Chapter 38: The Abyss has always been grateful for gratitude, and it has never been heard of. In the brocade tent...
The carriage rumbled forward for a long time without stopping.
Shu Yao sat in the car and felt that the road was winding and much longer than expected.
Finally unable to resist, she lifted a corner of the brocade curtain in front of the car door, leaned out, and asked softly, "Yunxiu, haven't you arrived yet?"
Just then, the shaking of the carriage stopped.
Yunxiu smiled beside the carriage and said, "Your Majesty, we're here."
When Shu Yao got out of the car, she saw that what she saw was not a sacrificial altar, but a canal dock.
Masts are like forests, boats are gathered together, and the boatmen's songs and the sound of waves are intertwined, which is completely different from the solemnity of the palace.
Xiao Chengjing changed out of his emperor's regular attire and dressed like an ordinary wealthy young man.
He was waiting with a smile beside a rather imposing official ship on the shore.
Seeing a hint of surprise in her eyes, he walked over calmly, stretched out his hand very naturally, supported her arm, and helped her onto the deck.
"Watch your step." He whispered a concerned voice, which sounded a little unclear in the river breeze.
The cabin is fully furnished.
Shu Yao stood by the window, looking at the setting sun outside, which melted the gold and dyed the spring water in the river into orange-red brocade.
Her face was calm, as if she were absorbed in the twilight on the river, but in reality, she was calculating furiously. "Have you figured out anything after your journey?" Xiao Chengjing calmly flipped through an account book, his gaze steady, never leaving it as he spoke.
In this situation, no matter how slow Shu Yao was, she could guess that this trip was definitely not a sacrifice.
My mind raced, and I felt that the opportunity to escape was both far away and right in front of me.
Seeing Shu Yao concentrating in silence, Xiao Chengjing slowly closed the account book and said, "But you are thinking... Is now a good opportunity to escape?"
Hearing this, she couldn't help but laugh and looked at him sideways: "Your Majesty, since you know this, why did you still bring me along... Could it be that you think I am unable to escape?" There was self-mockery in his words, but also a hidden edge.
Xiao Chengjing slowly raised his eyes, locking them with her in a deep gaze. The corners of his lips curled up leisurely. "When you were drunk that day, you said you wanted to see the wind outside the Great Wall, the snow on the Ji River, and Mount Tai. I never leave my promises empty." He paused, lightly tapping his fingertips on the account book, his tone becoming lighter. "Besides, bringing you with me is better than keeping you in the palace and making me worry, or... letting you put yourself in danger."
Shu Yao was in a trance for a moment after hearing this.
Apart from forcing her, Xiao Chengjing almost granted her every request.
She quickly suppressed this slight hesitation.
The more he gave, the less control she had.
She simply couldn't accept the situation where her fate was hanging by his will.
"Besides accompanying me." Her eyes swept across the account book in his hand, and she smiled lightly, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid you have other important matters to attend to during this trip?"
Xiao Chengjing tapped lightly on the cover of the account book, his eyes flickering. "The grain transport administration has been neglected for many years, and the records in the granaries along the way are even more difficult to understand. I must personally investigate secretly."
Shu Yao was not surprised by this answer.
After all, the person in front of him is powerful and extremely suspicious.
"I see." She lowered her eyes. "Then, Your Majesty, how many days do you plan to stay outside the palace?"
Xiao Chengjing picked up the teacup and blew away the floating leaves slowly. "It depends. It could be as short as three to five days, or as long as ten to several months." He spoke slowly, a hint of subtle tenderness in his voice. "Why? Yaoyao, do you think it's too long, or too short?"
Shu Yao did not respond, but turned her face away, pretending not to hear.
The ship suddenly fell silent.
Xiao Chengjing also calmed down and started flipping through the thick account book.
He read intently, his brows slightly furrowed, his fingertips resting on the page for a long time without moving, as if he had encountered a difficult problem.
As a modern social animal, Shu Yao hates inefficiency the most.
So, she spoke softly, as if she were suffering from a professional disease: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for being so talkative. I'm afraid that with this view, I can't see the reason."
"Oh?" Xiao Chengjing almost looked up in response, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. He waved at her to come closer, "I didn't know Yaoyao knew this?"
Shu Yao stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, don't forget that when I was in the Secretariat, I handled a lot of complicated books like this." She raised her eyebrows slightly and spoke in a smart voice, "After reading so many books, I naturally figured out some patterns. I guess I learned it by myself." She walked to his side, tapped the paper lightly with her slender fingers, and recited the numbers of each line in a meticulous and detailed explanation.
She didn't know that the soft and gentle breath of orchid brushed past her ears.
No matter how sincere the speaker is, the listener's intention is no longer here.
Before dawn the next day, Xiao Chengjing took Cui Jinzhong out.
He did keep his promise and did not touch her at night, and there was no need to check on her in the morning.
Shu Yao slept soundly until noon.
Just felt a little taste of freedom.
Xiao Chengjing came back and had dinner with her.
In the restaurant, the storyteller turned his wrist and the paper fan unfolded.
His eyes swept across the room full of tea drinkers, and his voice was like the sound of metal and stone striking each other: "Ladies and gentlemen, what I want to talk about today is the shocking and extraordinary love story between the current emperor and the concubine -"
The fan gently swayed, creating a breeze. The storyteller stroked his beard, his voice rising sharply: "It is said that on that day when the Jin Palace was breached, smoke obscured the sun, and beacon fires blazed across the sky! Our Majesty, armed with sharp weapons, personally led the cavalry to break through the enemy lines. In the midst of the chaos—"
The fan bone suddenly pointed into the void, as if piercing time and space. "Your Majesty turned around and saw the little princess of Li Kingdom surrounded by a chaotic army on the steps amidst a sea of blood and corpses!" The storyteller paused, snapped the fan shut, and smiled. "Guess what?"
