Chapter 100
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The gaze followed the fingertips, gliding over several photo frames on the bookshelf.
Fifteen-year-old Shen Yin, after surgery, sat in a wheelchair, holding a beautiful bouquet of daisies, with a tall and graceful young man standing behind her.
At eighteen, Shen Yin, just after the college entrance examination, still wore somewhat outdated black-framed glasses on her nose. She stood in the corner, comparing heights with a stack of books taller than her head, smiling to reveal two sharp canine teeth.
Twenty-two years old, the year she graduated, wearing a bachelor’s cap hung on the man’s body.
Long, fluffy hair curled up, sparkling in the sunlight.
Similar to his current appearance, the eyes were filled with stars and radiance.
Prompted by the timely reminder on his phone – which he didn’t know how to use – he saw a lit screen displaying a message box: Teacher Shen. “I wonder if you’ll be in the office tomorrow morning. I wanted to discuss the opening report…”
The phone screen went dark.
A mist gradually filled his eyes.
He pushed open the room door.
The wind behind him blew the white curtain, tousling the stray hair on Shen Chu’s forehead. Turning around, he saw Shen Yin opening the door for Dr. Chen downstairs.
She bent down to pick up a pair of shoes from the shoe cabinet, her long hair hanging down like newly sprouted willow branches, obscuring her delicate profile.
“Host.”
The system’s voice sounded timely in his ears. “Do you want to be reborn now?”
Chu Xie remained silent, watching as she led the doctor down the stairs.
“After rebirth, everything… starts anew, right?”
“Yes,” the system said, “didn’t the host feel that his sister was taken away by someone else? Instead of that, why not knock it all down and start over?”
“Anyway, you’ve completed the mission, and you already have a chance for rebirth. Don’t waste it.”
Chu Xie suddenly felt a sense of annoyance. Hearing footsteps getting closer, he shut the door as if avoiding something.
He also shut down the system.
“He has fainted several times in the past year,” the doctor was inquiring.
“Yesterday was the fourth time, but the previous three were not due to claustrophobia, just normal. One time was particularly severe, he fainted directly during a lecture… but we didn’t consider it from a mental perspective before…”
The voice grew closer.
Shen Yin knocked on the door from outside. “Brother, are you inside? Dr. Chen is here.”
Separated by a wall, almost hearing her voice clearly filled with anxious concern, “Brother, what’s wrong with you? Please open the door first.”
Her brother in her mouth was not him.
There was no photo of himself on that desk.
All of them were him.
He was not the brother Shen Yin wanted the most.
But, the current Shen Yin was the sister he most wished she would become.
“No more rebirth.”
He slowly closed his eyes, looked up at the orderly everything in front of him, listened to the increasingly urgent knocking behind him, and a sentence, “Wait, let me find the key,” then sat on the floor, hugging his knees, as a choked sob emerged from the depths of his throat, slipping through the door panel.
Everyone was growing up.
Only his life remained forever at eighteen.
“If you don’t want to be reborn. Shen Chu.” The original Chu’s voice rang in his mind. He didn’t want to hear anyone speak, but he couldn’t shut off his voice like he did with the system.
“What would you do if I were reborn?” Shen Chu asked.
“Whether you are reborn or not, I will walk towards extinction. The body in the other world is already dead, and I can’t go back. In less than half a month, I will completely disappear… You saved Xu Chunmu, and I promised to give you a bright and brilliant future. So, to help you quickly adapt to this world, integrate into your own life, it’s best for you to go out more now, interact with acquaintances…”
“This is not my life.”
He choked, “It’s not my life anymore.”
“You’re right. I tried so hard to come back, but what’s the use of coming back… after rebirth, what can I do? I can only die with Shen Yin… even the memories we shared would be painful for her, something she wouldn’t want to pick up. When she’s with you, she’ll always be happy, but if it were me, she would start crying again. I don’t want to see her cry again. This kind of life, I simply, simply…”
He buried his face in his knees.
“Simply, don’t want it again.”
Papa.
Tears dripped onto the floor.
