Mountains and Rivers as Dowry (Final Chapter)
"Look! The Sun and Moon Lamps are lit!"
As the children's clear shouts rang out, the entire city of Chang'an awoke in the twilight.
Along both sides of Zhuque Avenue, 999 sun and moon lamps lit up one after another, their golden and silver rays intertwining to form a flowing galaxy.
The paper-cut canal boats hanging under each lamp swirl gently in the evening breeze, depicting a three-dimensional evolution of canal transport from the single-sailed ships of the early Tang Dynasty to the giant three-sailed vessels of today.
Standing atop Chengtian Gate, Wu Zetian gazed at the magnificent scene she had helped create, and in a daze, she heard the echoes of history.
"This prosperous age is as you wished." — She recalled the message she saw in the museum before her time travel, and now she finally understood the weight of those words.
(OS: Who would have thought that the person who wrote the PPT at Ganye Temple back then would actually turn the plan into a masterpiece?)
Li Zhi gently placed his hand on her shoulder, the warmth of his palm seeping through the honeysuckle-patterned brocade cloak: "Do you remember what I said at Ganye Temple? One day, I will let you stand at the highest point and look down upon the myriad lights of this city."
She turned around and saw the city's splendor reflected in his eyes; there was no trace of the haggard look he had taken on his sickbed three years ago.
(OS: From the ICU ECG to the real pulse right now, it turns out saving an emperor is more fulfilling than completing a hundred KPIs.)
Cheers suddenly erupted from below the city gate.
Prince Hongzheng led his younger siblings to light the first sky lantern of the year. Eight-year-old Taiping picked up a brush and painted on the lantern. His brushstrokes were already showing the style of Wu Daozi.
"Father, Mother, look!" Li Xian pointed to the slowly rising sky lantern, "My sister has painted all the old plum trees at Ganye Temple on it!"
On the lamp, a red plum tree peeks out from the temple wall, and inside the wall, a small figure is bent over writing—clearly a scene from when Wu Zetian drafted the reform plan for the Grand Canal.
What's even more intriguing is that there was a figure peeping from outside the wall, whose clothing patterns were exactly the same as those worn by Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi) in the past.
"The best love is the kind that makes you a better version of yourself," Wu Zetian murmured, gazing at the lamplight.
(OS: Did Li Wei, who cried in front of the PPT back then, ever imagine that she would have this kind of life?)
Li Zhi suddenly unfastened the Imperial Seal of the State from his waist and, amidst the astonished gazes of the officials, placed it in her palm: "The mountains and rivers are my betrothal gifts, the sun and moon are my witnesses. This world should have long ago belonged to you."
"Does Your Majesty still remember this jade pendant?" Wu Meiniang took out the Azure Dragon Jade Pendant from her sleeve. The cracks along its edges were particularly clear under the lamplight, like a frozen bolt of lightning. "On that rainy night in the second year of Xianqing, you had a persistent high fever, and the Imperial Hospital had already..."
She paused, the memory still making her heart pound.
He was in a coma for three days, and even Sun Simiao shook his head and sighed.
She knelt on the stone steps outside the hall, soaked by the autumn rain, letting the rainwater mix with her tears and fall down: "If the gods have mercy, I am willing to exchange ten years of my lifespan for one day of his peace and well-being."
Just as she kowtowed, the jade pendant in her bosom suddenly slipped off, leaving a permanent mark on the bluestone slab.
She hurriedly picked it up, only to find that the crack was just like a turning point in their fate—broken, yet all the more precious.
“I remember.” Li Zhi took the jade pendant, his fingertips gently stroking the cracks, as if caressing the years they had spent together. “Although I couldn’t speak back then, I heard a silly girl crying.”
He chuckled, fine lines appearing at the corners of his eyes. "Her crying made me think, I can't just leave like this. I have to keep this life to help her reach for the stars and the moon."
"Traveling through a thousand years, it turns out, was all for the sake of meeting you," she murmured to herself.
From the cubicles of 21st-century office buildings to the carved beams and painted rafters of the Tang Dynasty palaces, from office workers staying up all night making PPTs to empresses holding the imperial seal, this path was arduous, but every step led to his embrace.
She remembered the look of amazement in his eyes when she first offered her advice at Ganye Temple.
I remember that even when he was ill, he insisted on teaching her how to review memorials, saying, "This country should bear your mark."
