The Eastern Palace.
Xia Chuli was lying on the desk, looking down at something. Just then:
"Whoosh—"
An arrow suddenly broke through the window and pierced into the wooden rack behind him with a "ding".
"Tsk." Xia Chuli snorted. He covered his severely painful back and stood up. When he saw the cloth strip on the arrow's tail, a glint of harshness that didn't match his age flashed across his eyes. He grabbed the end of the arrow and yanked it out forcefully.
Xia Chuli tore off the cloth strip and unfolded it to take a look.
If there had been another person present, they would have noticed that Xia Chuli's expression changed from expected to envious and hateful in a very short time, and then showed a hint of barely perceptible nostalgia.
He crumpled the cloth strip into his palm, then snapped the arrow in half and threw all these things into the brazier.
Immediately afterwards, he casually grabbed a piece of rice paper from the table and stuffed it into the brazier. Then he took out a fire starter and lit the rice paper.
Rice paper is highly flammable. The tongues of fire quickly spread along the veins of the paper and soon devoured all the items in the brazier. The wooden arrow was ignited and made a sharp crackling sound in the brazier.
Xia Chuli squatted beside the brazier, ignoring the severe pain in his back. The dancing flames were reflected in his dark eyes, and the burning heat of the fire spread across his cheeks, but he didn't even notice the scalding.
In front of his eyes, the Shanhe Hall ablaze with fire slowly emerged. It was so hot, so scalding. He saw his own severed head beside him being burned to a white skeleton. On the other side, the dragon robe on his torso was deformed by the fire. The dragon woven with gold thread was twisted into a mess due to the high temperature and then turned charcoal black.
In the raging fire, there were two figures tightly embracing each other. One of them had already lost their life, and their limbs were stiff and cold. The other had stabbed a dagger into their own chest, and the hot blood was dripping onto the pale face of the person in their arms.
He watched as the kneeling person slowly lowered their head and planted a kiss on the pale lips of the person in their arms.
In an instant, the flames flared up and swallowed everything in front of him.
Xia Chuli's face was flushed red by the firelight. His expression was ferocious, with some emotion that was either envy or something else, which made people tremble with fear.
"Daodao..."
Xia Chuli trembled all over. He woke up from his dream like a person coming to their senses. After regaining his composure, he found that his face was already burning painfully because he had gotten too close to the brazier.
"A Li, are you in there?" Shen Qingfeng's voice came from the door. His familiar voice was enough to pull Xia Chuli's thoughts back from the memories to reality.
He supported the edge of the table and stood up. He rubbed his face with his hand. The harshness on his face gradually faded away, and was gradually replaced by the greenness and inexperience of a seventeen - year - old boy.
The door was opened from the inside.
"Qingfeng, you're here." Xia Chuli's smiling face emerged from behind the door. Shen Qingfeng was just about to say something when he smelled a burning odor.
"Hmm? Are you burning something?" Shen Qingfeng frowned and looked over Xia Chuli's shoulder at the almost burned - out brazier.
"Oh, I just drew a painting. I thought it was ugly, so I burned it." Xia Chuli said. He supported the door and staggered to the side to let Shen Qingfeng in.
When Shen Qingfeng saw his appearance, his heart ached. He quickly put Xia Chuli's arm around his neck and supported him as he limped towards the bed. "You, why don't you take good care of your injuries? Thirty strokes of the cane are no joke."
Xia Chuli gave a soft laugh. Although his whole back still hurt badly, he still managed to tug at the corner of his mouth and said, "It's okay. I've bribed the executioners. They didn't use much strength."
Shen Qingfeng supported Xia Chuli to lie on the bed and spat, "But it's still thirty strokes... Does it still hurt a lot now?"
Xia Chuli shook his head. "Much better."
Shen Qingfeng sighed. "Have you applied the medicine?"
Xia Chuli stared intently at Shen Qingfeng's face and said, "Qi Mengmeng has already applied the medicine for me."
"That's good." Shen Qingfeng sighed. Then he picked up the quilt and covered Xia Chuli's body. The whole set of actions was smooth and very natural. Xia Chuli deliberately mentioned Qi Mengmeng, but he didn't see the corresponding emotion on Shen Qingfeng's face.
