Chapter 38 [38]
【38】/First release
So that's what you were asking?
"Just ask, why are you acting so fierce? I was scared and thought something was wrong."
"But why is he so serious? Could it be that he already knows that Xiao Lanchun and I talked about Concubine Zhen and his life story?"
"That shouldn't be the case. Everyone in the palace had already left during the conversation. Even if he had spies around me, his eavesdropping skills wouldn't be that advanced, right?"
Countless thoughts popped up in Lu Zhiwan's mind. Seeing that the man's face was still as gloomy as water, after hesitating for a while, he decided to confess and get a lighter sentence.
"Your Majesty, why don't you...sit down and talk first?"
She leaned weakly against Xiao Jingting's chest and tentatively pushed back, but unexpectedly, Xiao Jingting grabbed her wrist.
He even took a step closer, frightening her so much that she leaned back, her eyes panicking: "Your Majesty?"
Xiao Jingting held her wrist tightly, his tone cold: "What did she say to you?"
This strong sense of oppression made Lu Zhiwan's scalp numb. She dared not hesitate any longer and quickly answered truthfully: "The princess told me some old stories...about Zhenfei...and..."
She swallowed her saliva in frustration, her voice becoming even softer: "And your Majesty's life experience."
life experience.
That unbearable past that he didn't want to mention.
Xiao Jingting pursed his thin lips even tighter, his narrow eyes fixed on the trembling, pale-cheeked woman in front of him. For a moment, he wanted to pin her down on the table and give her a beating.
I told her before that in the deep palace, one should avoid being curious.
She, on the other hand, threw all his words behind her.
Noticing that the man's gaze was becoming increasingly cold and vicious, Lu Zhiwan felt extremely regretful.
"If I had known he cared so much, I would have just told a lie. Why did I just confess so honestly? I'm so stupid."
Stupid indeed.
Xiao Jingting pulled the corner of his mouth without emotion. It would be bad enough if he was just curious, but he also wanted to deceive the emperor, which was an even greater crime.
"Your Majesty, I...ah!"
Before he could even utter a word of begging for mercy, his wrist was bitten unexpectedly.
The stinging sensation almost made Lu Zhiwan burst into tears. She was confused and panicked, staring at the man in front of her with her dark eyes wide open.
"Why is this bastard biting me again!!!"
Xiao Jingting moved her wrist away from his lips, as if admiring his masterpiece. He stared at the deep teeth marks between the snow-white wrists for a while before slowly raising his eyes.
His deep gaze fell on her eyelashes, which fluttered like butterfly wings. His voice was cold: "Since we are talking about my life experience, Xiao Lanchun, can you tell you that my bestial nature has not faded and I like to eat human flesh?"
Lu Zhiwan: “?!!”
Her dark pupils constricted, and her breath caught in her throat. What was he talking about? Eating human flesh?
"Wait, that look in his eyes is strange... Is he planning to eat me?"
She screamed for help in her heart, and it took her a long time to find her voice. Her throat was very tight: "Your Majesty, please stop joking..."
Xiao Jingting sneered: "Do you think I'm kidding you?"
Lu Zhiwan's face turned even paler when she heard that. The smile she forced was uglier than crying. "I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have asked around. Please forgive me this time. I won't dare to do it again."
The person in front of her didn't say anything and continued to look at her coldly.
It wasn't until Lu Zhiwan's eyes were filled with tears and her legs were so weak from fear that she wanted to kneel down and kowtow to him a few times that Xiao Jingting bent his long fingers and knocked on her forehead.
"Okay, that's ugly crying."
Lu Zhiwan was slightly stunned, looking up at him at a loss.
Xiao Jingting withdrew his hand: "Do you really know your mistake?"
Lu Zhiwan: "I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong, I won't dare to do it again next time."
"Do you dare to do it again?"
"No, no, there won't be a next time!"
