Chapter 70: Wintersweet Forest

Qin Wan, wife of General Fuyuan, sat at the table, maintaining a dignified smile on her face, but her mind was wandering far away.

His eyes fell on Pei Ji, the calm and handsome man at the table, and that feeling of pity rose up from the depths of his heart again.

When Lady Changning mentioned that Prince Duan was willing to act as a matchmaker and wanted Pei Ji to marry her daughter Luo Zhaohan, Qin Wan was moved.

Pei Ji was a man of great learning and good looks. At a young age, he was already the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple. He was favored by the emperor and was a promising son-in-law with unlimited prospects.

She even secretly felt that if this marriage could be arranged, her daughter would have a stable support for the rest of her life, and she, as a mother, would also be able to feel at ease.

But who would have thought... that the seemingly gentle and docile Lady of Changning actually behaved like that behind the scenes!

Qin Wan felt a tightness in her stomach. Pei Ji was truly unlucky to have such parents!

Qin Wan secretly sipped the warm wine. The spicy taste hit her throat, but she couldn't suppress the sense of relief in her heart.

She couldn't help but look at her daughter, Luo Zhaohan, who was sitting quietly beside her. Fortunately! Fortunately, Zhaozhao was born with a stubborn streak and saw things much more clearly than her mother. She had rejected the olive branch extended by Prince Duan early on.

Otherwise, if this marriage is really accepted, won’t I be mixed up with the Changning Marquis’s family in the future?

Just thinking about that scene, Qin Wan felt a lingering fear.

Her daughter deserves to be paired with the most upright man in the world and must not be tainted by such filth.

Looking at the sad Pei Ji now, Qin Wan felt not only the lingering regret, but also a bit of fear of surviving the disaster.

That was a close call! That was a close call!

Thinking of this, Qin Wan withdrew her gaze from Pei Ji's figure and turned it to her daughter nearby.

But with this sight, her relief turned to new worry. Her Zhao Zhao was usually calm and perceptive, her eyes shining like the cold stars in the north. But throughout this lively evening, she seemed a little absent-minded.

Sitting there, he unconsciously turned an untouched sweet orange in his hand, his eyes sometimes falling on an empty place in the Golden Palace, and sometimes quickly moving away, as if he was searching for something, or waiting for someone.

There was an imperceptible solemnity between his brows.

"Zhao Zhao?" Qin Wan lowered her voice and called out slightly sideways.

Luo Zhaohan seemed to be awakened, and suddenly came back to his senses. The vagueness in his eyes disappeared in an instant, and his eyes became clear again: "Mom? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Qin Wan said, feeling relieved when she saw her regain consciousness. "You look quite distracted, but are you feeling unwell?"

"No," Luo Zhaohan smiled slightly, breaking open the sweet orange in his hand and giving half to his mother, "Maybe it's because there are so many people and it's a bit boring."

The smile perfectly concealed the remaining worries.

Qin Wan took the orange petals and didn't ask any more questions, but a trace of doubt still remained in her heart.

No one knows a girl better than her mother. Zhaozhao must be worried about something tonight.

On the high platform, His Majesty the Emperor seemed to have long lost interest in the noise from below, with a barely perceptible trace of fatigue between his brows.

He whispered something to Concubine Li beside him. Concubine Li's eyes moved and she smiled charmingly. The two of them stood up and left quietly, surrounded by palace servants.

The emperor's departure was like a silent signal, and the atmosphere in the hall stagnated slightly. Upon seeing this, several princes and princesses also put down their cups and left with the support of their attendants.

The noisy hall seemed to have lost some of its vitality, but also felt a little more relaxed.

Pei Ji seemed to be affected by the atmosphere of leaving. He was originally sitting quietly, but now his brows were slightly furrowed, and he looked a little uneasy.

Just at this moment, the little grandson of the emperor, Chao Yunye, came out from somewhere, grabbed the corner of Pei Ji's clothes with one hand, held up the exquisite jade rabbit lantern he had just obtained with the other hand, tilted his little face up, and begged for something in a baby voice.

Pei Ji was helpless, with a hint of indulgent fatigue in his eyes. He obediently let the small figure hold his hand and quietly disappeared into the crowd of people leaving.

As several of the most important royal figures left, the atmosphere in the palace suddenly changed.

Just like a taut bowstring being suddenly released, the remaining royal family nobles and civil and military officials visibly relaxed.

The tense back was no longer straight, and the smile on his face was more genuine. The clinking of cups and glasses intensified, the buzz of laughter and conversation spread, and the steps of the palace maids and eunuchs who shuttled around the banquet pouring wine became much lighter.

The stringed instruments and wind instruments began to play again, but they were less solemn and glorious than before, and more exhilarating.

