Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 444 Dream (The Finale)

Yan Ciwan had just taken a step when Yan Hengyu's voice came from behind her.

"May I attend your wedding?"

Yan Ciwan refused without turning her head, saying, "No need. You stay here and protect the people of Xizhou. That's the best wedding gift you could give me."

Will you come back in the future?

"will not."

After uttering those two words, Yan Ciwan strode away.

Yan Hengyu kept watching her back until it completely disappeared into the night, and she never turned around to look at him.

She said she no longer had a father, that she no longer needed him, and that she would never come back.

He knew he had completely lost his daughter.

My heart ached as if it were being stabbed, and a metallic sweetness rose to my throat.

He bent over and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

……

Since Yan Ciwan left, Chaolu had been restless. She stared at the city gate for a long time, until the sun set and the sky darkened, but she still did not see Yan Ciwan come out.

She couldn't help but feel uneasy: "I hope nothing has happened to Aci."

Li Chengge, Du Lingzhou, and Uncle Jiu were also unsure.

They discussed it together and decided that if Yan Ciwan hadn't come out by dawn, they would try to break into the city to look for him.

Time passed slowly, and dawn was approaching. The four could no longer contain themselves. Li Chengge took out a bomb, intending to use the noise created by the explosion to attract attention. Once the gatekeepers were distracted, they could sneak into the secret city.

Just as Li Chengge was about to light the fuse, the city gate suddenly opened.

Yan Ciwan led her horse out, with General Xu following behind her.

As soon as Li Chengge saw her appear, he quickly extinguished the tinder he had just lit, put away the explosive pack, and ran towards Yan Ciwan with the other three.

Yan Ciwan was talking to General Xu when she caught a glimpse of her companions arriving, so she bid farewell to General Xu.

"Please wait here, I must go."

General Xu was unaware of her entanglement with the King of Xizhou and assumed she had just gone out on some business and would be back soon. He asked, "Should I send a few men to protect you?"

"Thank you for your kindness, but I can protect myself."

General Xu recalled her heroic figure, fighting against ten opponents single-handedly, and thought to himself that he had never realized before that the little princess was so skilled in martial arts. She was truly a hidden talent!
He didn't insist, and nodded, saying, "Alright then, be careful on your journey, and come back soon."

After bidding farewell to General Xu, Yan Ciwan left with Chaolu and the others.

They arrived at the tomb of the Queen of Xizhou, and it was still the same as before, with no changes.

The five men started digging the grave together. When the grave keeper saw this, he immediately came forward to stop them, but he was tied up, gagged, and thrown to the ground under a tree.

In the end, the grave keeper could only watch helplessly as the princess's coffin was forced to be dug out.

Yan Ciwan kowtowed three times to the coffin: "Mother, please forgive me for disturbing your peaceful sleep. I will take you to a quieter place where no one will bother you again."

She and Du Lingzhou then lifted the coffin onto the carriage, with Uncle Jiu driving the car and the other four following on horseback.

Before they left, they made sure to release the unfortunate gravedigger.

Once the grave keeper was freed, he immediately ran back to Mi City to spread the word.

This matter quickly reached Yan Hengyu's ears.

At this moment, Yan Hengyu was lying in bed recuperating. In just one night, his temples had turned white, his eyebrows and eyes had several wrinkles, and his face was as pale as paper. He looked as if he had aged more than ten years.

Upon hearing that the princess had led a group to steal the queen's coffin, his condition, which had just stabilized slightly, suddenly flared up again. He felt dizzy and lightheaded, as if he had forgotten what year it was. He stared blankly at the door and kept muttering to himself.

"Ah Yang, Ah Ci, don't go..."

Lu Jinshu quickly called the doctor over.

After undergoing acupuncture and taking medicine, Yan Hengyu closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The doctor advised, "Your Highness's illness stems from a heart condition. As the saying goes, a heart ailment requires a heart remedy. There is only so much I can do. Do not subject Your Highness to any further stress. Let him rest for a while and see if he can recover."

Lu Jinshu agreed verbally, but he knew very well that the prince's illness was probably incurable.

Because the only person who could cure the prince will never come back.

……

Yan Ciwan and his group escorted the coffin to the Ning clan's hometown, a secluded place deep in the mountains, where they no longer had to worry about being disturbed.

All the Ning clan members who were killed back then are now buried here. Yan Ciwan found the names of her maternal grandfather and great-grandmother among the many tombstones. She first kowtowed and offered incense to the two elders, and then pointed to the empty space next to them and said.

"Let's bury it here."

The five-person team immediately got to work and quickly dug a deep pit. They carefully placed the coffin into the pit and then filled it with soil.

Yan Ciwan found a stone to use as a tombstone, and she used a Ning knife to carve her mother's name on it.

Chao Lu specially picked some wildflowers and wild fruits and placed them in front of the tombstone as offerings.

“Mother, there are many members of the Ning clan here. With them by your side, you won’t be lonely. Don’t worry about me. I have many friends and Grandma. I’m very happy now. There’s one more thing. I’m getting married soon. It’s a pity you can’t see me get married. I will bring your son-in-law to visit you in the future. He is a very gentle person. You will definitely like him.”

Yan Ciwan respectfully kowtowed three times to her mother.

