The Yan family has been loyal and righteous for generations, and their ancestral graves cannot bury Yan Qing, a descendant who disrespects the emperor and confuses the royal bloodline.
Even though Grand Tutor Yan and Madam Yan were heartbroken by their daughter's death, Yan Qing was not even qualified to be buried in the ancestral tomb.
Following their grandfather's orders, Yan Ruqing and Yan Ruyu buried their aunt in Wenshan, a place three miles away from the ancestral graves.
Wenshan boasts beautiful scenery, with birds singing and flowers blooming, making it an excellent burial ground.
When a person dies, all grudges disappear.
After the Yan family left, Yan Xiu led her daughter to this place.
Yan Qing was buried with Gu Chenzi.
Because she held Gu Chenzi's remains in her arms until her death.
Ji Ying hated the two men deeply, but it was Grand Tutor Yan who came to plead for her that night, saying he didn't want his daughter to "leave alone," and managed to persuade the emperor to turn a blind eye and allow the matter to proceed.
Logically speaking, given Ji Ying's personality, it would be merciful of her not to demolish Yan Qing's grave. Therefore, no emperor was seen at Wenshan; only the Empress and the Princess Zhenguo arrived.
A mountain breeze was blowing.
"It's better that you're dead. May you be a good person in your next life, cherish what you have, and stop coveting what doesn't belong to you." Yan Xiu was able to stand here and say these words with deep emotion, based on the fact that her daughter had returned to her side.
She had a compassionate heart, but all her compassion combined could only support her standing in front of Yan Qing's grave and uttering these one words.
The Empress, unwilling to see her beloved younger sister, who had been a source of annoyance for half her life and was now buried in the dust, turned around and looked at Yuzhi, who was squatting under the peach tree not far away.
Yuzhi squatted on the ground counting ants—rows of ants were busy moving house.
Even ants cling to life; who would want to die if they could live?
No one has the right to take another person's life, not even in the name of "mother".
The tombstone is silent, yet the past eighteen years surge forth in silence, each wave adorning the "gentleness" that Yan Qing once displayed.
She's not entirely without merit.
Before she 'went mad' and fell into the trap of 'A-Si', Yan Qing had good times; she had normal times.
A sense of vicissitude crept into Ji Pingxi's brows. She held a wine jug in her right hand. Fortunately, her mother turned her back to her and did not look at her. Ji Pingxi made no attempt to hide her tears.
Hearing the faint sounds of breathing in the air, Yan Xiu lifted her leg and took a step. She finally understood why Zhizhi and Xixi, who were inseparable, did not want to appear at this moment. It was heartbreaking to see her daughter/wife say goodbye to someone who had hurt her deeply, and that person had been scheming and rightfully acting as her 'mother' for eighteen years.
Yan Xiu left, and this place completely became Ji Pingxi's.
She sniffed shyly, looked at the silent tombstone, and sighed softly: "Actually, I'm not crying for you, but for the hardships I've endured in my two lifetimes."
“You’re not entirely without good qualities. When you’re kind to me, you’re genuinely good, and you seem like a gentle and kind mother.”
"Do you remember? When I was eight, my older brother pushed me into the lotus pond in a fit of anger. It was Li Le who risked her life to pull me out. Li Le is your person. Remembering the life-saving grace she received back then, even though the Wei family has fallen, she is still alive and well."
"I know you're angry that you treat me differently, I know you're doing it on purpose. From childhood to adulthood, I know better than anyone that your kindness towards me is for ulterior motives."
"You treat me well so that I will be isolated and helpless in the Wei family."
The wine seal was broken, and Ji Pingxi poured himself a bowl of wine: "So what? I would never like them even if I were to live another life, so I would rather get close to you, depend on you, and then break away from you."
As the wine went down her throat, the fifty-year-old peach blossom wine was mellow and delicious. She laughed and said, "I just never thought my life would end like this. You are too cruel. It makes me look so pathetic."
The wind rustled the hem of her clothes and the strands of hair by her ear. Ji Pingxi tilted her head back and finished drinking the contents of her bowl, water dripping down her chin and soaking her clothes. "I'm leaving now. I'll come to see you again next year during Qingming Festival."
She took a step, then suddenly turned and stared at the vast emptiness: "Tell me, since you've lied to me for two lifetimes, why not lie to me all the way through? I wish you'd see clearly what love is and who you truly love in your next life. When a person dies, they're truly dead. Not everyone has the good fortune that Zhizhi and I had..."
She shook her head, carrying the wine jar as she walked in the slightly dry spring breeze. When she looked up and saw Yan Xiu, she called out sweetly, "Mother!"
Yan Xiu was initially jealous that her aunt, who had caused so much harm, still cared about her now that she had her own mother. But when her sweet little girl called her "Mother" in a clear and sweet voice, her heart was suddenly filled with tenderness.
"Have you finished speaking?"
"That's all."
Ji Pingxi hugged his mother's slender waist and buried his head in her arms: "The happiest things in my life are, firstly, having a real home, and secondly, having a group of truly lovable relatives and friends..."
Yu Zhi appeared behind her at some point, cleared her throat, and said aggrievedly, "Anything else?"
Yan Xiu pointed a finger at her daughter's brow, and Ji Pingxi released her, turning back to look at the beautiful woman with a droopy face who was arguing with her: "And my favorite Zhizhi."
My absolute favorite.
Yu Zhi's face flushed red, and when she met her mother's teasing gaze, she immediately covered her face and ran away.
"Aren't you going to chase after them?" the Empress urged.
Ji Pingxi arched her eyebrows, still having the leisure to tease her mother: "Mother, you said she's been training her skin for years, how come it's still so thin?"
