BLHO Chapter 108

Chapter 108: Why Must You Force Him Like This?

Chapter 108: Why Must You Force Him Like This?

The Mid-Autumn Festival, a time to worship the moon deity, was approaching, and the entire Fengdu City was bustling with excitement.

The fragrance of osmanthus permeated every street and alley. It was the first Mid-Autumn Festival after the establishment of the new dynasty, and the people were making preparations in advance with great enthusiasm.

Red silk ribbons were hung all over the eaves, children chased each other on the bluestone slabs carrying rabbit lanterns, and even the painted boats in the moat were tied with colorful streamers of blessings.

In front of the vermilion gate of the General’s Manor, the steward was directing the servants to hang glazed palace lanterns. Their masters had survived a great calamity and returned safely. Coinciding with the festive season of reunion, they must celebrate it properly.

In the courtyard, under the window lattice, Lin Shuangxu’s figure was reflected as he worked at his desk. Entrusted by the steward, he was preparing some lantern riddles to add to the fun during the moon-viewing on the festival.

The autumn breeze swept across his fingertips as he held the brush, blowing a bit of charm into the undried ink. Occasionally, one or two chirps of birds echoed in the branches, setting off the incomparable comfort of the moment.

He Yuncheng had gone to the military camp early in the morning. The festival was approaching, and the court’s rewards were distributed to the soldiers in advance. He Yuncheng’s trip was to play the role of the God of Wealth.

Judging by the time, he should be back around now.

Lin Shuangxu was just thinking about him when he heard footsteps approaching outside the courtyard, so he put down the brush in his hand and looked up.

Sure enough, in the next moment, He Yuncheng strode into the courtyard.

His black robe was still stained with dust from the parade ground, and the ends of his high ponytail were coated with the floating light of golden autumn. The spirited general, after experiencing dangers, still retained the appearance of a youth.

Lin Shuangxu’s figure was framed under the window lattice, complementing the autumn scenery and forming a beautiful painting.

He Yuncheng did not go through the door, but went directly to the window, casually straddling the windowsill. He leaned in to look at the rice paper on the desk, curiously asking him, “What are you writing?”

“Lantern riddles.”

He Yuncheng picked up the rice paper to look at it, but he had no interest in such literary things.

He said to Lin Shuangxu, “I thought you were writing me a love letter.”

Lin Shuangxu gave him a blank look, “We see each other every day. If I have something to say, I’ll just say it. Why write a letter?”

“That’s different.” He Yuncheng raised his eyebrows, “I don’t get to hear nice words every day. If you write them down, I can see them whenever I want.”

Lin Shuangxu retorted, “Speaking of which, you haven’t written me any either.”

“Haven’t I written any?” He Yuncheng thought seriously about it. The last time the two of them wrote letters was many years ago, when he followed his father on an expedition.

That was all a matter of childhood.

“My fault,” he admitted earnestly, and then jumped off the windowsill. Standing across from Lin Shuangxu by the window, he took his brush, and tore off a piece of blank paper next to him.

“I’ll write you one now.”

Lin Shuangxu did not think that he could write anything poetic or picturesque, and stared at his ink with doubt, seeing him write stroke by stroke——

‘Lin Shuangxu, I admire you, I want to die if I can’t see you, I want to sleep with you every day.’

Just as he thought.

After finishing writing, He Yuncheng solemnly turned his letter in a direction, and pushed it in front of Lin Shuangxu, “Every word is from the bottom of my heart.”

Lin Shuangxu said faintly, “Your heart, is a little too barren.”

“Hey.” He Yuncheng did not think so, “You know me, I’m not good at flowery words, I use practical actions.”

Lin Shuangxu smiled, and did not refute him any further.

Although the content of the letter was unsightly, Lin Shuangxu still neatly put it aside, and accepted his rough affection.

No longer arguing with him, he asked He Yuncheng, “Did you tell Master Song?”

Song Jiting had invited them to gather together for the Mid-Autumn Festival. The two of them had discussed it and decided to hold a banquet at the General’s Manor and invite him over.

One reason was that the imperial house recently bestowed him a mansion that was bound to be deserted, and it would be more lively to come to their place. Second, in the past, in order to deal with Li Yuliang, they had committed many offenses against Master Song and should hold a banquet to apologize to him.

“I told him.” He Yuncheng said, “He said he will definitely arrive on time.”

“Okay.” Lin Shuangxu nodded, thinking of the past, and couldn’t help but sigh: “Master Song is worthy of being a descendant of a famous family. Although he is trapped in the mud, he has not disgraced his family reputation.”

