HLnovel Chapter 443 The Choice of Time
Chapter 443 The Choice of Time
The frost is bright and white, covering the eaves.
Yu Shu stood outside the Xing residence, watching Xue Tong escort Xing Lingchong and his wife to the carriage she had been riding in earlier.
"What are you trying to do?" the woman asked softly, her tone unusually gentle.
Xue Tong drew the carriage curtain closed, turned around, and smiled brightly at Yu Shu:
"I just had an idea that I wanted to verify."
Yu Shu sighed helplessly:
“During the time we’ve spent together, every time I hear just one word from your mouth, my heart races.”
Upon hearing this, Xue Tong's expression stiffened slightly for a moment, and the girl spoke softly:
"It's not my fault; the people who taught me before didn't teach me well."
Yu Shu was somewhat curious:
"Are you referring to Father Emperor?"
Xue Tong stared at her with wide eyes: "You're getting bolder and bolder these days."
Yu Shu didn't care. Her previous conversation with Xing Lingchong was enough to warrant the extermination of her entire family, so she didn't care about this little bit of offense.
The journey back to the capital is extremely dangerous, so I might as well indulge myself a little before I am assassinated or forced to commit suicide.
"Is it Father Emperor?" Yu Shu pressed.
Xue Tong shook her head.
"Is that my third brother?"
Xue Tong shook her head again: "He's not my brother, he's a friend."
Yu Shu narrowed her eyes slightly: "A friend?"
"A very capable friend?"
Xue Tong recalled the series of major events Xue Lan had previously accomplished, and surprisingly, he did not refute them:
"Very powerful, it's highly likely to be able to pierce the sky."
The young girl walked a few steps to the carriage in front and lifted the curtain for Yu Shu:
"It's as if they can succeed at anything, they're omnipotent."
Yu Shu stepped onto the carriage using a small stool: "I didn't know you had such a person by your side. Would you mind introducing me?"
"It's inconvenient," Xue Tong said honestly, following Yu Shu into the carriage.
"If it's inconvenient, it's inconvenient!" Yu Shu picked up the small hand warmer beside her, her eyes smiling.
"Now can you tell me why you did this?"
Xue Tong had hoped that her rambling would divert Yu Shu's attention, but it seems she underestimated Yu Shu.
The woman's beautiful face was hidden among the snow-white fox fur, and the smile in her eyes was pure...
No wonder!
What was once seen as a purely timid and cowardly girl has now transformed into a cunning fox, constantly trying to trick her into revealing information.
The girl sighed softly, her tone tinged with sadness:
"Grandma Xing is very important for Father Emperor's future plans."
"Second Brother won't let us go back peacefully."
Yu Shu understood Xue Tong's meaning; the officialdom of the Great Yu Dynasty had reached a point of utter decay and corruption.
Previously in the capital, in order to maintain her gentle and docile appearance, Yu Shu often had to attend banquets held by young ladies from aristocratic families, where she would compose poems and exchange verses, and also gather information.
She had almost forgotten those pretentious poems she had written at banquets to appear cultured.
But there are some things that she remembers vividly.
Li Huaiyu, the youngest daughter of the current Prime Minister, once held a banquet at the Prime Minister's residence. The wine cups used in the banquet were made of Moon Shadow Porcelain, a type of porcelain only found in the palace.
The so-called Moon Shadow Porcelain looks like ordinary white porcelain on the surface, but under light, you can see the shadowy patterns on it.
Plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, chrysanthemums, rare and exotic animals, all vividly depicted.
"Father wants to implement reforms, but he doesn't want to get his sleeves dirty by doing it himself." Xue Tong looked into Yu Shu's eyes:
"So he needs a knife."
Yu Shu nodded slowly: "Xing Lingchong, that is the knife."
The woman, holding the small hand warmer in her arms, stroked it with her palm and spoke:
"Xing Lingchong was a man who previously served as the Imperial Censor in the capital. He was known for his incorruptibility and incorruptibility..."
“And…” Yu Shu paused slightly:
"He is not afraid of death."
Xue Tong took a small folded booklet from his bosom and handed it to Yu Shu:
"This is the most important point."
Yu Shu took the item from the girl and then gently opened it.
Half an hour later, Yu Shu looked at Xue Tong with a stern gaze.
"The real reason why my third brother suffered a defeat and was seriously injured on the northwestern border was actually in the capital?"
Xue Tong smiled and nodded, seemingly quite satisfied with Yu Shu's expression:
"Yes."
"That's military pay! How dare they?"
"What's there to be afraid of?" Xue Tong looked into Yu Shu's eyes: "The military pay that Father Emperor allocated from above is nothing more than a piece of fat meat in their eyes."
"They exploited each layer, giving some to the emperor and keeping some for themselves. What eventually reached the army camp..."
Xue Tong drew out the last syllable of his voice and held up a finger in front of Yu Shu:
"One out of ten does not save one."
Yu Shu's fingers trembled slightly.
The image of being tortured to death in the Western Rong in her previous life slowly surfaced in the woman's mind, a shadow that she could not shake off no matter how many times she tried to relive it.
Originally, it was thought that the Great Yu Dynasty was doomed and the Western Rong were brutal.
