Chapter 2: Phoenix Rebirth

Yuli had never felt so exhausted before.

He felt as if his whole body had been brutally beaten, with no strength left in him at all. He was dazed, as if he had just had a long and horrifying nightmare, desperately wanting to wake up, but feeling extremely weary and unable to rouse himself from his slumber.

"Yuli? Yuli? Are you feeling any better?"

Yuli felt someone pushing his body and heard a somewhat familiar voice, causing him to eagerly open his eyes. It felt as if he had been in a long slumber, with his eyelids feeling very heavy. After opening them, his vision was still blurry and things appeared unclear.

He only saw a very familiar face, it was a little monk in a gray monk robe, with a handsome face, looking at him with joy and excitement, and eagerly said to him, "Yuli, you finally woke up, you scared me to death."

He blinked his eyes, trying hard to see this person clearly. He even wanted to sit up and take a good look at him. However, the other party quickly pressed him down and said,

"You're not completely better yet, so lie down for a while longer."

In Yu Li's mind, finally, memories of a long-lost and deeply missed person emerged. He blurted out, "Zhi Xue!"

The voice belonged to Zhixue, a young novice monk whom he had known since his childhood at Bright Temple.

Zhi Xue listened and became even more delighted, rushing to say, "Ah! I'm here, Yu Li, you've finally woken up! You've been sleeping for a whole day and night, and I was worried you might get sick! Are you hungry? Should I go to the kitchen and get you something to eat?"

Yuli's vision finally cleared, and he looked in astonishment at the vivid Zhi Xue before him. Unable to contain his surprise, he called out, "Zhi Xue, is it really you? Am I already dead?"

When he was five years old, he was sent to a small temple in the countryside of Kyoto called Guangming Temple. It wasn't until he was fourteen years old that he was finally taken back to the Yu family.

However, he is just staying here temporarily; he used to have a home.

His father's name was Yu Zhi, who was the current Left Prime Minister. However, his mother, Liu Shi, was only his father's concubine, and not even a favored one. Liu Shi came from a background of singing and dancing, and couldn't even be considered a noble concubine. She was just a lowly concubine. What's more, his mother had a short life of misfortune. Three years after he was sent away, she died in sorrow. He never even got to see what his mother looked like.

So why was he being taken away?

This is the "blessing" bestowed upon him by his kind and virtuous stepmother, Lady Qin. When he was five years old, his father, Yu Zhangci fell ill with a cold, and his condition worsened day by day. At that time, a renowned fortune-teller named Yuan Kedao happened to arrive in the capital. His grandmother, Yu Zhangci's mother, Lady Li, heard that this fortune-teller was highly skilled in physiognomy and accurate in predicting destiny. So she asked someone to invite him to their residence. The fortune-teller confidently spoke to the crowd, and indeed, his predictions were extremely accurate, without a single mistake.

However, when it came to his turn, the fortune teller furrowed his brow and refused to speak. The old lady naturally pressed for answers, and after some hesitation, the fortune teller finally spoke about the cryptic words that had plagued him throughout his life. He said:

"The appearance of the Third Young Master indicates that it might not be a favorable matter... If it is resolved well, he will become wealthy and prosperous, but if it is not resolved well..." he pondered for a moment and only spoke under the urging of everyone, "it will hinder the fortune and development of the family, causing harm to the parents."

The Li family has always been superstitious, and they were afraid that their son really got sick because of the influence of Yu Li. With the instigation of the Qin family, they sent him out of the capital and sent him to the Guangming Temple in the countryside. At first, there were some silver coins sent every month, but it didn't last long. Fortunately, his wet nurse Zhao Zhou Shi did some rough work of sweeping and also did some needlework to earn money in the temple, barely sustaining their livelihood. However, on his thirteenth birthday, Zhao Zhou Shi caught a cold and remained bedridden for three months before passing away. Due to this, Yu Li couldn't bear the blow and also fell seriously ill. Fortunately, Zhixue, a young novice monk in the temple who had befriended him, took care of him, helping him get through the difficult times until the day when Yu Zhang came to pick him up in a carriage.

Yu Li has always been grateful to Zhi Xue, so she has always wanted to bring him from Guangming Temple to accompany her. However, he was underestimated in the Jade Residence and never had the opportunity. Later, when she married Xiao Jin Yan and became the Marquis's wife, she sent someone to fetch Zhi Xue, but instead of Zhi Xue, she received the tragic news of his death from a coughing illness...