He Yuncheng expressed his agreement. To be honest, everyone admired this Young Master Song for turning his life around from a dead end and finding light at the end of the tunnel.

“Li Yuliang will be executed tomorrow, right?” Lin Shuangxu asked.

“Yes.”

Li Yuliang will be executed by slow slicing tomorrow at noon, and Song Jiting will personally oversee the execution.

He Yuncheng said: “When he dies, dust to dust, earth to earth, hatred and resentment will scatter like the wind, and everything will be settled.”

Lin Shuangxu raised his head. The broken sunlight was projected down through the leaves, sometimes bright and sometimes dark, making it impossible to grasp and see clearly.

Can hatred and resentment really scatter like the wind?

Night came silently.

In the Imperial Prison, it was damp and dark. The iron window above was only a few inches square, and it faced the moon, which was just about to be full.

Li Yuliang sat upright on the withered grass mat. The moonlight was beautiful, but it was no longer related to him.

Tomorrow was the execution. Song Jiting was going to slice him three thousand six hundred times. He could not say that he had not expected such an ending.

Were there any regrets?

He recalled his short life, a lowly life that had reached the pinnacle of power. It seemed that he had obtained everything he wanted, yet it seemed that he had nothing at all.

Speaking of which, God still pitied him.

At least when he died tomorrow, he would have the opportunity to see Song Jiting again.

Admittedly, Song Jiting was killing him with his own hands in order to show his loyalty to the court, not to send him off on his last journey.

But for Li Yuliang, it didn’t matter.

Between the two of them, right and wrong, grievances and hatred, what they were, were no longer important.

Almost imperceptible footsteps shattered the tranquility of the dark night.

Li Yuliang’s ears twitched alertly, knowing that someone had come, but he still sat upright, his eyes lowered, and he did not look up.

The black figure was wrapped in a cloak, and the wide hat almost covered the person’s entire face.

He stopped at the prison door, only bringing a few subordinates behind him. When he took off his hat, the moonlight reflected the scar on his cheek that was about to disappear.

Song Jiting’s eyes did not have a trace of warmth, and he coldly looked at the person who had humiliated him in the past becoming a prisoner.

At this moment, what was Master Song, who had avenged his great revenge, thinking?

Li Yuliang had no intention of knowing.

Song Jiting opened his mouth, his voice colder than his expression.

“Take him away.”

–

A huge hall was filled with wine and dishes, the dishes were sumptuous, but only two white candles were lit on the table.

The faint light swayed with the night wind blowing in from the door, setting off the brand-new and empty Song residence with a strange and suffocating atmosphere.

Li Yuliang had never hoped that Song Jiting would prepare a farewell wine for him before he died.

The two sat opposite each other. The table was not wide, but it was still a distance that they could not touch each other by reaching out.

Li Yuliang’s expression was too calm. As a dying person, he could not see the slightest trace of fear.

When he looked at Song Jiting, the former love, possession, or anger had disappeared from his eyes.

All that remained was endless nothingness after accepting reality.

Song Jiting did not speak, but first picked up his wine glass and toasted Li Yuliang from across the room.

Li Yuliang watched him without moving, but did not pick up his own glass of wine.

Song Jiting waited for a moment, holding up his glass, and asked him, “What, are you afraid that I will poison the wine?”

Li Yuliang did not respond.

Song Jiting said: “Drink it, I won’t let you die so comfortably.”

He no longer waited for Li Yuliang, raised his head on his own, and drank it all in one gulp.

Li Yuliang watched his Adam’s apple roll, and his heart suddenly ached.

The wine prepared by Song Jiting tonight was very strong. After drinking a cup, his eyes turned bloodshot.

Li Yuliang did not drink, and he did not force him to drink. He picked up the wine jug next to him and poured himself another cup.

“The cup just now was toasting you.” He said to Li Yuliang, “Toasting you for doing all kinds of bad things, for dying without a whole body tomorrow, and for the wicked being punished.”

As he spoke, he picked up his wine glass and continued: “This second cup, I toast your little emperor, and toast him for the destruction of his imperial power, for being buried in a sea of fire, and for being abandoned by everyone.”

He happily drank the second cup of wine, and frowned from the spicy taste.

He casually wiped the wine from the corner of his lips with his sleeve, and suddenly felt that what he said was wrong, so he said again: “I said the wrong thing, he is not abandoned by everyone, until now, there is still your loyal dog.”

His gaze was like a knife, stabbing straight into Li Yuliang’s heart.

But no matter what he said, the other party listened in silence, without responding a word.

