Chapter 304
Even if he wasn't her biological son, he was still raised by her, and she had desperately wanted him as her child. How could she treat him like this?
And that bastard, Duan Gan is his only son, yet he just lets her beat and scold him without caring about anything.
And those members of the Duan family, they probably didn't treat him very well either.
That's too much, really too much.
Tao Tao felt a sharp pang of sadness in her heart, her eyes reddened, and a surge of heat welled up, rolling down her cheeks and dripping onto his face.
Duan Gan stared at her blankly, somewhat surprised and incredulous.
Does she still seem unable to believe that she is sad for him?
As the little pearls continued to roll down, hitting his face, it felt more like hitting his heart.
He gently kissed away her tears and softly coaxed her, "Don't cry, don't cry, don't be sad, Qingqing, be good, don't cry anymore, okay?"
She tried to calm the sobs in her throat, feeling that she was exaggerating, but she just couldn't stop the tears. Hearing his words of comfort made her feel even worse, and her heart ached as if it were being torn apart.
She had heard from others that if the person she loved had suffered a lot, she would feel so sad that her heart would ache.
She didn't take it seriously at the time, but she never expected it to happen to her now.
He comforts her when she's sad, but who comforts him when he's sad?
She looked at him with teary eyes and asked, sobbing, "Are you in pain?"
He paused for a moment, looked into her eyes, then smiled and shook his head: "It doesn't hurt."
It's been so many years, it doesn't hurt anymore.
"Fool, you should say it hurts, otherwise all my tears will have been for nothing."
She glared at him reproachfully, sniffling.
Duan Gan chuckled softly, lowered his head, and quickly put on a slightly aggrieved expression. His voice was deep and slightly sticky, "I'm in pain, in a lot of pain. Seeing you cry makes me hurt even more."
Tao Tao took a deep breath to calm herself down, then wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her tear-stained face in the crook of his neck and secretly wiping it with his clothes.
Feeling the large hand stroking his head, he recalled his earlier confession.
He said his mother was a courtesan and a tool for Yang to bear children, but it was not hard to hear his deep affection for his mother from his words.
He didn't think his mother had anything shameful about her, and even plotted revenge for years because the emperor had wrongly killed her.
So, by comparing his mother to her, is he implying that status and social standing are not issues?
Duan Gan lowered his head and placed his burning lips on her earlobe, pecking at it as he whispered, "Little Tao'er, don't be angry. It was my fault. I didn't think things through. I didn't mean to disrespect you."
"Can my wife forgive her husband?"
Tao Tao climbed onto his broad shoulder, breathing heavily in a daze, ignoring the question she was supposed to answer.
Seeing that she remained silent, he assumed she was still angry, so he slowly moved his hand down, trying every possible way to please her.
She suddenly cried out sharply, raised her hazy eyes to glare at him, and clenched her fist to punch his chest.
He blinked and asked innocently, "Are you feeling unwell?"
She snorted, leaned on his shoulder, and stopped talking.
"You haven't answered my question yet, have you?"
He didn't hear what she said, so he kept pestering her.
She sighed silently. What else could she do now? "I forgive you."
That's not what I meant.
Tao Tao suddenly looked up, biting her lower lip, her eyes seeming to say, "What do you want?"
Duan Gan stared into her eyes, his gaze filled with fragmented light, and the smile on his lips was so wicked, as if teasing her was such a fun thing to do.
"Madam, shall we have a child?"
This was the third time he had said it. She knew he was insecure and wanted a child, thinking that it would tie him down.
Perhaps... perhaps he just wants a complete family.
She also lost her parents at a young age, but surprisingly, she didn't long for a child of her own, nor did she believe that having a child was essential for a complete family.
"Do you really want a child? If you have a child, then all my love won't be focused on you."
“My attention and my heart will only be on the child, and you will be gradually ignored and disregarded by me. Do you want that?”
"Are you willing to share my love for you with someone else? You're no longer the only person I deeply love. Do you want that?"
Her tone was gentle, yet her words were firm and resolute, each syllable causing his face to turn paler with each passing word.
"No...no, you can only belong to me!"
The child is merely something that allows him and she to connect more closely; he cannot take away all of Tao Tao's love and attention from her.
Tao Tao's most beloved person must be him; there can be no one else, not even a child.
If the child is there to take her away, then she'd rather not have the child.
"Tao'er, you can only be mine!"
He emphasized again, staring intently at her, their fingers intertwined, his breath enveloping her completely, invading every inch of her skin without allowing her to refuse.
She suddenly fell silent, looked at him, shook her head, and said, "No, you are mine, but I am my own."
He paused for a moment, about to say something, but then he thought about it carefully. He was Tao Tao's, which indirectly meant that Tao Tao belonged to him.
There is little difference between the two.
Anyway, if anyone dares to stand between him and her, he will kill that person.
Seeing that he agreed, she reached out and patted his head. "Tell me your plans."
She stroked his head. He vaguely sensed something was off, but didn't pay it any mind. He said, "I plan to send you to Xia Kingdom."
"I won't be in the capital at that time. If someone with ill intentions tries to harm you, I won't be able to get there in time. You know, if something happens to you, I'll be distracted."
"Therefore, it would be best to send you to the Xia Kingdom. Your mother is a princess of the Xia Kingdom, and you are also a county princess of the Xia Kingdom. With this identity, you will be safer in the Xia Kingdom."
"Of course, even if you weren't, I would arrange everything to ensure your safety in Xia Kingdom."
Tao Tao said seriously, "I'm not going."
Hearing that she was unwilling, he frowned in confusion and asked patiently, "What's wrong? If I'm not there, the capital will become very dangerous, and I'm worried about leaving you here."
"You'll become dangerous if I'm not around."
Her absence as regent princess has emboldened those who oppose them, and if Duan Gan needs reinforcements, the court is highly likely to find excuses to delay.
Now that he holds great power, Consort Liu is the one who most wants to get rid of him, because her son is the emperor. Rather than letting power fall into the hands of others, she would rather rule from behind the curtain and control everything.
Secondly, there were the Crown Prince's cronies. Although the Empress was dead, Qi Heng was still alive.
Even if Qi Heng no longer has this ambition, it's hard to guarantee that someone won't encourage him.
There will inevitably be disloyal ministers and those who will not submit to Duan Gan in the court. With only Qi Huan and Qi Heng remaining as direct descendants of the royal family, there will certainly be ministers who claim to be righteous and who come up with bad ideas under the guise of "purging the court of corrupt officials".
She could stay informed about events in the capital and send him messages.
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