Don't give up

On the fifth day after Jing Yao woke up, Si Pei still only dared to appear in front of her during lunch and dinner, and the two of them sat in silence.

Si Pei occasionally mentioned the preparations for the wedding, but when he saw that the girl in front of him seemed uninterested, he tactfully stopped talking.

Jing Yao remained silent until she finally spoke up and told him to just take care of the preparations himself. She said this not because she wasn't interested in her own wedding, but because she knew no one cared more about the ceremony than Si Pei, and she was probably going to have to custom-make even the red silk for the decorations, so naturally, she didn't bother to bother with it.

"Yaoyao, you..."

Si Pei hesitated to speak. He didn't dare to ask Jing Yao if she regretted marrying him.

Even though the cause was clearly his own, Si Pei still gritted his teeth and pretended nothing had happened, turning his words into tender concern: "Have a good rest, I'll come see you tomorrow."

The young man took every step very slowly as he walked out of the hall, as if waiting for someone behind him to ask him to stay.

Unfortunately, after he completely walked out of the gate of Yilan Palace, he didn't hear any sound from beginning to end. Jing Yao had already turned around and went to the window silently, and did not see Si Pei standing outside the palace looking back dejectedly.

"Since you're here, why don't you show up?"

Jing Yao suddenly spoke to the dark shadows of the trees outside the window. The maid was told to leave with a look of surprise, leaving only a girl in a pink dress leaning quietly against the window frame.

A moment later, the leaves rustled, and a man in night clothes jumped in from the half window next to him with very light steps.

Jing Yao didn't even need to watch the man take off his mask to know who the visitor was. Who else except Zuo Yuanwu would risk sneaking into the palace and hiding in the dark to watch her at this time?

Zuo Yuanwu felt that Jing Yao in front of him was a little more unfamiliar than before. She just stood there without saying a word, as if she didn't care about his presence beside her: "Miss, why don't you ask me why I'm here?"

Jing Yao smiled and said, "Don't ask. If you really have something to ask me, you wouldn't come secretly and hide from me."

Zuo Yuanwu lowered his head and smiled, seemingly helpless and understanding, "Young lady, you know me so well."

"It's hard to say. How can anyone fully understand another person?"

Especially now, Jing Yao doesn't think she understands the people around her. Even her own partner is hiding something from her. She doesn't dare to say that she can understand others. It's just a matter of experience.

"I'd like to come here openly..." Something seemed to be stuck in his heart. Zuo Yuanwu looked up at the bright moon in the sky as if nothing had happened. "Unfortunately, this may be the last time I can see you in this life. I will leave for the northwest today. I don't know when I will be able to return to Beijing."

Jing Yao could guess that Si Pei would not easily let people like Zuo Yuanwu and Wen Rencuo see her, but she did not expect that Zuo Yuanwu would eventually not escape the same fate as in his previous life.

Before she could say that she could go to Si Pei to plead for mercy, Zuo Yuanwu seemed to guess what she was thinking and replied with a smile: "But I'm going there on my own accord."

"What?" Jing Yao's face was full of surprise and confusion.

Zuo Yuanwu didn't answer. He lowered his eyes in thought for a moment, then his expression changed from gloomy to bright. He looked up at the sky but asked the person beside him: "Miss, have you ever blamed me?"

Jing Yao was at a loss for words: "Brother Yuanwu, what are you talking about? There's no need to settle these old scores between you and me."

The person she was least likely to resent in her life was Zuo Yuanwu. Perhaps there had been deceptions and concealments between them, but she knew Zuo Yuanwu would never bear to hurt her. The bond between them, a bond more like brother and sister than family in two lifetimes, was something she would never forget.

Zuo Yuanwu got the answer he wanted, or perhaps he had known it from the beginning.

So Zuo Yuanwu finally didn't ask Jing Yao whether he was in her heart. Of course, there was a place for him in her heart, and it belonged to him alone.

But that would never be the position he wanted.

Jing Yao knew that the biggest reason Zuo Yuanwu chose to leave was because of her, so he should be able to listen to her.

Unexpectedly, Zuo Yuanwu was particularly firm this time. He had always obeyed Jing Yao's orders throughout his life, but on this matter, he did not want to give in.

"In your memory, would anything happen to me if I went to the northwest?"

Jing Yao's heart trembled suddenly as she met the gentle gaze of the man in front of her. It turned out that Zuo Yuanwu had long guessed the source of her difference and knew that her previous guess was not a dream, but a memory from a previous life.

The girl swallowed and said, "You'll get sick and die."

Zuo Yuanwu laughed heartily: "Then I have to bring more medicine."

