Chapter 80

Yan Yiming had not deliberately planned how to bring about this turning point. It was only after Madam Shao added something else to her medicine bowl that Yan Yiming seized the opportunity and conceived such an idea.
Although, by the calendar, the dosage administered over these days was not enough to take her life, if she wished, she could end her existence at any time, in any place.
During the celebration of Old Madam Shao's seventieth birthday, noblewomen from all over the capital were present. Exposing her identity before everyone's eyes and then staging a life-and-death farewell in front of Shao Jingyu was enough to shatter all his psychological defenses in an instant.
Shao Jingyu had been feeling uneasy in the front hall when a guard he had assigned to protect Yan Yiming rushed in, urgently reporting that his wife had publicly accused Yan Yiming of having an affair with Yun Xiao.
For a moment, Shao Jingyu thought he had misheard. He could not fathom why his usually gentle and wise mother would draw such a conclusion and speak such words, but he could immediately imagine how Yan Yiming would react upon hearing them.
She was a hero forged on the battlefield, a being born of countless battles and bloodshed. She had never cared for power or status. Back when his own fame had risen, some scions of noble families in the capital had confidently taken up arms, only to be whipped by Yan Yiming's horsewhip until they wept, unable to kill enemies and prone to laziness.
She feared nothing. Though born into poverty, she possessed the most unyielding pride.
To such a person, his mother had attached such a vile accusation, an insult she could never tolerate.
Day by day, the tension had built. He knew how much she had been enduring and suffering lately. He had told his mother how difficult her life had been these days. Why, then, had his mother abruptly changed her attitude the moment he turned his back?
Shao Jingyu always possessed an extraordinary alertness and sixth sense on the battlefield. As he strode toward the rear garden, his heart, which had never faltered even in the face of tens of thousands of armored cavalry, began to spiral out of control uncontrollably.
In those few short steps, Shao Jingyu imagined the worst possible outcome. A’Ming had never feared death, so what could the worst outcome be?
Would she be driven to reveal her identity?
It didn’t matter, Shao Jingyu reassured himself. He would do everything in his power to protect them both and take her far from the capital. Even if they had to go to the windswept, sandy northwest, it would be fine. It didn’t matter if she disliked it here or if his family disapproved of her.
But despite all the scenarios he had considered, the one thing Shao Jingyu never anticipated was that Yan Yiming would die right before his eyes.
He heard countless voices calling out to him, “General!” He saw the familiar figure collapse into the arms of some lady, the blood at the corner of her lips seeming to seep slowly from his own heart, causing a sudden, unbearable pain.
Shao Jingyu stood there, dazed, just a few steps away, watching as if all the blood had been drained from his body. Then, as if gone mad, he rushed forward, snatched her back, and held her tightly in his arms.
His hands trembled, tears streamed down, but he couldn’t speak. They say that in moments of extreme grief and shock, words fail.
The surroundings were chaotic, but Yan Yiming’s voice imprinted itself clearly in his heart. She said she missed the starry skies of the grasslands, missed the youth who had once counted stars with her. She asked to be buried on the hills of her homeland but forbade him from ever appearing before her again.
The psychological defenses he had built over so long shattered completely at those words. As the woman in his arms finally closed her eyes, his world crumbled into fragments.
Yun Xiao practically dragged the physician through the crowd. The physician, trembling with fear, took Yan Yiming’s pulse, then abruptly knelt and cried out urgently, “General, the young lady has passed away.”
Shao Jingyu didn’t move, only holding the person in his arms even tighter, as if trying to cling to the last remnants of warmth to deceive himself. Yun Xiao stood frozen in shock, then suddenly grabbed the physician and roared, “She was playing chess with me just an hour ago! How could she be dead in the blink of an eye?”
“I-I wouldn’t dare lie to you, General! This young lady was already severely injured, and she was poisoned afterward...”
Before the physician could finish, Shao Jingyu seized him by the collar, his handsome face now terrifying with red, frenzied eyes. “What do you mean, poisoned?”
The crowd erupted in uproar.
Madam Shao, still standing dazed in place, suddenly panicked.
It couldn’t be. The physician had said the medicine would take at least a year to take effect slowly, which was why she had dared to take this gamble. Moreover, because Yan Yiming had grown suspicious, she had even ordered the medicine to be stopped. How could Yan Yiming have been poisoned?
Yet she had indeed been poisoned. The physician staked his life on it, swearing that Yan Yiming had been afflicted by a specific poison, one that targeted those with severe injuries. If the injury was grave, death would surely follow within half a year.
Shao Jingyu’s grip on the physician’s collar loosened in bewilderment. Suddenly, he recalled something from the past that he had overlooked.
