"Your servant obeys."

Lord Zhen Bei stood up and walked towards the carriage.

At this moment, his gaze inadvertently swept towards Ji Laoliu, who was kneeling on the side.

Ji Laoliu also seemed to sense something at this time and raised his head.

Then,

Ji Laoliu saw Lord Zhen Bei turn his gaze away again very naturally, a perfect shift of focus.

Heh,

Ji Laoliu lowered his head again.

He wasn't angry,

Because when the Emperor had the Crown Prince drive the carriage, the Jingnan Prince could say that the Pingxi Marquis was more suitable for driving;

But it was impossible for Lord Zhen Bei to walk over and add:

The Sixth Prince is better at driving than I am.

Reaching the carriage,

The Crown Prince stepped back two steps to greet Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan and the Crown Prince returned the greeting at the same time.

He didn't say much, because the Crown Prince was already very awkward.

Subsequently,

The Yan Emperor and the Jingnan Prince sat in the carriage.

Zheng Fan got into the carriage, picked up the reins, and began to drive.

Driving a carriage requires skill, but the horses that pull the Emperor's carriage are extremely well-trained and conditioned. A gentle tug on the reins is enough for them to start steadily and pull the carriage forward.

The carriage led the way, and the kneeling crowds on all sides began to make way.

No one dared to stop this carriage.

Entering the east gate of Yanjing, then taking the official road, then the imperial road, the entire route was guarded by the Imperial Army, with dark masses of commoners kneeling on both sides, shouting "Long live the Emperor!"

The common people didn't understand what Crown Prince Regency meant;

They only knew that their Emperor had been recuperating in the back garden for a long, long time.

They were used to the Yan Emperor being the sky above their heads; this sense of security couldn't be replaced by any Crown Prince or Sixth Prince.

Similarly,

This was true among the people, in the court, and in the military.

For thousands of years, emperors had been pursuing great achievements, pursuing territorial expansion; this kind of merit was not just for leaving a mark in history, but also for accumulating and consolidating personal prestige.

Because the Emperor himself was the supreme of the nine-five, the highest authority in a country.

And in today's world, among all the countries, no monarch could possess achievements comparable to those of the Yan Emperor.

The so-called exhausting the military and squandering wealth,

The so-called making people suffer,

The so-called "when a dynasty rises, the people suffer; when it falls, the people suffer;"

Often, it wasn't the genuine voice of the people, because most of the common people were illiterate and couldn't write such neatly rhymed phrases.

The people of Yanjing City, in the entire Yan, including the Jin region, were among the most affluent; most of them weren't really close to being impoverished.

Even if you were to really visit villages suffering from drought and famine in the Yan, where people were reduced to cannibalism, those gaunt old Yan people might still keep the Yan Emperor's longevity tablet at home, at most cursing the damn heavens for sending down such a disaster, but never blaming the Emperor.

Zheng Fan, the carriage driver,

Looking at the people on both sides,

In his heart,

There was increasing clarity;

When you stand in a different position, your perspective naturally changes.

The Yan Emperor had indeed launched one foreign war after another, dragging the entire country to the brink of collapse, but some people's actions weren't for their contemporaries to judge.

Leave it to the next generation, or the generation after that; even if they were reviled by thousands and seen as a tyrant in their time, hundreds or thousands of years later, they might be praised as a wise and benevolent emperor for all time.

The palace gates opened.

A group of eunuchs knelt on both sides,

Shouting in unison:

"This servant respectfully welcomes Your Majesty back to the palace!"

"This servant respectfully welcomes Your Majesty back to the palace!"

Zheng Fan slightly increased the force on the reins, and the carriage entered the palace gates at a slightly faster pace.

This signified that,

The Yan Emperor,

Had re-entered the true center of power of the Yan, though he had never really lost it.

Zheng Fan subconsciously tilted his head slightly, glancing at the curtain behind him;

This was the last burst of glory, wasn't it,

For this Emperor,

For the current situation of the Yan pressuring the East like a tiger,

For the three people who stood together in the past, the iron triangle,

For this era,

It was.

Many people knew that the Yan Emperor's health was failing.

This was no secret, and it couldn't be kept a secret at all;

The years of recuperation in the back garden weren't really rest, but a hard struggle;

He survived that winter, this spring, the previous summer, and finally, he had reached this autumn.

He was back,

He,

Was also back;

The center of the Empire still held his seat, with two seats below it.

A monarch who everyone knew was old and declining,

In this way,

Had taken up the reins again, with the premise of nearly preserving the court's operation.

Look at the ministers kneeling there,

Who,

Still had the courage to go against the Emperor's will in the coming days?

What is authority?

What is the art of power?

