Emperor Yuan He asked again: "Then will you remember me in the future?"

Gu Yun closed his mouth.

The old Emperor stared at him, he did not let go and continued to press on: "Why are you not speaking?"

Gu Yun was silent for a while; one could not make out a hint of sorrow on his face:

"If Your Majesty also goes, Zi Xi will no longer have any family members left."

Emperor Yuan He's chest seemed to be tightened up by an invisible hand for a moment. He had never heard this little bastard say such warm-hearted words before in his life. Just this one sentence had almost erased all the resentment and affection between the two generations that have never been spoken out loud before, leaving in the continuous flow of time a faint and solitary regret of having to part with one another.

At this moment, a servant at the door carefully reminded: "Your Majesty, it is time for the medicine."

Gu Yun quickly recovered. As he looked up again, he had already reverted back to a disdained and unparalleled lethal weapon hidden in human form: "Your Majesty, please take care of yourself, I will take my leave now."

Emperor Yuan He suddenly opened his mouth again and called his nickname: "Xiao Shiliu!"

Gu Yun stopped in his tracks.

Emperor Yuan He struggled to reach under the pillow and found a bracelet of old wooden beads: "Come here, give me your hand."

Gu Yun looked at the panting old man putting the Buddhist bracelet of no value around his wrist, complicated emotions rising up inside of him.

"This cousin...will be watching you," Emperor Yuan He quietly said while patting the back of his hand.

Gu Yun's heart was hurting too much to bear it and he could no longer maintain his calm composure, so he could only quickly request to be excused.

Three days later, the Emperor passed away.

Magistrates and military officers and thousands of civilians once again bid farewell to an era.

https://www.northwestflower.net/sha-po-lang/book-1/chapter-2-the-capital/2-ii

After the capital was bathed in a heavy rain, the hidden chill in the ground started to rise up, revealing the depression that was condensed into frost.

Chang Geng mindlessly followed a collection of strangers to send off the old Emperor. On the day of the funeral, there were eight carriages pulling the Nine Dragons coffin, and there were steam-powered horn speakers on both sides of the avenue, spontaneously playing the burial tunes while spurting out white steam that covered the entire imperial capital. Heavy Armors were used as a barrier to prevent the onlookers from entering.

Outside of this boundary was an infinite amount of people watching the ritual, including the Great Liang people, the Yi people, the Baiyue people, the Man people... and even countless Western foreigners.