Hello! I'm the author, Muzi Yingbao~~ The story has reached this point, and the main text has concluded. Thank you for accompanying me for so long, and thank you for following this novel all the way to the end!!!
Here, first of all, I want to apologize. I'm a student, and writing novels is just a hobby. So, there are definitely some issues throughout this process, my writing isn't great, the logic isn't rigorous enough, and the plot certainly has some flaws, with many imperfect aspects.
So, I'm truly sorry. There will be new works in the future, and I will use the experience from this to identify my shortcomings. I hope my future works can become better and better, achieve better results, and satisfy more people.
The novel has two endings. Some people might not have understood them clearly. The first ending is the perfect happy ending for the male and female protagonists, which is typically referred to as HE. The second ending is perhaps a bit more special.
In the second ending, the rebirth of Yu Jingchen throughout the entire story was merely a dream he had. This dream was very long and very real, and in the dream, he truly fell in love with Nan Zhiyun. It's just a pity that the harm had already been done. And those things could not be redone, so it was all just a fleeting dream.
As for the child in the second ending... that was actually the child who finally ascended to the throne in the first life. It was adopted by Nan Su, and after Nan Su's death, Yu Jingchen adopted the child back.
Next, I will sort out the plot of the main text of this novel for you. (It will be very long, you can skip the beginning, but I will discuss the epilogue at the end, you can choose whether to read it.)
This novel is a type where the male protagonist is reborn and repents. This is actually very obvious. In this novel, the male protagonist experienced three lives. The first life is the sword-blocking plot we wrote at the beginning. The second life is the life in the middle where the male protagonist was paranoid towards the female protagonist, causing him to lose his mind and eventually die of depression. The third life's plot is the main content of this novel. The male protagonist had memories of the first life from the beginning, and recovered memories of the second life midway. This should be quite clear, and I believe you should be able to understand.
Then, our Empress Dowager, she also has memories of three lives, but she had all the memories from the beginning. In the first life, Yu Jingchen's suspicion of the Nan family led to the tragic fate of Nan Su and Nan Zhiyun. The Empress Dowager deeply resented Yu Jingchen. So, in the second life, the Empress Dowager conspired with Yu Jing An to rebel and overthrow Yu Jingchen's throne, but unfortunately, they failed.
At the beginning, many people asked why the Empress Dowager was reborn but didn't lead the Nan family in rebellion. The reason is the second life. It wasn't that she didn't have the idea, she just couldn't do it. Some people might ask, with the experience of the second life, wouldn't they succeed in this life? You need to think carefully, why did the second life fail? It was because Yu Jingchen was prepared early on, so regardless of whether the Nan family helped or not, Yu Jing An could not have succeeded.
The Empress Dowager in the second life schemed for so long and ultimately failed, which indirectly proves that Yu Jingchen was not in his position solely due to the support of his subjects. It's because he himself had the ability. He never trusted anyone. Even if Nan Su hadn't returned in the first life, Yu Jing An's scheme would have been impossible to succeed.
Yu Jingchen was even suspicious of Nan Su, so how could he truly trust a prince? He had been secretly building his own power. Therefore, the step taken by the Empress Dowager was bound to fail. Even with the experience of the second life, she didn't know how deep Yu Jingchen's foundation was, or if he had any other backup plans.
She wasn't afraid, but she had many things to consider. Moreover, she didn't have that many chances to start over, so she had to make the best choice. In this life, the Empress Dowager used herself as a price to exchange for Yu Jingchen's rebirth, not because she was soft-hearted.
It was simply because she hoped that the reborn Yu Jingchen would protect everything he cared about and cherished. After rebirth, with the memories of the first life, Yu Jingchen would certainly not be overly suspicious of the Nan family. Coupled with Nan Zhiyun blocking the sword for him at the last moment, she didn't believe Yu Jingchen was completely unmoved.
What's more, she knew what happened after Nan Zhiyun's death, so she believed Yu Jingchen could not have completely disliked Nan Zhiyun. Therefore, she was willing to gamble everything on one last bet, using herself to exchange for Yu Jingchen's rebirth.
After rebirth, she slowly forced Yu Jingchen to recognize his feelings. In this life, she never thought of separating them. Even though she initially appeared to resist their interactions, it was only to make Yu Jingchen realize his feelings for Nan Zhiyun. Kuai Shu Ge.
The first thing the Empress Dowager did upon returning to the palace was to test Nan Zhiyun's attitude towards Yu Jingchen. If Nan Zhiyun had resolutely told her she wanted to leave at that time, perhaps the Empress Dowager would not have forced her. But Nan Zhiyun hesitated... If that were the case, the Empress Dowager would have also considered helping Nan Zhiyun obtain what she desired.
