Chapter 13 Jin Ling 13
"...Why haven't you come recently?" Li Yi opened his mouth, with thousands of words in his heart, but in the end he only asked this question.
In this small world, it seemed as if they were the only two left. Jin Ling's prolonged silence made his heart beat like a drum, and sweat unknowingly soaked his clothes.
"Your Highness..." Just when Li Yi thought they would stand like this forever, the woman finally spoke, "I just suddenly realized that my status is completely different from Your Highness's."
The man frowned, full of confusion: "How come our identities are so different?"
"Your Highness is a prince, and you will naturally have many virtuous wives and concubines, as well as many children and grandchildren in the future. As for me, the best outcome is probably to die of old age in the palace."
Li Yi hadn't expected her to say that, and he felt wronged and sad. He clutched Jin Ling's shoulders and said in a frighteningly deep voice, "There are so many women in the world, but none of them matter to me. Of the three thousand rivers, I only need one."
"What about Sanhao?"
"Three good ones?"
Li Yi was confused for a long time. He had no idea why Jin Ling would mention her. They had only met a few times, and Jin Ling was always there every time.
Could it be...
"Just now, Sanhao saw that I looked depressed, so he said something to comfort me. There is nothing between us."
"Just that?"
“That’s all!”
"Aren't you attracted by Sanhao's pure kindness, gentleness and generosity?"
"Of course I..." In a flash, Li Yi suddenly remembered that Jin Ling stopped meeting him on the day she saw him carrying Sanhao.
"Jin Ling, are you...jealous?" Li Yi asked cautiously, with a cheap smile on his face again.
Jin Ling, who had been keeping her head down, finally raised her head: "Who's jealous?"
However, her red eyes had already revealed her panic, and at this moment, with her hands on her hips pretending to be calm, she looked extremely pitiful and cute in his eyes.
Li Yi subconsciously pressed his chest. For the first time, he felt a sense of fullness in his heart, making his brain slightly dizzy. He even wanted to embrace Jin Ling in his arms, but he was worried about the many people in the palace watching him, so he held back.
After a sincere confession of love between the two, their interactions became more ambiguous and hazy in the days that followed, with even their glances hinting at love.
Although Sanhao was worried about the disparity in social status between Jinling and the prince, he could not help but feel sorry for her when he thought about his own feelings for Mr. Gao. He could not say anything to dissuade her and could only advise her to be careful and not be discovered by others.
That day, Jin Ling went to Turtle Tomb as they had agreed. As soon as she entered, she noticed that Li Yi looked strange.
"Your Highness, are you in a bad mood?" Jin Ling took some candied fruits she made from the basket and handed them to him. Li Yi stuffed them all into his mouth without even looking at them.
"Ugh—so sour!"
Jin Ling stared in amazement as the man stuffed the handful of pickled plums she handed him into his mouth. His handsome face was distorted by the sour taste, and he looked both amused and anxious.
"You're such a fool! You don't even see what I'm feeding you." He quickly raised his handkerchief to catch it. "Why don't you spit it out quickly? Aren't you afraid that I'm feeding you poison?"
Li Yi took the handkerchief from her hand and swallowed the whole handful of dried plums, suppressing the sour taste. Tears welled up in his eyes. He took out his handkerchief from his bosom and wiped it casually, still trying to comfort her:
"I'm fine..."
Jin Ling rolled her eyes at him, not caring that he had taken another handkerchief from her. She pulled him under the shade of a tree and said, "Sometimes I wonder if you're really stupid. Standing here in the sun, waiting, aren't you afraid of getting a heat stroke?"
Li Yi obediently let her little hand lead her away, with a gentle and docile smile on her face, and took the basket from Jin Ling's hand.
It was filled with incense, candles and paper, and Jin Ling's wrist was a little red from carrying it all the way over.
"I didn't wait long, but I was sweating a little after walking all the way."
Jin Ling pursed her lips, glanced at the sweat on his forehead without commenting, and brought the subject back to the topic: "So what happened today? I saw that His Highness seemed a little unhappy."
