Moonlight over the Lotus Pond

Chen Sheng was dejected for a moment, then put on a smile. It's nothing, it's not a big deal. At most, his identity will be exposed, and he'll be killed as a monster.

I've seen peanuts dipped in ketchup before, what's this?

Chen Sheng glanced at Chen Han, who was toasting, and couldn't help but give her a thumbs up. As expected of the female lead, a strong woman focused on her career! Ambitious!

As the saying goes, "To die beneath the peony is to die a romantic death," Chen Sheng thought. If someone would remember her for the rest of their life before she passed away, then it wouldn't be a loss.

Okay, I'm coming clean. I'm not pretending to be a green tea bitch anymore. Since Xu Nuo has already found out, there's no point in pretending anymore.

Biluoyuan:

Reeking of alcohol, Chen Sheng staggered into the bridal chamber.

"Get out! I can do it myself! Don't disturb my sleep!"

She refused the servants' help and leaned against the door. Under the influence of alcohol, Chen Sheng's skin was flushed, her eyes were languid, and she appeared alluring. "Ouch! Ouch...where are you...please come and help me? I think I'm drunk..."

Chen Sheng waited for a while, but Xu You didn't come out. It wasn't dark yet, and the banquet hadn't ended, so she simply sat on the stone steps, watching the sky turn fiery red and the world be shrouded in darkness, sprinkled with dappled silver light.

Before I knew it, the alcohol had induced my drowsiness, and I drifted off to sleep.

Until—a torrential downpour began.

Chen Sheng, soaked to the bone, woke up with a start in the rain. Looking at the rain that was pouring down harder and harder, she was suddenly filled with joy.

Chen Sheng's red wedding dress was soaked by the rain, and she looked like a drowned rat pulled out of the water.

At this moment, she stood under the eaves, her eyes sparkling, and a smile returned to her lips.

She temporarily forgot all her troubles.

The night was deep, and the rain gradually subsided.

Chen Sheng went into the room, changed his clothes, and sat on the edge of the bed, quietly watching the unconscious beauty on the bed.

This face looks a lot like someone...

Chen Sheng patted his face, trying to clear his head. They only looked alike; their personalities and temperaments were completely different!

So Chen Sheng, what exactly are you thinking?

“I think I see the shadow of another person in you… a very special person.”

Chen Sheng pinched Xu You's cheek and found it increasingly pleasant to the touch, a feeling he couldn't quite describe.

Seeing that Xu You didn't move, Chen Sheng became a little bolder. She lifted a corner of the quilt and carefully crawled in to warm up.

Xu You didn't make any big moves, except that the hand that was on the outside moved in more than a little bit.

“You’re awake,” Chen Sheng said, his tone certain.

Xu You didn't move.

Chen Sheng turned his back to him and said, "You pulled your hand back so quickly just now, how could I not have noticed? That would be too stupid, wouldn't it?"

"Hmm," the man next to me replied sullenly, "I heard you."

"What did you hear?"

“I’m like someone very important to you.” He paused for a moment. “I have someone I like, and you probably do too.”

"Me?" Chen Sheng lowered his eyelids, a faint sadness flashing in his eyes.

Xu You opened her eyes, shifting from lying flat to lying on her side, and said, "Judging from what you just said, it sounds like you're trying to hide something. He... is he also a lover you don't want to make public, right?"

Chen Sheng felt that Xu You had misunderstood, but she thought it would be fun to tease him, so she asked, "Why do you think that?"

"Perhaps, we are quite similar in some ways."

After Xu You finished speaking, she bit her arm hard and said with a bitter smile, "I used to like someone very much, and she liked me too, but our relationship could not be known to outsiders. Later, she was sentenced to death, and no matter how much I begged my mother, it was to no avail. I lost her forever."

Chen Sheng recalled that Xu You and Ye Cangming were childhood sweethearts, inseparable since they were young. Back then, Ye Cangming became famous at a young age and had countless suitors, but he rejected them all and stayed with Xu You the only one.

The relationship was obvious to anyone with eyes, but thanks to the forced amnesia in the original work, it was kept secret until the time when Ye Cangming died in his previous life.

In the original novel, when Ye Cangming died:

Xu You has been kneeling outside the palace for four hours, but the Empress still refuses to see him.

The sky was overcast, and a torrential downpour seemed to be lamenting the passing of this perfect couple.

His clothes were already soaked by the rain, and the delicate fourth prince, despite the pain in his legs, stubbornly remained kneeling there.

The maidservant, Tong Ji, held an umbrella for Xu You, her face full of concern. "Master, please don't kneel anymore! Your body won't be able to take it if you keep kneeling! Master!"

No matter how he tried to persuade him, Xu You remained unresponsive. He simply knelt there, thinking that his young hero was now imprisoned and about to leave this world. How could he be at ease?

Shortly afterward, the Empress's personal maidservant emerged from the palace, carrying a bright yellow imperial edict.

She said, “Your Highness, His Majesty has ordered you to return to Changming Palace and be confined for a year, reciting scriptures a hundred times a day without fail. As for this sinful subject Ye Cangming, he will be beheaded tomorrow at noon and his body will be torn to pieces. No matter who pleads for him, it will not change.”

Holding the imperial edict, Xu You felt a chill in her heart. It turned out that what was more precious than life was power.

Without any emotional support, Xu You fell heavily to the ground. How could the physical pain compare to the pain in her heart?

After this incident, Xu You fell ill and never left Changming Palace again. Only on the anniversary of Ye Cangming's death would he return to Chenfeng's General's Mansion and stay there alone for a whole day, a practice he continued for five years.

—————

“You… that day in the outskirts of Beijing, it was a moment of impulse on my part. I will make it up to you, even if you cheat on me… no, even if you fall in love with another woman, I won’t blame you,” Chen Sheng said.

Actually, she didn't want to say it like that, but who would want to break up a couple?

But Xu You died the year after she officially got together with Chen Han! I want to save her...

But what if things change this time? ...I'm so conflicted.

“I will uphold male virtues,” Xu You said in a deep voice. “We should never mention that day again. I will not see any other women, and you are not allowed to see any other men. We will live the life of an ordinary husband and wife.”

"Are you serious?!"

Chen Sheng couldn't believe it. This was Xu You?! This was the Xu You who would have died for Ye Cangming?!

Xu You sat up, her smile tinged with bitterness.

Today, he saw that woman carry his fifth brother down from the bridal sedan chair, then carry him over a brazier and into the Prime Minister's mansion. He knew that she was no longer the same person she used to be; she and he could never go back.

“A man cannot serve two women. I will not do what men in brothels do, so I married you.”

Chen Sheng asked without thinking, "Can't you just think of it as being bitten by a dog?"

Xu You glanced at her and said, "Are you a dog, or is marrying me a disservice?"

"No, no, no," Chen Sheng immediately hugged Xu You around the waist and explained, "I'm not wronged at all, I'm overjoyed! Marrying you is like finding a treasure!"

No matter how different Xu You's current persona is from the one she was obsessed with Ye Cangming before, Chen Sheng is still very happy.

She wanted to find an opportunity to tell Xu Chen that her mission was complete and that she wanted to live a peaceful and happy life!

By the lotus pond, Chen Han, who had just "coaxed" Xu Chen to sleep, stood there with an umbrella, watching the rain patter on the lotus blossoms and the dew on the leaves. She couldn't help but wonder where she should begin her path of revenge.