Rebirth and Rewriting Fate

Sui Bo was on duty at the palace gate. He was taken aback when he saw Chi Wu, and even more surprised when he saw Yun Chu in the carriage. He quickly ordered people to let them pass.

The sky was overcast, and in the square in front of the palace, the dragon flag was lowered to half-mast, its long flagpole swaying gently in the night wind. The glazed tiles of the imperial city gleamed with a cold light, each brick and tile seemingly bearing endless sorrow and silence.

Passing through palace gates and over palace walls, Yun Chu stood in the corridor of a side hall.

She could see the late emperor's sleeping quarters not far to her left. At that moment, a group of people were kneeling outside the door.

She saw Gu Ruoxiao kneeling in mourning clothes. Chengfeng beside him was talking to him. Then he stood up, swaying slightly as he did so, perhaps because he had been kneeling for too long.

Yun Chu was startled and took a step forward.

Fortunately, Chengfeng quickly caught him. He waved his hand and muttered something in a low voice. Then he walked alone towards the connecting corridor. Yun Chu suddenly felt that his back looked so lonely.

He was talking to a guard in the corridor. After a moment, he nodded, and the guard withdrew.

He paused, leaning against the wall, looked up at the sky, and continued walking. But he stopped after only a couple of steps. He turned around and looked towards the corridor where Yun Chu was, and then he saw Yun Chu standing at the end of the corridor.

His gaze shifted from surprise to disbelief, and finally to delight. He then strode toward her, and Yun Chu hurried to meet him.

He held her arm and said, "What are you doing here?" His fingers were icy cold, but his eyes were full of affection.

Then he took her hand and said, "Come with me."

He led her to the Imperial Study, where Zhu Liu was guarding the door. He was surprised to see Yun Chu and quickly pushed the door open.

As soon as they entered the hall, Gu Ruoxiao took off Yun Chu's outer robe, which was soaked by the heavy snow. Then she added charcoal to the fire, pulled her to sit down in front of the fire, and turned around to take a hand warmer and put it in her hand. "Why did you come here in this heavy snow?"

Yun Chu saw that his eyes were already wet, but she held back her tears and asked, "Have you not been eating properly these past few days?"

The person in front of me has lost a lot of weight compared to a month ago.

Gu Ruoxiao remained silent, simply looking at her.

Yun Chu got up, walked to the door, and called Mo Han. Then she came in carrying a food box.

"I made some noodles, please eat some." Yun Chu pushed the noodles in front of Gu Ruoxiao.

Gu Ruoxiao held her hand in one hand and picked up chopsticks with the other. They quickly finished the bowl of noodles. Gu Ruoxiao's face finally regained some color.

Yun Chu looked around. In the side hall of the study, there was a couch with some messy bedding on it.

"Have you been staying here all this time?" she asked.

"That was true when my elder brother was alive."

Yun Chu concealed her sadness and worry, and took Gu Ruoxiao's hand to the bedside. "Can you promise me one thing?"

"Ok?"

"You can sleep for a while, just one hour. I'll wake you up when the time is up."

Gu Ruoxiao saw worry, sadness, and heartache in her eyes.

He nodded and said, "Okay."

Gu Ruoxiao lay down and closed his eyes. Yun Chu sat on the footstool in front of the bed, holding his hand. His fingers were long and slightly cool. He must have been overworked these past few days; his face was so thin that there was hardly any flesh on it, and stubble had begun to appear. Yun Chu didn't know how she could help, and she sadly shed tears.

Tears unintentionally dripped onto the back of Gu Ruoxiao's hand. He opened his eyes, raised his hand to wipe away the tears from the corner of Yun Chu's eyes, and asked, "Why are you crying?"

"Did I wake you up?" Yun Chu said, her voice choked with emotion.

Gu Ruoxiao shook his head, sat up, and pulled Yun Chu onto the bamboo couch as well. "I know I'm very tired, but I just can't sleep."

"What can I do to help you?" Yun Chu asked.

“You don’t need to do anything.” Gu Ruoxiao shook his head and took out a box from behind the bedding on the bamboo couch, handing it to Yun Chu.

Yun Chu opened it with a puzzle in mind, and there were two imperial edicts inside.

"How can there be two imperial edicts?" Yun Chu asked in surprise.

Gu Ruoxiao gestured for her to open them all and take a look.

Yun Chu didn't react after reading it. She put it aside, her mind more concerned about Gu Ruoxiao's health.

Gu Ruoxiao picked up the edict that passed the throne to him and placed it in her palm, saying, "If you still want to be empress in this life, then I will shoulder the heavy responsibility of this country. If you want to roam the world, then after we help Xiao Ba stabilize the court, we will be leisurely princes, and I will take you to travel the world."

Looking into his sincere gaze, Yun Chu was filled with mixed emotions.

Gu Ruoxiao had placed his future in her hands. She knew he had no desire for the throne, but now, for her sake, he was willing to do it, willing to let her be empress again in this lifetime.

But what right did she have? Did she want to be empress? No, she didn't. She only wanted to be Gu Ruoxiao's wife.

Seeing her in a daze, Gu Ruoxiao reassured her, "There's no need to make a decision right now. We can issue the edict after the Emperor moves into the Imperial Mausoleum."

“Gu Ruoxiao,” she put the imperial edict back into the box and looked up at him, “I am not obsessed with the position of Empress, I am only obsessed with you. If you are the emperor of this world, I will accompany you to stabilize the court. If you are a leisurely prince, I will accompany you to stroll leisurely and watch the flowers bloom and fall.”

From his initial surprise at Yun Chu calling him by his full name, to his later delight, and finally to his understanding, Gu Ruoxiao smiled and opened his arms to her. Yun Chu hugged him back, and heard his deep voice in her ear, "Okay."

After embracing for a while, Yun Chu pulled away from his embrace. She knew he had many things to do and she couldn't waste his time.

Gu Ruoxiao escorted Yun Chu to the palace gate. Yun Chu held onto him reluctantly, "Promise me two things, okay?"

Gu Ruoxiao gestured for her to speak.

"The first thing is for you to eat properly every day. Even if you only eat one of the three meals a day, I know you are very busy, and the guards are very busy. I will send you a meal every day and have the guards deliver it to you. At least eat it, okay?" His voice was full of concern and worry.

"it is good."

"The second thing is, can you sleep for two hours every day? Your eyes are bloodshot." Yun Chu wanted to cry again.

"it is good."

Yun Chu glanced at Chengfeng and Chiwu behind him, "Then I'll have Chengfeng and Chiwu supervise you. You must do it."

Gu Ruoxiao patted her head. "Okay. Don't worry, stay home obediently and wait for me to come back."

Yun Chu nodded heavily; she had to get into the carriage, she had already taken up too much of his time. She let go of his hand and climbed into the carriage. She waved to him from behind the curtain. Mo Han drove away.

Sitting inside the carriage, Yun Chu was deeply troubled. In this life, he had stayed by his elder brother's side until the very end, and even he was so saddened. What about his previous life? He hadn't even seen his brother one last time; how much regret must he have felt?