What is true perfection?

Last night, Zheng Fan told Sun Ying to remember to observe more today; in fact, the one who saw the most directly and felt the deepest today was Zheng Fan himself.

This carriage,

Wasn't driven in vain.

After entering the palace, Eunuch Wei came to lead the way, guiding Zheng Fan to drive the carriage to the Imperial Study.

Inside the Imperial Study, preparations had been made, and the warm room had been heated.

When the Yan Emperor got out of the carriage, Zheng Fan noticed that the Emperor clearly had a sheen of sweat on his forehead; the Emperor feared the heat.

But he still walked into the Imperial Study, which was warm to the point of being stifling, and sat down in his position.

From beginning to end,

Tian Wujing didn't say another word to the Yan Emperor.

Earlier in the carriage, the two hadn't exchanged any words either.

Yes,

Zheng Fan was the coachman, and he could testify to that.

The Emperor entered the Imperial Study, and the Jingnan Prince stood at the door.

He didn't go in,

And naturally, Zheng Fan couldn't go in either.

The Yan Emperor didn't order anyone to call him in.

After standing for a while,

Tian Wujing turned around and walked out.

Zheng Fan followed behind.

Inside and outside the palace, the entire Yanjing City, at this moment, countless people were racking their brains, wondering what they would talk about in the Imperial Study, but probably very few people knew that they hadn't exchanged a single word.

"Your Majesty, the Jingnan Prince and the Pingxi Marquis have gone to Fengzheng Palace."

Fengzheng Palace was once the residence of the late Empress.

After the Empress passed away, it had remained vacant, and the Yan Emperor had not established a new Empress.

The Yan Emperor, sitting in his chair,

Supported himself strongly with both arms on the armrests,

His gaze,

Was so deep that people didn't dare to look directly at it.

After a short while,

The Yan Emperor closed his eyes,

And his entire aura seemed to loosen all at once, leaning back in the chair.

The thickness of the dragon robe became apparent once this spirit was lost.

Wei Zhonghe's heart skipped a beat,

But after seeing that His Majesty's breathing was still steady,

He felt relieved;

His Majesty,

Had fallen asleep.

But at the same time,

He didn't know when he had begun to prepare himself in his heart for the possibility that His Majesty might pass away at any moment.

The Emperor,

Would also age,

The Emperor,

Could not really live ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years.

Wei Zhonghe carefully retreated, his eyes glancing at the corner of the Imperial Study, but he didn't linger for long before walking to the door,

Bowing slightly,

With his hands hanging in front of him,

Standing,

Waiting,

As always,

When His Majesty took a nap,

He would wait at the door for His Majesty to awaken.

He had waited like this at the door of the Prince's study,

He had also waited like this outside the East Palace's council hall,

And he had waited outside this Imperial Study for many years.

He was used to it,

Used to His Majesty, who would only allow himself a brief rest, calling him to serve tea and continue dealing with the seemingly endless affairs of state.

A withered yellow leaf fell down, landing right on Wei Zhonghe's boot.

This withered leaf,

Had long lost all its verdant color,

Leaving only the clear veins,

Stiff,

Fragile,

Like…

Wei Zhonghe straightened his body slightly,

Like himself.

…

The doors of Fengzheng Palace weren't locked, but there were always several eunuchs responsible for guarding them.

There were also people who cleaned it regularly to prevent it from falling into disrepair.

After all,

The Empress was the Crown Prince's birth mother, and when the Crown Prince oversaw the state, it was impossible not to give some instructions regarding Fengzheng Palace.

Logically speaking,

Outside men weren't allowed to enter the palace;

But clearly, this rule was of no constraint to the Jingnan Prince.

The Imperial Guards along the way simply knelt down and saluted when they saw him, and no one dared to stop him.

Whenever palace maids and eunuchs of the inner palace saw the Jingnan Prince and the Pingxi Marquis walking along, one in front of the other, they were immediately frightened into kneeling on both sides of the road, not daring to breathe.

Pushing open the doors,

They stepped into the palace.

Inside, it was tidy, but a palace without its owner was like a person who had lost their soul; it was difficult to find the so-called spirit.

No matter how good the house or how beautiful the courtyard, it was ultimately meant to be lived in.

The Jingnan Prince stood in the courtyard, looking at the clusters of chrysanthemums in the flowerbeds.

His elder sister loved chrysanthemums the most.

Zheng Fan stood beside him, just looking and not speaking.

After standing in the courtyard for a long time,

The Jingnan Prince pushed open the inner door and walked into the sleeping quarters.

The furnishings inside were as always, except for the curtains that covered the bed.

