Whenever the time came for reunion and reunion after separation.
Zhu Yuanzhang naturally felt lonely at heart. Though he was the Emperor, exalted above all others, he still endured an indescribable bitterness of solitude.
If Zhu Biao had not still been there, perhaps Zhu Yuanzhang would have long been unable to bear it.
He entered Cining Palace.
Everything was as it had always been, without the slightest change.
The moment he entered the hall.
He looked at the memorial tablets before him.
Zhu Yuanzhang picked up incense and candles from the side and lit them.
"Little sister."
"Xiongying."
"Another year has passed. I've come to see you again."
"I truly am getting old. The older I get, the more I miss you."
"I've even been wondering when I'll get to see you."
Zhu Yuanzhang gazed at the memorial tablets and murmured to himself.
All the longing in his heart poured out at that moment.
The dead could not return to life.
For Zhu Yuanzhang, how desperately he wished that such a rule could be broken, that he could see his wife again and see his grandson again.
"Alas."
"Speaking of which."
"This year has given me some comfort compared to previous years."
"Xiongying, you brat, could you have been reincarnated? I actually saw a child who looks exactly like you did when you were little. And your father misses you dearly too—he even took that child in as his adopted grandson. For me and for your father, that counts as a kind of comfort."
"If you were still here, you'd probably marvel at how there could be two people in this world who looked so alike."
Looking at Zhu Xiongying's memorial tablet, Zhu Yuanzhang's face slowly broke into a smile as he spoke.
For Zhu Yuanzhang.
All of this.
Was