He couldn’t remember exactly which day it was, but Yan Yiming had once mentioned offhandedly that the medicine that day seemed different, as if something had been added. But he hadn’t paid it any mind, assuming it was just a change in the prescription.
Who prescribed the medicine, and where did it come from? Shao Jingyu, in disbelief, had touched upon the truth. As he looked at Yan Yiming, who had already closed her eyes, a sense of absurdity and mockery at the heavens’ cruelty washed over him.
He had even asked why she was poisoned, why she had to die, when, in truth, he was the one who had pushed her toward death from the very beginning.
The Ninth Princess hesitated, standing to the side, and spoke uncertainly, “Brother Jingyu, she said she... is the Yiyong Marquis. Is it true?”
“Yes,” Shao Jingyu replied, lifting the person who would never wake again. He didn’t know what she had said, but he was certain she would never lie. His gaze fell upon her pale face as he let out a bitter laugh. “Whatever she said, it is true.”
A heavy silence fell over everyone. When Yan Yiming had spoken those words, many might have been half-convinced, half-doubting. But when she suddenly died, the weight of a hero’s noble spirit being driven to death by fools struck their hearts, and they believed most of it.
Now, with Shao Jingyu’s confirmation, how could they hide their inner shock?
Though there were tales of Mulan taking her father’s place in the army, none could compare to the shock of experiencing it firsthand, nor the sorrow of witnessing such a figure vanish in an instant.
In Jinling, winter had already arrived, and snow began to fall unexpectedly. Yun Xiao suddenly recalled a day when Yan Yiming had told him that an early snow would come this year.
But now, as the early snow descended, she would never see it.
On that day, the first snow of the early winter in the fiftieth year of Chenxia, the once-renowned Marquis Yiyong reappeared in people’s conversations. From the emperor down to the common folk, everyone learned that the prodigiously talented young general was, in fact, a young woman.
In ancient times, there was Yue Fei, who served his country with unwavering loyalty but met a tragic end at the hands of treacherous officials. Now, there was Yan Yiming, who fought valiantly on the battlefield, only to be poisoned due to the filth and schemes of the inner household.
A hero who did not die on the battlefield, heartbreaking, and profoundly sorrowful.
Shao Jingyu brought her back to the general’s residence, carefully laid her on the bed, and covered her with a quilt before turning to leave and entering the majestic imperial palace.
Along the way, palace servants cast strange yet sorrowful glances his way, but Shao Jingyu seemed not to notice. Amid the swirling snow, he knelt on the cold, bone-chilling marble floor outside the Hall of Golden Chimes, like a statue.
A eunuch softly announced his presence. The emperor’s brush paused, and the characters of “Manjiang Hong” abruptly stopped.
“The minister’s grievance, when will it be extinguished?” Now the minister was dead, and he had never had the chance to meet her.
What is the most heartbreaking? A hero’s downfall, a beauty’s untimely death, when the two intertwine, it only magnifies the countless regrets.
The Ninth Princess had told him everything. He understood Shao Jingyu’s joy in winning the heart of such a woman but could not comprehend his obsession with burying all that she was. A woman like her was meant to soar freely like a sea eagle, not be trapped like a golden canary in a cage.
You broke her wings, and in doing so, you ended her life. Even if she had survived, it would have been no different from death.
Such a simple and clear reasoning, how could Shao Jingyu, with his exceptional intellect, fail to grasp it?
He was no foolish or rigid emperor; he harbored no blame for such a woman but instead admired her all the more. Yet now that she had passed, he could only add regret to regret.
After countless regrets, Shao Jingyu’s crime of falsifying military reports could not be pardoned, and the Shao family’s offense of poisoning a high-ranking court official had to be pursued. The emperor finished writing the poem “Manjiang Hong” before finally summoning Shao Jingyu inside.
The once vibrant young man now seemed devoid of all life. The heavy, jarring sound of his knees hitting the floor did not so much as stir the emperor’s brow.
After a long silence, the emperor spoke calmly. He did not ask why Shao Jingyu had come, nor did he discuss the charges. In the most ordinary tone, he asked if Shao Jingyu regretted it.
Regret? How could he not regret it?
He regretted letting his selfish desires ruin her life, regretted making the decision that ended her life, and regretted his own foolishness that led to her tragic death at another’s hands.
If he had never entertained that thought, what might things be like now?
But Shao Jingyu dared not dwell on it.
The emperor gazed at the young man he had once admired most, now filled with nothing but regret.
“Falsifying military reports and, for personal motives, causing the death of an official, these crimes cannot be absolved. However, the punishment does not warrant death. In light of your military achievements, you are demoted to the third rank and stripped of your nobility title. Do you have any objections?”
