The Palace of Eternal Life.
"... When the prince ascends the throne, you and Fanzhi will assist him and serve as his tutor. There is no need to change his order for him to call me father, so as not to embarrass the prince. If it works, that's good; if not..." Halfway through his speech, Li Qishen suddenly started to cough violently, and before he could stop it with his sleeves, all he coughed out was scarlet blood, which splashed on the edge of the couch and the hem of his clothes, like a dot of flying ink. He coughed for a while, forced himself to swallow the blood foam in his throat, and endured the burning pain in his chest, and continued, "... Discuss with Fanzhi and choose another one from the royal family."
Cui Shi, who was kneeling beside the couch, could not bear to look at the young emperor any longer and lowered his head: "I understand, Your Majesty, please rest assured and recuperate."
"What's there to raise in this state?" Li Qishen turned his eyes and looked at his hands. His hands were very beautiful, with fair skin and well-proportioned bones and flesh. In his prime, he could write three consecutive manifestos, and he could also hold a gun and draw a bow. The Turkic people on the border of Fengzhou were terrified when they heard the name of the Prince of Yanyang.
But now he couldn't do that. He was getting weaker day by day. He wasn't emaciated, but just a little thinner than before. But his hand had no strength. He couldn't even hold a wolf-hair brush, let alone hold the dagger under his pillow. He couldn't write steadily. His writing was once so graceful and elegant that it was crooked and worse than when he was five years old. He wanted to write this last edict himself, but he didn't expect that he would have to urgently summon Cui Shi to the palace.
Coincidentally, the imperial edict that helped him to the throne was written by Cui Shi, and he also wrote it in the end, which can be regarded as a complete beginning and an end. Li Qishen smiled self-deprecatingly and leaned on the soft pillow, "Go down, I am tired."
"Yes." Cui Shi blew the draft he had prepared dry, and was silent for a moment, hesitating, "Your Majesty, does the daughter of the Xie family from Lingqi Pavilion want to accompany..."
Li Qishen turned his head suddenly and looked at him with a solemn expression, but his pupils were filled with the cold snow, which made his brows and eyes look chilly.
A thin layer of cold sweat oozed out of his back. Cui Shi quickly swallowed his words and lowered his head even lower: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for my words."
Li Qishen stared at him for a while, his tense shoulders relaxed, and his tone was filled with unconcealed fatigue: "... Don't touch her. Let her leave the palace, marry her on her own, and then add betrothal gifts. It's up to you."
"Yes, I'll take my leave." This time Cui Shi didn't dare to speak. He responded, stood up and bowed politely. He walked very lightly when leaving the Changsheng Palace, for fear that he would accidentally anger the emperor who had been sitting on the throne for ten years.
The eunuchs waiting outside the Changsheng Palace saw Cui Shi go out, bowed first, and then closed the door after he left, blocking out the spring breeze and bird song outside.
The hall suddenly became quiet, and the Boshan stove exhaled a wisp of soothing aroma. Li Qishen sniffed it, but he only smelled the bloody smell, which spread from his nose to his throat, choking him and making him want to cough again. But he didn't cough this time. After more than ten years of tossing and turning, he was exhausted and his body was extremely dilapidated. Lying on the couch, he didn't even have the strength to cough.
Li Qishen swallowed a mouthful of blood foam. Thirty years had passed, and looking back, he still had nothing.
Murong Feique was not a hypocritical person, but no matter how big his heart was, he could not bear the hardship of losing his family and then giving himself to others, and then falling out of favor. He was always a little less close to his son who was half foreign blood; as for Li Chengjing and Li Taoqi, it was better not to mention them. Later, by chance, some of the people he was close to died or were injured. Changning married a Huihe and Li Shutan disappeared. Which of the playboys he had been friends with when he was young dared to stand in front of him and look up to talk to him.
Even Cui Shi, who studied with him when he was a teenager, changed his way of addressing himself and no longer addressed himself as "you" or "I". Whenever Li Qishen's expression changed, Cui Shi would be trembling with fear, trying to figure out which of his words would displease the emperor.
