4.

Song Lanting emerged from Qin Qi's palace garden, and the emperor stood by the Qinglian Pool, his gaze dark.

He bowed, and heard the emperor speak slowly, "Qi is the only child she has. I cannot allow anything to happen to Qi. You probably also know who is behind this poisoning. What are your thoughts?"

The competition for the throne had always been cruel, and the emperor's favor for Qin Qi was the greatest threat to the crown prince. Yet his mother had passed away early, and without any background, he would never have been able to ascend the throne just because of the emperor's favor.

It had snowed rarely in the capital this year, and the heavy snowflakes brushed against Song Lanting's lips, leaving a chilling sensation.

"The Fourth Prince's temperament is not suitable for the court. If Your Majesty wants to protect him, let him stay away from the capital. Although he may not have wealth and honor, he can live a peaceful life."

He squinted, his vague gaze looking into the distance, "The Yanmen Pass would be a good place to live in peace. General Ye has routed the Northern Di tribe, and they dare not easily invade again. However, the Yanmen Pass belongs to the Qin Dynasty, not the Ye family. The Ye family has guarded it for many years, and although they have no rebellious intentions, it's likely that the generals there are almost all surnamed Ye. If the Fourth Prince were to take over General Ye's position, he would be protected from the political storms in the capital, and it would also be more legitimate for him to guard the Yanmen Pass than the Ye family."

The emperor looked at him with a complex expression, and he had a faint smile at the corner of his eyes.

When Ye Xiao woke up, she was lying on a soft, warm bed, and the pain in her abdomen was still faintly throbbing. She carelessly rolled over and retrieved the broken bell she had kept, examining it carefully before storing it emotionlessly.

She had thought she was brought back to the capital to recuperate, but at the court meeting a few days later, when she heard the emperor's edict appointing her as the Marquis of Peace and granting her a mansion in the capital, she realized she was stripped of her military power at Yanmen Pass and destined to live out her days in this prosperous and luxurious place.

Without even thinking, she shot a freezing gaze at Song Lanting, and he met her eyes with a cunning smile.

No matter how Song Lanting schemed against her in the past, she had never truly hated him. She killed his fiancée, and it was only right for him to cause trouble for her in return. But now he had resorted to such tactics to remove her from Yanmen Pass, he should understand what that meant to her.

A chilling aura of murder filled the court, as if the air itself had frozen, and she took slow steps towards him, her overwhelming murderous intent making it hard to even breathe.

"Song Lanting," she called out his name, each word seeming to want to shred him to pieces.

"How dare you!" The emperor was clearly very angry with her bold behavior, "The court is not a place for you to keep causing trouble! Do you really think, as Song suggests, that you own the Yanmen Pass as if it were your own family's!"

She knelt down, her voice choked with tears, "Your Majesty, the subject does not dare."

The emperor snorted coldly, scolding her a few words before dismissing the court meeting. She slowly got up and left without looking at Song Lanting even once.

Everything was over.

Whether it was the place where the heroes of the Ye family were buried or the boy who said he would always be with her, no longer needed her protection.

The emperor wanted her to be an idle Marquis of Peace, and Ye Xiao did as he wished. Not only did she not go to court, but she even closed the door and did not see anyone, leaving everyone wondering what she did every day in the vast mansion.

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The heroic Ye Xiao was now just a fierce tigress who no one dared to marry, without friends, family, a home, or a reason to live.

Song Lanting, on the other hand, was increasingly successful in court. He voluntarily proposed to decentralize power and promoted the hereditary sons of the emperor's trusted families as viziers, deeply pleasing the emperor.

Song Lanting, in the name of reconciling with Ye Xiao, visited her mansion several times, but Ye Xiao refused to see him. Everyone was worried in private that one day Ye Xiao, with the intention of suicide together, might kill Song Lanting.

Madam Song was worried and asked him, "Your repeated actions have made Xiao-You resent you deeply. She might never forgive you in this lifetime."

He shrugged nonchalantly, "That's not up to her."

While he was trying various methods to reconcile with Ye Xiao, an urgent report came from the Yanmen Pass. The Northern Di tribe's emperor had passed away, and the crown prince had ascended the throne. He sent a message to the Qin Dynasty, expressing a desire to form an alliance through marriage, promising that during his reign, they would not invade each other, ensuring border peace.

The Qin Dynasty had always been harassed by the Northern Di and Western Rong tribes, although it was not a serious matter, but no one wanted to be constantly at war. After pondering, the Emperor Qin agreed, but looking at the royal family, there was no suitable princess to be married off, so he turned his attention to the hereditary officials of the families.

Suddenly, every household was busy making arrangements for marriage, afraid that their daughter would be chosen by the emperor's edict to marry far away.

No one expected Emperor Qin to choose Ye Xiao, including Song Lanting.

