His body pulled forcefully into an embrace, Qin Duan stood stiffly, a sense of infinite sorrow filling his heart. Through past lives and the present, Xie Zhengming was perhaps the inescapable calamity of his existence.
“Where are you going?”
The moment Xie Zhengming embraced Qin Duan, he felt his blood begin to flow once again. He tried his best to restrain his voice, yet the frantic chaos mingled within it was unmistakable.
Qin Duan sighed,
“Across two lifetimes, you and I… it is time for an ending.”
With those words, he passed a death sentence on the relationship between himself and Xie Zhengming.
Xie Zhengming’s arms trembled, taut with tension, as he let out a resistant, low roar:
“No! Duan’er, you can hate me, punish me, torment me, anything you like! But you just… you just cannot leave me. You cannot, you cannot leave me again.”
There was a sob in Xie Zhengming’s voice. Qin Duan felt as if a piece of his heart had shattered, the sharp shards embedding themselves deep within his chest, stinging so sharply he gasped.
He waited in silence until Xie Zhengming had held him long enough to let go.
Instead, without a word, Xie Zhengming stooped down, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and mounted his horse.
Yun’er stood by, anxious and unsure of what to do.
“Your Highness, Your Highness, please calm your anger! The Young Master, he is of frail constitution, if you must, if you must strike, then strike me instead!”
Xie Zhengming cast a glance at him and stated:
“If there is any striking to be done, it will be him striking me. From now on, I will only cherish him.”
Xie Zhengming held him close to his chest and galloped all the way back to the Prince’s estate. He then cited illness to request an extended leave from the Emperor.
The cancellation of Prince Ding’s wedding was now known to all. However, those within the Prince’s estate kept their lips sealed, and since outsiders did not know the truth, all sorts of rumors spread.
The estate was now filled with staff personally selected by Xie Zhengming, making it impossible for palace agents to glean any information. The Emperor had sent people twice to inquire about Prince Ding’s condition, only to be dismissed by Xie Zhengming. He even proactively surrendered the military tally capable of mobilizing his main force to put the Emperor’s mind at ease.
This action of his actually left Qin Duan feeling somewhat surprised.
Wasn’t Xie Zhengming the one who valued military power above all else? Why would he…
Xie Zhengming now ignored all matters, not even stepping a foot out of the estate gates every day, determined only to guard Qin Duan.
Qin Duan watched as Xie Zhengming followed him incessantly, eyes bloodshot and weary. Suddenly, his right leg, which should have been intact in this lifetime, began to ache with a dull, phantom pain.
“Xie Zhengming, since heaven gave us a second chance, why must you struggle and entangle yourself so bitterly? Was the entanglement between us in the previous life not enough?”
Xie Zhengming looked at Qin Duan’s face with eyes like burning torches, shaking his head stubbornly.
“It is not enough, not enough. In our previous life, we should have grown old together, loving each other dearly. Duan’er, I was wrong, I was terribly wrong. But I cannot let you go. Whether in this life or the next, you are mine, and I will never lose you again.”
Qin Duan felt that Xie Zhengming had become somewhat obsessed—perhaps it was the fact of his marriage in the previous life that had truly dealt such a devastating blow to Xie Zhengming, leading him to be so fixated after his rebirth.
Yet, he understood Xie Zhengming’s character even better: arrogant and proud, Xie Zhengming had always viewed him as an appendage, his own private property. That was why he could not accept the fact that Qin Duan had completely detached himself from his control the day he saw him get married.
In Xie Zhengming’s eyes, Qin Duan ought to have stayed quietly by his side for a lifetime—no matter how long he was neglected, as long as Xie Zhengming had a whim, a turn, or a wave of his hand, he could summon him effortlessly.
But he forgot that Qin Duan was a person, too; he could suffer wounds that would not easily heal, and he could be utterly disappointed. When he chose to abandon his own life, what obsession could he possibly be unable to let go of?
Xie Zhengming did not know that after being framed and slandered by Princess Yan Ning, and having his leg crippled by Xie Zhengming, Qin Duan had left the estate, intending to live out his days in that small courtyard until death. But he had not expected that after Xie Zhengming left for the border battlefields, an uninvited guest would arrive at the courtyard.
The reigning Emperor, Li Chong.
Li Chong’s arrival took Qin Duan completely by surprise. Yet, the moment the Emperor spoke, he understood: Xie Zhengming had been busy campaigning to win the world for the Son of Heaven all these years, and Li Chong had long since seen through the truth of their relationship. It wasn’t just their relationship, which had never been a secret; it was the fact that many of the military exploits credited to Xie Zhengming had been devised by his own schemes.
Li Chong knew everything about his situation, so when he came to the courtyard to invite him to serve as Prime Minister, he appeared entirely confident. He possessed great patience; there was a story of Liu Bei visiting the thatched cottage three times, and Li Chong, compared to Liu Bei, was even more persistent.
However, his heart had already died by then. Not to mention romantic entanglements, he had no desire for anything in this world that could lead to greed or anger. In the end, the Emperor lost his patience and brought up Xie Zhengming.
The Emperor knew his feelings for Xie Zhengming all too well. It was a kind of affection that could make a man abandon all opportunities for power and status, willing to submit himself to another. The Emperor knew that even if he were disenchanted with Xie Zhengming, he could never bear to watch Xie Zhengming be executed.
Yes, the Emperor had always been wary of Xie Zhengming and would eventually take action against him. At that time, the Emperor had undisguisedly told him of this plan.
The Emperor used Xie Zhengming’s life to threaten him into entering official service.
However, the Emperor’s intentions were naturally deep and far-reaching. He would not tolerate Xie Zhengming serving in the same court as him, harboring a tiger in his midst. Yet, many military generals in the court were Xie Zhengming’s former subordinates, and the safety of the empire still required them for defense; he could not purge them all at once. Therefore, since he was to be appointed as Prime Minister, he must completely sever the emotional tie between himself and Xie Zhengming.
He ultimately promised the Emperor that he would marry a wife, have children, and have nothing more to do with Xie Zhengming.
Both he and the Emperor understood Xie Zhengming, a man so arrogant and proud that it would be impossible for him to accept his own person being with someone else. Therefore, from the day he married, there was no possibility left between him and Xie Zhengming.
It was just that neither he nor the Emperor had expected that Xie Zhengming would actually die of a broken heart, his internal energy reversing and his meridians shattering, on the day of his wedding.
On that wedding night, he had suffered a sudden angina attack and never even entered the bridal chamber. And the day after hearing the news of Prince Ding’s sudden death, he had found life not worth living, unable to endure another day.
After writing the letter of divorce, he left the Prime Minister’s mansion. He returned to that thatched cottage in Changping, where Xie Zhengming had once lived, and ended his own life in the house where they had lived all those years ago.
But what he never expected was that both he and Xie Zhengming would be reborn.
Qin Duan knew clearly in his heart that the Emperor had already cast his eyes upon him. Now was the time the empire needed strategic counselors; in this life, if Xie Zhengming and he were to marry, the Emperor would eventually choose to eliminate Xie Zhengming.
And in terms of his own emotions, even if Xie Zhengming were truly repentant, how long could he sustain it? Perhaps Xie Zhengming was merely stung by the fact of his marriage in the previous life. Once the two were together again and their days returned to the mundane, could Xie Zhengming remain as he was? As they grew old together without children, with so many vibrant, beautiful women constantly appearing, could Xie Zhengming truly commit himself to him alone?