It was a very normal conversation, but because Xia Chuli didn't get the answer he wanted, his face immediately darkened. But he reacted very quickly and quickly tidied up his expression. When Shen Qingfeng looked up, he still saw Xia Chuli's green face.
"I've already entrusted Liu Mei to investigate Qi Shuhuan for us. The forces on Prince Cheng's side have been getting restless recently. We need to make plans early." Shen Qingfeng said.
Xia Chuli nodded. Indeed, this life was very different from the previous one. Based on his understanding of Xia Yonglin, he was sure that Xia Yonglin wouldn't let it go and would definitely find some other means.
After all, that guy Xia Yonglin wished for his death.
However, the reason why this life was different was actually Shen Qingfeng.
Xia Chuli knew how much Shen Qingfeng had loved him in the previous life. It was precisely because of Shen Qingfeng's almost paranoid love that Xia Chuli had dared to be unscrupulous towards Shen Qingfeng. In order to seize the throne, he had married Qi Mengmeng, killed the clans, killed the Shen family, and then thrown him into the cold palace.
He had taken concubines and even had three thousand beauties in his harem. Despite all this, that person was always there every time he went to the Qifeng Hall.
He knew that Shen Qingfeng couldn't let go of him.
But in this life, Shen Qingfeng had actually followed Lu Yan.
Why?
Xia Chuli actually already had an answer in his heart.
And he had almost confirmed this answer when he saw Yu Shuang and learned that he had discovered the lead - free silver water.
"Qingfeng."
"Hmm?"
"My body hurts. Take a look at me."
Shen Qingfeng paused for a moment and then sighed. He stood up and slowly lifted the quilt.
His faintly cold fingers slowly stroked Xia Chuli's back. Shen Qingfeng's voice came from above. "Why has the wound split open again? Let me apply the medicine for you again."
"Okay." Xia Chuli couldn't tell what kind of mood he was in now. Almost all his attention was on Shen Qingfeng's fingertips. Those slightly cool fingertips were like the keys that carried countless of his memories, and they exploded the moment they touched his back. The long - lost touch actually made Xia Chuli tremble all over.
"Does it hurt? Bear with it." Shen Qingfeng's voice became even softer.
It had been too long, so long that he couldn't remember.
When was the last time Shen Qingfeng had spoken to him like this?
Xia Chuli couldn't remember. He only remembered that in the Qifeng Hall back then, a lonely and desolate figure had stood under the ginkgo tree, smiling brightly as they took the poisoned wine he had personally offered and drank it all in one gulp.
In the previous life, Shen Qingfeng had been a pawn, a tool for his use, and also an obstacle to his dominance of the world.
When he had just ascended the throne and wanted to win people's hearts, there had to be someone to bear all his evil deeds, so he had chosen Shen Qingfeng without hesitation.
Because the common people in the world needed a reasonable explanation, and he had already planned Shen Qingfeng's script—
Shen Qingfeng was cruel and ambitious. He had killed Xia Yonglin and Xia Yanhe, and then led troops to force the emperor to abdicate and support Xia Chuli to ascend the throne, with the aim of controlling the emperor to order the vassals.
After the wise Emperor Xia Li had come to power, he had beheaded the treacherous official Shen Qingfeng, rectified justice, and posthumously honored the previous emperor and his two brothers who had died a tragic death. The common people praised that the wise emperor was finally no longer persecuted by the treacherous official, and his ascension to the throne was legitimate enough.
In order to win the hearts of the people, he had not shown any mercy when he had killed Shen Qingfeng.
But he still remembered that when Lu Yan had stepped into the Shanhe Hall with Shen Qingfeng's blood - soaked body in his arms, his heart had suddenly twitched.
Xia Chuli didn't understand. He had thought about it for a long time but hadn't come up with a suitable answer.
He only knew that he had been very lonely after Shen Qingfeng's death.
Well, in this life, just don't let him die. Xia Chuli thought like this.
"Qingfeng, you're the same as me." Xia Chuli suddenly said out of the blue.
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Xia Chuli grunted.
Shen Qingfeng, you're the same as me. We don't belong to this time and space. We both have memories of our previous lives. We've been entangled for a lifetime—so you shouldn't have any intersection with Lu Yan.
You belong to me.