And now, Zhixue was standing right in front of him, alive and well, speaking to him with an angry expression on her face. Yuli was utterly shocked.

Could it be that I've arrived in hell, and that's why I'm reunited with Zhixue?

He was puzzled, but then he heard Zhixue giggling and saying, "Silly Yuli, you're still alive and well! Your father hasn't come to pick you up yet, and you haven't become a high official. How could you possibly be dead?"

"I'm still alive?" Yuli felt increasingly surprised. Ignoring many things, he struggled to sit up from the bed. He lowered his head to look at his chest, unable to help but reach out and press against it—there was clearly a bloody hole from a dagger here, so how could it still be intact?"

This is not right! This is not right!

He looked at Zhixue and asked, "Zhixue, what is the date today?"

Upon hearing this, Zhixue became somewhat confused and couldn't help but reach out to touch Yuli's forehead. "You've been running a fever for several days straight, and it seems you've become delirious. Today is September 8th, and tomorrow is the Double Ninth Festival... Tomorrow, the temple will surely be bustling with devout worshippers. Master asked me to help prepare the meals, so it wasn't easy for me to find the time to come and see you!"

Yuli's heart trembled, as an indescribable familiar sensation surged within him. He tentatively asked, "Zhixue, is it already the twentieth year of Zhuanwu?"

Zhixue didn't know why he was asking this, but she still nodded patiently. "Indeed, it is currently the year of Wuyin. Yuli, why are you asking this?"

The Year of the Earth Tiger! The 20th year of the Zhanwu Era!

That was the year when he turned thirteen!

Yuli's smile appeared inexplicably. "It's nothing, just a dream I had, about something that will happen in the future..." He looked at Zhixue and asked, "Let's not talk about nonsense anymore. Zhixue, I'm a bit hungry. How about you go heat up two pieces of cake for me, alright?"

Zhi Xue didn't mind his unusual behavior. Upon hearing his appetite had returned, she naturally became extremely delighted and said, "Alright, alright, alright, I'll go right away!" With that, she happily gathered her prayer beads and got up to leave.

Yu Li sat on the bed, looking out through the window, her eyes becoming filled with complexity.

His previous experience was definitely not a pipe dream. If it were a dream, how could it be so real? So vivid? Even the pain he felt before he killed himself was that real!

Those people, those things, each and every one of them, lingered in his mind, unable to be forgotten even for a moment!

He heard from the monks at the Guangming Temple that in ancient times, there was a large bird named "Feng". It carried the resentment and suffering of the mortal world, and every five hundred years, it would gather paulownia branches and self-immolate as the end approached. From the intense flames, it would be reborn, with thicker feathers, clearer sound, and a more divine essence. This is called "Nirvana".

Isn't his current predicament just as extraordinary as this phoenix?

He once resented heaven, wondering why it treated him so poorly. But now, upon careful consideration, isn't it precisely because heaven has bestowed great favor upon him? All the hatred and suffering were meant to make him plunge into the raging flames of adversity and be reborn!

Since heaven has granted him a new lease of life, he naturally wants to start all over again and no longer live in the same humiliating and ridiculous way as in his past life!

......

Yuli ate two pieces of hot steamed cakes, which counted as his lunch. Then he put on a thick autumn coat and went out for a walk. He had been careless in guarding against the cold earlier, and now it was a chilly autumn rain, which caused him to catch a cold and have a fever. Having experienced death once, he naturally cherished his own life even more.

He grew up in a Buddhist temple and had no family around him, only his wet nurse Zhao Zhoushi who treated him the best. Thus, he relied on Zhao Zhoushi for everything since he was young. After Zhao Zhoushi passed away, the impact on him was naturally evident. Coupled with catching a cold, his illness quickly became severe, and he fell ill all of a sudden.

But now, he has cast aside all these melancholic sentiments and only has revenge on his mind!

He had very little education and could only read a few Buddhist scriptures with Zhixue. In addition, he had lived his whole life in the small courtyard of Guangming Temple, so his knowledge and understanding were extremely limited. When he was later brought back to the Jade Palace, many people, from his half-sister and younger brother to the servants and maidservants, would mock and ridicule him behind his back. This made him feel inferior and degraded, and it also made him easily believe in the hypocritical facade of those people.

