Chapter 73 Beg for Peace, Come Back with Me

"Stop right there."

His voice was rough and hoarse, like sand rolling in his throat, crushing his skin and bringing out blood and foam.

The setting sun shone behind him, obscuring the features of his backlit face.

He didn't even dare to turn around abruptly. Gravity slowly pulled his shoulders and the back of his neck, little by little, inch by inch, until the golden light shone on the corners of his eyes, making him dizzy.

The woman carrying someone on her back, her back bent under the weight, suddenly turned around, her face instantly cleaving through the chaotic shadows before his eyes.

Upon seeing her face, his blood boiled, and a burning sensation surged from his feet to the top of his head. That unforgettable memory was even more painful and profound than the branding that had been left on his chest when he was a boy at Zhaozui Temple.

This was neither a golden core nor an illusion created by an array; it was her, the very real her standing before him!

Mingying's heart stopped abruptly, her pupils dilated infinitely, as if a million insects were tearing at her bones.

After two years of dormancy, the hatred and fear awakened, still bringing with them immense power.

She turned around, intending to run into the city.

Pei Xiaoyun turned his horse around completely, his eyes burning with fervor. He reached out and tossed Shu Niang to his subordinate, then took Ming Ying onto the horse, spurred it, and galloped away.

His broad chest pressed tightly against her back, fitting her perfectly together; not even a gust of wind could separate them.

"Let me go, let me go!" Mingying was used to riding horses on the grassland and was not afraid of the galloping horses. The wind rushed into her mouth, and her voice was cold and deep.

Upon hearing her lively and melodious voice, Pei Xiaoyun couldn't help but throw his head back and burst into laughter, laughing with unrestrained joy and madness. He had never been so happy, not even on the day he ascended the throne and donned the dragon robe.

She is a treasure more precious than any country.

The galloping horse stopped in front of a mansion. This courtyard belonged to the wealthy and powerful, and had not been affected by the war. It was the refuge of Pei Xiaoyun's spies in Langzhou.

He grabbed her waist and lifted her down horizontally. Her waist was much fuller than before, and her arms and legs had become stronger.

So much so that he could barely resist her struggles, so he simply put her down, pinned her against the door, and kissed her deeply.

Two soft lips entwined and rubbed together endlessly. He was like a conqueror of a city, unwilling to let go of any trace of the scent that tore his heart apart and made him yearn for it day and night. Wherever he went, his lips turned red, swollen, and swollen.

Mingying's breathing trembled, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. His cold aura was dangerous and intimidating, forcing her to recall past events, which made her feel both hatred and disgust.

Why, why did I see him again?

She had only enjoyed two good years, so why did he have to reappear in front of her?

Her eyes flashed with darkness, and she bit his lip hard, drawing blood. As he was stunned and gasped for breath, she pushed him away forcefully and slapped him across the face.

Pei Xiaoyun was stunned. When he pulled away from her lips, blood, sweet and metallic, spilled from the corner of his mouth, which he wiped away with a nonchalant pat.

A faint trail of blood appeared at the corner of his lips as he gripped her with a demonic frenzy: "You hit me? It's alright, I don't blame you, but you deceived me so badly!"

He held her shoulders, wanting to tell her all the longing he had felt over the years.

How could she do this to him, punishing him for two years with a faked death, making him live like a monster for those two years?

What a cruel heart! What a cruel heart!

"How cruel you are!" His eyes were red and hot, like a trapped beast eager to awaken.

Mingying looked at him coldly; none of his words stirred a ripple in her heart.

He called her heartless. He was already the ruler of the world, living in luxury, worshipped by thousands. He could have anything he wanted, yet he turned around and called her heartless.

All she wanted was freedom, yet she had to go through countless hardships and risk her life to steal those brief two years, only to have them destroyed by his appearance.

How could she not hate him!

"Your Majesty, just consider me dead."

She slapped his hand off her shoulder and didn't want to look at him at all.

"What did you say?"

Her cold words were like a heavy whip, striking Pei Xiaoyun's wound that had not healed for two years, making it bleed more and more with each strike.

He seemed not to hear her words and reached out to touch her face. "Aying, don't move. Let me see you, let me take a good look at you."

Mingying turned her face away and took two steps back, causing his fingertips to miss: "After my 'death,' Your Majesty ascended the throne as you wished, becoming the supreme ruler. Today, seeing Your Majesty again, Your Majesty's majestic bearing and noble appearance are beyond description. I am but a lowly commoner, and I dare not look directly at Your Majesty's face. I only wish to live a few more years on this northwestern land. I hope Your Majesty will grant my request."

Upon hearing these words, Pei Xiaoyun felt a sharp pain in her heart, and her lips trembled slightly: "Don't speak to me like that, I don't like it."

