
His selfish motives cannot be exposed and have nowhere to hide.
Chi Jingyu refused to budge, and he also couldn't hand over Shen Tangning's body, because it had already been stolen.
He felt this was her punishment for him.
But Liu Yifu did not give up. He searched everywhere, day and night, looking for clues. After compiling the testimonies of the servants at the villa and the doctor who treated Shen Tangning, he finally confirmed that she had been poisoned.
A type of slow-acting poison called "Qianji".
The truth finally came to light: the Crown Prince's wife died in a power struggle within the inner quarters.
But it's meaningless; even if he overturns her conviction, it won't make any difference.
The only impact was the death of Shen Xiwei, which slightly affected Chi Jingyu's reputation; nothing else.
Liu Yifu's stubbornness thoroughly angered the Third Prince. He was neither tactful nor tactful, and therefore of no value to the Third Prince.
Naturally, they became victims of politics.
But Liu Yifu felt that this was a relief for him, as he could not find meaning in life.
This world is rotten.
Liu Yifu was framed and imprisoned, where he died tragically.
When he died, he was clutching a clean white handkerchief tightly in his hand, with delicate crabapple blossoms embroidered in the corner.
He fell to the ground, struggling to lift his head and gaze at the narrow skylight. His gradually unfocused eyes tried to open wide, and he seemed to see a crabapple blossom that had inadvertently entered his field of vision long ago.
That was a rare, unknown springtime in his life.
This world is rotten.
But he still longed for the next life; if there were an afterlife, he didn't want to be just a passerby in her life again...
Even if I can only protect her from afar, it's still good.
It would be even better if it were closer.
He quietly closed his eyes, and the corners of his lips slowly turned up.
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