"Then I'll ask Liu Shiwei to give you some more high-quality pills, just in case."

Seeing Jing Yao so seriously worried about him, Zuo Yuanwu nodded contentedly: "Okay."

"Don't you think I'm weird?"

Zuo Yuanwu shook his head: "No, I know you are still you."

He sighed and said, "I think the prince should know it too, but he doesn't want to say it out loud."

When Zuo Yuanwu mentioned Si Pei, he clearly noticed that the expression on the person next to him turned colder, so he asked directly: "I have another thing to confirm this time. Do you really want to marry Si Pei and become the Crown Princess? If you..."

"I do."

Jing Yao nodded. A gentleman's word is as good as gold. She knew that neither she nor the people around her had the power to support her to escape again. Wouldn't it be better to accept such an ending?

Wasn't Si Pei her perfect match? Wasn't it her choice in this life?

Jing Yao laughed at himself in his heart, raised his eyes to look at Zuo Yuanwu and said soothingly: "I'm fine. Even relatives and friends can lie to each other, let alone husband and wife."

"Regarding the Jing family's affairs..." Zuo Yuanwu had originally believed that Si Pei was behind this, but later on, following clues, he discovered that there was something else going on. "I'm not trying to excuse Si Pei, but if you really want to marry him, don't keep this matter to yourself."

Jing Yao smiled bitterly. Could it be that she didn't want to ask? Now it was Si Pei who was avoiding the subject. This case was shrouded in secrecy. If she wanted to know, who should she go to… Jing Yao paused, her thoughts suddenly turning to a certain important figure she had always ignored.

Perhaps he understands the inside story best.

——

The Qianqing Palace was silent. The emperor's health was getting worse and worse. He stayed in bed all day and was rarely awake. But he couldn't fall asleep tonight.

He knew that a visitor was coming to see him.

"Here I come."

The emperor's cheeks were so thin that they were noticeably sunken. Years of bed rest had made him look emaciated. Seeing Jing Yao coming, he forced himself to sit up and joked, "I thought you wouldn't come."

"I really didn't have such plans before." Jing Yao didn't hesitate and directly moved a stool to sit beside his couch. The emperor didn't get angry, but just smiled and said: "Are you no longer curious about the affairs of the Jing family?"

Jing Yao bowed and said, "Not really, I just don't dare to bother your Majesty."

"Hehehe... I already look like I'm on my deathbed. It doesn't matter whether you disturb me or not."

The old emperor has been in a good mood recently, and Si Cheng has even been granted special permission by the crown prince to visit him in the palace. The emperor never expected that Si Cheng, whom he had not seen for two years, had become the one among the princes who had the deepest feelings for him.

"Perhaps I was too strict with Li Hong back then." The emperor sighed, "He used to be a very sentimental person."

So if he had shown a little concern for his eldest son, perhaps things would not have come to this point today. Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret in the world, and the emperor did not regret doing so.

Seeing Jing Yao remain silent, the old emperor, who was used to seeing people and could see through their minds, snorted softly: "What about you? How can you agree to marry Si Pei if you have a problem with him?"

Jing Yao also found it ridiculous. She felt that she was powerless to resist and could only choose to obey. But she also knew from the bottom of her heart that she was actually happy with it and could not give up her feelings for Si Pei.

So cheap.

"Do you really have such deep feelings for the Jing family?" The old emperor changed the question and stumped Jing Yao.

Call her cold-blooded or heartless, if the Jing family still existed, she would have cut ties with her father and the others. Father Jing had traded her for his career, so even if the person he needed to curry favor with wasn't Si Pei, he wouldn't hesitate to send her to their bed.

It was just that she happened to be sent to the Prince's Eastern Palace, and Prince Si Pei happened to have feelings for her, so she was spared from suffering more pain, but the essence remained the same.

She lost her sense of belonging to the Jing family at a very young age. When she was living under the roof of others in the palace, the Duke Jing's Mansion never cared about her life or death. After her aunt died, her last connection with the Jing family was severed.

"What you're brooding over is nothing more than Si Pei's concealment." The emperor's smile was filled with a hint of mockery towards the young man, as well as a hint of helplessness towards the young man's childish thoughts. "He's not the main cause of this case. The Jing family is guilty of treason and collaborating with the enemy, and their property should have been confiscated."

Jing Yao immediately looked puzzled: "Didn't Si Cheng say that the Jing family wasn't involved?"

"The Jing family naturally had no involvement in Si Cheng's flawed plan. Furthermore, that foolish boy hadn't even had time to catch up with the Northern Di spies."

