Chapter 67 Arrival
After an unknown amount of time, a strong feeling of dizziness set in. Before Lan Nongnong regained consciousness, she suddenly took a deep breath, abruptly opened her eyes, and gasped for breath.
Her mind was empty, and the surroundings were silent. Her body and consciousness felt heavy, leaving her in a trance. She heard a few noises coming from nowhere, and then someone's voice was faintly heard.
"...Madam, would you like to get off the car?"
Lan Nong's eyelashes moved, but her lips were numb as if they had been anesthetized, so she couldn't make a sound. The voice rang out again, and soon, a chill came over her.
She turned her head slowly, her body suddenly weightless for a moment, her vision shifting, and she felt dizzy. She blinked, realizing she had been lying down. No wonder...
"Ma'am—how are you—!"
Lan Nongnong looked in the direction of the voice, but her eyes were unfocused, as if it was just a subconscious reaction, and her soul was not in it.
Wang Yinghuan looked at her, his throat so swollen that he couldn't speak.
The man who had never cried out in pain despite being injured in the past two years now had tears in his eyes.
He held her shoulders and arms with both hands, a move that was already deeply offensive given the difference in status between them. However, the sight of her like that when he first opened the door was truly shocking.
His subordinates watched from behind, but he ignored them and, driven by his heartache, rushed in to support them. The body beneath his hands felt so limp and boneless, as if it could fall at any moment, that he couldn't bear to let go.
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, someone suddenly grabbed his collar and dragged him backwards with great force!
Wang Yinghuan was horrified, his eyes suddenly fierce, but he was afraid that she would get hurt, so he quickly let go of her hand. As he retreated, one hand reached for the hilt of the knife at his waist, and with one arm bent at the elbow, he twisted his body and raised his leg to counterattack, but the moment he saw who was coming, he forced himself to stop!
His body was slammed to the ground, his arms twisted behind his back, nearly dislocated, and his head pressed hard into the snow. As he struggled to turn his head slightly for air, he caught a glimpse of a black hem of clothing, walking towards the carriage as if it were no one else.
Wang Yinghuan knew who it was. His tense body suddenly stiffened, then relaxed completely. His throat was sore and painful that he couldn't breathe, and his eyes were sore and painful. The corners of his eyes, sunken in the snow, felt warm for a moment before being frozen solid.
It took only a few breaths from the moment the carriage stopped to the moment the obstructing person was cleared out. Tongze and a guard lifted the curtain, and Qin Jingyao leaned over and stepped into the carriage.
But what he saw instantly changed his expression! With a single stride, he bent over and carefully gathered the limp woman, who had collapsed beside the fireplace, into his arms.
His eyes were first caught by the dried blood on her lips, as if someone had hit him on the back of the head with a heavy weapon. His vision went dark and a fishy and sweet taste suddenly surged in his throat.
His tall figure swayed for a moment, as if overwhelmed. He steadied himself and hurried to check her breath, his fingertips trembling barely perceptibly. When he touched her lifeless eyes, he should have felt furious and hurt, but now he felt a sense of relief.
He tilted his head slightly, took a deep breath, closed his eyes to suppress the heat in his eyes, suddenly pulled up the corner of his lips and smiled silently.
When he looked back into her empty eyes, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Nong Nong."
The woman in his arms showed no reaction, as if she had lost her soul. Qin Jingyao closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was no regret in his eyes.
Her escape, the suffering she endured, and even her cold again were all within his control. He just didn't expect that despite his careful arrangements for her, she would still be injured like this!
And all these injuries were caused by those insignificant nuns who tried to alienate him and his wife!
He clenched his hands tightly under his cloak, suppressed the surging murderous intent, used his fingertips to comb her messy long hair, and then lifted her chin and leaned closer.
The blood on her lips had dried, and her lips were stuck together. If he forced them open, he would probably tear the flesh. He stared into her empty eyes, gently touching and rubbing her lips with his lips, then sucking them carefully, patiently moistening and softening her lips. Then he traced the seam between her closed lips with the tip of his tongue, constantly probing until they softened, and then entered in one go.
In her scalding mouth, he carefully examined the wound with a sweeping force. The satisfaction of regaining what he had lost intertwined with her sweet blood, making him wish he could merge with her flesh and blood and never be separated again.
