Chapter 64 064 Conflict...
Just then, a male voice, as clear as a gentle breeze and the bright moon, came from behind, breaking the silence in the Great Ming Palace.
"Wanwan".
Lin Wan turned around and saw Xie Huaiyuan standing in front of the Great Ming Palace, looking at her with unusual calm.
His moon-white brocade robe rustled in the wind, and his handsome face was illuminated by the candlelight in the hall, yet there was no warmth in it. A polite smile played on his lips, and his dark eyes stared intently at her.
Lin Wan: "..."
The atmosphere inside the hall was somewhat strange; even the wind that was blowing through the hall seemed to have stopped.
Lin Wan was looking at Xie Huaiyuan, and Xie Huaiyuan was looking at her.
His gaze was unwavering, and the corners of his lips were slightly upturned.
The candlelight in front of the golden lotus pedestal of the Buddha statue suddenly crackled and popped, the flickering flames casting an unpredictable shadow on his face, making him appear somewhat frightening.
Neither of them spoke, and neither of them took the initiative to break the strange silence.
Although she had imagined many possible times when they would meet again, and knew that he was in this temple, perhaps he had already discovered her when he set off from the palace gate, Lin Wan never expected that they would meet at this time.
She watched quietly, her heart, which had been suppressed by sorrow, gradually began to beat again.
The quiet and strange atmosphere was eventually broken by Lin Wan.
"Your Highness?"
Lin Wan spoke, and Xie Huaiyuan followed suit. He lifted his foot, stepped over the threshold of the Great Ming Palace, withdrew his gaze, and slowly walked into the palace step by step.
"I saw a figure in the distance that looked just like you, and thinking it was you, I came over to take a look."
"You...I..."
Lin Wan opened her mouth, but ultimately did not finish her sentence.
I learned so much information today that it's causing my head to ache from all the noise.
Just now in the guest house, Princess Zhaoyi shouted those words in a fit of rage: Don't you want to know how that person died? He was one of the assassins who broke into the palace that night, and he died under the sword of the prince Xie Huaiyuan, whom you have been so fond of!
That man died, not in the bandit suppression case of that year, but in the capital, by the sword of Xie Huaiyuan, whose presence still makes my heart pound.
Even if you didn't kill the person yourself, you were forced to get involved because of them.
If he hadn't insisted on going to Licheng out of spite, he wouldn't have been forced to come to the capital to save himself, and he wouldn't have encountered what happened later.
Even though she met Xie Huaiyuan later and was unaware of what had happened in the capital before, now all of this felt like a huge, invisible net, trapping her and making it hard for her to breathe. At this moment, she didn't know how to face Xie Huaiyuan.
"I saw you kneeling here the whole time, Wanwan. Could it be that you were also praying for blessings?" Xie Huaiyuan stopped beside Lin Wan, no longer looking at her, and smiled at the Buddha statue on the lotus seat. "I didn't expect Wanwan to be a Buddhist as well. I just wonder who you think of when you pray to Buddha?"
Logically speaking, Lin Wan didn't have anyone in mind, but when Xie Huaiyuan mentioned it to her, a figure suddenly flashed through her mind: the one who desperately pushed her out of the bandits' den, and who resolutely turned back to protect her from those fierce bandits.
Xie Huaiyuan stood right beside her, and the fleeting sadness and desolation in Lin Wan's eyes did not escape Xie Huaiyuan's notice.
Lin Wan concealed the sadness in her eyes and tried her best to calm herself down before saying, "No."
Xie Huaiyuan looked at Lin Wan, then suddenly smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. His voice, as cold as ice, came out, "Could it be Li Yunzhou?"
I never expected him to bring that person up so suddenly, and to say it so bluntly.
Lin Wan stared wide-eyed in surprise at his probing gaze.
wrong!
How did he know that he recognized Li Yunzhou?
She had never mentioned Li Yunzhou in front of him. It was a sorrow buried deep in her heart. If it weren't for Li Yunzhou's life-saving rescue, she would have perished long ago. How could she be here talking to him so peacefully?
But this name is a pain in my heart. I owe Li Yunzhou, and I can't and don't want it to be mentioned casually by others.
Lin Wan looked at Xie Huaiyuan in astonishment and disbelief.
"The Buddha said that the arising and ceasing of a person's karma are all predetermined. I wonder where your destiny lies, Wanwan?" Xie Huaiyuan stood beside Lin Wan, his eyes falling on the golden Buddha statue in the hall. He looked around, and finally his gaze settled on Lin Wan. "Is it him?"
Xie Huaiyuan glanced at Lin Wan.
A faint smile appeared on his face, so faint that it was almost impossible to make his eyes smile. "Wanwan, I have never cared about anyone's so-called love for me, nor have I ever believed in any love that lasts until death. There are always things that people want from each other in this world."
His dark eyes turned cold as he stared intently at Lin Wan, pressing closer with his question: "Since you've already made me believe you, why do you keep taking back all the love you've expressed for me?"
Xie Huaiyuan was very close to her, so close that he could almost feel her breath. He tilted his head slightly and continued, "Or are you just toying with me all along?"
"..."
