Another exposure
Su Manyan was pressed by Xiao Lin in front of the desk and practiced calligraphy and painting diligently for the entire afternoon. His wrist was so sore that he could hardly lift it, and his fingertips were stained black by ink. He was in great pain, but he couldn't even utter a word of complaint.
After all, it was she who took the initiative to pester Xiao Lin a few days ago, saying that she wanted to learn some calligraphy skills. Now that she had chosen the path, she had to go on even if it meant getting her hands rubbed raw. Not only could she not run away, she also had to act like she was willing to learn and thank Xiao Lin for his generous teachings over and over again.
While grinding the ink, she secretly rubbed her sore wrists and repeatedly comforted herself in her heart: It’s okay, just bear with it a little longer. Xiao Lin has to go back to his room to sleep at night anyway. As long as he touches the pillow, he will definitely find the secret letter she stuffed under the pillow.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but feel secretly annoyed. Strangely enough, she had really made a mistake today. She could have found a chance to hand it to him in person when no one was around, so why did she have to sneak it under his pillow?
Anyway, the secret of her female body had been exposed long ago, and her identity as a spy planted by the prince would sooner or later be revealed. Even if she told Xiao Lin openly, there seemed to be nothing to hide.
The current situation is really a dilemma. He is afraid that the secret letter will be delivered too late and cause trouble, and he is also struggling with how to reveal his identity. Su Manyan sighed softly at the ink smudge on the rice paper, feeling confused and not knowing what to do.
After finally having dinner, Xiao Lin took her hand and walked with her in the yard to help digest the food.
In the courtyard in late winter, fallen leaves mixed with snow covered the ground in yellow and white, and the moonlight cast mottled shadows through the sparse branches.
The two of them would stop in front of the snow scene from time to time. Xiao Lin always liked to whisper some soft words in her ear, which made her ears feel hot, and the affection between their ears was full of tenderness.
Xiao Lin looked at her red earlobes, his heart filled with happiness. He almost stuck to Su Manyan, without any of his usual dignified demeanor as a prince.
He was like a sticky candy without bones. He felt uncomfortable even half a step away from Su Manyan, as if he could only feel at ease by sticking to her.
But he couldn't be blamed for that. His beloved wife was standing right before him, her eyebrows curved, her eyes filled with stars when she smiled. It was the fulfillment he had been waiting for for two lifetimes.
He racked his brains and went over all the love words he could think of in his life in his mind thousands of times, and his love was so full that it almost overflowed from his chest.
But when the words were on the tip of my tongue, I was blocked by my shyness and had to hold them in my stomach.
He was so worried that he scratched his head and cheeks, unable to speak, so he could only express his joy through actions.
Sometimes he brushed away the petals that fell in her hair, and sometimes he secretly pinched her fingertips when she wasn't paying attention, just like a child asking for candy.
Su Manyan was so annoyed by him that she had no choice but to push him away. Looking at the smile that could not be hidden in his eyes, she felt like she had raised a big, clingy puppy. No matter how naughty he was, she could only indulge him without any limit.
In the past, they would always take more than half an hour to walk, but today Su Manyan didn't have the leisure time. After just a few steps, he started urging Xiao Lin to go back to his room and sleep.
Logically speaking, Xiao Lin always obeyed her and never went against her orders. But today, he seemed to be weighed down by a weight and insisted on singing a different tune. He was reluctant to move and found all kinds of excuses to delay.
"It's getting late, shall we go to bed?" Su Manyan asked patiently.
"Is it late?" Xiao Lin looked down at her, and gently scratched her cheek with his fingertips. "But I think the moonlight is beautiful. I should spend more time with A Yan."
"I practiced calligraphy and painting all afternoon today and I feel a little sleepy." She made another excuse.
"Ayan must be feeling sleepy after dinner," Xiao Lin naturally put his arm around her waist and slowly walked forward with her, "Let's walk a few more laps to wake ourselves up, so we can sleep well when we get home."
Su Manyan was really at his wit's end. He deliberately stood in the cool breeze and shivered as he said, "But I still feel a little cold."
"That's not difficult." Xiao Lin immediately pulled her into his arms, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist and abdomen, his warm body pressed against her back. "You won't feel cold if I hold you."
Su Manyan was hugged tightly by him. Just as she was about to say something, she suddenly felt a slight pain in the back of her neck.
——Xiao Lin buried his head in the crook of her neck, and whether intentionally or unintentionally, his teeth gently rubbed her skin.
"Are you born in the year of the dog?" Su Manyan was angry and amused, and couldn't help but curse.
Xiao Lin looked at the white and tender skin on her neck, which looked like fine cream in the moonlight. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind: he wanted to leave some mark of his own on it. As he thought so, he did it.
He tightened his arms, holding her soft body tightly in his embrace, and his lips and teeth gently lingered on her shoulders and neck, sometimes biting, sometimes sucking, leaving behind red marks of varying depths in a short while.
An ambiguous atmosphere quietly permeated the air under the moonlight, and even the evening breeze became sticky...
