Chapter 35: The Strategic Deployment of Both Sides. "Would couples who have broken up kiss like this?"

Wave after wave of people came to remonstrate, pleading with Emperor Wu to execute Lai Junchen.

The people were also in a state of great agitation, with unprecedented unrest. Although the Empress did not say a word, Shangguan Wan'er sensed that her heart was wavering.

So she went out of the palace to see Princess Taiping and told her that the time had come.

Taiping smiled slightly: "That person is already on his way."

Three days later, the cruel official Ji Xu accompanied Emperor Wu on a horseback ride to relax. He seized the opportunity to petition the emperor, saying that Lai Junchen was utterly wicked and harmful to the country, and deserved to die.

The Emperor sighed and waved his hand.

Unexpectedly, even among cruel officials, Lai Junchen's actions were deemed unacceptable!

In the summer, Lai Junchen, the king of cruel officials, was executed in the street.

Afterwards, Empress Wu recalled Prince Li Zhe of Luling, changed his name to Li Xian, and made him the crown prince.

The intention of Empress Wu to return power to the Li Tang dynasty had already begun to emerge, and Wu Chengsi died of fear and anxiety, but the conflict between the Wu and Li families did not disappear.

In 699 AD, Empress Wu summoned the Wu and Li clansmen, swore an oath in the Mingtang Hall, and the two families formed a marriage alliance. They also worshipped heaven and earth, hoping that the two families would not fight again a hundred years later.

Princess Taiping also took the oath, but she didn't take it seriously. She said to Shangguan Wan'er in private, "How could the Empress Dowager be so naive now, thinking that people's hearts can be bound by some kind of imperial edict?"

Shangguan Wan'er served Empress Wu every day and understood her psychology better than she did. She kindly advised, "Your Majesty is getting old now and is not as hard-hearted as before. Your Highness, please do not blame Your Majesty too much for what happened in the past."

Princess Taiping snorted, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

"Okay, cut!" Yu Jintang laughed, "This is our last scene in Los Angeles. Congratulations, we're finally done filming! We'll do reshoots tomorrow, and then we'll head to Flying Dragon City the day after. Actors who don't have any reshoots, you can pack your bags now, we're getting ready to move on!"

The crowd cheered and began to remove the green screen.

Qin Lan returned to the hotel, put on a face mask, and immediately lay down. Xiao Qing was packing her luggage in the room, sorting and sealing her cosmetics into boxes. She bustled around, occasionally humming a tune, making the room lively and lively, sometimes making Qin Lan think that Jiang Yan was still there.

"Sister Qin! Sister Qin!" Xiaoqing came running over, "There was a lipstick left in Teacher Jiang's room. I found it under the bed."

Qin Lan remained silent for more than twenty seconds before casually sitting up and spreading her hands.

Xiaoqing walked over, drooling, exclaiming, "Wow, Sister Qin, your hands are so long, slender, and fair..."

"The worst thing you can do in your line of work is fall in love with an artist," Qin Lan flicked her forehead and took the lipstick away.

Xiaoqing pressed her hand to her heart, her face beaming with happiness, gazing at her profile with infatuation, murmuring, "That perfect curly hair, that sharp profile, that red dress and those fragrant shoulders, that proud and beautiful woman like a lion... when will I ever be able to date someone like her..."

Qin Lan got up and walked outside. After browsing around at the door for a while, she left with a fruit basket in her hand.

"Unless you possess Jiang Yan's body."

Two seconds later, Xiaoqing, the stunned assistant, wailed, "Sister Qin, what are you doing? Didn't you say you didn't like Teacher Jiang?!"

Qin Lan went up to the fourth floor, only to find that she had forgotten Jiang Yan's room number.

Fortunately, she had come here once after the crew's first dinner party, and had a vague impression of it. After wandering into the innermost corridor, she was stunned, feeling that every door looked the same.

"40...408, what was it again?" she muttered as she walked past door after door, frowning as she looked at the numbers.

Unable to remember anything, she changed her approach, starting by knocking on the first door around the corner.

