66 distinguished guests
You are his character
Snow fell all over the sky, landing evenly on everyone's head, reflecting tiny specks of light as bright as stars. Amid the endless shouting from the streets, Tian Nongxi lowered his eyes and uttered a neutral "hmm."
She took Wen Tingluan to the backyard, poured him a cup of tea steadily, and then waited for his explanation.
An An's contented snoring became the background sound, making Tian Nongxi feel a touch of warmth and liveliness in the cold winter.
Her expression softened slightly, and she smoothed its fur with her fingertips. She raised her eyelids and looked at the man across from her, who was stroking his teacup. "It's hard to say?"
Wen Tingluan paused, neither shaking his head nor nodding. His gaze fell on her fingers entangled in the snow-white cat fur, and he said inexplicably, "Do you remember that I was away for a while? During your...grandfather's funeral."
"Yeah." Tian Nongxi nodded in confusion.
"I once met a man, a wandering scholar," Wen Tingluan said slowly, choosing his words carefully. "He boasted of his knowledge of yin and yang, his ability to predict the future, and his ability to divine the mysteries of the heavens. Because he calculated the fate of King Qi, he was treated as a distinguished guest. When I met him, he was ragged and emaciated, begging on the streets for a living."
Tian Nongxi frowned. She knew what Wen Tingluan said must be very important, but she still couldn't figure out why he said it, so she asked, "And then?"
"He grabbed my shoes and boots, knelt before me, and told me my identity and every detail of King Qi's death. I originally thought he was one of King Qi's former subordinates, hoping to join my army by playing tricks, so I tied him up, imprisoned him, and ignored him.
"A few days ago, I received a letter from the prison. This person was desperate to see me, saying...it was related to you." Wen Tingluan lowered his eyes, his fingers unconsciously tapping the table. "After returning to Beijing, I went to see him."
"He acted like he was crazy and told me... that you were a character he wrote."
Tian Nongxi raised his eyebrows, not knowing what to say.
"Seeing that I didn't believe him, he pulled out a book from his pocket, tore off a page and handed it to me. You've read everything written there."
Tian Nongxi was silent for a moment, then shook his head truthfully, "One side was black, I didn't see it."
Wen Tingluan's Adam's apple rolled, and he said "hmm" very softly, "I don't believe it."
"What did you write?" Tian Nongxi's heart beat faster, he closed his eyes and asked anxiously.
"After you earned 20 million taels of gold, you were hit by a falling meteor, and your face was completely disfigured when you died." Wen Tingluan laughed, "There has never been any record of a meteor in the previous dynasty or this dynasty."
Tian Nongxi was stunned. She realized that this death might not be a real death, but rather being erased by the system and returning to the original world.
But... the ending is already determined, so there's no need to try?
He looked at Wen Tingluan and asked, "Do you believe it or not?" If he didn't believe it, why would he just cover the paper with ink?
"I don't believe it." Wen Tingluan answered quickly, hesitated for a moment and then continued, "But I'm afraid, so I stay with you all the time." His calm eyes rarely showed any emotion, and the surprise and doubt in his eyes could not be concealed.
"So you locked me up in the East Palace?" Tian Nongxi's tone suddenly rose and he asked in an incomprehensible way.
"It's not closed, but I have to go out, leaving the secret guards to protect you."
"Uh... okay." Tian Nongxi asked, "Where are the other books? Where are the other people?"
"When he saw I had finished reading that one piece of paper, he threw the rest into the stove and burned them.
"As for the man, he is full of nonsense, so kill him."
"..." The waves in her heart were getting higher and higher, and she was so frightened that her saliva kept coming up. After finally swallowing the tea, she asked in a trembling voice, "Do you remember what he looks like?"
Wen Tingluan looked at her.
"What does the madman you're talking about look like?"
"He had a broad face and a fat body, wore peep-toe glasses, and his hair was more than six inches above his eyebrows."
"In his twenties?"
"Not really."
After comparing the column portraits of the original author with his impression of them, Tian Nongxi was silent for a long time.
Your twenties are a great time to travel through books.
She still couldn't believe it, racking her brains to find some other clues, staring silently at the steam rising from the teacup.
"Boss, the dishes are here." You Lang walked up to them with two plates of dishes and said with a smile.
"Okay, thank you."
When he left, Wen Tingluan picked up the teacup and glanced at it lightly.
"I left—because of Wen Lang."
"Wen Lang??"
"He's not dead." Wen Tingluan said concisely.
Tian Nongxi was stunned and said, "How is it possible?" Not to mention that she threw him into the river with her own hands, even if she didn't, Wen Lang would not have survived after being stabbed twice.
She stabbed him in the heart.
Subconsciously taking the chopsticks handed to him by Wen Tingluan, Tian Nongxi didn't even look at the dish, still frowning and waiting for his explanation.
"Xixi, the tea is gone."
Tian Nongxi almost couldn't catch his breath. He picked up the teapot and took a look. It was indeed empty.
"Wait." She threw down these two words, then stood up and went to the front yard to pour a cup of tea.
While pouring a cup of tea, he came back after lifting the curtain to see Wen Tingluan and You Lang fighting silently. The extremely heavy stone table in the backyard was actually overturned to the ground.
Both of them used extremely ruthless moves, as if they would not stop until the other was killed, and they fought back and forth.
With a "clang", the teapot in Tian Nongxi's hand fell to the ground in shock. The sound was even louder than the noise of the two people fighting. You Lang subconsciously looked at her.
