Chapter 165

Chapter 165

The sunset melted into gold, and the evening clouds came together like paired jade discs.

The setting sun’s gentle afterglow fell across the land. Vast stretches of pine forest were gilded in red-gold beneath the sky ablaze with sunset clouds.

Sheng Zhaoning held a handkerchief in her slender fingers, carefully wiping away the dust from the stone stele inch by inch. Tenderness like autumn waters shimmered in her eyes.

The distant mountains stretched endlessly, and a stream murmured nearby. Sitting on the ground, she tilted her head against the stele, speaking to him as naturally as she once had while leaning against his shoulder.

“The weather was lovely today. So many more flowers have bloomed in the courtyard.”

“This morning, Zhou Wei trampled the cabbages Jin He planted. Jin He chased him around and hit him, and he took a fall, ending up with a lump on his forehead.”

“Zhou Lingsheng has started tinkering with his medicinal dishes again. They’re bitter and spicy, but he can’t taste them himself because he has no sense of taste.”

“I dreamed of you again last night. I dreamed we were in Jizhou…”

Sheng Zhaoning talked on and on.

When she spoke of something happy, the corners of her lips curved into a faint smile. When she was angry, her brows knitted slightly and her lips pursed in a sullen pout.

She leaned against the stele and talked for a long time-long enough for the moon to shine over the pine forest, its silver light spilling through the gaps and settling over her shoulders as a cool breeze swept across the land.

Sheng Zhaoning raised her head and quietly gazed at the bright moon behind the clouds. Her thoughts drifted far away, then floated close again.

Back and forth they went, yet every thought held only the shape of one person.

Sheng Zhaoning sighed. Feeling the stele’s coldness beside her, she said softly, “I miss you a little.”

Time had not washed away her memories. Instead, endless nights of longing had only made them clearer.

Sometimes she thought that she and he had always been just one step short.

One step short, and she could have found the evidence of Prince Zhenbei’s rebellion first.

One step short, and she could have taken him out of the Imperial Palace.

One step short, and they could have stayed together for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps she and he were not fated to meet in this life. If there was a next life, she only wished that she could meet him a little sooner.

Her lips trembled faintly as she gently pressed them to the cold stele.

Sheng Zhaoning rested her forehead against him. Bitterness filled her heart as she said, almost like a sigh, “Ah Heng, don’t leave too soon. I’m afraid I won’t be able to find you.”

Wait a little longer. Wait for me.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be much longer.

Longing had seeped into her bones, and every day and night had become an ordeal.

You have gone for good. Beneath the moon, upon the low pine ridge.

I suppose I, too, will soon find this mortal world empty of flavor.

……

A thousand li away, in Capital City.

Once again, the emperor had gone several days without holding morning court.

It was said that he had fallen seriously ill recently. The Imperial Medical Institute was in chaos, and no one dared to be even slightly careless.

Han Xu stood guard outside Changhua Hall, listening to the repeated low coughs coming from within as his fingers slowly tightened.

His gaze drifted to the top of the apricot tree. Its golden fruit was plump and large, hanging high on the branches, remote as Yaoyao and beyond reach.

Every brick and tile, every blade of grass and every tree here had been fully restored to the way it had looked before the fire.

Everything inside, from the beds, cabinets, tables, and chairs to the hanging ornaments and decorations, was exactly as it had been before.

It was as though the fire had never happened.

Zhao Quan hurried out with a bowl of medicine. The bowl was filled to the brim with dark-brown medicinal broth, not a drop less than before.

Han Xu glanced at Zhao Quan and asked with a frown, “Is His Majesty still refusing to take his medicine?”

Zhao Quan shook his head and let out a deep sigh, his face full of worry.

“It’s been two days. If this continues, how could his illness possibly improve?”

Han Xu stared at the bowl of medicine for a long while, his brows tightly furrowed. Only after some time did he part his lips and ask, “Did you send for General Chi?”

Zhao Quan nodded. “I did. He should be here shortly.”

These days, Chi Yu was the only one who could still get through to him with a few words.

Han Xu gazed toward the tiled roofs and upturned eaves. Five years had passed since the great fire.

