Empress Dowager Xiaoxuan

Chapter 60

A smile played on her lips as Xiao Xuan, an only child in the future world, reveled in the affection between her brothers and sisters. "If we sisters never married and grew old and died in our seclusion," she thought, "it would be quite an interesting thing, wouldn't it?"

She got up. After taking one last look at the old courtyard, Xiao Xuan got into the carriage and returned to the palace.

That evening, Xiaoxuan said to Han Derang, "Longyun, I want to go back to Nanjing for a visit."

"Oh, what brings you to Nanjing?" Han Derang, who had changed his name to Yelü Longyun, asked.

"I want to go and pay my respects to Brother Xiu," Xiao Xuan said with a sigh. "Suddenly, I miss them a lot."

He stepped forward, took Xiaoxuan's hand, and the two sat on the bed. "Your hands are so cold," Han Derang said, then warmed Xiaoxuan's hands in his own bosom. While warming Xiaoxuan's hands, Han Derang said, "I'll go to Nanjing first to prepare things for you, so you can stay comfortably when you arrive."

"No need. There's nothing to prepare," Xiaoxuan chuckled.

"Yes, I will. I'll go there ahead of time to tidy up your bedding and stuff. I don't trust the servants to do it."

Looking at Han Derang, Xiao Xuan's eyes were full of tenderness. She smiled and nodded. If she didn't let him go, he might get anxious, so she might as well let him go first.

The next day, Han Derang left the capital first, while Xiao Xuan went to Yelü Xian's tomb for another visit.

"Xian. I've come to see you." Xiao Xuan sat before Yelü Xian's tomb, dismissing everyone. She spoke to herself as she looked at the tomb: "The people's harvest this year is quite good. Hmm, by the way, Longqing went hunting the other day and actually caught a black bear. Are you happy to hear that?"

She paused, gazing at the cold tombstone, and rose to walk to it. Touching the stone, she said, "Xian, no matter what I've done, I want you to know that you've always been in my heart, that I've never forgotten you. So many years have passed, and our children have children of their own, their blood flowing in their veins. If, if we have a next life, if we meet again, and you still love me, then let me die before you." Looking up at the sky, she continued, "I finally understand the meaning of that saying: 'Not seeking to be born on the same day, but seeking to die on the same day.' Among lovers, the one who survives is the one who suffers the most. You're gone, but I still love you, I'm still enduring the pain in my heart. If we have a next life, let me die before you, so that at least I can enjoy your love until I die."

Not knowing what else to say, Xiao Xuan turned and left the tomb, returning to the carriage. The wheels rolled, and the carriage began to move. Gazing towards the tombstone, Xiao Xuan silently murmured: "Xian, I know you loved me, and I loved you just as you loved me. Even now, you are still in my heart. Every time I come to see you, I feel a pang of guilt. Please don't resent Han Derang; he did so much for your child, for the empire he left you. If you must resent, resent me. If there truly is reincarnation, if you forgive me, if you still love me, then let us meet again, and love each other once more, thousands of years from now."

Afterwards, Xiaoxuan embarked on her journey to Nanjing. As she traveled, and Nanjing seemed within reach, the weather suddenly changed drastically. Fearing a severe rainstorm and blizzard if she continued, she stopped at a temporary palace not far from Nanjing. It wasn't even late at night, yet the sky was already covered with dark clouds. Looking at the oppressive sky, Xiaoxuan frowned; the scene was strikingly similar to that day.

Could it be...?

Xiao Xuan shook her head, dismissing the absurd idea in her mind. Suddenly, a dazzling bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. Watching its graceful dance, Xiao Xuan felt as if she had seen a long-lost friend. Was she really going to have to go back?

After dismissing everyone around her, Xiao Xuan ran into the courtyard and looked up at the dark sky.

The dark clouds pressed down lower and lower, as if foreshadowing something for Xiaoxuan. Xiaoxuan turned back to look towards the direction of Shangjing, two streams of hot tears flowing down her cheeks. Longxu, Longqing, Longyu, Guanyin, Yanshou, Brother Zheng, my children and grandchildren, I am leaving. Our fate in this life is probably coming to an end.

Longxu, I hope that thousands of years from now, when people hear your name again, they will say that you were a wise ruler who looked back at Nanjing. Xiaoxuan felt a little sad.

Han Derang, I'm going back. Thank you for being there for me all these years since Xian left. Life is full of partings and reunions, and besides, I'm not someone who should stay here. After all these years, I know what true love is. In that future world where I still live, there are people waiting for me to return.