In the past, Lin Wan would have given a proper explanation. She had never taken her admiration for someone as a joke. Even though she was initially angry that Xie Huaiyuan had deceived her with a false identity, and she was just teasing him out of annoyance, she never intended to play with him.
But now, she has just learned that the person who risked their life to save her was actually...
She looked up and met Xie Huaiyuan's gaze, asking slowly and deliberately, "Did you kill him?"
"So what if he is?" Xie Huaiyuan looked at her with a smile, but the smile in his eyes was chilling. "Since he dared to break into the palace at night to assassinate someone, shouldn't he be killed?"
Lin Wan gritted her teeth: "Yun Zhou is an upright man, how could he do something he knew would cost him his life? He must have been forced by someone. Why don't you find out the truth? Does being the heir give you the right to arbitrarily dispose of a person's life? This is called treating human life like dirt!"
She spoke slowly, but her voice was clearly choked with sobs, sounding as if she were heartbroken upon learning of Li Yunzhou's death. Although no tears streamed down her face, the moist look in her eyes was undeniable.
Xie Huaiyuan stood up straight, his sleeves hanging down, his gaze fixed on her intently.
Xie Huaiyuan: "How do you know he's definitely upright? Don't people change?"
"He won't!"
Before the Buddha statue atop a towering lotus flower, a handsome young man in a crescent-shaped brocade robe stood beside a kneeling girl, his kind expression softening slightly.
Their clothes intertwined, like all lovers in the world, intimately embracing each other, as if confessing their love to Buddha.
But after Lin Wan gritted her teeth and said those words, the scene seemed to freeze instantly.
Xie Huaiyuan looked down in a daze, staring into Lin Wan's emotionless eyes.
After a long pause, he opened his mouth and said, "You'd rather believe him than me?"
Lin Wan's clear, bright eyes were misty with tears as she looked back at him without any attempt to hide her feelings: "Yes."
"You left Beijing in the snow before the Lunar New Year, also for him?"
"yes."
"Even if this trip back to Beijing is for him?" Xie Huaiyuan asked repeatedly in a low voice.
"yes."
"In the villa in Pear Blossom Lane..."
For some reason, Lin Wan felt a twisted pleasure from completely tearing away the beautiful facade between them.
Meeting Xie Huaiyuan's gaze, he said, word by word, "Yes, it was all for him, but you killed him!"
"It really is so, how ingenious." Xie Huaiyuan's face was ashen. He took another step forward and looked at her with a cold gaze. The icy chill spreading in Xie Huaiyuan's eyes was clearly visible.
"You've been lying to me all along. No wonder you don't want to stay by my side and have tried to leave me time and time again. You're full of lies and have never truly wanted to stay with me!"
Lin Wan sensed something was wrong; his eyes held that same gloomy and ruthless look as before.
She remembered the last time she was in Pear Blossom Lane, and her heart skipped a beat. She hurriedly got up from the cushion and immediately turned to run towards the palace gate.
Unexpectedly, she stumbled and almost fell to the ground before she could even stand up straight.
Xie Huaiyuan reached out and grabbed her.
Lin Wan was still hoping to return to the Su family mansion to see her maternal grandmother. The last time she was imprisoned in the courtyard by Xie Huaiyuan, she developed a fear of him. Almost reflexively, she shook off Xie Huaiyuan's hand that was holding her.
She rushed toward the palace gate.
The door was right in front of her, but the person behind her was faster than her.
With a loud bang, the previously open door was slammed shut.
The candlelight flickered in front of the Buddha statue, casting intertwined shadows.
A few breaths later.
"No--!"
The flames stopped, illuminating Lin Wan's deathly pale face. Xie Huaiyuan had pinned her behind the suddenly closed door, her hands bound behind her back, rendering her completely immobile.
Her pupils contracted, and with difficulty, she turned her head to glance at Xie Huaiyuan, who was pressing her against the door. She shouted angrily, "Xie Huaiyuan, what are you doing now!"
"What am I going to do?" Xie Huaiyuan said coldly, then suddenly a strange smile appeared on his lips. "You're too good at running. I'm going to put you in captivity so you won't have to go to so much trouble to find ways to escape anymore."
In the courtyard after the rain, a cool breeze swept by, instantly turning it icy and bone-chilling. Lin Wan's face turned deathly pale, devoid of any color. Her heart sank infinitely, and her whole body trembled with fear.
"No, no..."
Two palace maids happened to be walking along the covered walkway outside the Great Ming Palace.
"What bad luck! Why did I have to go looking for Miss Lin? It's been quite a while already. If I wanted to leave, I would have left already."
"Don't say that. Maybe she hasn't left yet. Let's hurry and look for her."
And of course, no one missed the fact that the door to the Great Ming Palace was suddenly slammed shut.
"Strange? This doesn't seem like it would shut off by itself."
But at this moment, there was really no one in the Great Ming Palace. The two of them searched the place thoroughly but could not find anyone else present.
Under the extremely secluded curtains and drapes inside the hall, their figures and traces were completely concealed.
Xie Huaiyuan covered Lin Wan's lips tightly with his hand.
"Waaah..."
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