Li Qishen had been sitting on the throne for ten years, never making a single mistake, but ended up living alone, thinking about state affairs until his death. In terms of wise rulers, he was definitely one of them, but in terms of himself, he had nothing in his hands, he didn't know what he wanted, he didn't know what he had, he couldn't think of any private matters to tell, and he couldn't find someone to listen.
He looked at the embroidery on the tent ceiling and smiled for no reason.
"… Your Majesty." At some point, Chang Zu reached the edge of the couch and said in a low voice, "The daughter of the Xie family from Lingqi Pavilion wants to see you. Will you see her?"
"What is she doing here?"
"I don't know." Chang Zu really couldn't judge, and said hesitantly, "Then I will refuse, so as not to disturb Your Majesty's rest."
He bowed and turned to leave, but Li Qishen stopped him, and after a moment of silence, he continued, "See you. Let her enter the hall."
"yes."
Chang Zu walked out quickly, and the door of the Changsheng Palace opened, letting in the light from outside, as well as the girl in spring light. Li Qishen turned his head to take a look, propped himself up as much as possible, leaned on the soft pillow, and waited for her to come over step by step.
Xie Wangzhi bowed before entering the hall, and looked up to meet Li Qishen's gaze. The emperor was half lying on the couch, with a soft pillow behind his waist, his casual outer shirt unbuttoned and loosely draped over his shoulders, with his long hair loose, looking relaxed and illusory, with a strange beauty, as if he had one foot in the world, and would turn into floating clouds and ashes in the next moment.
She frowned: "Your Majesty, I have something to say."
"Is that what Le Yan told you?" Li Qishen thought for a moment, "That's what I meant."
This is exactly what Xie Wangzhi wanted to say. After all, she was not the person who should be in this shell. She couldn't read the vague memory and didn't know what happened, but everything was fine before. She was asked to leave the palace inexplicably. Obviously, something went wrong. She had a bad premonition, but she didn't want to guess that way. She pursed her lips and said, "How does your majesty feel? Are you okay?"
"Didn't the imperial physician tell you?" Li Qishen avoided the answer and threw the question back.
"I did. But it was a little vague..." The imperial physicians in the Imperial Medical Bureau were all very cautious and couldn't say anything. Xie Wangzhi always felt that the imperial physician waiting outside the Hall of Eternal Life spoke strangely, making excuses and hiding things, which made people feel uneasy.
She frowned and thought for a while, then did not ask any more questions. She just handed over the thing in her hand: "I still have nothing to give, that's all."
This was what he said when they first met three years ago, and it was the same when they parted. Li Qishen had no preference for peach blossoms, but when he heard Xie Wangzhi say this, his heart was slightly moved. He took the peach blossom that was in full bloom and held it loosely in his palm: "Anything else to say? If not, then leave."
Xie Wangzhi didn't know what to say, nor did he know what would happen if he said this. He was silent for a long time and nodded: "Yes."
"explain."
"After leaving the palace, a concubine cannot come back unless she is granted an imperial decree in the future, or has made great contributions to the country and is rewarded in the palace. I am so mediocre that I think it is unlikely." Xie Wangzhi took a breath, "Then this time, His Majesty allowed me to enter the palace, I am afraid it will be the last time I see you."
Li Qishen said, "Hmm," "What do you want to say?"
"Since this is the last time we will see each other, I have nothing to hide. I don't understand big principles, but I know that some things are just like this, and it's hard to catch up with the fleeting clouds in the night. If I don't say it out loud, I will never have another chance in my life." Xie Wangzhi apologized to the real owner of this shell in her heart, staring at the handsome man on the couch, swallowing, and suddenly changed her name, "... I like you. Maybe more than that."
She looked at him deeply, knowing that what she was about to say was ridiculous. The young emperor might sneer at her or even think it was absurd, but she couldn't help but tell him what she had never told anyone else, to let him know that there was a girl who truly loved him, at least from the age of fourteen to twenty-two.
Xie Wangzhi closed his eyes and said seriously, "I love you."
Li Qishen tightened his grip on Taohua's hand, but his expression showed no sign of it. He said calmly, "Really?"
