Chapter 25
The lamp wick crackled and popped.
Shen Yao stared blankly at the man in front of her. His eyes were slightly upturned, his thick eyelashes were lowered, and the orange light bathed his face in a halo. She suddenly realized how captivating he was at that moment.
The aloofness of a boy was gone, replaced by an aggressive aura unique to adult men, irresistibly alluring. Without realizing it, her heart suddenly raced, and her breathing became heavy.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" He smiled enigmatically, his eyes brimming with desire, even his breath seemed sweet and alluring. "Hmm?"
"I...I just didn't..." Shen Yao was a little embarrassed. As she bit her lip, she suddenly saw him move closer and reach his hand to her forehead. She was so shocked that her face changed.
"Don't move, you have a gray hair on your head."
"ah?"
Shen Yao cried out in pain, and a strand of white hair was thrust in front of his eyes. He smiled and asked, "What did you just say?"
"No, oh, bored, it is boring."
After a brief pause, my brain finally started functioning normally again. "You've been reading all day without talking to me. I was so bored that I had to find something to do."
After speaking, she turned her head away, her fingers constantly fiddling with the plum blossoms in the vase.
That was terrifying! I thought Wei Luo was going to stroke her cheek, given his gentle tone and expression. No wonder I had all sorts of wild thoughts. And why was he so happy to be trying to please him?
After she spoke, there was silence for several breaths. Shen Yao couldn't help but steal a glance back at him, only to meet his surprised gaze. Her cheeks flushed, and she quickly turned back away.
Wei Luo's eyes darkened, and he chuckled softly, "So it's my fault for neglecting you."
He turned to face Shen Yao, his deep, dark eyes meeting hers, and said, "Didn't you say you'd do moxibustion for me? Are you still going to do it?"
"ah?"
Almost instinctively, Shen Yao nodded. Only after healing his leg could she leave this place and leave him as soon as possible.
After receiving her affirmation, Wei Luo immediately stepped onto the bed.
When Shen Yao turned around, he had already taken off his cloak and was wearing a white undergarment. He was half-lying and half-sitting on the couch. Under the warm light, his clean-lined profile was incredibly handsome, and he exuded an air of nobility and refinement.
She took out a moxa stick, lit it over the candle flame, and wisps of smoke curled upwards. Shen Yao walked to the side of the couch and sat down, asking, "Your Highness, are you ready?"
Wei Luo sat up, rolled up his trouser legs, took off his socks, and said, "All done."
It's alright; he knows to roll up his pants and take off his socks.
After finishing, he signaled that we could begin, and then he put one hand behind his head and picked up a book in the other hand to read, which was still the same "Water Margin".
Following the doctor's instructions, Shen Yao applied moxa sticks to the soles of his feet to infuse them with heat.
His feet were very white, with smooth lines and rounded toes, like pure white, flawless jade, pleasing to the eye.
The light was dim, and she was afraid of burning the beautiful jade, so she could only bend down and bring her eyes closer, her expression unusually focused.
The two remained silent.
As the fragrance of mugwort filled the air, Wei Luo suddenly felt a heat rising within him and could no longer concentrate on his book.
A wave of heat surged from the soles of my feet, and a tingling, numb, and sore sensation quickly spread throughout my body, like ants gnawing at me, making me restless and uneasy.
He couldn't help but breathe heavily, his body feeling both uncomfortable and comfortable at the moment. A certain desire surged like a flood, constantly rushing into his mind, and he was somewhat unable to control himself.
With a beautiful woman by his side, the warmth of red candles in the bedchamber, the allure of a young woman is irresistible to any man, and he was no exception.
Shifting his gaze from her radiant cheeks, Wei Luo broke the silence, "You said you were bored earlier, so let me tell you a story."
Shen Yao was taken aback, then suddenly looked up at him, a smile on her face, "Okay, um, I want to hear it..."
Let me tell you the story of Pan Jinlian.
Shen Yao: "..."
I feel like I've been played for a fool.
"Can't we talk about something else? Wu Song fighting the tiger is also an option."
Wei Luo glanced at her and smiled, "One day, Wu Song went up the mountain, killed a tiger, and was praised by the local magistrate before returning home."
Shen Yao: "..."
Your Highness, could you be a little more serious? I'm at least trying to give you moxibustion.
"Wu Song had an older brother named Wu Da, who married a beautiful woman named Pan Jinlian. She was beautiful and looked down on her ugly and short husband. After Wu Song returned home, she repeatedly tried to seduce him..."
She knew Pan Jinlian's story very well. Wei Luo continued to tell it to himself, and Shen Yao had no choice but to listen patiently, occasionally responding to him.
Because she had her head down, Wei Luo didn't notice and continued telling the story aloud.
Time passed by unnoticed. The moxibustion treatment ended quickly, and she yawned, withdrew her hand, and prepared to sleep. Unexpectedly, Wei Luo seemed engrossed in his storytelling and wouldn't let her rest, insisting she listen to the whole thing.
"Your Highness, I'm sleepy. Let's continue tomorrow." Shen Yao's eyelids were practically drooping.
"You lie down on the bed, and I'll continue."
Shen Yao was about to cry.
"As mentioned earlier, Pan Jinlian failed to seduce her uncle and, in a fit of rage, drove Wu Song out of the house. Wu Song went on a long business trip and returned to find his brother dead."
"It was Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian who poisoned him." Shen Yao sighed and continued in a deathly tone.
Do you know how Pan Jinlian died?
Shen Yao answered in a daze, "Killed by Wu Song."
