"Hongli, I have something I want to ask you!" Hongzhou couldn't sleep, so he came to Hongli's room to talk to him.
"Hongzhou, why aren't you asleep yet?" Hongli looked at Hongzhou in surprise when someone suddenly asked him this.
“It’s been a long time since we brothers have slept in the same bed. Why don’t we sleep together tonight?” Hongzhou said. He could never forget the day he stepped out of Wan’an Fanghe’s gate and immediately saw Hongli carrying Xueying back.
"Alright then." Hongli could tell that Hongzhou had something to say to him.
The two brothers washed up with the help of servants. They often slept in the same bed before, and sometimes when they were engrossed in reading, they would rest together.
After the two of them got into bed and lay down, the servants left as instructed.
"Hongzhou, what do you want to say to me?" Hongli asked.
"Hongli, tell me the truth, have you fallen for Xueying?" Hongzhou asked, trying to remain calm. He didn't want his brotherly bond with Hongli, built over so many years, to be ruined because of a woman.
Hongli sat up abruptly, turned to look at Hongzhou, and said urgently, "How could I like her! I've never had a good impression of her. She's the Fujin's own niece, just like her aunt."
“You can’t say that about her! Xueying is actually a very kind woman.” Hongzhou also sat up abruptly and said.
This was the first time the two brothers had ever glared at each other so angrily over a woman. Hongli was angry because he felt a panic at having his thoughts exposed, yet he was also extremely unwilling to acknowledge the shock he had felt upon seeing Ulanara Xueying in the plum grove that day. Hongzhou was angry because Hongli had spoken rudely to Xueying.
"She's a good woman? Why has she been so unclear about your feelings for her?" Hongli said angrily.
“She’s already made it clear to me, but I just didn’t want to be so explicit,” Hongzhou said helplessly. Actually, after Xueying said those things to him that day, he regretted being so eager for her to confess. Perhaps if he hadn’t confessed, he wouldn’t have pressured her to give her a response. Then he could have continued to be good to her.
Hongli looked at Hongzhou in surprise. His dark eyes shone with a deep light, like stars in the night sky.
“You are the Fifth Prince of Yongqin, not an ordinary person. How could you do such a meaningless thing, how could you be so devoted to a woman? And a woman of the Ulanara clan at that!” Hongli said.
"So what about the women of Ulanara? Hongli, when I saw Xueying crawling on your back today, I realized that she might, might like you!" Hongzhou said, suppressing the bitterness and resentment in his heart. If Xueying really did like Hongli, then he wouldn't be angry with anyone, because liking Xueying was his own affair from the beginning. But he wouldn't allow the person Xueying liked to be so indifferent to her.
"Don't talk nonsense. Mingyu and I are already engaged. Besides, she is the Fujin's niece. I have no interest in her." Hongli said firmly, "Hongzhou, don't think nonsense."
"Hongli, if Xueying truly loves you, can you promise me one thing?" Hongzhou said, bowing his head, "Don't do anything to hurt her."
Hongli nodded and said, "Alright, I won't do anything to hurt her unless she makes the first move."
Hongzhou finally got up and left Hongli's bed, and Hongli inexplicably couldn't fall asleep.
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