Chapter 1107 The word love is like a blade
"Do you think I'm dead?"
Yun Zhen suddenly approached, his gilded belt knocking against the table with a crisp sound: "Who gave you the courage to secretly investigate the whereabouts of Princess Changle and to spy on Xiao Zhan's background?"
Cold sweat slid down her spine, and Yun Yun tried to defend herself: "I just wanted to share your worries..."
Before she finished her words, the other person's bony palm had already covered the throbbing blood vessels in her neck.
The smell of sandalwood mixed with blood filled her nostrils, and she was startled to realize that the cicadas outside the window had stopped chirping at some point.
The coolness of the blue bricks seeped into her back through her thin shirt. Yun Yun looked at the dark pupils so close to her and suddenly remembered that snowy night three years ago.
He had the same expression at that time, and he pulled the bloody dagger out of his brother's heart with his own hands.
"You should be thankful that this face still resembles her a little bit."
Yun Zhen suddenly withdrew his hand, and with his black wide sleeves, he turned over the paperweight and said, "Get out of Jinling City. Don't make me say it again."
Yun Yun slid down the corridor column and sat on the ground. The lingering feeling of oppression in her throat reminded her that she had just walked on the edge of life and death.
The leaves of the sycamore trees rustled outside the window, and in a trance she seemed to hear Yun Chen's parting whisper again: "After being a chess piece for so long, do you really think you are the chess player?"
Five days later, on the day of Mu Xiu, Jiang Xue leaned against the wisteria trellis and counted the hours.
At this time of day, Xiao Zhan should have come to find her with the newly collected script.
Her fingertips unconsciously stroked the green jade bracelet until the wet nurse carried the two babies through the moon-shaped door.
"The young master is holding on to the silver lock today and won't let go."
The nurse took the babbling baby into her arms.
Jiang Xue lowered her eyes and looked at the pink-like child in her arms. Suddenly, she felt that the hard work of paperwork didn't seem so unbearable.
The bronze bell in the corridor rang softly, and she turned to look in the direction of the palace.
The imperial physician said that she needed to rest for three to five years, but with the memorials piled up on the desk in the imperial study, she might not be able to wait that long.
Thanks to Xiao Zhan for stabilizing the government, otherwise if he were so idle and careless, there would be chaos in the court and the country.
Thinking of this, a hint of relief flashed across his eyes.
When he stepped into Qingming Pavilion, Yun Zhen was already sitting upright on a carved sandalwood chair.
The waiter took him to the private room and left quietly, leaving the room filled with the aroma of tea.
"Should I be beheaded now?" Yun Zhen tapped the table with his fingertips, breaking the silence first.
Xiao Zhan lifted his robe and sat down, his voice as cold as ice: "I do have such thoughts."
He would eliminate any man who had improper thoughts about Jiang Xue as soon as possible, let alone the Northern Prince in front of him who had many secrets.
However, considering that Jiang Ke had become a thorn in her heart, and that he had once saved her and her life, she finally suppressed her murderous intent.
"When will we start?"
"Let's see how the Fourth Prince makes his move." The black sleeves brushed across the teacup, and the celadon porcelain made a crisp sound when it collided.
Yun Zhen suddenly chuckled: "I thought today was a place for questioning, but I was too shallow." His knuckles unconsciously rubbed the celadon cup, and the amber tea soup showed slight ripples.
"What crime do you think I should be charged with?"
"Since Yun Yun was allowed to write with both hands, and Du Ya did not kill her, wasn't he just using her pen to send a message to me?" The teacup slammed down on the table: "Why do you have to be so roundabout and test me?"
Xiao Zhan's eyebrows moved slightly: "Your Highness admits that I called the princess by her maiden name when I was drunk that night?"
"Since it has already been said, why should we hide it?"
Yun Zhen suddenly leaned forward, his eyes flickering with a dark light: "When a man is drunk, he recites a woman's name, but it's just love and hate, what mystery can there be?"
Amid the crisp sound of porcelain cups hitting sandalwood, Xiao Zhan's eyes condensed into frost: "Allow you to defend yourself."
"What are you arguing about?"
Yun Zhen suddenly smiled and said, "Love me deeply or hate me deeply, Lord Prime Minister, do you not want to investigate further?"
