OBS Chapter 747: The greatest sorrow is the death of the heart, and the death of the body is the second
Chapter 747: The greatest sorrow is the death of the heart, and the death of the body is the second
The cold wind of late autumn carried dead leaves across Taiming Palace, and the bronze crane lanterns outside Daming Palace swayed in the air.
The crisp sounds of ice cubes colliding with the coffin came one after another. The palace servants who were keeping vigil knelt on both sides of the steps, their white linen clothes rustling in the wind, like a group of solemn white cranes.
The black ice piled up under the altar has oozed out dark red blood stains, which are traces of the preservative liquid dripping during the daily replacement and the dew, winding into strange patterns on the blue bricks.
Li Jingyi's fingers, which were clutching the hem of her clothes, had turned white, and the hem of her skirt, embroidered with gold thread, swept across the cold white marble steps.
Li Jingyi will never see the figure who would smile and put flowers in her hair again.
At this moment, the white banner hanging above the coffin suddenly fluttered violently, and a few pieces of paper money fell like snowflakes, gently covering the crystal coffin lid, like the last sigh of time.
"Creaky--" the vermilion lacquered door slowly opened, and the cold air mixed with the scent of pine wood blew in.
Li Jingyi staggered and held onto the door frame, and the scene before her made her pupils shrink suddenly.
The crystal coffin was surrounded by wisps of white mist, which was the cold air emitted from the ice bed below, enveloping the person in the coffin in a dreamlike state.
Twelve eternal lamps flickered around the coffin. In the interweaving of light and shadow, Li Chengqian's face appeared and disappeared, as if he was wandering on the boundary between life and death.
Inside the hall, Li Jiming was kneeling on a cushion, his plain white mourning clothes were stained with tear marks, and his black hair had turned a few strands of white.
Hearing the noise, she suddenly looked up, sadness surging in her eyes: "Yier, is that you? Yier?"
The hoarse call echoed in the empty hall.
Li Jingyi's skirt swept across the frost on the ground, and she stumbled into Li Jiming's arms.
The aunt and niece hugged each other tightly, their tears soaking each other's clothes.
Li Jiming trembled as he stroked his niece's back, as if pouring all his compassion into it: "Yier, Yier... Brother, did you see that? Your daughter is here to see you! Your only daughter!"
Her cries pierced the silence and echoed in the empty hall for a long time.
Li Chengqian lay quietly in the crystal coffin, his body as withered as paper, his once heroic eyebrows and eyes were sunken, and his cheeks were terribly sunken.
The bright yellow dragon robe on his body had lost its former majesty and was loosely wrapped around his bony body. The jade belt around his waist also looked particularly wide, as if it would slip off at any time.
The hands that once directed the country and reviewed memorials are now reduced to a layer of dry flesh, tightly attached to the bones. There is still unwashed cinnabar in the cracks of the nails, as if it is the last unfinished crimson review.
Li Jiming looked at his brother in the coffin, tears welling up in his eyes. "Are you just going to leave Yi'er all alone? Brother, look at Yi'er. She's grown so big now. Do you see?"
Her voice was filled with endless reluctance, and every word was like a sharp blade, cutting the hearts of everyone present.
The only responses she got were the whimpering of the autumn wind blowing through the hall and the occasional popping of the eternal lamp.
"Yier, you still have your aunt and so many uncles here, you don't have to be afraid."
Li Jiming forced himself to stay calm and held up his niece's tear-stained face. "We have many relatives at home. It's okay! From now on, if you have any questions, you can come and talk to your aunt."
She gently pressed the handkerchief embroidered with mandarin ducks on Li Jingyi's face. It was embroidered by her and her sisters together back then, but now only the things and the people have changed.
"My aunt gave you Qinghua Pavilion."
Li Jiming's voice choked with sobs. "That's my aunt and my eldest aunt's business. They can make quite a bit of money. From now on, your expenses will be covered."
Qinghua Pavilion is the most prestigious clothing store in Xianyang, carrying the hard work and dreams of the sisters. Now, she handed it over to her niece without hesitation, just to give her a stable future.
Li Jingyi then slowly turned his head and looked at his father in the crystal coffin.
At first glance, she could hardly believe her eyes.
The omnipotent father in her memory, the father who would lift her up high and take her on horseback hunting, seemed so strange at this moment.
His face was as pale as paper, his eye sockets were sunken, his cheekbones were prominent, and his lips were as cracked as a dry riverbed, without a trace of blood.
If it weren't for the familiar facial features, she would hardly be able to connect the person in front of her with the father in her memory.
The trembling fingers were gently placed on the coffin, and a biting coldness hit me in the face.
Li Jingyi's tears dripped onto the coffin lid, but they could no longer awaken those eyes that were once full of kindness and majesty.
She suddenly remembered that the last time she saw her father, he asked her to come over.
That was in the Tai Chi Hall.
However, because of his brother, he was dissatisfied with him and was a little afraid, so he did not dare to go to his father.
Li Jingyi still remembers the disappointed look on his father's face at that time.
But she didn't force it.
Who knew that this would be the last time we saw each other.
She remembered that day, the candlelight in the Taiji Hall stretched his shadow very long.
For a moment, regret and guilt filled her heart.
Li Jiming hugged his niece from behind, his voice filled with relief: "Yier, don't blame your father. He has done everything he could."
"There's no one better than him in this world." She looked at her brother in the coffin, her eyes filled with pride. "No matter what history books record in the future, it won't change. He single-handedly created the Qianwu Reign."
"In fact, your father died a long time ago." Li Jiming's voice was so low that it was almost inaudible. "He died on the day the emperor's wife passed away, on the day his student died, and on the day your brother died."
When my sister-in-law died of illness, my brother's hair turned white overnight.
The most proud students left one after another. The eldest son died. The elder brother looked at the cold corpse without saying a word, but his eyes were terrifyingly empty.
"Death is not scary, Yier."
Li Jiming hugged Li Jingyi tighter, "But, your father has suffered so much."
"There is no greater sorrow in this world than the death of the heart, and the death of the body is second only to it."
She recalled the pain she felt when she lost her sister, and finally understood the heavy burden her brother had been carrying all these years.
The high-spirited manner in which he dictated state affairs in the court and the majesty and composure in front of the people were nothing but masks he used to hide his inner pain.
"Before, your younger aunt didn't understand anything. It wasn't until your older aunt passed away that she realized how much pain your father felt."
Li Jiming's tears fell into Li Jingyi's hair. "None of us has the right to speak ill of him."
She gently stroked her niece's hair, as if comforting the injured child and also comforting her once ignorant self.
Li Jingyi snuggled in his aunt's arms, looking at his father lying in the coffin, and finally understood that the figure that had always been tall had already been riddled with holes due to the wear and tear of time.
Tomorrow, my father will sleep forever in Qianling Mausoleum, together with my mother and brother, forever and ever.