He knocked on three doors, but no one answered. Finally, on the fourth door, someone appeared – the actor who played Li Dan. He was quite surprised: "Teacher Qin?"

"Oh, I bought some cherries, they're quite sweet, I'll share some with you guys." Qin Lan took out the basket she had just brought down, which contained a dozen or so fruit boxes.

The male actor was flattered and thanked her profusely. Qin Lan, after presenting the gift, casually asked, "Who lives on either side of you? I knocked just now, but no one answered."

"Over here?" The actor pointed to the corner: "Over there live Teacher Zhou, Teacher Sun, and Teacher Wang. To my right live Teacher Jiang, Teacher Lin, and Teacher Tan. Teacher Zhou and Teacher Sun went to play ball together. I don't know about the other teachers."

Qin Lan nodded upon hearing this. After the male actor closed the door, she placed fruit boxes and sticky notes in front of everyone else's doors. Finally, she carried the remaining boxes to Jiang Yan's door and raised her hand to knock.

A voice suddenly rang out from behind: "Teacher Qin?"

Qin Lan casually lowered her hand: "Teacher Lin?"

"Teacher Qin, what's going on...?"

Qin Lan had no choice but to repeat her previous explanation, stating that she had come to deliver fruit.

"Oh, oh, that... um, it's Teacher Jiang Yan's room." The actress surnamed Lin smiled somewhat tactfully.

Qin Lan was still thinking about how to answer when, thank goodness, an acquaintance came up behind her: "Teacher Qin? Teacher Lin?"

A savior has arrived—Jiang Yan has come.

Qin Lan had no choice but to repeat the same platitudes he had already said twice for the third time, and amidst a series of awkward and affected laughs, he hoped that the actress surnamed Lin would leave quickly.

The actress surnamed Lin sensibly took the cherries and went back to her room, leaving the two of them speechless.

She was gone, but her ambiguous expression always made Qin Lan feel like she was eavesdropping at the door.

Jiang Yan didn't make things difficult for her. She swiped her card to open the door and went to wash her hands, leaving the door slightly ajar.

Qin Lan pushed open the door and went inside, leaning against the outside of the bathroom.

Jiang Yan washed her hands and came out. She opened the fruit box, tasted a fruit, and her expression didn't change much: "It is indeed very sweet."

"You left your lipstick with me." Qin Lan released her right hand, revealing the lipstick that she had been holding in her palm.

"Yes, thank you for making this trip, Teacher Qin." Jiang Yan smiled. "Could you help me with the supplement?"

She pointed to her somewhat mottled lips.

She hadn't removed her makeup, but a closer look revealed that she wasn't in good shape; her dark circles were so heavy they couldn't be covered, as if she hadn't slept well in a long time.

Qin Lan forced himself to remain calm, held the black tube close, and touched it to her lips.

Afterwards, Qin Lan thought about it for a long time but still couldn't figure out how they ended up kissing. She only remembered that she had been staring intently at the other person's cupid's bow, and after applying the lipstick, she noticed that it wasn't evenly applied, so she impulsively rubbed it with her thumb.

Jiang Yan suddenly raised her head and grabbed her wrist.

"Teacher Qin," she called out in a hoarse voice, without saying anything else.

Qin Lan felt a stinging pain in her eyes. The sadness of the past few days welled up inside her, and she grabbed Jiang Yan's thin, pointed chin and bit down on it.

Every time she kissed Jiang Yan, she was fierce, especially when she initiated the kiss, as if she wanted to devour her whole, making Jiang Yan feel like she hated her to death. This time she was even fiercer, kissing and biting Jiang Yan's lips, licking her all over with her tongue, and pulling on the back of her head until Jiang Yan's scalp hurt.

Jiang Yan was very happy because she finally felt Qin Lan's affection, a feeling she had been waiting for for a long time.

"It's been so many days since we last met." Qin Lan released her, his voice hoarse.

Jiang Yan sighed and hummed in agreement, gently stroking her chin with a tender and affectionate gaze: "You look so haggard."

"Really?" Qin Lan asked instinctively.

"You don't look happy; it's like you've encountered something upsetting."

Qin Lan ruffled her hair again, picked up a cherry and ate it: "Isn't this trouble right in front of me?"