"The answer is already in my hand."
Xiao Zhan sneered, and slowly stroked the edge of the lamp with his fingertips: "You thought you were hiding it perfectly, but you didn't know that love is like a knife, it can easily break through all disguises."
The last half sentence was wrapped in the aroma of tea and diffused in the air, startling the remaining embers of the agarwood on the table.
Yun Zhen's breathing stagnated for a moment, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the silver lines on his cuffs: "So, before Yun Yun told me, you realized that I was..."
"shut up!"
Xiao Zhan knocked the teacup in his hand heavily on the table, and the celadon cracked into fine lines: "Not everyone is qualified to call me that."
The dark official uniform made his features look even more sinister: "Mr. Yun should know when to advance and when to retreat."
"What if I go beyond the rules?"
The young man in plain clothes suddenly chuckled: "Master Prime Minister will never go against the princess's wishes and take my life? After all..."
The words turned in his throat and there was a sly flash in his eyes.
Xiao Zhan's wide sleeves brought up the cold fragrance, and his eyes swept across the jade carving of the twin lotuses on the desk: "I saved your life in exchange for your half-life. Tomorrow you will set off for Lingnan, and never come to Beijing again in this life."
“You’ll regret this.”
Yun Zhen suddenly stopped smiling and tapped the sandalwood table with his fingertips: "Have you noticed that Her Highness has been bedridden since giving birth?"
A flash of cold light flashed as his sleeves fluttered, and Xiao Zhan's sword was already against the man's throat: "Did you do anything?"
"If I had intended to harm her, why would I have exchanged my own life for hers when I cut open her caesarean section to take the baby out?"
Yun Zhen pushed the sword away with two fingers, revealing the dark red curse seal on his wrist: "The secret method keeps you alive, and you need to use your blood and essence every month. If you leave the capital——"
He stroked the brown stains left on the medicine bowl on the table and said, "Within thirty days, no medicine or stone will work."
Xiao Zhan's pupils suddenly shrank. Recalling that every new moon, Yun Zhen would always send her special soup, Xiao Xue's face did indeed become much rosier after drinking it.
The hilt of the sword hurt his palm, but he remained calm: "How can I save people with the blood of the living dead?"
"It's just a trick." Yun Zhen opened his shirt, and the cinnabar mole on his chest was beating. "Your Excellency the Prime Minister should think about why I came to the capital with this face."
The thunder outside the window split the twilight, and his face overlapped with the Jiang Ke in his memory.
The tea soup in the celadon cup rippled, and Xiao Zhan's throat tightened.
The heavy rain brought down the doubts from many years ago - the jade pendant that was broken when Jiang Ke fell off the cliff was now hanging on Yun Zhen's waist.
Yun Zhen's eyes swept across his face and he left the table. Xiao Zhan leaned against the carved chair without moving, the sound of the copper bells on the eaves gradually faded away with the dark clothes.
Those pointed questions were not meant to seek answers. He turned the jade ring three times in his palm. At this moment, he was more concerned about the clues hidden in the previous conversation.
If what that person said was true... Xiao Zhan suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if his heart had been pierced by a poisoned silver needle.
When dusk fell, he stepped into the Xiyuan study. Jiang Xue was bending over a rosewood desk, copying the "Medicine Master Sutra". The ink bead hanging from the tip of her wolf-hair brush was about to fall, and she didn't even notice him standing outside the diamond-shaped door.
"It's time for the princess to take her medicine."
The maid came in small steps carrying an ebony tray.
Xiao Zhan took the celadon medicine cup with a lotus flower painted on it, and mist filled the air over the woman's drooping eyelashes.
Jiang Xue suddenly raised her head, a faint smile spreading across her eyes: "Today is half a minute earlier than usual."
Xiao Zhan watched her pick up the porcelain bowl and drink it all in one gulp, his Adam's apple rolling unconsciously.
I still remember that in the beginning she always loved to hold the corner of his sleeve to ask for candied fruit, but now even her eyebrows don't tremble at all.
The half-foot-high pile of medical records on his desk stung his eyes. The words "warm and nourishing" annotated with cinnabar by Xiao'antang now seemed like a ridiculous prophecy.
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