The first time she returned to deal with other concubines who had bullied Nan Zhiyun, besides helping Nan Zhiyun, she was testing Yu Jingchen's attitude. It was obvious that Yu Jingchen treated the Empress Dowager's actions as if he didn't see them, which proved that Yu Jingchen had already started to care about Nan Zhiyun.
Later, deliberately keeping Nan Zhiyun by his side was merely to force Yu Jingchen to discover that little bit of difference in his treatment of Nan Zhiyun. Later, she, along with Noble Consort, kidnapped Nan Zhiyun, also hoping to see how much Yu Jingchen cared about Nan Zhiyun, and to pressure him, so that Yu Jingchen would no longer hesitate in matters of love. At the same time, it was to arouse his guilt towards Nan Zhiyun, because with guilt might come the beginning of love.
In the secret chamber, Nan Zhiyun was not actually injured. It was all due to the effects of medicine and hallucinations, but... the fear was real. Why did the Empress Dowager treat Nan Zhiyun this way? The purpose was to stimulate Nan Zhiyun's fear of Yu Jingchen, otherwise, how would Yu Jingchen feel guilt? Also... only by facing this fear directly, and only by bringing this fear out, could it be slowly eroded. If it were always hidden in her heart, perhaps Nan Zhiyun would never be able to digest or overcome this fear. Therefore, the Empress Dowager adopted such an extreme method. It wasn't that there were no other ways, but the Empress Dowager knew she didn't have much time, and only such an aggressive method could achieve the fastest results.
There is a question here: why did Noble Consort Wen help the Empress Dowager? She didn't actually help; she had no choice. Remember Noble Consort Wen had someone she admired? And she had a child, and that child was dealt with by the Empress Dowager. So... the Empress Dowager actually knew of that person's existence, and she used this person to coerce Noble Consort Wen. Do you wonder why there was a secret chamber in Yunpeng Palace that was never discovered? Do you wonder why all the spies secretly watching Yunpeng Palace were dealt with? How could Yu Jingchen's people be so incompetent?
Remember a clue? One of the informants Yu Jingchen sent to monitor Yunpeng Palace was Noble Consort Wen's lover. So, it's very clear, precisely because of the existence of that person, Yu Jingchen's men didn't play much of a role.
The Empress Dowager knew of that person's existence early on, so she was able to coerce Noble Consort Wen. Similarly, she could also use Noble Consort Wen to coerce that person. With a double threat, the Empress Dowager handled it with ease.
Besides this incident, the assassination during the first excursion out of the palace was also arranged by the Empress Dowager.
Remember that I mentioned in the text that their target was actually Nan Zhiyun? Because this assassination was arranged by the Empress Dowager, the target would be Nan Zhiyun, of course, not because the Empress Dowager truly wanted to harm Nan Zhiyun, but because she wanted to see Nan Zhiyun's position in Yu Jingchen's heart.
And the incense burned in the room, all that incense was used to stimulate fear in people's subconscious. Nan Zhiyun's greatest fear was Yu Jingchen, so it caused Nan Zhiyun to constantly experience nightmares. With the previous examples, you should have guessed why the Empress Dowager did this, right?
The Empress Dowager's overall objective was only one: to make Yu Jingchen feel guilty, to make Yu Jingchen's heart belong entirely to Nan Zhiyun, and to make Yu Jingchen protect Nan Zhiyun for the rest of his life... because she knew she wouldn't live much longer. She knew that in this world, Yu Jingchen was the best choice to protect Nan Zhiyun.
Later, the Empress Dowager promoted Bai Yusheng because she knew that Bai Yusheng had deliberately approached Nan Zhiyun in the past. So, she deliberately promoted her, making Bai Yusheng a target for the entire harem, and completely destroying her path to befriending Nan Zhiyun. Furthermore, Bai Yusheng had her own means, and the Empress Dowager also hoped to use her to eliminate more people who posed a danger to Nan Zhiyun.
As it turned out, Bai Yusheng did have some skills. Yu Yan and Consort Yuan both met their demise at her hands. The incident in the hunting ground was actually done by Bai Yusheng. Yu Yan did have the intention, but before she could make a move, Bai Yusheng had already done everything for her.
And later, Consort Yuan drugging the First Prince was also Bai Yusheng's doing. The person behind using the imperial physician to get rid of Nan Zhiyun's child was Bai Yusheng all along.
She deliberately maintained a good relationship with Consort Yuan, and deliberately drugged the First Prince. This way, there would be a reason for the First Prince to enter Consort Yuan's chambers. Moreover, with such an illness, Consort Yuan would certainly not want others to know, so she secretly bribed the imperial physician. This would become evidence of Consort Yuan bribing the imperial physician, and then she would secretly place that medicine in Consort Yuan's palace. At that time, no matter how many mouths Consort Yuan had, she couldn't explain it clearly.
