Chapter 93 You're not satisfied now that you've become my person? ...
Xue Lanyi instinctively took a half step back.
She didn't want to.
But at this moment, everyone's eyes followed Wei Zhang and moved to Xue Lanyi.
The people in the square and the officials on the white jade steps all looked at her.
She dared not think that if she offended Wei Zhang now, the matter of the Crown Prince might take another turn for the worse.
I think so.
Wei Zhang has always been arrogant and domineering.
Xue Lanyi had reached a point where she had no choice but to compromise. She pursed her lips and finally placed her hand in Wei Zhang's palm.
In an instant, she was lifted up by a force and landed lightly on Wei Zhang's horse.
Cold pine resin attacked her from all directions.
Xue Lanyi shrank her neck.
She knew that by reaching out her hand, she was essentially acknowledging her relationship with Wei Zhang in public.
There is no way out.
Although I had just mentally prepared myself, I still felt uncomfortable. I lowered my eyes and remained silent, gripping the saddle with both hands.
Wei Zhang could see her reluctance, but she didn't struggle today and obediently held onto the saddle, which meant she was willing to go with him.
With a warm, soft body in his arms, the gloom in the court dissipated, and Wei Zhang was in a great mood. He tilted his head to look at the girl's profile and asked, "How did you get here?"
His voice was deep and flat, without any sharp edges.
Xue Lanyi bit her lip and ignored him.
Wei Zhang knew in his heart that she hadn't come looking for him.
She must have been dragged here by some ignorant scholars looking for Mu Qinghong.
He knew everything, yet he didn't know why he was asking such meaningless questions.
Seeing that she wouldn't reply, he moved his lips, as if he wanted to say something more.
In the end, I didn't know what to say.
The two remained silent as they rode together across the square, where they met up with the officials on the main road.
The group crossed the Taihe Hall Square and headed to the right-hand side passage.
Sitting on her horse, Xue Lanyi looked down from the same height as Wei Zhang, and the people below indeed looked like ants.
It was packed with heads.
Outside the Meridian Gate, people continued to stream in upon hearing the news.
The three-mile-long square was packed with people.
The air was thinner than usual, making it hard to breathe.
Xue Lanyi recalled that the historians recorded that the Crown Prince case resulted in over a thousand deaths and injuries, and tens of thousands were exiled or imprisoned.
These cold, hard numbers have been given a concrete form today.
The number of affected families is countless, and the line stretches as far as the eye can see.
Looking at the weathered faces on both sides of the road, Xue Lanyi was filled with emotion.
When they reached the entrance to the palace, where commoners were not allowed to enter, Xue Lanyi finally saw the end of the procession.
At the same time, I also saw two familiar names at the back of the line—Xie Qingyun and Lu Lin.
Their wives also came, holding up their memorial tablets so that they could witness the prince's exoneration.
As the horse passed by two women, Xue Lanyi and Xie Qingyun's wife exchanged a glance.
She knelt and bowed to Xue Lanyi, as if to express her gratitude.
They probably thought that Xue Lanyi had persuaded Wei Zhang to exonerate the Crown Prince.
Xue Lanyi nodded awkwardly in return, her gaze lingering on Xie Qingyun's wife for a long time.
This girl was the daughter of the Emperor's tutor, and was once exceptionally talented and the most beautiful woman in Shengjing.
Now he wears coarse linen clothes, his temples are frosted with white, and the vicissitudes of life on his face, though he is only in his twenties, are already as dignified as someone in their forties.
What she held in her hand was no longer a brush for poetry, calligraphy, and painting, but a worn-out vegetable basket filled with wild vegetables.
After Xie Qingyun's death, she became the pillar of the family.
As you can imagine, it was incredibly difficult.
This girl was once the apple of her family's eye and Xie Qingyun's childhood sweetheart.
When the Crown Prince got into trouble, Xie Qingyun mentioned divorce.
The girl refused, insisting on accompanying Xie Qingyun to finish writing "The Geography of Mountains and Rivers".
If it weren't for fulfilling Xie Qingyun's ambitions and protecting their childhood friendship, this girl wouldn't have ended up in such a predicament.
