He only wanted His Majesty to give him some of the love he had for Lu Pianpian, even just a little bit, and he would be satisfied.
However, he was so stingy that he wouldn't give him even a penny.
The wind and rain howled all night over the palace. The young prime minister, who was showered with honors and envied by others, was also tortured to death by the new emperor that same night.
Huan Changming still managed to bring bloodshed to Pianpian and his own wedding hall.
He placed Lu Pianpian's empty coffin in his imperial mausoleum a hundred years after his death. The emperor and empress were deeply in love during their lives, and they should be buried together in the same grave after death.
Huan Changming held a carving knife and carefully carved characters on the memorial tablet.
The carving knife was sharp and incisive. It was his first time carving, and he was not skilled enough. He ruined many pieces, and his ten fingers were already covered in cuts and bleeding profusely. But he didn't care at all. He took a new piece and wanted to carve the best one for him.
The destroyed memorial tablets lay scattered at his feet, the dim candlelight in the imperial mausoleum casting clear images of the bloodstained words: "My beloved wife, Lu Shaoyan."
He prefers to be called Lu Shaoyan, and doesn't like to be called Pianpian.
Huan Changming remembered all of these things for him.
"Senior Brother Pianpian, I killed the person who instigated us. Can you forgive me now?"
Huan Changming asked questions as he carved, but the person he wanted to hear from could no longer answer him.
He paused for a moment, then continued, "Are you truly utterly disappointed in me, and hate me to the core?"
"I don't believe it. I don't believe anything unless you say it yourself." Tears streamed from his bloodshot eyes, tracing the ugly scars on Huan Changming's cheeks.
He didn't apply any medicine, letting the wound be soaked with tears. This almost self-harming pain seemed to be able to smooth over the pain in his heart.
"Pianpian, Senior Brother..." Huan Changming's vision blurred, and the carving knife in his hand lost its strength, slicing his wrist open. Blood gushed out, but he made no attempt to stop the bleeding, continuing to carve. "We are already married, and I will treat you very well from now on..."
I will never make you angry again, and I will never make you sad again.
Could you please turn around and look at me again?
But the person he wanted could never look back at him.
The ethereal immortal lord in white robes turned to ashes and departed from him forever.
He seemed to have truly understood this point. The carving knife slipped from his hand, and he frowned as he swept his gaze over the memorial tablets on the ground. Suddenly, he frantically picked them up and broke them all in half.
"I won't allow you to die! You're not allowed to leave me without my permission, Lu Pianpian, Lu Shaoyan!"
He completely lost his mind, overturned the empty coffin, and trampled it to pieces. "Did you hear me? Did you see me?... Don't you hate me to the core? Then just become a vengeful ghost and take my life, kill me to pay for your life!"
He wanted to trample all these things, he wanted to prevent Lu Pianpian from sleeping peacefully, and he wanted Lu Pianpian to become a wandering ghost and come to him to pay for her life.
"Come and kill me! Don't you hate me to death?!"
"Come and kill me, Lu Pianpian..."
Take his life in exchange for a chance to see him one last time.
He left the imperial tomb in ruins.
Huan Changming thought that Lu Pianpian truly loathed him to the extreme. Even when he threatened to kill himself and destroyed the place where he was buried, Lu Pianpian still refused to show up to see him.
He collapsed to his knees amidst the ruins, remaining silent for a long while before suddenly picking up the carving knife. "If you don't want to see me, then I'll come to see you..."
He gripped the carving knife and thrust it towards his chest, but Lu Pianpian's sword suddenly appeared at that moment, blocking his chest and knocking the carving knife away.
Huan Changming stared blankly at the sword before him, and in a daze, he seemed to see its master come to life, standing in front of him and taking all the damage for him.
The deep, bone-revealing wound on his wrist had stopped bleeding; it was the spiritual bone within him, silently healing his body.
Lu Pianpian died, but left his most important spiritual remains and sword to Huan Changming.
Even in such circumstances, he was still protecting him.
Huan Changming finally broke down and cried out. He gripped the cold sword and cried as if he had returned to his former self.
He will return to being the pitiful Ninth Prince, abandoned, hated, and rejected by the world in the cold palace.
His world collapsed; he lost everything because he lost his beloved butterfly.
The imperial tomb knows no day or night, but his heart had already fallen into hell with his butterfly.
"His Majesty."
Mu Lingzi suddenly appeared, but Huan Changming seemed not to hear her.
Mu Lingzi surveyed the mess and made up her mind. "Your Majesty, I have brought the Little Demon King."
The little demon king Langxu, carrying a jar of wine, strolled over leisurely and sighed, "The word 'love' truly has a devastating effect..."
He walked up to Huan Changming, bent down, and handed him the jar of wine. "A good drink can dispel a thousand sorrows. Would Your Majesty, would you like to try this wine?"
Huan Changming didn't even raise his eyes, sitting on the ground like a walking corpse, completely unresponsive.
Langxu smiled, tilted his head back and drank the wine in the jar in one gulp, then smashed the jar on the ground. "If I said I could grant you your wish, what would you do?"
Huan Changming's eyelashes trembled slightly before he reacted, "Just you?"
What can we offer to make him get what he wants?
"Me?" Langxu stared at Huan Changming with shining eyes. "You just want to see Lu Shaoyan one more time. Compared to what we're going to do together in the future, that's nothing but a trivial matter!"
His words were so casually spoken that they were hardly convincing.
But Huan Changming was tempted. "Fine, have him come out to see me now."
"Not now." Langxu paused. "It's not the right time yet..."
