The first hurt was that Li Nishu was actually going to enter the palace as a concubine.
He thought Li Nishu loved him deeply, just as he loved Li Nishu.
He thought that after Li Nishu entered the palace, she would try every means to get him out, and would not hesitate to use the Li family's connections.
Their two families were already betrothed, and he thought the Li family would never break their promise.
However, all his assumptions were just assumptions.
In fact, Li Nishu had tried her best to fail the selection back then, but her appearance was so outstanding that the Emperor knew of her reputation before the palace selection. How could she fail?
However, Li Nishu did not have time to tell Tan Ye about these matters. At that time, for the sake of the Li family, she chose not to speak.
As a result, this sowed the first seed of resentment in Tan Ye's heart. In his letter, he said that he would forever remember the betrayal of the Li family and Li Nishu.
Later, even when he knew Li Nishu was going to enter the palace, Tan Ye did not give up hope.
He believed that as long as two people loved each other enough, nothing could stop them from being together.
So he proposed to take Li Nishu and flee, his obsession with his love for Li Nishu making him forget that they both had families behind them.
When Li Nishu refused him, he assumed that Li Nishu did not love him.
Therefore, he was extremely disheartened, and at one point, his heart was filled with resentment and pain. Even in this letter, he was lamenting why Li Nishu did not love him.
In his heart, Li Nishu was cold and heartless, turning his love into a joke. This was the source of his hatred, but not its end.
Until the very last page of the letter, he filled it with curses for Li Nishu.
Tan Ye said that he had almost taken out his heart and handed it to Li Nishu, hoping for even the slightest response.
But without such a response, he could only be like a wounded beast, sneaking away to lick his wounds.
He had already decided to return to Qinzhou and live, and would no longer disturb Li Nishu's life.
But Li Nishu gave him a "fatal blow"—
When they returned to Qinzhou before, they did not bring anyone with them, let alone a stranger.
But this time, because he loved Li Nishu so much and trusted her so much, when Li Nishu proposed to bring her uncle and aunt, Tan Ye agreed without a second thought.
Even though this displeased Tan Ye's father, Tan Qi, Tan Ye withstood the pressure and took great care of Li Nishu's uncle and aunt along the way.
Even when Tan Qi called Tan Ye aside on the road and said he felt uneasy and thought it best not to let the Fan Lao Er couple know their destination and let them wait in Qinzhou city, Tan Ye still chose to trust Fan Lao Er because of Li Nishu.
In the letter, Tan Ye said that because Li Nishu had told him that the Fan Lao Er couple treated her very well, Tan Ye only thought that since they had no fate in this life, he might as well marry Li Nishu in his heart and then fulfill filial duties to the Fan Lao Er couple on behalf of Li Nishu.
Only by doing so did Tan Ye feel at ease.
He gambled his own life and that of his family on his trust and admiration for Li Nishu.
Without hesitation, he brought the Fan Lao Er couple into a place that others could not enter.
The subsequent outcome... caused him excruciating pain and deep regret.
He not only killed his entire family but also everyone in that village!
In one night, the village was wiped out, leaving only devastation—
Only he, alone, escaped from the sea of corpses and fire.
But he was also seriously injured and perhaps near death.
Even so, he still traveled thousands of miles back to the capital to see Li Nishu one last time.
At the end of the letter, all that remained of Tan Ye's writing was the word "hate."
He hated Li Nishu, hated the Li family, and hated everyone who had put them in such a situation.
He said he was probably going to die. As a physician, he knew better than anyone that his condition was not optimistic.
His body was covered in wounds, and even his internal organs were bleeding. He managed to hold on until he reached the capital, saw Li Nishu for the last time, and then fled the Li family, having exhausted his last strength.
Tan Ye said he was probably going to die.
But if heaven was kind and spared his life, he would live well in this world.
He would live in a corner and keep a close eye on Li Nishu.
If he ever had the chance, he would definitely get revenge and make Li Nishu die from Yuhan poison, the most potent poison in their small Qin kingdom.
He told Li Nishu to remember that he would be watching her for the rest of his life!
The Consort recounted all the past events, and as she spoke, perhaps without realizing it, tears streamed down her face.
For the first time in these days, she walked closer to the window and opened it.
She raised her eyes to look at the sky outside the window, her voice becoming increasingly bitter: "Actually, in my youth, I quite liked Tan Ye. If it hadn't been for the selection, even if my father had betrothed me to someone else, I might have eloped with him. But I was to marry the Emperor, how could I disregard the Li family? Tan Ye didn't understand me, and I didn't understand Tan Ye. I thought that his family, who had lived a life of wandering, should have understood my choice to do it for the Li family."
Song Chaoyu could tell that the Consort had truly loved that Tan Ye.
But in the capital, what reason was there to talk about "love"?
It was rare for people like Song Chaoyu to be fortunate enough to be hand in hand with their beloved Mu Changxi.
The Consort was immersed in her grief: "Later, I never heard from Tan Ye again. I thought he must have died. I failed him. Later, I also lost contact with my uncle and aunt, and could only serve the Emperor wholeheartedly in the palace."
Speaking of the Emperor, the Consort's eyes softened slightly: "I only tell you this. When I first entered the palace, I still had Tan Ye in my heart. I didn't like the Emperor, and the Emperor could see that. He even told me that he could wait for me, that he had a lifetime to wait for me to forget the person in my heart and then accept him wholeheartedly."
The Emperor had also put a lot of effort into the Consort.
He even told the Consort that in front of others, he was the Emperor, and even in front of the Empress, he could only be the Emperor.
But in front of the Consort, in front of the woman he loved, he wanted to be a husband, an ordinary man, not bound by his status.
This was a favoritism he had never shown to anyone else.