"What, you just kiss someone whenever you see something that's bothering you?"

"Yeah, let's bite our worries to death." Qin Lan blushed, feeling that the conversation was a bit strange.

A strange gentleness.

She asked Jiang Yan, "Do couples who have broken up still kiss like this?"

"I don't know, it's the first time I've done this."

"Then what's the difference between us being like this and not having a division at all?"

"You know it's different."

Qin Lan really didn't want to leave, so she simply stayed on the sofa and didn't move. Jiang Yan didn't urge her to leave, but moved a stool and sat opposite her, doing nothing but staring at her.

Qin Lan couldn't stand her gaze any longer, and stood up sullenly, ready to go home: "If you want me to leave, just say so. I'm not a deadbeat."

"I've told you before, you should think carefully about whether you like me or just enjoy the feeling of being with me."

"Do we really need to differentiate like that?" Qin Lan muttered.

“Because you don’t understand me as a person. Our relationship is more about physical attraction. In other words, you’ve only discovered the pleasure of lust, and you happen not to dislike my body, but you probably don’t really like me as a person,” Jiang Yan said.

"But doesn't liking someone mean wanting to be with them?" Qin Lan understood a little but didn't quite understand.

“Liking is like this, but love is the opposite. The more I love you, the more I need to restrain myself, and the more I want a long and bright future with you,” Jiang Yan said softly and slowly. The way she was thinking made Qin Lan feel that she was very charming for no reason.

"There are too many people outside, so I won't see you off."

She escorted Qin Lan to the door, her eyes fixed on her, still holding that look that made Qin Lan feel she was waiting for something.

Qin Lan realized that Jiang Yan always seemed to be ahead of her in matters of the heart. This feeling of ignorance frustrated her greatly, and she couldn't help but repeatedly ponder Jiang Yan's words, trying to surpass her next time.

But Jiang Yan always managed to leave her speechless, even though she herself never admitted defeat.

"Such a set of outfits, how come they look so much like Yun Chui's?" She couldn't help but wonder, "Did you two move into the same dorm room later?"

“Yes.” Jiang Yan nodded frankly, without any intention of hiding anything: “Yun Chui is the friend I mentioned to you last time. She taught me a lot.”

"That's strange, who taught Yun Chui all this experience?"

She immediately figured out the answer.

Among the five of them, Yun Chui was actually the one who had the earliest dating experience.

"Hey, when did you start liking Song Man?" Qin Lan went back to her room and lay down, putting on a face mask again.

It was very quiet on the phone; I couldn't tell where the other person was.

"Probably from the second year she became my dance partner." The person on the other end seemed to think for a moment.

"Have you two kissed?"

In my memory, Song Man and Yun Chui never seemed to have officially established a relationship, but every time they appeared together, they held hands tightly. When eating, Yun Chui would naturally lay out a napkin for Song Man. Later, Song Man refused to wear it, saying that only children wear bibs. So Yun Chui paid close attention to the placement of Song Man's cutlery to prevent her from carelessly getting her clothes dirty.

Yu Jintang said, "You two shouldn't be so lovey-dovey, it makes my heart ache."

Qin Lan laughed at her, saying she was just jealous. Both of them responded naturally, seemingly skipping the confession stage and going straight to being girlfriends. But Qin Lan looked her over and over again, feeling that Yun Chui had always been so good to Song Man since they were little, and that Song Man only ever held Yun Chui's hand in public.

"Of course we've kissed." Yun Chui's voice was nonchalant: "You're not asking about the two of us, are you?"

Qin Lan didn't expect that she would see through her so easily. After thinking for a moment, she decided not to be stubborn: "I'm just afraid that I like Jiang Yan on a physical level. I always want to kiss her lately."

"Recently...when did it start?"

Qin Lan quickly calculated with her fingers: "They just kissed."

"No, when we first started dating, I really wanted to kiss him too."

"Wait a minute, even before we talked, I kind of wanted to kiss her."

"...Anyway, it all started from a certain day when she flirted with me in a particularly excessive way."