"Heh." Huan Changming suddenly swung his sword, the resulting gust of wind forcing Langxu and Mulingzi back simultaneously. "Get lost."
Langxu said, "Your Majesty, although you now possess spiritual bones, you do not know how to utilize them. The lifespan of mortals is only a few decades. If you cultivate them, living for thousands or even tens of thousands of years is not difficult. Don't you want to realize your grand ambitions and ensure the prosperity of the Li Kingdom for generations to come?"
Without him, every day that the butterfly lives in this world is torture.
Huan Changming remained unmoved, so Langxu continued, "Does Your Majesty the Prince of Li know that after death, a person is reincarnated and forgets everything that happened in this life? Do you intend to forget Lu Shaoyan completely after you die?"
Upon hearing this, Huan Changming finally looked up and faced Langxu directly.
Langxu extended his hand to him and smiled, "Your Majesty, I'll help you achieve your wish..."
A note from the author:
I've written 200,000 words already, and I forgot to add pinyin for you guys, my bad.
Huan;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 52
After a person dies, their soul returns to the underworld.
The long river meandered, and Lu Pianpian followed it downstream in a daze.
He didn't know how long he had walked, nor whether it was day or night. The river seemed endless. He was like a lost soul on the riverbank, tirelessly moving forward.
A red lantern was reflected on the river, illuminating the path beneath Lu Pianpian's feet.
He looked up and saw a tall, slender man standing not far away. The man wore a mask with blue faces and fangs and held a red paper lantern in his hand, as if he were pointing the way for him.
Lu Pianpian walked slowly over, and the man carrying a lantern bowed to her, saying, "Welcome back, Divine Child, after your tribulation, and may you once again ascend to your divine throne."
Lu Pianpian looked at him blankly, seemingly not understanding what he meant.
He knew this perfectly well. With a wave of his hand, a boat appeared on the river. He led Lu Pianpian onto the boat, saying, "The divine child has not yet regained his divine status, so he naturally does not remember the past."
The boat drifted leisurely downstream. Lu Pianpian gazed at her reflection in the river. The person in the reflection was dressed in white, covered in blood, and wounded all over. Her eyes were lifeless, just like the water at the bottom of the river, which was filled with turbidity.
"The Divine Child descended to the mortal realm because of the Fairy, but now it seems as if the Divine Child himself has experienced a tribulation." A red lantern flew from his hand and floated at the bow of the boat. He advised Lu Pianpian, "The tribulation has been experienced. The past is nothing but an old dream for the Divine Child. Once the Divine Child awakens from the dream, the entanglements and loves of this life will be completely forgotten..."
The boat suddenly stopped, and at the end of the river floated a huge water mirror, but the mirror was blurry and could not reflect anything clearly.
On one side of the water mirror stood a boy of seven or eight years old, with a dot of vermilion between his eyebrows and two small buns in his hair. His expression and appearance were extremely lively.
Upon seeing Lu Pianpian on the boat, he couldn't wait to fly over and throw himself into her arms, "Pianpian!"
Lu Pianpian looked at the boy in front of her and felt only unfamiliarity.
The boy, however, took his hand with practiced ease and wiped the tears from his face with his other little hand. "Pianpian... no! Divine Child, you've finally returned!"
"The Heavenly Book Child need not be too sad. The Divine Child will soon return to his divine position and remember everything." He reached out and brushed the water mirror, and the mirror surface instantly became bright and new.
He made way for Lu Pianpian, saying, "Divine Child, please."
The Heavenly Book released Lu Pianpian, who was drawn to the water mirror and slowly approached.
Suddenly, a red ribbon came from afar, wrapped around Lu Pianpian's body, and pulled her back tightly, preventing her from getting any closer to the water mirror.
"Your Highness, what's wrong?" Tian Shu asked anxiously.
The Underworld King glanced at the red silk, which emitted a chilling red light. "Someone is holding a ghost marriage with the Divine Child, trying to forcibly keep the Divine Child."
"It must be that wicked Huan Changming again!" Tian Shu angrily tried to untie the red silk binding Lu Pianpian's body, but the red silk seemed to be attached to Lu Pianpian's body, clinging to her tightly and refusing to let go. "He killed you and still wants to marry you. He's so evil!"
Even as an observer, Tian Shu could feel such indignation, yet Lu Pianpian, a player in the game, still had a lifeless expression in her eyes.
It seems that nothing can shake Huan Changming's position anymore, no matter what he has done.
The red silk that was tightly wrapped around Lu Pianpian suddenly broke in two, fell into the river, and quickly sank to the bottom and disappeared without a trace.
The Underworld King said, "The Divine Child has no worries in his heart. No matter how powerful external things in the mortal world are, they cannot shake the Divine Child."
He said that a wine cup suddenly appeared in his hand, and he bent down to scoop up a cup of river water and handed it to Lu Pianpian, "Does the divine child wish to drink this water and forget the past?"
The water in the glass was crystal clear. Lu Pianpian took it from his hand and drank it all in one gulp.
Without hesitation, he stepped into the water mirror.
A wisp of a ghost chased after him, but it was too late.
Tian Shu looked at the newcomer in surprise, "Junior Brother, what brings you here..."
Huan Juntian looked at the Heavenly Book with a puzzled expression. "You know me? My senior brother went in?"
Tian Shu nodded. "Yes, I just went in."
Huan Juntian lifted his foot and chased into the water mirror, disappearing from sight.
The Underworld Lord looked at his old friend, whom he did not recognize, and seemed to sense something. "The Heavenly Lord Juntian has become much more humane in this tribulation than before."