Chapter 86 Mr. Wang

Regardless of Lou Chengyi's stirring up trouble in Northern Liao and his rise to power, Han Zhao was arrested and imprisoned, while the scholar who had previously led the riot was spared thanks to the intercession of a group of scholars. The emperor, wishing to gain a reputation for goodwill, dismissed him from the imperial examinations for three years and sent him back home.

The next day, Wen Yao rose from bed, refreshed, and after breakfast, she grabbed her Xingyi sword and climbed out the window to practice. Zhao Xuanxu paused in the corridor, watching her rise. The Xingyi sword's tip flashed with a cold light, piercing the air with a resounding sound.

Qianying came up silently from behind and said, "Master, the person is here."

Zhao Xuanxu seemed oblivious. After Wen Yao finished his sword move, he took a step forward and called out, "Ah Yao, would you like some white sugar cake today?"

Wen Yao stopped and turned his head: "Go out."

"Yes." Zhao Xuanxu nodded and said, "Sweet food exacerbates liver fire. No sugar cakes, how about I bring back some drinks?"

The weather has warmed up rapidly recently, especially in the afternoon, and the sun can make people dizzy.

Wen Yao: "Okay."

Zhao Xuanxu then turned and walked out of the corridor, exiting the palace. A carriage was waiting at the foot of the steps of the Prince of Yan's mansion. He stepped onto it, his coat in hand. The carriage slowly drove away and stopped before a small gate outside the palace's red walls. The gate was open, revealing a sedan chair. Two palace servants emerged, deftly opening a gap under the carriage and carrying a human figurine out, tossing it onto the sedan chair.

The figurine was motionless, with white cloth covering its entire body and hemp ropes strangling its hands and feet. The thick white cloth was wet and stuck to the hemp ropes, exploding into a striking scarlet. Its limbs hung limply, as if the meridians in its hands and feet had been cut.

The sedan left silently through the small door.

Half an incense stick later, His Royal Highness Prince Yan entered the palace to visit Concubine Ling.

The palace remained empty and dilapidated. Concubine Ling, her hair disheveled and her cheeks sunken, huddled timidly beside a peeling lacquer vat, lost in thought. Zhao Xuanxu entered the square courtyard with slow, gentle steps. The maids guarding Concubine Ling on either side, upon seeing him and the human figurines carried two steps behind him, bowed their heads and retreated without a word.

Zhao Xuanxu paused three steps away from Concubine Ling. He tilted his head slightly, and two palace maids swiftly lowered the figurine and untied the hemp rope and white cloth that bound it. The white cloth, soaked in spices, had absorbed some of the bloody odor. Now, as it was untied, a strong, hot, rusty odor rose in the air.

Zhao Xuanxu stood there, his eyelashes drooping, glancing at the woman leaning against the water tank: "I brought him here."

Lingpin didn't move, her eyes were fixed in mid-air, and her lonely fingers began to tap the ceramic surface of the water jar beside her.

There was a deep coldness in Zhao Xuanxu's eyes and brows, his sleeves swayed, and he took a step to the side.

One of the palace servants pulled out a knife from his sleeve, pointed the tip of the knife at the person peeled out of the terracotta warrior, and stabbed it hard.

Liu Liancheng's tongue had been cut out, and his teeth were gone. Two bloody holes beneath his eyebrows oozed pus, like a scaled white fish lying on a chopping block, emitting a sticky, foul smell. A knife plunged fiercely into his flesh, and Liu Liancheng, numb to the pain, only groaned, his chest heaving.

This one sound is enough.

Concubine Ling came back to her senses, as if her scattered soul gathered a little, and was attracted by the outline of her lover in the past shrouded in mist. She turned her head slowly, and her eyes fell on the man with his hands and feet sawed off and hanging on the palace maid.

She recognized who it was.

Instantly, Lingpin trembled in panic, muttering to herself, and stumbled to her feet, heading towards Liu Liancheng. As she approached, the smell of blood lingered, and the fog of her lover's past was torn away. Lingpin's mind, already muddled and muddled, cleared up for a moment, but she lowered her eyes to see two bloody holes filled with rotting black flesh.

