Fairy, please let me explain.

Chapter 802 Love Letter
This period of silence seemed particularly long to many people in Di'an City and even in the whole world. The mutiny that night came too suddenly and ended too suddenly, like a sudden fog that made the originally visible future become chaotic again.

Countless people toss and turn because of it.

Countless people are anxious because of it.

But just as the long night will eventually usher in the dawn, the fog of chaos will eventually dissipate. No one knows whether the road ahead will be bright, but the direction of the road will be determined.

On February 13, the 48th year of Jiajing, the dawn was approaching.

Dots of golden light roamed across the sky of Emperor An.

Putting down the last file in his hand, Xu Yuan stood up from behind the desk. The night outside the window was still dark. The furnishings in the study in the inner courtyard were the same as before, but there was less scent of ink. The secret files that once filled the bookshelf were no longer there.

He took down the black dragon sword hanging on the wall of the study, pushed the door open and walked out alone. The inner courtyard was no longer as noisy as before. Walking outwards, the outer courtyard became a little desolate as the transfer of personnel and materials was nearing completion.

When Xu Yuan arrived at the door of the mansion, he unconsciously stopped and looked back at this house which was once named Xiangguo Mansion.

Everything is shrouded in the blur of night, yet everything is clearly visible.

As a home, this place is still too big.
With an inexplicable sigh, Xu Yuan chuckled and shook his head. As the grand mansion door opened with a rumbling sound, he saw countless expectant eyes, and the chariot in the lead with an engraved nine-clawed black dragon.

"Son."

"Son."

"Son."

"Son."

"."

On the eve of the enthronement, countless ministers and court officials waited quietly in front of Xu's mansion, waiting for their new monarch and waiting for him to lead them into the future.

Xu Yuan scanned the faces.

Some familiar faces did not come because of fear, but more familiar faces were still waiting here, perhaps because of loyalty, perhaps because of interests, but the reasons were not important at the moment.

After standing there for a moment, without words or gestures, Xu Yuan silently stepped onto the carriage representing the second emperor of Great Yan, and led the convoy behind him towards the palace city shrouded in darkness.

Just like the most ordinary morning court in the past few decades, many important officials of the court gathered at the foot of the palace early. However, compared with the past, the officials who came to watch the coronation of the new emperor today were obviously more powerful. Many nobles and generals who held actual military power were summoned back to Emperor An by Her Royal Highness the Princess due to the turbulent situation.

Led by two important ministers entrusted with the care of the young emperor, Marquis Wucheng and the Deputy Prime Minister, some powerful senior members of the imperial party gathered in the first row outside the Meridian Gate.

Some are from the army, and some are from the court.

Many of them were not in Di'an all year round and were rarely summoned back, such as the commander of the Northwest Vanguard Army and the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards in charge of the Tianhe Defense Line. On the night that Di'an lost contact, these generals loyal to the royal family followed Li Zhaoyuan's order and led some of their elite troops to Di'an to serve the king.

The relationships between these officials varied, from old friends with close personal ties to powerful enemies caused by different political views or personal grudges. However, in this turbulent time when the rebellion broke out in the Prime Minister's Mansion, these powerful officials of the imperial party tacitly put aside their past grudges and gathered together to pass on information and political views to each other, and discuss countermeasures after the empress ascended the throne today.

Apart from this group of important ministers who could influence the Queen's decision, the remaining court officials seemed somewhat uneasy. As they were not in high enough positions, they could not obtain more information and could only predict the future situation through speculation. Most of them gathered in groups of two or three to discuss their concerns in private, but their expressions were still mostly solemn.

It snowed last night. Although the Imperial Household Department had arranged for eunuchs to clean the square in front of the Meridian Gate, there was still a lot of white snow left.

More than a thousand court officials, military and civilian representatives gradually gathered as time went by. The originally quiet Meridian Gate gradually became noisy due to their private conversations, but these sounds became silent like wheat waves at a certain moment.

Instead, there was the sound of a carriage moving.

"Da da da."

The remaining ice crystals in the cracks of the jade bricks were crushed by horse hooves, and the sound of rolling wheels gradually came from the central axis of Di'an, known as Tian'an Street.

No one moved, and no one spoke.