She did this for only one purpose: she wanted the First Prince. She knew she could no longer have children, so she could only focus on others. However, with Yu Jingchen's current favor towards Nan Zhiyun, there was no chance for anyone else to conceive, which meant she only had the First Prince as a target.
Of course, there were plenty of intelligent people in the palace, and Yan Qing was one of them. She actually knew it was Bai Yusheng all along, so she deliberately said what she said later, all because she wanted to eliminate the restless elements in the harem one by one. As for the reason... it was mentioned before, she said she envied Nan Zhiyun because Yu Jingchen wanted to give Nan Zhiyun uniqueness.
Among so many people in the harem, how could it be unique? What Yu Jingchen asked Yan Qing to do was precisely this: deal with those who were ignorant of their place and restless. She only used a little skill; if they were well-behaved, they wouldn't fall into the trap. If they were restless... then their only fate was death.
Bai Yusheng obtained the First Prince and naturally thought about paving the way for him. How could Bai Yusheng, who had always been close to Consort Yuan, not know about Consort Yuan's collusion with Luo Yuncheng and the Eldest Princess? So, she simply went along with the plan. She contacted Luo Yuncheng, wanting to continue their previous cooperation.
This explains how Luo Yuncheng, who was essentially doomed, managed to enter the palace. It was all thanks to Miss Bai. But why would Bai Yusheng help him enter the palace? After all, Luo Yuncheng seemed to have no more use at that time.
Because... Bai Yusheng was greedy. She knew Luo Yuncheng's feelings for Nan Zhiyun. Coincidentally, wasn't Nan Zhiyun the biggest threat to her at that time? You see, if Luo Yuncheng really went to Nan Zhiyun's palace and met Nan Zhiyun, what would happen? Bai Yusheng did it deliberately, killing two birds with one stone, wasn't it?
Yan Qing was an intelligent person, with means and strategy. Moreover, with the power Yu Jingchen gave her from behind, these things were not difficult for her. Otherwise, how could the Empress Dowager have taken notice of her? The reason the Empress Dowager noticed Yan Qing was simple: she was smart enough. Nan Zhiyun was not suited for the inner palace, and being Empress would be very tiring. Nan Zhiyun knew nothing. So, the Empress Dowager found someone who could help Nan Zhiyun solve these troubles.
This also involves Consort De. Earlier, I saw comments saying the Empress Dowager was too cruel, and Consort De was innocent. My dear readers, how could there be so many simple people in the harem? Consort De was never an innocent person. Why was Yu Wan'er in the imperial garden? And why did she happen to meet Nan Zhiyun? Why did Zhao Zhaorong go to find Nan Zhiyun?
These were not coincidences; they were all orchestrated by Consort De. The Empress Dowager saw everything, but did not intervene. In the chapter before the incident with Yu Wan'er, there was an audience where a verbal confrontation occurred. There were clues within this. So, Consort De was never truly innocent. When Yan Qing heard that Yu Wan'er went to Nan Zhiyun's place, she said it was deliberate. Do you remember? Who do you think this "deliberate" referred to? Yan Qing was so smart, how could she not see it?
Alright, this chapter is long enough. I have explained some parts that you might not have understood. There might be some omissions, you can leave me a message, and I will reply if I see it.
Finally, I want to talk about the epilogue. Our epilogue will feature the National Preceptor and the Empress Dowager, male rebirth, female rebirth, dual rebirth, Yan Qing and Consort De, Jiang Ji, and finally, possibly parts about the protagonists' children. Of course, if you have other epilogues you'd like to see, you can leave messages, and I will consider your opinions before writing.
The epilogue will be a bit long, and I'm not sure when I'll finish writing it. And compared to the main text, some parts of the epilogue might be a bit more angsty, as the protagonists have three rebirth chapters. Among them, the female rebirth is the most angsty, dual rebirth is slightly angsty, and male rebirth is sweeter. If you have any expectations, you can lean towards your preference and come and read.
This novel officially started on August 25th, and it has been almost three months now. Thank you so much for your support, understanding, and tolerance during this time. I am also very grateful that you have read this novel to the end. Meeting you all is my greatest honor. Your support is the greatest recognition for me. I am truly, truly, truly, truly grateful to have met you all! Thank you!!!
And many of you are old readers. You have appeared in several of my works. I am truly moved. I can hardly believe it myself, so I feel quite lucky.
Also, I have seen the gifts you sent. While I like them very much, haha. But considering that many of you are students, please spend within your means. I have received your kind intentions, thank you.
Alright, that's all for this, thank you all so much!