Next to the bed was a榻 (tà, a low couch-like bed), where the master slept on the bed and the maid slept beneath it, to make it easier to serve.

Tian Wujing walked to the 榻 and sat down.

Zheng Fan went behind Tian Wujing, not wanting to block his view.

According to popular rumors, the Jingnan Prince of the Yan was a heartless fiend.

In his early years, there were even rumors that he had sold out his entire clan for personal glory.

This claim was actually untenable, because the situation at the time was that powerful aristocratic families had joined forces, wanting to have both the Southern and Northern Marquis made princes at the same time;

But unfortunately, many, many people believed in this claim at the time.

In the eyes of the world, a heartless person must be a bad person, must be greedy for wealth and status.

As for the original wealth and status of the Tian family, most people had no concept of it.

It was only later, as the Southern Marquis led the army and won one world-shaking victory after another, that no one mentioned this claim anymore.

Many people were actually worried that this heartless demon king might rebel, and if he did, who could stop him?

Zheng Fan paid special attention; Old Tian didn't shed tears, nor did he close his eyes to reminisce.

He seemed to have just come back to see, to see his elder sister.

The mystery surrounding Du Juan's death hadn't been fully solved;

But besides Du Juan, there was another death that was the same, and that was the Empress's passing.

Xiao Liuzi's letter had mentioned that if it hadn't been for the Empress's death, which caused the Crown Prince's wedding to be postponed indefinitely, and even caused the Crown Prince and the Princess to almost be unable to be together because of the "incompatible horoscopes" argument,

That night,

He, Ji Laoliu, would have gone to the underworld for an early spring outing.

Although Ji Laoliu hadn't explicitly stated it, it was conceivable that there must have been something wrong with this matter as well.

Because Ji Laoliu had asked Seventh Uncle to wait until dawn before drawing his sword on him that night.

What,

Was he waiting for?

Lord Zhen Bei took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.

Today, he felt like he was witnessing true history; just imagine, this person who was in the midst of it all, facing the three most central figures in the Empire, still seemed to be shrouded in layers of mist;

How ridiculous must those people who read a few historical books and think they understand everything be.

Actually, they didn't sit for long before Tian Wujing got up.

Zheng Fan continued to follow.

The two of them left Fengzheng Palace,

Even,

Left the Imperial Palace.

The troops they had brought were stationed at the camp outside the city, but their personal guards had all come in; both families' personal guards were waiting at the palace gate, and both Pixiu were lying there.

Tian Wujing mounted his Pixiu, and Zheng Fan also mounted his own.

Suddenly,

Tian Wujing looked at Zheng Fan,

And said:

"Lead the way; this Prince doesn't recognize the way."

"Where to, Your Highness?"

"The Tian family's graveyard."

"…" Zheng Fan.

That night, the Jingnan Prince had wiped out his entire family;

Afterward,

It was Zheng Fan who had been ordered to stay behind to clean up the corpses.

Since then, for more than four years, Tian Wujing had not returned to the capital, and had not visited his family's graveyard.

Asking for directions to one's own family tomb;

"Please follow me, Your Highness."

The Tian family originally had ancestral graves, but clearly, after that night, it was impossible to bury all the deceased clan members in the ancestral graves.

The burial site was at the foot of a small mountain not far from the Tian family's main residence.

To Zheng Fan's surprise,

The Jingnan Prince didn't enter it, but stopped after glancing at the location of the graves from afar.

Then,

The Pixiu beneath him turned around, wanting to go back.

He came,

Didn't go to visit,

It was like he just came,

To recognize the way.

Lord Zhen Bei followed the Jingnan Prince back, not entering the capital again, but heading towards the location of the camp outside the city.

Before entering the camp,

Tian Wujing looked at Zheng Fan,

And asked:

"Are you going to enter the capital?"

Zheng Fan shook his head and said, "Wherever Your Highness is, I will be."

Subsequently,

Zheng Fan accompanied the Jingnan Prince back to the camp.

After the two entered the main tent together, the personal soldiers came forward to help them remove their armor.

"Are you hungry?"

Tian Wujing asked.

Zheng Fan nodded and said, "I'm hungry."

"Then let's eat."

The personal soldier acknowledged and went down to prepare the meal.

Soon,

A table of exquisite food was brought in.

After all, they were just outside the capital, and the city had already sent wine and meat to reward the soldiers; it was normal to eat well.

Moreover, not only was it like this in the main tent, but today the Prince had ordered the lifting of the alcohol ban, and the soldiers could also drink alcohol.

Zheng Fan picked up his chopsticks,

And was about to start eating,

But he saw Old Tian pick up the wine pot and pour wine for Zheng Fan.

