coobybook Chapter 261 Born to share the same bed, die to share the same grave
Chapter 261 Born to share the same bed, die to share the same grave
Chapter 261 We shall share the same bed in life, and the same grave in death.
In the final battle to wipe out the Wanku Sect, Zhan Yinghong did not go with Chunyu Yang and Wenren Qi. Unfortunately, she was unwell at the time, and Wenren Qi, knowing there was danger ahead, refused to let her go. So she could only stay in the capital and wait for their victorious return.
No one knew that her discomfort was not due to illness, but because she was pregnant, and the father of that child was Wenren Qi.
She eagerly awaited her hero's triumphant return, hoping he would receive imperial rewards, be promoted, and marry her, so that they could live happily ever after with many children and grandchildren.
However, what she finally received was a cold-scaled sword; she never even got to see him one last time.
“If you had met Wenren, you would know who Xuan’er resembles more.” Chunyu Yang gently stroked Ye Pianran’s hair and said in a hoarse voice, “If he hadn’t pushed me back then, I would have been the one bitten by the Gu King raised by the Wan Ku Sect.”
"Do you know what happens after being bitten by the Gu King?" Recalling that memory he could never forget, yet dared not think about again, Chunyu Yang's face turned extremely ugly.
"When a person is bitten by the Gu King, black patterns will quickly spread across their face. Then their bones will melt away little by little, and their flesh will be eaten away bit by bit. In the end, only a skin full of pus will remain, which will become the perfect container to nurture the Gu King and give birth to countless other extremely vicious Gu worms."
"To protect the other soldiers, I had no choice but to burn him to ashes, completely." His voice became even hoarser. "He once told me that his wish was to die on the battlefield defending his country, to be buried in the green hills, and to offer his soul as a sacrifice to the heavens. None of us ever thought that he would die in such a way, and in the end, he left no trace in this world."
"Of course he did!" Ye Pianran held his hand and comforted him softly, "He left behind the Cold Scale Sword, he left behind Xuan'er, he left behind his martial arts skills, didn't he?"
"Don't you think I'm cold-blooded and heartless?" Chunyu Yang asked.
Ye Pianran shook her head and said, "You're right, and I believe he understands you too."
Chunyu Yang said, "She blames me, resents me, and hates me."
Ye Pianran knew immediately who "she" referred to.
After completely resolving the matter of the Wan Ku Sect, Chunyu Yang returned to the capital with the Han Lin Sword and personally handed it over to Zhan Yinghong.
Zhan Yinghong didn't receive Wenren Qi, only a sword. After learning the devastating news of Wenren Qi's death from Chunyu Yang, she was heartbroken and fainted on the spot. Chunyu Yang hurriedly took her to Liu Luluo, only to learn that she was pregnant, which struck him like a thunderbolt.
Overwhelmed with grief, Zhan Yinghong nearly lost her baby. Liu Luluo tried everything to stabilize the pregnancy. But both she and Chunyu Yang knew that whether the baby survived or not, it would be a tremendous blow to Zhan Yinghong.
Even if we take it, not to mention the amount of criticism and gossip that would ensue if a woman became pregnant before marriage, if the Zhan family found out about this, they would absolutely not allow Zhan Yinghong to give birth to the child, otherwise the prestige of the Flying Tiger Army would inevitably be affected.
If this is not done, Zhan Yinghong and Wenren Qi's connection in this world will be completely severed, and she certainly does not want that to happen.
Therefore, Chunyu Yang made a decision: he would marry Zhan Yinghong, take good care of her and Wenren Qi's child, and repay Wenren Qi's life-saving grace with his own life.
Although she knew that Wenren Qi's death was not Chunyu Yang's fault, Zhan Yinghong hated Chunyu Yang to the core. When she learned that Chunyu Yang had actually sent someone to propose marriage, she was so angry that she almost went mad. She cursed him with the most vicious words she knew and even sent people to drive the dignified Prince of Beiwu out.
Regardless of Zhan Yinghong's behavior, Chunyu Yang would still come to the general's mansion every day. At first, he would still be helplessly driven away by the soldiers of the general's mansion, but later they found that they could not do anything to him, so they stopped driving him away and even secretly let him in.
After he went in, he didn't say anything, but sat silently outside Zhan Yinghong's door, enduring her curses.
Everyone in the General's Mansion—and even in the Imperial Palace—believed that Chunyu Yang was deeply in love with Zhan Yinghong. They all said that the Prince of Beiwu was a lovesick fool. Only Zhan Yinghong knew that he only wanted to repay a debt.
In truth, Zhan Yinghong was not unaware of her situation, nor did she understand the best choice she could make, but she was unwilling to accept it. If she didn't marry, she couldn't keep the child; after all, it was her child with Wenren Qi, the only memento Wenren Qi had left her.
However, even if she married him, she would still be unable to let go of Chunyu Yang in her heart, nor would she be willing to betray Wenren Qi.
However, as her clothes could no longer conceal her growing belly, she began to vomit uncontrollably due to morning sickness. Before everything was exposed, she finally relented and agreed to Chunyu Yang's advances.
Perhaps she had been prepared for this, because after she agreed, the wedding date was quickly set.
