It was quiet all around.
After a long time, Xie Changgeng slowly sat up.
"You know everything?" he asked.
"When did this happen?"
The young man did not answer at first, but took off the sword from his waist.
"When your guards saw me just now, they knew that the sword I was wearing came from Your Majesty, so they did not ask me to take it off and allowed me to enter with the sword on."
As he spoke, he raised one hand in front of him and grasped the hilt of the sword with the other hand. He slowly drew out the sword, and a cold light flashed.
"Do you know what is the last thing you should do in your life?"
His finger lightly brushed the blade, and his skin was immediately cut by the sword light. Blood was like a halo, slowly spreading along the blade that had touched it. The candlelight reflected a strange dark light.
The young man seemed to feel nothing at all, letting the blood from his fingers flow into the sword groove, fill up, and overflow, splashing along the blade drop by drop.
"The worst thing you should have done was to chase my mother out of the city and give me this sword when she took me away from Guzang that year," he said.
"How I wish you had never given it to me. Or that day, I listened to my mother and didn't accept it. Even if I accepted it and didn't touch it later, that would be good..."
The boy looked somewhat bleak.
"If this is the case, I will never know that you are my father in this life, but in my heart, you will always be the Mr. Xie whom I respect and admire. I will respect you more than I respect my father."
"But there are no ifs..."
He threw the sword stained with his blood fiercely, landing next to Xie Changgeng.
"You are right. I remembered everything a long time ago. Do you know why I must become the crown prince? Even though I knew clearly that my mother was unwilling when you came to me."
"I am like this entirely because of you. I want to be the emperor because you want to be the emperor!"
"Why do you ask for my mother's forgiveness? Do you think that if you make my mother the most noble woman in the world and let me become the crown prince, and when you die, pass the kingdom to me, all the previous harm can be wiped out and you can feel at ease?"
"Really, I don't hate you for myself. I died because I wanted to, what does it have to do with you? I feel sorry for my mother. When I remembered everything, I realized that she remembered the past when neither you nor I knew. She shouldn't be so generous and swallow all the pain to fulfill your wish. And you, after you treated my mother like this, what did you rely on in this life to still get what you wanted, not only became the emperor, but even tried to win my mother's heart again?"
The boy laughed.
"How could I let you have your wish? I can't wait until I grow up to take everything from you. That would take too long and it would be too easy for you. So when you came to Yuecheng, I went to meet you outside the city and asked you to go to Huguo Temple. I knew that if I asked you, you would definitely go. When you get to that place, if you still don't remember anything, it means that God is kind to you, I admit it. Fortunately, God still has eyes after all, and didn't let my mother suffer alone."
The boy's expression gradually became excited.
He said, "Yes, I just want you to know what kind of person you are, so that you don't think you are so magnanimous and how you are let down by my mother. I also want you to know that you don't deserve my mother's forgiveness at all, and you don't deserve her feelings. If you don't disappear, my mother will never have peace in her life. When she sees you, she will remember all the pain she has experienced. If you still have even a little conscience, you should never appear in front of her again!"
The young man said all these words almost in one breath, then stopped, his chest rising and falling slightly as he gasped for breath.
Xie Changgeng just stared at him steadily, without moving.
"Then what should I do? Only death can end it?" Finally, he spoke, his voice difficult and heavy.
The young man's eyes swept across the sword beside him.
"Your guards are not far outside now."
"To tell you the truth, I also have a group of death guards who are completely loyal to me. Their loyalty and bravery are no less than those who serve you. But I did not bring them here tonight. You can call in your men now and kill me on the spot for treason. I will never resist. I mean what I say."
"but-"
His tone suddenly changed and his voice became grim.
"If you don't get rid of me, you will have no other choice."
"You don't have to die. Compared to the pain my mother has endured, if you die easily, don't you think it would be too easy for you?"
He paused and fell silent, as if lost in some distant memories, and finally, he spoke again.
He said: "Many years ago, you took me, who was still very young, through untold hardships to go to the Tianshan Mountains to pick up my mother. At the end of that long snowy road, at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, there is an isolated city called Jincheng. There, you promised me that you would protect this place in the future, no matter how far away and desolate it was."
"I don't know if you have forgotten what you said back then, but I have always remembered it. Now is the time for you to fulfill your promise. Your destination is there."