Here I am a mother, so I understand the feelings of a mother. I must go back; in the future, my mother is also waiting for me. And Ye Tong, Tian Ye, Kang Xuan, my friends and classmates, they are all waiting for me to return. I'm leaving.

God, how can I thank you enough? I want to thank you for bringing me here and giving me two perfect men. They taught me what love is and how to love. Yelü Xian and Han Derang, just as you love me, I love you both. I am so happy to have enjoyed your love during my time in Khitan. I am so content.

Xiao Chuo, this world began because of you and will end because of me. Thank you for letting me experience this period of love and hate, laughter and tears during this journey through time.

A thunderclap boomed in the sky, and Xiaoxuan felt as if her whole body was being torn apart. "Ah!" she cried out, and then everything went black. As if she were suffocating, she struggled to open her eyes and saw that she was floating in mid-air. On the ground beneath her feet, a white-haired woman lay dead.

I'm leaving, finally leaving, departing from this place. When I arrived that day, I so desperately wanted to go back immediately; now, as I leave, I so wish I could stay forever.

If it rains tonight, then those raindrops will be my tears, softly telling of my longing for you, of my love for you.

A powerful suction force swept towards Xiaoxuan, a feeling she had experienced decades ago, as if she had been sucked into a black hole, and she fainted again.

In Nanjing, Han Derang was carefully making the bed by hand. He spread thick quilts one by one on the bed where the Empress Dowager would sleep, so that she would feel very soft and comfortable.

"Your Highness, there are hurried footsteps outside your room. Your servants are running to your door, crying and wailing, 'We just received news that the Empress Dowager has passed away!'"

Han Derang stopped making the bed, stared fixedly at the door, and then asked in a trembling voice, "What did you say?"

"The Empress Dowager has passed away."

"How dare you talk nonsense!" Han Derang's face instantly turned red. He pulled his trembling hands back into his sleeves and shook his head repeatedly as he looked at the kneeling servants outside.

“The servants outside were all crying.”

Han Derang slumped onto the bed.

With trembling fingers outstretched, Han Derang gripped the blankets tightly. "Yan Yan, I'm waiting for you to come back."

Suddenly, rain began to fall outside, and tears streamed down Han Derang's face.

Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Your hands must still be cold. Wouldn't it be better if I warmed them for you before you left? Why don't you walk in front of me? Let me look into your eyes and stroke your hair before you go?

Yan Yan, do you still remember what happened when you were little? That year, I recited that ancient poem, and you asked me what "the peach blossom and the face" meant. I even specially picked a whole tree of peach blossoms for you.

This same gate, on this day last year

The peach blossoms and the maiden's face reflected each other's rosy hue.

The face has vanished, I know not where.

The peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze.

Empress of Khitan - Empress Dowager of Khitan Chapter 116 Peach Blossom

Updated: 2008-09-23 16:46:41 Word Count: 3308

During the reign of Emperor Yingli of the Liao Dynasty, in the Xiao family mansion in the capital city.

A young boy stood under a peach tree in the mansion, reciting poems.

"Last year on this day, in this very doorway, faces and peach blossoms reflected each other's rosy hue. But where have those faces gone? The peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze."

"What is a face as beautiful as a peach blossom?" A childish voice suddenly came from behind the boy.

The boy turned around and saw a stunningly beautiful girl standing behind him. Seeing her wide, staring eyes, the boy turned back and said, "Even if I told you, you wouldn't know."

"You don't know either, that's why you say that," the girl said coquettishly when the boy wouldn't tell her.

A flurry of footsteps approached, and two burly men emerged from the corridor.

"Very good, very good. Derang is a handsome and upright young man. He is destined for great things." The kind-faced man said.

“This little girl must be Yan Yan? She’s indeed beautiful and adorable,” another man said.

"Father, what is a face as beautiful as a peach blossom?" the girl asked the kind man as she ran up to him.

The old man smiled and said, "You are the Peach Blossom with a Human Face."

"Oh!" The girl turned to the boy and said, "I am the Peach Blossom with a Human Face."

The boy rolled his eyes at her, said nothing more, then looked at the middle-aged man and called out, "Father." He then called out to the kind-looking man, "Uncle Xiao."

The two men were Han Kuangsi and Xiao Siwen. Han Kuangsi nodded and laughed, "In a few years, when Yanyan grows up, you'll have to call your Uncle Xiao 'Dad.' Hahaha!"

"Hahaha."

The boy blushed and looked at the little girl. Could this girl be the one his father had mentioned, the one he was to marry?

"Lord Xiao, it's a rare treat that we've had such a pleasant time. Why don't we have a drink together?"