His father, Yu Zhangci, appeared to be a refined and elegant left prime minister on the surface, but deep down he was a selfish and indifferent person. When Yu Li returned to the Yu Residence, he naturally admired his tall and refined father, but Yu Zhangci had never once been close to Yu Li or truly treated him as his own child. He treated him even worse than his other illegitimate children, as if Yu Li was the most unnecessary person. When the Marquis Jing'an Mansion specifically requested Yu Li to marry Xiao Jinyan, Yu Zhangci didn't even hesitate for a moment and promptly married him off to the Marquis Jing'an Mansion.

Yeah, you can tell from the name he was given by Yuzhang Ci - they all have single names, meanings of colors. But Yuxuan, Yutong, Yudian, Yuqian, Yuchi, Yuyan, they are all noble and beautiful colors. Only he is called "Li" - a color that is black with traces of yellow, resembling the color of the Li grass, extremely ugly and lowly.

Madam Qin, his stepmother, appears virtuous and generous on the surface, but behind closed doors, she is cunning and vicious. His father had many concubines, but very few of them gave birth to a son. Moreover, it was she who orchestrated his marriage to the Marquis of Jing'an's household. However, she certainly didn't have such good intentions as to allow Yuli to climb up the social ladder. She merely wanted him to serve as a stepping stone for her precious daughter, Yudan!

Her son and daughter naturally inherited her talents. Qin Shi had one son and two daughters. Her son was Yu Xuan, the eldest son and heir of Yu Zhangci. Yu Li, the second eldest, was two years old. He appeared to be an affectionate older brother, doting on Yu Li and making her giggle. But secretly, he treated him like a dog or pig! The eldest daughter, Yu Tong, was much older. By the time Yu Li was eleven, she was already married to the eldest son of the Marquis Zhaoqing and became his legal wife. Because of this, she was haughty and arrogant, completely disregarding her half-siblings, let alone Yu Li, the "inauspicious one." The youngest daughter, Yu Wan, was only six months old and was known throughout the capital as a beauty. But beneath that beautiful facade, she had a venomous heart like a snake. She had framed Yu Li multiple times, causing their grandmother, Li Shi, to dislike him greatly. Everyone in the Marquis's mansion also looked down on him. Initially, Yu Li was oblivious to all of this. He foolishly believed in his sister's smiling face and gentle words until one day at the Jing'an Marquis's mansion, Yu Wan, in order to mock him, openly revealed everything with a smile on her face!

Furthermore, there was the ungrateful and treacherous person, Xiao Jinyan!

In Great Vietnam, the masculine demeanor was prevalent, but it was all behind closed doors. The high-ranking officials and noble individuals may have admired the masculine demeanor, but it was merely limited to visiting brothels or keeping some male lovers in their backyard. It was rarely heard of for a man to become a concubine, let alone marry another man as his wife.

At that time, when the Marquis of Jing'an announced his intention to marry Yuli as his wife, it naturally caused a great uproar throughout the city. Many people mocked Yuli for her low status, comparing her to those insignificant street vendors and rabbits who willingly submit themselves under a man's embrace. However, the Marquis of Jing'an claimed that it was a mutual affection and genuine admiration between Xiaojin Yan and Yuli, which prompted him to brave the criticism and marry her against all odds. The Marquis of Jing'an was a prestigious and influential family, so why would Xiaojin Yan have any ulterior motives towards the Yu family? What did he gain by pursuing Yuli? After all, the Marquis's mansion was much more noble and esteemed than that of the Prime Minister.

So, everyone believed these words, including Yuli, who never doubted them.

Until later, he inadvertently overheard a conversation between Lord Hou Xie and Lady Hou Xie, and only then did he realize that it was all just a deception! The reason the Xiao family welcomed him was simply because he could stand in the way for Xiao Jinyan and protect her from harm! At that time, Yu Li still deceived himself, deceiving himself that although Xiao Jinyan originally married him to protect herself from danger, over time, she must have fallen in love with him too...

Later on, Yudan's appearance shattered the lies he had woven for himself, like the final straw that broke the camel's back...

He gazed at the three towering pine trees in the backyard of the Buddhist temple and took a deep breath, exhaling heavily—

In this lifetime, he would never repeat the same mistakes again!