Chapter 18 Hua Zhe: Even if you die for her, you can't surpass me by even a fraction...
"Sister, do you like it?"
Li Yuheng stood up, his fingers lightly tracing the shoulder of his shirt, and glanced sideways at Gu Shanyue.
"This dress looks a lot like my senior sister's."
Gu Shanyue grasped the soft cuffs of the dress, and for a moment, she almost thought she was holding her senior sister's hand again.
However, her hands were rough, with calluses from holding a sword, and not as soft as this expensive fabric.
“I picked this out specially. Sister, wear this to the palace banquet,” Li Yuheng said, taking the clothes and holding them up to Gu Shanyue. “It suits you very well.”
Gu Shanyue felt conflicted: "Why wear this to a palace banquet?"
In private, she wouldn't have any objections; it's just a dress, she doesn't care what she wears. In fact, she'd be happy to wear a dress similar to her senior's.
But the palace banquet was different; many of my senior sister's old friends were there.
I want to see it.
Li Yuheng lowered her skirt, her brows furrowed slightly, and earnestly took Gu Shanyue's hand.
"Sister, put it on."
He always uses this trick, and it always works.
Gu Shanyue sighed: "Wear it if you want."
Senior sister is the softest-hearted girl. If she were in front of Li Yuheng, she would probably always be soft-hearted towards him.
Every time Gu Shanyue thought about it this way, he was more willing to indulge Li Yuheng a little more.
"My sister is so kind."
Li Yuheng smiled so much his eyes narrowed, and he hugged Gu Shanyue tightly, nuzzling his face against her shoulder with affection.
Gu Shanyue raised her hand and patted his back.
She readily accepted Li Yuheng's affectionate gestures. The two relied on each other for ten years, and she watched Li Yuheng grow from a little boy into a handsome young man.
There was no longer any separation between men and women between the two. Gu Shanyue treated him as a junior, while Li Yuheng was eager for the two to become intimate.
A soft rustling sound arose, and the two looked up at the same time.
As dusk settled, Qi Baitong stood outside the door, her face pale and her dark eyes staring at them, almost startling at first glance.
Li Yuheng, holding Gu Shanyue, looked clearly displeased and scolded, "Get out of here!"
Qi Baitong slowly lowered her eyelashes, hid the medicine packet in her hand behind her back, and bowed as she stepped back.
"This man is so unruly. Why is he barging into the house again? My sister is here. Where did he come from? Isn't this dereliction of duty?" Li Yuheng became more and more angry as he spoke, and released Gu Shanyue. "No, I have to teach him a lesson."
Gu Shanyue pulled him back. Li Yuheng turned around, his fierceness disappearing, replaced by a hint of grievance.
Why does my sister always argue with me because of him?
Gu Shanyue: "..."
She hasn't even said anything yet.
"Why do you keep lecturing him? Didn't I tell you that since he's with me, you're not allowed to punish him anymore?"
"What, he complained to you about it?" Li Yuheng asked with a hint of disdain.
"Just because he didn't say, I didn't know? You're trying to fool me?" Gu Shanyue said, her face turning frosty.
She always kept her word, and her senior sister was even more so. How did she end up raising Li Yuheng, whose words were as unreliable as farts?
Seeing that Gu Shanyue was truly unhappy, Li Yuheng immediately adopted a well-behaved and affectionate demeanor, and said softly, "Not at all, it was all Bai Yan's doing. It's also my fault for forgetting to inform him. I didn't pay attention and things turned out like this. It will never happen again."
Gu Shanyue didn't quite believe him: "Are you serious?"
"Of course it's true, how could I dare to lie to my sister?"
Li Yuheng smiled ingratiatingly, revealing a sharp canine tooth on his lips. Gu Shanyue's impatience seemed to be exposed, and she touched his face.
"You can't do that again next time. You have to keep your word."
"I promise!" Li Yuheng raised his hand and swore an oath.