“That’s fine. You saved her, gave her a bright and splendid life. That’s… enough. I really like the current Little Yin. I like her too much. Even if I were reborn, I couldn’t give her such a perfect life… Rebirth? No, I don’t want to be reborn.” He shook his head forcefully.
“The current life is not mine at all. The brother she wants, it’s not me.”
“No…”
A faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes. “My wish is fulfilled, without any regrets. She survived, and that’s the result I wanted the most. Thank you.”
“The bowl of curry on the table hasn’t cooled yet. You can still eat it now.”
“Tomorrow, you drive… and take her to the wedding rehearsal. She will be very happy.”
His voice was gentle, gradually closing his eyes bit by bit.
“The one who should go towards extinction is not you. From now on, I give my life to you.”
“Please, definitely, make sure she—”
“Forever, keep smiling like this.”
***
This was the first New Year after Emperor Jinghe ascended the throne, supposed to be lively, with the whole country celebrating. However, Empress Xiaoyuan’s sudden death cast another layer of gloom over the previously lively capital.
The emperor kept the death a secret for a full seven days, dragging it until the night of the thirtieth.
A sudden fire broke out at the Grand Tutor’s mansion, burning throughout the night, flames reaching the sky. It alarmed half of the capital. By the second day, the once flourishing Grand Tutor’s mansion turned into ashes, desolate in all directions.
Strangely, when the fire broke out, Grand Tutor Su was not in the mansion, narrowly escaping disaster. On the first day of the new year, he unexpectedly colluded with the army of Yubei Wang and the fifty thousand former soldiers of the deceased Ningyuan Wang of the northwest, surrounding the city in a single day.
Yubei Wang shouted, saying the emperor was still young and unable to bear the great responsibility. Moreover, he married a corrupt and cunning eunuch, unable to distinguish right from wrong. Grand Tutor, Su Mingan, together with Minister of Personnel, Xue Shangshu, even revealed the true identity of the late Empress – the abandoned child of the Shen family.
For a while, the court and the public were in an uproar.
Memorials requesting abdication were presented one after another. External threats and internal chaos unsettled the people.
Zhou Wen suggested that to alleviate the situation, they should first execute a censor to intimidate. However, the emperor seemed lethargic, as if he couldn’t care less about anything, only guarding the empress’s coffin.
After several days of deadlock, the situation worsened.
Zhao Shizi, Zhao Xuan, had to come overnight, risking his life to request the emperor to depose the empress.
The usually silent emperor, in just a moment, had eyes filled with rage. “What are you saying?”
“What are you saying to him?”
If it weren’t for Zhou Wen protecting Zhao Xuan, Jiang Yanchi would have almost killed him.
Zhao Xuan said, “Your Majesty, if the empress is not deposed to calm the people, do you really want to wait until the day the city falls to the enemy? Your Majesty, the deceased is gone. In all things, the overall situation should be considered. I will secretly replace the empress’s body and bury her outside the palace. When the opportunity arises, we can bury her in the imperial mausoleum under someone else’s name. This matter needs to be kept secret for now.”
“No need to wait for the future.”
Jiang Yanchi’s anger seemed to be extinguished by ice water. He turned back to continue guarding the coffin, his eyes numb. “I’ll accompany her, die together.”
The candlelight was faint, and Qi Sui and Zhou Wen both changed their expressions.
“Your Majesty, you need to think about Duan Niang Niang. The deceased is gone, and you should think for her.” Zhao Xuan frowned, trying to comfort him.
However, Jiang Yanchi remained silent.
He is my empress.
Even in death.
Seeing that he remained silent, Zhao Xuan thought the emperor was temporarily furious and couldn’t think clearly. At this critical moment, he regretted that he couldn’t use his head to hit the ground. After exchanging a glance with Zhou Wen, he had to say again, “Let’s not talk about others. Now that we have the power of the Forbidden Army to protect us, the fifty thousand troops dare not make trouble easily. But the northern border’s three hundred thousand troops were previously under the control of Zhao Lingqu. Now that his whereabouts are unknown, and he has half of the military orders in hand, if he mobilizes the Changming Army to move south… it will be too late then!”
