The Han Dynasty Empress is a Ghost | Chapter 152 | Echoes of a Different Fate | Novela.app

Liu Che felt the weariness of the ride settling into his bones. As he watched the young men around him, still brimming with high spirits, he could not help but lament inwardly that he truly was growing old. He surreptitiously felt the bead within the sachet at his waist, and only then did his heart feel a measure of ease. Wei Buyi mentioned a manor ahead where they could rest. Liu Che considered it; it was certainly better than sweltering under the open sun. Thus, he led the company toward the estate. The manor was small, and its mistress was a young woman who kept stealing glances back at them. *Perhaps she has taken a fancy to one of the young lords in the retinue,* Liu Che thought. It was not until the bead grew warm, and the woman’s identity was laid bare, that he felt a flicker of surprise. To him, Chen Guan was of little consequence compared to the red pearl. Since "Chen Guan" intended to seek his favor, he was happy to indulge her. Most importantly, he needed to bring her back for Huan Jun and Chu Jun to examine. He followed her into the room, originally intending only to offer a few perfunctory words before leaving. Yet, as he drew closer, he seemed to see the visage of Chen A’jiao in a trance. It had been a long time since he had seen A’jiao’s likeness—and the resemblance was indeed striking. The way she tilted her chin when she spoke was the same, and the way her eyes darted about mischievously now was even more so. He heard her say, "I have been at the manor for ten days, thinking of Your Majesty every single day." The beauty was bashful and smiling, yet he fell further into a daze, his mind wandering for a long moment. Before he could recover his senses, the woman boldly kissed his earlobe. His body trembled, and the scene before his eyes blurred; everywhere he looked, he saw only his old flame. The brows and eyes were hers, the expression was hers, and even the soft, melodic moans were hers. After a bout of unbridled passion and the melding of souls, his mind cleared, yet his thoughts became even more tangled. He was eighty or ninety percent certain that the person before him was Chen A’jiao. As for the remaining fraction of doubt, he would have to wait for Huan Jun to verify it before he could be certain. His heart burned with a certain heat, yet his face remained its usual mask of indifference. Because he was preoccupied with how Chen A’jiao could have appeared once more, he failed to notice the small beauty in his arms turning pale. Once they reached Shanglin Park, Chen A’jiao continued to stir up trouble over nothing, just as she always had. He grew annoyed and told her to go out and walk off her energy. He then turned and summoned Huan Jun. Huan Jun performed a divination and told him: the lingering aura on the red pearl and the aura on that woman’s soul indeed shared the same source. Only then did his heart settle. Chen A’jiao remained as headstrong as ever, speaking without restraint or taboo. He found it amusing, even interesting. He surmised that A’jiao must have entered Chen Guan’s body after her death, only lacking the opportunity to see the Emperor’s face until now. A woman returned from the dead finally sparked a glimmer of interest within his boredom and loneliness. There was also his craving for immortality! However, A’jiao had always possessed a fierce temper. While he enjoyed the beauty’s company, he also patiently coaxed her; he had that much patience to give. Yet this woman was different from the one in his memories. The Chen A’jiao of the past... she was clearly etched into his mind, yet every time he tried to recall her, she seemed so distant. The woman in his arms did not possess her former face, and even her temperament had shifted slightly. During the banquet, when A’jiao, with a cold face, prepared to bow to the Wei clan, a sudden, inexplicable gloom rose in his heart. The A’jiao of old—the A’jiao of old would never have lowered her head to someone she disliked, no matter what. The image of A’jiao shielding him, her body pierced by an arrow, flashed through his mind, causing waves of discomfort to wash over him. He pulled A’jiao down to sit beside him. A’jiao was surprised, and so was he. Later, after returning to the capital and settling all affairs, he finally felt at ease enough to be intimate with her. Yet such intimacy seemed only to temporarily fill the void in his heart. He could constantly see the disdain she couldn't quite hide in her eyes. Even though she was full of passion when they were together, Liu Che felt that A’jiao had truly changed. Perhaps she was still no smarter than before, but he no longer knew what she wanted. In the past, as long as he bestowed a modicum of care and affection, A’jiao would be deeply moved, yielding to him entirely, allowing him to take whatever he wished. But now, A’jiao seemed to be playing a game, carrying herself with an affected charm, not truly invested in him. He did not like this feeling, nor did he like their current relationship—there was no reason for A’jiao to be so indifferent toward something he had set his heart upon. The testing between them grew more familiar, and while Liu Che felt their physical encounters were frequent, their hearts did not draw a single step closer. Liu Che believed he had treated A’jiao with exceptional favor, yet this woman laughed and joked with him on the surface while remaining completely unmoved deep down. When she became pregnant, he was overjoyed. Even the expectations he had buried for so many years—to the point of nearly forgetting them—gradually became clear. Compared to A’jiao, even a beauty like Li Yan was of no account. Yet Li Yan carried something about her that made his heart throb with agitation the moment he saw her. For no reason at all, this sensation was far from pleasant! Time and again, he pushed Li Yan away, yet a voice in his heart seemed to constantly whisper, *“You are wrong, you are wrong,”* though he did not know what was amiss. He still hoped that A’jiao, seeing how much he doted on her, would treat him with a bit more sincerity. Indeed, after having the child, A’jiao softened, and even her temper improved. Thinking that A’jiao could treat Yan Zheng well, Liu Che felt as if he were being guided by some unseen force; as if possessed, he allowed Li Yan to stay. But A’jiao came. Their child was gone—he felt the loss. But A’jiao violently tore away his facade of warmth, exposing the coldness within—and he felt a surge of fear and