The Crown Prince walked out of the main gate of Zhengtai Palace, leaving the polluted and oppressive air far behind. Before him was the broad and empty moon terrace on the jade steps. Looking out from the red bricks and green tiles of the palace, the gloomy sky was vast and silent, without even the shadow of a bird flapping its wings.

Suddenly, someone beside him said, "Crown Prince."

The Crown Prince turned his face and saw Zhuo Yu standing to one side, dressed in a black robe, arms folded, with a section of his wrist exposed from the wide sleeves, so white that it seemed almost lifeless.

The Crown Prince had seen this person before at the Western Suburbs hunting grounds. Although he felt frightening, at least he was still alive, giving a sense of majesty and cold handsomeness; now, for some reason, he was pale to the point of being like a walking corpse.

"State Preceptor Zhuo, is there something you need?"

Zhuo Yu smiled faintly, "This official sees that the Crown Prince has a joyful expression, so I came to congratulate Your Highness first."

The Crown Prince's face changed drastically, "What joyous occasion does I have that would make me have a joyful expression? State Preceptor, you better explain clearly what you mean by this!"

Zhuo Yu stared at him silently for a long time as the cold wind swept between them, causing his black robes to flutter up and then slowly fall back down. "...His Majesty has already decided to abdicate to you at the beginning of next month. The Crown Prince will be able to ascend the throne early. What is there not to be happy about?"

The Crown Prince said sternly, "Do you think that once I ascend the throne, you will be able to control the court? Zhuo Yu, don't forget that you are ultimately just a foreigner. You may be able to turn things upside down in Xiwan, but you won't be allowed to take a single step out of line in the Celestial Empire!"

Zhuo Yu laughed out loud, "...The Crown Prince is still too young."

The Crown Prince had never been spoken to like this before. For a moment, he only felt resentment and anger.

All the panic and rage about the Emperor's abdication and other changes were all pushed onto the head of the person in front of him. He couldn't help but step forward and grab Zhuo Yu's collar, "Do you think I'm young and easy to bully? You used bewitching words to confuse the Emperor into abdicating, and then you want to take the opportunity to control the new Emperor and dominate the court. Do you think others don't know your obvious intentions?"

Zhuo Yu gently pushed him away, his voice so soft it was almost a whisper, "...When I was your age, I was already the State Preceptor of Xiwan..."

He reached out to smooth the Crown Prince's hair, "...For a young man like you, even if you know what I plan to do...so what?...What can you do to me?"

The Crown Prince suddenly pushed him away and slapped him hard across the face with a crisp sound.

Zhuo Yu's face was slapped to one side.

"If I really ascend the throne," the Crown Prince pointed at Zhuo Yu, almost pointing at his face, "—if I ascend the throne, I will make sure you have no place to stand in the Celestial Empire! Zhuo Yu, you remember this, I will make sure you have no place to stand on this land—!"

His voice was almost hoarse, emphasizing each word. A flash of fierceness appeared in Zhuo Yu's eyes. He slowly raised his hand, and in a place the Crown Prince couldn't see, the puppet gu in his sleeve emitted a sinister glow.

In fact, Zhuo Yu was not afraid of this young Crown Prince.

But that curse was too shrill, shrill to the point of giving him an ominous illusion.

The entire background, such as the gloomy sky and the wind mixed with the smell of iron and blood, made him vaguely recall all the things that were stained with war horses and blood in the past. Those things were deliberately forgotten deep in his heart, but at this moment, they were suddenly activated by the anger of the young Crown Prince, causing the buried worries to come crashing down like a mountain.

He reached out his hand, but before he could make a move, it was suddenly tightly grabbed from behind by another hand.

"Lu Jiuchen?"

Zhuo Yu turned his head. Lu Jiuchen had appeared beside him at some point, tightly gripping his wrist bone. "You should restrain yourself a little."

Zhuo Yu asked softly, "What does this have to do with you?"

Lu Jiuchen said indifferently, "I have already been ordered to supervise the palace. Of course, the primary thing to protect is the safety of this Crown Prince. Do you say this has nothing to do with me?"

Zhuo Yu let go, shifting his gaze from the Crown Prince to Lu Jiuchen's face, and laughed lightly, "Indeed!"

He decisively turned and left. Lu Jiuchen impulsively said, "Zhuo Yu..."

Zhuo Yu's steps did not stop as he said coldly, "I never thought that in this life I would be able to serve in the court with you again. General Lu, I will visit your residence another day!"

Lu Jiuchen reached out his hand, but Zhuo Yu's fluttering sash had already slipped past his hand. He stood up and stared blankly at Zhuo Yu's resolute retreating figure, slowly closing his eyes. He seemed to see two people walking closer from a distant end, intersecting and merging at a certain moment, but after that brief instant, it was an endless gradual separation.