Life is a difficult and narrow path.
Just like the narrow passage in front of us, surrounded by high walls, if you want to walk this journey with your loved one, you must restrain your sharp edges.
If you insist on being the most dazzling person, you will block the path of your peers.
Just like Xue Lanyi and Wei Xuan.
If she continues to cling to her love, Wei Zhang will not let Ah Xuan go, and Ah Xuan's fate will likely be nothing more than a hero's downfall, fading into obscurity.
Xue Lanyi felt a pang of pain in her heart when she thought about such a regrettable life.
She gripped her sleeve tightly and touched the candied kumquats inside.
This fruit was made for her by Wei Xuan back in Peach Blossom Valley.
I fear I will never have the chance to eat the fruit he made again.
Feeling a pang of sadness, she took a deep breath, picked up a fruit, and popped it into her mouth.
She didn't notice that there was a pair of eyes watching her every move from above.
She lowered her head, and from Wei Zhang's angle, he couldn't see her expression. He could only see her thick eyebrows and long, damp eyelashes trembling as she stuffed golden round fruits into her mouth.
Her cheeks were bulging out, pink and moist, like a rabbit's.
This was the first time in eleven days that Wei Zhang had seen her eat on her own initiative.
Are you hungry?
Wei Zhang's voice enveloped her from all sides, the tremor in his chest pressing against her back.
Xue Lanyi didn't like being so close to him, but she knew she couldn't struggle anymore, so she could only continue stuffing fruit into her mouth.
I stuffed three of them in one go, until my cheeks were so full I couldn't fit any more.
The movements were fierce; it didn't look like someone eating their favorite fruit at all.
Wei Zhang frowned slightly, and seeing that she was about to put a candied fruit into her mouth, he grabbed her wrist.
Xue Lanyi was unable to move and suddenly looked up at him.
In an instant, Wei Zhang saw her red eyes and the tears welling up in them.
She wasn't hungry; she had something else on her mind.
Wei Zhang narrowed his eyes, his iron-like hand gripping her thumb and forefinger. With a slight exertion, her fingertips were forced to loosen, and the fruit at her fingertips fell to the ground.
He even interferes when she eats a piece of fruit!
Xue Lanyi suppressed her anger and pulled her hand away.
I can't pull it out.
Wei Zhang then grabbed her chin with his other hand and said, "Spit it out."
Xue Lanyi shook her head.
But her mouth was too full, and Wei Zhang didn't have to use much force to force her mouth open, and the fruit she hadn't had a chance to bite slipped out of her mouth.
There were four in total, and they all fell to the ground sparsely.
"Wei Zhang, what are you going to do now?" Xue Lanyi shook her head to avoid his hand.
She was trying her best to suppress her emotions, but he still always found ways to torment her.
"Are you sick? Are you sick?"
Xue Lanyi's rebuke echoed in the narrow passageway, easily reaching the ears of the officials behind her.
The ministers following behind looked at each other.
After this battle in the court, the officials will only be more afraid of Wei Zhang.
Now that the young lady has rebuked the Duke of Wei so harshly, they dare not stand idly by.
So the Vice Minister of Rites stepped forward, bowing low. "Your Excellency, Princess, His Majesty is still waiting in the Imperial Study to discuss the matter of succession. This is of great importance, so perhaps the two of you..."
"Step back."
Wei Zhang's voice was deep, his gaze fixed on Xue Lanyi's face, which was filled with grief and indignation. He spoke to the Vice Minister, "All of you, step back, step back further away."
The Vice Minister of Rites had originally stepped forward to defuse the situation, but unexpectedly found himself in an awkward position. He gave an embarrassed bow and led his other colleagues away dejectedly.
In the hundred-zhang-long passageway, only one horse and two people remained.
They were in the middle of the passageway, with no light or people in sight, only the long wind blowing in gusts.
Xue Lanyi didn't know what he was up to with his ambiguous remarks, but she was too lazy to argue with him and just kept pulling on his wrist.
However, Wei Zhang held on very tightly, and in the struggle, the handkerchief hidden in his sleeve fell out, and all the candied fruit fell to the ground.
