Chapter 27 Chapter 27 (New content added on May 27) ^……
Gu Shi kissed her cheek maliciously and said:
"Okay, then I won't ask."
He put his hand on her shoulder naturally. He didn't use any force, just gently. However, a sharp pain came from Lingchuan's shoulder, disturbing her mind and making her uneasy.
Lingchuan pushed his hand away, feeling a sense of powerless anger.
Before, she had always been tormented by the fact that she had no place to go for the rest of her life. But now that she has a place to go, the torment has not diminished at all, but has become more and more intense.
She was wrapped in her own long thoughts, as if she was in a thick fog. Apart from passively accepting Gu Shi's affection, there was really nothing she could do.
He wanted to marry her, and she had no choice but to marry him; there was nothing else she could do.
Lingchuan bit his lower lip, trying to pull his thoughts back.
"I'm going back to the palace to get my things, and I'll bring Jinzhan with me."
Gu Shi nodded.
"Let the guards and maids follow you."
She didn't say anything, as if she agreed.
"I'm busy these days and may not be able to take care of you."
This is true. Gu Shi is indeed busy with official duties, but he has plenty of time to spend with Lingchuan.
Lingchuan ignored him and stood up and walked out. The little palace maid hurriedly followed him.
"Your Majesty, my name is Qingye... Please don't think I'm stupid."
She reached out to support Lingchuan, but was pushed away by Lingchuan.
"I can walk on my own."
Qingye followed Lingchuan out of the palace. Outside was a carriage that was much more gorgeous than before. Lingchuan frowned.
In the past, Gu Shi didn't care where she went. She would just hail a rickshaw when she went out. She had ridden in both good and bad rickshaws. Her overall treatment was only slightly better than that of a servant.
Lingchuan looked at the carriage, pursed his lips, and asked:
"Wouldn't that be too conspicuous?"
Aoba said:
"Your Majesty's benevolent rule has lifted restrictions on the Imperial Palace. The former concubines have all taken their silver and returned home, and some have even remarried... Even lowly maids like us can come and go freely during our free time. Your Majesty is of noble status, and you must travel separately from us servants."
Qingye couldn't help but smile slightly when he said this. Giving the palace maids the power to take leave and come and go freely is really a rare benevolent policy. Your Majesty's ascension to the throne is what everyone wants.
She paid close attention to Lingchuan's every move and was so attentive that Lingchuan felt a little uncomfortable, but he didn't know how to say it.
After returning to the palace, Lingchuan felt inexplicably relieved when he saw Jinzhan lazing on the recliner.
"Golden Marigold."
Being caught slacking off, she climbed up from the recliner somewhat awkwardly.
"Hey! Miss Lingchuan!"
Qingye spoke before Lingchuan:
"Sister Jinzhan should call me 'Niangniang' instead."
She will definitely carry out His Majesty's orders, especially for such a major event as marriage.
Jinzhan opened her eyes wide, dumbfounded. Her face turned blue and purple, and finally turned into a strange sympathy. She was shocked by her own strange compassion.
Lingchuan frowned and said:
"No need, just call me Miss Lingchuan."
"This is His Majesty's order."
Aoba is very persistent about this kind of thing.
“Mother…Mother…”
Jinzhan found it a little funny and had to suppress her laughter. However, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up again. This happened several times and her cheeks began to twitch constantly.
Lingchuan sighed.
"Laugh if you want to."
She looked helplessly at Qingye who looked puzzled and said:
"Jinzhan and I have something to discuss privately. Please wait here."
Jinzhan held back her laughter and followed Lingchuan into her room. Finally, she couldn't help but hold her stomach and burst into laughter.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha... Are you two serious about this? Hahahahahaha I can't hold it back anymore... Lingchuan, you... what is your rank?"
Lingchuan was speechless.
"You'll know later..."
Jinzhan admitted that there was a hint of schadenfreude in her laughter. She patted her shoulder and secretly felt lucky that she didn't have to get married.
"Poor thing, I'm really putting you in a difficult position."
Lingchuan just lowered his head and nodded, feeling a little sad.
Being tortured for six years would be fine, but she still has to stay with Gu Shi for a hundred years, and she can't get rid of him until her death.
