Chapter 67

Yun Pianpian was stunned. She didn't understand what Xiao Changyuan meant by those words. She simply opened her tear, filled almond, shaped eyes and looked at him in confusion.
Xiao Changyuan pressed his thin lips together and remained silent.
He reached out with his pale, slender hand, scooped Yun Pianpian up by the waist, and leaped down from the top of the Moon-Snatching Tower using his inner strength, descending along the jade steps.
The use of inner strength relies on having a foundation underfoot. If Yun Pianpian had truly fallen from the top of the Moon-Snatching Tower earlier, even with Xiao Changyuan's unparalleled martial arts skills, he would have been powerless. He could only have watched her die before his eyes, and follow her in death.
The night was hazy, and the imperial palace was brilliantly lit.
Exquisite palace lanterns hung beneath the eaves of the halls.
The lanterns cast a soft, yellowish glow, illuminating the white marble steps underfoot.
Xiao Changyuan disliked having palace attendants serve him closely, so he had no personal attendants. Whenever he took Yun Pianpian out of the palace, he would dismiss everyone, not allowing any servants to follow. The palace servants knelt far away at the Xide Gate, bowing their heads respectfully to the ground, not daring to glance at them.
Although the palace was vast, the Moon-Snatching Tower stood twenty zhang high, and the jade platform was too elevated for the servants to clearly hear what was happening above.
Xiao Changyuan carried Yun Pianpian back to the bedchamber and placed her on the dragon bed.
Yun Pianpian did not know what Xiao Changyuan intended to do. Seeing his cold, noble, and handsome face, along with those lifeless icy eyes, she instinctively felt afraid. After being placed on the dragon bed, she immediately retreated, clutching the embroidered quilt tightly in her hand.
Xiao Changyuan had originally intended to lower his head and kiss her, but Yun Pianpian shrank away, avoiding his thin lips.
The emperor's gaze darkened.
Yun Pianpian's long, thick, and curled black eyelashes trembled slightly, not daring to look at the dimness in Xiao Changyuan's eyes.
Her heart ached faintly.
She was not afraid of death.
Just as Xiao Changyuan had said, her original intention was to seek death. After dying, she could return to the modern world. She did not fear the outcome of death, but she was afraid of the process. Yun Pianpian worried that she would die in agony, that she would suffer torment before death. She only wanted to die in the simplest way, falling from a high building was the easiest method she could imagine.
With a single thud, she could die.
But this simple death had been ruined by Xiao Changyuan.
She feared that Xiao Changyuan would torment her.
The man before her was once the man she loved most, but later he became the man she feared the most. She could not control him, and this sense of powerlessness frightened her. She did not know what terrible things this man might do.
Because she did not trust him, she feared him.
Xiao Changyuan lowered his eyelashes, his icy gaze sweeping over Yun Pianpian. He turned and walked toward the outer chamber of the bedchamber, passing around a purple sandalwood screen inlaid with jade, carved cloud and dragon patterns. There stood an imperial desk where Xiao Changyuan often reviewed memorials. Behind the desk was a purple sandalwood bookshelf adorned with many exquisite ornaments and some luxurious brocade boxes. Xiao Changyuan took down a golden nanmu brocade box from the shelf.
Holding the box in his hand, he slowly walked back toward Yun Pianpian.
Yun Pianpian, clutching the thin quilt, hid on the dragon bed. Seeing the object in Xiao Changyuan's hand, her almond, shaped eyes filled with confusion.
Xiao Changyuan approached her, opened the brocade box, and inside lay a white jade phoenix seal. The seal was carved with a lifelike phoenix, poised as if about to take flight. Xiao Changyuan said softly, “This is the phoenix seal. I originally intended to give it to you at your coronation ceremony as empress.”
Yun Pianpian's bewildered gaze gradually turned to one of puzzlement.
She did not understand why Xiao Changyuan was giving her the phoenix seal at this moment.
Xiao Changyuan continued, “This phoenix seal is made of soft jade. It is not easily broken and is harder than stone.”
Hearing his words, Yun Pianpian grew even more confused.
Why was he discussing the hardness and softness of jade with her?
Xiao Changyuan gazed at her with cold eyes. “Pianpian, do you know why I was able to regain my memories?”
Yun Pianpian was taken aback and shook her head. “I don't know.”
Xiao Changyuan replied indifferently, “That day, I suddenly realized that Pianpian had deceived me. But I wanted to know why, so I went to the city to find a physician. The physician said I was suffering from a dissociative disorder and that only external stimulation could dissipate the blood clot in my brain.”
Yun Pianpian was stunned.
She looked up at Xiao Changyuan. “External stimulation?”
