Chapter 90: Forced Demolition How could King Jin know what he said?
She woke up a little late in the morning because the aches and pains from last night had not yet gone away. She had hoped to sleep until noon, but Xie Xuanlan was restless and kept pestering her, trying to coax her into taking off her clothes.
The sunlight filtered through the red tent, and even the beads of sweat on her forehead were clearly visible. However, he refused to let her hide. He turned her face to take a closer look at her uncontrollable and unbearable expression, and even took the trouble to lift up the quilt, examining her body trembling with passion inch by inch. Cong Ying repeatedly called him shameless.
Forgetting this matter, Cong Ying didn't even bother to rest. She ran barefoot to the bathroom as if escaping, took a shower and changed her clothes, and didn't want to get close to him anymore.
She lazily tied her hair up simply and walked slowly to the garden in front of the library to water the flowers. She smelled the sweet osmanthus flowers in full bloom and went closer to fiddle with them. She didn't know what she was thinking about, but an irresistible smile appeared on her face, and then she sighed with regret.
Once she went to the northwest, she would never see such beautiful osmanthus flowers again.
Then she remembered that she had promised King Jin that she would send him nectar every year, so she was afraid that this year she would have to ask Zi Su to do it for her.
An indescribable feeling of guilt and regret flashed through Ying's heart.
I hope he is in good health. I don’t know how old he is, but we may see each other again someday.
I hope that when he finds out that I have secretly followed Xie Xuanlan to the northwest, he won't be too angry and upset himself. I hope that he can find out later so that there won't be any more trouble.
There were slow footsteps approaching from behind, and a bony hand reached out from behind her, with a slightly cool body temperature, and touched her slender neck.
Cong Ying thought that Xie Xuanlan was playing with her and was about to say something when she suddenly caught a glimpse of the golden python pattern on the corner of the man's sleeve. That was a pattern that only princes could use. The smile on her face slowly disappeared, and a layer of cold sweat suddenly broke out on her stiff back.
"Jin——"
Before she could even scream, he covered her mouth with his other hand.
The man's cold and melancholy voice rang close to her earlobe: "Jiang Congying, you've become more and more thoughtful. For such a big event as your wedding, you didn't even invite me to the wedding banquet?"
She looked at him from the side, her eyelashes trembling slightly, and there seemed to be fear in her eyes.
"Why, are you afraid that I'll disrupt your wedding night, or are you afraid that I'll kill him?"
Prince Jin's fingertips gently caressed the skin of her neck, and some scenes from last night emerged in his mind. He bent his fingers downwards, lifted her collar, and gently lifted it, and sure enough, he found a red mark on her collarbone.
He slowly raised the corners of his mouth, as if mocking or sarcastic, but his eyes seemed covered with ice and snow, with a faint scarlet blood rolling in them.
He said to Congying word by word, "Then you are right to be worried."
He raised his hand and waved, and three hundred elite soldiers from the Prince of Jin's mansion rushed in, swords and knives in hand, full of murderous intent, and rushed towards the bridal chamber behind the library in a line, heading straight for the bridal chamber in the backyard of the library. Cong Ying struggled to break free from the Prince of Jin's hand and shouted, "No!"
As she finished speaking, the guards who rushed over were kicked out one after another.
Xie Xuanlan, his hair tied up but not yet crowned, was still wearing his new clothes from last night. The crimson wedding gown accentuated his handsome features, yet now they were frosted with cold. He was in the bridal chamber in the backyard when he heard a commotion up ahead. He hurried over, sword in hand, only to encounter the elite troops brought by the Prince of Jin surrounding Ji Suyuan, with Cong Ying held captive in his arms, unable to move.
Xie Xuanlan did not draw his sword, but swept it horizontally with his hand. The pain it caused when it hit someone was more severe than with an ordinary stick. He could knock down a group of people with one swing.