"You should know better than me how to disappear from this world. Don't worry, after you die, I will govern this world on your behalf. I will command the ministers and govern the people. I will also personally destroy the small court that is still alive. And you will be recorded in history as the founding emperor and a great leader. I will also add the most praiseworthy posthumous title I can think of to your memorial book - just like you did to my mother before."
He sat on the ground, staring at the man opposite him.
"I'm waiting for your choice."
"Or, I die, and you continue to be the emperor."
"Or, you can disappear from this world. Only then will my mother's suffering end completely."
…
At four o'clock in the morning, in the darkest night before dawn, a thin young man walked out silently from a small door of the mansion.
The personal attendant who was waiting in the shadows hurriedly led his horse forward to greet him. He looked at his mount and stopped, and the horse also paused, turned its head, and rubbed his arm affectionately with its mouth. The young man immediately stretched out his arms, hugged the horse's neck tightly, and buried his face in it. At first he was motionless, and after a while, his shoulders began to tremble slightly. From behind, he seemed to be crying or laughing, but no sound could be heard from him. Such a scene was really a bit weird.
The attendants did not dare to disturb him, and stood aside, bowing their heads and waiting. Fortunately, he soon seemed to calm down. He slowly loosened his hands around the horse's neck, touched its mane, and then climbed onto its back and galloped away.
…
It was an extremely ordinary day. Mu Fulan, who had been eagerly waiting in the Shangjing Palace for many days, received a secret letter from Hexi.
The letter was sent back by Liang Tuan, who had been sent by her to escort the prince, at an express speed of eight hundred miles.
Mu Fulan froze before she finished reading the letter.
At Xier's request, she asked him to go out of the capital to welcome the emperor back. Calculating the time, he should have set out on his return journey these days, but the people sent out never saw any trace of the emperor returning to the court, and there has been no new news from Hexi for six or seven days. Ordinary ministers may not have noticed it, but it has aroused suspicion among several trusted ministers such as Liu Guan. In the past two days, they have frequently looked for Fulan to ask about the latest news.
Mu Fulan acted calm on the surface, but she actually had a sense of uneasiness in her heart. She felt that something had happened thousands of miles away, and she didn't know about it yet.
She didn't expect that today, at this moment, she finally received the news, and the news was such bad news.
He is gone? The man named Xie Changgeng is gone
How can this be.
However, it was written in black and white, clearly. Given Liang's status, how could he have mistakenly reported the emperor's death if it was not a confirmed fact
In the secret letter, he said that His Majesty the Emperor had led the army in person and won a great victory. He was preparing to return to the capital some time ago. Before leaving, he made a last border patrol with light equipment. Unexpectedly, on his way back, he encountered a summer mountain flood.
The mountain torrent came without warning, and it was like an earthquake, the mountains trembled, the sun and the moon were dimmed, and the roads collapsed and destroyed in an instant under the torrent. The emperor and his entourage were unable to escape and were unfortunately swept into the torrent and disappeared. Everyone tried their best to search secretly, and finally followed the waterway washed out by the flood, went deep into the northern border, and found the Pelican Spring.
Many years ago, when the emperor was still the governor of Hexi, he led 300 light cavalrymen to avenge the attack on the natives of Mahe Valley and killed the northerners who outnumbered them several times. Now, the northerners have long since moved west to avoid the enemy, and there is no trace of the enemy here. This spring lake also belongs to Hexi.
This is a spring in the desert. Over thousands of years, water has accumulated to form a lake. The lake is deep and wide, stretching as far as the eye can see. It is said that the bottom of the lake leads to the center of the earth. People searched the lake for many days and finally found a crown that the emperor wore that day. Apart from this, there is no other trace.
What this means is self-evident. Fortunately, although His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is still young, he is very decisive and has the style of His Majesty the Emperor. He came forward in time to calm the army and arrange various matters on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor. He also considered the overall situation. From the day of the incident, except for a few close officials, the news was still concealed. It was first sent to the palace by letter, and the Queen made the final decision.
Mu Fulan's eyes widened as she stared at the letter in her hand, not daring to believe her eyes.
Her heart was pounding against her chest, her blood was roaring in her ears, and her hands were shaking.
The silhouette of the man riding away on his horse that night at Xiguan is still vivid in my mind, but this person just died like that, disappearing without a trace from this world
Her legs went weak and she could no longer support her body. She grabbed the corner of the table with her hands and fell into the chair.