The old emperor sneered, "But your Jing family is actually colluding with the enemy. Even your stepmother is a spy from the north, sent to help your father."

He tilted his head, signaling the secret guard to hand over the evidence and letter found that year to Jing Yao. Jing Yao took it and read it carefully. It was exactly the same as his father's behavior in those years. The handwriting on the letter was indeed from Jing's father.

"The Jing family also has a 'big' industry, which is helping the northerners kidnap and traffic our people in Dajing."

Jing Yao's heart suddenly felt like it was falling into an icy cave, and he was unable to move.

"Why did Si Pei deliberately erase these incriminating evidences?"

Jing Yao only realized how foolish she was after asking this question. The emperor laughed heartily. "If these crimes were exposed, how much public outrage would you, Miss Jing, cause? Do you think Si Pei would be willing to do that? Besides, he also wanted to use this opportunity to follow the clues and find more clues. He didn't expect that he would be eliminated by Si Jue's people."

Jing Yao suddenly felt that all her tears over the years were in vain. She knew that there were few good people in the Jing family, but she never thought they could be so disgusting.

And no matter what, she herself has benefited from these things to some extent...

Jing Yao's thoughts were in a mess and he felt dizzy.

"You don't have to think too much. Si Pei certainly made mistakes, but as an emperor, there are times when he can't help himself. I'm not trying to lecture you, but you have to figure out whether you can accept it."

The old emperor truly demonstrated what it meant to say "A dying man speaks good words." When Jing Yao walked out of the gate of the Qianqing Palace, he still felt a little dizzy and staggered into a warm embrace.

The man's solid and warm chest was so familiar that Jing Yao realized almost instantly that Si Pei had been waiting for her outside.

"Thanks."

Jing Yao's eyes were moist, and he buried his head in his chest for a long time before uttering these two words dryly.

Si Pei smiled and hugged her in his arms as if nothing had happened. He knew that this was a sign that Jing Yao wanted reconciliation.

Jing Yao thought that she would not admit her mistake to Si Pei because she did not think she was wrong. It was true that Si Pei deliberately concealed her, and she just wanted to thank him for his sincerity, which was originally out of good intentions.

Si Pei also understood that they were well aware of each other's concealment, but his situation was indeed more serious and caused a lot of misunderstandings. Now they were even.

Jing Yao gritted his teeth and slammed his shoulder hard: "This misunderstanding is really fatal!"

She was so amused and pretended to be fierce that Si Pei laughed, but he didn't know that Jing Yao was not lying.

"Okay, okay, it's all my fault."

Jing Yao was still angry: "From now on, you are not allowed to hide anything from me! Don't be so smart!"

"Well, I'll do as you say."

Si Pei nodded as he squatted down and picked her up steadily: "I will take you back to Yilan Palace first. It's late at night and you should rest."

"Yeah." Jing Yao rested his head on the crook of his neck, his breath warm, "...You stay with me."

The man's breathing almost stopped for a moment, and after taking a deep breath, he replied softly, "Okay."

Before Si Pei came, Zuo Yuanwu scolded him harshly. In the past, Zuo Yuanwu would not have dared to do so even if he had a hundred courages, but now that he was leaving, he had nothing to worry about.

Zuo Yuanwu told Si Pei not to let his imagination run wild and think that hiding it from Jing Yao was a good thing. Jing Yao was not so fragile that she could bear the truth. She hated betrayal and deception even more.

Si Pei lowered his eyes. It seemed that Zuo Yuanwu really understood Jing Yao's heart better than he did. But it didn't matter. He was willing to spend the rest of his life trying to understand everything about her.

That night, the two slept in the same bed together for the first time in a long time. Jing Yao became interested and told everything about his past life.

The stories of my previous life seem a lot more funny now. Many things could have been avoided earlier, but in the end they still led to irreversible consequences.

When Si Pei heard about his past life self who died while blocking a knife for Jing Yao, his expression didn't react much, but rather felt that it was as it should be. But when he heard Jing Yao talk about how he had committed suicide with a knife in his past life, he subconsciously trembled all over and hugged the still smiling girl beside him.

"Yaoyao..."

Jing Yao patted his back: "I'm here."

"I'm fine in front of you."

They have eliminated all those who would threaten them. Although the process was tortuous and difficult, they don't have to worry about it anymore.

Si Pei was obviously trapped in the nightmare hallucination again. Jing Yao took a deep breath, held the young man's face and kissed his trembling lips.

It had been a long time since she had been so close to Si Pei, but her movements did not seem unfamiliar at all. It was as if they were engraved into her muscles, and she comforted her lover with sweet kisses.