Chapter 2: The Two Realms of Life and Death (Part 1)

  The snow gradually decreased, but the wind grew stronger, howling and blowing with a piercing chill that seemed to penetrate to the bone. Despite the barrier of the carriage, Li Xian still felt cold, even though the charcoal brazier inside was burning brightly. However, this chill was more from the depths of his heart, unstoppable and inescapable. Under the extreme cold, Li Xian's frail body trembled like a sieve.

  Three different stages of life have three different personalities - the weakness of young Li Xian, the cautiousness and vicissitudes of old Li Xian, and the external gentleness and internal firmness of young Mayor Li Sheng. This can be said to be three different souls all mixed together, and the conflicts and entanglements within are inevitable. Confusion and chaos have become the best reflection of Li Xian's mood at this time. The huge drop in space-time conversion has made Li Xian extremely unadapted. Under the intense psychological conflict, Li Xian is already somewhat unclear what is reality and what is fantasy, and his entire brain has become a tangled mess.

  "Your Highness, Your Highness."

  Just as Li Xian was about to collapse from his tangled thoughts, a few soft calls came in from outside the car curtain, pulling him back from the edge of madness.

  "Ah."

  Li Xian raised his head in a daze, responded vaguely, and only then suddenly realized that the moving carriage had stopped at some point. Li Xian shifted uncomfortably, clenched his teeth, lifted his hand, and gently lifted one corner of the curtain to look outside, where he saw the face of the young eunuch Gao Mei, full of tension and unease.

  "Your Highness, you... Ah, Your Highness, we've arrived at the Gate of Heaven, Your Highness, look..."

  Gao Miao saw Li Xian finally show up, and his heart was slightly relieved at first, but when he took another look at Li Xian's pale face, he immediately tensed up again. He didn't dare to ask what had happened, but swallowed hard and spoke in a low voice to remind him.

  Have we arrived? Oh, we have! Li Xian was stunned for a moment before remembering the purpose of his trip. He twitched at the corner of his mouth as if he wanted to say something but ultimately didn't speak up. Instead, he silently nodded and got out of the carriage with Gao Mai's assistance.

  The Tianmen Gate remains the same, majestic and towering, even in the thick snow, it cannot hide its magnificent appearance. Whoever comes here can't help but be intimidated. But when Li Xian saw it, he had a different feeling, not the urge to worship or the piety of pilgrimage, but an indescribable aftertaste, with a hint of familiarity and intimacy inside, two parts of loss and confusion, but more is fear!

  Fear, yes, it's fear, unadulterated fear, not just because of the current confusion, but more so because of doubts and worries about the future. Those scenes of "past events" surged up in his mind again, causing Li Xian's thin body to shudder involuntarily, and his small face turned pale as snow in an instant.

  "Your Highness, Your Highness."

  Eunuch Gao Miao was only thirteen years old, and had been castrated at the age of seven before entering the palace. He was immediately assigned to serve in the household of Crown Prince Li Xian, where he had spent the past six years. As a result, he had grown up alongside Li Xian and was extremely familiar with his temperament. He could usually guess what Li Xian was thinking just by looking at his expressions or movements. However, today his usual intuition seemed to have failed him - from morning till now, all of Li Xian's actions were completely beyond Gao Miao's grasp. This series of unexpected events filled Gao Miao's heart with doubt and worry. As a eunuch, he had always been careful not to overstep his bounds, but seeing Li Xian staring blankly at the Chengtian Gate without any intention of entering the palace, Gao Miao was worried that something might go wrong. He reluctantly stepped forward and called out softly.

  "Hmm? Oh, okay, enter the palace, enter the palace."

  Li Xian finally came back to his senses from his daze after being reminded by Gao Yan, and he mechanically glanced at Gao Yan with a somewhat absent-minded expression. He let out a few vague noises, lifted his foot, and headed towards the Chengtian Gate. After verifying the number plate, he walked silently past the Taiji Hall, turned around the Er Yi Hall, entered the inner court, and followed the main road in the palace until he reached the front of the Yi De Hall. Only then did he suddenly stop in his tracks, with such force that Gao Yan almost crashed into Li Xian's back.

  "Your Highness, Her Majesty the Empress is in labor today. His Majesty and Crown Prince are already here. What do you think, Your Highness?"

  Gao Miao made a great effort to steady his feet, and after swaying several times, he finally managed to maintain his balance. Seeing Li Xian stunned again, he couldn't help but smile wryly and hastily explained.

  Going into labor? Ah, today is the day that little girl Taiping was born. Hey, peace, peace, where did this peace come from? A flash of insight suddenly appeared in Li Xian's mind, and he recalled the events that were about to unfold. The corner of his mouth curled up, revealing a faintly bitter smile, but he didn't say anything, only slightly shaking his head, adjusting his clothes, and striding into the palace...

  Yide Hall, since the opening of Tang, has been the palace of the empress. Several generations of empresses of the Great Tang have lived here. Wu Zetian had entered this hall after being crowned as empress in November 655 AD and had stayed for nearly ten years. However, due to her sinister plot to kill Queen Wang and Consort Xiao, she rarely stayed in the Taiji Palace in Chang'an. Instead, she persuaded Emperor Gaozong of Tang to reside in Luoyang for most of the year, usually staying there for more than nine months, only returning to Chang'an briefly during the Qingming Festival. This time, Wu Zetian returned to the capital ahead of schedule because she was pregnant and feared it would be inconvenient to travel. She returned to the capital in June this year to await childbirth. At this time, with Wu Zetian about to give birth, the palace was bustling with activity, with countless palace maids and eunuchs rushing in and out, creating a chaotic scene.