The atmosphere of the banquet seemed to have returned to spring, becoming lively and boiling again, even more unbridled, noisy and lively than when the emperor was there.

Luo Zhaohan's cold gaze swept across the entire audience.

This false bustle was like burnt-out embers, superficial. She knew the real undercurrent was just beginning to surge.

The banquet will last until the hour of Hai - the deadline set by the emperor for this false prosperity.

She ignored the false excitement, her mind only circling around a few things.

During the day, Sun Honglei's words were still ringing in my ears: "After the dinner, I'll wait for you in the plum blossom forest outside the palace!"

However, what made her fingertips feel even colder was another figure that had just accidentally passed by the table.

In that direction, there were several sons of military generals and nobles sitting, including Xie Wuqi.

Almost instantly, Luo Zhaohan clearly saw Xie Wuqi's entire body suddenly stiffen. His cheeks turned from white to red at a visible speed, and then turned into a humiliating liver color.

The veins on his forehead bulged, and his fists were clenched tightly under the table. Amidst the piercing gazes and suppressed sneers, he stood up from his seat without saying a word, and his force was so great that he almost overturned the cup in front of him.

He didn't look at anyone, and with an almost violent sense of shame and anger, he turned around and left, as if this magnificent hall had instantly turned into a boiling oil pan.

He was like an enraged bull with nowhere to vent. His heavy breathing could be faintly heard through the crowd. He walked with a reckless force, almost charging forward, roughly pushing aside those who were blocking his way, attracting the attention of people at several tables farther away, casting glances of curiosity or equal contempt.

Luo Zhaohan's gaze was fixed on Xie Wuqi's embarrassed yet resolute disappearing figure. His brows suddenly furrowed, and a very cold light flashed across his eyes.

Something is strange!

We can't wait any longer.

"Dad, Mom," Luo Zhaohan turned sideways, his voice clearly reaching his parents' ears, "I'm going out for some fresh air. I'll be back soon."

After she finished speaking, without waiting for General Fuyuan and his wife to respond, she stood up swiftly.

Her scarlet palace gown made of gold brocade shone brightly under the lamplight, and her skirt fluttered as she walked without a trace of hesitation.

She did not go through the palace gate that Xie Wuqi escaped from, but went around to a quieter side door used by palace servants, and passed through it with light but unusually steady steps.

The moment the heavy palace door closed behind him, the icy night air suddenly enveloped him like an icy veil.

The chill of the early twelfth lunar month penetrated the expensive material of her palace dress and seeped into her skin and bones.

Luo Zhaohan did not delay at all. Her eyes were like the sharp eyes of a hawk, and she caught the target in an instant - the corner of the palace road not far ahead, and the tall and burly figure of Xie Wuqi, who seemed a little shrunken because of anger.

He walked quickly and hurriedly, as if there was an evil ghost chasing him. Without hesitation, he abandoned the main road leading out of the palace and instead plunged into the fork in the road that connected the East Garden of the Outer Palace and led to the depths of the royal villa.

Along the path, there are large areas of wintersweets that bloom in full bloom in the cold winter.

Luo Zhaohan's eyes darkened. As expected!

Without hesitation, she moved forward silently like a wisp of smoke blending into the night.

She always kept a distance of more than ten feet, neither too far nor too close. Her tracking skills were inherited from military scouts. Her steps were slow and silent, her breathing long and steady, and the figure in front of her was completely unaware.

Xie Wuqi's fists were still clenched tightly, and his knuckles made a crackling sound due to excessive force.

The expression on his face couldn't be seen in the darkness, but the lines of his shoulders and back, which were as taut as a bowstring, and his heavy, suppressed breathing, all showed that there was a violent emotion boiling like boiling oil in his chest.

Luo Zhao watched coldly. Xie Wuqi walked quickly with his head down, ignoring the imperial guards patrolling on both sides.

The soldiers in their distinctive armor seemed to have tacitly agreed, and offered no further questioning or interference to those heading in this direction. Soon, a subtle, chilling fragrance reached their faces.

We have arrived at the wintersweet forest.

Forests of wintersweets stretch out their branches in the darkness, casting dark shadows as thick and heavy as splashed ink.

However, countless tender yellow flowers are blooming on the branches like stars, and their blooming shapes can be clearly seen in the night.

Xie Wuqi didn't stop at all and went straight to the deepest part of Merlin.

It is close to the outermost palace wall, and is more remote and hidden.

Luo Zhaohan's figure quietly stopped behind the thickest old plum tree, holding his breath and concentrating.

His eyes penetrated the layers of intertwined shadows of sparse branches and were fixed on Xie Wuqi's moving back.

At this moment, a burly figure followed out of the Linde Hall and rushed into the cold night.

"Miss Luo!" Sun Honglei called out in a low voice, looking anxiously at the quiet palace path.

