CH 68.7

Big Brother’s Epilogue (7)



“Get out.” Lan Ziyu gritted his teeth.



The crowd looked fearful and withdrew.



“Lan Min ... Lan Min ...” Lan Ziyu slammed his fist into the wall. Dark blood flowed slowly from the cracks in the wall. He whispered and cried blood like a child.



It was as if ... he was trying to incorporate that name into his bones and blood.



“Why... won’t you even leave me with a memory of...”



“Why ...”



The people outside the door listened to the blood-curdling roar of anguish from Lan Ziyu inside. And suddenly, their hearts began to ache in intractable pain as if they had really forgotten something.



Suddenly, they heard a shallow sigh, seemingly helpless and seemingly regretful ...



Lan Ziyu was shocked. He raised his eyes, which were blood red.



At that moment, he was no different from a ghost crawling out of the devil’s den.



“Lan Min, I will not let you go. If you take my heart, you have to stay with me for the rest of your life, no matter what the cost, I will find you... Lan Min!!!.”



A desperate cry with the power to destroy the earth penetrated across worlds and time.



...



I always knew I was a stand-in.



Ever since I entered the palace,  the nobleman often looked at me in disbelief. Occasionally, when he looked at me, he would call out the name of another woman.



Sometimes awake, sometimes confused, but the only thing that remained the same was to look for another woman in my body.



He never touched me, the whole harem was full of beauties, but he looked for only that woman with her brows and eyes! The taboo that cannot be uttered.



The taboo that everyone was unfamiliar with was why that nobleman fought on the battlefield and insisted on unifying the Three Kingdoms in the final battle in which corpses were scattered all over the land. The taboo that turned the Eternal Emperor into a madman was the woman who never existed but inexplicably became the trigger of the war.



The magnificent palace, with its hordes of servants, exquisite carvings, and gorgeous blues - all the best could be seen in this place. But the woman under the lamp, full of light mockery and bitterness, knew that none of this belonged to her, but instead, it belonged to that person. The woman that no one knew but could not mention.



In the light veil, the woman under the lamp was reflected in the blurred bronze mirror. Her eyes were like dead water. After uniting the three kingdoms together, she had inadvertently seen that nobleman laugh insanely, madly, unclothed, painting the same picture. At first glance, their faces were similar, but the woman in that picture had eyes of astonishing beauty!



Once, she had loved the face that made that noble man’s eyes linger, but now, how envious she was. She now hated his gaze because it let her know that it wasn’t for her!



Not only she, but all the women in the harem added up to nothing more than a collection of eyebrows and eyes to be used as a reference to piece together a person who did not exist ...



How sad. He never touched anyone in the harem. Instead, he imprisoned them in the harem together to reminisce about the person who didn’t exist ...



A tragedy to all.



I knew that at this point in time, that man was coming, as he had been for months.



The wind and rain never changed, appearing at this palace, this palace,  like a golden cage.



But I didn’t know why, but tonight, I had a strange feeling that something was about to change.



As I drifted off, I heard the sound of Lan Ziyu’s footsteps coming down the corridor into the palace.



I looked up and watched him approach me.



“Why are you up so late?” Lan Ziyu asked.



I didn’t answer, but he seemed different today. The madness and sadness and love I once felt were gone from his eyes. So, I wanted to see him more clearly. I looked at him more intensely.



“Why are you looking at me like that?” Lan Ziyu asked gently as he sat down in front of me.



“Do you... remember whom the Hall of Simin was built for?” Looking at him, I wondered if he had realised that his memory was fading. That was why he was so eager to have so many women piece together Lan Min’s jigsaw puzzle. He even went so far as to leave behind me, me, who only had the same name as her.



“Simin Hall?” Lan Ziyu raised her eyebrows and smiled softly, “Silly, isn’t named after you?”



“Where is Lan Min? Do you remember?” The name, I continued to ask, was the name I heard Lan Ziyu keep reciting when he was drunk once, each sound carrying endless thoughts and sorrow...



“Hehe, isn’t Lan Min you?” Lan Ziyu laughed.



“I have the same name as your Majesty’s Lan Min...”



His hand froze slightly, his eyes constantly intertwined with entanglement, contradiction, pain, struggle...



He didn’t remember. He didn’t remember...



He didn’t remember the woman called Lan Min ... He didn’t remember the woman for who he once painstakingly collected jigsaws...



The woman with the same name as me, the one called Lan Min...



“Lan Min~” With a hand on my face, Lan Ziyu’s eyes were suddenly shocked, and he ran away embarrassed.



Outside was the exclamation of the servants and the panic and anger of Lan Ziyu!



Suddenly I was so weary that I asked the servants in the palace to remove my make-up and lay down on the bed. I closed my eyes, not wanting to speak.



For I knew that that man, I fear he would not let them live.



He, himself, would not live. For, that time when he was drunk, he said it would be better to die with what little memory of you he had than live in a world forgetting you.



While he had those women who were like you, no, none of them was like you, for there was no one to compare with you, no one...



The next day, rumours circled of the death of the Eternal Emperor, who died in the palace overnight.



His hair was white, and the last decree was to abolish all the concubines in the harem.



The history books were not allowed to leave any name of any harem woman except the Phoenix Empress ...