  Li Xian walked along the way, and all the way, there were palace maids and eunuchs bowing to greet him, but Li Xian was preoccupied with his thoughts at this time and didn't care about them. He walked into the main hall, and from a distance, he saw Emperor Gaozong of Tang wearing a bright yellow imperial robe, pacing back and forth between the front and rear halls, looking anxious. Crown Prince Li Hong sat on a soft couch, and next to him stood a handsome young man named Li Xian, King of Lu. Below Li Xian stood a famous wet nurse, holding a three-year-old child in her arms, who was none other than Emperor Ruizong of Tang, also known as the "Useless Emperor" Li Dan.

  "I have seen the Emperor, Father."

  At this time, Li Xian had a lot of thoughts in his mind, but he didn't dare to express them, nor did he dare to lose his manners. He walked into the grand hall, hastily stepped forward and rushed to Emperor Gaozong's side, bowed deeply and loudly paid his respects.

  "Ah, it's Xian'er who has arrived. Forgive me, forgive me." Emperor Gaozong was pacing back and forth anxiously, but as soon as he saw Li Xian arrive, a warm smile immediately appeared on his face, and he beckoned to him with a gentle wave of his hand, calling him over to his side. After taking a look at Li Xian's pale complexion, he said with some concern: "Xian'er, are you not feeling well? Why does your face look so terrible? Tsk, in this cold weather, you should take good care to keep warm, don't wait until you're really ill before seeking treatment, or it will be too late."

  "The emperor's teachings are correct, I'm fine, maybe just caught a bit of chill, after resting for a while, I'll be okay."

  Looking at his father's kind and amiable face, Li Xian's heart suddenly surged with a strong sense of affection, his eyes reddening uncontrollably as he struggled to hold back tears. He hastily lowered his head, forcing himself to remain calm as he replied, but the tremble in his voice betrayed the turmoil within him.

  "Has he caught a chill? This cannot be taken lightly. Someone, go and bring some ginger soup." As soon as Li Zhi heard that Li Xian had caught a chill, he immediately became somewhat anxious, hastily calling out an order, and one of the eunuchs standing by his side took orders to go to the imperial kitchen to fetch the ginger soup.

  "Your son... Your son thanks Your Majesty for your great kindness."

  Listening to Li Zhiwen's warm words, Li Xian couldn't help but burst into tears, choking with gratitude - although Li Xian still can't figure out his own identity and status at the moment, the father-son relationship between him and Li Zhi is an unchangeable fact. As a person who has lived for many years, Li Xian knows that his father's personality is weak and he doesn't qualify as a good emperor, a good husband, or even a good father, but his love for his children is completely genuine, without any pretence. This is rare in the cunning imperial family, making Li Xian feel deeply moved.

  "Foolish child, be polite to the emperor for a bit. Alas, your mother has been inside for half a day already and there's still no news. My heart is truly worried. Alas, I hope everything goes smoothly. Alright, alright, don't mention this again. Xian'er, go wait with your brothers. I'll go take a look." Li Zhi muttered instructions to Li Xian, his mind still worrying about the pregnant Wu Hou. He shook out his sleeves and was about to head towards the rear palace, but after taking only two steps, he stopped abruptly, pacing back and forth anxiously on the spot.

  A good person, but not a good emperor! Looking at his father's anxious and hesitant appearance, Li Xian couldn't help but think of history's final verdict on Gaozong. He couldn't help but let out a sigh in his heart, but this was clearly not the occasion for grand emotions. So Li Xian could only silently sigh to himself and slowly walk away.

  "My younger brother has met the Crown Prince and Sixth Brother."

  In his heart, he had countless emotions, but facing the two brothers, Crown Prince Li Hong who was reclining on the soft couch and Prince Lu of Yan Li Xian who was standing upright, Li Xian did not dare to show any disrespect, and formally paid his respects with great courtesy.

  "Seventh brother, no need to be like this, just calm down. It's very cold today, seventh brother should take care of himself, don't get sick, that would not be good."

  Crown Prince Li Hong was a very easy-going person, although he was the crown prince, he never put on airs in front of his many younger brothers. The only regret was that his body was a bit weak. These days, the snow was big and the wind was cold, and he had caught a chill. However, because Wu Zetian was about to give birth, as her son, he couldn't not come here to show concern. He could only force himself to sit on the soft couch to wait for news. When he saw Li Xian pay his respects to him, he immediately smiled warmly and slightly raised his hand, indicating that Li Xian didn't need to be too polite.

  "My younger brother thanks you, Prince Brother, for your concern."

  Whether in the past or present, Li Xian was quite close to Li Hong. As soon as he saw Li Hong, he smiled before speaking, and his heart warmed up. Smiling, he thanked him and stood up straight, then walked over to Li Hong's side.

  "Seventh brother, what's wrong with you? You're always the last to arrive. If you don't change your lazy ways, how will you be able to handle important matters in the future?"

  Li Xian had just straightened up, and before he could take a step, Li Xuan, who was standing beside him, suddenly scolded him with a loud reprimand, causing Li Xian to choke back his words...