Yu Xiyan vaguely remembered that Shen Zhao had personally planted a Jade Night Glazed crabapple tree on this empty plot of land before their wedding.
Whenever the wind blew, the Jade Night Glazed leaves hanging on the tree would emit a pleasant, ethereal sound, composing a piece of celestial music.
It could calm her restless mood and also wipe away the fatigue of the day.
Even during the summer and autumn, the sky filled with flying Jade Night Glazed leaves radiated dazzling, gentle light in the night sky, enveloping the entire palace in a poetic and spiritual sea of flowers, like a tide of flowers, indescribable.
"Autumn Moon."
"This subordinate is here!"
"Go and guard outside. I want to be alone for a while."
"Yes."
After Shangguan Qiuyue left, Yu Xiyan walked through the courtyard where she had spent an unknown amount of time in her previous life. Familiar scenes flashed through her mind like a lantern show.
Suddenly, Yu Xiyan saw a sky filled with soft light, instantly transforming the dim courtyard into a scene resembling a fairyland.
"Xiyan! Do you like it?"
A familiar voice echoed in her ears, causing Yu Xiyan's eyes to brighten. In front of her stood a young, talented man in a white brocade robe, with the familiar Jade Night Glazed tree behind him.
"Husband!"
Seeing the handsome face of the young man, filled with smiles and eyes brimming with love, a look of surprise immediately appeared on Yu Xiyan's gloomy face.
She hurried towards Shen Zhao, suppressing her excitement, wanting to embrace him tightly.
However, at that moment, a cold voice came from behind her.
"Shen Zhao! Did you call me here just to watch these boring tricks?"
The familiar voice made her stop in her tracks, turning around in shock.
She saw another version of herself behind her, staring at Shen Zhao with a face of frost, her eyes filled with dissatisfaction and disdain.
Shen Zhao hurriedly said, "Xiyan, I know you're busy handling state affairs every day, but today is our wedding. I specifically planted this Jade Night Glazed tree.
It can calm your mind and allow you to find peace when you're troubled, so you won't be so irritable. I thought you would like it..."
"I don't need your kindness! If you think you can change my impression of you with these strange flowers and fruits, then forget about it!"
"No, Xiyan, listen to me, I just..."
"Don't you dare call my name! How can you, of all people, call me by my name? You need to know your place!"
"Yes, Xi... Your Majesty..."
"Remember, our marriage is just a marriage in name only. I am the ruler of a nation, and you are merely my substitute. You are never to set foot in my sleeping quarters without my summons, do you understand?"
"Yes, I will obey everything, Your Majesty."
"Hmph..."
After a scolding, Yu Xiyan gave a disgusted look and turned to leave.
"No, stay! It's not like this, don't treat him like that, you've let him down far too much."
In reality, Yu Xiyan was screaming inside, wanting to grab at the figure of herself walking away, but her hand reached out and grasped nothing.
Turning her head, Yu Xiyan looked at Shen Zhao's desolate figure standing under the Jade Night Glazed tree, and for the first time, she actually hated herself so much.
Yu Xiyan had treated him like that, and she'd expected Shen Zhao to be displeased. But in the next second, Shen Zhao took a deep breath, turned around, and began clearing weeds from the Jade Night Glazed tree, muttering to himself, "It's okay, Xiyan must be troubled by the court affairs. It's okay, I will definitely find her better treasures in the future. It's okay, Shen Zhao, you can do it!"
Seeing this, Yu Xiyan's eyes immediately reddened. She walked behind Shen Zhao and shook her head, saying, "You fool. She treats you like this, so why don't you hold any resentment? Is it worth it?
Why don't you ever defend yourself? Don't you trust me at all?"
In the next moment, the memory illusion gradually dissipated, and the soft light dimmed again. Everything returned to the cold reality.
There was no Jade Night Glazed crabapple tree, no sky full of soft light, and no man who had given his life for her without any regrets.
A soft sigh escaped her lips, whether from regret or pity, Yu Xiyan walked silently towards the depths of the courtyard.
In front of a stone platform, Yu Xiyan stopped. The scene from her previous life reappeared before her eyes.
A melodious flute echoed through the courtyard. Shen Zhao, in his military uniform, played a cheerful tune. Around him were her aging father, her beloved mother, her rebellious but very sensible younger brother, Yu Xizhao, and her younger sister, Yu Xiyao, who was staring at Shen Zhao with a look of infatuation.
Yu Xiyao gazed quietly at the face so close to her, peacefully savoring the atmosphere of family reunion.
Once the music ended, Yu Xiyao was the first to clap. "You were amazing, Brother-in-law! I never expected you to be so skilled in war, and so proficient in the arts of the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. I truly can't imagine anyone in the world being more amazing than you."
Her father, Yu Guopu, laughed, "Hahaha, excellent! Truly, my son-in-law is worthy. I wasn't mistaken about you. Xiyan is truly blessed, hahaha..."
Her mother, Gu Ningye, added, "Yes, it's truly our good fortune that the royal family has such a son-in-law as Zhao. It's just a pity..."
Pausing, Gu Ningye continued, "Zhao and Xiyan have been married for almost three years, and we still haven't seen any sign of Xiyan's pregnancy."
"That's right, that's right!" Yu Guopu hurriedly said, "Zhao, you've shaken the North, washing away three hundred years of shame for our Great Yin Dynasty. You are the benefactor of Great Yin. It's just that your father is getting old, and I just want to hold a grandson. You must work hard and seize the opportunity."
