November 18th, Winter Solstice, Light Snow.
Chu Zhuo doesn't like this season. The grass and trees are withered, everything is silent, and he will die in winter, and won't be able to see the day when everything comes back to life.
Winter's footsteps were delayed just because of his wishes. Chu Zhuo woke up and heard the whistling wind outside the window. He put on a coat and got up from the bed. He opened the window and saw the flying snow outside. The ground was covered with a thin layer of white snow, which fell last night.
Winter is here.
The biting cold wind blew, making his heart feel a little desolate. Chu Zhuo coughed heavily a few times, and the whistling wind in his ears suddenly stopped, and a hand reached out to close the window.
The cuff of that hand outlined a blooming red lotus. Chu Zhuo lowered his eyes and took a look, and he knew who the person was.
"Are you dissatisfied with your life and want to be blown to death by the wind so that our wedding will become a funeral?" Rong Yu said bluntly.
Chu Zhuo raised his head and said, "On such a happy day, don't say anything unlucky."
"Don't let me say unlucky words, but you are asking for death." Rong Yu was not shy about that. "We have been preparing for this wedding for so long, don't let anything unexpected happen to me at the end."
Chu Zhuo shook his head and chuckled: "Not really."
"How can I survive today? I will make you belong to me completely, and I will also belong to you completely."
Rong Yu's eyebrows jumped, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this sentence was setting a flag.
"It snowed last night." said Chu Zhuo.
Rong Yu: “I saw it.”
Chu Zhuo sighed, "This is a bad day. We wanted to get married in the fall."
"What can we do? This is the only auspicious day recently, and it happens to be the winter solstice." Rong Yu looked at him, "Are you not satisfied? Do you want to break off the engagement at the last minute?"
The sun in this world is not bright, so why should you have pre-marital phobia
Chu Zhuo shook his head again: "There's nothing wrong with it."
"Last year, it was on a snowy day like this." Chu Zhuo's face showed a nostalgic look, "The first time I saw you, I liked you very much at that time. It's nice to be able to kiss you on the same snowy day."
Rong Yu snorted: "I am tempted by your beauty."
"I'm not attracted by your beauty." Chu Zhuo said seriously, "I'm just attracted by you."
Rong Yu said in a nonchalant tone, "Stop talking nonsense and go change your clothes."
The wedding was basically conducted according to Rong Yu's ideas, which was quite different from the traditional etiquette of that era. Chu Zhuo didn't ask any questions and just let him do whatever he wanted.
Considering the weather and her physical condition, the wedding ceremony was kept simple. Chu Zhuo needed to rest now, so the noisy music and rituals were omitted. The process of standing on the high platform in the open air and listening to the ceremony of conferring the title of queen and being worshipped by the ministers was directly cancelled. There were not too many outsiders participating, and it was just a wedding for the two of them.
The scene was arranged in an absolutely grand manner, not giving people the feeling of being disrespectful at all.
The ministers felt that His Majesty was simply treating marriage as a joke. In ancient times, the marriage between a man and a woman was not allowed to be on the stage. When had a male empress ever appeared? Besides, how could an emperor or empress not wear black clothes but red clothes when they got married, or not issue a document to announce the title of empress, or accept the worship of all officials? None of the ancestral rules were followed, it was like playing house.
They did not recognize such a queen.
Some people think that such a wedding that doesn't follow the rules is too ridiculous, which shows that His Majesty is not sincere about Master Ji and is just playing around. Some people think that His Majesty can break the rules for Master Ji, which is not insincere, but he has given his heart to him.
What outsiders think is none of their business. Chu Zhuo and Rong Yu didn't need to be recognized by others. Rong Yu didn't care about the opinions of a group of ants in the small world. For Chu Zhuo, he didn't want to be crowned queen, he just wanted to marry his beloved.
"I still say the same thing." Qin Chengrong had said it many times before, and emphasized it again today, "I don't worship heaven and earth, I don't worship my parents, I don't worship the king - but you are a king this time, so I will make an exception and worship you three times. Do you understand? Don't make me worship those unnecessary things..."
Chu Zhuo chuckled: "I see, you only bow to me."
"Yes, that's what I mean." Rong Yu said arrogantly.
Chu Zhuo thought the little lotus was so adorable.
In the palace decorated with lights and colors, a pair of young men in red stood facing each other, stared at each other, bowed three times, and promised to spend their lives together.