Gu Shanyue nodded: "Then I believe you."
Li Yuheng chatted warmly with Gu Shanyue for a while before leaving.
As soon as he stepped out of the house, he looked at the lit-up west room in the courtyard, and all the smiles on his face vanished instantly.
Li Yuheng walked to the door, glanced back at Gu Shanyue's room, withdrew his foot that was about to kick it down, raised his hand and knocked on the door. His face was annoyed, but the rhythm of his knocking was still polite and measured.
Qi Baitong opened the door, a slight surprise on his face: "Your Highness?"
Li Yuheng's expression was arrogant, and he lowered his voice: "Get out of the way."
Qi Baitong instantly understood that this person was there to reprimand him, but didn't want Gu Shanyue to find out.
He stepped back a few paces, and Li Yuheng turned around and closed the door before walking in. His gaze swept over the simple room, carrying a hint of pickiness and disdain.
"I've heard that the Imperial Guard is the most stringent in the city. How come Lord Qi's mouth is so loose? If the Imperial Guard doesn't know how to discipline people, why not hand it over to the Crown Prince? He has his own way of establishing rules."
He spoke slowly and methodically, glancing at Qi Baitong out of the corner of his eye.
Qi Baitong lowered his eyes, still maintaining his respectful demeanor, and cupped his hands, saying, "This subordinate dares not."
"What are you afraid of? You're a bodyguard, yet you openly live in your sister's courtyard. She's back now, and you're still out there doing who-knows-what. Doesn't Lord Qi think he's neglecting his duty?"
Li Yuheng still couldn't help but get angry when he talked about it.
For some reason, he felt uneasy whenever he saw Qi Baitong next to Gu Shanyue.
But Gu Shanyue kept pleading for Qi Baitong, which made him even more unhappy.
He was unhappy, so how could he let Qi Baitong have an easy time?
Qi Baitong lowered his head and said, "Your subordinate knows his mistake."
Although she appears submissive, she seems completely unyielding.
Li Yuheng stared at his face for a long while, then let out a sneer.
"You're quite capable, managing to win over your sister and get her to look after you a bit more."
The previously unmoved Qi Baitong twitched slightly between her brows.
"But you don't know, she's a heartless person. In this world, she only cared about my mother. After my mother passed away, she only cared about me. Even if others died for her, they couldn't surpass me by even a fraction, let alone someone like you... a bodyguard."
Li Yuheng finished speaking casually, then glanced at Qi Baitong's increasingly tightly pursed lips and smiled.
"I won't punish you, so you won't bother your sister with the smell. We'll settle these scores with you later, one by one."
Li Yuheng turned and left, his steps noticeably lighter.
The door was wide open, and Qi Baitong stood quietly in place, head bowed, remaining silent for a long time.
Then a strong wind arose, whipping through the grass and trees, making a crackling sound, as if something had broken.
Qi Baitong shuddered and rushed out.
The moonlight, clear as water, illuminated the flowerpots that had been blown over on the ground, and the plants that had not yet bloomed fell down, covered in mud.
The window in the main room suddenly opened, and Gu Shanyue poked her face out: "What's going on?"
"...The flowerpot has tipped over, I'll take care of it right away."
Qi Baitong had his back to Gu Shanyue, so his face was not visible. His voice was muffled and slightly hoarse.
Gu Shanyue replied, "Oh."
The window is closed again.
Qi Baitong carefully removed the soil and lifted the flower. The flower stem was thin but not broken, and the leaves were full.
He looked at it for a while, then planted it back.
It's okay if it doesn't bloom.
With that in mind, his movements became even more meticulous.
The wind rose and the rain fell, and it wasn't until the raindrops hit her that Qi Baitong belatedly raised her face.
Raindrops pelted his pale face. He closed his eyes, his wet clothes clinging to his back, the scars that hadn't fully healed throbbing faintly.
