The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

"Zhizhi, you..."

Tang Xiye stopped writing with her vermilion brush, and a drop of full vermilion slowly gathered and fell from the tip of the brush.

A small patch of glaring red spread across the bright yellow scroll, just like his heart, which was suddenly clenching.

His Adam's apple bobbed slightly, his voice hoarse, carrying a cautious, tentative tone, as if afraid of shattering a dream:

"You...remembered things from the past?"

Tang Xixue looked into her brother's suddenly complex eyes, which were filled with shock, hope, disbelief, and a glimmer of light from the past years that her words had stirred up.

Her nose suddenly stung, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.

It was so difficult to struggle and climb back from that dark abyss where the soul was possessed and consciousness was lost.

Countless times I was on the verge of complete disappearance, and countless times I grasped at that faint starlight of self in the void.

That loneliness, despair, and defiance almost broke through the calm she was trying to maintain in front of her closest brother.

She blinked hard, forcing back some of the surging tears, and looked at her brother, the emperor who ruled over a vast land, yet was clearly flustered by her words. She nodded gently.

"Brother, I'm back."

Her voice was choked with emotion, but she forced a smile through her tears.

She's back.

Reclaim this body from that altered fate and take control of your own life.

At that moment, Tang Xiye felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, then suddenly released. A surge of hot, aching fluid rushed to his eyes, blurring his vision for a moment.

He suddenly stood up, oblivious to the fact that the large black sleeves of his robe had flipped over the memorials on the corner of his desk.

"Zhizhi..."

He called her by her nickname, his voice hoarse, and his outstretched fingertips trembled slightly uncontrollably.

He wanted to touch her head, like when they were children, but he was also afraid that this was just a dream that was too realistic and would shatter at the slightest touch.

He looked at the graceful young woman before him. Her eyes, which were like a galaxy, were red and tearful, but they still held the familiar clarity and brightness he knew so well.

In that gaze, there was still the same affection and dependence as before.

Not that strange soul filled with greed and cowardice.

It was his woven fabric.

His lost and found kimono.

Welcome back.

Tang Xiye finally regained his voice, and he spoke those four words with great emphasis, as if he had exhausted all his strength at that moment.

He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the lump in his throat and the moisture in his eyes, and strode around the imperial desk. He reached out his hand, no longer with the majesty of an emperor, but with the embrace of an elder brother, and firmly pulled Tang Xixue into his arms.

His eyes finally reddened.

"Your Majesty, don't overwork yourself. Have your meal first."

Tang Xixue's voice was soft and gentle.

She's always been like this, always clinging to Tang Xiye.

Their bond was so deep that it far surpassed that of ordinary siblings in the imperial family.

Even after Tang Xiye ascended the throne and other princes and princesses either moved out of the palace or went to their fiefdoms, she, who had already reached marriageable age, still lived in the Changsheng Hall in the palace because of his special permission and reluctance to part with her.

"In a little while, I'll go and gather some freshly fallen plum blossom snow from under the eaves to brew a cup of tea for my brother. I'll also make a dish of Jade Dew. Is that alright?"

Dewdrops condense.

When these three words reached Tang Xiye's ears, a look of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.

That was when Tang Xixue was young. Whenever he wrote policy essays late into the night, she would quietly bring it to him and place it under the lamp on his desk as a unique token of her affection.

I don't know how many years it has been.

He never tasted it again, and no one else could replicate that unique flavor that belonged to Zhizhi.

He looked at her intently, his gaze churning with a complex mix of emotions, which ultimately culminated in a low, somber voice:

"it is good."

After the simple meal was served, the palace servants quietly removed the bowls and plates.

Tang Xixue got up and left. Not long after, she returned with a set of elegant celadon teaware. The tea was fragrant and refreshing, mixed with the cool scent of plum blossoms.

Then, she took out a beautiful and exquisite food box.

Inside the box, several pieces of crystal pastry lay quietly.

The cherry blossom-colored, flower-shaped cake, like warm jade moistened by dew, presents a translucent, pinkish-green texture, truly like solidified celestial dew.

Above, a few pure white plum petals are scattered, like plum blossoms floating on the water, extremely elegant.

Tang Xiye's gaze lingered on it for a long time.

Tang Xixue gently pushed the food box to his side and whispered, "Your Majesty, please try it."

He picked up a piece and put it in his mouth.

The soft, chewy cake melts on the tongue, releasing a delicate fragrance that follows, followed by the sweet and refreshing taste of peach blossom honey jelly with its floral aroma.

The familiar taste, without the slightest difference, broke through the barrier of five years, surging and sweeping over his taste buds and memories.

It is neither a meticulously crafted imitation by the imperial kitchen nor a work of art that any outsider could achieve.

It's the Jade Dew Gel made by Zhizhi.

unique.

Tangxi Ye chewed slowly and swallowed.

He closed his eyes, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly, as if savoring the moment, or perhaps trying to calm the raging storm that had suddenly surged within him.

When he opened his eyes again, the last trace of hesitation and uncertainty in his eyes finally disappeared completely.

It was replaced by a warmth that was almost lost and then regained.

He gazed at her tenderly, his voice husky, though he tried hard to suppress it, it still betrayed his true feelings:

"My Zhizhi has truly returned."

Tangxi Ye is an emperor, the most perceptive and also the loneliest monarch in the Nine Provinces.

Over the years, with his keen insight into people's hearts and his wisdom in understanding the world, how could he not see through the truth?

But he didn't even dare to expose it.

He knows.

He always knew that.

For the past five years, the Princess Mirror who walked within the palace walls, bearing a face identical to Zhizhi's, was not her.

Beneath that physical body, a completely different soul had already taken its place.

This is the deepest despair.

He once risked half of his country to forcefully reclaim her life from the King of Hell.

The treasures he hid in the palace named "Eternal Life," which he wished he could nourish and protect with the finest nectar, the stars, the sun, and the moon...

It all started five years ago when she slowly opened her unfamiliar eyes on her sickbed, looked at him with fear and panic, and softly asked, "Who are you?"

All his attempts to protect others are self-deception; all his hopes are like trying to catch the moon's reflection in the water.

He knelt until the golden bricks before the Buddha were worn through for a fleeting illusion; he exhausted the emperor's heart and soul for a mere delusion.

He almost thought that his Zhizhi had been completely taken away by that capricious fate and would never come back.

Therefore, he wanted to reclaim all hopeless protection and force himself to see the emptiness and absurdity beneath that skin.

however--

Just when he had almost lost all hope after five years of this agonizing torture, and was preparing to put an end to this grand dream himself.

The surprise, however, shattered the icy barrier in his heart in the most unexpected way.

She's back.

She stood there, her eyes like a clear, starry river.

Then, he said softly to him:

"Brother, I'm back."

At that moment, Tang Xiye almost burst into tears.

After a silent avalanche and tsunami that lasted for five years, he finally got what he had been waiting for.

His moon, indeed, struggled back into his night sky from the long, endless night.