Afterwards, they were sent to the bridal chamber and shared the same bridal chamber.
…
The candlelight flickered in the bridal chamber. Chu Zhuo cut off a lock of Rong Yu's hair and entangled it with the lock he had cut off: "I have long wanted to marry you, and today I finally got my wish."
Rong Yu picked up two glasses of wine and asked him, "Are you happy today?"
"Happy." Chu Zhuo laughed, "This is the happiest day I've had in the past twenty years."
"That's good." Rong Yu nodded, "Let's drink the wedding wine."
The two of them were about to drink from the cup together. Just as Chu Zhuo was about to drink, Rong Yu suddenly said, "This is a cup of disaster."
Chu Zhuo paused.
"People say that I am a source of disaster. If you drink this wine, you will be locked together with me, the source of disaster, from now on. Isn't it a cup of disaster?" Rongyu looked at him.
Chu Zhuo smiled and drank the wine in one gulp: "It is clearly sweet rain."
Rong Yu watched him drink it, his eyes darkened slightly, and he tilted his head back to drink his own cup.
"Go to sleep." Rong Yu smiled slightly, "After drinking the wedding wine, it's time to sleep."
Chu Zhuo raised his lips, and traces of blood oozed out from the corners of his mouth, staining his lips bright red.
His smile faded, a hint of disbelief flashed across his eyes, and his body softened.
"I said, if the poisoned wine is replaced with real wine, I have reminded you that it is a cup of disaster." Rong Yu caught his falling body and said with a smile, "I have always been a madman. Rather than letting you die in pain before me, I would rather kill you with my own hands."
"I'll drink this wine, and we can go together. If we can't be together in life, then ghost marriage is a good choice."
As Rong Yu spoke, blood oozed from the corner of his mouth.
Chu Zhuo wanted to raise his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his lips, but he had no strength. He whispered: "Little Lotus..."
"Shh—" Rong Yu put his index finger against his lips, "Go to sleep."
Chu Zhuo looked at him for a long time, his eyes full of emotions, but he couldn't say a word. The hand with the real gold ring dropped down, and he closed his eyes, as quiet as if he was asleep.
Rong Yu lowered his eyes: "You think that letting me live is loving me, but unfortunately, I think letting you die is loving you."
Rongyu woke up in the coffin, with Chu Zhuo lying beside him.
The tomb of the King of Chu was built magnificently, with countless burial objects whose value was inestimable. Rong Yu finally knew what was written on the tombstone - Chu Zhuo, Little Lotus.
There is no indication of which emperor's tomb this is. There are only these five words on the tombstone, just like the signatures they usually use when they paint, nothing more.
The largest main tomb chamber is filled with paintings signed by Chu Zhuo and Xiao Lianhua.
The painting closest to the coffin is a maple leaf painting. The people in the painting are all dressed in red, standing in a maple forest, their fingers clasped together, their brows and eyes affectionate.
The red clothes that Rong Yu usually wore were all buried with him, and the most precious golden dress was worn by himself.
Following the will of the King of Chu, they buried the two of them together. They only changed the King of Chu into a black robe that suited the status of an emperor. As for Rong Yu, no one cared about him. If Chu Zhuo had not left a will to bury him together, he might have been crushed to dust.
Rong Yu lowered his eyes and looked at the man beside him who he had poisoned to death with his own hands, as if he was seeing the eerie white bones of his previous life through thousands of years of time.
The Blood Jade Bracelet said numbly: You said you had your own plan, which is... to kill him
Rong Yu said, “Yes.”
Blood Jade Bracelet: Big Devil, you have no heart!!!
"He won't survive this winter, and Ji Yu's soul lamp won't last more than a few days. If I don't kill him, he will send me away. But now, he thinks I'm leaving with him. Which do you think is more cruel?" Rong Yu sneered, "Don't bother with his broken heart."
The Blood Jade Bracelet was stunned.
Yes, in the previous times, the Great Demon King left before Lord God, causing Lord God to search for him everywhere... This time, it was the Great Demon King who made Lord God leave.
So... it should thank the Great Demon King for killing the Lord God
No, little bracelet, have you been brainwashed to this extent
Rong Yu certainly didn't take the real poison, because then it would be Ji Yu who died. But at least after his actions, in Chu Zhuo's last memory, his little lotus died for love, instead of staying in the world and being protected by another person.
"The identity of Ji Yu is dead. You don't have to struggle for the royal power anymore." Rong Yu said, "You are free."
