Chapter 349

Yangxin Palace.

The Yong Emperor lay on the couch, his gaze hollow as he looked up, not uttering a word for quite some time.

Huang Pei was extremely worried about the Emperor and had been by his side these past few days, speaking softly from time to time.

Although the Emperor showed no sign of responding, Huang Pei persisted, hoping to bring some cheer to the Emperor.

As Huang Pei was talking about the Crown Prince’s recent wedding, the Emperor suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse.

“When I was in a daze, did the Empress come to see me?”

Huang Pei hesitated at the question but quickly nodded.

“Your Majesty, the Empress did come! However, you were sound asleep at the time, and she instructed me not to wake you.”

Upon hearing this, the Emperor suddenly turned his head. Despite his pale complexion, his gaze was sharp, exuding an imperial aura.

“Huang Pei, are you now lying to me as well?”

Trembling all over, Huang Pei hurriedly knelt beside the couch, calling out in fear.

Seeing Huang Pei bowing repeatedly, the Emperor felt a sense of emptiness. With only Huang Pei by his side, who else would keep him company if he drove him away?

“Huang Pei, do you think if I change my location, if I’m not in the Yangxin Palace, the Empress will come?”

At these words, Huang Pei’s eyes welled up with tears.

The Emperor still remembered the Empress’s resolute words back then. But now, it wasn’t about the Yangxin Palace; it was about the Empress completely turning cold towards him…

“Your Majesty, should I summon the Empress to visit?”

The Emperor’s sudden change of heart, however, he shook his head, “Forget it. If she doesn’t want to come, there’s no need to force her.”

After saying a few words, the Emperor felt mentally exhausted and couldn’t bear it any longer.

At that moment, a young eunuch entered and whispered softly, “Your Majesty, Prince Xiao Xi requests an audience outside.”

Huang Pei’s eyes lit up at the news. “Your Majesty, Prince Xiao Xi has come to see you. Will you see him?”

After a moment of thought, the Emperor nodded.

Turning his head to look outside, he saw a small figure walking steadily towards him, quickly standing by the bedside.

“Your child pays respects to Father Emperor.”

Impeccable in every move.

“You may rise.”

The Emperor said lightly, and as Xiao Xi stood up, he took a serious look at his youngest son for the first time.

Zhan’s features resembled him more, while Xiao Xi looked more like his late mother.

The round, bright eyes were almost identical to his mother’s.

Why hadn’t he noticed this before?

“Father Emperor, how are you feeling? Did I disturb your rest?”

Xiao Xi asked respectfully, more like a subject than a son.

The Emperor couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. After all, the sins of the past had created a distance between him and his children.

Thinking this, he suddenly lost interest, feeling tired and drowsy.

The Emperor had intended for Xiao Xi to leave first, but Xiao Xi expressed a desire to stay for a while, waiting for the Emperor to fall asleep before departing.

Seeing this, Huang Pei tactfully retreated to the outer chamber.

The Emperor was extremely fragile now, and it was good to have Xiao Xi accompany him.

The Yong Emperor closed his eyes and fell asleep within a few breaths. Seeing this, Prince Xi knelt by the bedside and gently held the Emperor’s hand.

With no one else around, Prince Xi took out a white talisman from his sleeve and placed it in the Emperor’s palm.

He gently closed the Emperor’s hand, and soon a golden light emanated from it, then dissipated into nothingness.

After completing these actions, Prince Xi looked at the Emperor with a complex expression before quietly leaving.

—

The Emperor had a very long dream, as if experiencing another lifetime.

He saw himself receiving Yuliu’s surrender letter and portrait, still stubbornly accepting the letter and ordering Qiao Zhongguo to withdraw the troops.

All subsequent events followed the same trajectory as in his current life, including using the Red Thread Reincarnation technique, forcing the Empress to give birth to Xiao Xi.

The divergence point occurred on Xiao Xi’s sixth birthday.

He vividly remembered Xiao Xi returning alive from Chunhua Garden, but in the dream, Xiao Xi was dead.

Upon receiving news and rushing to the lakeside, he saw the Empress and the Crown Prince kneeling there, holding Xiao Xi’s lifeless body, crying heartbreakingly.

He felt immense pain, but in the dream, he stood by, appearing mournful yet utterly indifferent.

He saw himself coldly ordering an investigation, eventually implicating the suspicious Concubine Yu, who seemed to involve the Second Prince.

After weighing his options, he shifted the blame onto Concubine Yu and let the matter pass.

After all, the Second Prince was his and Yuliu’s son, and he had promised Yuliu to protect the Second Prince at all costs.

Later, he grew suspicious of Qiao Zhongguo, but couldn’t find any faults. One day, a report came in accusing Qiao Zhongguo of treason and rebellion!

He immediately ordered the Qiao family to be seized. At that time, Mrs. Qiao had just passed away, and the Qiao residence was in mourning.

Finally, evidence of treason and rebellion was found in Qiao Zhongguo’s study. In a fit of rage in the Golden Palace, he sentenced Qiao Zhongguo to be executed!

During the execution, more than half of the officials knelt down to plead for Qiao Zhongguo, which only made him more wary of Qiao Zhongguo’s influence.

Subsequently, Qiao Tianjing and Qiao Diyi repeatedly sought justice, but he suppressed them each time.

On the day of Qiao Zhongguo’s execution, informants reported that the people lined the streets to bid farewell, tears streaming down their faces.

Feeling triumphant, it seemed that executing Qiao Zhongguo was the right decision; otherwise, wouldn’t it have been a threat to his power?

Later, the conflict between the Crown Prince and the Second Prince escalated, with both making mistakes!

In anger, he punished both of them severely.

Thinking he could finally have some peace, palace attendants reported finding Yuliu’s portrait in the Eastern Palace, defiled and desecrated!

At this point in the dream, he felt an uncontrollable fear because he knew that the accusation against the Crown Prince regarding the portrait was false!

But in the dream, he not only remained unaware but also didn’t bother to investigate the truth. Instead, he angrily summoned the Crown Prince and began questioning him.

However, at that moment, the Crown Prince turned the tables, questioning him about Xiao Xi’s death, leaving him speechless.

“Father Emperor, that was Xiao Xi, your own flesh and blood! Mother and I loved him to the core. You’ve taken half of our lives!”

“He was so young, yet he died alone in the lake. Father Emperor, how scared he must have been. When he struggled, he must have cried out for us to save him!”

The Crown Prince knelt before him, weeping bitterly, clutching his chest, his face contorted in pain.

In the dream, he watched from above, his face cold and numb, making even himself shudder.

“Prince, Xiao Xi should never have been born. If not for Yuliu, he wouldn’t have had a chance to be born.”

“I had hoped he was Yuliu’s reincarnation, but now it seems that folk practices are unreliable. He had to return to the heavens, it was his fate.”

After uttering these chilling words, the Crown Prince suddenly looked up at him, his eyes filled with unfamiliarity, fear, and despair…