Chapter 123 Chapter 123 "I'm so tired. Yesterday...
Nan Qiong Shuang opened her eyes and was greeted by the simple bed curtains of the Four Elephants Pagoda. Made of silk and gauze, with a cyan Buddha head, it was plain to the point of being dull.
Now, Gu Huaijin was tired of the hustle and bustle, so tired that there was not a single decoration in his residence. It was filled with hard wooden utensils and wooden tables, and the bed was so hard that it almost hurt people.
She was already in pain, and the bed was so hard that it made the pain even worse. She tried her best to move her legs.
It hurts. It hurts everywhere. My whole body feels so sore I almost feel like it's falling apart.
The person next to me was still asleep, breathing slowly and evenly.
Last night, after tossing and turning in the Longevity Fountain, she thought she was finally fine. However, it seemed that this man had been holding her back for five years and refused to let her go no matter what. After the stone steps, there was the pool, and after the pool was his secret room. She was handcuffed and forced to sit, lie down, and kneel. The creaking rocking chair in his secret room made her head hurt. In the end, she didn't even have the strength to cry out.
There was an exit at the other end of the secret room. When he was finally satisfied and his anger had finally vented, he carried the half-dead woman out of the rocking chair, bent the rusty candlestick on the wall, and led her into another room.
His residence is inside the Four Elephants Pagoda.
It turns out that the Longevity Spring, the secret room, and the Four Elephants Tower were all connected.
She closed her eyes for another moment. Her eyelids remained heavy, but, no matter what, it was time to get up.
She struggled to sit up. The pain was excruciating, as if her bones were misaligned and her tendons were knotted. The slightest movement sent a tingling pain through her, making her gasp.
She covered half of her face in confusion.
What on earth did you do last night?
How could he do such a thing? We hadn't seen each other for five years, hadn't even exchanged a single word. With blood feuds thick as a city wall and tangled knots in our hearts, this was the first time we were alone, and it had come to this.
Aren't they both abnormal?
She lifted the quilt.
There are kiss marks on the arms.
She covered herself with the quilt again with an expressionless face.
...Why not even the arms?
She looked at the person outside the bed in silence.
He was still sleeping soundly with his eyes closed, his long, thick eyelashes casting a small, jagged shadow on his eyelids.
...Of course he is tired.
She simply couldn't understand how a man who had just vomited blood could have the energy to toss and turn all night long.
She wasn't trying to dissuade him; she had even asked. ——"Are you really not tired? Your skills just backfired."
He only gave her three words: "Don't worry about it for now."
Nan Qiong Shuang covered her face with her hands and sighed long and tiredly.
Is this really the right thing to do?
The last step is fine if you don’t do it, but if you do it, it will be really difficult for the two of you to break up.
Should she really get entangled with him? Even if there is still love, even if Gu Huaijin seems to love her, but, should she really still get entangled?
There were too many things between them, after all. She had a new goal, a new mission.
To redeem herself from the Gate of Rebirth required five tasks. This was already her fifth. The Jiaqing Emperor had already fallen in love with her. Everything was ready, only the net was closed.
Even if you take into account the half mission he was owed because I let him go out of pity, it’s only one and a half.
She had fought tooth and nail in the Gate of Rebirth for twelve years and had finally reached this point. Only she knew the difficulties involved.
Twelve years of hard work, if this continues, will all be wasted.
She rubbed her temples, hardly aware of what she was doing.
Even so, Gu Huaijin still loves her.
However, he had only just learned her name, not to mention the hatred between the two of them.
Love like a dangerous building.
She didn't understand how she had given up her reason, indulged her body, and willingly climbed up this dangerous building last night.
In his sleep, Gu Huaijin vaguely felt that the person who was leaning against him was gone. A corner of the quilt was pulled up, and he opened his eyes.
A warm chest came over from behind and held her in his arms, their skin rubbing against each other, smooth and sticking to each other, a reassuring warmth.
She sighed reluctantly.
Gu Huaijin lowered his head, and his long hair fell along her collarbone to her chest, making her tremble with itchiness. He kissed her shoulders densely while massaging her waist.
"Are you tired?"
"How can I not be tired?" She held on for a long time, and finally leaned into his arms.
Every time, she thought about staying away from him, but when he came over and treated her gently, she found it hard to resist.
"I was too inappropriate last night." He kissed her lovingly, and then kissed her from her collarbone all the way to her neck. Suddenly, he was startled, "Why are they all here? Did I kiss you last night?"
She sighed, leaning back in his arms, twirling his hair and playing with it, "It's not who you are."
He kissed her lips and heard her sigh. He said, "Not tonight. You should rest."
tonight.
She suddenly woke up, pushed him away and sat up.
He watched anxiously and silently as she sat up from his arms, straightening her red-scarred back as if deliberately keeping a distance.