Ah Xuan had specially chosen the roundest, brightest, and sweetest fruits for her, which rolled all over the ground, some even being crushed by the horses' hooves.
This is the last bag of kumquats he made for her.
From now on, whenever I'm unhappy, there will be no more fruit made by him.
Xue Lanyi pushed Wei Zhang, wanting to dismount and pick up the fruit.
Wei Zhang was tall and imposing, like a cage, trapping her inside.
She couldn't break free, bumping against the walls in his arms.
Wei Zhang lowered his eyes and looked at the girl in his arms.
"If you want to cry, just cry. Why choke yourself?"
Who wants to cry?
Who would cry in front of him?
Who would cry for someone as unworthy as him?
Wei Zhang is really sick; he can't stand to see her doing well.
Xue Lanyi ignored him and struggled even more fiercely.
Wei Zhang remained steady and unmoved, his voice unaffected, speaking calmly and slowly, "Is it because you witnessed so many deaths today that you're unhappy?"
"Is it because you regret inviting Xie Qingyun and Lu Lin to Peach Blossom Valley that day, causing them to be separated by death, that you are heartbroken?"
"Or perhaps, having become mine, you're unwilling to accept it? You want to cry?"
...
Every word he said struck a chord with Xue Lanyi.
Which of these incidents was unrelated to him? In what capacity did he calmly ask these questions?
"Wei Zhang! I think you're really quite ill!"
Xue Lanyi suddenly punched him in the chest.
She knew where his heart was broken, so she deliberately targeted that spot.
After a few punches, it felt as if the inside was damp again.
She didn't stop at all.
He clearly gasped in pain, but his body remained as solid as a city wall, refusing to back down. "Answer me."
"..."
Xue Lanyi had originally planned to calmly accept reality and obediently follow him.
But he insisted on tormenting her, deliberately bringing out all the bitterness she had managed to suppress.
He's the kind of person who's utterly despicable and unreasonable.
Xue Lanyi couldn't hide her anger, so she turned her head and looked directly into his eyes.
"Yes! I just can't accept spending my whole life with someone like you, is that so wrong?"
"If I'm not willing to accept this, will you let me go?"
Her clear, watery eyes were fixed on him.
After a moment, without any surprise, he uttered a faint, "No."
A tear slipped uncontrollably from her wide-open eye socket and slid down her cheek.
She knew he wouldn't let her go, yet she couldn't help but harbor a glimmer of hope.
But he himself pronounced her fate, and no more miracles would happen.
Her vision blurred, and the tears she had been holding back were about to burst forth. "No, why are you asking these questions?"
Would I just upset her?
Wei Zhang didn't answer her question. Instead, he placed a candied kumquat, which he had somehow taken from her hand, in front of her. "Did Wei Xuan give this to you?"
Xue Lanyi did not answer him.
He continued, "Did he tell you that eating a few candied fruits will make you happy when you're unhappy?"
"What does this have to do with you?"
Seeing his ill intentions, Xue Lanyi reached out to snatch the candied fruit.
Wei Zhang stretched out his long arm, loosened his fingertips, and the last candied fruit fell from the height and hit the bluestone ground.
The juice splattered, it broke, it rotted.
Wei Zhang then realized that the reason he had seen her stuff her mouth full of candied fruit several times before was not because she liked the candied fruit, but because she was forcing herself to be happy.
"So, who made that rule?"
Who decided that everyone has to be as ignorant and fearless as Wei Xuan, grinning like an idiot?
Who decided that people must be carefree, loving, and tolerant?
Wei Zhang rubbed the sticky honey between his fingers. "Is it because you're afraid he'll find out you're not as bright and cheerful as he imagines, so you don't dare to cry out loud?"
"I don't!"
"Or are you afraid he'll find out that you harbor resentment and hatred, and that you don't have his concern for the world and his selfless dedication?"
No! No!
"Wei Zhang, shut up! Shut up!"
Xue Lanyi's pupils contracted slightly, and she suddenly covered his mouth.
Wei Zhang leaned back, easily avoiding her hand.
She was caught off guard and fell into Wei Zhang's arms. When she looked up, Wei Zhang's calm eyes looked into the depths of her pupils.