After saying goodbye, she and her companions went down the mountain and rode their horses towards Chang'an.

The return journey was much easier than the journey there. The group of five traveled and played along the way. They heard that the conscription order in Xizhou had been lifted and that the men who had been forced into military service had returned home and continued their lives.

When Yan Ciwan returned to Chang'an, it was already mid-December. Amidst the heavy snowfall, the carriages and horses entered the city gates and proceeded smoothly along the streets.

During the journey, Chaolu, Li Chengge, and Du Lingzhou got off the carriage one after another, and finally the carriage stopped in front of the palace gate.

According to the rules, carriages are not allowed to enter the palace. Just as Yan Ciwan was about to get out of the carriage, it suddenly started moving again.

She asked Uncle Jiu, who was driving, "Why did you leave again? I haven't gotten out of the car yet."

"The Emperor has decreed that you may enter the palace by carriage."

Upon hearing this, Yan Ciwan smiled silently. That guy was always very considerate in such small matters.

The carriage traveled along the palace road. Yan Ciwan looked out the window and saw that the wind and snow were heavy, and the cold wind howled past her ears. The whole world seemed to have turned into a white expanse.

This scene reminded her of herself in another world. If she hadn't woken up from the coffin, she would now be a skeleton, surrounded by snow and wind, a lonely grave in the deep mountains, without even a tombstone, only a Ning sword standing before her grave...

"We've arrived," Uncle Nine said.

Yan Ciwan snapped out of her thoughts and saw a hand with distinct knuckles lift the carriage curtain.

Li Wang stood by the car, wearing a silver-gray cloak. A snowflake landed on his eyelashes, and his eyes shone like a gentle and tender spring breeze.

"Aci, you're finally back."

Yan Ciwan placed her hand in his palm and found that his fingers were icy cold.

After she got out of the car, she noticed that Li Wang's hair and shoulders were covered in snow. She reached out to brush the snow off him and asked, "Have you been waiting long?"

"Not long, only half an hour."

Yan Ciwan calculated the time and realized that he had been waiting here since she entered the palace gate.

"Why are you so dense? It's so cold, you could have just waited for me inside."

Li Wang smiled and said, "Just thinking about seeing you soon makes me not feel cold at all."

"Don't do such stupid things again. Go inside."

"Ah."

The two walked up the stairs hand in hand.

The following June, the two held a grand wedding in the Daming Palace. Li Wang issued an edict granting amnesty to the world, and the curfew in Chang'an was lifted for three consecutive days.

The King of Xizhou sent congratulatory gifts, including numerous gold, jade, and silk fabrics, as well as a military tally.

—The military power of the Zhenxi Army was the greatest congratulatory gift he could give to the newlywed emperor and empress.

On their wedding night, Li Wang placed the military fish tally in Yan Ciwan's hand and said, "You have made a great contribution by stopping the King of Xizhou from raising an army and saving the people from the ravages of war. This is the reward you deserve."

Yan Ciwan toyed with the military fish token in her hand and asked with a smile, "Is this all my reward?"

"What else do you want? I'll give you anything I have."

Yan Ciwan tossed the military tally aside, then hooked her finger around Li Wang's belt.

"That's what you said."

Li Wang wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered in her ear, "A king's promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold."

Yan Ciwan whispered, "I want to be on top tonight."

Li Wang laughed: "Okay."

On the screen embroidered with dragons and phoenixes, the figures of the two are closely embracing.

A beautiful spring night, with red candles and a warm tent; what follows is beyond words.

Years later, Yan Ciwan and Li Wang went on a tour south, and the Crown Prince was put in charge of overseeing the country.

When the couple passed by the Xiang River near Xiangzhou, Yan Ciwan specially asked someone to find paper money and candles.

She squatted by the river and threw paper money into the brazier one by one.

Li Wang asked, "Whom are you commemorating?"

Yan Ciwan gazed at the flowing river and slowly uttered a single word: "Me."

Li Wang frowned: "Don't talk nonsense."

“I once had a dream in which I died in this river. When you found me, I was already a skeleton. No one could cure you, and in the end, you could only die from the poison. The King of Xizhou sent troops to attack Chang'an, and many innocent people lost their lives. The whole world was in chaos.”

As Li Wangguang listened to her description, he felt as if a huge boulder was pressing on his heart, making him extremely heavy.

He said, "That was just a dream."

After burning the last piece of paper money, Yan Ciwan stood up and smiled slightly at him.

"Yes, it was just a dream."

Li Wang used his embroidered handkerchief to wipe the dust off her fingers: "Where do we go next?"

Yan Ciwan thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to Dongdu. We can also visit Old Madam Du."

Li Wang nodded: "Okay, I haven't seen her in a long time either."

The two traveled eastward along the Xiang River by boat. The ashes of the paper money left on the riverbank were quickly scattered by the wind, and the ashes were scattered on the river surface, gently rippling with the water.

All past events have vanished in this way.

(End of text)

That concludes Aci's story! Thank you all for your support over the past six months. This was my first attempt at a purely narrative-driven writing style, and there are many areas that aren't quite perfect. Please bear with me, muah~
The next story is still in the works. If you have any topics you'd like to see, feel free to leave them in the comments so I can have something to consider.

Well, that's all for now. I hope everyone finds many more great books. See you in the next story! Bye-bye!