Now I realize that even a towering tree can't support such a bunch of termites!
Yu Shu heard her own voice was a little hoarse:
"Tong'er".
"Fifth sister, I'm here."
Xue Tong looked at Yu Shu in front of her with a light she had never seen before.
The woman smiled slightly, and her delicate and elegant face was made even more beautiful by the smile.
Beautiful, yet dangerous.
"Does Third Brother want that position?"
Xue Tong looked into Yu Shu's eyes:
"My brother just wants to take good care of his soldiers."
"That's it!"
Yu Shu pointed to her chin with one finger, her eyes full of laughter:
"Then he absolutely has to take this seat!"
Whichever of the other princes ascends the throne, none of them will leave behind a potential threat of holding military power in the northwest.
Xue Tong looked at Yu Shu, watching this puppet who had been manipulated for the first half of her life finally begin to move on its own and start trying to control others.
Like a withered flower regaining its vitality.
"That's the variable."
Xue Lan's voice came to Xue Tong's ears, full of laughter.
A question suddenly arose in Xue Tong's mind.
The girl's voice was low and heavy:
"Xue Lan, is this meaningful?"
"When I leave, I will use the Sun-Tracing Mirror to erase all traces of my interference in this world."
"So, is everything I'm doing now really meaningful?"
The girl was deeply confused.
Xue Lan seemed to have anticipated her question and answered with a smile.
Do you feel that everything you've done is just a mirage, a pipe dream, and all for nothing?
Xue Tong silently hummed in her heart.
"If I told you now that the entire Great Yu Dynasty was just a sandbox for my experiments with that Heavenly Forging Hammer spirit, would you be heartbroken?"
Xue Lan's tone was gentle, but her words were icy cold.
Xue Tong sighed:
"That's something you would do."
"But Xue Lan, I can't do what you do."
The high-ranking practitioners can observe the changes within the Great Yu Dynasty without showing the slightest emotion.
But Xue Tong is not an option.
In the girl's eyes, Yu Shu in front of her and Huo Chen in the Prince Qing's mansion were both living, breathing people.
They are people who strive to survive in their own time.
Are you sad?
Xue Lan joked:
"Are you unwilling to use the Sun-Tracing Mirror to turn back time?"
Upon hearing this, Xue Tong gently shook her head:
"No, that's not true. History cannot be altered by others; what must be erased will eventually be erased!"
Xue Lan sat atop Hidden Sword Mountain, with the setting sun slowly sinking not far ahead.
"The Sun-Tracing Mirror can't actually erase anything!"
Xue Tong was startled by the woman's words and couldn't help but widen her eyes:
"What did you say?"
"The art of time and space is indeed mysterious, but its principle is not about erasure."
Xue Tong suddenly became a little anxious and retorted:
"Didn't you erase Kong Mingzi's memories when you reset time in Chonggu Village?"
Xue Lan slowly shook her head:
“To completely erase someone's memory, but Xiaotong…”
"Don't you remember what happened before the time was turned back?"
Xue Tong was stunned.
Yes, she remembered the shocked expression on Kong Mingzi's face at that time, and the blood that Xue Lan vomited.
"The moment I turned back time, we and Uncle Kongming were standing on two different timelines," Xue Lan said softly.
"They are on a modified time, while you and I have remained in the same place."
Before the modification was completed, Xue Lan's inner demons went undetected, and everyone was enjoying themselves.
"The rewinding of time is essentially a turning point."
Xue Tong finally understood!
The girl's tone was somewhat hurried:
"You mean, every time you adjust the time, you're actually jumping between two timelines!"
All you need to do is bear the burden of your own past.
And the future we will walk towards together.
Through repeated choices and revisions, Xue Lan made decisions time and again, piecing together the past and the future.
Create the experiences and outcomes that best suit you.
Xue Tong was speechless for a moment, as if something was stuck in her throat.
The girl's voice was a little hoarse:
"Now, I also need to make this choice, right?"
Xue Lan nodded slowly.
“That’s right. Once everything is done, you can use the Time Traveler’s Mirror to jump to my timeline.”
"The Great Yu Dynasty influenced by you will be like branches branching off from a tree, moving in its own predetermined direction."
It's not that it's been erased, but rather that it's given another option.
Xue Tong felt a strange sense of relief. The girl asked with some curiosity:
"Will the Sun-Tracing Mirror have this effect every time it's used?"
Xue Lan spoke thoughtfully:
"It should be said that every fluctuation in spacetime has this effect."
A new path emerges from one person's choice.
The woman slowly rose from the rock and smiled as she spoke to Xue Tong:
"For example... the me in the story you mentioned who died young."
"what?"
Xue Tong had no idea why Xue Lan suddenly brought this up, and a big question mark appeared above her head.
“If you hadn’t appeared in time during the last time we were in the spacetime turbulence, I would have sacrificed my own soul to return to the time three months ago when I was bound to you.”
Xue Lan's eyebrows curved into a smile, and her voice was calm and gentle:
"At that time, my life force was exhausted, and I only had about six months left!"
"Doesn't she resemble the eldest senior sister in your story who died young?"