Chapter 24 Chapter 24 He wants to finalize the marriage as soon as possible...

Lingchuan covered his face with his sleeves out of shame. In the past, Gu Shi would at least cover it up openly, but now he is becoming more and more presumptuous and doesn't even pretend.

The way the palace maids deliberately avoided her gaze was like a sword piercing Lingchuan's heart. She really didn't know what others would think of her.

Fortunately, this kind of life will not last too long...at most another month and a half, and she will find a way out for herself.

She gently pulled Gu Shi's collar and asked:

"Aren't you afraid of being seen by others..."

He frowned slightly and laughed:

"There will be plenty of things like this in the future. What's there to be afraid of? What else can we do..."

He wondered in his heart, since he was getting married anyway, why was he afraid of others knowing what he was doing?

Besides, he and Lingchuan were just not very disciplined at most, and they did not harm anyone. He now felt that he had not done anything wrong, so there was nothing to hide.

If Lingchuan is willing to move the wedding forward to summer, then they can plan the wedding now.

An inexplicable feeling of unease made him want to finalize the marriage as soon as possible and quickly tell the whole world that Lingchuan was his wife.

"Lingchuan, the lotus flowers in summer are also very beautiful. Don't you like lotus flowers?"

But Lingchuan didn't understand his implication, he just stared at him blankly and smiled:

"The lotus...emerges from the mud without being stained? Is that the right way to recite it? It's completely the opposite of me. I emerge from the mud yet am completely stained."

She never put herself in the position of Gu Shi's wife and didn't even have the slightest imagination about their married life.

Especially since Gu Shi was about to ascend the throne and become the king, she couldn't imagine herself sitting in the position of queen.

She was just a commoner's daughter. The decent and elegant royal family was too far away from her. Only the ferocious tax collectors were very close to her.

She once naively thought that she could take revenge on Gu Shi by spending his money. But in fact, to Gu Shi, the money she spent was nothing.

She lowered her head. To Gu Shi, she was not a complete person at all. She had no one to rely on except him and could only depend on him.

The taxes collected by officials are the blood and sweat of the people, and they turn them into a gem on jewelry to please people.

The jewelry he gave her was actually still his. He spent money to maintain her appearance, and the beneficiary was still Gu Shi.

To be fair, Gu Shi, who holds power, is already a very benevolent master. He never uses red tape or torture to punish others. However, Lingchuan always feels that she cannot fit into this kind of life. She is not the kind of person who would be grateful just because she is not beaten.

She tried her best but couldn't resist in this overly strong cage. Two fundamentally unequal people becoming husband and wife... Lingchuan couldn't imagine it at all.

Even if Gu Shi wanted to marry her, she would not be able to recognize a "master" who had the power of life and death over her as her husband.

A kiss fell on Lingchuan's lips and she closed her eyes.

If he likes this body, then he can take it. He is about to ascend the throne anyway, and there is nothing in this world that he wants but cannot get.

In his hands, she was no different from an extravagant jeweled belt.

Lingchuan wanted her soul to leave her body, but the sensory stimulation brought her attention back.

Gu Shi kissed her neck, almost devoutly.

Lingchuan was startled by the kiss, and she suddenly felt that Gu Shi loved her.

This was not the first time she had such an idea. There were indeed too many tender and affectionate details between them.

But no matter how true those details are, an unequal relationship will cause love to slide into a bottomless abyss.

She pulled the handkerchief over her face and couldn't help but start to wonder if her and Gu Shi had met in another way, would their ending have been different.

If he wasn't a prince, and didn't have the power to dominate others... If she still had her parents' protection and the family fortune...

Lingchuan found that she didn't dare to think about it. If she continued to think about it, she would deceive herself and fall in love with him again.

"Lingchuan, look at me."

Gu Shi pulled the handkerchief off her face and looked into her eyes earnestly.

He took her hand and kissed the back of her hand.

Lingchuan looked at him and smiled bitterly:

"Gu Shi, you will make me misunderstand."

"What's the misunderstanding?"

He placed a hand on her back and bit the side of her neck, burying himself deeper.

"I misunderstood that you loved me."

The tail end of her voice became increasingly blurred, blending into the soft moans. Gu Shi couldn't hear it clearly, but he heard it.

He didn't know whether he was happy or sad now, and whether he should be happy that Lingchuan didn't know that he loved her.

If Lingchuan didn't know that he loved her, then she naturally wouldn't dare to use his love to manipulate him... at least she wouldn't dare to be too presumptuous. Logically, he should be happy.

But now he couldn't feel happy for some unknown reason.

Lingchuan didn't know that he loved her...

Every time he repeated this sentence silently, he felt as if something in his heart was torn apart, and he exerted a little more strength under his body.