Lord Zhen Bei immediately put down his chopsticks and picked up his wine glass;

After pouring,

Old Tian poured himself a glass as well.

Lord Zhen Bei stood up, preparing to clink glasses with Old Tian.

Old Tian picked up his glass,

And Lord Zhen Bei touched the bottom of Old Tian's glass with the edge of his own,

Then,

He drank it all in one gulp.

Old Tian also drank it all in one gulp.

Lord Zhen Bei stood up again, took the initiative to pick up the wine pot, and filled both of their glasses.

Then,

He sat down,

Picked up his chopsticks,

And was about to pick up some food,

But he saw Old Tian pick up his chopsticks,

And stick both of them,

Into the rice bowl in front of him.

Lord Zhen Bei froze for a moment,

He didn't pick up any food, but instead placed his chopsticks horizontally on the edge of the bowl.

Tian Wujing pointed at Zheng Fan's bowl and chopsticks,

And said:

"You eat."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Zheng Fan picked up his bowl and chopsticks, didn't hesitate, and began to eat ravenously.

He ate a lot, ate until he was very full,

But finally,

He ate most of the food on the small table,

And in the end,

He even took the bowl of rice with chopsticks stuck in it and ate it as well.

This time,

He was really so full that his stomach couldn't take it anymore.

Old Tian had no appetite,

But Old Tian's habit was to not allow himself to show any weakness or sadness;

For example,

If there was too much left over from this table of food,

It would be a sign of weakness.

"Someone," Zheng Fan called out.

A personal soldier came in and cleared away the small table.

Tian Wujing looked at Zheng Fan, who looked somewhat uncomfortable from being so full, shook his head, and said, "It was okay to leave some."

"It's nothing; I don't like wasting food."

Some things, between them, were actually tacitly understood, and didn't need much explanation at all.

You've saved me so many times,

So I'll just stuff myself once for you.

Tian Wujing placed a waist tag in front of him; it was the Jingnan Prince's Token,

And said:

"Keep it."

Zheng Fan shook his head and smiled; "You know, I don't need this."

"See, who you're saying that to."

Zheng Fan was silent.

In the end,

Zheng Fan reached out and grasped the Prince's Token in his hand.

"Rest," Tian Wujing said.

Zheng Fan stood up, walked to the tent entrance, stopped, and turned back, walking in front of Tian Wujing,

And said:

"Brother, I've been feeling uneasy all day; are you making arrangements for the future?"

Tian Wujing shook his head.

"Don't forget what you promised me; if you really want to seek liberation, you have to tell me in advance. Whether we choose the sunset or the sunrise, whether we choose the black cloak or the red cloak, you have to let me decide.

I'm not bragging to you,

If I didn't join the army and fight, even if I went to be a painter, I could still make a living. Compared to those master painters in the palace, I might not be able to compare to them in terms of artistic conception, but if we're really talking about who paints more delicately, who has a better sense of image, I'm not afraid to compete with them.

You have to give me some mental preparation,

You must give me some mental preparation;

That's what I'm asking for now, that's all.

If you want me to swear that I'll uphold my promise as long as this Black Dragon banner doesn't fall, I definitely will, but you, you also have to keep your word."

"If I wanted to seek death, I could have died in that great fire in Yingdu. Using the flames of the Fire Phoenix as a furnace, could there be a more presentable cremation in this world?"

"Then…"

"This Prince doesn't care how the world sees me, not at all."

Tian Wujing reached out his hand,

Looking at his palm,

He said slowly:

"This Prince has never intended to deliberately seek death, never, not once."

Zheng Fan knelt down on one knee and saluted,

Then,

He exited the main tent.

Inside the main tent,

Tian Wujing's gaze remained on his palm prints;

Death,

Is a kind of escape, and also a kind of liberation;

He, Tian Wujing,

Is extremely sinful, his sins reach the heavens,

He doesn't deserve to escape, doesn't deserve to be liberated, doesn't deserve to be redeemed;

Death,

Of course, he can die,

People are destined to die,

But he is not worthy,

Not worthy to deliberately seek death.

Right now,

The one in the Imperial Study,

Is probably more eager than anyone else to lie down in the mausoleum that he has long since built.

…

"Wei Zhonghe…"

"This servant is here."

Wei Zhonghe, who was standing at the entrance of the Imperial Study, immediately returned, looking at the Yan Emperor, who had opened his eyes.

The Yan Emperor's eyes,

Were filled with fatigue,

And he murmured:

"Ah… I woke up again."

——————

Thank you 小手氷凉 (Xiao Shou Bing Liang) and 梦寐以求sen (Meng Mei Yi Qiu sen) for becoming new leaders of "The Descent of Magic!"