"Where did you put the silver hairpin my mother left me?"
Jinzhan took out a silver hairpin from the drawer. It was engraved with rose patterns and the workmanship was a bit rough, but Lingchuan knew that it was a sharp knife.
"Here it is, girl, put it away."
Lingchuan remembered that she had hidden antiemetics in her room a few days ago. Now that Gu Shi was going to marry her, there was no point in hiding it, so she asked directly:
"Jinzhan, I put a small bottle of pills under the painting in the drawer. Have you seen it?"
Jinzhan's expression changed and she said:
"Ah? Is that a pill? I smelled a strong hawthorn scent and thought it was a hawthorn pill, so I ate it."
Lingchuan sighed helplessly.
"Yes, it's hawthorn pills, they help digestion and stimulate appetite, so you can take them."
She faced the mirror and inserted the hairpin into her temples.
Lingchuan looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like both her father and her mother.
My father has phoenix eyes and a beautiful nose, but his face is square. My mother has a delicate face and ordinary features. All the good features of her parents' faces are inherited from her without any difference.
My mother married my father when she was twenty years old...
If she were still alive, and knew that the daughter she gave birth to in an ordinary bed had now become the most powerful empress in the palace, would she feel relieved or heartbroken?
Lingchuan pressed hard on the pattern on the hairpin knife with his thumb.
"Jinzhan, come back with me. After all, the people in the palace are not used to it."
Jinzhan's face suddenly showed an embarrassment. Gu Shi and Lingchuan were not at home, and she was having a great time slacking off in the palace, but she was also anxious because she was afraid that she would be laid off.
"Miss, are the rules in the palace serious?"
Lingchuan looked at her speechlessly.
"Gu Shi seems to have arranged leave for the palace maids. They can leave the palace freely during their rest time. It should be okay."
"Is there something like three kneelings and nine kowtows?"
"That's true. I see the maids are kneeling as usual."
Jinzhan said with a fake smile:
"Miss, this palace still needs someone to take care of it, so I'd better stay here..."
Lingchuan nodded.
"Well then... it's a shame you can't touch the pretty little white cats the palace maids keep."
She frowned and continued:
"That little white cat is so clingy. It purrs when you touch it. Once it touches someone, it becomes limp and collapses to the ground, even exposing its belly for people to pet. But Gu Shi doesn't seem to like it very much. If no one takes care of it, its fur will probably get tangled soon."
Just by hearing Lingchuan's few words, Jinzhan couldn't help but feel her nose getting hot due to the temptation.
"Young lady... stop talking... I'll go with you right now. I'll serve you wholeheartedly, and my loyalty is evident to all."
Lingchuan smiled cunningly and replied:
"Okay. Go pack your things."
Out of her passion for the kitten, Jinzhan quickly packed her things.
"Jinzhan, do you have so many things..."
Lingchuan looked at the large and small bags and felt helpless.
"Qingye, go get the guards to carry it."
"My Lady, these servants' belongings will dirty your car. It's better to call a separate car to take them back."
Aoba said.
Lingchuan originally planned to squeeze in together, but changed his mind after hearing what Qingye said.
"Okay, it would be really crowded to take everything away at once. I'll take the bus back with Jinzhan first, and you can call a car to take her things back. Just don't make any mistakes."
Qingye was choked and stood there, speechless.
She watched Jinzhan and Lingchuan get into the carriage together without any respect for age, and her heart felt as if it had been thrown from a great height.
The servants in this palace are so lax. It must be that Lingchuan did not manage the household well and made mistakes, which led to Jinzhan becoming so lax and cunning.
But she couldn't understand how a lazy and cunning servant could become Lingchuan's confidant.
She never broke the rules and served attentively, but Lingchuan just didn't like her.
There is no reason in this world that the harder you work the more mistakes you make.
She pursed her lips and gave a scowl to the guards who came to help move things, and the guards just accepted her harassment without a word.
Lingchuan was sitting in the carriage, looking outside bored. Jinzhan poked her.
"Miss Lingchuan, I'm really confused by the tabloids you read."
Lingchuan took the tabloid handed to him by Jinzhan.