He saw the panic and unease in those misty eyes.
Abandoned by her own mother at a young age, she watched her mother jump off a building to commit suicide, and even...
She knew that the late emperor was her mother's beloved, and she knew that it was the late emperor and her mother's twisted love that ruined their originally peaceful life.
They also had to curry favor with the late emperor, feigning innocence and naivety.
How could such a person possibly have a passion for everything in this world?
Wei Zhang even suspected that her original intentions in reforming the law with the Crown Prince were different from those of Wei Xuan and Xie Qingyun.
Wei Xuan and Xie Qingyun may indeed harbor foolish ideals, intending for a world of universal harmony.
But Xue Lanyi was not.
She just wanted to be like Wei Xuan and Xie Qingyun.
"I dare not complain, dare not hate, and dare not cry, for fear that I am not worthy of his high and mighty sun?"
"Wei Zhang, stop talking nonsense!"
Xue Lanyi's hand, which was resting on his chest, gripped his collar tightly.
The area was soaked with blood, but because of the dark color, it wasn't visible. However, when Xue Lanyi clenched her hand, a thin stream of crimson blood seeped out from between her fingers.
It was as if five centipedes, lurking in the shadows, crawled from his chest into the gaps between her fingers, and then meandered along the back of her hand.
That's disgusting.
Who would want to be a maggot in the shadows like him, despised by everyone?
"Wei Zhang, don't think you understand me!"
"You're nothing but a maggot, a bedbug! Don't assume everyone is as scheming and full of resentment and hatred as you!"
"Rotten person! Despicable! Shameless!"
Xue Lanyi gritted her teeth, her eyes bloodshot, and cursed loudly, interrupting Wei Zhang's ridiculous remarks.
Her face was contorted with rage; it wasn't the kind of playful banter she was giving, but rather the kind of shrewish rant she was in.
Princess Zhaoyang is so well-behaved and adorable.
She won the affection of the late emperor and empress, who treated her like their own daughter.
She won over everyone in Shengjing City, who thought she was the bright moon hanging in the sky, echoing Wei Xuan, the radiant sun.
Surely no one has ever seen her in such a hideous state.
But Wei Zhang knew very well that this was the real her.
She is someone who can cry out loud, curse maliciously, and harbor a dark corner in her heart.
Her words were like knives, as if she wanted to tear Wei Zhang to pieces.
Strangely, Wei Zhang didn't feel angry; besides feeling sorry for him, he also felt a strange sense of pleasure.
He stopped talking and let her curse and hit him.
He discovered that she was better at cursing than Lu Lin.
She really knew thirty-nine different ways to curse, cursing until she was out of breath, her face streaked with tears, and her body limp like a floating duckweed.
Wei Zhang embraced her from behind and whispered in her ear in a voice only they could hear, "You know what? It's so exhilarating to be a scoundrel."
Maggots and bedbugs should stay in ditches; why should they try to follow the light like eagles and butterflies?
If you can fake it well, you'll end up just like her, exhausted.
If you don't disguise yourself well, you'll end up like him, covered in wounds.
“I just enjoy being a bad person,” he said.
Xue Lanyi realized that he was beyond redemption, and she tried to push his arm away.
However, she cried so hard and cursed so fiercely that her body felt completely drained and she was unable to move.
She could only lean listlessly against his arm, forcing a bitter smile. "So, you're going to drag me down with you and make me a scumbag?"
"no."
Wei Zhang tightened his grip even more.
The python robe was cold, and his chest was even colder and harder, but he held her tightly, hiding the little girl under the cloak.
She could no longer feel the chilly wind in the long alley.
He whispered in her ear, his voice low and magnetic, "Whether you're a bad person or a good person, from now on, there's no one in this world you can't curse or hate, and nothing you can't cry over."
Xue Lanyi found it amusing: "Don't you know? You're the one I hate the most, and the one I want to curse the most!"
"Can."
He paused for a moment, then said, "But you can't leave."
A sense of powerlessness overwhelmed Xue Lanyi from all sides.
Xue Lanyi's arms, which had been struggling and trying to shirk responsibility, were completely powerless, but she still stubbornly cursed him.
