However, since he was willing to answer, she decided to ask.
"Your Majesty, if I win, will what you said that day still stand?"
Ji Yan paused, turned back to look into the girl's expectant eyes: "It's settled."
Shen Jiao looked at her and said, "Actually, I have another question."
"Go ahead and ask." Ji Yan, making sure she had nothing else to say, slowly walked away.
The road is lined with flowering trees that are the color of red maple leaves. The flowers are in full bloom and the scenery is breathtaking. When the wind blows, the leaves rustle and a few petals fall, which happen to hang on Ji Yanmo's black hair.
It was like a piece of black jade stained with dirt, which Shen Jiao wanted to pick up.
Unexpectedly, the figure in front of them flashed away quickly and dodged without making a sound.
Shen Jiao looked up.
Ji Yan resumed her leisurely pace.
She reached out to pick it up again.
Ji Yan caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye, took two steps to the left, and avoided it.
Shen Jiao realized that it was no coincidence; this person was clearly teasing her on purpose!
Then, she heard two very soft laughs.
Shen Jiao narrowed her eyes, remained silent, and seized the opportunity to quickly and ruthlessly reach out towards the petals, determined to turn the tide!
Thinking the tyrant would suddenly accelerate like before, she pounced quickly and forcefully to ensure he couldn't dodge in time.
Let's see how he runs this time!
As is well known, Ji Yan did not run away or dodge this time. Instead, he turned around, his eyes filled with amusement, and spread his arms wide, waiting for the girl to embrace him passionately.
"How could this person be so cunning?" Shen Jiao gasped in surprise.
The wind blew and the flowers fell, filling the air with their fragrance. Ji Yan embraced them tightly.
"Ji Yan! You're cheating!"
Ji Yan raised her eyebrows naturally and said, "Where? You clearly want to secretly hug me. Hug me, hug me however you want. I won't dodge. Look at how impatient you are."
What utter nonsense! This is a complete reversal of right and wrong! Shen Jiao stared wide-eyed in shock, tilting her head back slightly, utterly bewildered.
"Who wants to hug you? I'm not hugging you."
“No way.” Ji Yan encircled the girl and said casually, “You have to finish what you start. How can you abandon something halfway through?”
Shen Jiao rubbed the tip of her ear and muttered, "Solicitation of reason."
Ji Yan narrowed her eyes and asked, "Didn't you have a question you wanted to ask? Go ahead and ask. Give me a hug, and I'll answer every question."
Shen Jiao let out a soft "Eh," realizing that the tyrant had been quite easy to talk to lately, as if he was afraid of upsetting her or making her too worried, his tolerance was outrageous.
The question had been weighing on her mind, and she blurted out, "His Majesty said that if I won first place, I wouldn't have to die, but he didn't say anything that day. What about you? Will you still seek death?"
The question was asked and then fell silent for a long time without being answered.
Shen Jiao knew that the question was asked at the wrong time, but she really couldn't help it.
After a long while, there was still no response.
Just when Shen Jiao thought she might not get an answer, Ji Yan suddenly leaned down and kissed her lips.
They were so close that she could clearly see his long, curled eyelashes, his deep eyes, and the complex, lingering, and unfathomable emotions within them.
He didn't kiss too deeply, as if afraid of losing his composure, yet he kissed with reverence, as if worried that it wasn't sincere enough, giving people an extremely restrained and cautious feeling.
As for the answer, it was all swallowed up by that kiss.
The two lingered for a long time.
Shen Jiao wrapped her arms around his waist and finally managed to pick up the petal, but she was not happy at all.
...
The next day.
Shen Jiao didn't want to be the center of attention anymore, so she left early. However, Ji Yan had been invited by Wang Fu to a meeting early in the morning, so today, Xi An accompanied her first.
As soon as she stepped off the carriage, a dark shadow resembling a large black rat pounced straight at her. Before Shen Jiao could react, "slap—" Xi An raised her hand and slapped her across the face.
Shen Jiao felt a sharp pain on her cheek.
"Young lady! Why did you hit me for no reason!" The person covered her face, her voice trembling with tears.
That delicate, affected voice, when raised, sent chills down one's spine. Xi'an angrily retorted, "Who's your sister? You're so ugly, don't try to claim kinship with me. And didn't you see this is the Phoenix Chariot? You barged in and disturbed the Empress. I'm being lenient by slapping you."
That's true. If one were to actually run into the Empress, it would be considered insubordination, and one would be severely injured, if not killed.
The person who came was scolded, covered his face with his hands and cried bitterly. Shen Jiao vaguely heard words such as "miserable life", "pitiful", "please do justice", "I don't want to live anymore".
Looking at Xi'an, she was rubbing her hands together, her knuckles cracking, ready to pounce, as if she would send him on his journey to the West if he uttered just one more word.
Shen Jiao hurriedly said, "Stop, stop, Xi'an, calm down."
Then he whispered to the person who came, "Little Liang, stop crying. All you do is make noise and not bring any rain. You've even rubbed your mole off."
"Where did it fall? Where did it fall?"
The mole was the finishing touch to his makeup. Liang Heng, forgetting his wailing, frantically searched the ground to stick the mole on.
He finally found it, raised his sleeve to cover it, and precisely pressed it to the corner of his lips.
Xi'an had no idea that Liang Heng was dressed as a woman. Upon seeing this, she was stunned and exclaimed, "You...you...you..."
You couldn't come up with the rest of the story after all that time, so you turned around and squatted in the corner, questioning your existence.
Shen Jiao felt that she should give Xi'an some time to process things on her own. After all, Xiao Liang's makeup was really ugly, so it was normal that she didn't recognize him at first.
She gestured for Liang Heng to step aside so they could talk inside: "Liang, why are you in such a hurry? Is something wrong?"
"Yes, yes, something happened. Xi'an slapped me so hard that I almost forgot about the important matter." Speaking of this, Liang Heng felt the pain on his cheek again.
He peeked out and looked around before closing the door and saying, "Good news, Shen Yu has been expelled from Cai Qinshi's school."
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