You take on two husbands, I'll turn around and marry the tyrant and rule the world.

The tall, slender white figure walked all the way to the small pavilion in the center of Plum Grove and stopped.

Chu Nianci rubbed her eyes... The person standing in the pavilion was tall and slender, with a face like an immortal, and his clothes fluttered in the wind, silent yet magnificent. Who else could it be but Duanmu Qingyu?

Who else could it be but Duanmu Qingyu?

Why would he come here alone on such a snowy night?

Moreover, he didn't even bring a single eunuch with him.

The wind caused his wide cloak to billow slightly.

He walked to the eaves, where the plum blossoms by the pavilion were in full bloom. A gust of wind blew them, and the petals mixed with snowflakes danced in the air, creating a poignant and resolute beauty.

Duanmu Qingyu, however, seemed completely unaware.

The wind grew stronger, whipping his long hair and clothes wildly through the air, as if they were about to be blown away at any moment.

Chu Nianci hid behind a tree and watched, the figure swaying and disappearing in the night.

She suddenly remembered a folk tale about immortals standing on high places facing the wind and riding away on it. At that moment, she actually began to believe those legends about immortals.

Just looking at him standing on high, there was an indescribable desolation and loneliness about him.

He stood quietly for a moment before the steps, under an old plum tree, looking up at the deep night in the distance.

He then took out an incense stick and a tinderbox from his sleeve.

With a soft "snap," the incense was lit.

He held the incense stick to his forehead and knelt down properly.

"Father, elder brother, mother..." His voice was low and broken by the wind, "Your unfilial son is late tonight."

Chu Nianci held her breath.

"Father and Mother have long since ascended to the celestial realm. Have you seen your elder brother? ... As long as he is in the palace, no matter how late he is reviewing memorials, he will always come to see me."

He paused, the wind whistling past. "Now, he's gone to join you. Are you both happy over there?"

Chu Nianci felt that there was a tremor in his voice when he said the last few words.

She looked closely by the light of the snow, but couldn't see if there were tears on his face.

Perhaps she misheard.

Or perhaps the wind was just too strong, strong enough to instantly dry the tears in his eyes.

For some reason, Chu Nianci felt a slight pang of sadness... It turned out that he, like herself, had come to pay respects to his loved ones.

She remembered the old stories that Aunt Lan had told her.

Ten years ago, the barbarians swallowed up the thirteen prefectures of Yanyun and their army marched straight towards the capital. The late emperor led his troops to fight the barbarians at Yanmen Pass for three days and three nights. That battle was truly a bloodbath with corpses strewn all over the field and the situation was extremely critical. It seemed that the entire army was about to be wiped out when the former crown prince, Duanmu Xuanyu, arrived with his troops and managed to save the dynasty from collapse.

The two of them narrowly escaped death, but it was during that time that they developed chronic illnesses, which led to their gradual decline and deterioration.

The late empress was so frightened that she died of postpartum hemorrhage after giving birth to her infant son, Duanmu Qingyu, entrusting the baby to her eldest son.

Therefore, for Duanmu Qingyu, his elder brother was like a father.

The late Mu Xuanyu died young due to illness. The late emperor, seeing his wife and eldest son leave one after another, also passed away within half a year.

The vast land thus fell on the shoulders of Duanmu Qingyu, who was not yet fourteen years old at the time.

Conquering a country is difficult, but ruling it is even more difficult.

Which emperor throughout history was not a man of great talent and ambition, with a deep-rooted foundation?

In contrast, when he ascended the throne, he had no relatives or friends, a powerful empress dowager above him, and a regent minister eyeing his throne with covetous intent below him.

No matter how you look at it, there was no chance of winning, yet he managed to secure the throne three years later.

The figure in the wind remained kneeling upright.

The incense burned intermittently, reflecting off his handsome profile.

Chu Nianci suddenly realized... that she had stumbled upon a secret she shouldn't have seen.

An emperor's deepest loneliness and vulnerability are now exposed without any defense in the snowy plum grove.

