"Both of them passed away just over a month ago. Isn't it inappropriate for Your Majesty to make such a grand fuss?" I continued.
Chu Heng's fierce gaze pierced through me. In the past, he always shielded me behind him while looking at others like this. Now, I've become that "other," and there's someone else he's protecting behind him.
"Sister Royal must be drunk. Prime Minister Yuan, take her back to sober up." Before I could say anything else, Yuan Shaohua stopped me.
Yuan Shaohua took me back to the mansion. He was also quite frustrated. "What on earth got into you today? Just because you're Chu Heng's cousin and the prime minister's wife, you've always been at odds with the late empress. If it were someone else today, you'd have lost your head ten times over. Do you like him that much? So much that you don't even care about your own life?"
Yes, it's not Cheng Wanwan, but Xie Huanyu who loves Chu Heng so much that she doesn't care about her life.
I drove Yuan Shaohua out and smashed everything I could reach in the room by myself. According to Baizhi, Yuan Shaohua also smashed his study to pieces when he got back.
#### Chapter 6
Early the next morning, an imperial messenger came from the palace. Consort Yu wanted to see me.
I didn't sleep a wink that night. My mind was filled with memories of Chu Heng over the years. I wanted to get rid of these memories, but they came flooding in uncontrollably.
A sharp pain shot through my chest. I finally understood that when a person is deeply hurt, the heart can actually feel physical pain.
With tired eyes, I got on the carriage to the palace again. But my mood was completely different from yesterday. Today, I didn't lift the curtain to look at the palace gate.
I was led by the palace servants to the Fengyi Palace, which used to be my residence. Now, it had a new mistress.
The thought of Chu Heng being intimate with her in my room made me nauseous.
Consort Yu was sitting on the main seat. I sipped my tea slowly and looked around at the furnishings in the room. Some were from my time, while others were new.
"Next month, His Majesty will take me to the south of the Yangtze River to inspect the people's livelihood. The servants are packing our luggage, so the palace is in a bit of a mess. Please don't mind, Sister Royal." Consort Yu's voice was as gentle as water. I just watched her cherry - like lips move as she spoke, then covered her mouth and gave a shy smile.
Go to the south of the Yangtze River? That was a place I had always dreamed of going with Chu Heng. Due to various trivial matters, it was always postponed. I never thought he would take someone else there.
"Do you think you, a concubine, have the right to call me Sister Royal?" I didn't want to make things difficult for her at first, but I just couldn't help it.
She was taken aback by my words, and a hint of anger flashed across her face. "It seems that cousin doesn't take me, a noble consort, seriously." She deliberately emphasized the word "cousin."
"I don't even take Xie Huanyu seriously. What are you?" It felt quite good to act arrogantly in the palace with Cheng Wanwan's face.
"His Majesty is here!" Just as Consort Yu was about to say something, an announcement came from outside the door. My breath caught in my throat.
I watched as she trotted to the door to greet Chu Heng. She curtsied gracefully, and Chu Heng quickly helped her up. "There's no need for such formalities between us."
The two of them walked towards me hand in hand. Their loving display stabbed at my eyes.
"Ayu, go and check if the servants need any help with the packing. I need to talk to Sister Royal for a while." Chu Heng ordered.
The main hall was suddenly left with only Chu Heng and me. My emotions were in a complete jumble. For a moment, it seemed like we were back to the old days when we were alone in this hall, but everything had changed.
Chu Heng stared into my eyes. The pain and helplessness in them were hard to hide. "Sister Royal, I was helpless about Ayu's death."
My heart skipped a beat. Wasn't I supposed to have died of an incurable disease? What did he mean by being helpless?
I didn't say a word, waiting to see what he would say next.
"It was the decree left by the late emperor. Neither you nor I could stop them, right? Weren't you always at odds with her? Why are you defending her now that she's dead? Or are you going to ask something for Yuan Shaohua again? His position as prime minister was obtained by you using that secret to plead with me. He is already the prime minister, second only to me. Do you want me to abdicate the throne to Yuan Shaohua?" Chu Heng sat on the chair and rubbed his temples. I knew that he always did this when he faced a difficult problem.
"So you acquiesced in Xie Huanyu's death, right?" I probed.
Chu Heng suddenly raised his eyebrows. His eyes were sharp, and he didn't say a word.
I took a deep breath. "I don't have anything to ask for. I'm not feeling well. I'll go back to the mansion first."
#### Chapter 7
Back at the mansion, based on Chu Heng's few words, I couldn't piece together the truth about my death. With Cheng Wanwan's face, it was inconvenient for me to investigate many things. Yuan Shaohua was the best person for the job.
I went to Yuan Shaohua's study. He looked surprised when he saw me enter.
"Cheng Wanwan is dead." I got straight to the point.
The writing brush in Yuan Shaohua's hand snapped. He looked at me in disbelief, as if I were a madman.
"I'm Xie Huanyu..." I told him everything, from how I helped Chu Heng ascend the throne step by step to how I found myself reborn in Cheng Wanwan's body, and then what Chu Heng said to me today.