He actually knew what she was thinking. He was thinking it too.
However, the intimacy at the moment was too rare, and perhaps it would never exist again, so he deceived himself and didn't want to break it.
She said, "The Emperor only allowed me to stay in Wuliang Mountain for two days."
He lowered his eyes and remained silent.
After a while, he grabbed her waist, dragged her over, and started pecking her back again.
She, who prided herself on being sober, let him go for a moment. After a while, she heard him say, "Two days, impossible."
"The Emperor said..."
"I will write."
"If you don't release him in two days, the Regent will send a message to urge you to do so." She made up her mind and stood up, gathering her hair over her right shoulder. She walked to the mirror to look at the bite mark on her shoulder. "He told me so."
When he heard the name, he did not get angry, but closed his eyes with a pale face.
"What is your relationship with him?"
"Is this something Mr. Gu should be concerned about?"
She turned around lightly in front of the mirror and looked at her whole body. She saw that almost no part of her body was in good condition, and sighed helplessly.
"Is there any medicine?"
Gu Huaijin met her calm gaze.
Why was she so calm? Gu Huaijin was completely confused. She had been so emotional and touching last night, with red eyes and saying all the nice things to him, but when she opened her eyes, she was as cold as a lump of ice again.
Only now did he understand that Nan Qiong Shuang would reveal some of the softness of Chu Jiaojiao in her past only when she was coaxing him or feeling sorry for him. The words and tone she used to coax him were exactly the same as before, but her normal demeanor was completely different.
She was cold, indifferent, and arrogant. Fair and slender, she paid no attention to anyone, cared little for anyone, glanced at them and then glanced away, as if everyone was like smoke, forgotten as soon as they passed by.
It was as if the person whose eyes turned red with shock when he vomited blood yesterday was not her.
"Also, where are my pills, hidden weapons, and ring? You can't take those things away. Where are they?"
"It's not time to give it to you yet." Why was he so anxious to say these words? He hadn't figured out how to treat her yet.
"When will I get it?"
He didn't say anything at first.
After a while, he opened his arms and said, "Come and hug me for a while."
She took a look, put on a straight face, and went about looking for medicine on the shelf.
"Last night was already wrong."
"Shouldn't what. Shouldn't love me? Or shouldn't do it?"
“Neither.”
He pursed his lips and said nothing.
In fact, how could he not understand that she was right.
Last night, when he came to the Longevity Spring to confront her, he had truly decided to put aside his personal affairs and focus on interrogating her about the Wangsheng Sect and its affairs. He even had a strategy in mind: intimidation—the huge table of torture instruments; inducement—telling her he could forgive her.
He was fully convinced that he had figured everything out over the past five years, and that with his resolve as strong as iron, and a two-pronged approach, he would definitely force something out of him.
No, this person is stubborn and refuses to listen to any advice.
What was even more unexpected was that whenever the two of them met, neither of them could be rational. They would start to cry after arguing for a while, and then they would feel distressed after arguing for a few more words. After a few more words, they would kiss and hug for no apparent reason. In the end, they didn't ask anything, and it was completely hopeless. He had no idea how he would be able to soak in the Longevity Spring alone in the future.
What on earth is he doing?
She was right, “neither.”
However, after she figured it out, she immediately stopped showing any tenderness, and it was he who hoped that the other party would be soft-hearted.
She was more decisive and clear-headed than him. Right was right, wrong was wrong, and what shouldn't be done shouldn't be done. There was no room for self-deception.
She turned out to be this kind of person. No wonder she cried hysterically and shouted at him, "What on earth do you know about me?"
He said, "The medicine jar is on the third shelf. The book is blocking it. Come here, I'll take your place."
She was holding a medicine jar, with half of her long hair draped over her chest and the other half hanging down her back. Her face was covered with kiss marks and she looked calm. However, he had a guilty conscience and didn't dare to look.
"Look at how you bit me. Kissing is fine, but why bite me?"
She sat down on the edge of the couch, her back to him, and pushed all her long hair onto one shoulder.
When he pushed aside her black hair, he could see clearly how he had kissed her last night, and his head started to hurt.
What on earth was wrong with him last night?
He dipped a little cool ointment and applied it to the half-scabbed tooth mark on her shoulder. She immediately let out a light breath and her long eyelashes like feather fans closed for a moment.
He dropped his eyes.
How come it’s so beautiful?
Sometimes, he really hated her beauty.
"Does it hurt?"
Bit by bit, he dipped the mint-flavored ointment into every bleeding mark on her body and spread it carefully.
"It doesn't hurt."
"So," he said calmly as he applied medicine to her, "you won't cry out in pain from a minor injury."