Ji Ying wasn't here, and Yan Xiu was too lazy to watch her daughter's public display of affection. She said in a cold voice, "If you don't chase after her now, be careful that Zhizhi will call you to sleep in the study tonight."
"..."
A gust of wind swept by, and when she looked again, her daughter was nowhere to be seen.
She shook her head and smiled, then left Wenshan without looking back, surrounded by palace servants.
...
On June 6th, Ji Ying passed the throne to the Crown Prince, and the transfer of power proceeded exceptionally smoothly.
In the first year of Zhaoyuan, the retired emperor and the empress dowager went on a long trip. The two had just left the city gate when the Princess Zhenguo and her consort followed. When the Grand Princess Yunzhang finally learned of this, she was furious and immediately sent people to pack their belongings and take her beloved wife out of the city.
The family wandered the world, and Ji Qingyou gained the world, but he was all alone, like an abandoned dog.
That's right, even when the imperial sister and her sister-in-law 'eloped,' they remembered to bring two dogs with them.
The absurd thought that "I am not even as good as a dog" popped into Ji Qingyou's head, and she covered her cheek, her tooth aching.
Fortunately, he still had the Empress.
Fortunately, the empress gave birth to a beautiful and lovely little princess for him.
Fortunately, his parents were still there in the Golden Palace.
In the Imperial Study, the Emperor, who had officially ruled the empire for half a year, held a cup of fragrant tea, a hint of weariness hidden in his brows: "Where have they all gone? Who did they meet? What interesting things happened? Did anyone dare to offend them?"
The head eunuch obediently handed over a booklet.
The booklet was opened, and all the matters the emperor had inquired about, big and small, were presented before him.
The more Ji Qingyou looked at it, the more she wanted to cry.
But now, bound by the shackles of his imperial status, he couldn't cry even if he wanted to. Pretending to have been scalded by the tea, he sobbed twice, "They live such a comfortable life..."
The chief eunuch dared not raise his head, lest he witness His Majesty's tearful appearance.
Ji Qingyou's eyes reddened, and her gaze stopped on a certain spot, where she saw a description written in black and white on white paper: "The Princess Consort got separated from the Princess halfway and encountered thieves on the road. They used their power to kill people with their death-exemption tokens."
Recalling her sister-in-law's frail and delicate appearance, and then the scene of her killing with her power, Ji Qingyou rubbed the goosebumps on her arms and said softly, "Has my sister-in-law become more capable?"
He flipped through a few pages of the booklet and saw the words "The Emperor Emeritus and Empress Dowager toured the entire Hibiscus City in one day." He was so excited he could hardly contain his envy—Hibiscus City, the most fun place in the Great Yan Dynasty!
Suppressing her envy, Ji Qingyou stubbornly turned to another page: How come everyone else is doing better than me?! Ugh, how infuriating!
A moment later, he slumped onto the throne, deeply shaken.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty?"
"I am fine."
Ji Qingyou wiped his eyes and said, "I just miss them too much."
...
"What do you think about sending a painting to Qingyou?"
Liu Boyan was immersed in a sea of cats, petting them with great pleasure: "You said you'd send a painting to His Majesty? Okay, will you paint it or should I?"
Grand Princess Yunzhang, holding a chubby orange and white cat, asked, "Shall we draw together?"
...
Coincidentally.
Yan Xiu and Ji Ying were also painting.
However, the painting wasn't of cats, but of a magnificent landscape painting, in which the figures of the two of them were hidden, possessing an indescribable ethereal charm.
...
Ji Pingxi got separated from Yu Zhi halfway through the journey. When she finally found her, she lost her temper for the first time in many years, which frightened all the officials in the city so much that they dared not breathe.
After recovering from the shock, seeing that the thief had been executed, and that her daughter Zhizhi didn't seem frightened, the two of them decided to send a painting to Ji Qingyou, who was far away in the capital.
...
It's true what they say, "Birds of a feather flock together."
Ji Qing glaze continued for three consecutive days, producing one painting each day.
The first thing he received was a painting of a hundred cats from his imperial aunts, which made him dream of a group of cats of different colors all night long.
Unfortunately, when I woke up, I couldn't see a single cat hair, let alone a cat!
He was depressed for half a day.
The next day, he received a painting titled "The Flourishing Landscape" from his father and mother. In the letter, his father encouraged him for doing well, and his mother advised him to take the opportunity to go out and explore, so as not to let himself get too cooped up.
Looking at the two figures in the landscape painting, his eyes welled up with tears.
The next day, just as the sun was setting, he received a gift from his elder sister... um... "Records of Your Sister-in-Law's Glorious Moments"?
Ji Qingyou looked at the huge and long scroll with a face full of question marks. It was full of stories about "the Empress Dowager killing a chicken with a knife" or "the Empress Dowager taking advantage of the situation to kill someone". Half of the letters were greetings to him, and the majority were someone showing off his wife.
Ji Pingxi excitedly shared with him "the things your sister-in-law has accomplished."
After watching it, the young emperor kept thinking about whether he had done anything to wrong his sister—they were thousands of miles away from him, why did they still torment him?
He blinked, blinking away the glistening tears at the corners of his eyes.
When he was young, he thought that his elder sister's feelings for his sister-in-law were just a passing fancy. He never expected that his elder sister, who was known for her flirtatious ways, would actually intend to love his sister-in-law for a lifetime.
He wiped away his tears and leaned back in his chair: It's fine.
Winter arrived in the blink of an eye, and heavy snow fell on Chengdu.
Ji Pingxi, dressed in a fluffy outfit, stepped onto the thick snow: "Zhizhi!"
At a shout, Yu Zhi turned around.
Snap!