Ne vous appuyez pas contre la rambarde ouest pour profiter pleinement de l'automne clair - Chapitre 115
With tears welling up in his eyes, Dongfang Yao's voice became bittersweet: "Wife..."
"Seeing is not necessarily believing, nor is hearing necessarily believing. The judgment of truth and falsehood is not made by the five senses, but by the heart. Dongfang Yao, this is a piece of wisdom I want to tell you. Since the conversation has already begun, I don't want to hold back anymore. Let's just lay everything bare and settle things once and for all..." A faint smile played on his lips, his expression icy and aloof: "Do you know about the Soul-Binding Vessel?"
Dongfang Yao's expression changed drastically: "The Soul-Binding Gu!" He hurriedly grabbed Rong Yue's palm and looked at the red dot on her palm. He gasped in shock and horror.
"The Heavenly Spirit and Earthly Gate lock away the soul of the monkey, and the soul of the monkey emerges from the ripples of all things. The three souls give rise to the seven spirits, so do not say that the soul returns to an unknown place... The Monkey Soul Gu is a strange Gu that captures the soul. Once afflicted by the Gu, one is no longer in control of one's own body..."
“Moon, I remember the Gu you were given was a mother Gu!” Liu Zhiyi retorted.
"Mother Gu? Ha, it is Mother Gu, but you don't know that your sister also has a Gu King!" Rongyue smiled lightly, but her eyes were filled with bitterness.
"The Gu King?!" Liu Zhiyi exclaimed in shock, "She actually has a Gu King?! Then where is that Gu King now?"
"I naturally followed her to where she was supposed to go." After pulling her hand out of Dongfang Yao's palm, Rongyue turned around and was about to leave when a thud echoed behind her, so dull and abrupt in the desolate hall that she had to stop in her tracks again.
"Yao'er, what are you doing? Get up!" Behind him, Liu Zhiyi tried to help Dongfang Yao up with both hands, but he just wouldn't budge.
With her face slightly turned, Rongyue's eyes flickered, glancing at Dongfang Yao on the ground out of the corner of her eye: "Why are you doing this? Dongfang Yao, you don't need to do this, because you don't owe me anything. After all, there's no right or wrong in matters of the heart. Fate brings us together as a bond, and fate brings us together as enlightenment. We've parted ways, and it's time to call it even."
"Wife..." It felt as if a sharp blade was cruelly slicing through his throat, each word uttered with immense difficulty, the tearing pain like a thousand arrows piercing his heart: "I know I'm no longer worthy to call you that, but I still hope to call you that a few more times in front of you..."
Her hands gripped the cracks in the dark gray floorboards with a fierce and ruthless force, as if venting her frustration. Her rounded fingernails, unable to withstand the torture, snapped cleanly in the cracks. But Dongfang Yao seemed oblivious, her grip only increasing, digging relentlessly into the floor as if it weren't her own fingers being tortured…
"Wife, I don't want to say anything else. I know that in the end, I've let you down in this life..."
"I have hurt you so deeply that even a lifetime's worth of effort could not repay the debt..."
"Who can I blame for getting to where I am today? Who can I blame..."
"Wife, can I... hug you one more time..."
"Just for a moment..."
"This is the last time... I'm begging you, my wife..."
"Please, my wife..."
Her pink lips were tightly pressed together, her eyes were closed, and a corner of her sleeve was almost torn by her fingertips. Her legs felt like lead; each lift and lowering seemed to drain all her strength. Yet, without hesitation, she resolutely started to leave, the air billowing her robes, leaving Dongfang Yao with only a resolute and cruel silhouette. Her white figure gradually disappeared from sight, becoming a faint shadow in the distance, faint yet profoundly deep…
Slumped helplessly on the cold stone floor, Dongfang Yao stared blankly at the palace gate like a clay sculpture, his empty eyes filled with an indelible sorrow...
"She's really grown wings and can fly now! This is supposed to be a general, yet she's so arrogant and conceited, looking down on everyone and putting on airs like she owns the place! What would happen if she became the Emperor? Wouldn't she turn the world upside down! Yao'er, don't be angry, your uncle will go and give her a good scolding and make her come to apologize to you in person... Hey? Yao'er, where are you going?"
Shaking as he stood up, Dongfang Yao, his face blank, stumbled toward the palace gate.