“Your Majesty, mourn and grieve, but at this critical moment, it’s really—”
Maybe when he mentioned the Changming Army, these few words entered Jiang Yanchi’s ears, and his expression finally changed, turning to look at Zhao Xuan.
Changming, northern border, Marquis of Zhenguo, Xu Chunmu.
The last three words gradually stopped in his mind, gradually filled, and occupied all thoughts until they dominated his mind.
‘Xu Chunmu is my life.’
‘I implore you to keep secret the truth of Xu Chunmu’s identity, let him live his life as a member of the Xu family forever. Protect him and ensure his lifelong safety and peace.’
‘I don’t want him to live a life like mine.’
The familiar words echoed in his ears, piercing into his heart like a sharp blade.
The sweet promises made to that person late at night a few days ago were now turned into an uncontrollable pain that stirred within him.
As if trying to completely shatter his heart that had long been numb.
‘I swear, when I grasp imperial power, I will reexamine the injustice of your Shen family, clear the stigma that has hung over you for more than twenty years, and completely unravel the cruel fate that has trapped you for half your life.’
‘I will let you, let Xu Chunmu, live honorably in this world, without worries or fears.’
He thought that after Chu Xie’s death, his heart had also become numb, and nothing could disturb him.
But he didn’t expect that it could still hurt more.
Chu Xie knew he was going to die, and the last gleam of light was only because he was worried about Xu Chunmu.
So.
With his last breath, he entrusted Xu Chunmu to him.
If he were forced to abdicate, Su Mingan would support a new emperor to ascend the throne, wielding the real power of Great Wei. In that case, as the last orphan of the Shen family in this world, Xu Chunmu would not be able to survive.
Just because of Chu Xie’s final entrustment before his death, he couldn’t die now, and even the imperial power in his hands couldn’t be relinquished.
Otherwise, his brother—Xu Chunmu—would have no way to survive.
He must now ascend to the high seat of the court and hold a position of power to secure the last chance for the offspring of the treasonous minister.
Jiang Yanchi chuckled softly, but there was a hint of moisture in his eyes.
Right, Xu Chunmu.
Where is he now?
Suddenly, it seemed like he remembered something.
Chu Xie had written a letter before he died.
To Xu Chunmu.
Jiang Yanchi seized a detail in the memories that flashed back. When he pressed down the letter paper for Chu Xie, there were three sheets stacked. But later, when he went to send away the people in the courtyard for Chu Xie, and when he returned, Chu Xie had finished writing one and sent it out.
The blank rice paper pressed by the ruler was blown away by the wind, leaving only one sheet.
There’s still one more.
His eyes lifted suddenly, and he glanced at the black coffin.
Could it be?
In addition to the one sent to Xu Chunmu, did he also write a second letter?
These past few days, Jiang Yanchi had never allowed anyone to enter the Chengluan Palace. Like a madman, he rushed in, searched everywhere—from under the seat, under the desk, under the pillow—everywhere, but he couldn’t find it.
He thought that he might have remembered wrong.
He recalled the look in Chu Xie’s eyes when he returned that night, wanting to say something but stopping.
He recalled the unanswered questioning late at night.
The time was short, and Chu Xie was weak at that time. If he really wrote something, it was impossible to carefully hide it.
The places that required effort, he definitely couldn’t move. Under the table was easy to get wet, and on the bed was easy to get wrinkled.
Jiang Yanchi tried hard to calm himself down.
Chu Xie must have left a letter.
If it were him, where would he put that letter? He would definitely discover it, and the letter paper wouldn’t be easily damaged.
Sitting at the desk, he imitated Chu Xie’s gaze, looking around after a full circle. He felt something and his gaze stopped at the dressing table under the window pavilion.
In a moment of daze, it was as if he saw the beauty with bright eyes and red lips, dressed in splendid attire, reflected in the bronze mirror on the dressing table.
Rushing to the bronze mirror, he opened the wooden box containing the hairpin and hairpin stand, and indeed, he saw a neatly folded piece of paper inside.
The paper was pressed by the red velvet broken feather hairpin he had personally snapped.
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