Although the elite troops of the palace were numerous and powerful, they were unexpectedly overwhelmed by Xie Xuanlan's single-handed sword in the small space of the courtyard, unable to subdue him for a while. Seeing that Xie Xuanlan had the upper hand and was about to kill him with the sword, the Prince of Jin grabbed Congying from behind, stretched out his hand to strangle her slender neck, and looked at Xie Xuanlan with indifference.
Xie Xuanlan paused in his movements, and was immediately hit on the back by a stick, causing him to stagger forward violently.
Then another stick hit him on the shoulder.
The King of Jin did not exert any strength, but shouted to Xie Xuanlan from Ying: "Sanlang, hurry up and leave! He won't do anything to me. He's coming for you!"
Xie Xuanlan gnashed his teeth and glared at Prince Jin, "Are you crazy? Let her go!"
King Jin said calmly, "Yes, I'm crazy. Do you want to gamble?"
The two men's eyes, one gloomy and the other angry, collided with each other in the air and remained deadlocked for a long time.
Xie Xuanlan once respected him for risking his life to save Aying, but he did not dare to gamble on a man's jealousy. Finally, his wrist loosened and he dropped the Yanzhi knife. The guards took the opportunity to hit his knees with sticks and knocked him to his knees.
The King of Jin said, "Tied him up tightly. I want to see him alone."
Watching the scene through her tearful eyes, Xie Xuanlan was beaten, his neck draped with a rough hemp rope, his wrists bound tightly. The guards, fearing he might break free and injure the Prince of Jin, placed an iron shackle on his shoulders and, with shouts and shouts, led him to the upper chamber, where they awaited the Prince of Jin's personal questioning.
After restraining Xie Xuanlan, the King of Jin finally let her go: "Sorry, I offended you—"
Before he finished speaking, Zong Ying turned around, raised his hand, and with a "slap", slapped King Jin in the face with a loud slap.
The elite soldiers in the palace were all stunned and dared not breathe for a moment. They clenched their swords and guns tightly, waiting for the order from Prince Jin to arrest this extremely daring woman.
Unexpectedly, after a moment of stunned silence, Prince Jin simply smiled, swallowing the bloody smell rising in his throat. His voice remained gentle and calm: "If you received this slap because I coerced you, then I deserve it. If it was because of Xie San, then it's really unfair. Don't you think he deserves death more than me?"
Cong Ying said, "He is my husband. I am willing to marry him. Your Highness Prince Jin should not interfere."
The King of Jin seemed to have reached a point where he could no longer be persuaded. He nodded and said, "You don't want me to intervene, but I will."
He called a few guards and put Congying in the library. He also sent Zisu to accompany her. The King of Jin said to Congying, "Be good and don't run around, or I'll break Zisu's legs. Congying, you've always been soft-hearted, haven't you?"
Although this trick was disgusting, it was extremely effective against Cong Ying. She was so angry that her eyes turned red and she turned her face away angrily.
In the new house in the backyard, the beauty of last night is still lingering.
The dragon and phoenix wedding candles burned all night, and Xie Xuanlan lit them again after he got up.
After entering the room, Prince Jin looked around and saw that the four corners of the room were hung with red silk, the screen was covered with big red wedding flowers, and the golden cup that had been used to drink the wedding wine was placed casually on the small table. It was exactly the same scene he had seen when he and Xie Xuanlan were sharing the same feeling last night.
The bed curtains were even more disheveled than what he saw last night, and it seemed that Ying had changed into another set of underwear, the one she wore before going to bed.
King Jin looked at the little embroidered lotus with a cold smile on his face, but waves of rage surged in his heart.
...He is really unrestrained and has no self-control.
He walked around the screen, out of the inner room, and in front of Xie Xuanlan who was forced to kneel in the outer hall. He pulled him up from the ground and slapped him in the face.
Seeing that he was not angry but smiling, as if he had no remorse, she slapped him again.
She questioned him, "You're very proud of ruining her future, aren't you?"
Xie Xuanlan met the King of Jin's gaze without fear or hesitation, and chuckled softly, "Why bother coming up with such a high-sounding excuse? Just say you're jealous. You're jealous that she and I can be a legitimate couple."