There should have been a pair of particularly affectionate eyes there, giving her comfort in a foreign country and deep in the palace.

Now the eyes were gone, the white glutinous maggots were writhing in the flesh pit, and the man's cheeks were as pale as if they were soaked in water.

"Ah!" Lingpin screamed, flapping her hands wildly as she stepped back. She lost her balance and fell hard to the ground, leaving two bloody marks on her palms. She was terrified, her teeth chattering, her arms and legs curled up on the ground, sobbing and crying.

"Today is your birthday." Zhao Xuanxu remained indifferent. "Sending him off today will save him from suffering, and allow you to see him before his death. You should like this kind of birthday gift."

He said this sincerely, without any sarcasm.

Originally, Liu Liancheng could have survived for quite a while in his hands. Bai Rang succumbed to Zhao Xuanxu's tyranny and frequently ran to the dungeon to rescue the half-dead Liu Liancheng. Every time he emerged from the dark, decaying dungeon, Bai Rang looked up at the warm sun outside and felt like crying.

He was a good doctor and was saving people just now, but he felt that he had done a great sin.

"The one I love also loves me." Zhao Xuanxu looked at Lingpin for a moment, then suddenly spoke, "God has been merciful to me. In this vast world, she has stayed with me and treated me very well. She paid her respects to Yan Cang when she returned to Bianliang. I will go with her to the northwest desert to meet her master, which means I will pay my respects to my parents."

He spoke so much to Concubine Ling for the first time, even smiling. He reached out his hand, and the palace attendant holding the knife immediately and respectfully placed it in his hand. Zhao Xuanxu casually wiped the blade across his fingertips and said, "From now on, he will stay here with you."

From beginning to end, Liu Liancheng remained motionless, like a dead dog. Even when the blade pierced his heart, he offered no resistance. His lips even moved, the corners of his mouth twisting into a smile that betrayed a sense of relief.

Zhao Xuanxu's eyebrows were vibrant, and the corners of his eyes were red, a clear sign of immense joy. He drew his dagger, and a stream of blood arced out, dripping like red silk onto the trembling Concubine Ling. As if engulfed in flames, Ling threw herself forward, her nails broken, and she kicked wildly, covering her face with her hands and wailing loudly.

Zhao Xuanxu tilted his head, looking at her with emotionless eyes. His hand, which had been holding the dagger, dropped into his sleeve. "Bury Liu Liancheng under Lingpin's bed, and take good care of her from now on."

The outer doors of the vast palace were locked, and the palace maids wandered outside, oblivious to the noise inside. Quickly, the maids dug up the floor tiles and buried the still-warm body beneath Lingpin's bed. Zhao Xuanxu didn't even glance at Lingpin, threw away the dagger, and turned away.

"You!" Lingpin suddenly chased out at this time, and was pinned to the ground by the palace guards. Her eyes were bloodshot and she cursed incoherently: "Freak, bad seed, you deserve to die, die!"

The others who heard this were terrified and knelt on the ground, wishing they could bury their heads in the ground.

Zhao Xuanxu, however, was unconcerned, striding out of the palace, a trap-like beast. Leaving behind him the shadows of the past, his face brightened, his mind aching. There was a shop on Imperial Street that specialized in plum-flavored thirst-quenching water, a popular favorite that sold out after noon. He was determined to get Ayao to try it. So, after leaving the palace, Zhao Xuanxu abandoned his carriage, his attendants trailing at a distance, and rode off down the long street.

Wen Yao naturally didn't know what Zhao Xuanxu was doing. She was in the garden with Hao Chunhe to practice his secret guarding skills.

She squatted aside and watched. Although the secret guards had their faces covered, she could still see a hint of dejection in their eyes. When Zhao Xuanxu walked in, Wen Yao turned her head slightly and looked at him with a smile.