His expression gradually changed from disbelief to despair.
"You said that my official position was obtained by Wanwan pleading with Chu Heng?" His voice trembled.
"Chu Heng told me this himself." I was a bit thirsty from talking and took a sip of tea.
"Do you think a concubine has the ability to kill Cheng Wanwan? Prime Minister, do you believe it? You need to find out the truth behind this." I poured him a cup of tea, got up, and left. I even kindly closed the door for him when I went out.
As I closed the door, I saw through the crack that the once - arrogant prime minister had collapsed to the ground. Not long after I left, the sound of porcelain shattering came from inside the room.
I waited anxiously for a few days. Yuan Shaohua didn't let me down. A stack of intelligence soon appeared in front of me.
I picked up these papers, but when it came to it, I was a bit afraid to read them.
It turned out that as the beloved granddaughter of the late emperor, Cheng Wanwan left a royal secret guard for herself before her death. There was also a secret decree to get rid of me after Chu Heng ascended the throne. The late emperor was afraid that my esoteric arts would threaten the Great Chu Empire.
So, Chu Heng didn't stop my death. He acquiesced in it.
Cheng Wanwan's death was because of that royal secret guard. Chu Heng originally didn't know about the existence of the royal secret guard. She voluntarily handed over the secret guard for Yuan Shaohua's official career.
How could the suspicious Chu Heng believe that Cheng Wanwan had revealed all her cards? For the stability of his empire, the concubine Xiaofu who killed Cheng Wanwan was Chu Heng's person.
As for why Cheng Wanwan often went to the palace to please Chu Heng, it was just to ask Chu Heng to promote Yuan Shaohua. Unfortunately, she overestimated the sibling relationship between her and Chu Heng and underestimated a king's suspicion.
Not only Cheng Wanwan, but I also underestimated a king's suspicion.
I used all my strength to read all the letters and then collapsed into the chair.
Yuan Shaohua across from me kept his head down, silent.
In these few days, he seemed to have aged a lot. He no longer had his former gentle and elegant demeanor.
"I was the one who killed Wanwan. She died at the hands of the woman I brought back myself. I should be the one to die. I never understood Wanwan's feelings for me. I always suspected that she had feelings for Chu Heng. When I brought that woman into the mansion, how heart - broken Wanwan must have been. How painful and desperate she must have been when she died." Saying this, Yuan Shaohua buried his head in his hands. The prime minister of a country was crying like a three - year - old child at this moment.
"Rebel." I told him.
#### Chapter 8
Three years passed in a flash. Tomorrow would be the final battle with Chu Heng. Yuan Shaohua and I were sitting on the roof, looking at the stars in the sky. Each of us held a wine flask, chatting like old friends.
Over the years, Yuan Shaohua and I had joined hands. Taking advantage of Chu Heng's unpreparedness, we quickly eliminated some dissidents in the court and gained control of some military power.
But when Chu Heng reacted, he was really hard to deal with. Yuan Shaohua and I had racked our brains, but it was still difficult to gain an advantage over him.
In the end, we were one step behind. Tomorrow's battle was doomed to end in our defeat. We were just putting up a last - ditch struggle.
"The first time I saw Wanwan was at the Lantern Festival. I fell in love with her at first sight. She was laughing so happily, as if all the troubles in the world had nothing to do with her. But I was just a poor scholar. How could I be worthy of a noble lady like her?" He laughed and took a big gulp of wine.
"Later, I started to work hard to climb up. On the day I married Wanwan, I was really happy. But soon I found out that she liked Chu Heng. But I still selfishly kept her by my side. It's really ridiculous. Without Wanwan's help, how could a poor scholar like me have become the prime minister?" He stared directly at my face. I knew he was looking at Cheng Wanwan's face.
"Cheng Wanwan must have been extremely happy on the day she married you. You two truly loved each other. I also thought that Chu Heng and I truly loved each other." I also took a big gulp of wine. The wine was strong, and it made my eyes water.
"I want to fight one more time. I want to avenge Wanwan with my own hands." He looked up at the sky, and there was a glint of tears in his eyes.
"What do you want to do?" I looked at him.
"Sneak into the palace and assassinate him." He said it so calmly, as if he were talking about what to have for breakfast.
"Whether you succeed or not, you'll surely die." I raised my eyebrows.
"I don't want to live anymore. I lost the will to live the moment I found out that Wanwan was no longer in this world. I should have gone to find her long ago. I don't know if she can forgive me. I'm even a bit nervous about seeing her." He gave a bitter smile.
"If I succeed, I'll fire a signal flare. If you don't see the signal flare, attack the city at dawn. I believe that even if I fail, as long as you, Xie Huanyu, are here, Chu Heng will never have an easy life. He'll surely pay for his sins." After saying that, he jumped off the roof and disappeared into the night.
It had been a long time since I had enjoyed the moon so calmly. I lay on the roof with my legs crossed. The gentle breeze made me feel extremely comfortable. My mind was filled with images of my modern life, memories with Chu Heng, and scenes of the rebellion in the past few years.
