Chapter 57
When Yue Mingming saw him, he wanted to hold him down and check his wounds immediately, but then he thought of the spy that Uncle Dong mentioned, so he grabbed Zhao Congyun's sleeve and said, "Come with me!"
Zhao Congyun was pulled into the bedroom by her.
After entering the room, Yue Mingming closed the door and turned around and said, "Take off your clothes!"
Zhao Congyun readily agreed, but as he took off his clothes, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up. Yue Mingming felt guilty about his smile and hurriedly explained, "What are you thinking! I just want to see your injury!"
Seeing her exasperated look, Zhao Congyun's smile deepened. "Of course...besides checking my injuries, what else do you think I can think of?"
"you……"
Yue Mingming gritted his teeth and was about to settle all the old and new grudges together, but he saw a shocking wound exposed under the cloud-patterned undershirt that Zhao Congyun lifted up - it was the knife wound left by the assassination at the post station, running diagonally across the side of his ribs, which almost took his life.
After such a long time, the wound that should have healed began to bleed again, and through the gauze, it left spots of bright red on the inside of the moon-white shirt.
Yue Mingming gasped: "How did this happen? Did the original wound not heal, or did it get injured again this time? Did you apply the medicine properly?"
"Maybe I stretched it accidentally."
Zhao Congyun played it off as if he had just been scratched by a cat. He quickly put his coat back on and said, "Uncle Dong has already applied medicine for me. It's nothing serious."
Yue Mingming was so angry she couldn't vent it, and now she was even more worried, so her face was wrinkled into a bitter melon. Zhao Congyun couldn't help but reach out and pinch her cheek: "Don't look so sad. Showing you your wound didn't mean that."
Yue Mingming was stunned: "What does that mean? Is it a self-torture trick?"
Zhao Congyun coughed lightly twice, a rare flicker of embarrassment crossing his usually calm face. "I know you're mad at me, and I'm not good at apologizing... I had no choice but to resort to this method to gain your sympathy and see if you can forgive me."
…………
It's really a self-torture trick!
Yue Mingming had to admire that the wisdom of the ancients was true, especially when paired with Zhao Congyun's face, the effect was maximized.
Seeing that Yue Mingming didn't answer, Zhao Congyun tried again, "Can we not talk about what happened before?"
The candlelight flickered in the room. Yue Mingming, coming back to her senses from his slightly hoarse voice, caught a glimpse of silver light in his hair. Startled, she reached out to grasp it, only to discover a streak of white hair hidden among Zhao Congyun's otherwise jet-black hair.
She was suddenly too sad to speak.
Zhao Congyun: "...What's wrong?"
He thought she was still angry and was about to apologize again, but he heard Yue Mingming mutter, "When did you get white hair?"
Zhao Congyun was also startled. He followed the direction of her finger and glanced at the bronze mirror. "I didn't notice... maybe I'm just tired these past two days. If you don't like it, you can just dye it back later."
He paused, then frowned as if suddenly realizing something: "First you were worried about my disfigurement, and now you're worried about a few gray hairs... Are you disgusted with me?"
Yue Mingming, who was still feeling melancholy just a second ago, burst out laughing when she heard this. She imitated Zhao Congyun by pinching his cheeks: "Your Highness, you must take good care of yourself. You can't slack off just because you're good-looking!"
Zhao Congyun looked at her suspiciously. The girl's smile in the candlelight suddenly reminded him of the night when they had just met, boating on the lake and watching the moon, when she was standing in front of the palace waiting for him.
It was also such a bright smile. At that time, the fragrance of osmanthus was floating in the wind, and he was inexplicably dazed - he thought that it was the golden wind and jade dew that moved him, but he didn't know that it was the ripples caused by the red rope in his life.
I don’t know where the love comes from, but the moon in my heart is quietly full.
They've come so far.
Zhao Congyun's throat trembled and he leaned forward. Yue Mingming saw him approaching, his chest pounding, thinking that this might be another chain of schemes - the self-torture scheme followed by the beauty scheme... What virtue and ability did he have? Why use a sledgehammer to kill a chicken?
The two of them were getting closer and closer, so close that Yue Mingming could already smell the faint bitter medicinal scent on him through the familiar pine snow fragrance...
She suddenly took two steps back.
"I...I need to go change my clothes! Wait a moment!"
She spent the entire day at the military camp horse farm. Zhao Congyun, who was such a mysophobe, could still come over to her without batting an eyelid... He must really like her.
But she didn't want him to recall these ambiguous scenes in the future, which would only smell like roast chicken and the stable.
Zhao Congyun, however, grabbed her in his arms and sniffed carefully: "...hay, leather, horseshoes, horse manure, and why is there a hint of alcohol..."
Yue Mingming broke free from his arms, surprised and impressed: "You have a dog's nose! I only drank a little bit, and you actually noticed it!"
Zhao Congyun wasn't fooled: "Don't change the subject. Who did you drink with? When did you become allowed to drink in the barracks?"
Yue Mingming: "Don't worry! General Mu happened to be on an inspection tour today, and he secretly gave it to me. He said that since I'm not a member of the Mu family army, it doesn't count as a violation of military discipline."
Zhao Congyun's expression brightened slightly. "You saved Mu Yunqing on the battlefield and provided great help with the weapons and horses. Although he didn't say it, he was very grateful to you in his heart."
Yue Mingming laughed, "He's a bit overly grateful! I heard Zheng Rong say he even mentioned that if I weren't married, he'd have wanted to match me up with his unfilial grandson!"
Her thoughtless joke made Zhao Congyun silent.