The night was as still as iron, and there was no sound all around.

Duanmu Qingyu stood alone in the courtyard, his eyes dark and deep, with only a sharp glint in them, like a cold star piercing the pitch-black night. The wind tousled his black hair, making him look tyrannical, arrogant, and unruly.

At that moment, he was as fierce and tyrannical as a lion king.

Chu Nianci froze, but then he suddenly flipped his wrist, and his longsword was already out of its sheath.

"Even if all the stars are destroyed and the world is overturned, I will still make the country rich and powerful and recover the thirteen prefectures of Yan and Yun."

"If Heaven grants me five more years of life, I am willing to exchange four years for the well-being of my people, and with my crippled body fulfill my vow to build a strong nation, and avenge the blood feud of my father and brothers."

After saying that, he danced in the wind, his sword turning with his body, his clothes fluttering like a night hawk spreading its wings.

Pointing, stabbing, chopping, sweeping—each move carries a powerful gust of wind, the sword light weaving a dense net, yet abruptly ending at the highest point.

It condensed into a single, chilling glint.

The figure rose and fell clearly in the dim light, the sword energy cutting through the stagnant night with a rustling sound.

After dancing for a while, he sheathed his sword and stood still, his breath slightly short. He looked up at the empty night sky and coughed softly: "Father, brother... if you have a spirit in heaven, please grant me this wish. When we meet again in the afterlife, I will not have failed your trust."

It turned out that he had secretly practiced martial arts, preparing to enrich the country and strengthen its army, and to avenge the grudges of the past. However, his health was truly worrying. She should have retreated quietly immediately, but her feet seemed to be nailed to the ground. After a long while, she quietly retreated, and accidentally stepped on a dry branch.

A crisp "crack" sounded.

Duanmu Qingyu suddenly turned his head and stared straight at the direction where she was hiding.

The long sword pointed straight at him.

"Who's there?"

Seeing that he had noticed, Chu Nianci simply tiptoed out from behind the plum tree and gave a casual curtsy, saying, "Your Majesty, it's me. Why did you come here alone without anyone with you?"

Duanmu Qingyu was slightly taken aback when he saw that it was her, and then sheathed his sword.

Chu Nianci approached amidst the swirling snowflakes, following his gaze to the dark palace gates, feigning surprise at her arrival: "Is Your Majesty... paying respects to someone?"

The wind shattered her words.

Chu Nianci's heart was in her throat. Duanmu Qingyu saw the lingering incense in her hand and turned away.

Seeing that he did not pursue the matter.

She heard a thud, and her heart returned to its original place.

I just stood there quietly with him.

Just as Chu Nianci thought he didn't want to speak, his voice floated over softly: "Are you also paying respects to your ancestors?"

"Yes," Chu Nianci said softly, "I'll burn incense for Grandma and pray for the family."

She was still a little guilty.

I said I would burn incense, but I didn't dare say I would burn paper money.

Burning paper money was forbidden in the palace, but burning incense was not restricted. The Empress Dowager and the Empress both had Buddhist halls in their palaces and burned incense frequently.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Chu Nianci continued, "My grandma spoiled me rotten. I remember that year it was also the winter solstice, and it snowed heavily all day. I was young and didn't know any better, so I made a fuss about wanting to eat candied hawthorns. She personally walked several streets to buy them for me."

After a long while, Duanmu Qingyu said, "I have never met my mother, and my father is not often by my side. Only when my elder brother was alive would he bring me here to pay my respects every year."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Now, no one will hold a separate ceremony for them anymore; only I am here."

Chu Nianci detected a slight hoarseness in the last few words.

She turned her head to look at him. In the light of the snow, there were no tear stains on his face, only a sickly paleness. He coughed a few times as he spoke.

A pang of sadness gripped her heart as she recalled her past life, in which she too had experienced familial love and the sudden pain of losing it when she learned the truth about her mother's death.

Those insincere words of comfort were on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't utter a single one.

This excellent opportunity to get closer is right in front of us; we can't just let it slip away. We must find a way to seize it.