Liu Zhiyi was shocked and vaguely sensed that something was wrong. She quickly stepped forward to block his way: "Yao'er, where are you going?"
"Get out of the way." A voice devoid of any warmth was coldly uttered from those bloodless lips.
His sharp, aged eyes swept across Dongfang Yao's expressionless face: "Yao'er, tell your uncle, what are you going to do?"
"What are you doing? What are you doing? Hahaha--" To Liu Zhiyi's astonishment, Dongfang Yao suddenly threw his head back and laughed loudly. His mournful and desolate laughter startled the crows on the eaves, causing them to scatter and fly away: "What else could I be doing! Naturally, I'm going to atone for my sins, to atone for the evil you have committed!"
"Yao'er, don't do anything foolish!"
“Foolish things? Ha, Uncle, the foolish things you talk about are the most worthwhile things I’ve ever done in my life; while the important things you see are the truly foolish things in my eyes.”
"Yao'er, what nonsense are you spouting! What sins? This isn't sin; it's all part of the necessary path to restoring our kingdom! What have we done wrong? These Eastern traitors slaughtered our people and destroyed our nation. As descendants of the Huye Kingdom, are we just going to stand by and watch them revel in their triumphs without doing anything? Yao'er, you see our Huye Kingdom's great cause nearing completion, victory in sight. How can you act petty and abandon this great cause in a fit of pique? Once this great cause is accomplished, you can ascend the throne as the Holy Emperor, and Yue'er as the Virtuous Empress. You two will be revered by all, receiving the worship of the world, ruling the land, and overlooking this beautiful land side by side. What's wrong with that? Yao'er, what are you so worried about?"
The smile on his lips was so helpless, so bitter: "That day will never come..."
"How could it not be! Now that Yue'er has conquered Louxi, Louxi is our Huye's territory! Although her temper is truly infuriating, her abilities are so impressive that I, as her father, have no complaints! Therefore, I believe that with Yue'er's abilities, by reforming the bureaucracy and strengthening the military, we will soon be able to march east..."
"I will not let this happen! Uncle, give up. As long as I have a breath left, I will not let my brother and his wife turn against each other!"
"Yao'er! Don't forget your roots!"
"I, Dongfang Yao, was born in the Dongfang Dynasty, grew up in the Dongfang Dynasty, am a person of the Dongfang Dynasty in life, and will die a ghost of the Dongfang Dynasty!"
Liu Zhiyi was horrified: "Yao'er, don't be foolish! Once Dongfang Lie finds out about your background, he will definitely not forgive you!"
"At that time, if my brother blames me, I will have nothing to say. I will accept whatever punishment you give me. After all, it is your sins that have caused my brother to suffer like this!" He turned his head and looked coldly at Liu Zhiyi: "If I am not mistaken, the fact that my brother has no children is also your doing!"
Liu Zhiyi scoffed: "Does he expect the Dongfang scoundrel's family to continue their lineage?"
He sighed and shook his head, looking at Liu Zhiyi with pity: "For the sake of restoring the country, you have utterly lost your conscience and become completely devoid of humanity. You can say that you are a slave, a slave under the shadow of restoring the country, being whipped and driven. Besides restoring the country, you truly have nothing left..."
"Shut up! Yao'er, have you gone mad again?" Liu Zhiyi shouted angrily, his face dark.
Ignoring the enraged Liu Zhiyi, he strode out, his tall figure stretched long by the gaze that pierced through him: "Stop, Uncle. My wife won't listen to you, and I will dedicate the rest of my life to maintaining peace between our two nations and atone for your sins..."
The sound gradually faded into the distant horizon.
Still seething with anger, Liu Zhiyi stomped his feet a few times and spat, "You worthless piece of trash! Go away, go away! If you don't listen to me, one day you'll be crying and regretting it!"
As if casually fiddling with the four-leaf clover in the pot in the hall, Tuoba Chen glanced out of the corner of his eye at Rong Yue, who was curled up on the couch with her eyes closed, and asked, "I heard that Liu, the Imperial Censor, has come?"
"Hmm." Without raising her eyebrows, Rongyue responded casually.
"I heard... that young prince has left too?"
"Um."
"Didn't you have anyone stop it?"
"Um."
"He just left like that?"