"Eh? Jealous again?"
Zhao Congyun raised his eyes: "Where did you get the word 'again' from?"
Yue Mingming teased him: "Do you need me to go over some old accounts with you?"
Zhao Congyun sighed half-seriously, but Yue Mingming sensed something he wanted to say but couldn't in his deep gaze.
"You have something to say to me, right?"
Zhao Congyun lowered his eyelids, hesitated for a moment, and then said carefully: "I have a question... It might make you angry... Do you still want to listen?"
"Go ahead!" Yue Mingming was still smiling, but his heart began to sink.
"If one day... I'm gone, what will you do?"
He spoke in a low voice: "Just like a few days ago, if Shen Zongwu hadn't appeared and I died on the battlefield... I want to know what you would have done without considering Anian?
"Should I return to your 'world' and treat what happened here as a dream, or... find someone new and continue to experience the 'game' you mentioned with him?"
Seeing Yue Mingming's expression change slightly, he hurriedly explained, "I'm sorry last time. I shouldn't have used Ah Nian to threaten you. From now on, I will settle him down. Nothing can influence your choice anymore... So, can you tell me your true thoughts? This is very important to me."
Yue Mingming felt that the knife hanging in the air had finally fallen down, which gave her a sense of solid despair.
She didn't know how to answer his question because she had never imagined such an ending. Even when she pulled him out of the ice water, with a knife stuck in his ribs and almost out of breath, she never thought he would really die.
Her mind was filled with thoughts about when she would leave and whether she should leave. In her logic, he would exist forever in this game world.
Just like the princess in Super Mario, anyone can control Mario, and Mario can die a thousand or ten thousand times, but the princess will always stand at the end of the level.
How could the princess decide to die with the boss, and then say to Mario, you are free, you can choose to quit the game, or find a monster here and live happily together.
That's not the case.
Zhao Congyun, you can't ask me such questions.
Yue Mingming heard her own voice pretending to be calm. She didn't answer him, but just asked, "Is something wrong with the emperor?"
"Lord Fan can't wait for the imperial concubine to give birth, and has already started taking action."
Zhao Congyun slowly exhaled, "Five days ago, he secretly mobilized troops and allied with several external generals, intending to force my royal brother to abdicate. Now, 50,000 elite troops are on their way. The capital's patrol force is only 3,000, plus 1,000 Qilin Guards. They are simply unable to stop him."
"General Shen came to inform you?"
Zhao Congyun shook his head. "It was a secret letter from Li Si. Before I left, I assigned him a team of secret guards to help him gather information from various parts of the capital."
Yue Mingming was quite surprised: "I thought you looked down on each other."
"It's true that they have a bad relationship, but it's also true that they both stand together. Although he may be a fool, he can still distinguish right from wrong when it comes to major issues."
"So the capital is in danger now, and the emperor is in danger too?"
"yes."
"Is what you have been plotting these days related to this?"
"right."
Yue Mingming sighed softly: "So this is why you asked me."
Zhao Congyun really wanted to say something more, such as his next plan, his arrangement for Anian, his plan with General Mu, and even his agreement with Shen Zongwu... He could tell her everything, and she was so smart that she would definitely understand.
He also wanted to apologize. For every little thing, ever since they met, he seemed to have always felt indebted to her, guilty, with selfish thoughts both spoken and unspoken. He believed that if he just spoke up, she would definitely forgive him, because she had never truly taken it to heart.
But he suddenly felt that it was futile to say anything.
He used to be afraid that she would change her mind and leave, but in the end he was the one who broke his promise.
Yue Mingming saw his eyes flickering, but he hesitated to speak, so he asked, "How sure are you?"
"This happened suddenly, and we planned hastily. Our chances of winning... are less than 10%."
"So you're going to die? What if I don't agree?"
Zhao Congyun looked at her deeply, his eyes containing too many meanings, but there was no compromise or giving up.
Yue Mingming nodded and said, "Okay, you must go. Then I'll go with you. The worst that can happen is we'll die together."
"Mingming...you know I can't take you there."
When Anian told him that Yue Mingming almost rushed back to the battlefield that day to live and die with him, he was terrified.
Yue Mingming's choice was what he had dreamed of all his life, but also what he could not accept.
He believed that she deserved a stable and happy life, making cherry blossom yogurt in the spring, pickled lychees in the summer, brewing osmanthus honey in the autumn, and eating hot pot in the winter, with elders like Uncle Dong, friends like Su Dingrou, and children like Anian around her...
Most importantly, she has a lover who is always with her.
In his fantasy picture, there is no himself.
Zhao Congyun felt a pang of heartache, but he still said earnestly, "Mingming, go back, go back to your world.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't even make it to February 16th."
February 16th marked the day when Yue Mingming entered the game for exactly half a year, and it was also the moment she imagined leaving.
They thought that the separation would at least happen after that day.
But today is only the fourteenth day of the first lunar month.
"What if I insist on going with you?" Yue Mingming refused to give up.
"I won't let that 'what if' happen."
Yue Mingming understood that General Mu, Mu Yunqing, Uncle Dong, Shen Zongwu, and even Su Dingrou would all become obstacles to her, because Zhao Congyun's plan must include keeping her safely in Lingzhou.
She hated his thoroughness.
"When are you leaving? Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival. Can you still spend it with me?"
It seemed like an eternity passed before she heard Zhao Congyun's hoarse voice reply, "Sorry, I have to leave early tomorrow morning."
"Really?" Yue Mingming wiped his eyes and said, "What a pity! You can't eat the glutinous rice balls I made myself."
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