Lu Zhiwan shook her head sincerely. Seeing that his attitude was not as cold and hard as before, she immediately took advantage of the situation and threw herself into his arms with open arms. She rubbed her cheek against his and said in a wronged tone, "Your Majesty is so annoying. You scared me to death just now..."
The warmth and softness in his arms made Xiao Jingting's back stiffen slightly. He looked at the crow's head in his arms, hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand and put it on her shoulder.
"I thought you were so brave." He sneered.
"I know it's wrong to ask about those things, but I love Your Majesty too much." Lu Zhiwan knew that this man especially loved hugs, so she hugged his slender waist tighter with her arms, whispered nonsense with her ear close to his heart: "I once read a book that said that if you like someone, you will want to know everything about that person. It is because I love Your Majesty so much that I want to know more about Your Majesty, including everything about your past..."
If you like someone, you want to understand her.
Xiao Jingting's eyes flickered, and just as he was about to speak, he heard a voice from his heart - "This kind of emotional quote is really easy to make up, I don't know if he will believe it."
“………”
The next moment, Lu Zhiwan was hit on the forehead again.
She cried out in pain, raised her head, and looked at the man in front of her with confusion and grievance: "Your Majesty, why did you hit me again?"
Xiao Jingting said: "Read less messy books."
Lu Zhiwan: “……?”
Without waiting for her to speak again, Xiao Jingting frowned and pressed her head back into his arms: "Hold me, don't make a sound."
"...What an inexplicable personality."
"Forget it. Considering how miserable his childhood was, I won't bother with him today."
Feeling the man's arms tightening around her, she thought he wanted to be closer, so she couldn't help but rub her head against his chest, pressing her soft cheek against his.
Under the dim candlelight, no one spoke. The two just hugged each other, quietly immersed in this simple intimacy.
The scent of ambergris lingered at the tip of her nose. Lu Zhiwan leaned in the man's arms. The tranquility gradually calmed her mind and she couldn't help but close her eyes.
She thought, "I'm all alone in this Daxing Dynasty, and he's also without a father or a mother, all alone. Although this bastard's temper isn't the best, his character isn't too bad either. If I'm destined to stay here for the rest of my life, it wouldn't be bad to just make do with him like this, right?"
"No, no, what am I imagining? He's the emperor, how could he spend his life with just me? Once his habit of not wanting to get close to others improves, there are still so many concubines in the harem waiting for his favor."
"Forget it, don't think too far ahead. I don't know if I'll be alive in a few years, so let's just live in the present."
Every word was from the heart, Xiao Jingting's eyes moved slightly, and then he raised his hand and touched the head of the person in his arms.
The movement was very gentle, as if to comfort, or to make some kind of promise.
I don’t know how long it took before the hug ended.
Lu Zhiwan felt that she was about to fall asleep in his arms, and he felt inexplicably reluctant when he let her go.
Xiao Jingting looked at her sleepy face, his handsome features softening, and he stroked her hair with his long fingers: "Tomorrow, you will accompany me to Jinli Garden."
Lu Zhiwan thought he just wanted to pet the big cats again, so he didn't think much about it and obediently agreed: "Yes."
The next afternoon, she changed into ordinary clothes worn outside the palace and went to Jinli Garden with Xiao Jingting.
Maybe it was because she had a little leopard, or because she knew about Xiao Jingting's friendship with these big cats, but when Lu Zhiwan saw them again, she no longer felt the panic and fear she had when she first met them. Instead, she felt that they were all very friendly and cute.
After looking at all the cats in Jinli Garden, Xiao Jingting took her to another place——
It was a spacious open space behind Jinli Garden, with two rows of pine and cypress trees planted along the high perimeter wall. Even in late autumn, the pines and cypresses remained evergreen. At the end of the pine and cypress trees, there were several hillocks of varying sizes and heights, each with an intricate stone tablet in front of it.
When the autumn wind blew in the afternoon, Lu Zhiwan's hair stood on end.