In an instant, a short knife slipped out of Wen Tingluan's sleeve and stabbed You Lang through.
"No, what are you doing?" Tian Nongxi was anxious and walked forward quickly, only to find that the knife he was using was his own.
"Don't go over there." Wen Tingluan stood with his hands behind his back, "He is Wen Lang."
A single stone caused a thousand waves. The air in the backyard dissipated without a trace as Wen Tingluan's last words faded away. Tian Nongxi looked at You Lang who fell to the ground in disbelief.
The latter pressed his heart, which was bleeding, with one hand and wiped his face casually with the other.
After peeling off You Lang's mask, the face beneath was Wen Lang. He had a terrifying, raised scar running from his right eyebrow to his neck, which was mostly hidden by shadows.
You Lang, no, it was Wen Lang—blood gushing out of his mouth but he was laughing crazily.
He reached out to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, but it made his already scary face even more hideous.
"This scar was given to me by you." Wen Lang stared at Tian Nongxi, his eyes filled with affection and joy.
Tian Nongxi frowned, stood behind Wen Tingluan, and looked at the person on the ground silently.
Wen Lang's gaze swept past her and landed on Wen Tingluan, who was looking down at him. His eyes became fierce, "Your Highness is truly a man who throws his crown into a rage for a woman he loves. Soldiers on the front lines are plagued by plague, and Your Highness is actually, ahem—hiding here."
Wen Tingluan curled his lips, "The questions asked by the prince are still so simple."
Wen Lang could no longer hold on, blood gushing out of his mouth, red and black, filling the entire backyard with a thick smell of blood. He used both hands to support the upper half of his body and said unwillingly, "Wen Tingluan, your position as crown prince was originally mine."
"No one will let a person who poisoned soldiers sit on the throne of the crown prince." Wen Tingluan lowered his brows and spoke in a firm tone.
Wen Lang laughed "ho ho", his laughter sometimes high and sometimes low, sharp like a ghost.
He choked on his own blood, coughing and laughing. "Why are you pretending to be so righteous? You—you're pretending to be a gentleman." He shouted at the top of his lungs, but only a faint sound came out. "You stepped on corpses to get to the top, and sooner or later, sooner or later, you will be like them."
"Azhang, your hands are stained with so much blood. I will wait for you on the Naihe Bridge.
"When the time comes...your deceased brothers and sisters...will still need you to hold them in your arms..."
Wen Lang's breath was so weak that his voice became lower and lower, and more and more vague. In the end, almost no word could be heard, and only the almost inaudible breathing sound remained.
His chest, which had been rising and falling, gradually calmed down, and the blood that had been flowing out of his mouth stopped. Suddenly, his body shook violently, and he fell heavily to the ground as if he could no longer hold on.
Before falling to the ground, he was still staring at Wen Tingluan.
The muffled sound of "dong" was actually the loudest noise in the backyard.
Tian Nongxi didn't understand why this happened and stood there in a daze until the waiter's distant call brought her back to her senses.
She then remembered where she was and was the first to speak: "Clean it up." Then she lifted a corner of the curtain and shouted to the waiter, "It's okay, don't come over."
Wen Tingluan hummed, raised his eyes and looked not far away. The next moment, several men in black jumped down from the tree. The leader checked Wen Lang's breath, took out a knife and stabbed him in the heart again. The others then worked together to carry him away.
They had a tacit understanding and communicated with each other with their eyes. Without saying a word, they carried Wen Lang away without a trace in just a short moment.
Tian Nongxi looked away, not knowing what to say. After a long silence, he chose the most bizarre question, "Isn't he dead?"
Wen Tingluan frowned and said, "My father, the emperor, and my mother, the empress, saved me."
His voice was as flat as water, as if he were discussing something that had nothing to do with him. "The late emperor had many sons, and my father's path to the throne was bloody. Of his eighteen sons, only his fellow countryman, Prince Qi, survived. At the beginning of his reign, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory reported that his and my mother's blessings had been exhausted, and none of their sons would live past the age of twenty-five." He paused, then continued, his voice trembling slightly. "I didn't mean to hide this from you. Talk of ghosts and gods is completely unreliable. I never believed in it."
Tian Nongxi opened his mouth and finally asked, "Your brothers and sisters..."
"They all died in infancy. They believed the Imperial Observatory's method of deciphering the secrets and sent me to Qingdu County for over ten years, until I was brought back five years ago."
"They always think that I can't survive, so..." Wen Tingluan lowered his eyes and hesitated to choose words, but was interrupted by Tian Nongxi's soothing pat.
His Adam's apple rolled slightly, and he wanted to laugh to prove that he didn't care, but he collapsed when she looked at him quietly and said that she understood what he had not finished saying. He gently pulled her into his arms, let down his guard and sighed, "I'm not what he said..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Tian Nongxi suddenly heard an electric sound in his mind.
"Zila—zila—System Z071854 has been connected. Congratulations to the host for achieving the hidden achievement: Killing the traitor. Now, please select your reward..."
The system mechanically introduces the rewards for triggering the hidden achievement for the first time, without changing.
Tian Nongxi: “???”
What does the killing of traitors have to do with her, a bystander?
"I don't want any of these."
Tian Nongxi's voice was tense, and he thought stubbornly but firmly: "I want the truth.
"The truth about why I'm here."
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