He called Ye Xiao to the back hall and spoke earnestly, "Moving you back to the capital was just to prevent the Ye family from dying out. I wanted to find a good husband for you in the court, but... cough cough, every time I think about this, I can't sleep at night, feeling guilty towards the heroes of the Ye family. But those wastrels in the capital, who steal and cheat every day, are not worthy of you. The new emperor of the Northern Di tribe is an excellent choice, and it won't tarnish the reputation of the Ye family."

He was afraid that Ye Xiao would refuse and added earnestly, "Moreover, what this new emperor is really thinking, I don't know yet. If you marry him, he won't cause any trouble. The Yanmen Pass is the heart of the Ye family, and you also hope that the people there can live peacefully without the trouble of war, right?"

The fierce wind outside howled, rattling the windows and sending snowflakes whirling down. Inside, the newly cut branches of plum blossoms struggled to bloom, their fragrance weaving a web around her.

Ye Xiao heard her own voice, devoid of the soaring spirit of battle or the decisive ruthlessness of war, like white plums covered in snow, cold and heavy.

"Your Majesty... I obey the decree."

A few days later, Emperor Qin decreed that the Marquis of Peace, Ye Xiao, was to be the Princess of Peace, marrying into the Northern Di tribe for peace, and would depart the following day. The three thousand iron-clad riders that Ye Xiao brought out from the Yanmen Pass were requested to escort the bride, and Emperor Qin approved.

The day before she left, Song Lanting came to find her. As always, she closed the door and did not see him. According to her subordinates, he waited for several hours outside before leaving with a serious expression.

Ye Xiao smiled, holding the bell in her hand for a long time, finally squeezing it tightly. With the bittersweet smile on her lips disappearing, the bell shattered into powder, scattering in the wind and becoming irretrievable.

The three thousand iron-clad riders were waiting for her on the road, and these soldiers she had personally trained had red eyes, feeling unjust for her. She comforted each one of them, looked back at the direction of the capital, and buried that warmth in her heart once and for all.

Ye Xiao thought she would spend the rest of her life in the Northern Di tribe, but when she reached the border, the imperial guards of the capital caught up with the wedding party and delivered the edict in a hurry.

The Prime Minister Song Lanting, along with the court officials, aided the Crown Prince in forcing the emperor to abdicate, and the emperor ordered Ye Xiao to quickly return to the capital to eliminate the traitors, with no mercy for those who resisted.

She couldn't connect Song Lanting with the coup d'état at first, but under the urging of the imperial guards, she adjusted the iron-clad riders and galloped back to the capital palace.

He was still a powerful chancellor when he left, but he had become a traitor when he returned. The capital was on high alert, and Ye Xiao's return again became a variable. All the traitors had been captured, and Ye Xiao watched as her subordinate restrained Song Lanting. She tightened her grip on her long spear.

He also saw her, her face splattered with blood, and she gave him a helpless smile as she approached him, slightly bending over, her black hair brushing against his cheek, still carrying the chill of the border's flying snow.

"Why did you rebel? Song Lanting, do you know you will die?"

He countered her, "Why did you come back? Ah Ye, he treated you like a castaway, sending you far away to marry, and still has the nerve to call you back to quell the rebellion for him."

Ye Xiao clenched her lips tightly, "The Ye family has vowed to die for the emperor's loyalty through the generations."

Song Lanting chuckled and lowered his head, "Ah Ye, if possible, protect my parents. Next life, let's not be enemies again."

The night wind blew up his azure robe, and the moon reflected the mottled blood, and he suddenly grabbed Ye Xiao's long spear, thrusting it into his own heart without mercy.

Ye Xiao stood frozen in place.

He kneeled on the ground, and the spear pushed in a little further, the sound of flesh tearing audible. He spat out a mouthful of blood and looked up at her, his lips still wearing that familiar smile from his youth.

"Song Lanting..." Ye Xiao softly called out his name, the resolute general experiencing a sense of helpless confusion for the first time. The long spear slipped from her hand, and she quickly embraced his body as it was about to fall, her whole body trembling.

"Use your merit in killing me... to protect my parents..."

Ye Xiao opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, tears had already fallen. But he couldn't see her tears; she buried her face in his ear, the once iron-blooded general unable to weep with any sound.

The rebellion ended, and the throne was stripped from the Crown Prince, who was permanently confined. Ye Xiao refused all rewards and, by threatening her life, managed to protect the Song family. The Emperor Qin eventually relented, banishing the Song family from the capital, decreeing that no descendant of the Song family could ever serve in the government.

As for Ye Xiao, she contracted a serious illness during the peace-making mission and died without recovery. Before her death, she ordered her soldiers to cast her into a river, to be buried with the flowing waters. The whole nation mourned, and Emperor Qin posthumously bestowed upon her the title of the King of Zhen, giving her the highest honor in her funeral.

The heroic Ye Xiao perished, thus ending the legend of the Grim Reaper of the battlefield.