elopement
The next day, Lin Huai'en put the soup his mother had cooked into a lunch box and took a carriage to the general's mansion.
Deep in the courtyard of the general's mansion, outside Xue Dingchu's room, four burly men in military uniforms crowded at the door, some squatting, some leaning, some standing, and some sitting, all with a decadent look on their faces, as if their spirits had been drained.
One of the thinner lieutenants scratched his head and said, "Tell me, when will Brother Ding finally come to his senses? If this continues, he won't even recognize us anymore..."
An obese officer was the first to notice Lin Huai'en. He stood up quickly and tremblingly, "Your Majesty..."
Hearing this, the other three men immediately straightened their bent backs, lined up respectfully, and stood in front of Lin Huai'en. Their restraint blocked Lin Huai'en's way.
Lin Huai'en realized that these were Xue Dingchu's brothers in the military camp, nodded, and politely introduced himself.
The fat lieutenant couldn't hold back his anger and said bluntly, "Your Majesty, isn't that red string on your wrist that Brother Ding has been wearing for five years? Brother Ding said it was given to him by his sweetheart. Every time before a battle, Brother Ding would take it out and inspect it a hundred times."
The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
So, the tall, thin man desperately pulled the fat lieutenant's sleeve to remind him. But the fat lieutenant, who didn't know how to see things, not only didn't stop talking, but even added, "Hahaha. So it turns out that the person that Ding Ge has been thinking about for so long is you, the Queen."
The atmosphere is totally hopeless...
Lin Huai'en rolled his eyes and changed the subject, "How is Dingchu doing?"
Afraid that the fat man would say something shocking again, the thin lieutenant quickly pushed the fat lieutenant away with his butt, stepped forward and led Lin Huai'en inside, "Brother Ding is inside."
Inside the room, Xue Dingchu sat sullenly in a corner, his handsome eyes blinking slowly, as if he had lost all life. The surrounding atmosphere was gloomy and gray.
"Brother Ding hasn't spoken or moved in the past few days. Apart from a few barks when he was delirious with fever...he hasn't said anything else."
The thin lieutenant deliberately concealed who Xue Dingchu was calling. But as clever as Lin Huai'en was, he understood the meaning of his words and did not speak out.
"Brother Ding, look who's here." The thin lieutenant tried to call out to Xue Dingchu, but Xue Dingchu didn't respond. He sighed, "Brother Ding has ignored us for many days. It would be nice if he could just respond."
"Dingchu." Lin Huai'en shouted.
As if awakened, Xue Dingchu's eyelids fluttered, and he tilted his head to look intently at Lin Huai'en's face. After a moment, a trace of struggle suddenly climbed into his silent eyes.
The thin lieutenant was startled by the look. It was filled with paranoia, gloom, and even a hint of madness. The usually taciturn Xue Dingchu had never seen such a look before.
Xue Dingchu took action, took two steps forward from the corner of the wall, grabbed Lin Huai'en's hand, and pulled him out without saying a word. He blew a whistle with his lips pinched, calling his Ferghana horse.
The four lieutenants were all panicked and tried to hold Xue Dingchu back, but no one could. Xue Dingchu was incredibly strong and managed to carry Lin Huai'en onto his horse and rush towards the city gate.
Lin Huai'en shouted, "Dingchu, what are you going to do?"
Xue Dingchu opened his voice, which was extremely hoarse and low due to lack of water, "Wynn, that person is too dangerous. I want to take you away to a completely safe place."
The horses rushed forward. Xue Dingchu had only one thought in mind, which was to take Lin Huai'en away.
Snowflakes fell slowly over the city gate. Staring at the wall that stood so close, representing freedom, Lin Huai'en was lost in thought for a moment. Instead of a trace of excitement, his mind flooded with memories of Di Shaoze.
When he was sixteen years old, Di Shaoze picked him up from the street next to the examination hall.
Emperor Shaoze said to him: "Who said Shuang'er can't enter the officialdom?"
When he was eighteen years old, he accompanied the down-and-out Emperor Shaoze to his fiefdom and was held in Emperor Shaoze's arms.
Emperor Shaoze said to him: "Huai En, I promise that I will give you a prosperous country. I will not let you down."
When he was twenty years old, Emperor Shaoze ascended the throne and placed the country before him.
Emperor Shaoze said to him: "I will issue an edict to allow women and Shuang'er to enter the government. From now on, you can boldly describe your ideals, and I will grant you all."
At the age of twenty-five, Di Shaoze and he hugged each other tightly in a red dress.
Emperor Shaoze said to him: "Huai'en, since I have loved you for ten years, I can naturally love you for twenty, thirty, until we are old and gray."
The endless stream of bitter or sweet memories, like an indestructible prison, bound Lin Huaien's heart that yearned for freedom...
Even if his people escaped from the capital, what would it matter? His heart would still be tightly bound to Di Shaoze, and they would spend the rest of their lives together.
Click...the city gate is closed.
"Lord Lin, Lord Xue, what happened?" The guard ran down from the city gate in panic. Although he didn't know why his two superiors wanted to leave the city, he had to stop them from riding so madly.