"What drink?" She stood up in fear and quickly went to Zhao Xuanxu.

Wen Yao had eaten all over Bianliang City by now, and he knew what was inside the bamboo paper package with just one sniff: "Black plum thirst quencher? Great, great, I like it."

"Black plum wine is also delicious." Zhao Xuanxu changed his clothes, with gold stitching on the cuffs and his hair spread out behind him.

When Wen Yao saw him like this, she knew that he was taking a bath again in broad daylight.

Zhao Xuanxu: "There is a grove of black plum trees outside Tangshan Manor. When the weather gets warmer, I'll take you there to play."

Wen Yao didn't say anything. He brought the Wumei Keshui over with one hand, and took Zhao Xuanxu's hand with the other, pulling him to sit in the pavilion.

She took out a hairband from her arms - Zhao Xuanxu liked to let his hair down, and in fact Wen Yao liked it too. It was comfortable this way, and there was no need to be particular about it at home.

But Zhao Xuanxu's hair was too long, and it was inconvenient to do things with it loose. So now she always kept a hairband in her sleeve, and when the Prince of Yan took a bath and took a walk for a while, she would bring him back to tie his hair.

Wen Yao's five fingers were immersed in Zhao Xuanxu's cold and smooth hair like silk. He combed it a few times, and suddenly he had some bad thoughts and braided his hair into loose braids.

She looked him up and down, then smiled. She hugged Zhao Xuanxu's shoulder and leaned against him, laughing muffledly, "Do you know what I was thinking when I first saw you in Bianliang?"

"What?"

"You kind of look like Rapunzel."

"Rapunzel?" Zhao Xuanxu remained motionless, his arms raised to block Wen Yao's side. Of course, Wen Yao couldn't fall out; it was purely Zhao Xuanxu's subconscious action.

He thought about it carefully and said honestly, "Which dynasty is this princess from? I have never heard of her."

Wen Yao couldn't speak, she just smiled beside his face.

Zhao Xuanxu felt the small, rapid stream of warm air between her breaths, fluttering on his cheeks like butterflies.

He suddenly raised his hand, covering their faces with his wide sleeves, turned his head and closed his eyes, then kissed the corner of Wen Yao's lips lightly and intently. Wen Yao did not resist and naturally exchanged a pure and light kiss with him. After that, he pulled his hand down and cupped the face of the King of Yan: "Smile."

Zhao Xuanxu raised his eyebrows and looked at her obediently with a smile.

Wen Yao pinched his face, targeting the dimples that were rarely shown to outsiders, and kissed them quickly and accurately. Her force was strong, and her posture was quite bold, making a crisp sound.

"Hmm!" Wen Yao rubbed Zhao Xuanxu's face, looking like a sloppy and unruly scoundrel, and shamelessly praised: "Good kiss!"

Her ears felt a little hot and a little red.

The pavilion was built beside the rockery, providing some shelter. Since Wen Yao had brought Zhao Xuanxu in with him, no one dared to risk being beheaded by King Yan by approaching and disturbing them.

Oh, no, there still is.

Just as they were done kissing, a great commotion erupted from the garden hall. Wen Yao was startled, and her heart, which had been pounding, suddenly quieted down.

She pushed the table apart from Zhao Xuanxu, stood up and looked outside.

The man who came striding over with his goose-yellow robe fluttering was none other than Jiang Qiaosheng, who had threatened to kill Feng Jimin a few days ago.

"Yaoyao!" Jiang Qiaosheng, clutching a small, white-haired, white-bearded old man, followed closely by Xueke, stepped over the threshold and headed their way. Her voice reached her before she even arrived, sounding excited: "I'm back! Look who I brought you!"

The old man in her hand had been grabbed without knowing how to properly control the situation and was walking very fast. He was already in great pain and tried to pry her hand open: "You yellow-haired girl, you are so rude! Let go! Let me go now!"

Wen Yao recognized the voice as soon as he heard it.

"Mr. Wang." She was surprised: "You're back?"