However.
An hour later, the death-sworn warrior reported back: “Your Highness, the princess’s coffin is empty…”
All the blood in Chu Rui’s body turned cold. “What did you say?”
“There’s only this…” The death-sworn warrior produced a white round urn. “This contains ashes—it may be the princess’s cremated remains…”
“Elder sister…”
Chu Rui’s body trembled uncontrollably.
He clutched the urn as tears fell beyond his control, then went to Kangning Palace.
When she saw the white urn, the Empress Dowager’s face showed complete disbelief. “You actually… went to dig up the grave? Have you gone mad?”
“So the Empress Dowager knew all along that elder sister’s body had been destroyed…” A desolate smile appeared on Chu Rui’s face. “Let me guess—it was the Empress Dowager who personally burned elder sister’s body, precisely to frame the Xie family, to make the Court of Judicial Review believe that the Xie family had committed such an outrageous act to eliminate evidence. That’s why His Majesty appeased the Empress Dowager and gave so many rewards…”
The Empress Dowager couldn’t help but take a step back.
Yes, she had ordered Fukang burned. Since she was already dead anyway, why not use the corpse to gain more benefits?
A human body doesn’t easily burn to ash—she had personally crushed the bones of her most beloved granddaughter and placed them in this urn…
She too was in great pain.
But she had no choice.
“Fine, I understand. I guessed correctly.”
Chu Rui’s voice was incomparably calm—so calm it frightened the Empress Dowager.
She stepped forward, saying softly, “I’ll find an auspicious burial site for Fukang and have forty-nine enlightened monks chant sutras for her…”
“No need.”
Chu Rui clutched the urn and walked outside step by step.
That night, he shouldn’t have let elder sister remain in the Xie family. If only he had insisted, elder sister wouldn’t have died.
That morning, he shouldn’t have fainted at the Xie family’s gate. If only his health had been better, elder sister wouldn’t have become a pile of ashes.
What happens to people whose bodies are burned—are they unable to reincarnate for all eternity?
Step by step, weeping, he walked to Jinying Hall and buried the white urn beneath a patch of golden chrysanthemums.
This was where, as a child, elder sister had held his hand as they planted chrysanthemums together. Elder sister loved using chrysanthemums from here to make tea.
When chrysanthemums wither, they bloom again. When leaves dry, they green again.
Would there ever be a day when elder sister returned?
He sat in the courtyard crying for an entire night, then returned to his sleeping quarters and found that small white porcelain bottle.
Because they hadn’t been fed human blood, the two parasitic worms were very weak, curled up together, nearly dead.
Chu Rui picked up the worms and placed them in his mouth. Almost as soon as they touched his lips, the two worms slid down his throat.
“Elder sister, I’ll listen to you.”
“Since you paved this path for me, I’ll walk down it.”
“Everyone who wronged you—I won’t let a single one off.”
“The Lu family, the Xie family… the Empress Dowager!”
From that day on, Chu Rui moved into Kangning Palace and actively requested to drink medicinal soup made with human heart’s blood as an ingredient.
He began deliberately cultivating his own power base and secretly winning over court officials…
The Empress Dowager wept tears of joy. “Rui’er has matured—he finally understands this dowager’s painstaking efforts…”
The following year, Lu Hao and his wife gave birth to their legitimate eldest son. However, on the night the eldest son was born, a great fire broke out at the Lu residence. Lu Hao, his wife, and their newborn child were mercilessly burned to ashes by the flames.
Chu Rui held a black porcelain urn and buried it in Jinying Hall.
He knelt on the ground, murmuring, “Elder sister, I know you loved Elder Brother Lu most. I’ve let him come accompany you. You can rest together beneath these autumn chrysanthemums, together for all eternity…”
The Lu family residence was burned by the fire. The Court of Judicial Review investigated through the night but couldn’t find any leads.
Empress Dowager Feng gazed at the pitch-black night sky. “Rui’er has grown up and does things methodically now, unlike three years ago when he killed Xie Zun and came to this dowager for help… Now, on his own, he can kill the heir of a great family…”
The fourth year, dozens of people in the Xie household, young and old, suddenly died.
The entire family of a high-ranking court official had died. The Court of Judicial Review investigated through the night and finally found a trace of evidence.
However, just as the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review followed the lead to a witness, that witness died on the road to the Court.
This case became an unsolved mystery.
Chu Rui gazed at the brilliant chrysanthemums, smiling as he said, “Elder sister, I’ve avenged you. Your soul should rest in peace now… You and Elder Brother Lu together must be very happy. But I’m not happy. I don’t want to live anymore—I want to die too… I also want to rest eternally in Jinying Hall. Will I have such an opportunity?”
The sixth year, Chu Rui discovered the parasitic worms in his body had grown and produced three small worms.
To understand what these worms truly were, he made a trip to the Western Regions. It turned out these were Nine Black Parasites, one of the most difficult types of parasitic worms to cultivate in the Western Regions.
Since the Nine Black Parasites first appeared, no one had ever successfully raised them to maturity.
Looking at the three worms crawling in his palm, Chu Rui’s eyes reddened. “Elder sister, so this is the trump card you left for me. If I don’t use them to create great achievements, wouldn’t that be a waste?”
The seventh year, at a palace banquet, he encountered a young woman.
When he had drunk too much wine and was having dark thoughts, that woman saved him.
“Elder sister, Miss Yun looks so much like you—gentle like you…” Chu Rui still sat among the flower beds during the season when chrysanthemums bloomed, slowly speaking. “In this lifetime, I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to take a wife. If I could have a wife, I hope she would be a woman like elder sister—someone I could depend on, someone who could give me peace…”
As he grew older, the Empress Dowager began anxiously arranging his marriage.
He didn’t fancy any of those noble ladies.
He directly requested His Majesty revoke his title and fled the capital, attempting to avoid marriage.
Leaving the capital wasn’t only to escape the Empress Dowager—it was also to win over other power bases. For the great cause, there were some things he had to do personally…
The eighth year, he orchestrated a confrontation between the Empress Dowager and Prince Pingxi. The Empress Dowager died.
He knelt crying in Jinying Hall. “Elder sister, you must blame me, you must hate me. But the Empress Dowager burned your body, preventing you from reincarnating for all eternity, leaving your soul unable to rest in peace. The Empress Dowager deserved death… She loved elder sister most—why did she treat elder sister this way? This is something I still can’t understand to this day… Must one sacrifice those closest to achieve great things? Now I’m all alone—I too can ascend to that position… Elder sister, wait for me, wait for the day I posthumously confer upon you the title of Eldest Princess…”
But after using the parasitic worms to become the Prince Regent who controlled the court, he seemed even more unhappy.
Standing at such heights, what had he gained?
It seemed he had gained nothing. Instead, he grew increasingly disgusted with this kind of life.
However, his time standing at the heights lasted merely a few months before the edifice collapsed and everything ended.
From the moment elder sister died, his earnest wish had been to be buried together with elder sister—like elder sister, never to reincarnate for all eternity.
Yet even such a small wish, Yun Chu was unwilling to grant.
“Elder sister, elder sister…”
“Still, I hope there will be another life, where we can be the most ordinary siblings…”
“…”