Chapter 299: Poor Born in an Imperial Family
"I've been dreaming a lot lately."
Hearing Li Zhaonian's voice, Shen Yu looked back at him, "What did you dream about?"
Li Zhaonian smiled and said, "They were all wild dreams, many of which I can't remember clearly. I only remember that I had a home at the foot of a mountain, with a field of larkspur in front of the yard. Every spring and summer, the flowers would bloom all over the ground."
As he described, Shen Yu also laughed and yearned, "It must be beautiful."
"Well, friends come to visit in autumn, and magpies sing in spring."
"What about winter?"
"In winter, I watch the snow alone." Li Zhaonian choked up and said, "Go back, he must be waiting anxiously."
Shen Yu looked at him sideways, and suddenly reached out to pull open the curtain to take another look.
She had asked the imperial physician about Li Zhaonian's condition. It was a miracle that he could not be cured by any medicine. Today's farewell would be a farewell forever.
Li Zhaonian did not stop her.
If she wanted to see him now, he would not stop her, but he still wanted her to remember the Li Zhaonian of the past.
He just watched quietly, watching her raise her hand and then put it down.
"You..." Shen Yu hesitated, "Do you have any regrets or requests?"
"There are too many regrets and requests. If I have to choose one."
Li Zhaonian paused, "If possible, please spare my son's life. The sky is high and the sea is wide. You can send him anywhere, a farmer, a servant, a blacksmith... as long as he is not a descendant of the Li family. It is his misfortune to be born in this palace wall. Let him... let him live a plain life."
Shen Yu nodded, "Okay, I promise you, is there anything else?"
Li Zhaonian stared at the figure behind the curtain, "No more."
Shen Yu's throat and eyes were sore. She got up with difficulty, put on the fox fur and was about to leave.
Li Zhaonian watched her walk to the door, suddenly supported the bed, leaned over and grabbed the curtain, but never opened it.
"Ayu."
Shen Yu stopped and looked back, and saw the shaking curtain.
Li Zhaonian smiled gently, "It's my honor to meet you, and I think... my life is not in vain."
"Yeah, me too." Shen Yu smiled back at him, not knowing whether he could see it.
She turned around quickly and stepped out of the hall before she burst into tears.
The wind and snow continued, and the maids held umbrellas to see Shen Yu off.
The square in front of Xuanhui Hall was once covered with bloody corpses, but now it was silver-white again.
"Princess, Princess."
A maid stepped on the snow and chased after her. She was the maid who served Li Zhaonian in the hall just now.
Shen Yu stopped, "What's the matter?"
The maid knelt in the snow, holding a palm-sized brocade box in both hands and said, "Your Majesty has a gift for the princess, a gift for the baby in the princess' belly, please accept it."
Shen Yu reached out and took it.
Just as she was about to open it, the maid said, "Your Majesty said that the princess should look at it after leaving the palace."
Shen Yu clenched the brocade box in her hand and glanced at the closed door of Xuanhui Hall.
The maid watched Shen Yu leave and turned back. As soon as she stepped into the hall, she opened her eyes wide in surprise.
"Your Majesty, can you get up?"
It took her only a moment to realize what it was.
Li Zhaonian sat on the edge of the bed, dressed properly, with his black hair raised high with a wooden hairpin.
"Your Majesty, do you want to wear a crown?" the maid asked.
"I am no longer Your Majesty."
That title was a shackle, a shackle that bound him in this cage. Now that he had taken off the crown, he felt relaxed.
Li Zhaonian waved his hand and said with a smile, "Bring my cloak. I want to go out for a walk."
The door of Xuanhui Hall was wide open, and the wind and snow were swept to the door, fell on the ground, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Li Zhaonian reached out to catch the falling snow. He raised his head in the snow, letting the snowflakes touch his eyebrows.
"Let's go to Jiangzi Pavilion." He said happily, "You can see the whole Shengjing there. I often watched the snow there when I was young."
He brushed away the palace maid holding the umbrella, took the arm of the eunuch and walked slowly in the snow. Every step he took in the snow made a crackling sound, which suddenly felt so pleasant.
Shen Yu stepped out of the first palace gate and saw Xie Tingzhou waiting at the door.
He walked towards her, took the umbrella from the palace maid, held Shen Yu in his arms, and lowered his head to ask, "Are you cold?"
Shen Yu shook her head, "Strange, this winter doesn't seem to be very cold, let's take a walk."
Xie Tingzhou gathered her into his cloak, leaving only his head, "Let's go."
Two sets of footprints were left on the ground.
The railings of Jiangzi Pavilion were stained with wind and snow.
The eunuch lowered the curtain, and Li Zhaonian asked someone to open it again.
He leaned over the railing, letting the long wind blow over his body. He wanted to take another look at her, and take another look at this world.
I wonder if there will be peace and prosperity in five or ten years?
The world was all white, and looking back on this life, there were many regrets.
Shen Yu asked him if he had any wishes, and he lied to her that he had none.
In his life, he had never even had the courage to hold the hand of someone he liked.
"What's in your hand?" Xie Tingzhou's eyes swept over the brocade box in Shen Yu's hand.
"I don't know." Shen Yu held it tightly, "It's a gift from Li Zhaonian to our child. He said he would open it after leaving the palace."
Xie Tingzhou looked forward, "We're at the palace gate."
The long wind blew up Li Zhaonian's sleeves, pouring the world and the wind and snow into him, almost melting into his body.
Li Zhaonian looked at the vast world and murmured, "I still have three wishes."
"One is peace in the world."
"Two is peace and tranquility."
"Three is peace for you every year, and I will see you... in the next life."
He suddenly let go of the hand holding the railing, and his body went against the wind and snow.
The sound of the wind whistled in his ears.
He closed his eyes and wondered if he could fly outside the palace wall with this wind.
Shen Yu stood in front of the palace gate and slowly opened the brocade box. She suddenly looked back in the direction of Xuanhui Hall and heard the sound of the funeral bell in the wind and snow.
The brocade box was spread out in her hands.
Inside, they contained the last missing herb.
…
"Kneel! Knock!"
"The late emperor's will, I inherited the great foundation with my cold virtue, but I am not well, and it is difficult for me to carry on the will of my ancestors. Now there is the King of Beilin, Xie Yun, to drive out foreign enemies and eliminate internal troubles..."
"Raise the spirit!"
The cries were heard everywhere, and the funeral bells rang.
The wind and snow had stopped, and a bright sun hung in the sky.
Li Jifeng demoted himself to a commoner at the gate of Shengjing and opened the gate to welcome Xie Tingzhou into the capital. He was no longer the crown prince of Dazhou and had no right to see Li Zhaonian off again.
He turned to look at Shen Yu beside him and asked, "Do you want to see his remains?"
Shen Yu's eyes were red, but she had not shed a single tear since Li Zhaonian's death.
Perhaps because she had seen too many people off, she had become accustomed to parting.
"No." Shen Yu said softly, "The last time we met, there was a curtain between us. He didn't want me to see him, so I won't see him."
As long as she didn't see him, he would still be the handsome man in her memory.
"It's a pity to be born in an imperial family." Li Jifeng looked up at the sky.
"He likes poetry and Confucius and Mencius. As long as he is not born into the royal family in his next life, he can travel the world and live a carefree life." Shen Yu nodded slowly, "Let's plant a field of larkspur in front of the imperial mausoleum. When spring and summer come together, the flowers will bloom all over the ground. He will definitely like it."