"Uh... hehe... Father, you flatter me..."
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Shen Zhao could only offer a foolish, apologetic smile.
Just as Yu Xiyan was reliving the beautiful memories of the past, a chilling aura shattered the pleasant atmosphere.
Turning around, she saw Yu Xiyan, her face devoid of expression, enter the courtyard. She bowed to Yu Guopu and Gu Ningye, then fixed a furious stare on Shen Zhao.
Yu Guopu, knowing Yu Xiyan's temper, quickly led the others out of the courtyard.
As soon as they left, Yu Xiyan's icy voice echoed in the courtyard: "I'm asking you, what did you do on this expedition to the Great Wilderness!"
Shen Zhao looked innocent: "What's wrong, Xiyan? What did I do wrong?"
"Who gave you permission to call me by my name!"
"What orders does Your Majesty have?"
"The Mang Clan of the Western Continent, one million seven hundred thousand people, men, women, and children, you didn't spare a single one? You slaughtered them all? Shen Zhao, I never realized you were so bloodthirsty, so cruel, so vicious!"
"Your Majesty, please, let me explain. There are reasons for this. That Mang Clan of the Northern Wilderness…"
"I don't want to hear your excuses! I thought you might finally do something useful for the Great Yin Dynasty! I was considering how to give you a promotion, but you've disappointed me so much. Those old and young were innocent, how could you bear to do it?"
"Your Majesty, if I hadn't acted with such ruthlessness, the Great Yin Dynasty would have been unable to control the Great Wilderness. Moreover, the Mang Clan is inherently savage. From a young age, children are taught that the Yin Emperor's Dynasty is their backyard.
They learn how to kill our Central Continent people from a young age, using it as a way to show off. If we don't eradicate this, it will bring endless trouble to the Great Yin Dynasty in the future.
Furthermore, we have three hundred years of hatred between our two nations. How can we not kill them, to atone for those who were killed, captured, and suffered by the Mang Clan…"
"Enough! You don't need to teach me how to do things. Don't think I don't know what you're scheming. Remember this, the Great Yin's empire belongs to the Yu clan, not the Shen clan. If you want to rise through military merit, I won't stop you.
But if you try to use military power to harm the people and commit treason, then don't blame me for not considering old friendships. Do you understand?"
"Your servant… understands…"
"Hmph…"
After saying this, Yu Xiyan turned and left, once again leaving Shen Zhao with a forlorn figure.
Yu Xiyan looked at the scene before her, gazing at the bewildered illusion of Shen Zhao. She lightly parted her lips and instinctively reached out her hand, wanting to caress that handsome face.
But the next moment, Shen Zhao clutched his chest and shook his head, saying, "My wife is kind-hearted and benevolent. She will be a good emperor.
It's just that many local aristocratic families are eyeing my wife's throne covetously. We must find a way to eliminate them all, so my wife can secure her position."
After saying this, he hummed a little tune and began to tidy up the furnishings in the courtyard.
"Why are you so foolish? Of course, I know that everything you do is right. It's just that I was too jealous of you, afraid that you would someday usurp the throne, so I said those things. I wanted to drive you away, but why don't you blame me at all?"
In fact, although Yu Xiyan was dissatisfied with Shen Zhao's large-scale slaughter of the old and young of the Great Wilderness Mang Clan back then, after scolding Shen Zhao, she immediately ordered Yun Xinghe, the Dragon Martial Guard general, to lead a forbidden army of thirty thousand to the Great Wilderness. She might as well go all out and uproot the remaining rebellious forces in the Great Wilderness, eliminating them all.
As a wife, Yu Xiyan might have been unqualified. There was no foundation of affection, so she naturally couldn't stand anything Shen Zhao did.
However, as an empress, her ruthlessness wasn't much less than Shen Zhao's. Otherwise, she wouldn't have become one of the ten great empresses of the Immortal Martial Continent in the future.
Anyone who could become an empress of a region, which one of them didn't have a steady temperament, which one wasn't decisive in killing?
A saint?
That was only shown towards a certain matter or a certain person.
Yu Xiyan knew that the massacre had already happened and couldn't be undone, so she just cut off the roots to eliminate future troubles.
After that, the Mang Clan of the Great Wilderness, who had been entangled in a three-hundred-year feud with the Great Yin Dynasty, was completely exterminated.
On this point, she and Shen Zhao cooperated very well.
Thinking of this, a clear tear fell from Yu Xiyan's eye. Why hadn't she realized before that Shen Zhao was so gentle, so gentle it hurt.
In an instant, the scene before her eyes returned to reality.
Now, her family was all here, but her beloved was nowhere to be found.
Yu Xiyan continued walking indifferently through the courtyard, unknowingly arriving in front of a pavilion.
Pushing open the door, the familiar yet unfamiliar furnishings made her momentarily bewildered.
"Sister, this place is so beautiful."
"Do you like it?"
"Such abundant spiritual energy, ten times more abundant than when I was in the Heavenly Severing Holy Land."
"Heh, I'm glad you like it. Come with me inside, and we can sit and chat, little sister."
At this moment, laughter and merriment erupted from behind her in the illusion, causing Yu Xiyan's face to turn cold, and her body couldn't help but tremble.
Her fate had been completely altered because of this person's appearance.