After the Crown Prince left, Zhengtai Palace returned to silence, the kind of suffocating richness and heaviness that could crush people. The sky had gradually darkened, and hundreds of exquisitely carved palace candles swayed on the gold-inlaid candlesticks, vaguely reflecting a thin figure standing behind the screen, motionless for a long time.

The Qianwan Emperor sighed, "Mingde, did you hear everything?"

That figure behind the screen only showed a faint outline, and even the voice was so faint that it was almost inaudible, "What are you doing? Li Ji, what do you want future history books to say? — the Qianwan Emperor abandoned the world for lust. With such a reputation passed down to later generations, who will be pointed at, you or me?"

The Qianwan Emperor said, "I won't allow them to say it, so how could it be recorded in the history books!"

Mingde started laughing, as if he had heard something very funny, "Preventing people's mouths is more difficult than preventing a flood, Your Majesty. If it's not recorded in the history books, will the people not spread it? Will the palace not talk about it? Can everyone pretend they know nothing? One day when you find that you have become a fatuous ruler, who should bear the responsibility when you regret it, you or me?"

The screen was lifted with a loud noise that echoed through the empty hall for a long time. Mingde raised his head, tightly held in the man's arms, so tight as if he was eager to express something.

"I won't regret it," said the Qianwan Emperor, "I've done many wrong things in the past, but that doesn't change the fact that I can still stand here today and tell you that I like you, I love you... Mingde, shall we go to Jiangnan together? Shall we... start over?"

Mingde didn't say anything.

Hundreds of gorgeous candles, their flickering flames reflected on the huge palace walls, outlining slightly trembling shadows. The hall was so quiet that they could only hear the faint crackling sound of the burning flames and each other's breathing.

"Mingde, are you willing to go with me?"

"Let's go to Jiangnan together. It's the most beautiful season in Jiangnan now. We can set up a big manor with no one to disturb us, and you'll never have to be afraid of anything..."

"...Are you willing?... Willing to go... with me?..."

Mingde asked softly, "What if I don't agree?"

The Qianwan Emperor closed his eyes.

What if he doesn't agree? Just like what happened between them a long time ago - forcibly taking him away, imprisoning him, trapping each other in a luxurious cage, entangling in mutual hatred, consuming the last bit of love between them?

"If I don't agree," Mingde said softly, "I will continue to stay in this capital city, facing decades of life in this palace... Maybe one day I will become old, ugly, and disliked by you, and then you will have many young and beautiful men and women, the empress, the crown prince, the empress dowager... All those people will disappear from your memory like turned pages, along with me, wasting time until death in some unknown corner of the palace..."

The Qianwan Emperor wanted to say something, but he couldn't.

"Li Ji," Mingde said, "You say you love me now, I believe it. But I don't believe you will love me for a lifetime."

He gently pushed the Qianwan Emperor away and took half a step back, looking straight at this man.

"-- I don't believe it."

The Qianwan Emperor stood up. Mingde looked at him expressionlessly, the candlelight casting on the side of his face, making the long eyelashes cast fluttering shadows like butterfly wings.

"Li Ji, if you want me to give you an answer now, then I tell you, I agree, I'll go with you. But that doesn't mean we can start over. I just don't want to be forgotten by you in a corner of this palace one day, slowly dying of old age with memories..."

The Qianwan Emperor suddenly walked over and pressed down hard on Mingde's shoulders, his fingers digging deep into the soft flesh below Mingde's collarbones.

"Have you ever loved me?" The man's eyes were on the verge of despair. "Mingde, have you ever loved me at all?"

"I don't know..." Mingde buried his face in his palms, his voice broken and hesitant, "...Even if I did, so what? You don't actually need me to love you, you just need me to do as you say..."

They were very close, just an arm's length away for the Qianwan Emperor to hold Mingde in his arms. However, the Qianwan Emperor paused there, as if suddenly unable to move.

It was actually very late, the night wind howled, sweeping in from the open hall entrance like a surging tide, invading every inch of space.

Only Mingde stood there, completely shielded in the Qianwan Emperor's embrace.

That space was tranquil and undisturbed.

At the beginning of the month, the Qianwan Emperor announced his abdication.

The people of the capital pleaded along the way, and the court officials all knelt to dissuade him, but the emperor turned a deaf ear.

The State Preceptor Zhuo Yu submitted a memorial, saying that the country was in turmoil and the crown prince was young, fearing that something untoward might happen. He asked the emperor to temporarily stay in the capital and listen to the government behind a curtain as a Taishang Emperor on the first day of each month.

The emperor allowed it.

At the same time, he issued a decree for Shangguan Mingde to leave the capital and take office in Yangzhou during the most beautiful season of the misty spring, not to be involved in political affairs, but only to tend to flowers, plant grass, play the zither and keep birds as his business.

With the power of the whole country, he only managed to ensure that one person would live a worry-free and peaceful life; to be a wealthy and idle person in Jiangnan, a thousand miles away from his sight.