They had been so close; he didn't want to hear such distant words coming from her mouth.

He once said that whoever he is, she is too.

She is still alive; she is his empress.

They should hear the congratulations of ten thousand people and enjoy the blessings of the masses.

"I hate you. I don't want to see you. Whoever you are, it's none of my business. Don't ever appear in front of me again." Mingying said each word slowly and deliberately, staring at him. "Do you understand?"

Pei Xiaoyun stood frozen like a stone. Two years had passed, countless days and nights had gone by. When they met again, all she could say were cruel words that pierced his heart like knives, regardless of whether he felt any pain.

He lowered his head, chuckled a few times in a gloomy tone, and then looked up at her: "Aying, you have indeed changed a lot. Do you really want to refuse me?"

His words contained more pleading and resentment than anything else.

Mingying, however, sensed another meaning and her eyes darkened: "Where is Shu Niang? I want to see Shu Niang."

"Don't worry, I will send someone to take that woman to the clinic."

Mingying breathed a slight sigh of relief. Pei Xiaoyun approached her, wanting to say a lot, "Aying, I—"

He had words stuck in his throat when suddenly someone came in to report that it was the man he had sent to arrest Shen Mingshu.

"Your Majesty, we have captured Shen Mingshu and imprisoned him in Langzhou Prison, awaiting his fate."

Mingying's expression changed drastically, and she suddenly shivered. She glared fiercely at Pei Xiaoyun: "You can't distinguish between loyalty and treachery. Even if you are the emperor, you still can't change your despicable and vile nature. You shameless and incompetent ruler!"

It turns out it wasn't Shu Niang, but her brother.

She suddenly suffocated, and all the color drained from her face.

He has always been shameless; old habits die hard, and he will never change no matter how much time passes.

Her sleeves fluttered, and she raised her hand again, about to slap him, but this time Pei Xiaoyun grabbed her wrist. "If I am a foolish ruler, it is because you deceived me. I was blinded by longing. Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt has its debtor. Tell me, shouldn't you be the one to settle this score?"

He grabbed Shen Mingshu not to threaten her, but because she misunderstood him. However, upon careful consideration, he realized that this was the only way he could keep her around for a little longer.

Hate him, at least hate him, so that he can stay in her heart for a short time.

If you neither love nor hate, then nothing will be left.

While she was lost in thought, he reached out and hugged her with all his might, wishing he could melt her soft body into his very bones and never be separated from her again.

He suppressed her resistance and said to her in an attempt to remain calm, "If you stay with me, I will not touch him."

"I want to kill you." Mingying heard only threat and intimacy in his words, and she trembled with anger, her lips shaking, her eyes as if they were immersed in a cold pool.

She desperately wished she had another chance to kill him, so that she could be completely free from him in this world.

Pei Xiaoyun felt a chill run through her; even his burning chest couldn't melt her heart.

"I will not force you. I miss you. After you finish your meal with me, I will let you go back."

Under her cold and stern gaze, he said again, "I really don't lie to you."

Mingying had no choice but to trust him, suppressing her disgust, and followed him inside.

If he breaks his promise, then we'll fight to the death.

Pei Xiaoyun said it was a meal, and indeed it was a meal.

A warm breeze wafted through the room, carrying the sweet scent of sandalwood. A ray of moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the round octagonal table where a steaming, exquisitely prepared meal sat.

Mingying was disheveled and her clothes, torn by tree branches and stained with mud. He asked a maid to take her to bathe.

As Mingying walked into the bathhouse, a maidservant came in to help her undress.

"You all go out, I'll do it myself."

The maids hesitated and refused to leave, so she remained motionless for almost half an hour. Fearing that Pei Xiaoyun would be angry, the servants could only step aside and leave, letting her wash herself.

After everyone left, she went into the steaming hot bath, washed herself casually, put on her clothes, and smashed the porcelain jar containing the perfume. She picked out the longest and sharpest piece and hid it on her person.

This plan was not clever; she was prepared to die with him and end it all.

She will no longer let him bully her.

No matter how she explained that she had accidentally knocked over the porcelain jar, the sound reached Pei Xiaoyun's ears, and he immediately guessed that she had hidden something she shouldn't have and wanted to kill him.

He wasn't particularly angry and simply pretended not to know anything about it.

On the contrary, the fact that she is still willing to hate him shows that she has not completely forgotten him in the past two years.

Looking out the window at the full moon and the table full of dishes, he felt a sense of joy.

It was as if all these loves and hates had vanished. In the quiet of the night, under the beautiful full moon, he was finally able to dine with her at the same table.

Mingying changed into clean clothes, her wrung-out hair cascading over her shoulders, bringing with it a faint scent of soapberry.

Hearing the noise, Pei Xiaoyun got up and set out the bowls and chopsticks for her, staring intently at her: "You're here? The food's getting cold."