"Do you still want to go to bed now?" Xiao Lin asked softly in her ear with a hoarse voice.
"Huh?" Su Manyan's mind buzzed, but he still couldn't react.
The feeling on her neck was numb and itchy, spreading along her skin to her limbs and bones, making her legs weak and almost unable to stand.
She struggled to break free from Xiao Lin's embrace and turned to look at him, only to see a sly smile in his eyes. He had bitten the word "sleep" very hard.
Only then did she realize that this person had deliberately been playing a trick on her the entire afternoon!
"You did it on purpose!" Su Manyan glared at him, her cheeks flushed with shame.
"Why do you say that, Ah Yan?" Xiao Lin pretended to be innocent and raised his eyebrows. "I don't understand."
"You're just teasing me!"
"Ayan, please don't slander me," he stretched out his hand to touch her face, but she turned her head away, so he could only defend himself aggrievedly, "I am devoted to Ayan, how could I bear to play tricks on you?"
Su Manyan was so angry at his question that he asked the question even though he knew the answer, so he turned around and walked towards the bedroom.
God knows she was so worried about this secret letter today, scratching her head and hoping he would find it soon. But unexpectedly, Xiao Lin had seen through her thoughts long ago, but he pretended to be calm and just watched her dizzy and anxious. What kind of weird and evil taste is this!
"Ayan, I was wrong."
Seeing this, Xiao Lin hurriedly chased after her, quickly grabbed her sleeve, and pulled her back into his arms with a little force.
"It's my fault. I shouldn't have teased you on purpose." He rested his chin on the top of her head, his voice soft.
Su Manyan kept saying "go away, go away", but his pushing movements were light and he had no strength at all.
She herself knew that she was not really angry at all, but just felt a little wronged because he had played a trick on her. After all, she was a person with a sharp tongue but a soft heart.
Xiao Lin understood her temper best. Seeing that she wasn't really angry, his teasing thoughts surfaced again. He lowered his head and chuckled softly in her ear: "But when Ah Yan is anxious, her cheeks puff up. It's really cute."
Su Manyan:!
Now I'm really angry.
She pushed Xiao Lin away violently, turned around and left. No matter how he called her name behind her, she refused to turn back and answer.
Xiao Lin panicked now and quickly chased after her. Relying on his tall stature, he blocked her way like a cheat.
When Su Manyan walked to the right, he also moved to the right; when Su Manyan took a step to the left with her left foot, he immediately took a step and stood in front of her, like an immovable wall.
"Good Ah Yan, I really know I was wrong." He gently clasped her shoulders with both hands and leaned down slightly so that their eyes were level. His eyebrows, which were always smiling on weekdays, were now drooping, with a humble and pleading look, "Don't be angry, okay?"
A handsome face was so close that his breath could spray on her cheek, and his long eyelashes cast faint shadows under his eyes, making him look a little pitiful.
Su Manyan's pent-up anger disappeared instantly, but when he thought about how he had been fooled the whole afternoon, he felt that he could not forgive him so easily, so he still had a stern face, looked at him coldly, and refused to give in.
"Alright, alright, I won't tease you anymore." Xiao Lin saw this and knew that if he continued to tease her, she would really be upset. He quickly pulled out a neatly folded letter from his chest like a magic trick and handed it to her. "Are you looking for this?"
The texture of the paper and the familiar handwriting on it were exactly the secret letter that Su Manyan had written silently under the lamp last night. The wax seal on the letter had been removed, and it was obvious that Xiao Lin had already seen it.
Su Manyan's cheeks felt slightly hot, and he snorted in response: "When did you see it?"
"After you came back from practicing calligraphy and painting today, I found it when I was making the bed before taking a shower." Xiao Lin answered honestly.
"You discovered it so early?" She was a little surprised. She thought she would have to wait until he lay down to see it.
"Of course." Xiao Lin deliberately dragged out his words, a familiar smile in his eyes. "Ayan went to the trouble of sneaking into my bedroom and hiding this 'heartfelt' letter under my pillow. How could I not treasure it?"
That slick look again!
Su Manyan's face flushed red instantly. She reached out to cover his chattering mouth and said in a voice as thin as a mosquito: "Don't talk nonsense."
"Where did I say that?" Xiao Lin gently sucked her fingertips, causing her to immediately withdraw her hand. He then asked with a smile, "Is there something wrong?"
Su Manyan was speechless after being asked this question. She could only look left and right, avoiding his gaze. After a long while, she stood on tiptoe, quickly glanced at the letter in his hand, and asked casually, "You... after reading it, don't you have any questions?"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Lin's smile instantly faded, and his expression became serious. He carefully refolded the secret letter and placed it neatly inside his sleeve, making sure it wouldn't be seen by anyone. Then he looked up at Su Manyan and replied sternly:
"To be honest, I've long been aware of the shady dealings between Crown Prince Xie and my second brother, and I've been secretly sending people to investigate for the past few months. The details I didn't have time to share with you in detail that day at Ci'en Temple are all related to this matter."