On the day of the wedding, the streets and alleys of the capital were filled with people. The people watched as the exquisite sedan chair was carried out of General Fei Hu’s mansion and swayed towards the Prince of Bei Wu’s mansion. None of the dramas written in folk tales, such as elopement, bride kidnapping, or wrong sedan chairs, were staged. The sedan chair entered the Prince of Bei Wu’s mansion calmly and smoothly, so smoothly that it made people feel hopeless.
Zhan Yinghong thus became the Princess Consort of Beiwu.
On her wedding night, she sat in her wedding gown on the large bed covered with a brocade quilt, her gaze fixed on the enormous "囍" (double happiness) character on the wall, her heart filled with longing—
If Wenren Qi knew that she had married someone else while his body was still warm, would he be so angry that he would jump out of the underworld and come back to curse her as a "fickle woman"?
That's fine, at least she can see him one more time.
But instead of Wenren Qi, she was met by Chunyu Yang, who reeked of alcohol.
They were married, and thus husband and wife. Even if Zhan Yinghong didn't love him, it would be perfectly natural for him to do whatever he wanted. But that night, he did nothing. He simply sat at the table and told her, bit by bit, how he met Wenren Qi, how they became friends, and how they fought side by side on the battlefield. He continued talking until the next morning.
When the sunlight shone through the windowpanes, warming the chill inside, he said to her:
You can rest assured and give birth to the child. I will take care of you and your child. When the child grows up, I will pass on all the knowledge of the Cold Scale Sword and the Qilin Sword Intent to him, so that he can take over the Xuanjia Army and become a great hero like his father.
She simply replied: "Take me to the cave where he used to live."
The cave was located on Xiling Mountain, not far from the capital. It was very cold inside, as if filled with unmelting ice, but it was the perfect place to comprehend the essence of the Qilin Sword. She took the Hanlin Sword up the mountain, her fingers gently tracing every item that Wenren Qi had used, imagining the scenes of him practicing here.
She had a good cry in the cave, then left the Cold Scale Sword there and had Chunyu Yang seal the cave entrance forever.
She said that since his remains were not there, this place should be his tomb. He was the only person in the world who could use the Cold Scale Sword and wield the Qilin Sword Intent. Let him rest peacefully here and do not disturb him again.
From then on, Zhan Yinghong settled down at the Northern Martial Prince's residence to rest and prepare for childbirth. Because Chunyu Yang covered for her, everyone assumed the child was Chunyu Yang's, and there couldn't have been a better ending.
However, Zhan Yinghong did not feel relieved. Instead, the smiles on her face became less and less frequent, and over time, she even became too lazy to smile.
Chunyu Yang was busy with the affairs of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War and did not often return home. Although he would visit Zhan Yinghong when he did return, they usually sat in silence in the house and did not notice anything unusual about her.
Days passed by, and one morning seven months later, Zhan Yinghong got up and suddenly felt a sharp pain in her abdomen—she was finally going into labor.
Upon receiving the news, Chunyu Yang hurriedly returned to the palace from the Xuanjia Army's camp, only to learn that Zhan Yinghong was having a difficult childbirth and the child could not be delivered. He immediately sent someone to Fenxiangyuan to invite Liu Luluo, but was told that Liu Luluo was not in the capital at the moment.
With no other option, Chunyu Yang hurriedly summoned all the imperial physicians from the palace to the Northern Martial Prince's residence, hoping to ensure the safety of the mother and child inside.
Standing helplessly outside the tightly closed door, listening to the screams and cries coming from inside, Chunyu Yang was overwhelmed by boundless fear and panic, and for the first time, he began to doubt his decision.
Is what he's doing really the right thing to do? He can protect his country and its people abroad, but what about domestically? Can he truly ensure the safety of Wenren Qi and his mother for the rest of their lives?
Despite the presence of imperial physicians who helped Zhan Yinghong persevere for two days and two nights, she still couldn't give birth smoothly. Everyone told Chunyu Yang that if things continued this way, both mother and child would likely die, and begged him to make a decision quickly—whether to save the mother or the child. But no one knew that either decision would be torture for Chunyu Yang.
Just as Chunyu Yang clenched his fists, determined to protect Zhan Yinghong, a faint cry of a baby suddenly came from inside the tightly closed room.
He rushed into the room in ecstasy, only to be met with a painful sight: the bed covered in blood.
It turned out that Zhan Yinghong, fearing he would feel troubled, had cut open her own stomach with a knife and endured excruciating pain to deliver the child. She lay in a pool of blood, holding her crying child, and upon seeing Chunyu Yang, she revealed the first and only radiant smile she had shown since marrying him.
she says:
I've waited so long for this day. I'm going to find him. Third Brother, thank you so much for taking care of me these past few days. My child, I'll name him Jingxuan. From now on... I'm entrusting him to you.
She also said:
He left nothing behind, so let me do the same. We should share the same bed in life and the same grave in death.
Following her last wishes, Chunyu Yang burned her body to ashes and scattered them within the abandoned Wanku Sect. As he left, a sudden downpour began, lasting for seven days and seven nights, as if trying to wash away all traces of her existence in this world.
Perhaps it was fate. When he returned to the capital exhausted, Jingxuan, who had been crying and refusing to nurse, calmed down upon seeing him and smiled with narrowed eyes.
He gently hooked the baby's soft, boneless little hand, and his face returned to its usual resolute and stern expression.
He also has responsibilities.