This reaction obviously failed to move him, he didn't care at all. Xie Wangzhi was a little disappointed, but she also knew that the man in front of her was not her husband, but the emperor who had been lonely for thirty years. It would be strange to be touched by the words of a concubine before she left.
She lowered her head and changed her name back to "I'm done."
"Go back." Li Qishen said, "Since the peach blossoms are in full bloom, don't pick them for me, pick them for yourself."
His tone was still very flat. Xie Wangzhi suppressed his bitterness and didn't even notice that he had changed his self-proclaimed name. He knelt down politely, saluted, turned around and left.
The screen separating the inside and outside had been removed earlier. When the door of the palace was opened, the light from outside flowed in all the way to the edge of the couch, illuminating a narrow path on the ground. Xie Wangzhi walked on it in a dignified and graceful way, with her back straight and her whole body enveloped in the light. She had walked step by step from the light to the dark couch, and now she should go back, leaving Li Qishen with a peach blossom and two touching words.
This was the first time Li Qishen heard someone speak like this, genuinely and passionately, like a ball of fire or a handful of light, suddenly rushing over and clumsily telling him all his feelings. There were countless people who showed their affection to him, always liking to point to things like spring flowers and autumn moons, but Xie Wangzhi was the only one who was dumbfounded and only knew how to speak with his true feelings.
The moment he heard it, Li Qishen wanted to wake up this silly girl. It was fine in front of him, but she couldn't lose her dignity in front of others, otherwise she would be looked down upon when she married someone else. But he was really touched, his heart beat fast, and he wanted to cry for no reason.
He thought he had nothing, but it turned out that there was someone who could say "I like you" to him, and it turned out that there was someone who loved him like this.
But it was too late. This body could not support Li Qishen to speak, and he could not wait for him to discuss the future with her. He never believed in gods and Buddhas, but at that moment he thought about the next life, but then he thought forget it, this life and the next life should not be considered the same person, and even if there is a next life, who can be sure that Xie Wangzhi will still love him.
… it was too late.
Li Qishen leaned on the couch, watching Xie Wangzhi step out of the door, and the palace door closed again, separating him from the only and brief love in his life. He glanced at the peach blossom in his hand and slowly lay down.
The hall was quiet, and the soothing incense was exhaled. He gradually felt sleepy. Li Qishen actually felt comfortable for the first time in a long time. It reminded him of the years in Fengzhou. The sky was like a dome. He lay on the grass and looked up to see the stars. When he was young and in the most difficult time, he stood on the city wall and wondered if he would turn into a bird if he jumped down. In a daze, he seemed to be standing on the high city wall again, with the wind blowing on his face, overlooking the entire Chang'an City.
His eyelids became heavier and heavier. Li Qishen stopped trying and slowly closed his eyes.
His hand suddenly loosened, and the peach branch fell to the ground, knocking down the entire peach blossom.
The author has something to say: In this adult ver, Changsheng is already thirty years old, and three years have passed since Wangzhi in the main story first chased him. The prince mentioned at the beginning is a smart child chosen by him from the royal family.
The inspiration for this extra chapter came from a message from a reader, asking me if Changsheng would die early because he was so busy (roughly speaking). I blacked out the question mark at the time, but later I thought it was quite interesting, so I wrote it for fun. There is no other meaning. I just wanted to write about Changsheng, who was heartbroken, overworked, and spent his life like a machine, and write about a cold and beautiful woman with long black hair and fair skin.
Changsheng's life is still very legendary. Wangzhi, who is ten years younger than him, only appeared at the end. To borrow the words of my Ji friend, it was like feeding the machine a mouthful of cooking oil, which allowed him to briefly see passionate emotions and know that someone loved him. His life was not wasted and he still had something that belonged to him, but it came too late.
Wangzhi really has nothing to give Changsheng, only his true love, which is "I have nothing in Jiangnan, so I give you a branch of spring". Changsheng in the main storyline doesn't need to worry, he is still in excellent physical condition, and Wangzhi will remind him not to mess around, not to go clubbing, and soak wolfberries in a thermos (…) Just wait for him to reach the peak of his appearance at the age of 27 or 28, and that's he_(:3)∠)_