“Good! Good! That’s exactly what I was thinking too.” Xiao Siwen smiled, then looked at the little girl and said, “Yanyan, go play with Brother Han. He’s not an outsider. When you grow up, he will be your husband. Daddy will go have a drink with your Uncle Han.” After saying that, he and Han Kuangsi ignored the two children and left the courtyard, politely deferring to each other.

The boy stood under the peach tree, head bowed, silent. He didn't like the little girl very much. Although she was pretty, she was so young, unable to play with him, unable to read or write with him. Sigh!

"My dad wants you to play with me..." the little girl suddenly said.

The boy glared at the girl resentfully and said angrily, "Where do you want to go?"

"I want the peach blossoms from the tree."

The boy pondered for a moment, sighed, and broke off a peach blossom. He handed it to the little girl.

The little girl looked at the peach blossom in her hand, overjoyed. Suddenly, a rumble of thunder sounded overhead.

"I'm scared! I'm scared!" the little girl cried as she rushed towards him, clutching his clothes.

The boy's face flushed red, but he couldn't bear to push the girl away. So he half-embraced her, half-held her hand, and led her into a nearby room.

"Alright, let's go inside. You don't need to be scared anymore," the boy said.

The little girl raised her pale face and looked at the boy. Seeing that he was about to leave, she grabbed his sleeve and said, "My father said that you will be my husband in the future. You can't leave. I'm scared."

Frowning at the little girl who wouldn't let go and refused to leave him, the boy hatched a wicked plan.

Hi, what's your name?

"Yan Yan".

"My name is Han Derang. You've heard your father say that I'm your future husband, so you must listen to me. Understand?"

The little girl nodded and said, "I understand."

The boy said, "I'm hungry, and you must be hungry too. I'll go get some food. You wait for me here, and remember, don't wander off. Otherwise, I won't be able to find you when I come back."

Hearing this, the girl nodded vigorously, holding the peach blossom in her hand, sitting motionless in her chair. The boy found it amusing, ignored the girl, and ran out of the mansion to play. Thunder rumbled incessantly, and the rain poured down relentlessly. The boy, holding an umbrella, wandered from street to street, playing in all the nearby alleys before returning to the mansion. Remembering the girl, he put down his umbrella and walked towards the room where he had pulled her into when he left.

The little girl remained seated, motionless, but her small hands had already crushed all the peach blossoms on the peach branch in her hand, scattering petals everywhere. The area under her seat was covered with withered peach leaves.

"Hey, are you still sitting here?" The young man felt a little guilty and asked. He then saw the little girl with tears streaming down her face turn around and look at him, crying, "I don't want to marry you. I don't want you to be my husband. I don't want Han Derang."

Seeing her face streaked with tears, a pang of guilt welled up in his heart. Ignoring the heavy rain outside, he ran into the yard, picked all the peach blossoms that hadn't yet been knocked down by the rain, and ran back into the house to hand them to the girl.

"for you."

"I don't want your peach blossoms. I'll go find a better brother to pick them for me."

The boy's heart sank. He bit his lip tightly and looked at the girl. After a long while, he said, "I'll take you out to play."

The girl looked outside with tear-filled eyes and said, "You're lying again, I don't believe you."

He tossed aside the peach blossoms in his hand, grabbed the girl sitting on the chair, and led her towards the door. Grabbing an umbrella, he led her through the pouring rain onto the main street. They waded through the puddles, finally returning to the Xiao residence as darkness fell.

The next day, he was scolded by his father because the little girl had caught a cold and fallen ill. From that moment on, he remembered that girls' bodies are very fragile.

A few days later, the boy and his father left Shangjing and returned to Nanjing. As they were leaving the city gate, he kept looking back at the main street of Shangjing, but he couldn't see her. Perhaps she hadn't recovered from her illness.

Later, although we met again, the time always seemed so short.

Every time he saw her, he would try his best to impress her. At the racetrack and wrestling ring, wherever she was, he would go and participate, and he would win every time. He just wanted to win to show her, to make that beautiful woman happy.

He would also pick the most vibrant peach blossoms for her during the peach blossom season, hurriedly stuff them into her hand under the watchful eyes of everyone, and then quickly run away.

Watching her smile as she held the peach blossoms from afar, he felt both happy and content. "When you grow up, you will be my wife," he whispered to himself.

Another rumble of thunder sounded, and Han Derang, whose hair was already completely white, was sobbing uncontrollably. This wasn't the season for peach blossoms; where could I go to pick them for you? And when the peach blossoms bloom again, to whom would I give the ones I picked?