She laughed. Finally, one day, she could show him this. She felt relieved. "Let alone a minor injury, I wouldn't even make a sound if I fell off a cliff or a horse. Otherwise, how do you think I would dare to jump off a waterfall?"
He was speechless for a moment. His fingers gently brushed across the white scars on her shoulders and back, stroking them, causing her body to tingle. "Why are there so many scars?"
"All spies are like this." She said in a completely indifferent tone.
"Is it the gate to rebirth? Or something else..."
He couldn't continue. Another mission, another man.
"Both." She twirled her long hair boredly. "Not everyone treats me as well as you do. Sometimes, I have to suffer. Sometimes, not only those men, but also the women around men will make me suffer."
"Did you love them?"
Hearing this, she raised her eyebrows and smiled, then looked back at him with a look of contempt and malice in her eyes.
"All dead. What do you think?"
He was silent for a long time, and finally he could only lower his eyes and apply medicine.
I always thought she was weak. I didn't expect that she had gone through so much hardship.
"I really have never known you before."
That's why she completely broke down and shouted to him, "I don't know why you love me."
She nodded in agreement, her legs stretched out on the ground, her slender feet dangling back and forth boredly. "It's good that you know." With her eyelashes drooping, she spoke softly, as if lost in thought, "So, don't say you love me anymore."
"So, were those feelings of sympathy for me also an act?" He tightened the medicine jar and put it aside, then put his arms around her waist from behind. For some reason, he felt as helpless and helpless as a duckweed in a storm. The only way was to hold her tight, but even if he did, he wouldn't get close to her. Moreover, he didn't know whether he should still hold her tight.
"What do you mean?"
She didn't hide, but let him bend down and hug her, even letting him bend her over so that their ears rubbed against each other.
His heart settled a little, and he took her hand from between her fingers.
"yesterday."
When he vomited blood, her panic and heartache, and the tone and way she used to coax him were completely different from Chu Jiaojiao back then.
"Yesterday, I didn't act."
After hearing her words, he lowered his head and kissed her forehead, and used his hands to push aside the closed buds. She fell into his arms, her heartstrings being plucked by him, and she was a little dazed. A thread of air was taken in and out of her slightly open lips, and was kissed by him, sealing it in his mouth.
She breathed lightly and quickly, "I won't act this out for you again when we meet."
"No." He sneered, speaking close to her face, while mercilessly making her bite her lip and hum, "You don't act in front of me every day. Acting out the deep love between husband and wife with the emperor. This time, you want to kill him?"
She was speechless, tilted her head back, and endured the foreign sensation with trembling eyelashes.
"If you're acting out your love for the Emperor, then what are you acting out with the Regent?" He retaliated slowly, "Speak."
"Huai Jin..." She couldn't bear it. The wooden couch was too hard. Sitting on it made her bones ache. "Didn't you say..."
"Speak." He didn't allow any argument, "You know very well that I hate him the most."
"What could possibly happen between me and the Regent?" She huddled together, pinching his arm until it left some red marks. "Back then, we were just... friends. When we meet again, we'll still be friends... What's wrong with that... Please don't..."
"Yes. We were friends, and we were engaged before. Even if things go wrong, friends are still friends. It's especially awkward for old lovers to meet each other. You teamed up with a friend who has feelings for you to deal with me." He bent his knuckles in hatred, causing her to bite her fingers and sigh, "My dear, is this how you treat me?"
She leaned back in his arms and could only sigh: "Huai Jin, I'm so tired. Yesterday..."
"Do you love him?" He touched the heart of the peach and the tip of the pit.
How could he be so unkind? She hugged his arm and hid under it.
"Do you love him?" He lowered his eyes.
"I love shit..." Her hair was spread out on her chest, and tears were in her eyes again.
At such times, she would admit anything she was asked, submit to anything he said, and obey anything he did.
Only at this time can I see him, care about him, and hug his arms and call his name.
Maybe Chu Jiaojiao's previous side was not entirely fake, but he was classified as "inappropriate" by her, and that side of her refused to show it to him anymore.
Only when she was moved or he was hurt, she would show some of the familiar expressions of the past.
What should he do?
"Do you love me?" He became even more fierce.
She couldn't help sobbing.
But she managed to piece together a bit of rationality, and in his arms, she forced herself to be clear-headed, her eyes red: "Do you know who I am?"
Why are there still such problems between two people even though their inner feelings are completely integrated?
"Actually, you're not completely different from before." He kissed a little blush on her face. "Sometimes, you're the same as before. When you feel sorry for me, or, like now..."
During that kiss, she closed her eyes.
"We really should..."
He sucked: "As long as you betray the gate of rebirth, it will be fine."
Her sweet moans suddenly stopped and she breathed carefully.
"Betrayal?" He kissed her lips, rubbing them slowly. "Say it."
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