Even the top leaders of the imperial party, led by Marquis Wu Cheng, stopped talking and looked back. At the end of their field of vision, the outline of a carriage engraved with a black dragon gradually appeared, along with hundreds of officials from the prime minister's party who were walking along with it.

Coming from the south where there is no bright light, bringing with it endless darkness.

Gradually, the carriage approached the crowd.

"Rustling."

Still no one spoke. Outside the Meridian Gate before dawn, hundreds of officials silently bowed their heads and paced to both sides to make way for the arrival of the carriage.

until,

It gradually approached the important officials of the imperial party who were standing in the center of the Meridian Gate.

One hundred feet.

Seventy feet.

A group of high-ranking members of the imperial party stared intently at the slowly approaching carriage. The carved black dragon eyes on it seemed to devour people's hearts, causing their heartbeats to accelerate unconsciously.

Because it represents the Prime Minister of Yan who dominated an era.

Representing the man named Xu Yinhe.

But he should be dead.

The person riding in the carriage at this time is most likely the third son of the Xu family.
Therefore,
As the top of the royal party, they don't need to give in.

We can’t give in either!

The carriage continued to move forward slowly.

The silent night was so depressing that it drove people mad. The crisp sound of horse hooves at this moment sounded like the neighing of evil spirits.

Fifty feet.

Forty feet.

Thirty feet.

咕咚
That was the sound of swallowing rolling in the throat.

Some of the important officials of the imperial party began to glance sideways at the people around them.

With the cultivation level of any one of them, they could easily penetrate the array pattern on the carriage and see whether the person inside the carriage was the powerful prime minister or the third son of the Xu family, but no one dared to do so.

Although all signs indicate that the other party is dead,
but,
What if?
What if that person is not dead?
After all, there is no evidence now that the man is really dead.

"clatter"

Some people stepped back.

The accumulated power left by the man who had dominated the entire Da Yan for decades made him retreat subconsciously.

Then the second, third, and fourth
finally,
The only person left in front of the Meridian Gate was Marquis Wucheng, who was wearing white armor and had an upright posture.

The black dragon carriage also stopped in front of him.

“Ahhh——”

The car door was opened, and a pair of cloud boots stepped out. When the similar face appeared, many people's hearts instantly rose to their throats, but after seeing it clearly, they all breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts, and then regretted their own timidity.

Xu Yuan walked slowly to the right side of Wu Chenghou and stood still.

Ten feet apart.

Wu Chenghou calmly looked at the culprit who had caused the civil strife and killed the crown prince, and said in a calm tone:

"coming."

Xu Yuan glanced at the imperial party officials around him and his eyes fell on the empty Meridian Gate Tower:

"Ah."

The words fell silent.

With the arrival of the head of the Xu family, there was no more discussion in the square in front of the Meridian Gate, and even the sound transmission became rare.

The next step is to wait.

According to the ritual system of the Great Yan Dynasty, outside officials could not witness the emperor's coronation process. Whether it was burning incense to offer sacrifices to heaven, paying homage to the previous emperor, the empress dowager crowning the new monarch, or changing into dragon robes, all these matters were carried out in the inner palace. After this series of complicated ceremonies were over, the new monarch would come to the Meridian Gate to meet with his ministers and read out the announcement of his accession to the throne to them.

There are no strict requirements on the time when the new emperor ascends the Meridian Gate. After completing the inner palace procedures, as long as the new emperor does not ascend the Meridian Gate after sunrise, it is within the scope of etiquette. If you want to have a sense of ceremony, you can step on the time when the rising sun shines on the earth, and announce your rule at the first light of dawn. If you don't care, you can ascend the Meridian Gate when it is still dark.

Not long after Xu Yuan arrived, the Zongmeng delegation also arrived. Although most of the court officials knew through their own channels that the other party would attend the ceremony, the endless civil wars in various places still caused them to make a brief noise.

The Zongmeng delegation also stood in the front row of the Meridian Gate.

When he glanced sideways, he saw the big ice block in black clothes as before, surrounded by a group of people. He didn't bring Mu Li with him today, but he looked a little depressed with his eyes lowered.

And just when his eyes fell on her for a moment, the girl looked towards him as if she had sensed something.

Their eyes intertwined in the air.

Her originally ethereal black eyes remained the same, staring at him cautiously.

The wind in the last moments before dawn on a snowy night was a little chilly.

The two were not far apart, and there were not too many people between them, but the emotions in their eyes seemed to be separated by a huge chasm.