If it gets soaked in rainwater, it might rot even more.
Thinking of this, Qi Baitong quickly got up and went back into the house.
The three packets of medicine were still on the table. When he returned, he saw Gu Shanyue and Li Yuheng embracing each other. He couldn't help but keep thinking about them, and he hadn't even opened the packets of medicine.
Perhaps, there's no need to open this medicine packet.
Recalling his nervousness at the pharmacy and his feverish heart on the way back, Qi Baitong's eyelashes trembled, and she felt ridiculous.
He picked up the medicine bag and was about to throw it away.
Outside the window, the wind and rain raged, and the medicine packet swayed lightly in his hand.
After hesitating for a long time, before the medicine bag got wet in the rain, Qi Baitong withdrew his hand and threw the medicine bag into the corner.
The following day, Li Yaoguang arrived at the Crown Prince's residence.
Although she was a princess and had once been raised by the Empress, she didn't have much of a relationship with Li Yuheng. After all, they hadn't seen each other for ten years, and when they met again, they were both grown up, so they were still not familiar with each other.
This was the first time she had taken the initiative to visit the Crown Prince's residence.
Li Yaoguang walked through the mansion with great curiosity, led by a servant toward Gu Shanyue's courtyard.
"Your Highness?" A familiar female voice suddenly rang out.
Li Yaoguang turned around: "Miss Yu?"
"Your Highness, why don't you call me Jing Shu?" Yu Jing Shu bowed, a friendly smile on her face.
Her words weren't exactly rude, after all, she was the crown princess, and soon Li Yaoguang would have to call her sister-in-law.
“Jing Shu, you can just call me Yao Guang,” Li Yao Guang readily changed her address. “I didn’t expect to run into you here today. Are you here to see the Crown Prince?”
“His Highness is busy with state affairs, and all I can do is add tea and grind ink for him,” Yu Jingshu said with a shy smile, and then considerately added, “Yaoguang has important business to discuss with His Highness today. If so, I will return to my residence first and not disturb your conversation.”
“No need, I’m here to see A-Yue,” Li Yaoguang said without any hesitation.
Upon hearing this, Yu Jingshu's eyes flickered: "Miss Yue is an old acquaintance of His Highness the Crown Prince. I didn't expect that she also knows you."
"We met when we were young, and we happened to run into each other at the opera house in the south of the city yesterday, so we became familiar with each other again."
When Li Yaoguang mentioned Gu Shanyue, her face lit up with joy, and anyone could see at a glance how much she liked Gu Shanyue.
"The opera house in the south of the city... What a coincidence! Miss Yue and Yaoguang haven't seen each other for many years. I didn't expect that they would still share the same interests. It's really a good fate that they can bump into each other while going out."
Yu Jingshu, with her dignified and elegant demeanor, spoke compliments that seemed entirely genuine, making Li Yaoguang beam with joy.
She waved her round fan merrily: "Yes, there's something even more coincidental. A few days ago, I took a fancy to a famous opera singer, and Ah Yue also happened to take a fancy to him. We almost got into a fight over him. It was precisely because of this fight that we became acquainted."
Li Yaoguang spoke with great enthusiasm, observing Yu Jingshu's expression as he spoke.
Although she appears carefree, she was bullied in her youth and raised by the Empress, so she learned about the coldness of human relationships early on and knew the underhanded methods of the powerful families in Shengjing.
She deliberately brought up Nanxing's matter to reassure Yu Jingshu and prevent her from dragging Gu Shanyue into the mess.
Li Yaoguang believed that even if Gu Shanyue truly loved the Crown Prince, he would never stay in Shengjing.
Back then, Gu Shanyue and the Empress had a very deep friendship, but Gu Shanyue was unwilling to stay in the deep palace for the Empress's sake, let alone stay here now just for Li Yuheng.
Li Yaoguang was afraid that Yu Jingshu wouldn't understand.
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