He had clearly seen Luo Zhaohan coming out in this direction just now, so how come he disappeared in the blink of an eye?

He only vaguely saw that reckless man Xie Wuqi also running this way. Could it be that Miss Luo was chasing him? Yes!

Wasn't the direction Xie Wuqi was heading to the East Garden Wintersweet Forest where they had agreed to meet?

A sense of excitement and confidence rose in Sun Honglei's heart.

He took a few deep breaths and smiled silently. Miss Luo had come to the appointment early.

I'm afraid she's waiting for him in Merlin!

But the night was dark and the forest was deep, and he couldn't quite remember the direction he had lost.

So, Sun Honglei stopped and stood at the main entrance leading to the depths of the wintersweet forest.

He would wait here. After all, Miss Luo had said that she would meet Merlin, and since she was here, she would definitely come out from here. Then... hehe.

He made up his mind, and his big, copper-bell-like eyes vigilantly scanned the dark entrance of Merlin and the silent palace road, waiting patiently.

…

The wind wrapped in snow foam blew across the empty palace corridor. The coldness was like fine steel needles, piercing through the gorgeous clothes and digging into the skin and flesh.

Xie Wuqi was completely unaware of this.

The depths of the wintersweet forest became increasingly silent, with only the sound of dead branches breaking and cracking being blown away by the wind.

The tall tree trunks cast thick, twisted shadows, and the thin moonlight was cut into pieces by the branches and scattered on the ground covered with light snow and dry fallen leaves.

How come there is no one here?

Xie Wuqi's heartbeat hit his ribs like a drumbeat, and his panicked eyes swept wildly among the overlapping shadows of the branches. Every shadow looked like a mocking face.

The place that was so clear in his memory—the end of the wintersweet forest on the easternmost side of the Imperial Garden, near the mottled and towering gray wall. In his previous life, the man was covered in cold moonlight, like a god descending, and cast his first scrutinizing gaze at him under the crooked old plum tree.

At that time, Xie Wuqi had just started to make a name for himself in the "Beijing Guards". He was young and strong with a bright future, but what about now?

He stopped abruptly, his legs shaking from the suffocating feeling brought on by the immense panic.

Those words were like a barbed whip, repeatedly lashing at his remaining dignity. He gritted his teeth, nearly breaking them!

A voice screamed in his heart: This shouldn't be the case! He, Xie Wuqi, shouldn't be like this, a lost dog! Where's that person? Where's the noble person who could pull him out of this quagmire?!

Could it be... that he remembered it wrongly? !

impossible!

He suddenly raised his hand, and his five fingers, like steel pliers, tightly gripped the bowl-thick branch of a nearby wintersweet plant, on which clusters of dense, delicate, bright yellow flowers were blooming.

The strong sweet fragrance hit him in the face, but it only made him feel more nauseous!

“Crack!”

A teeth-grinding sound of breaking suddenly erupted in the dead silence of Merlin.

Xie Wuqi actually used all his strength to forcibly break the thick branch covered with flowers in half from the trunk.

"who?!"

Almost at the same moment as the cracking sound, a low, cold voice sounded without warning from behind the shadow of the plum tree ten steps ahead.

The sound was not loud, but it was like a piece of ice stone suddenly dropped into a dead pool.

Xie Wuqi's head buzzed, and the huge ecstasy was like an invisible hand that tightly grasped his heart.

He looked up suddenly, and the twisted violence and panic on his face were instantly replaced by a kind of surprise as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw.

The noble man is him!

He didn't care at all, completely ignoring the warning contained in the voice, and seemed not to notice the two guard swords in the shadows that were shining coldly in the moonlight.

He took one step at a time, even stumbling a little, and ran towards the source of the sound with great urgency.

Stepping out of the dense shadows of plum branches, the moonlight finally fully illuminated the situation ahead.

In front of him was not the crooked old plum tree he had expected, but a slightly wider snowy clearing. Several figures stood clearly there.

The first person was wearing a dark cloak, with a tall and majestic figure. His face was shrouded in the shadow cast by the hood, revealing only his angular jaw and tightly pursed thin lips.

There was an oppressive aura of someone who had been in a high position for a long time all over him. It was none other than Prince Jin Chao Yinxi!

Beside him, holding his arm tightly, was a slender figure wearing a silver fox fur cloak - Princess Bai Shiyin of Jin.

The moonlight was like water, shining on her face that looked like a finely carved hibiscus jade. Her dark eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and her clear eyes were clearly filled with the displeasure of being disturbed and a hint of annoyance at having her fun interrupted.

Bai Shiyin didn't even look at Xie Wuqi who was rushing towards her recklessly. She just raised her head slightly and said to her husband beside her in a cold and lazy voice, "You're spoiling the fun."