Xu Yuan silently withdrew his gaze, took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes. But after a moment, he sighed unconsciously.

As Ran Qingmo,
Also for the uninvited woman who had just arrived.

He felt that familiar breath.

Or,

I smelled that familiar fragrance.

Night has come.

When he opened his eyes again, Xu Yuan saw Tian Ye leaning close to his face with his head tilted. He was wearing a long dress that looked like a saint or a demon, and the smile on his lips was like a devil:

"Since you care, why don't you just go and say hello?"

Xu Yuan looked at her quietly, his voice hoarse and calm:

"You want to die?"

Tian Ye shrank his neck deliberately, as if he was frightened, but seeing that the other party still had no expression on his face, he backed away a little in boredom, stood beside him, and said with a faint smile:
"I just want to remind you. If you don't say something now, you will never have the chance to say it again." Waves of shock spread among the crowd behind the two of them because of Tian Ye's sudden appearance. Jiantian Pavilion is now a part of the clan alliance, but in their opinion, the behavior of its leader personally going to Di'an is still a bit too bold at this time when the fate of the world is uncertain.

Xu Yuan did not reply immediately, but looked into the distance.

In the sky where no one noticed, he could see that the golden spots were becoming more and more numerous, and some of them were even connected into silk threads.

After a long time, Xu Yuan said slowly:
"I can't understand your position."

"Do you think that if I let Him descend upon Di'an at this time, He will definitely fail?"

"At least not secure enough."

"Well"

Upon hearing this, Tian Ye subconsciously crossed his arms over his chest, raised his white chin, pondered for a moment, and smiled with his eyes curved: "It would indeed be safer if we let "Him" descend secretly in other places, but that would be too boring and would also create more variables."

Xu Yuan frowned and glanced at the woman with a smirk beside him:
"Boring?"

Tian Ye ignored the gazes of outsiders and went straight to Xu Yuan again, holding his arm and leaning on his shoulder, breathing sweetly:

"Have you forgotten that I once said that everything I do now is for myself~"

"." Ran Qingmo.

Xu Yuan was silent for a moment, then said:
"Did you guess that I would kill Li Zhaoyuan?"

Tian Ye's eyes were filled with a helpless sadness:

"It's half and half. It doesn't matter whether you kill him or not. No matter who takes the throne in the royal family, they will not stop him from killing you in Di'an."

Speaking of which,
Tian Ye's pair of bright golden eyes curved into crescents mischievously:

"Of course, if Li Qingyan is willing to let the Li family become a subsidiary of your Xu family for the sake of love, I can only accept the defeat."

The wind on the long street brought some ice crystals.

Xu Yuan remained silent for a long time before continuing:
"So, what do you want?"

This time, Tian Ye answered very happily, holding Xu Yuan's hand and tightening it slightly:

"As for me, I want a grand ending that belongs to us alone."

"Crazy woman."

"Hum~"

"."

Xu Yuan seemed to have thought of something and lowered his voice:
"Tian Yan should be here too."

"Are you thinking about her?" Tian Ye asked, grinning wickedly, "A man who is unfaithful is not pleasing."

"."

Xu Yuan didn't answer, just stared at her quietly.

The night wind blew across her long black hair. Tian Ye curled her lips, and then a strange arc appeared at the corner of her lips. She raised her slender index finger and pointed at herself, then tapped Xu Yuan's chest, and finally pointed to the sky:
"I've already said it.
"This is a grand finale for us, so naturally she came as well."

"."

Hearing this answer, a complex array of emotions lingered in his chest, and Xu Yuan felt as if waves of suffocation were coming. But even so, he could only remain silent at this moment.

With blood on my hands, there is no way back
The night is coming to an end and dawn is approaching.

"Your Highness, the time has come."

The gentle voice of the maid Otomo spread into every corner of the room along with the sandalwood smoke. A woman with high black hair was sitting quietly at a square table with her back to the door, browsing the letter in her hand.

As the residence of the empress who will ascend to the throne, the interior furnishings are as simple as ever, with only a bed, a wooden table, a few chairs, and a hanging rack.