Xiao Changyuan pursed his thin lips. “So, later, I jumped off a cliff.”
Yun Pianpian gasped sharply.
She had never imagined that Xiao Changyuan had regained his memories through such a terrifying method.
Xiao Changyuan’s cold eyes fixed on Yun Pianpian as he said, “After I jumped off the cliff, all my memories returned. But the physician told me that the blood clot in my brain was deeply embedded and that I needed to rest quietly. If I were to experience another shock, it could cause the dissociative disorder to recur.”
Yun Pianpian was stunned by his words.
Before she could react, Xiao Changyuan placed the Phoenix Seal in her hands. His dark, icy eyes bore into her. “Pianpian, use this Phoenix Seal to strike my head. Make my dissociative disorder recur, and the person you love will return.”
His voice was deep and calm, his tone indifferent, as if he were merely commenting on how round the moon was that night.
But Yun Pianpian was terrified by his words, her face turning deathly pale.
Her eyelashes trembled uncontrollably.
“I don’t want to.”
Her eyes reddened with tears, her fingers trembling as she threw the Phoenix Seal away in fear.
Xiao Changyuan pursed his thin lips, his gaze calm and detached as he looked at Yun Pianpian.
It seemed he had long anticipated that she wouldn’t dare to act.
The man stretched out his pale, slender hand and picked up the Phoenix Seal from the dragon bed.
His dark, abyssal eyes fixed intently on Yun Pianpian as he spoke in a cold, low voice.
“It’s alright. Anything Pianpian wants to do but doesn’t dare to, I will do for her. Anyone who frightens Pianpian, I will make them disappear from her sight, including myself.”
Under Yun Pianpian’s horrified gaze, Xiao Changyuan raised the Phoenix Seal and smashed it violently against his own head.
Blood gushed forth.
Crimson blood trickled down the emperor’s pale, cold, and handsome face, lending his features a breathtakingly sinister and bewitching allure.
The blood traced a winding path along his distant, mountain, like brows, dripped onto his jade, like straight nose, slid past his pale thin lips, and finally fell from his elegant jaw with a soft plop onto the luxurious and exquisite dragon bed.
The palace lanterns flickered, the room was utterly silent, so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
Throughout the entire process, Xiao Changyuan’s dark, icy eyes never left Yun Pianpian’s face.
He kept staring at her as if he wanted to etch her into his heart forever.
Yun Pianpian was so terrified her mind went blank, her entire body trembled uncontrollably, her lips devoid of color.
“Xiao Changyuan, have you gone mad?”
“I’ve been mad for a long time.”
Xiao Changyuan’s gaze was somber as he said, “The moment Pianpian wanted to leave me, I had already lost my mind.”
Yun Pianpian’s lips trembled with fear.
She couldn’t utter a word.
Xiao Changyuan’s eyes deepened as he stared into Yun Pianpian’s, murmuring softly, “I still remember Pianpian. It seems once isn’t enough. I’ll have to strike a second time, a third time…”
“Don’t strike again.”
With red, rimmed eyes, Yun Pianpian rushed forward, trying to snatch the phoenix seal from Xiao Changyuan’s hand. “Don’t smash it.”
But Xiao Changyuan grabbed her slender, pale arm, pulling her into his embrace. His eyes were dark and intense as he whispered soothingly, “Don’t worry, Pianpian. I will soon return the one you love to you.”
Hearing the madness and obsession in his tone, Yun Pianpian’s tears fell. “I don’t want you to return him anymore. Please stop.”
Xiao Changyuan held her tightly against his chest, one arm wrapped around her trembling body while the other raised the phoenix seal and struck his own head again and again, each blow ruthless and fatal.
“Don’t be afraid, Pianpian. Close your eyes. Don’t look at the blood. I will succeed soon.”
Trapped in his iron, like embrace, Yun Pianpian couldn’t move a muscle. Feeling him continue to strike his head with the phoenix seal, each impact felt like a sharp blade piercing her heart. She sobbed, “I don’t want him anymore! I don’t! I don’t want you to smash it!”
It was only at this moment that Yun Pianpian realized that the Tyrant Yuan and the Amnesiac Yuan were one and the same person.
The Amnesiac Yuan would have cut off his own wrist and returned his hand to her over a single mischievous lie. And the Tyrant Yuan, because she said she loved the Amnesiac Yuan, was now smashing his own head relentlessly with the phoenix seal, trying to bring the Amnesiac Yuan back to her.
They were clearly the same person.
Yet, because the Tyrant Yuan wasn’t as gentle with her, she had willfully separated them into two individuals.
She had been too willful, too heartless, too despicable.