I remember that after he recovered, he took her back to Mount Li and they made a vow to stay together forever under the plum tree where they had pledged their love.
“This crack,” Li Zhi held the jade pendant up to the lamp, the crack appearing and disappearing in the light and shadow, “doesn’t it resemble the road we’ve walked? It seems incomplete, but it’s actually whole.”
Wu Zetian smiled and nodded, recalling the popular modern saying: "Everything has cracks, that's how the light gets in."
Their love is like a beam of light that transcends a thousand years.
Standing atop Chang'an, overlooking the myriad lights of the city like a sea of stars, she finally understood: some encounters are predestined, and some cracks are the badges of time. The meaning of traversing a thousand years is simply to love the right person in the right time and space.
The newly added sun and moon patterns on the jade seal perfectly match the cracks in the jade pendant, as if telling the story of a complete circle.
(OS: The client's KPI has become the Imperial Seal of the State, this is a good deal!)
Di Renjie led the officials in presenting the final volume of the "Sun and Moon Treasure Book," a monumental work that took three years to compile and embodied the hard work of countless people.
Turning to the title page, one finds Prince Hong's annotations on the new policies for the Grand Canal transport, which complement the star charts drawn by Princess Taiping.
"Your Majesty," Di Renjie reported with a smile, "the Tibetan king sent a letter this morning, declaring himself a permanent subject of the Tang Dynasty."
Cheng Wuting then presented an urgent border report. In addition to the gold seal at the end, there was a familiar clay handprint—the one left by Chishong when he was a child at the elementary school.
"Cultural conquest is more enduring than swords and spears." Wu Zetian smiled as she recalled theories from modern geopolitics.
(OS: Who says time-traveling women can only engage in palace intrigue? I'm going to change the whole world!)
Crown Prince Hong stepped forward and bowed solemnly: "Your subject requests permission to include your sister's new plan for the grain transport system in next year's project."
Looking at her increasingly composed eldest son, Wu Meiniang recalled the first essay he wrote when he began his studies, "The Policy of Governing the Country," which he had now mastered.
"Education is the most fundamental investment of a nation." She firmly believed in this.
(OS: These children are also the best works of this prosperous era.)
As night deepened, specially made sun and moon fireworks bloomed in the sky.
Wu Zetian leaned against the railing, gazing at the historical scroll she had altered.
"Meiniang," Li Zhi took her hand, "do you know what I am most grateful to you for?"
She raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer.
"It wasn't the new canal transport policy, nor the international elementary schools, nor even curing my illness," he looked into her eyes, "but rather that you made me realize that a ruler doesn't have to be alone."
"True strength lies in daring to show weakness." This sentence echoed in her heart.
(OS: Throughout history, countless emperors have been trapped in the curse of being alone, but we have broken this fate.)
She took out the wooden hairpin repaired with gold thread and gently placed it back in his hair: "What I am most grateful for is that rainy night that year when I accepted Your Majesty's umbrella."
The artifacts of Ganye Temple and the Imperial Seal of the State gleamed under the lamplight, seemingly conveying a truth: "Sincerity is the passport that transcends time."
(OS: Goodbye 21st century, only here can my complete soul find its home.)
When the historian finished writing the final volume of the "Daily Records of the Emperor's Activities," he discovered that Princess Zhenguo had left a painting on the title page.
In the painting, the emperor and empress stand hand in hand at Chengtian Gate, surrounded by their four children.
Crown Prince Hong held the "Sun and Moon Code," Li Xian held a compass, Li Xian gripped the grain transport boat, and Princess Taiping stood between her parents, holding up the rattle drum that had once dominated the court. A childish inscription lay in the corner: "Our family's Great Tang."
The last page contains a crabapple petal from the Lishan Palace, a memento picked when the twin lotus flowers were in full bloom.
"History is written by the victors, but love is witnessed by the heart." Looking at the city lights, Wu Zetian thought about the fast-paced life of modern society and suddenly understood what eternity was.
Li Zhi embraced her from behind, his chin gently resting on the top of her head: "In the next life, I will still wait for you under the plum tree at Ganye Temple."
She smiled through her tears: "Then Your Majesty must remember to bring an umbrella."
In this prosperous era, forged anew by love, they finally understood: "The best empire is the empire with you; the best future is our future."
Fireworks in the night sky burst into their final splendor, forever etching the four characters "Sun and Moon Shining Together" into the sky of history.
(End of text)
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