The stories in the newspaper became more and more exaggerated. To sum it up, Gu Shi was a kind and elegant gentleman. It was impossible for him to have any improper thoughts about her, his adopted sister.
The stuff in the tabloids was seven-tenths true and three-tenths false. They especially praised the benevolent policies of the harem, and in a rather corny way praised how Gu Shi was compassionate to the palace maids and lenient to the old concubines.
She naturally knew what Jinzhan was wondering about. Since Gu Shi really wanted to marry her, why did he send someone to write these words to distance himself from her?
Lingchuan clenched his teeth and his fingers trembled.
These outrageous stories were probably written by people who didn't want her to marry Gu Shi.
Qin Sizhao, he didn't even know that the people should not fight against the officials.
"Less trouble is worse than more. Jinzhan, burn these things quietly and don't let Gu Shi know."
Jinzhan understood what he meant. She didn't care about the grudges between Lingchuan and Gu Shi, as long as it didn't involve her.
Of course she knew that the man who watched the play with Lingchuan that day was not Yang Ruoyun, and she had a rough guess in her mind, but she just kept silent about it tacitly.
After all, telling it to others wouldn't do her any good, right?
She looked at Lingchuan, who looked worried, and sighed. It was quite rare for her to feel a little sympathy for Lingchuan. It was really not easy for anyone.
Although she also has many frustrations, it is a blessing that she does not have to suffer the pain of love.
Lingchuan thought that Qin Sizhao was probably completely unaware of the grudge between her and Gu Shi, which was why he approached her so rashly. After all, Gu Shi had chosen a husband for her before, so it was normal for him to have some misunderstandings.
She just wanted to contact Qin Sizhao as soon as possible and tell him to give up, otherwise...
His good intentions will bring him fatal disaster.
Thinking of that tragic ending, Lingchuan couldn't help but shiver.
When it came to Gu Shi, Lingchuan accepted it, but she didn't want to drag anyone else into it.
Out of pure kindness, he constructed a short-lived dream for her. That little bit of yearning for happiness made her weak. Before she could make a good start to her happy life, this dream was destroyed by Gu Shi. Now it can only be buried quietly, as if she and Qin Sizhao had never met.
She couldn't help but dig her nails into her palms. She was extremely angry at her own incompetence. She couldn't even get rid of Gu Shi's surveillance and go find him alone.
The reason she was able to have brief contact with Qin Sizhao before was because she knew that Gu Shi was not paying attention to her, so she took advantage of the opportunity. Now she can't even take advantage of this opportunity.
She felt that her fate had become like a piece of plaster. As long as Gu Shi showed even a little bit of concern for her, she would be firmly fixed to his side by the airtight plaster.
Lingchuan leaned against the wall and thought sadly that it would be better if she and Qin Sizhao had never met.
If she didn't even have a shred of hope, she would just accept her fate. At least others thought she had a good life.
She smiled bitterly and comforted herself that she was indeed a common girl who had risen to prominence and become a phoenix.
Who would listen to or believe the empress, now living a life of luxury, complaining? It would only cause undue displeasure.
Lingchuan tried hard to make himself happy, but he couldn't be happy no matter what.
She was so upset that she couldn't even express it. Now she didn't even have a reason to hate Gu Shi and could only blame herself.
She returned to the palace. Jinzhan looked around all the way and seemed to be behaving a little frivolously. Lingchuan didn't care whether she looked polite or not. She just wanted her to stand by her side.
Although Jinzhan always pretends to be stupid and doesn't feel any sympathy for her, she is at least the person in the world who knows her inner pain best. Her indifference is actually a kind of strange comfort to Lingchuan.
She said nothing and went back to the bedroom silently. Gu Shi was now openly going to live with her, and she didn't even have a little space to be alone.
When she thought about meeting Gu again, time seemed to stand still. No matter how hard she tried, her brain just couldn't function.
Gu Shi was slowly eating away at her vitality, and Lingchuan wanted to scratch her throat with her nails.
She watched from afar as Gu Shi walked towards her step by step. He didn't like being served, so he never wore overly complicated clothes. He only wore a new moon-white dress.
