Slender as jade, soft around fingers
The sun was shining brightly outside the window, but Ji Mingxiu felt a chill running down his spine.
"Mr. Prime Minister, it seems that you shouldn't appear in my bedroom, right?"
He sat up with a cold expression, his thin lips looked pale due to being tightened, and his left hand, which was at his side, quietly reached under the pillow.
"Is this what your majesty is looking for?"
Li Qingyun raised his eyebrows slightly, and just smiled as he watched Ji Mingxiu's little movements that he thought were hidden, and admired the panic and shock in his eyes. When he had tasted enough, he took out the dagger that Ji Mingxiu had hidden under his pillow from his sleeve, waved it in front of him like teasing a cat, and then put it back.
"Your Majesty, it is better for you to avoid such dangerous things. I will keep them for you."
He stepped forward and gently lifted Ji Mingxiu's chin.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I can't bear to see you get hurt."
The earlobe was gently touched and licked by the slightly cool lips, leaving a viper-like kiss.
Li Qingyun's seemingly affectionate actions made Ji Mingxiu feel cold all over. He suddenly widened his eyes and froze in disbelief.
The dead silence persisted.
Only when the kiss, which was not warm to begin with, grew cold and tepid did he turn his head away in embarrassment, avoiding the even more humiliating treatment that might be coming.
"Where's Cheng Tianfeng? I need to change clothes."
With the little guard's skills, it would be impossible for him to let Li Qingyun enter the bedroom so easily, unless something happened.
He deliberately mentioned Cheng Tianfeng because he wanted to know how he was doing.
Ji Mingxiu's dodge caused Li Qingyun's hand to fall empty in mid-air. His expression was gloomy as he stared at Ji Mingxiu's slightly trembling lips.
After a while, a playful smile came to his mind.
Without saying much, he just stood up and waved his hand, and Cheng Tianfeng immediately fell from the beam and knelt behind Li Qingyun.
"I am Tianfeng, and I have seen you, sir."
Taciturn and sharp, this was how Ji Mingxiu saw him for the first time.
The bronze token on his waist flashed a dazzling cold light, like a threatening blade.
It doesn't get any more straightforward than this.
Li Qingyun looked down at Ji Mingxiu's eyes which were instantly filled with tears. The red corners of his eyes, stained by anger and grievance, were like hooks, but in the end he did not let the tear fall.
It always makes people feel distressed when a beautiful woman sheds tears.
But what he loves most is to watch beautiful women cry.
Your Majesty, my good Majesty.
Li Qingyun gently kissed Ji Mingxiu's moistened brows and eyes, his voice low and vicious, as if he wanted to completely smash everything he had, pick out the greed, betrayal, and infidelity with the bloody tip of a knife, and then tear it apart in detail for him to see clearly.
"This is the commander-in-chief of the Yulin Army appointed by you personally. Your Majesty, why don't you even take a look at him?"
"Without him, it would not be so easy for me to enter your Majesty's Palace of Heavenly Purity."
Li Qingyun stared into Ji Mingxiu's dark eyes and held him in his arms like he was caressing a proud little cat covered with thorns. He was extremely proud of the angry and powerless look of His Majesty. He had been waiting for this day for a long time.
"Your Majesty, I am the only one left now."
It was Your Majesty who removed his own thorns with his own hands, which gave him the opportunity to take advantage of.
A sharp-edged memorial was stuffed into his cold and trembling fingertips. Ji Mingxiu lowered his head, restrained his trembling hands, and opened the memorial that hurt his heart.
The urgent report from Jiayuguan was not long.
King Cheng started a rebellion, Yumen Pass and Jiayu Pass were lost, and the troops in the northern border were blocked outside the pass. King Cheng had marched thousands of miles eastward, heading straight for Tiandu.
That tear finally fell.
The words "behead the tyrant and bring order to the world" at the end of the memorial were blurred and stained with the red color of the seal, like a slow and slow sunset in the northwest desert.
So in the uncle's mind, he was such a failure as an emperor?
His uncle who would tease him with his thick beard, who would scold him at the New Year's Eve banquet with his father in front of him, who would happily hold him in his arms while setting off fireworks in the palace...
The emperor's uncle, who had clearly hoped that he would live a safe, happy, and worry-free life, wanted to kill him.
When did it start?
He colluded with the Xiongnu and conspired with the Western Xia, and had wanted to assassinate him as early as when he was in the Western Hunting Ground.
This person has abandoned his country and family, and is only concerned with power.
Not his uncle.
The tears at the corners of the eyes were kissed away one by one, leaving bright kiss marks, like a mark of territory.
"Your Majesty does not seem shocked."
Li Qingyun narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at Ji Mingxiu's eyes. There was grief and determination in them, but not the unbelievable hatred he expected to see.
The kitten with bared fangs and claws is cute, but he does not belong to you.
Only by leaving His Majesty with nothing can he learn to rely on himself.
"Yongzhou has suffered from severe drought for many years. The people are starving and have difficulty in obtaining basic security. If King Cheng wants to raise an army, he will need money, food, and military equipment."
"The only possible sources of money and food are disaster relief funds sent by the central government and...
Ji Mingxiu put down the memorial, raised his head and stared closely at Li Qingyun. There were still tears in his eyes, but the indifference and calmness in them had refracted through the mist, revealing a sharp edge.
"A merchant who went to Yongzhou to exchange grain for salt."
This was a proposal put forward by the Secretariat, and there was no way Li Qingyun didn't know about it.
As for those cartloads of goods that were taken to Yongzhou, were they grain or something else? How could he be innocent?
"It's not like I didn't find out anything at all."
The documents that Ji Qingyi confessed to had already explained many problems. The Ministry of Revenue had serious financial loopholes and was rotten to the core.
only……
"What benefit did the uncle promise you?"
Ji Mingxiu straightened his body, as if this would make him look more awe-inspiring, but he didn't realize that he was now more like a wounded beast with nowhere to retreat. His deep red tears weren't even dry yet, but he was already imitating the old lion king and confronting the abyss.
How can one not be moved?
"Your Majesty, do you want to know?"
Li Qingyun had an ambiguous smile on his face and his eyes were full of mockery.
"It's a very tempting reward, but..."
Their breaths intertwined, he lifted a strand of Ji Mingxiu's black hair that had fallen on her shoulder and placed a cherishing kiss on it.
"I am not willing to use someone else's hands."
"So, Your Majesty has really wronged me."
"My loyalty to Your Majesty is evident to all."
The curtain that had never been drawn was used again to cover up the indescribable beauty.
The fingertips gently caressed the white and delicate skin, circled around the waist, and aroused a dense shudder. The hidden heat burned wantonly in the semi-enclosed environment.
His Majesty seemed to have accepted the humiliation of committing a crime against his superiors. Even though he clenched his teeth, his unbearable panting could still be heard through the gaps, which was very tempting. However, he still bared his teeth and showed his protruding fangs, glaring at them and fighting back viciously.
"Is that all you have?"
"Oh."
Li Qingyun admired his own masterpiece. Every bit of the bright red was just right. He even savored and polished the small mole at the bend of the leg in great detail.
"I have many more abilities."
"Your Majesty, please take your time to learn from me."