Song Jiting continued to pour wine for himself.

“Who should I toast the next cup to?” He seemed to be talking to Li Yuliang, but also like he was asking himself.

“I toast myself.” He said, “I toast myself for not being confused by your bullshit lies, and for never believing that you would have even a trace of true feelings for me.”

His body leaned forward, the candlelight reflected on his face, there was something sparkling in his eyes, and his voice trembled along with the candlelight when he spoke.

He said to Li Yuliang, “If I had a moment of insanity and believed you once, I would have been unable to find my bones in this world.”

After drinking the third cup of wine, there was obvious drunkenness on his face.

He stood up, his figure a little unsteady, and staggered to Li Yuliang.

Li Yuliang’s eyes followed him closely, but his body still did not move, and he sat there motionlessly.

Song Jiting supported himself on the table with both hands, lowered his head slightly, and the breath he exhaled carried the smell of wine, hitting Li Yuliang’s face.

He thought, Li Yuliang, as expected, the closer he got, the more disgusting he became.

“How did you have the face to touch me before?” He questioned Li Yuliang: “What are you, that you deserve to admire me?”

He did not want Li Yuliang to answer anything to his harsh words. He just wanted to scold him and vent the resentment that had been suppressed for too long.

But for some reason, the more he vented, the more uncomfortable he felt in his heart.

Unable to breathe smoothly, he picked up the wine that Li Yuliang had not drunk, and raised his hand to drink it.

Li Yuliang, who had been silent for so long, finally reacted and reached out to stop his wine glass.

“You’ve had too much to drink.”

Hearing him speak, the breath that Song Jiting was almost suffocating on suddenly became a little smoother.

He sneered, returned the glass to Li Yuliang, and challenged him: “Okay, then you drink it!”

Li Yuliang stingily collected all his emotions, unwilling to let Song Jiting perceive even half of it, calmly took the glass, raised it and drank it.

But just as his cup touched his lips, Song Jiting suddenly lost control again, flicked his sleeve, and knocked the wine glass in his hand to the ground.

The white porcelain shattered with a crisp sound.

He still felt it was not enough, and pushed all the dishes on the table to the ground as well.

With the mess all over the ground, he finally calmed down a little, gasped for breath, and sat back in his chair weakly.

This wine was really too strong, so strong that he could not stay sober so quickly.

He lay on the table in front of him, his face buried in his arms, and Li Yuliang could no longer see his expression.

But he could see that when the night wind of early autumn blew in, Song Jiting’s thin body was shaking constantly.

Then there was a long silence.

So quiet that the world seemed to be frozen at this moment, and all the past had turned into nothing.

The door was wide open, and there were no guards in Song Jiting’s mansion.

This was Li Yuliang’s last, only, chance to live.

Song Jiting even gave him two paths to take.

The first was to leave directly from this open door and escape to the ends of the earth, wherever he wanted.

The second was that he might be able to hug him, he was so cold that he was about to die.

But Li Yuliang did not take either of these two paths.

He was so indifferent.

He was silent with the night, without the desire to live, nor the interest in having an ambiguous entanglement with someone he did not love at the last moment of his life.

The tears from the white candles formed snow mountains, as long as waiting for a lifetime, or as short as a blink of an eye, and half of the night had passed.

When the clapper sounded at midnight, Li Yuliang chose to stay on his death date.

Song Jiting slowly got up, as if he had had a great dream.

The anger had subsided, but the emotion of disappointment still bewitched people’s hearts.

In the last moments, he asked Li Yuliang sadly, almost pleadingly: “If I let you choose again now, would you go with me, or go back to accompany him to die?”

The ending was already doomed, whether Li Yuliang went back or not, he would be powerless to turn the tide.

But he did not hesitate, looked at Song Jiting frankly, in the same gentle tone as when he confessed his love in the past, and gave him a firm answer——

“I will accompany him to die.”

–

The night was not over yet, and Li Yuliang was escorted back to the Imperial Prison.

He thought that he had already lost heart to this point, but how could he have expected that a single tear from that person could rekindle the ashes.

The raging flames burned, making people’s livers and gallbladders tremble.

Shen Tan appeared soon after.

Through the prison door, she looked at Li Yuliang with some pity.

She had been there all along, and of course Li Yuliang knew it.

He opened his mouth weakly: “Why must you force him like this.”

If he had escaped tonight, Song Jiting would have been completely ruined.

The Emperor was staring at him intently, testing his resolve.

To rise to the top, or to be crushed to pieces, was all in a single thought.

So, how could Li Yuliang, how could he dare?

What was he, to dare to admire him.