They were one person but she insisted on seeing them as two.
Yun Pianpian wanted to stop it all.
But her words, falling on Xiao Changyuan’s ears, made him think that she not only rejected him but also no longer wanted the Amnesiac Yuan she had once loved.
A sense of loss filled Xiao Changyuan’s heart. His cold eyes grew dim and frenzied. Gripping the white jade phoenix seal, he struck his own head with brutal force. A sharp pain shot through him, and darkness clouded his vision. He collapsed straight from the dragon bed onto the floor with a heavy thud.
The blood, stained white jade phoenix seal slipped from his hand.
With a clatter, it rolled onto the golden bricks.
Yun Pianpian, held tightly in Xiao Changyuan’s embrace, fell with him. But before he succumbed to the darkness, he still remembered to shield her head with his hand, ensuring her delicate skull wouldn’t strike the hard golden bricks.
Yun Pianpian’s head landed softly in Xiao Changyuan’s firm, protective palm, and she felt not a hint of pain.
Tears streamed down her face like rain.
Yun Pianpian wept as she checked on Xiao Changyuan’s condition.
Xiao Changyuan’s head was bleeding.
A crimson trail of blood snaked across his jade, like, handsome face, the stark red making his snow, white skin appear even paler, drained of all color.
The emperor’s eyes were tightly shut as if he had lost all signs of life.
Despair flooded Yun Pianpian’s heart.
She held him tightly, sobbing, “Xiao Changyuan, don’t scare me, you can’t scare me like this!”
She feared he had knocked himself to death.
Just as Yun Pianpian was about to rise and call for the imperial physician outside the hall, a pale, slender, and bony hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.
“Wife…”
The man’s voice was low and hoarse.
Yun Pianpian froze.
It had been a long time since she had heard that tone.
Stiffly, she turned her head.
Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared blankly at Xiao Changyuan, who had sat up.
Xiao Changyuan frowned, reaching up to touch the blood on his forehead.
A flicker of confusion crossed his dark, cold eyes.
He looked at Yun Pianpian with the gentleness of a small animal.
“Wife, what happened?”
Yun Pianpian’s eyes widened.
Glittering, scalding tears silently slid from the corners of her eyes.
Seeing Yun Pianpian’s tears, Xiao Changyuan frowned slightly, panicked, and reached out with his bloodstained hand, clumsily wiping her tears away.
“Wife, what’s wrong?”
The man fumbled anxiously like a child who had done something wrong, his dark eyes filled with alarm.
“Why are you crying?”
The more Xiao Changyuan wiped her tears, the more Yun Pianpian’s eyes welled up. She gazed at him with reddened, moist eyes, her voice trembling slightly, “Husband, do you remember why we came here?”
Xiao Changyuan paused, looking around.
Suddenly, he frowned and turned to Yun Pianpian.
“Wife, where is this?”
Hearing his words, Yun Pianpian burst into tears.
The tears wouldn’t stop, no matter how hard she tried.
Xiao Changyuan flusteredly tried to comfort her, “Wife, don’t cry. Whoever bullied you, I’ll kill them…”
Hearing the murderous intent in his tone, Yun Pianpian said with red, rimmed eyes, “No one bullied me.”
Xiao Changyuan grew puzzled, “Then why are you crying?”
Yun Pianpian sobbed, “I don’t know why either, I just feel so sad inside…”
She didn’t know whether she was crying out of joy at seeing the amnesiac Yuan or out of sorrow for losing the tyrant Yuan. All she knew was that she was unbearably sad, her chest aching as if her heart had been stabbed unexpectedly.
Xiao Changyuan carefully held Yun Pianpian in his arms, lowering his head to kiss the tears from her eyelashes.
His voice was soft and murmuring, as if coaxing a child who hadn’t gotten candy.
“Wife, don’t be sad…”
Hearing his gentle, restrained voice, Yun Pianpian wrapped her arms tightly around Xiao Changyuan, trembling slightly as she buried her tear, streaked face in his chest.
So she didn’t see that in the place she couldn’t see, a flicker of restless displeasure flashed in Xiao Changyuan’s dark, cold eyes.
…Did I not act amnesic convincingly enough?
…Why is this infuriating woman still crying so pitifully?
…Women are so troublesome.
Frowning, Xiao Changyuan held the woman he deemed utterly troublesome, carefully wiping away her tears.
He whispered helplessly, coaxing her gently, “Wife, please don't cry. Let's go to Lingxu Mountain to see the sea of clouds and waterfalls, then head to Xuzhou to eat your favorite plum blossom pastries. Whatever you desire, I will fulfill it for you. Please, just stop crying, alright.”