"Your Majesty," she blurted out almost without thinking, "the past is gone. If you do not despise my humble status, I will accompany you here to sweep snow and burn incense every year from now on."

"Do you know that you cannot lie before me?" Duanmu Qingyu's gaze pressed down heavily, without shifting in the slightest.

"Your Majesty," Chu Nianci met his gaze and blurted out, "I am not lying. As long as you don't mind, I will always stay with you."

"Your Majesty, I was just praying for you. May the sun be your morning and the moon your evening, and may we be together day and night."

The words were spoken in a single sentence.

All around was quiet, with only the faint sound of the wind rustling through the treetops.

As Chu Nianci finished speaking, her heart pounded.

I just felt that I had been too blunt and too cheesy.

But then I thought, why am I panicking? My answer was flawless; any concubine in the palace would have given the same answer.

A gust of wind swept by, and snowflakes and plum blossoms fluttered down, covering my body.

He suddenly turned his face to the side and coughed violently, his shoulders and back trembling slightly. Chu Nianci subconsciously reached out and supported his arm.

It took a while for the cough to gradually subside.

"Before me," he said, his breath still uneven but his voice cold and stern, "there are some things that should not be lightly promised."

Chu Nianci looked up and realized that his face was paler than usual.

Those eyes, which were usually like a tranquil and enchanting sea of ​​stars, were now frozen into solid ice, deep and hard, and incredibly sharp.

That gaze sent a shiver down her spine.

But then she thought again, she hadn't lied... Of course she cared about him, her future wealth, power and status depended entirely on him, didn't they?

He can give you everything you dream of.

"Your Majesty," she looked up, her eyes clear and resolute, and raised her hand to swear, "in my heart there is only you."

Duanmu Qingyu stared at her quietly for a moment before finally looking away.

Amidst the sound of wind and snow, his voice was deep and clear: "If you break your promise in the future, I will not let you off lightly."

These words were spoken.

Suddenly, he dodged, and the hilt of his sword was already thrust out.

Chu Nianci was startled and froze.

Just when he thought the sword was going to stab him, it instead struck the shadow of a plum tree beside him.

"Ah..." A eunuch collapsed to the ground.

Chu Nianci was stunned, then screamed, "Assassin, protect the emperor!"

After saying that, she jumped behind him and hugged his waist tightly.

"They're not assassins," Duanmu Qingyu said coldly. "They must have followed us here, attempting to spy on the Emperor. They deserve to die."

Chu Nianci then peeked out from behind him.

The sword struck the eunuch squarely in the heart, and he was dead.

Unexpectedly, there were other people in the plum grove.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind: this person was not spying on the emperor.

Or has it always been with me?

So what about paper money?

It wasn't given by Duanmu Qingyu, but rather... by Consort Shu or the Empress.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but break out in a sweat.

Whichever of these two people had not met Duan Benqingyu, their fate would have been predictable.

Duanmu Qingyu paused briefly, drew his sword and wiped it on the man's body. Before leaving, he had only taken two steps when the man's cough suddenly worsened, and he hunched over, almost unable to stand.

Chu Nianci hurriedly handed him the handkerchief, and when her fingertips touched his lips, they were surprisingly hot.

Looking up, I saw that his cheeks were flushed an abnormally, and his eyes were misty... He had a high fever!

Her heart sank.

If he really faints here, how can she and Tuanyuan possibly move him?

"Reunion!" she called out urgently, but there was no response. She called again, and the little girl finally emerged shakily from behind a plum tree. The two of them took his arms on either side and staggered forward in the snow.

Chu Nianci gritted her teeth, desperately chanting in her heart: Hold on, don't collapse...

The snow was slippery, making it difficult for the three to walk.

Just as I rounded the corner of the passageway, a sudden weight pressed down on my arm.

Duanmu Qingyu's body went limp, her eyes closed, and she had completely lost consciousness.

"His Majesty……"

Chu Nianci's voice caught in her throat as she looked at the person lying silently on the snow, her mind blank...