He did not know where Sheng Zhaoning had gone. But with testimony from Han Xu, Chi Yu, and Shadow Seven, Wei Yi had truly come to believe that Sheng Zhaoning had died in the fire.

Amid the ruins, the young emperor had clung to the corpse like a madman, his expression shattered and unhinged. No one could persuade him to let go.

He stubbornly kept the corpse in the charred ruins, refusing to have it buried. Day after day, he stayed among the ashes, crying one moment and laughing the next. The sight struck fear into anyone who saw it.

Even the palace servants of Changhua Hall did not dare approach.

At the time, everyone was saying that the emperor had gone mad.

Unable to persuade him, Han Xu had no choice but to find Chi Yu.

Chi Yu was a loyal old retainer who had fought his way out of Liangzhou alongside Wei Yi. He had grown up with Wei Yi and knew the history between Wei Yi and Sheng Zhaoning better than anyone.

Someone like him would be far more effective than any of them at talking Wei Yi down.

Chi Yu also did not want the charred corpse to be left unburied indefinitely. He feared that waiting too long would lead to complications.

After pleading with Wei Yi to no avail, Chi Yu took advantage of the emperor’s dazed, shattered state and struck him unconscious with a single palm. Then he hurriedly buried the corpse.

“Sheng Zhaoning” had held no title and could not be buried in the Imperial Mausoleum.

So Chi Yu ordered his men to bury her on a low hill outside the Imperial City.

When Wei Yi awoke, he was shaking with rage. His eyes blazing red, he immediately snatched up his sword and moved to strike.

It was only Chi Yu’s words that finally stopped him: “If you couldn’t have her in this life, are you even going to keep her from entering reincarnation and hoping for a next one?”

At last, Wei Yi let his sword fall. He was left utterly broken, as if his soul had departed his body.

Afterward, prayers were performed in Changhua Hall every day, asking that “Sheng Zhaoning” enter reincarnation as soon as possible.

Returning from the memories of the past, Han Xu concealed the emotions in his eyes and habitually brushed a hand over the hilt of the blade at his waist.

Five years had passed.

He had never regretted letting Sheng Zhaoning go.

To her, this place had been an unbreakable cage. Han Xu could not bear to stand by and watch her die trapped inside it.

But for Wei Yi, the result had been no less agonizing than having his soul torn apart.

Sheng Zhaoning had been the boldest, deepest stroke in his life, inseparable from him as flesh and blood.

After losing her, Wei Yi seemed to lose his support all at once. His spirit withered rapidly.

The young emperor who had once dominated the battlefield was now plagued by illness, his hair almost entirely white.

……

When Chi Yu stepped into the hall, the heavy smell of medicine assaulted his senses.

His brows immediately drew together, and he strode toward the inner chamber. At a glance, he saw the thin, frail figure lying on the bed.

They had grown up together, and they had been brothers who had entrusted their lives to each other on the battlefield. No matter how much resentment and dissatisfaction Chi Yu harbored toward him, how could he truly stand by and watch Wei Yi die?

Seeing Wei Yi lying on the bed as though his soul had been torn from him, Chi Yu was heartbroken-and even more furious.

He crossed the room in a few strides, seized Wei Yi by the collar, and roared, “Get up!”

Wei Yi’s upper body was dragged slightly off the bed. He slowly opened his eyes.

Once his vision cleared from a blur, Wei Yi tried to knock Chi Yu’s hand away, but he did not even have the strength to raise his arm.

“Go away.” Wei Yi’s lips were pale, and his voice was cold.

Chi Yu tightened his grip on him in fury and ground out through clenched teeth, “She’s been gone for so long. What are you still unable to let go of?”

At the beginning, Wei Yi had been the same way, as though he had aged decades in an instant.

Over the past few years, his health had steadily deteriorated. The heroic figure who had once ridden a dark horse and wielded a long spear was long gone.

Wei Yi did not have the strength to break free, so he simply stopped resisting.

He let Chi Yu hold him by the collar and gave a desolate smile. “She finally got what she wanted. She’s gone to find the person she wanted to see.”