Insecurity was like a spider, weaving a dense web in his heart.

Gu Shi was a little annoyed. It was impossible for Lingchuan not to see that he loved her. It was obvious that she just didn't trust him.

But why didn't she believe that he loved her? What right did she have to question him?

She just looked down on him, treating him as a cold-blooded man incapable of love, and not as a human being.

He touched her slightly sweaty temples, and his heart softened a little. Since she took the initiative to propose marriage to him, he could forgive her.

Before meeting Lingchuan, he had never had any expectations for his marriage, nor had he ever thought about what kind of woman he would fall in love with.

Everyone in his life is gray, like puppets disciplined by some rules and regulations, except Lingchuan. She seems to be too disdainful to hide her emotions and feelings, and everything is written on her face.

Gu Shi held her hand again and bit her fingertips, feeling sad.

She felt that he didn't love her, yet she had the audacity to ask to marry him.

He couldn't help but wonder if this was a choice forced upon him by worldly considerations and ethical norms. Indeed, he was powerful and influential, and Lingchuan had lost her virginity to him long ago. If it was a matter of practical considerations, her best option would be to do everything in her power to marry him.

But Gu Shi understood Lingchuan. He knew that she was very willful and proud, and was very paranoid about the need for love in marriage. She would never give in easily.

What on earth was her reasoning behind accepting what she considered a loveless marriage... Was it because she loved him so very much...

Or is it because she can't find anyone better than him?

He suddenly began to suspect that Lingchuan had contacted other men in private, but was rejected, so she came back to him in despair.

This affair ended a little violently amidst Gu Shi's inexplicable and overwhelming jealousy. Lingchuan felt that he was tossed between the two extremes of beauty and horror, as if he was being subjected to some kind of strange punishment.

She shuddered, wondering if she would die here...

This way of dying is too shameful, she doesn't want to die like this.

Gu Shi's hand stroked her chin and gently stroked her eyelashes.

He once thought Lingchuan was dispensable, but now he admits that he was too conceited.

"Lingchuan."

Gu pretended to be calm, as if asking her what she had eaten today.

"Have you found someone you like?"

His heart was pounding, and his fingers were nervously twisting Lingchuan's clothes. He hoped that Lingchuan would tell him with a smile that the person was him, but he was also really afraid that Lingchuan would really say the name of another man.

The small piece of clothing was being rubbed back and forth by his fingertips, and it was likely that she would die soon.

Lingchuan took a deep breath. She really wanted to throw the teapot at Gu Shi's face and tell him that she had found it a long time ago and it was a hundred times better than his.

Indeed, she was impatient, impulsive and irritable, but when she thought of Qin Sizhao's words "everything is as usual", she forced herself to calm down.

Lingchuan took a gamble and believed him.

“I haven’t thought about that.”

Lingchuan deliberately lowered his voice for fear of being discovered doing something strange.

She actually knew that she was not good at disguising and hiding, and she didn't want to lie to anyone, but she still lied to Gu Shi. Too many emotions rushed into her heart at the same time, and Lingchuan actually felt numb.

She looked at Gu Shi's familiar silhouette and just kept repeating the four words "everything is as usual".

Countless days and nights had passed over the past six years, and Gu Shi had occupied nearly a third of her life. Everything was normal... What exactly was her daily routine?

Lingchuan put her clothes back on one by one. All her emotions mixed together and turned into a sword with the blade pointing inward. She began to feel disgusted with herself.

"Have you really never thought about it..."

Although this was not the answer Gu Shi wanted to hear the most, it was not bad either, at least not the worst result.

He felt that if Lingchuan really fell in love with someone else, she would not be able to hide it from him. Her feelings were very simple and straightforward, and she could not hide her love for someone.

Just like before, he knew at first sight that Lingchuan liked him. Lingchuan didn't know how to hide her feelings at all, and he thought she didn't bother to hide them either.

But recently, his weird intuition always makes him anxious and worried.

He hugged Lingchuan and buried his face in her neck. He didn't know when the scent of makeup on her body had disappeared, leaving only a very clean smell.

In this feeling, Gu Shi avoided his intuition and deceived himself into thinking that since Lingchuan was willing to marry him, she must still love him.

"Are you annoying? You keep asking..."

Lingchuan frowned and dealt with him.

"Do you still like me..."

He kissed the inside of her wrist.

The little bit of feelings she had for Gu Shi came back to her body because of a kiss, making her feel uneasy.

Lingchuan didn't know what to say to be honest, nor did he know what to say to be a lie.

"Don't ask..."

She answered decisively.

"I don't want to like you."

Lingchuan really can't hide his thoughts, and what he says is always the truth.

Gu Shi held her wrist tightly.

"I can't possibly let you leave me."

He looked into her eyes and said word by word:

"So you can only like me."