He is graceful and has an extraordinary temperament, like a white dragon soaring into the sky.
What made Lingchuan most angry was that although she hated Gu Shi, there was a strong inertia that forced her to love him.
She longed to break free from this gravity, but the more she forced herself to hate Gu Shi, the greater the inertia became.
"Lingchuan."
He naturally extended his hand to her, and she handed it to him reflexively.
He squeezed her fingers gently.
"Come stay with me in the study."
Generally speaking, concubines are not allowed to enter the study, but there are always exceptions.
Gu Shi was lowering his head to handle official business, and Lingchuan stood aside, absent-mindedly grinding ink for Gu Shi.
This job is really boring.
She glanced at the stack of memorials in Gu Shi's hands, and she didn't recognize half of the words.
When she was a child, she could not read at all and could only read account books.
After arriving at the palace, Gu Shi found a teacher to teach her how to read and write. After studying for a long time, she didn't learn anything.
The teacher said that she was stubborn and difficult to teach, so Lingchuan only managed to learn a few words enough to read storybooks. As for things like women's virtues and precepts, Gu Shi didn't allow her to learn them and simply threw those books away. She still doesn't know what those books are about.
Only his fingers were stained black by the ink, and Lingchuan was naughty and smeared them directly on Gu Shi's face.
Gu Shi grabbed her wrist.
"Don't put it on your face, you still have to meet people."
He took her hand in his.
"Come on, rub it on your palm. No one can see here. Just write the word 'time' on my palm, okay?"
Lingchuan pulled his hand back with force, his face flushed with anger.
“Gu Shi, you are shameless.”
"I just asked you to write a word on my palm. Why are you so shameless? You are my wife, not someone else. Did you forget how to write my name?"
He put his face against the inside of her forearm, which was cool, and used his hands to feel the shape of her joints.
"Come, I'll teach you again."
When he picked up the pen and wrote something on the rice paper, he saw Lingchuan put her hands behind her back, looking angry, and forcibly pulled her arm over.
"You don't even want to write your husband's name... Lingchuan, why did you scold me just now?"
There was a hint of grievance in his tone.
"You are so rude, you deserve to be scolded."
She said coldly.
"How do you feel about me?"
He pulled her closer.
"I find you annoying."
He kissed the back of her hand that was not stained with ink, then lifted her whole body onto his lap and placed his hand on the crook of her knee.
"One thing you say, one thing you mean."
A hard object hit her lower back. It might be his belt buckle, or something else, which made Lingchuan very irritated.
"Are you annoying? Let me go!"
Gu Shi began to kiss her. He placed his hand on her jaw and deepened the kiss. Her tongue was dominated by his, causing her throat to tremble slightly and emit a vague hum.
She blushed and snuggled in his arms, breathing rapidly, taking in a little air to keep herself awake.
"How do you feel about me now? Tao Jinrong?"
Lingchuan was suddenly startled.
"Why are you calling me like this all of a sudden?"
Gu Shi hugged her and said:
"Lingchuan is the nickname I gave you, but now I want to call you by the name your parents gave you."
He held her earlobe and whispered:
"Do you remember the temperature of my lips now, Rong'er?"
She had always been unwilling to hear Gu Shi call her by her full name. He was not worthy of the name Tao Jinrong.
Tao Jinrong and Lingchuan are two people whom she has always intended to separate.
This was the first time she heard Gu Shi call her like this, but she found that she was not as resistant as she had imagined, and things were becoming more and more out of control.
"Rong'er, how do you feel about me now?"
"I'm afraid of you."
What Lingchuan said is true.
A real fear did arise in her now.
"Lingchuan, when have you ever been truly afraid of me? It's obviously you who are afraid of yourself."
He poked Lingchuan's heart with his finger.
"I always knew you loved me, so much so that you wanted to kill me first and then hang yourself in a red dress, but you didn't want to love me so much...love me as if it meant destroying everything."
Lingchuan pursed his lips and stared wide-eyed.
She said calmly:
"It doesn't mean anything."
"You...what do you mean..."
Gu Shi held her hand paranoidly. He suddenly fell into panic. The more he possessed her body, the less he possessed her heart.
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