Zongzheng Wuyou and Man Yao stared wide-eyed in horror, looking helplessly at the smoke and dust that was suddenly lifted up by a violent whirlwind. Large swathes of gray smoke hovered in the air, blinding their eyes. The guard in Xuanyi stared blankly at the wooden box that had been hollowed out in his hand, and a wooden board in the center of the bottom of the box was still in place.
The fly ash scattered and staggered on the wide road together with the icy snow. And all the temperature on their bodies receded in an instant, and the whole person was as stiff and cold as ice sculptures.
This winter night took away the sunshine and warmth left in their lives.
Frustrated, that pure and beautiful woman like a white lotus could not escape such an ending in the end.
Thick dark clouds gather again, isolating the pale moonlight from this world full of sorrow, and the sky is pitch black.
There was a dead silence in the air, as if everyone had stopped breathing.
Man Yao felt that all the strength in her body was exhausted, she knelt down slowly, and bowed respectfully to the place where the ashes lay three feet away. The palms are on the ground, the forehead is on the back of the hand, the cold air of the ground penetrates directly into the skin, causing the blood in the body to drop to freezing point. Leng Yan and all the Xuanyi guards also knelt down, only Zongzheng Wuyou remained motionless, as if in a daze.
The biting wind whizzed past his ears, with the sound of whimpering, like a woman weeping through her chest, miserable and mournful. His face was stiff, his pupils were dark and blood-colored, and he had no expression. No one could tell whether he was sad or in pain. In fact, there was nothing, his mind was empty, and as time passed bit by bit, those empty places were gradually filled with anger and hatred, and there was only two words in his mind: Fu Yuan!
That vicious woman, he will make her pay the price.
Clenching his fists tightly, he turned around and quickly jumped onto the horse's back. He swung his whip and gave a quick "drive". Leng Yan hurriedly followed, and all the guards in black clothes receded like a tide. Within tens of feet outside Huitong Pass, only a pile of mutilated dead bodies and a black and thin horse accompanied the white-haired woman.
In the middle of the winter night, the goose feathers and heavy snow were constantly flying, but she still prostrated herself on the ground, with her white hair messily scattered on the ground, and her hands were submerged in the ice and snow together.
Her limbs were numb, she slowly raised her head, stood up on the ground, the snowflakes on her eyebrows and eyelashes fell, and a bitter cold taste passed on the corner of her lips.
At this time, there is only one thing she can do.
Thirty feet away, she picked up the wooden boards on the ground, walked to the open space on the side of the road ahead, knelt down next to the rocks, scraped away the snow, and used her sword to dig the stone-like place frozen by the ice and snow. hard ground. These roads are the only way she will go through in the battle against the Northern Dynasty in the future. She does not want her mother's ashes to be left on the road and trampled by thousands of people. This is the only thing she has to do at this moment.
Go back to Tongguan and set up a big tent.
Li Shi knelt in front of the bed with a respectful expression. After Zongzheng Wuchou's wound was treated properly, he was lying on the bed with no strength, and he couldn't even lift his eyelids. After listening to Li Shi report the mystery of the wooden box, he asked blankly: "Did your mother ask you to do this?!"
"Back to Your Majesty, yes."
Zongzheng Wuzu frowned slightly, and a soldier came in to report: "Your Majesty, all the troops brought by the Southern Emperor have withdrawn, only the woman is still there."
Opening his eyes suddenly, he suddenly sat up from the bed, the wound was numb from the shock, as if he didn't notice it, he asked hastily: "She's alone? What are you doing?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, she was alone. She knelt in the snow for half an hour, and then she was digging with a sword and didn't know what she was digging."
Zongzheng Wuchou lifted the quilt, Li Shi said in shock: "Your Majesty, you are injured, you should take a good rest.
"Prepare the chariot for me. Immediately." He pushed Li Shi away with a firm tone that could not be doubted.
Li Shi had no choice but to order someone to find a soft sedan chair in the city and spread a soft quilt to make him lie as comfortable as possible.
After leaving the Huitong Pass, it is only a few tens of feet away, and it will be there soon. Zongzheng had no plans to ask someone to move the soft sedan closer. Lifting the car curtain, he looked at the woman's thin and thin back, which was trembling due to the movements of her hands in the snowstorm. He supported the car body and stood up with difficulty, wanting to go to her side.
"Don't come here." Manyao said indifferently, her deep and hoarse voice didn't look like hers.
Zongzheng froze, his eyes dimmed, and he waved his hands to make everyone retreat. The coat on his body was wrapped tightly, but the cold wind still poured in, making him shivering uncontrollably. He stood propped up for a long time, staring at her blankly, watching her desperately planing the ice and soil loose with a sword, and then throwing the soil away with his hands. The action was very fast, as if he was racing against someone for time.