"In a split second, His Majesty flung the Azure Dragon Sword to the ground, his black cloak fluttering like a dark cloud as he swept the princess into his arms before the entire army—" The storyteller waved his sleeve, pointing to the sky, "and uttered these words: 'I have traversed mountains and rivers to come here solely to bring you home!'"
Shu Yao felt embarrassed when she heard this.
What kind of ancient version of a domineering president falling in love with me is this?
She couldn't help but glance sideways at Xiao Chengjing.
He took a sip of tea slowly, and there seemed to be a smile on the corner of his lips covered by the rim of the teacup.
"Yaoyao thinks..." He put down his teacup and turned his gaze towards her, "How does the storyteller perform?"
Shu Yao opened her lips slightly, but before she could utter a word of rebuttal, she suddenly felt a dull pain in her lower abdomen, as if an iron clamp was twisting inside her body.
His fingertips suddenly pinched the edge of the table, and the blood on his knuckles instantly faded.
Why did my period come early?
Beads of cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
Could it be due to taking safflower?
But Shu Yao's body was shaking slightly, her slender fingers were pressed tightly against her abdomen, and her face was three times paler than rice paper.
Xiao Chengjing's eyes flashed, and he slammed the teacup in his hand against the table.
"Yaoyao?" He held her slightly trembling shoulders and shouted at Cui Jinzhong in a deep voice, "Prepare the room! Call the doctor!"
He picked up the sweaty Shu Yao and didn't care that his sleeve knocked over the teacup.
As he walked through the hall, the wooden planks of the stairs made a clattering sound.
The old doctor took the pulse pillow from the medical box and looked the two of them over carefully without making any expression.
The lady was of extraordinary beauty, and the man beside her wore a jade belt and brocade robe. One could tell at a glance that he was either rich or noble.
He has been in the business for many years and knows the ins and outs of it.
I thought to myself that these people appearing in the elegant room of a restaurant were definitely not an ordinary couple.
The old doctor held his breath and concentrated, pressing three fingers lightly on Shu Yao's wrist through the silk handkerchief, his white brows gradually furrowed.
The candle flame flickered, reflecting the golden thread on the corner of Xiao Chengjing's robe.
The old doctor's throat tightened unconsciously, and the words turned three times on the tip of his tongue before he spoke carefully: "My dear, the lady's pulse is slippery with a hint of astringency, which indicates a weak and cold constitution. It is caused by long-term mistaken use of strong blood-activating drugs, which has damaged the Chong and Ren meridians." He has been practicing medicine for thirty years and has seen too many secrets in the royal harem. It is very common for beautiful concubines to be forced to drink cold medicine.
As if unable to bear it, he lowered his head and added, "Safflower, musk, and the like are strong medicinal substances. Those with weak constitutions taking them for a long time would be like draining the pond to catch fish." The brass buckle of the medicine box made a soft clicking sound under his finger. "If you don't continue to take the medicine and keep the baby warm, I'm afraid... she'll be unable to conceive for life."
As soon as the words fell, the expressions of the two people were wonderful in their own ways.
As soon as the old doctor left, Xiao Chengjing pieced together the whole story.
He spun around, and the door slammed shut behind him.
A pair of eyes stared at Shu Yao's face, and his voice was filled with disbelief: "You really don't want to have my offspring?"
"You don't want to... actually harm your body like this?!"
Now that things have come to this, I'm afraid all the flattery in the past is no longer of any use.
Shu Yao raised her eyes to meet his, her expression calm, almost cruel. "Your Majesty, why are you so angry? You know better than anyone that, given my status, it's inappropriate for me to bear an heir, let alone enter the palace as a concubine." A faint smile formed on her lips. "Are you so angry because you're worried about my health, or because you're annoyed that I shouldn't have made the decision without your permission?"
Xiao Chengjing's eyes dimmed, as if he wanted to avoid her last question.
His chest rose and fell violently, and when he spoke, his voice was extremely heavy: "Is it because I keep you by my side... that I value these things?"
"What's that for?" Shu Yao laughed softly, but the smile didn't reach her eyes, turning into a hint of sneer on her lips. "Repay a favor?" Her eyes suddenly became sharp. Meeting his painful gaze, she spoke clearly, "Since ancient times, repaying a favor has never been heard of, in the brocade tent, on the pillow! I've also never heard of forcing a benefactor to bear children!"
The last trace of warmth in Xiao Chengjing's eyes suddenly faded away. He leaned forward and approached, his voice as cold as ice: "Since you insist on misinterpreting my true feelings to this extent, I don't need to indulge you anymore." He suddenly reached out and pinched Shu Yao's jaw, his knuckles turning blue and white.
Leaning forward, his breath like a blade, searing every word into her ear: "If you're willing to continue acting as before, I can pretend that what happened today never happened. If you don't want to..." He paused, his fingertips brushing across her pale cheek, his words stern, "I told you, I have the means to make you willingly... Come on your knees and beg me."
Looking at the murky and infatuated look in Xiao Chengjing's eyes, Shu Yao was shocked.
She actually kept measuring Xiao Chengjing with the standards of a normal person.
The word "madman" is not enough to describe him at all.
He is more like an abyss of its own logic.
He destroyed her, not out of love or hate, but out of the instinct of the abyss.
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The author has something to say: I feel like I accidentally wrote something cruel again [Clown]
Soon [Pigeon] I will soon write about chasing my wife to the crematorium [Pigeon]
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