"It's legitimate, do you think you deserve it?"
The Prince of Jin spoke in a voice as cold as ice, word for word, "You're taking advantage of her soft heart, seducing her into a momentary infatuation, and ruining her future to become dependent on you and curry your favor. But what can you offer her? You're still a prisoner, a rotten stone sinking in the mire. You're dragging her down with you!"
Xie Xuanlan said: "Husband and wife are meant to be like birds of love, sharing joys and sorrows. Since she is willing to marry me, I will protect her with my life."
"I'm afraid you can't protect her," the King of Jin said. "If one day she is willing to die for you, will you be as complacent as you are now?"
Xie Xuanlan was stunned for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "Nonsense."
If he is asked to give up his beloved woman for some inexplicable conjecture, then there is no need for anyone in the world to get married.
The Prince of Jin sneered, "Last night you made her some random promises, saying that once we got to the northwest, you'd buy her a house in the border town closest to the military camp, hire some guards, and buy her some maids. And then what? Would you have her stay home all day embroidering? Or would you have her bear you children, teach them to read and write every day, and wait day after day for your ten-day leave, wasting her youth until she grew old..."
Xie Xuanlan frowned and stared at him, his eyes slightly darkened: "How do you know what I said to Aying?"
The King of Jin continued, "This is still the most wonderful fantasy. What is more likely is that someone is eyeing her beauty and you are unable to protect her all the time, or that someone wants to assassinate you on your way to the northwest, and implicate her in the process."
"I asked you how you knew what I said to her!"
Xie Xuanlan raised his voice, his face grimacing, pale and almost ferocious. If it weren't for the iron shackles, he would have immediately strangled the Prince of Jin.
His private conversation with Aying reached the ears of King Jin within just one night.
He didn't believe that Ah Ying would deliberately learn these words to tell Prince Jin. There was no one hiding under the bed last night, so how did Prince Jin know these words?
Looking into his eyes filled with sarcasm, Xie Xuanlan suddenly felt a chill on his back.
He thought of his recent unexplained and uncontrollable mind wandering, but he couldn't figure out the connection between them.
Xie Xuanlan's gaze was like a sharp thorn, staring at Prince Jin's face. "It seems that His Highness Prince Jin is no ordinary person. He can hear things he shouldn't hear and know things that others cannot know."
Seeing that he had no doubts about Cong Ying, King Jin raised his eyebrows slightly: "So you should listen to my advice."
"What are you trying to say? Just because of your few words and your mysterious tricks, you want me to give up Ying?"
Xie Xuanlan smiled and said, "But I understand your suggestion. I will part ways with Ah Ying on the way to the northwest. If she is unhappy there, I will send her back to Yunjing. She is the young lady of the Xie family, and the Xie family is willing to give her everything she wants."
Prince Jin said disappointedly, "You really haven't changed your bad habits."
He didn't want to see Xie Xuanlan's face again, fearing that he would be unable to resist drawing his sword and killing him once and for all, so he slowly walked to the door, turned his back to him and looked at the courtyard.
No one could see the melancholy nostalgia in his eyes, only his voice revealed an unusual loneliness:
"You don't understand Ah Ying. She's full of talent and ambition. She shouldn't be in the Northwest, nor should she be in the Xie family. Her career is right under her feet, but she's been hesitant to take that step because she doesn't want to disappoint you. She's too soft-hearted and puts herself too low. If she can make you happy even a little, she's willing to swallow a lot of grievances."
"I used to be naive, thinking that the pain she endured was all accidents, a mockery of fate. I thought that if I were willing to fight for her, I could erase her past and change her future... Now I'm slowly realizing that I was wrong."
Prince Jin leaned against the door and looked back at Xie Xuanlan.
"She is a wild bird on the eaves, and she can only leave the cage when she dies. You and I are the cage that trapped her, and we are the culprits who killed her."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