Wei Luo laughed, "He dug open her chest with both hands, pulled out her heart, liver, and lungs, and then cut off Pan Jinlian's head with a single stroke, offering it up before his elder brother's ancestral hall. Have you ever seen someone who has had their heart and liver ripped out? Their body was covered in blood, dripping down..."
"Stop talking." A pair of bright eyes suddenly opened. Shen Yao looked at Wei Luo and saw that he had lowered his eyes and was still smiling. She couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine. "In the middle of the night, can't you let people sleep? It's so scary."
With her vivid imagination and Wei Luo's captivating storytelling, the image of what she had seen in the imperial prison a few days prior immediately flashed into her mind, filling her with nausea.
Seeing her pale face, Wei Luo lowered his eyes and said, "A woman should be content with her lot, be a good wife and mother, so as not to harm others or herself. Don't you think so?"
Shen Yao was taken aback. Across the thick darkness, she looked at him from afar. The meaning in Wei Luo's eyes was self-evident: this story was meant for her, to remind her to stay true to her place.
It turned out that the real intention was not what it seemed. Shen Yao suddenly sat up and retorted, "Lin Chong's wife was very gentle and virtuous, but she was targeted by bad people and lost her life."
"If she doesn't go out and stays at home, how could she get into trouble?" Wei Luo said dismissively.
Shen Yao instantly became angry, "Lin Chong's wife is already pitiful enough, and you still have to say such things to her. As for Pan Jinlian, although she deserved her punishment, it was Ximen Qing who started it. It was clearly mostly the man's fault, but you're pushing all the blame onto the woman."
Shen Yao was so angry that her stomach ached. In the middle of the night, Wei Luo subtly implied something, and her sleepiness instantly vanished.
They say she's restless, they say she's seducing people, but who has she seduced?
"Chen Yao, who are you talking to?"
Wei Luo's face turned ashen, and his expression was extremely unpleasant. He had only told a story, yet it had angered her so much that she was yelling at him and disregarding the proper etiquette between a ruler and his subject.
It's clear that her gentleness and obedience these past few days were all an act; she's still the same Shen Yao, easily angered and never willing to bow down to him.
"I just think what you said is unreasonable," Shen Yao defended herself.
Wei Luo chuckled lightly, then suddenly closed the book, tossed it aside, and crossed his arms, curiously examining her. Shen Yao, not to be outdone, raised her eyes and glared back.
"Where's the promised flattery? Is this how you try to please others?"
Shen Yao: "..."
"If Your Highness finds someone you like in the future, will you keep her hidden away in a golden house?"
Shen Yao suddenly felt a little sorry for Yang Wan'er. Once you enter the gates of a noble family, it's like entering a deep sea, let alone the gates of the palace.
“An emperor should not like anyone.” After saying this, Wei Luo seemed unwilling to say anything more, and curled up to lie down. “Nor should he show favoritism to anyone.”
"Why? The emperor is also a human being, with emotions and desires."
"Chen Yao, stop talking and go to sleep," he interrupted.
The emperor's favoritism towards his concubine and her son caused him immense and irreparable psychological trauma. Therefore, he vowed early on that if he were to ascend the throne, he would treat his women and children equally.
As for keeping a mistress, he thought that if it were a woman he liked, it would be a good idea.
...
The copper bells on the eaves swayed gently, and the night was filled with the scent of death.
In the imperial prison, the monk Daguan and the doctor Lin Yu had been tortured to death. White cloth, like a spider web, wrapped their bloodied and mangled corpses.
Two people died, but such things happen every day; it's commonplace.
Inside a room, Mao Wen knelt on the ground, his body trembling uncontrollably. Of the three official documents in front of him, only one remained in the blink of an eye; the other two had just been reduced to dust.
He dared not look at his friend's corpse beside him, his lips trembling as he repeatedly kowtowed, "Spare me, Governor, spare me! I have a seventy-year-old mother and a ten-year-old child. If I die, how will they live?"
Blood was already smeared on his forehead, but he was still crying hysterically, trying to awaken the kindness in the person in front of him.
Wang Zhen suddenly sighed and said, "I know you're having a hard time, and so am I. Since we're both having a hard time, why don't we help each other?"
He patted Mao Wen on the shoulder and encouraged him, "As long as you identify those two people who wrote the demonic book, you will be a great hero and will be one of my Embroidered Uniform Guards from now on. No one will dare to bully you again."
Mao Wen raised his face, his heart filled with despair. He shook his head, his face streaked with tears. "But the demon book really wasn't written by them!"
“The dead cannot speak; wait until you point them out, and that is what they have written.”
The darkness of the Imperial Prison is like an unfathomable abyss, a place where humanity is at its most corrupt, where there are no living or dead, only business and profit.
Mao Wen kept his head down, his eyes dim. Even though he was just a servant, he couldn't bring himself to frame someone.
I couldn't get past my conscience until I heard a voice calling "Father".
In an instant, Mao Wen's soul trembled. He looked up and saw a ten-year-old child standing outside the door, tears welling up in his eyes.
"son."
Mao Wengang tried to get up, but was immediately pressed to the ground and unable to move.
He turned his head toward the door, his eyes almost bulging out, and said, "Come at me, don't hurt the child."
Wang Zhen stood up, pulled the child in, squatted down, and said, "What an adorable son, Mao Wen, how can you bear to part with him?"
"No, he's just a child, only ten years old. Please, please let him go."
With his body pinned down, he could only roar, his voice shrill and sharp, like a dagger piercing his lungs.
"Mao Wen, I'm giving you one last chance. Think it over before you speak." He then took out a dagger from his pocket and began to fidget with it.
This is the final ultimatum.
"Okay, I promise you, I'll release my son."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