He paused, then reached out and took her small hand, gently stroking the thin calluses on her fingertips from practicing calligraphy. His voice was full of cherishment: "Ayan, thank you for telling me such important information. But this matter is dangerous, you must protect yourself and never take risks again. Of course, I am here to protect you."
Before he finished speaking, he could no longer suppress the emotions in his heart. He pulled her arm and hugged her tightly in his arms.
His lips gently pressed against her forehead, and the warm touch came. Xiao Lin felt as if his heart was soaked in warm spring water. It not only washed away the fatigue of the past few days of exploration, but also seemed to be softened and melted. The overflowing sweetness flowed through the blood vessels to every part of his body, and even his fingertips were warm.
He had lived two lives in a muddle, had seen the unpredictable nature of human hearts, had tasted the desertion of his friends and family, but only Su Manyan would treat him so recklessly. When he saw the contents of the secret letter just now, his first reaction was that the blood in his body almost froze, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
He knew too well how confidential the information in the secret letter was, and he also knew too well how great a risk Su Manyan would take in order to obtain this information and deliver it to him.
He had spies everywhere in the cold palace, and he had known for a long time that Su Manyan had repeatedly met secretly with the prince's party. But from the beginning, he subconsciously believed that she must have her own difficulties in doing these things.
In the early years, when the two of them had not yet been honest with each other, he had a secret expectation in his heart, hoping that she was not truly dependent on the prince; later, when they reached a cooperation, although he trusted her on the surface, he still couldn't help but keep a trace of defense in secret; later, he fell in love with her unknowingly, and this love often made him fall into pain.
He was afraid that she really had other plans, but he couldn't bear to doubt her even a little bit. But the little details in daily life, the gentle eyes when she looked at him, the subconscious actions of protecting him in critical moments, and the partiality revealed between the lines, all made him unable to deceive himself any longer and could only choose to believe her wholeheartedly.
Until they understood each other's feelings, he completely let go of all his worries and even felt that even if he was really deceived by her, he would accept it. But fate gave him a surprise.
He awakened the memories of his past life, and those forgotten fragments emerged clearly. He finally understood Su Manyan's difficulties: her current identity and body were not the real her.
She is a reborn spirit, unexpectedly arriving in this world as a being from another world, inheriting the identity and past of her original owner. All that helplessness and unspeakable secrets are instantly answered.
Su Manyan had no idea that her simple question had triggered such a torrent of thoughts in Xiao Lin. But she was sensitive and could clearly feel the embrace around her suddenly tighten.
Xiao Lin's temperament suddenly softened, and the deep emotion that was almost overflowing wrapped around him and was transmitted to her through his warm body - there was heartache, cherishment, and unspeakable relief.
She did not avoid this sudden flood of emotions, but instead breathed a sigh of relief, opened her arms, and hugged him back tenderly, her arms gradually tightening as she buried her face in his shirt.
After a long while, she spoke in a muffled voice, her voice filled with uncertainty: "Do you... know everything?"
"Um."
A very light word fell between her hair, soft and gentle, yet with unquestionable certainty.
Su Manyan couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, a smile spread from his eyes, and even his voice became lighter.
She had actually been prepared for her identity to be exposed. Since she could no longer hide her identity as a girl, she naturally couldn't hide her identity as the Crown Prince's accomplice for long either. She might as well be honest.
Now that their goals were aligned, they should clearly communicate all the information, join forces to overthrow the Crown Prince's faction, and put an end to this endless plot. But Xiao Lin's reaction was far calmer than she had imagined. There was no surprise, no questioning, only complete acceptance and heartache.
That soft "hmm" confirmed her guess - he already knew everything.
Sure enough, nothing can be hidden from him.
Su Manyan breathed a sigh of relief. The burden that had been weighing on her heart for days seemed to have been lifted instantly, and even her breathing became lighter. Suddenly, an idea came to her:
Perhaps it wouldn't take long before she could tell him openly that her real name was Su Manyan. She could stop hiding things and speak freely about her hometown, about that world without swords and spears where she could live freely, and about her true past.
There will always be that day.
The two of them just hugged each other quietly in the moonlight. The evening breeze blew, bringing bursts of floral fragrance. No one spoke, for fear of breaking this silent and beautiful moment.
"I will protect myself, don't worry." Su Manyan said in a deep voice, rubbing her cheek against his collar. "I don't want to live in fear like this anymore."
Hearing this, Xiao Lin lowered his head and kissed the top of her head, then gently kissed her lips. His movements were as gentle as if he was treating a rare treasure, and his voice was full of solemn assurance: "Believe me, it will be over soon, okay?"
Let's end these days of swords and sabers, end these days full of calculations; end this dayless forbearance, end this grievance of living under someone else's roof; end this helplessness and end this torment of fear.
He silently vowed in his heart that he would do his utmost to lead Su Manyan to the light that belonged to them. He would earn back for her the status, position, and stability she deserved, the time and love he owed her, and present them to her with both hands.
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