Yun Chui remained silent for a long time: "How can you be so slow to understand? Even Song Man is more perceptive than you."

Qin Lan clicked her tongue in annoyance: "Anyway, she just told me to think carefully about whether I need her purely for the sake of sex or if I like her as a person. She said I don't understand her at all."

"She's right."

"..."

"Then what do you suggest I do?"

"Do as she says."

"..."

“It’s not that I’m unwilling to teach you, but this knowledge is too theoretical. You can’t empathize with it because you’ve never experienced the emotional journey of being in love. It’s like I’m telling you now that Jiang Yan is anxious and insecure every day, but you don’t really understand what’s going on.”

For someone like Qin Lan who thinks in a straightforward manner, she simply cannot understand theories about love, sensitivity, or the complexities of feigned reluctance.

Qin Lan hung up the phone and sat there alone, sulking.

She suddenly looked up in shock and confusion, asking herself, "What's wrong with me? Is this what it feels like to be caught in a cycle of gain and loss? But don't I hate this kind of endless entanglement the most?"

She prefers straightforwardness and wants a clean and decisive ending, but the thought of Jiang Yan makes her hesitant.

Should I cut off all contact with her and never see her again?

But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she felt a tightness in her chest and shortness of breath.

Why don't we just get back together?

But she had already made up her mind that night. She didn't want to go back, nor did she want Jiang Yan to feel bad.

She realized that she could neither give Jiang Yan the sense of security she needed, nor could she bear to part with her. She tried to convince herself to focus on her work, but every time she opened the script, Jiang Yan's face would appear in her mind's eye.

She wanted to find a solution, but felt helpless.

After a while, she called out to Xiaoqing, who was trying to push the last repackaged bag into the box, "Xiaoqing, Xiaoqing!"

"Hey sis! Are you going to have dinner?" Xiaoqing looked up, her face covered in sweat.

Qin Lan felt a chill run down her spine when she saw her innocent and naive face. She wondered how she could have forgotten that the woman was an idiot, and what good would it do to ask her?

She was speechless, and with her last glimmer of hope, asked, "Have you ever been in a relationship? It's okay if you've liked someone before."

"No." Xiaoqing shook her head like a rattle drum: "But a girl confessed to me in college. She was a rich and beautiful girl from the next class, but I didn't accept her. Later she thought I was stupid and told me to forget about it."

"You still won't agree to marry a rich, beautiful woman? Is there something wrong with her character?" Qin Lan became interested.

"No, she's an excellent student, but she refuses to eat snail rice noodles!" Xiaoqing said indignantly, "What kind of good person is someone who doesn't like snail rice noodles? Snail rice noodles!!"

"..."

Qin Lan silently closed her eyes, trying to avoid seeing it and getting annoyed.

In terms of strategist team alone, she was far inferior to Jiang Yan. Jiang Yan herself was sensitive and a bit love-struck, and with Yun Chui, who had automatically become a wife around her teens, her theories left Jiang Yan speechless.

And what about her?

A brain that Yun Chui said was even slower than Song Man's; Yu Jintang, whose personality changed drastically after the early death of her beloved, and who wanted to destroy the whole world; Yang Xingji, who has never been in a relationship and has never even held hands with anyone; Song Man, whose mind is full of practicing for eight hours today and nine hours tomorrow; and Xiao Qing, who rejected a rich and beautiful girl because she didn't eat snail rice noodles.

She felt like a blind person walking in the dark, leaning on a toilet plunger, holding a salted fish stick, wearing boots with worn-out soles, and having a mentally challenged dog that only knew how to eat following behind her.

Qin Lan let out a long sigh. "With you all here, how can I worry about the world not falling?"

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Taiping has recently become a hot topic online.

The mother was the legitimate emperor, the father was the legitimate emperor, the two older brothers were the legitimate emperors, and the grandfather was the legitimate emperor; six legitimate emperors came from one family.

A purebred, orthodox, top-tier princess, the only princess in history with ten thousand households, bestowed the title of "Protecting the Nation and Bringing Peace," and having produced five prime ministers...

Some people even say that if you asked her to have an empress, she could marry Shangguan Wan'er...