The wind in the long alley grew stronger, scattering her curses.
Her defenses crumbled completely with each collision with that unyielding, cold, hard stone.
She transformed into a shell-less snail, limply nestled in his arms.
Wei Zhang placed one hand around her waist and tightened the reins with the other, continuing to walk forward.
A dark cloak slipped off her shoulders, shielding her in a small corner.
The sound of horses' hooves was crisp and clear in the straight alley.
Behind the passageway, the grateful gazes of countless people could be seen.
Ahead of the passageway, officials dressed in red robes stood on both sides, bowing and waiting for the imposing Duke Zhenguo.
The man, tall and imposing, rode with an air of composure. His elaborate python robe remained motionless in the wind, as steady as a mountain.
No one could see that beneath his cold, stern face and within his heavy cloak, lay a little girl who was constantly grumbling and cursing.
As Wei Zhang walked out of the passageway and passed by the officials, they could faintly hear the girl's sobbing voice, "A person like you with no principles will be childless and extinct sooner or later!"
He walked at the head of the group and slowly replied, "Okay."
"Traitors and rebels will definitely, definitely, definitely die a horrible death!"
"good."
"You will go to hell, and you won't have a good death in your next life!"
"good."
She was yelling so hard she could hardly breathe, but he remained calm and composed.
Xue Lanyi was filled with grief, anger, and helplessness. Breathless with resentment, she raised her voice with all her might, "You men are all the same, only caring about your own pleasure! From the old to the young, not one of you is good! You're all bastards!"
Wei Zhang froze, finally reining in his horse.
The ministers following closely behind were terrified when they heard the girl's wild words all the way.
Who in the current court would dare to insult the Duke of Zhenguo in this way?
Moreover, this girl went too far, cursing all the way, and the eunuchs and maids who passed by probably heard it too.
No one knew what the Duke intended to do by stopping at this moment.
The officials all lowered their heads, glancing at Leng Su's back out of the corner of their eyes, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Silence reigned all around.
Wei Zhang used his long fingers to part the cloak, revealing a pair of eyes brimming with spring water, defiantly raised. He repeated each word more clearly, "Men are all the same!"
Wei Zhang showed little emotion, slowly turning his gaze to his right and saying to the palace on the right, "She's cursing you."
The scent of incense intermittently drifted into my nose.
Xue Lanyi realized something and followed his gaze to the right.
The group was passing by Fengxian Hall.
Inside the open vermilion gate, there are ancestral tablets and portraits of the Mu family's ancestors.
The monks chanted sutras and offered prayers, the bells rang, and the sandalwood incense wafted through the air, creating a solemn atmosphere.
In the center of the main hall is a portrait of the late emperor.
In three days, it will be the late emperor's birthday. Many retired officials who had returned to their hometowns entered the palace in advance to pay their respects.
At this moment, the emperor and his ministers in the Fengxian Hall were deeply moved and filled with sorrow.
Wei Zhang's voice was quite loud just now.
The old ministers in the Fengxian Hall and the ministers behind them all knew that Xue Lanyi's words, "Neither the old nor the young are good people," referred to the late emperor.
The old officials and the new nobles looked at each other in bewilderment.
Even the late emperor's close advisors, their faces ashen, were determined to confront Xue Lanyi.
Xue Lanyi had lost control of her emotions and unintentionally insulted the late emperor.
Unexpectedly, Wei Zhang, that despicable villain, seized upon her weakness and publicly denounced her.
He is absolutely despicable!
Her lips moved, and her eyes glared fiercely at Wei Zhang.
Wei Zhang's expression remained unchanged, his deep gaze piercing through the crowd and directly facing the portrait of the late emperor. "If I scold you, just take it."
"You..." Upon hearing these disrespectful words, the old minister in the distance bristled, pointing at Wei Zhang and Xue Lanyi, "You, you, you... treacherous minister! Witch!"
"Insulting the late emperor is a capital offense!"
"Stop right there! Stop right there!"
The shouts faded into the distance.
Wei Zhang rode away leisurely, and someone covered the old minister's mouth.
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