After a moment of silence.
Blood Jade Bracelet: Ji Yu’s soul lamp is lit.
Rong Yu said to Ji Yu in the soul lamp: "Don't wear something so conspicuous when you leave Chu. There are plain clothes prepared in the tomb. Remember to change into them. Xianyun will come to pick you up. There are many precious papers, pens and pigments in the burial objects. It's okay if you take them all. Change out of the golden embroidered clothes."
Rong Yu glanced at Chu Zhuo and said, "Put it in the coffin to accompany him. I will wait for him to give it to me in his next life."
"Got it." A young man suddenly appeared in the tomb. Ji Yu bowed and said, "Thank you."
With the appearance of Ji Yu, the red-clothed young man in the coffin suddenly changed his appearance and turned into an incomparably beautiful soul.
The Blood Jade Bracelet asked habitually: Tell me, what do you want to take away this time
Rong Yu looked at the paintings hanging on the wall of the tomb and said, "Take a painting with you."
Blood Jade Bracelet: The one with maple leaves
Rong Yu shook his head.
He took away the painting of Chu Zhuo pushing a swing for him under a peach tree.
Blood Jade Bracelet: Does this have any special meaning
There were so many paintings, but the devil chose to take this one away.
Rong Yu put the painting away: "The meaning your master gave it."
Recipe, Shining.
The daughter of Zhi is married, and she is suitable for his family.
Ji Yu was born into a noble family in Zheng State, and was an outlier among the nobles. Zheng State was a small country, but the nobles were arrogant, extravagant, and absurd. Ji Yu was incompatible with those dandy boys since he was a child. He hated the pleasures of life and pretended to be nice. He yearned for the carefree mountains and rivers, and was intoxicated with music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
He didn't like to attend banquets of all kinds, and only liked to lock himself in his small courtyard to paint. He was used to seeing hypocritical people all day long, and the thing he hated most in his life was people, and he never painted human portraits under his brush.
His family affection was cold. When King Zheng gave him to King Qi as a male concubine, his father did not say a word. If his family members were like this, how could others be treated? Ji Yu never had any hope.
There was a shadow guard who had been protecting him, but it seemed like he was just doing it as part of his mission. True love? Was there really such a thing in the world
Considering that the shadow guard had protected him for so many years, Ji Yu did not want to implicate him, so he found an excuse to send him away before assassinating the King of Qi.
The flower grows in the snowy mountains and is rare in the world. Ji Yu has never seen it before. He asked Xianyun to pick it for him on the pretext that he wanted to see what the flower looked like. But in fact, not many people can pick that kind of flower, so this was really a difficult request.
He never thought that when he was on the execution ground, unable to live or die, someone would appear and give him the pleasure he had always dreamed of.
Before he could recognize the other person, he had already fallen into a long sleep.
After being reborn, how could I not know
Why come back
Why die for the Lord
Why... did she really pick the flower just because of a joke, and keep it in her arms until she died, as if she was protecting him
Is it worth working so hard to complete a mission
When Ji Yu and Xian Yun were far away from the capital and painting in the mountains, Ji Yu often couldn't help thinking about this question.
After the world got back on track, those "wrong" memories gradually disappeared, and Ji Yuxian slowly forgot that someone had replaced his identity and changed his fate.
Sometimes he would wonder if he had really been reborn, but he still remembered the white flower in that person's arms so firmly.
He couldn't help but draw this flower.
Xianyun was stunned when he saw this.
He had picked this flower for his master, but he often couldn't see his master after he returned. The flower had already withered, so why could the master paint it
"Xianyun." Ji Yu asked him, "You were ordered by the Ji family to protect me. Now that I have lost my identity, why do you still follow me?"
Xianyun replied: "I am protecting you not on orders, but just following my heart."
"Follow my heart..." Ji Yu added another wild crane to the painting and chuckled, "I like the free-spirited days like this. What about you?"
Xianyun said: "The master likes it, and I am happy."
Ji Yu nodded: "We are all free now, there is no need to call each other master and subordinates anymore, just call me A Yu."
Xianyun answered immediately: "Okay, Master. Okay... Ah, Ah Yu."
"Xianyun." Ji Yu suddenly said again.
“I want to draw you.”
…
In the world numbered 5497, Ji Yu, the son of destiny, was able to take revenge, live a carefree life, and the fourth lamp was lit.