(a)

The early morning sun shone through the curtains in the bedroom. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Stimulated by the light, I opened my eyes.

I knew very well in my heart that this was the last time the sun in this world hit my face. It was also the last time I opened my eyes in this bed.

I've seen it clearly. The grim reaper, dressed in a black robe, was already standing at the door of Shangyang Palace with a dust whisk in his hand. It's very close to me. It's coming to me step by step. I could already feel the smell of decay and the cold.

However, I am not afraid at all. On the contrary, I felt very peaceful and even somewhat pleasant.

I was finally freed from the deep loneliness of living too long. My mausoleum has also been built long ago, next to Liu Shen's mausoleum, backed by the towering green mountains and facing the rolling Yellow River on the outskirts of Yunjing.

I can finally unload all my burdens and go to the new world you have already traveled, and I can start a new journey with my parents, with you, with Liu Shen, and with all my dear people.

But in a new world, in a new encounter, all this former joy and pain, will they all come over again?

All these kindnesses, all these loves, these hurts, these contentions, these separations, these heartaches, these backfires, these miserabries, all these despairs, will they all start all over again?

Will they come back again and again?

Will this repetition be endless?

No. I don't want to do it all over again. What's the difference between that and immortality?

But is there really such a path? Is there really a way to reach that world? There, there is no life and death, no brotherhood, no bloody war, no sickness and injury, no loneliness and despair, no fear and loss.

In this life, I haven't found the answer. I hope that next time, I will be able to find out.

With that in mind, I sat down at the dresser.

I picked up the bronze mirror, ready to look at myself again in this life, and also say goodbye to myself.

(b)

However, my aging face did not appear in the bronze mirror.

What appears in the mirror is you who saved me on the cliff on the day. Young you, looking at me in the mirror. Our eyes met.

Tears appeared in my dry eyes.

At this moment, the image in the mirror began to change in my sparkling water.

My hunch was right. Sure enough, I saw the young man with white foam on his chin again. He appeared where you had been, with the same expectation, the same surprise, the same emotion as I did, and his gaze crossed over from the other side of the mirror and fell on me.

I muttered, "You're here." ”

He smiled at me in the mirror. What a kind smile. My old heart melted in an instant with this warm smile of his.

He said, "yes, it's good to see you again." ”

I asked, "Are you the one I've missed all my life?" ”

He smiled again.

I looked at him and I said, "Yes." I know you're him. ”

He nodded at me in the mirror.

He said: "We made an appointment on the way to Baojing Peak. I still have things I promised you, but I didn't do it. ”

He said, "I've been waiting for you here for a long time. Hurry up. ”

He said, "Qin'er, come quickly." ”

Tears welled up in my eyes, and my entire cheek was quickly wet.

I looked at the young face in the mirror.

I looked at him in amazement, until the image thinned out, floated and unstable, and then, like an early morning mist, dissipated from the mirror surface of the bronze mirror.

My hands trembled and grasped the bronze mirror.

I think it's a lot of weight. My fingers can no longer bear its weight.

Eventually, the mirror fell from my hand and fell in half on the brick floor with a thud.

I also slipped out of my chair as the mirror fell, and fell to the ground like a falling silk.

My long, snow-white hair, which had not yet been combed, was scattered on the ground like a large white flower in full bloom.

I looked at the Shangyang Palace carved with the top beam of the phoenix.

That's the last thing I saw in this world.

At the last moment when the light of consciousness was extinguished, in my heart, with the thousands of tenderness that I had accumulated for a lifetime, I said to the young you in the future world in the mirror: "Dear you, wait for me, I am coming." ”

(b)

In front of my mausoleum stands a towering white marble stele.

At the top of the stele, a three-dimensional, lifelike cloud flower is carved. It was designed in my lifetime, according to my will.

This flower was sent to Yunjing by you after the Battle of Dru Lake, along with the recital to Liu Xuanjie. In this tenacious flower, you said to me: I am alive, are you all right?

Under the clouds and flowers, there is a long thousand-character inscription, which records my father's loyalty and bravery, my mother's chastity, my various virtues and deeds since I entered the palace, all kinds of teachings to the concubines, and my contribution to the country in Yang Biao's rebellion. At the end of the inscription, the Emperor and my other descendants expressed their endless sorrow for my death and their deep gratitude for my kindness.

My children and grandchildren gave me the honorific title of "Empress Zhengde Zhenjianwen", which is abbreviated as "Empress Zhengde" in history.

After I died, the belongings I left in my room, including the precious jewelry that Liu Shen gave me, the court clothes of the Empress and the Empress Dowager, your jade pendant that I found when I arrived in Qingchuan, the letters that Liu Shen left me, and the large porcelain jar filled with white stones in my room, were all buried with me in the mausoleum next to Liu Shen's tomb as funerary objects.

When the tomb door was permanently closed, the white stones lost their color in the darkness.

I and everything that connected with me sank into the earth and disappeared from that world.

My favorite object in my life is beautiful flowers.

Therefore, my children and grandchildren planted all kinds of flowers around my mausoleum, after careful design and careful care of the cemetery gardeners, there are flowers blooming in front of my mausoleum all year round, even in the cold winter wax moon, there are still trees and plums, frost and spikes, fragrant overflowing, becoming the most vibrant place in the entire royal mausoleum, and also becoming the favorite place for my descendants to stay and rest when sweeping the tomb.

Liu Shen and my children and grandchildren were very filial, and before our dynasty fell, they all took turns to live in the palace near the cemetery to watch our graves. Everyone comes over for a month or two when they're on duty. Next to the palace, they also enshrined a royal monastery, and the abbot of the monastery was the great disciple of the Grand Lama Tubudan and his descendants. During the period of guarding the tomb, our children and grandchildren will learn Buddhism here, learn how to understand life in the universe wisely, and how to face and deal with various problems in life wisely.

Our cemetery is often surrounded by the sound of young people chanting scriptures and reading, and it has gradually become a major feature of Yunjing.

Later, the monastery next to this cemetery developed into a Buddhist study center in Yunjing, attracting many monks from all over the country to come to practice on the list, and even attracted monks from various countries in the Western Regions to come here to give lectures.

The place where our cemetery is located is called Jingling. The temple next to the mausoleum is called Manfukuji Temple.

"Jingling Fanna" and "Wanfu Evening Bell" have become famous landscapes recorded in history, and countless poems and songs have been written, symbolizing the prosperity of that dynasty. )