His heart was sour, and it was hard to express his pity. "Rongle." He called out, but she didn't respond, and continued to dig holes and dig the earth very seriously, without stopping for a while, as if apart from that incident, everything else had nothing to do with her.
Snow fell all over her body, and the thrown soil was blown back by the wind, hitting her on the head and face, she stubbornly repeated her movements, again and again...
He finally couldn't help it, and rushed towards her regardless of his injuries. He didn't know where the strength came from. Grabbing her hand, he whispered in a heartbroken voice: "Enough, stop digging!"
Her hands are so cold! Like the temperature of sea water three feet below the freezing point. He took the sword from her hand with all his strength, but the sword was tightly held, as if it was frozen together with her hand. He raised his hand again to expel the floating dirt stuck to her pale face, but she turned his head to avoid it.
His hand, which was frozen in mid-air, hung down weakly, and asked softly: "What do you want to bury? With such a strong wind, those ashes have been blown to nowhere!"
what to bury Her eyes were lifeless, empty and boundless, like a boundless night. The cold wind was fierce, and there were no ashes left. What was she going to bury
"Bury my happiness,... is it okay?" Her soft voice was vague and uncertain. It seems to be asking others, but also seems to be asking herself.
His breathing was stagnant for a moment, and his eyes were lonely with deep pity for the woman, "Isn't your happiness in him? He is still alive and loves you, why do you do this?" She slowly Turning her head abruptly, with desolate sadness in her eyes, and a sneer of sarcasm in the corner of her mouth, she asked aloud: "Do you think,-... until now, I am still happy with him? Come to this point, you...how can you?" Satisfied?"
From the moment the box of ashes was raised, she clearly heard the sound of happiness being broken. Originally, all of this could not have happened. In order to save her, Wuyou gave up the country and everything outside the Xuande Hall with tens of thousands of people, and left his mother's body to his enemy, which caused his mother's death. The ending of being frustrated! Wuyou loves his mother so much, how can he accept such a cruel fact? Maybe he won't regret saving her, but he must bear the guilt towards his mother for this, and he can't forgive himself.
Happiness to her is always a flash of fireworks, after the splendor, what is left is a long-lasting sorrow, a life with no hope in sight, how to go on
Zongzheng Wuchou's throat seemed to be stuck, and he couldn't make a sound when he opened his mouth. Maybe he shouldn't have come for this trip to Yuzhou! He has always been rational and cautious, knowing what to do and what not to do, but this time, all his reason is no match for missing her, and he came to see her desperately, is it wrong? He thought that it would be good to die in her hands just like that. However, no matter how careful he is in planning, his fate always seems to be in the hands of others at the most critical moment!
"Rongle-..." He wanted to say sorry, but she interrupted him.
"You know, now... the person I don't want to see the most is you." She knelt in front of the hole she dug, and sat on her own feet. Her legs were numb and she lost all feeling. Her face was expressionless, and there was a trace of coldness in her voice, "At this time, I don't want to kill anyone, so go." After she finished speaking, she continued digging on her own, ignoring the sad man beside her.
After a while, Zongzheng Wuzhou took a deep breath, turned his head and ordered: "Come here, find tools to help."
"No need. I don't want to give others a false hand." She refused coldly, leaving no room for it.
He frowned, "Don't be stubborn, if you dig like this, for three days and three nights, the snow will melt, and you won't be able to bury anything."
"This is my business, you don't need to worry about it." She said coldly.
Reluctantly got up, he swayed, and the guards stepped forward to help him immediately. He returned to the soft sedan chair and ordered: "Notify Li Shi, close the back pupil gate, and send a large army to guard the front. Within three days, this road No one is allowed to pass, and those who violate it will be shot to death."
"Follow the order!"
For three days and three nights without stopping, a small and shallow pit finally became as deep as a person, the size of two coffins. The woman took off the fox fur from her body, put on a single dress and knelt down, swept the snow with the fox fur, buried the unmelted ice and snow in the earth pit, covered it with soil, and erected a wooden stake in front of the pit , nothing was written on the flattened wooden post.
Zongzheng Wuchou sat in the sedan chair and watched her silently, without saying a word. The weather was getting colder and his wounds were getting worse. No matter what Li Shi begged, he turned a deaf ear to him, quietly staring at the woman exuding sadness and despair, and his already desperate heart became even more dead silent.
He kept asking himself: If he didn't come to Yuzhou City, would he prevent the empress from crushing Concubine Yun's body into ashes? If he promised Zongzheng Wuyou and forcibly ordered Li Shi to send the wooden box of ashes first, wouldn't she have to dig the ground and bury the snow in such despair? It seemed that no matter what he did, it would only hurt her in the end! Rongle... Did she know that the last person he wanted to hurt was her.