resistance. A’jiao wanted to rip open his very flesh and blood to reveal what lay at the core, but he hated that feeling and could only flee in panic. That day, he knew with absolute certainty that he might have fallen for this Chen A’jiao all over again. Later, strange occurrences began to pile up before him, each one a reminder that this woman harbored many secrets. Yet he had no way of knowing the truth, wandering dejectedly around the periphery of it. The opportunities for frank conversation between him and A’jiao increased, but the secrets seemed to multiply as well. This awkward tension persisted until that night. He suddenly realized that A’jiao had actually become an immortal—to him, this was nothing short of a thunderbolt from a clear sky. He found such a truth difficult to accept. Yet Chen A’jiao was smugly triumphant. Liu Che finally realized he was wrong. He was no longer the Emperor who could occupy every corner of Chen A’jiao’s life. The current Chen A’jiao viewed him as dispensable. Clearly, she still loved him, yet she was able to set that affection aside. He had lost the final bit of initiative before A’jiao. They were still intimate, but each physical union only made him feel that their hearts were drifting further apart. He sometimes wondered: how deep a bond could be forged between a man and a woman who both refused to put love above all else? Before he could solve this riddle, A’jiao vanished. Huan Jun said, "Consort Chen has died in the line of duty. I know nothing more." *I don't know.* In the end, he knew nothing—he didn't know what affairs she had been entangled in, he didn't know what had truly happened to her, and he didn't even know if he would ever see her again. But he was powerless. On the day he returned to the palace, he first went to see Liu Fuling. The child, still wrapped in swaddling clothes, already knew how to look around with round, bright eyes. Such a porcelain-carved child... A’jiao would surely have loved him if she saw him. He felt his loneliness deepening. The successive incidents in the harem caused him to lose interest in those women. Moreover, A’jiao had never liked the "orioles and swallows" around him—perhaps that woman was secretly hiding somewhere, watching him, saying he had broken his word again. He did not want to be mocked like that forever. Being alone was also fine. Except in the dead of night, he always wished there was someone beside him. Sometimes A’jiao would appear in his dreams; upon waking, he would often sit quietly for a while before going about the duties he was meant to perform. In truth, for an Emperor, the death of a single woman should have been of no consequence. Lin Gao seemed to possess some miraculous abilities, but Liu Che was no longer so surprised—eventually, he heard much of "History" from Lin Gao’s mouth. His heart turned cold with apprehension, and he secretly resolved to avoid those mistakes one by one. Since childhood, Liu Che had aspired to be an Emperor whose civil and military achievements would be immortalized in history, leaving a legacy for future generations. Had it not been for his past with A’jiao, he might have had Lin Gao executed. He liked the story of the "Golden House for A’jiao," but he did not like its ending. Yet he had no chance to change that ending. He could only hope that when he reached the Underworld one day, he might see A’jiao again. However, no one promised him this. He waited for many years with that hope. Lin Gao asked him, "Why does Your Majesty keep hoping? Are you not afraid of being disappointed when the time comes?" He remained silent for a long time before replying, "Just the thought of Chen A’jiao vanishing without a trace makes me uncomfortable. So, it is better to think she is still alive." Lin Gao broke into a wry smile and, after a long pause, sighed. "I never expected that the great Emperor Wu of Han would abandon his harem for the sake of one woman." Liu Che also began to laugh. "I didn't expect it either." In his heart, however, he understood that it wasn't entirely due to being heartbroken over Chen A’jiao. It was simply that looking at those other women felt utterly dull. His heart was too lonely. The people around him were separated from him by layers of misunderstanding and suspicion. He was tired enough looking at them; why should he add more people who made him feel vexed and cold-hearted? Lin Gao became the only person he could occasionally talk and laugh with. Lin Gao would speak of many strange things and strange objects. When Liu Che expressed an interest in finding them, Lin Gao would cynically remark that he would never find them in this lifetime. He appointed Liu Fuling as the Crown Prince. A few years later, while on an imperial tour, he encountered a woman who was rumored to have been born with her hands clenched into fists that had never opened. He sneered inwardly, but he no longer experienced the loss of self-control he had felt with Li Yan. Perhaps he was drifting further and further away from the "History" Lin Gao spoke of. Lin Gao laughed so hard he had to turn his face away. If A’jiao were still here, she would surely say sarcastically, "How rare! Your Majesty, hurry and take this beauty into your collection." He did not believe that the version of himself in Lin Gao’s history would be foolish enough to place much trust in this Zhao Gouyi. Suddenly, he thought of Li Yan. Then, under Lin Gao’s astonished gaze, he bestowed Zhao Gouyi upon Liu Ju. "..." Lin Gao began his sarcasm again. "Your Majesty, you certainly know how to play." Sure enough, it wasn't long before he received a secret report from the Embroidered Messengers. The moment Zhao Gouyi saw Liu Ju, her fists opened. Lin Gao nodded beside him, whispering, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Truly." Two years later, Lin Gao came to find him with a bottle of wine. As they were drinking merrily, Lin Gao suddenly said, "News has come from the Kingdom of Changyi. The Consort of Changyi has killed Zhao Gouyi. I feel like Liu Ju is more of a 'beauty killer' than you are—Li Yan and Zhao Gouyi, they all die as soon as they get near him." Liu Che secretly felt relieved. The last woman of significant historical weight associated with him was dead! Out of caution regarding the history Lin Gao spoke of, he hadn't dared to kill Zhao Gouyi directly, fearing it might trigger some unforeseen consequence. A’jiao had told him not to kill these women casually anymore. Fine, then he wouldn't kill them. In any case, it was Liu Ju’s wife who did the deed, not him.