Li Yi was about to change the subject, but seeing Jin Ling's cold, all-seeing gaze, the forced smile could no longer be maintained. "Sure enough, nothing can be hidden from Jin Ling. Today... the Grand Empress Dowager summoned my mother over. To her..."
"What a humiliation!"
Li Yi's eyes were filled with pain and self-blame. For so many years, his mother had suffered so much trouble from the Empress Dowager because of him. They had retreated again and again, but in return they had only received more and more humiliation and abuse from the other side!
He can't bear it anymore!
"Your Highness has already made a decision." Jin Ling said this with certainty, not only because of the plot, but also because after spending nearly a year together, she knew that the other party was not someone who would sit still and wait for death.
"Yes!" Li Yi looked at Jin Ling's eyes sparkling. He knew that the person who understood him best in this world was not his mother who raised him, nor was it Ruan Sizhen, Liu Sanhao, or Gao Xianyang who had helped him, but the one who had made an appointment with him under the moon and had pledged her love to him with the sunflower.
Yao Jinling.
Although he had never said it explicitly, he had already determined that they were deeply in love. This time, he left the palace precisely to ask Jin Ling if she was willing to leave with him.
Before he could speak, someone suddenly came out from behind the door and said, "Jin Ling, the Palace Lady is summoning all the ladies from the various chambers to a meeting in the council hall."
Jin Ling turned around and saw who else it could be but Sanhao. She said goodbye to Li Yi in a hurry, told him to put his own safety first, and then left in a hurry.
Li Yi was left alone, standing in front of the empty temple, silent, and only laughed at himself after a long time.
Well, it seems that fate did not want him to bring trouble to others. Now he was in trouble himself, and Jin Ling was highly valued in the Shanggong Bureau, but he let her follow him and live a life of hardship and uncertainty.
"Selfish and shameless." The man ridiculed himself harshly, then he tightly grasped the lacquer tree juice prepared in his sleeves.
He was reluctant to leave Jin Ling, but his mother...if he didn't leave now, he was afraid that his mother would be tortured to death by the Empress Dowager sooner or later.
Love and filial piety tugged at him. Li Yi knew which side he would choose, but precisely because of this, he felt even more tormented and unwilling. The promises of the past, the vows of the day before, now became proof of his own betrayal.
If, if I wasn't the powerless, insane, and foolish King Guang...
[He will definitely choose to abandon this relationship and escape with Concubine Zheng.] Jin Ling chatted with Sanhao along the way, while not forgetting to complain to the system in her heart.
[You can marry another wife, but you only have one mother~] The melodrama really doesn’t deceive me, especially in ancient times when filial piety was the guiding principle for governing a country.
The system disagreed: [Li Yi will return to become emperor anyway, and Concubine Zheng likes you, so this wave of events won't have much impact on you.]
Jin Ling smiled and gave Sanhao some pickled plums. She turned around and rolled her eyes at the system: [Who told you it wouldn't have any impact? I'm making a killing this time, okay?]
She stepped over the threshold and listened to Lady Cai talking about the epidemic in the palace, explaining the pros and cons of the incident:
[Do you remember what Li Yi said to me earlier?]
System N1: [Uh...you guys said so much, how do I know which one it is?]
[Of course it's the saying, "There are thousands of rivers, but I only need one scoop, stupid!"] Jin Ling continued to fish in troubled waters with her head down, having given up hope on this system that hadn't made any progress in all these years.
Li Yi had many good qualities, the best of which was that he honored his word. He swore to marry only me, but he would become emperor in the future.
Jin Ling listened to Concubine Cai's statement that although there was a plague in the palace, His Majesty's birthday celebration would still be held as planned, and a subtle ironic smile appeared on the corner of her mouth:
[An emperor, a good emperor, should not favor only one person. At least before Ma Yuanying's downfall, the virtuous concubine will undoubtedly be promoted.]
Jin Ling and the others followed the order and left. Thinking of the bloody and turbulent months to come, they couldn't wait any longer.
This time, she holds the script of a childhood sweetheart with the emperor, and they are in love with each other. She is such a kind, innocent, and pure girl, but she is the poor white moonlight who is let down by the emperor.
I wonder how the "good-hearted" and spoiled young lady Concubine Xian will resolve the situation.
Hehehe~
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