After licking the blood from her mouth, Qin Jingyao slowly withdrew. From beginning to end, except for her slightly heavier breathing, her eyes remained lifeless.
He took a steady breath, separated from her for a moment, and opened her teeth to peer into her. His tongue tip and the soft flesh were uninjured, as he had expected. Then, he gently parted her lower lip with his thumb.
The bloodshot tooth roots were clearly visible!
He stared for two breaths, then lowered his head again, licking and moving his tongue, then repeated it again. Regardless of the wind rustling outside and the people waiting in the snow, he embraced her lips and tongue with a ferocity that almost wanted to devour her.
Even when he heard her breathing quicken and her body begin to struggle slightly, he didn't stop, instead entangled and seized her deeper and harder. He could even feel the trembling of her throat tightening, the boiling roar of her blood, as if there was a real fishy sweetness filling her teeth.
He seemed insatiable, intending to completely possess those soft lips and tongue - until he suddenly felt a pain on the side of his cheek, followed by a crisp sound that exploded in his ears!
The force of the slap wasn't particularly strong, and the pain wasn't even as great as the scratching of her fingernails. Yet, Qin Jingyao suddenly separated from her as if struck hard, his head tilted to one side. After a moment's silence, he turned back and looked at her with a deep, watery gaze.
Lan Nongnong's vision darkened, and a constant buzzing filled her ears. Once free, she opened her lips and gasped for air, as if on the verge of death. The scratching and hitting she had just done were purely instinctive. Once the dizziness subsided, she struggled to get up.
Yet her body was chilled to the bone, her blood stagnating, her limbs numb and powerless. She stumbled to her feet, feeling dizzy and almost falling. With difficulty, she steadied herself and swatted away the hand that reached out to her, not even glancing at him.
The moment she regained consciousness, her brief blank memories came flooding back. She just wanted to know: what had become of her aunts? She wanted to see for herself!
Qin Jingyao didn't try to stop her, but took off his cloak and tried to put it on her, but she pushed him away as expected. He wanted to threaten her by not letting her get out of the car, but when he saw the resolute look on her face, he knew that she would never compromise.
The moment the heavy curtains were lifted, the guards standing solemnly around the carriage, torches in hand, stood with their backs to each other. Lan Nongnong had no time to look elsewhere. The moment she stepped out of the carriage, a bone-chilling cold assaulted her from all sides, instantly freezing her knees weak and sending her tumbling awkwardly into the snow.
Outside the temple, the snow had not been cleared, and was half a foot thick. Since it was new snow, it didn't hurt much when she fell on it. Her head and face were buried in the snow, but she didn't bother to brush it off. She just raised her head and looked upwards.
But the stone steps that seemed ordinary to her seemed so high and steep now, as if they were out of reach. She couldn't see anything on the platform at all, the only thing she could see was the darker and thicker billowing smoke.
"Aunt Yun'an..."
"Aunt Qingfeng..."
"Yunting..."
“…”
Lan Nongnong muttered the names of her aunts, her heart consumed by despair. Her ears rang with a throbbing ringing, and tears streamed down her face like a broken dam. She dared not dwell on it, much less pause. She struggled to get out of the snow, almost falling with every step.
His clothes and hair were all stained with snow, and his cheeks were covered with tears that looked like ice. By the time he reached the steps, he was in a state of extreme disarray.
She wanted to shout for her aunts, but no sound came out. The suppressed emotions in her chest were stuck in her throat, heavy as if she was drowning. Only her remaining strength kept her from collapsing.
She gasped for breath, long and heavily, her strength already exhausted. She bent down and tried to climb up the stone steps using her hands and feet, but before her hands touched the ground, someone grabbed her by the waist.
"If you want to know how they are, just ask your husband. Why do you have to do this?"
Qin Jingyao's expression was no better than hers. He followed her closely, watching her in shock, pain, and despair.
She is too bold and too wild.
Only by making her completely scared will she stop thinking about leaving in the future.
Everything was as expected, yet this scene was glaring. His eyes were sinister, his jaw clenched, as if he was trying his best to hold back, yet the movements he made to brush the snow off her face were still incredibly gentle.