“None.”
“The Shao family, in their ignorance, harmed a loyal subject, a crime unforgivable, punishable by death. Do you have any objections?”
“None.”
“If that is the case, why do you not withdraw?”
“If I had not brought her back without authorization, none of this would have happened. The primary offender should be me. The Shao family, in their ignorance, poisoned a loyal subject, a capital offense. Yet she is, after all, my birth mother. I am willing to die in her place.”
The emperor narrowed his eyes, watching him. “She is the one who caused Yanqing’s death.”
“I know,” Shao Jingyu smiled bitterly. “But she is still my birth mother. The debt of giving me life, I dare not leave it unpaid.”
Shao Jingyu’s reply came as no surprise. The emperor sighed. “But to exchange an ignorant woman for a great general of our Xia dynasty, this is a terribly unprofitable trade.”
Step by step, Shao Jingyu walked out of the Hall of Golden Chimes. The cold snowflakes fell upon his cheeks, scattering his muddled thoughts. The splendid pavilions and towers before his eyes were exquisitely beautiful, but for the rest of his life, no one would share the view with him.
He went personally to the prison to see Madam Shao one last time. Overjoyed at the sight of her son, she wept and asked if he had come to rescue her. “My son has rendered great service, surely His Majesty will not blame us, right?”
The guards nearby signaled that Madam Shao was free to leave. Delighted, she reached out to grasp Shao Jingyu’s sleeve, but he shook her off.
Shao Jingyu’s gaze fell upon Madam Shao, devoid of any emotion and tinged with resentment. Startled, she murmured his name, only to hear his icy voice speak word by word:
“Madam Shao, for poisoning a court official, is spared in consideration of her son. She shall go to Fuyu Temple to cultivate herself. As long as the lamp of devotion burns, she shall not return. As for me, from this day forth, whether you live or die has nothing to do with me.”
The life you gave me, I return to you. From now on, you shall spend your life cultivating in her place.
And I, carrying her final wish, will bury you on the northern hills. There, I shall keep company with wind, sand, and armored steeds. Unless summoned by the emperor, I shall not return for the rest of my days.
With that, Shao Jingyu turned and walked away. Watching her son depart, Madam Shao suddenly broke into a frantic, desperate wail, without her son, what difference was there between life and death for her? She lunged forward, trying to grab Shao Jingyu’s sleeve, but was restrained by the palace attendants and forcibly dragged away.
Piercing cries and the foul stench of rotting flesh filled the prison. The brand of a criminal’s mark seared into Madam Shao’s cheek, blood blurring her vision, leaving her ghastly and horrifying. She reached out as if to grasp something, but before her lay only emptiness, nothing appeared.
Yan Yiming watched the final scene unfold before stepping out of the dim prison. Outside, scattered snowflakes drifted from the sky, washing away the foul air and blood, bringing an unprecedented sense of relief and clarity.
All the conquests were finally complete at this moment. Yan Yiming let out a long sigh and, in an instant, found herself back in the void. Little A had been waiting there for quite some time.
In high spirits, Yan Yiming patted Little A’s head. Having spent so many years in this world, she was finally able to return and couldn’t help but feel excited. She cleared her throat twice to suppress her emotions before asking, “When do we set off?”
Little A shrank back, pursed its lips, and timidly remained silent.
“What’s wrong? Are you malfunctioning again?” Yan Yiming asked anxiously. She truly wanted to go back. Though reality had its own hardships, it was, after all, the place she came from.
Little A cursed the planners in its heart a thousand times, why did their whims have to make it suffer? It was genuinely afraid its host would fly into a rage and tear it to pieces.
Seeing its hesitant demeanor, a sense of foreboding slowly rose in Yan Yiming’s heart. Forcing a smile, she adopted a gentle tone and said softly, “It’s fine, go ahead and tell me. I won’t be angry.”
Little A blinked and whispered, “Really?”
“Really,” Yan Yiming nodded with utmost sincerity.
Convinced by Yan Yiming’s earnest expression, Little A trembled but finally spoke up, “Actually, the planners updated the system again. So, not only do we have to conquer all four male leads, but we also have to complete every storyline in the game before we can leave for good.”
I. Knew. It!
Unable to contain her frustration any longer, Yan Yiming grabbed Little A and hurled it in a parabolic arc through the air. A shrill scream pierced the sky as everything around them abruptly shifted once more. The familiar scent of the air filled her nostrils again.
Returning after being thrown, Little A timidly held up a set of clothes above its head and stammered, “Host, it’s freezing cold… maybe we should… change clothes first…”