"Grandpa, are you leaving?" The orchid fairy opened her innocent eyes wide, looking at the white-haired fairy's back with some reluctance.
The white-haired demon didn't answer; he hunched over and left.
The wind howled through Cailan Valley, as if mourning, as if celebrating. In this world, those who understand love always suffer more. But losing the most sincere love in the world can be heart-wrenching.
Deeply in love, yet you know nothing / Innocent and pure
When Feng Qing came to see me at Fu Ning Palace, I was on the verge of death, even though many of the concubines in Daying Palace were unwilling to admit it. However, I knew that what they were even more unwilling to admit was the uncertain fate of their own after my passing.
Apart from Feng Qing.
In my entire life, I have never seen such a detached woman, nor have I ever heard any woman utter such heartless words.
She followed the eunuch through the curtains into the hall, leaving behind layers of medicinal fragrance. Hearing this, I struggled to turn my head from my pillow. Feng Qing looked me up and down, then slowly smiled: "I thought you were dead," she paused, then shook her head, her smile innocent and radiant, "Why aren't you dead yet?"
The servants standing nearby were not far away. Upon hearing this, their expressions changed drastically, and they lowered their heads deeply, fearing that my possible anger might spill over onto them.
But they didn't know that I was about to die, to die on the land of Ying, where I had fought my whole life. The middle-aged man lying on his bed, barely alive, had long lost the exhilarating and sharp edge he had been during his military campaigns more than a decade ago, the fierce and ruthless spirit he had displayed when he single-handedly attacked and slaughtered enemies, and the courage he had when he was in his twenties, on that evening when the State of Qi fell, to snatch her from the clutches of others amidst the chaos of battle.
That middle-aged man was about to die.
one,
Ying Kingdom, a name that embodies both water and victory, was chosen by its founding emperor, a man of humble origins, for a name that sounded refined and elegant. Yet, he failed to eradicate the savagery and coldness inherent in the blood of his descendants. In my second year as ruler of Ying Kingdom, I chose the path my forefathers had always taken: the most ruthless method—the massacre of the capital of Qi Kingdom.
The best and worst things in my life both started with that battle.
At first, I didn't know who the girl the minister presented was. It was evening in Jiangcheng, Qi State, on a night filled with the sound of wind and shepherd's flutes, that I met her.
She was brought to my tent bound and roughly pushed in by the palace officials. Her large, frightened eyes gleamed with a deep black luster, carrying the watery quality unique to the Jiangnan region.
So beautiful that you can't take your eyes off her.
Aside from that sigh, I didn't think too much about it, because there are so many beautiful women, and the ways to possess them are so similar. I walked up to her, knelt down, and began to undo her elaborate dress.
She was so frightened that she forgot to resist, just staring at me blankly. Her pupils were so bright and so dark; I had never seen more beautiful eyes in my life. She grasped the hem of my sleeve as I unbuttoned the first button of her shirt and whispered, "Please, can you let me go?"
I didn't speak, and she thought I couldn't understand the Qi language, so she awkwardly repeated in the Daying language, "Your Majesty, please spare me."
I smiled, concealing the coldness in my eyes, and asked her in Qi language, "Who taught you that?"
A hint of joy flashed across her brow, and thinking it was a sign that I had softened my stance, she quickly explained, "General Huo told me to say that."
There weren't many generals with the surname Huo in the camp. I vaguely remembered a garrison commander named Huo Yuangang, whom I had only seen a few times when he was leading troops in training in the Forbidden City.
I raised my hand and stroked the deep dimples on her cheeks, and smiled: "Is this Huo Yuangang?"
She just stared at me without answering. She shrank back a few steps, covered her eyes, and cried uncontrollably, tears streaming onto the back of my hand that was stroking her cheek.
I was stunned for a moment, feeling a bit like laughing and crying at the same time.
She cried until she hiccuped, sobbing as she told me, "I only know his surname is Huo... I'm lost... I don't know how I got into the Daying military tent, I'm so scared..."
From her fragmented description, I painstakingly pieced together what had happened to her. She was the daughter of a farmer on the border of Qi State. After getting lost, she wandered into the Daying Army's tent and was rescued by Huo Yuangang. I don't know how she ended up being taken prisoner and sent to my tent.
I smiled, stood up from the ground, and extended a hand to her: "Get up first."
She looked up at me blankly, her face still wet with glistening tears she hadn't had time to wipe away, making her look even more childish.
Seeing that she hadn't come to her senses, I explained simply, "Huo Yuangang will take you away." I looked up, guessing the sky based on the moonlight streaming in through the window, and added after a moment's thought, "It shouldn't be too long to get from here to Qi."
She didn't quite understand what I was saying, and just stared at me blankly, but she knew that she could get out of danger for the time being, so she wiped away her tears, looked up at me and gave me a hasty smile, as beautiful as the morning glow after the rain.
I casually turned my head away, and when Huo Yuangang appeared, I briefly told him some things to pay attention to, and then asked him to take the girl away from Daying.
Huo Yuangang paused, looking up as if in disbelief, but he could still be seen to have breathed a sigh of relief: "However, this was presented to His Majesty by the other generals, and I am worried..."
I casually replied with an "Oh," and said, "Just don't let them know."
Huo Yuangang paused, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "But today, His Majesty seemed..."
I rested my chin on my hand, glanced at him casually, and chuckled softly, "Do you think I'm particularly merciful today?" Ignoring Huo Yuangang's repeated "I dare not," I put down my book and thought for a moment, "Actually, it's not that I'm merciful, it's just that seeing her reminded me of someone, and I thought that if one day she encountered something like this..." Under Huo Yuangang's slightly curious gaze, I concealed the emotions in my eyes and continued calmly, "If one day she encounters something like this, she will also hope to meet a good person."
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
