After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

Chapter 399 Choosing a Queen

"You killed my Yue Li!"

“Your Highness is wrong. It wasn’t me who killed Princess Yue Li. Princess Yue Li brought this upon herself.” Lu Zhiyuan curled her lips. “I kindly reminded her, but she wouldn’t believe me.”

"Lu Zhiyuan, I'm going to kill you!"

"Keep your voice down, I can hear you."

Feeling a slight numbness in her hand, she moved it gently: "Words of threat are useless; after all, the princess's life is in my hands."

The princess laughed, gritting her teeth, and said, "Is that so? Then I'll show you how I, the princess, will kill you."

A single glance was enough to send a long sword piercing through Lu Zhiyuan's heart and into her body. The princess grinned maliciously and shouted, "Kill her! Kill her for me!"

Before they could finish speaking, they saw Xiao Yebai hurriedly leave the sacrificial tower and run towards them.

"I know he will come to save you." The princess lowered her voice: "Lu Zhiyuan, you and Xiao Yebai are going to die. One is the Crown Princess of Beiliang, and the other is the King of Nanchu. Yue Li and I will not lose out. As for the kingdom of Nanchu, I have never wanted to have it. What I want is to destroy it."

The last thing the eldest princess said was: "She is Xiao Yebai's weakness. Whoever can take her down and kill Xiao Yebai will be the new ruler of Southern Chu."

The eldest princess was shrewd and calculating, but she never expected that she was just a pawn in Lu Zhiyuan's plan.

The person who stabbed her with a sword was arranged by Lu Zhiyuan.

He had received a favor from Lu Zhiyuan and was willing to die for her, helping her complete her plan. When he raised his sword to pierce the princess and then Lu Zhiyuan, he had fulfilled his mission.

Lu Yun led the elite of the Qinghe Gang. With the eldest princess dead and the group leaderless, they cooperated with Han Ting and Xiao Yebai to quickly dismantle the rebel army.

The bloody and terrifying night finally passed, and the morning light illuminated the entire altar.

The sound of steady, orderly footsteps echoed from beneath the altar; Xiao Yebai's trusted men were assembling the troops, counting the prisoners, and handling the aftermath. As a king, Xiao Yebai had other matters to attend to and could not stay by Lu Zhiyuan's side every step of the way.

Just as he was getting anxious, Lu Yun patted him on the shoulder and said, "Go do what you should do, and don't let Miss's efforts go to waste."

"But Miss, she..."

“You’re no use staying here!” Lu Yun revealed a cruel truth: “You’re not a royal physician, and neither am I.”

Xiao Yebai hesitated for a moment, clenched his fist, walked up to Lu Zhiyuan, and softly said, "Miss!"

Lu Zhiyuan opened her eyes: "You're blaming me, blaming me for marrying the Crown Prince."

Xiao Yebai shook his head: "Yebai has never thought that way! I knew that Miss was chosen by the Empress to be the Crown Princess when we were in the Northern Liang Palace. It is only natural for Miss to marry the Crown Prince, so how could I resent Miss for it? I just feel that this is not the kind of life Miss wants."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "I once thought I could give Miss the life she wanted, but in the end... Ye Bai was useless and dragged Miss down with him."

"Let me tell you a secret!" Lu Zhiyuan showed him the spider silk in the wound: "Even without that sword, I would still die."

"What happened?" Xiao Yebai grabbed Lu Yun's collar: "What did I tell you the day I left the capital? I told you to take good care of Miss, why didn't you take good care of her? Where is the Crown Prince? What is he doing! Why did Miss become like this? Why?"

"It's too noisy, it scared me so much my heart stopped beating." Lu Zhiyuan covered her injured area. "It has nothing to do with Lu Yun, and nothing to do with the Crown Prince. I brought this on myself. My time is up, I don't want to leave, I want to stay a few more days. Defying fate always comes at a price. This is the price I have to pay. It's alright, it's so deep, but it doesn't hurt at all."

"I will go find the royal physician, I will find the witch doctor, I will do everything I can to save you."

"Lu Yun, stop him!" Lu Zhiyuan forced herself to sit up: "Xiao Yebai, do you want me to die with my eyes wide open in disbelief?"

Xiao Yebai stopped.

"I don't have time anymore. I need to tell you... tell you all some things." Lu Zhiyuan took a shallow breath. "I came to Nan Chu to get Lu Yun and Han Ting away. There was no other reason, I just didn't want them to see my final moments. I wanted them to always remember me as the happy, beautiful, and exceptionally capable Lu Zhiyuan. Lu Yun was the first to react, followed by Han Ting. Since I can't get them away, I'll respect fate."

Han Ting paused for a moment, then spoke first: "We will not leave, we will stay with Miss no matter what."

“Alright!” Lu Zhiyuan said softly, “I have three last wishes: First, that Northern Liang and Southern Chu never go to war during the reign of the Crown Prince and Ye Bai! Second, that I be cremated immediately after my death, as I don’t want my body to rot and cause me worry. Third, that I not be buried in Northern Liang or Southern Chu, but rather scattered in a place where they meet, and that my ashes drift wherever they may.”

"Miss!" the three said in unison, "You want to grind yourself to dust."

"Pah! What do you mean by 'crushed to ashes'? Can't you come up with a more romantic way of saying it?" Lu Zhiyuan rolled her eyes. "I call it 'going with the wind,' free and unrestrained. My whole life has been mostly constrained, either confined to a secluded mansion or a palace. Now that I'm finally dead, you want to bury me in the ground, trapping me in an ugly little mound of earth? I warn you, don't bury me in the ground, or I'll hate you."

Xiao Yebai's eyes were red: "Okay, Yebai promises you."

"If you really miss us, you can build a cenotaph in your favorite place. When I have free time, I'll follow the scent to visit you."

Their eyes trembled involuntarily as they both recalled the words Lu Zhiyuan had spoken: that she would be resurrected and become Xiao Yebai's daughter. She wanted him to find a beautiful woman to be his queen, and for him and the queen to be deeply in love and mutually devoted.

Lu Yun nudged Xiao Yebai's hand and asked anxiously, "Have you found the queen I asked you to find?"

Xiao Yebai shook his head, which angered Lu Yun so much that he hit him: "How have you been the King of Southern Chu? It's been so long and you haven't even found a queen yet."

It's not that they can't find her, but that everyone they see is inferior to Lu Zhiyuan.

Lu Zhiyuan took out a portrait from her bosom and handed it to him. The portrait was stained with blood, which had seeped right down to the hair bun, making it look like he was wearing a blooming, bright red rose.

"This is the queen I've found for you! She's originally from the Southern Chu nobility, but she went into seclusion because she couldn't stand the behavior of the previous Southern Chu kings. Her father took her to live in the Northern Liang for many years, and her grandfather and maternal grandfather were both Confucian scholars well-versed in the cultures of both Northern Liang and Southern Chu. Like me, she is a naturally beautiful woman, gentle on the outside but strong on the inside, and unconventional in her manners. You can get to know her first, and if you really don't like her, you can choose another queen you prefer."

Xiao Yebai shook his head and looked into Lu Zhiyuan's eyes: "Miss said that a woman's marriage is not only about choosing a husband for herself, but also about choosing a son-in-law for her parents and parents for her children. Yebai trusts Miss's judgment of people. Once the situation in the capital is stable, I will ask her to be my queen."

“That makes sense, but—” Lu Zhiyuan smiled at him, “What I truly hope for is your happiness, not that you sacrifice your happiness for me.”