Lan Nongnong could no longer withstand any large movements. This one move made her feel dizzy and nauseous, and her temples swelled and ached. She gasped, trying to break free from him. She looked up at him for the first time since their reunion, but her eyes were filled with thick hatred.
"You lit the fire to force me to come back."
"You set fire to the nunnery and killed the aunts, what happened?"
She was severely chilled by the cold, and her lips, which had been warmed by him just now, had now turned purple. Her voice was as soft as smoke and intermittent. Qin Jingyao was only a few feet away from her, and he had to rely on her stiff lip shape to make out her words.
He wrapped her in his cloak and held her horizontally in his arms, even covering her feet tightly. His face was gloomy and dark, but his voice was still as gentle as usual when he treated her. As he walked up the stone steps,
"Nong Nong is my beloved wife, and this nunnery is considered the place of your elders. How could I do such a wicked thing, and how could I harm the masters? However, Nong Nong has misunderstood me and even resented me because of this. I'm afraid you won't believe anything I say."
"In that case, it will be as you wish, and you will see it with your own eyes."
After Lan Nongnong finished speaking, she was completely exhausted, even more powerless to resist. She had no intention of struggling any further. As long as she could get to the nunnery as quickly as possible and see for herself, nothing else mattered.
---
The low whispers between the man and woman suddenly died down. Wang Yinghuan was still somewhat dazed when he was released. His arms were numb from the pain, and it took a while for him to be able to move them.
He staggered to his feet, and before he could brush off the snow on his head, face and body, he saw the guard beside the Shangshu Ling named Tongze walk up to him and hand him a black coat of indecipherable shape and a pair of wrist guards.
He didn't understand why but didn't dare to refuse. He just reached out to take it, but was stunned by the other party's next words.
"Your Excellency, this coat is wrinkled. Everyone in your house has been waiting for you for a long time. Please change into new clothes and go home."
wrinkle?
He was tied up in the snow, his clothes naturally wrinkled. However, Wang Yinghuan glanced at his left arm with a sense of understanding. It had been stretched and wrinkled by the buttoning, and even the faint fragrance that he dared not desecrate had long been washed away by the wind and snow.
His movements of undressing and unbuttoning were a little stiff, perhaps due to being frozen in the snow for so long.
"Thank you for your protection. New clothes are not necessary. My family has been waiting for you, and I will prepare new clothes for you. I wonder if I should leave my arms behind as well?"
Although he had a lot of experience, the arrogance of the child from a noble family made him unable to help but make a sarcastic remark.
Tongze reached out to catch the clothes he threw, and said calmly, "Deputy Envoy, you are joking."
Then, with a solemn expression, he said, "Your Excellency has ordered that offending a second-rank imperial consort is a serious offense. However, considering that the Deputy Envoy has performed a meritorious service in escorting the lady back, and that he must return to the capital to report, I will only spare one arm and allow him to receive medical treatment upon his return. Although the offense outweighs the merit, if you can return to the capital to report before midnight as agreed, the merit will be offset."
"What happened tonight will not be pursued."
"Mr. Deputy Envoy, time waits for no one. Please come in."
Miaofeng Mountain was nearly twenty miles from the capital. He would gallop immediately and arrive in the capital before midnight to report. There was plenty of time. Wang Yinghuan, however, stood there frozen in place, his eyes suddenly tightening.
So that’s how it is!
He laughed at himself, but his cheeks were frozen stiff, and even the corners of his mouth couldn't move. He slowly raised his head and looked towards the terrace. The candlelight on the stairs and the platform had long been extinguished. The shadow of the mountain in the dark night was deep and majestic, like a giant beast waiting to devour.
Just like that man, so high and mighty that he could even scheme against his own wife.
He is not up to the standard.
The crackling sound of bones coming apart was particularly crisp against the backdrop of the crackling torches.
"Thank you very much for your leniency, Lord Ling Gong. I dare not take credit for this. Please tell Lord Ling Gong that I will not be late. Farewell."
After saying this, Wang Yinghuan took off the sleeve of his disabled arm and hooked it around his neck. He led the horse waiting beside him with one arm, jumped on it, called over the subordinates who were also being detained, and shouted.
The dull sound of horse hooves shattered the snowy night, splashing snowflakes all over the sky.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