After persisting for three nights and two days, under the double torment both physically and mentally, he finally couldn't hold on, and passed out in the sedan chair. Li Shi hurriedly had him carried back to seek medical treatment from a doctor.
Another night came, and after she had done everything, her limbs and even her body didn't seem to be her own. The breath was weak but scalding like fire, the nails of both hands were broken, and the fingertips were bloody, and the soil penetrated into the flesh and coagulated into lumps together with the blood. She knelt before the stake and prayed in her heart: "Mother, if you have a spirit in heaven, please bless him."
Using the sword to support the ground, he propped himself up, but he couldn't stand up. She tried hard several times, but she fell down before she could stand up. She was lying on the ground, looking up at the sky sadly, the sky was full of clouds, boundless, she slowly closed her eyes, her dry lips trembled slightly in the wind.
When she woke up, it was already midnight, she was lying on the big bed of the bedroom in Shangqiyuan, her legs were still numb.
In a daze, I heard someone say: "Your Majesty, the cold is already in your bones, these legs are afraid..."
"What are you afraid of?"
"I'm afraid...it's not easy to recover."
"What? It's so serious! Doctor Xiao, hurry up and find a way to treat it. If there is something wrong with your mother's leg, I'm afraid none of you and my family will be able to escape!"
"Yes, yes, Master Yu, this little one will find a way. But... your empress has a golden jade and phoenix body, so I want to give your empress an injection...
What time is it, don't worry about it! you go. "
"yes… "
There was dense numbness in her knees, and fine beads of sweat oozed from her forehead. She moved her hand slightly, and when she opened her eyes, the doctor had finished administering the needles, and she finally felt something in her legs. Seeing her wake up, the doctor was so frightened that he knelt down and begged for forgiveness. She was weak and opened slightly. With a burning pain in his throat, he said in a hoarse voice, "Get up." Master Yu, where is the emperor now? "
Outside the curtain, Mrs. Yu hurriedly replied: "Reporting to Madam, the emperor left Yuzhou City overnight for some reason three days ago, and it is said that he returned to Jiangdu."
She frowned slightly, lowered her eyelashes, tried her best to speak calmly, and asked, "Did you leave any words?"
Daren Yu said: "Report to your majesty, the emperor told you that when your majesty wants to go back to Jiangdu, let the minister prepare a more comfortable carriage to escort your majesty back."
When you want to go back to Jiangdu? He's not here, what is she doing in Yuzhou City? She slowly closed her eyes, her thick eyelashes trembling a few times, she clenched the corner of the quilt tightly, her ten fingers were all wrapped up in thick cloth, swollen and heavy. After a while, she asked again: "The envoys of the fourteen countries..."
"Please don't worry, my lord. I entertain the envoys of the fourteen countries according to the emperor's order. I sent people to escort them away yesterday. There should be no mistakes."
"Should?" Man Yao opened his eyes sharply, "It can't be should, it must be sure. How many escorts did you send?"
Master Yu was stunned, and quickly replied: "Each country's envoys have a hundred guards in the open, and there are still in the dark... Before he could speak, Man Yao frowned, "You are expanding the enemy's target!" "
Although Mr. Yu has limited talents and knowledge, he is also quite conceited. Seeing her reaction at this moment, he only thought that she was unhappy because the emperor left early, so he couldn't help but feel a little disapproving. You don’t have to worry about the elites selected from the army.”
Man Yao propped herself up and sat up, with a solemn and deep face, and said in a stern tone: "Don't worry? I'm afraid you won't be able to bear it with your head if something goes wrong! You quickly send someone to pretend to be an envoy from various countries, and take a detour. Try to overtake them in a day and distract the enemy from sight. Do it now."
Mrs. Yu felt that her ability to handle affairs was doubted, and felt a little unhappy, secretly thinking, she is a concubine in the harem meddling in her own business! But because of his status, even if he didn't want to, he had to obey orders. "Weichen will do it now."
Master Yu retreated, Man Yao called the housekeeper and ordered: "Prepare the carriage immediately, I want to go back to Jiangdu."
Dr. Xiao said in surprise, "Ma'am, your body..." She said blankly, "It's okay, go and prescribe some medicine for Ben Gong. "
The war is going to be advanced, and many things have not been settled, so she has to go back quickly. The butler of the prefect of Yu was very efficient in handling affairs, and within a short time, the carriage and everything needed for the road were fully prepared.
Two servant girls helped her into the carriage, and she lay with her eyes closed under the thick brocade quilt.
During the bumpy journey, she was in a daze, not knowing what to do day and night.
Phoenix Nirvana Heroine Soul