The woman was so absorbed in reading the letter that she wrinkled the title page with her knuckles. It was not until she had read the last word that she noticed the figure outside the door. Her voice was slightly hoarse and majestic:
"It's almost dawn?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Is this so"

A breeze with a little moisture seeped in through the window lattice, lifting up the scattered hair on her temples. She silently placed the letter, which she had read countless times in the past few days, on the table. The flickering candlelight infinitely magnified the darkness in the corner.

The woman stared at another map on the square table. The almost pleading sincerity in the man's eyes under his threatening words that night kept emerging in her heart.

"Ten"

"Ten"

"Ten"

The woman tapped the letter with her fingertips and gently held her forehead, her slender eyes half-closed in thought. But after a moment, she silently pressed down the map he left behind with a paperweight, picked up the yellowed letter from the late emperor, and walked out.

[Qingyan, this is a will to pass on the throne]

[When you see it, your father is probably no longer alive. The one who gave it to you might be Yucheng, Yunqing, or of course Xu Yinhe or his successor. But no matter which possibility it is, I think our Li family has reached the point of survival.]

She walked out along the corridor with swift steps. The jade pendant on her waist made crisp sounds when it collided with her armor, like her father's last words echoing in her ears.

[It should be very strange to you]

[Although you and I are father and daughter, we have only met a few times since we were young.]

[As a blood relative, I was cold-blooded and ruthless to you. Sending you to the North was a political compromise at the time, but Qingyan, you gave father a surprise.]

[I don't know how to describe this feeling, but when I woke up from my dying wounds and heard about your experiences in the North, I realized that you are a gift from God.]

[I began to deliberately train you]

【Develop your literary and military strategies】

Develop your political skills

【Cultivate your hatred for the sect! 】

[In order to achieve this goal, I have used every possible means to make you lose the people you respect one after another]

[You should hate me. I may be a good emperor, but I am definitely not a good father. When you receive this letter, it means that all the means I have left have been exhausted.]

[The purpose of this letter is to beg you to return to Di'an]

[There, there will be a grand ceremony waiting for you]

[In this grand ceremony, everyone will bend down to you, bow their heads to you, and kneel before you to show their loyalty, but they will also be watching your every move, waiting for your weakness, waiting for you to reveal a flaw, and then rush up like a hyena to devour you.]

[So Qingyan, you must be cold and ruthless in front of them, and be flawless in front of them. Replace me and ascend to the throne as the emperor under the attention of all of them!]

The corridor is over.

The strong wind outside brought with it a moisture that was eye-catching. Li Qingyan held down the hilt of the sword at his waist, and the imperial guards on both sides of the corridor knelt down in salute.

In the 48th year of Jiajing,

The first rays of dawn on February 13th fell,
The soft light reflected on her flawless face.
It is also reflected in the magnificent Meridian Gate Tower.

"."

"."

"."

"."

"."

Silence.

The Meridian Gate Square, where thousands of dignitaries from the Great Yan Dynasty gathered, fell into endless silence.

At this moment when everyone was preparing to kneel down and welcome the new emperor of Dayan, the empress did not go up to the city wall.

time flies,
The light of dawn shone on the snow-covered Di'an, gradually awakening the city from its slumber. The clamor of the people gradually reached the Meridian Gate, but the empress still did not ascend the tower to announce the birth of the new emperor.

Panic and uneasiness gradually spread among the crowd, but before the discussion spread, a rustling sound at the front of the ministers first broke the tranquility in front of the Meridian Gate.

That's someone laughing.

"Hahahaha"

Xu Yuan lowered his head, his body trembling slightly uncontrollably because of the laughter. He wanted to control his emotions, after all, that was his identity.

But when all doubts were resolved, the sincere emotions in his heart made it difficult for him to restrain himself. His laughter gradually became louder, more excited, more rampant, and more free and unrestrained:

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”

The sound of laughter rising to the sky continued to echo.

Xu Yuan casually threw away the paper that Wu Chenghou had handed over before dawn, saying it was written by the empress herself, because he knew what was written on it without having to look at it again.

When the laughter in front of the Meridian Gate fades away,

When the Armored Empress arrives at the Tianhe River,

Winter is over,

The spring breeze blows from south to north.

I brushed past the Hongnong map with the hidden soldiers' secret area marked on it under the paperweight.
And brushed past the love letter written by the emperor himself,

Blow it up to the sky, letting the sharp handwriting shine brightly in the dawn.

[Idiot, I am Li Qingyan]

(End of this chapter)