Counting this life, I've lived three lives. These three lives add up to only about thirty years, but I always feel like I'm an old goblin who has lived for more than three hundred years.
I thought, there shouldn't be another life. It's really tiring.
I stared at the moon slowly sinking that night. A faint white light appeared on the horizon. The wine flask in my hand was already empty.
The signal flare didn't go off. I knew that the gentle and elegant prime minister had gone to find his beloved. They should have met by now.
It was time for me to find my beloved too.
#### Chapter 9
At dawn, I gave the order to attack the city.
The battle was fierce. It lasted from dawn until evening. The sunset glow was extremely gorgeous today, dyeing the sky red, which echoed the pool of blood on the ground.
I stood under the city wall, in front of the sunset glow, and in the pool of blood.
Chu Heng held a long sword and walked towards me slowly with the imperial guards. I seemed to see the day of the empress - crowning ceremony. He was dressed in magnificent clothes, walking towards me with a smiling face. He grabbed my hand and whispered in my ear, "Ayu, I can finally give you a proper title."
That must have been the happiest moment in my three lives.
The imperial guards surrounded me. Chu Heng and I locked eyes. I looked at him almost greedily, hoping to see the young boy I loved on his face.
When the long sword pierced my chest, there was a loud roar in my ears. It was the familiar feeling of approaching death again, but this time, time seemed to pass extremely slowly, and the pain was unbearable.
"This is the second time you've watched me die, Chu Heng." I spat out mouthfuls of blood.
A crack appeared on Chu Heng's emotionless face.
"I said you were the only one." I did say that. He was the only one I had ever loved in this world, the only one I could trust, the only family I had.
I felt his hand holding the sword tremble. "You... are you Ayu?"
I smiled, a sarcastic smile.
I saw his eyes turn blood - red instantly. The veins on his forehead bulged, and he was almost crazy.
He hugged me as I collapsed. "Ayu! Ayu! Hold on. I'll call the imperial doctor! Why didn't you tell me earlier, Ayu? Why didn't you tell me earlier! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Ayu, don't die. Don't die! I don't want to bear the pain of losing you again. If you leave me this time, I'll surely go with you!"
I wanted to reach out and touch his face, but I didn't have the strength. "Was my death... acquiesced by you?"
Even at this moment, I still hoped he would say no, but he still didn't answer. It seemed as if all his words were stuck in his throat. He just opened his mouth.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Consort Yu standing on the city wall, watching everything.
"The young boy I loved died in the last life. I'm going to find him. You should live well. You're not worthy of going down to accompany me." There shouldn't be another life. I'm really a bit tired.
After I closed my eyes, I seemed to hear Chu Heng's heart - rending cries. Why was he pretending to be sad? Weren't all these things what he wanted?
I felt my body getting lighter and lighter. I saw the young Aheng. He was wearing the cyan clothes he wore when we first met in the imperial kitchen. He reached out his hand to me and smiled. "Ayu, I'm here to take you home."
"Okay."
### Epilogue of Consort Yu
My name is Yu Jing. I'm from modern times. Chu Heng was completely taken aback when he first saw me. The next day, he took me into the harem and made me a noble consort.
His harem was simple, and he was very gentle with me. A mature and handsome king like him was really attractive to me.
The first time I heard the name Xie Huanyu was at my consort - crowning ceremony, from Cheng Wanwan, Chu Heng's cousin.
When I returned to the palace that night, Chu Heng was in a very strange mood. He also made love to me that night. He kept murmuring Ayu, Ayu...
The next day, I asked the palace servants to find a portrait of the late empress Xie Huanyu and ordered them to tell me about her deeds.
It turned out that every time he looked at me so gently, he was actually looking at Xie Huanyu through me. The Ayu he called that night was actually Ayu.
On the day he fought to the death with the prime minister and his wife, out of worry, I secretly climbed onto the city wall and witnessed everything.
I saw him panic when he faced Xie Huanyu. He stammered like a child who had done something wrong. I never thought that such a reserved and majestic person would shout and cry like a madman in public.
It turned out that a king could be so heartless. It turned out that Xie Huanyu's death was related to him. But he clearly loved Xie Huanyu so much.
I knew that I meant nothing to him.
After Xie Huanyu's death, he locked himself in the imperial study for three days and three nights. When he came out, his hair was completely white.
He told me to leave the palace, saying that with my abilities, I could live a good life anywhere.
On the day I left the palace, I stood on the city wall and looked back at the palace in the distance. I thought that one Xie Huanyu had already been ruined here. There was no need for another Yu Jing. I turned around and rode away on my horse.
Since then, I never stepped into the palace again. I only occasionally heard news about Chu Heng. I heard that he never remarried for the rest of his life.
On my deathbed, Chu Heng in the palace was still alive. I thought he was afraid to see Xie Huanyu.
I watched my children and grandchildren kneeling in front of me, crying. I had a wonderful and fulfilling life. Chu Heng, although in a high