They didn't seem like they hadn't seen each other for two years; they seemed like an ordinary couple deeply in love.

As Mingying sat on that round stool, she felt as if countless sharp blades were pricking her skin.

At this point, with her brother arrested and imprisoned, he forced her to do these utterly ridiculous things.

No one wanted to do this, but he did it tirelessly, deceiving himself as he poured her wine and served her food.

Her lips twitched, and she tentatively asked in a low voice, "If I finish eating, will you let us go?"

Pei Xiaoyun didn't want to think about anyone else; he just wanted to have this meal with her quietly to make up for the two years he had missed her.

He pretended not to hear, served her a bowl of soup, and placed it in front of her.

Mingying glanced at the items, a sense of mockery rising within her. She picked up the bowl of milky white fish soup, and under his expectant gaze, splashed it aside, then put the bowl back on the table.

I asked him again, "Can you keep your word?"

Pei Xiaoyun's smile vanished instantly, a hint of bitterness creeping into her eyes. She said softly, "If I agree, you must agree to me too."

Mingying took the initiative to pick up her chopsticks and cleaned out all the food he had put on her plate. She then picked up all the food from each dish and put it into her mouth without any expression.

Pei Xiaoyun felt increasingly uncomfortable watching this.

He just wanted to have a meal with her and chat for a bit, but she seemed to avoid him like the plague. Why did it come to this?

He murmured to her, regardless of whether she was listening: "Aying, I really missed you during the two years you were gone. I have never been with anyone else. Even though I thought you were dead, I still reserved the Empress's position for you."

He watched her eat with her head down, as if she hadn't heard him, and then deliberately picked on her weaknesses.

"You have truly given me a clever and wonderful daughter. Otherwise, I would not have been fooled by a child and believed you to jump off the cliff and die."

Back then, he had doubts about Pei Yu'an's insistence that she had fallen off a cliff, but he gradually believed the bad news after her "body" was recovered from the lake.

Now, he finally realized that this was a complete scam. Shen Mingshu, Pei Yu'an, and even He Lianqing all knew that she was not dead and were all working together to deceive him.

"I am the emperor, yet you people manipulate me like this." He was indignant, but all his anger vanished when he saw her.

Mingying paused slightly when he mentioned being fooled by a child, and she tasted a bitter flavor from the dish she was eating.

She thought back to the last time she saw her shadow in the meditation room of the White Horse Temple that year.

Why would three-year-old Pei Yu'an help her and say such things?

If it weren't for her, she wouldn't have been able to steal those two years in the Northwest.

She swallowed the food in her mouth, the bitterness going down her throat and spreading to her heart.

Pei Xiaoyun seemed to notice the slight change in her expression and continued, "It's funny, I really thought you were dead. I believed some Taoist priests and sorcerers, set up some kind of formation, and took a lot of elixirs. When I saw you, it didn't look like you at all. Pei Yu'an would even scold me and say, 'I'm sorry, don't pretend to miss a dead person.'"

Mingying's breathing suddenly became heavier, and she blinked her dry eyes.

Pei Xiaoyun took in her expression.

She is indeed soft-hearted; even her tough heart is not without its weaknesses.

"I'm entrusting the Imperial Seal to her for this expedition. I trust she can do a good job." He said, half-guessing, and sat closer to her, his words full of probing. "Aying, don't be angry with me anymore. I know I was wrong. Come back with me this time. Our family hasn't been together for a long time."

Although he didn't know why she faked her death to deceive him, he was willing to go along with her from now on, no matter how wrong she was in the past, as long as she went back with him.

"Are you done talking?" Mingying put down her chopsticks, glanced at him, and said, "I'm done eating too. Let them go."

Pei Xiaoyun was stunned, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head.

Just as a glimmer of hope was ruthlessly extinguished by her, what he thought was hope was actually an illusion.

She truly neither heard nor asked about his affairs nor her daughter, as if they had nothing to do with her.

He gazed at her face and suddenly laughed: "If I don't release you, what do you plan to do? Use what you've hidden to kill me, or do you intend to perish together with me?"

Mingying wasn't shocked that he had discovered her; she had truly resigned herself to her fate and was determined to suffer any consequences.

"Don't push me, I've had enough."

"How dare I force you?" he drawled.

Nothing is better than her being alive. He was afraid of her leaving, afraid of her disappearing, and that next time he wouldn't know if she was really dead or just pretending to be dead.

He dared not threaten her anymore, or push her too hard, for he could not bear the consequences, and who knew how many more two-year periods it would take.

The food had lost half its heat, and the tenderness and affection he had hoped for were simply impossible to find.

He stood up and said, "Let's go. I keep my word and will personally take you to the prison to fetch your brother."

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Author's note: Wishful thinking! [doge emoji]