Lin Huai'en said in a deep voice: "I will take care of it, you just need to close the city gate."
The guard kowtowed: "Yes!"
"Dingchu." Lin Huai'en stroked the back of Xue Dingchu's hand, gently soothing him. "I'm not afraid of Di Shaoze, so you don't have to give up everything to take me away from the capital."
Xue Dingchu turned his head, his eyes showing a trace of confusion, "Aren't you afraid? He is an evil ghost, but you are not afraid of him? I don't understand..." At this point, Xue Dingchu's tone was pleading, and he sounded much more pitiful.
Lin Huai'en lowered his sad eyes, "Just think of me as a slut. You clearly know that he is not a good man, but you still intend to stick with him until the end."
Xue Dingchu choked up, "I just hope you can cut your losses in time."
Lin Huai'en said, "It's too late for me. If you like someone, you can endure the pain and withdraw in time, but if you love someone, if you want to withdraw, you will have to endure the pain of cutting bones and breaking flesh."
Lin Huai'en raised his head again, "I just hope you can cut your losses in time. I'm not your ideal man either."
Xue Dingchu's eyes flickered twice, and he just grabbed Lin Huai'en's wrist tightly, "It's too late for me. I can't give up on you."
Whenever Xue Dingchu got angry, he didn't show it on his face. He just held Lin Huai'en tightly with his hands and would not let Lin Huai'en leave for even a step. He was very clingy.
Lin Huai'en understood his childhood sweetheart's temperament and sighed softly in his heart, "In that case, Dingchu, you will become my right-hand man. If you become a general, you will be able to compete with the commander of the imperial guards, and even avenge your past."
Lin Huai'en didn't want his childhood sweetheart to fall back into despair, so he simply shifted his focus and let him focus on his official career.
A glimmer of light appeared in Xue Dingchu's eyes, and he replied seriously: "Wai En, I promise you, I will."
Lin Huai'en took Xue Dingchu back to the general's residence and looked after him for a long time, personally checking that he washed his face, drank soup, and ate. Seeing that his condition was beginning to improve, he felt a little relieved. When he returned to the prime minister's residence, he told his mother about this matter in detail.
As the sun set, Lin Huai'en got on a carriage and headed towards the inner palace. He first went to the study, intending to sort out the accumulated official documents.
Click...
But as soon as Lin Huai'en pushed open the door of the study, he was shocked by the scene inside.
Inside the dimly lit room, the floor was littered with scattered books, and numerous memorials had been torn to shreds. Emperor Shaoze's hair crown had fallen to the ground, his long hair disheveled, its broken ends scattered across his forehead, his body engulfed in scraps of paper.
The always neat Di Shaoze looked like he had crawled out of a garbage dump, looking strange, disheveled and scary. He was holding a brush and painting on the scroll.
After finishing the painting, Di Shaoze threw the scroll in front of Lin Huai'en. "In the afternoon, my imperial study was piled high with urgent memorials. My queen and the general fled to the city gate on horseback, behaving intimately, and I'm afraid they may be having an affair. Lord Lin, I've only let you go for a moment, and you want to elope?"
In the painting drawn by Di Shaoze, Lin Huai'en was held in Xue Dingchu's arms by the city gate. He kissed his neck affectionately, his almond-shaped eyes slightly bent, and his smile was ambiguous and passionate, extremely dissolute.
Lin Huai'en gritted his teeth. In Di Shaoze's mind, he was actually like this. He endured the frustration and argued, "I would never do such a thing."
"Lord Lin is really talking nonsense. For him, you even killed the king. What else can you not do?" Di Shaoze grabbed Lin Huai'en with his long arms, and trapped him in his arms. His strength tightened, as if he wanted to embed him into his bones and blood. "How can I forget the pain in my heart? Because of him, I almost died in your hands."
Di Shaoze's embrace intensified with paranoia and madness. Lin Huai'en, in pain so intense that tears welled up in his eyes, defended himself, "I didn't mean to injure you. I'm really trying my best to make up for it. I don't like any man other than you. And it was you who was the worse for me, keeping a male concubine in the palace. We've been married for so long, and you haven't even come to see me once."
Di Shaoze was slightly stunned. "Are you competing with me to see who is more capable of cheating?"
Lin Huai'en bit his lower lip, unwilling to admit defeat. "Your Majesty, you started the competition! Aren't we just a couple who are in harmony but not in harmony?"
Di Shaoze bit his lower lip cruelly, "Alright! It seems that you know very well that I married you only to imprison you, not to truly treat you as my wife. But even so, as long as I don't divorce you, you cannot have sex with other men."
Lin Huai'en was pressed against the pure white scroll by Di Shaoze, who forcibly tore open his phoenix robe. Di Shaoze grabbed the brush and inkstone with one hand, smearing the tip of the brush with ink.
Lin Huai'en struggled several times but failed to get free. He could only hold back his tears, his body trembling slightly, and he looked a little terrified. "Your Majesty, what are you going to do?"
Di Shaoze's eyes flashed crimson, and his voice was as deep and majestic as thunder. "I want you to be stained with my color, marked by me, and become my exclusive possession!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