"Help! Why did you bring me to this graveyard for no reason? Is he still brooding over what happened yesterday and wants to kill me to silence me?"
Lu Zhiwan's face turned pale, and his steps became heavy and he could hardly move forward.
Seeing this, Xiao Jingting paused and looked at her sideways: "What's wrong?"
Lu Zhiwan's throat tightened: "Your Majesty, where is this?"
Xiao Jingting: "All the cats that passed away are buried here."
Upon hearing this, Lu Zhiwan breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out that this was the cemetery where cats were buried.
He also dug graves for the cats and erected tombstones... He was really thoughtful.
Another gust of autumn wind blew by, and the branches of the trees rustled.
Xiao Jingting took her straight to the two most luxurious tombstones in the middle. On each of the two tombstones, one was inscribed with "Yue Niang's Tomb" and the other with "Xue Yi's Tomb".
Lu Zhiwan muttered inwardly, "Are we burying two tigresses? The name is pretty nice, at least better than One Flower, Two Flowers..."
Just as the thought came to mind, I heard the person beside me say in a deep voice: "Yue Niang is the tiger that raised me."
Lu Zhiwan was startled and looked up at him.
The man's profile was calm, his voice steady. "I was taken back to the palace. It thought I was murdered, and attacked the enclosure several times, injuring many. In the final fight, she fell into a trap and died."
Lu Zhiwan was shocked. She never expected this to be the outcome. "She raised His Majesty. How dare those people hurt her?"
"In the eyes of my father and his ministers, it is nothing more than an emotionless beast. If it dies, it dies. It doesn't matter."
His tone was calm but tinged with sarcasm. He looked at the words inscribed on the tombstone again, and his expression relaxed slightly. "Even though I was still young at the time, I still remember that she had a tuft of crescent-shaped white hair on her ear, so I called her Yue Niang."
Lu Zhiwan was silent.
"If animals were heartless, how could there be a saying that even a tiger won't eat its own cubs?"
"And some people are worse than beasts. Take, for example, the late emperor who fancied himself a romantic, who drugged his pregnant concubines with safflower and abandoned Xiao Jingting's biological mother to the mountains and forests to die. Does being an emperor cover up his beastly nature?"
She severely trampled on the foolish emperor in her heart, and then looked at the person next to her staring at the cold tombstone in silence, and suddenly she felt an indescribable discomfort.
Taking a deep breath, Lu Zhi took a step forward and held the man's hanging hand.
"Don't be sad, Your Majesty. If Yue Niang knew you were fine now, she would rest in peace in her grave." Lu Zhiwan comforted him softly, "Think positively. Maybe she saved your life, accumulated merits, and has already flown to heaven to become an immortal."
Xiao Jingting glanced at the hand she was holding, and then his glance fell on her fair and graceful face.
It was the first time I saw such genuine tenderness on her face.
His eyebrows moved slightly, he held her hand and turned his face away: "It's probably difficult to become a god, but becoming a monster might be okay."
"Tiger demon? Well, that's fine too. With some practice, you can eventually become an immortal."
"Your Majesty is right." Lu Zhiwan followed his words: "Being a monster and being free is not bad."
Xiao Jingting: “….”
She is indeed a monster.
Just as he was about to question her, Lu Zhiwan asked in confusion, "Your Majesty, is this Xue Yi also a tiger?"
"The tomb is just as luxurious as Yue Niang's. It seems she holds a special place in his heart."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingting cast a glance towards the other tombstone, a complex expression flashing across his eyes: "Xue Yi is the maiden name of my biological mother, Xu."
Lu Zhiwan: “???”
She was stunned for a moment, then looked at him in astonishment: "This... this is where Concubine Xu, your biological mother, is buried?"
"You dog emperor, don't be so ridiculous! Shouldn't concubines be buried with the late emperor in the imperial mausoleum? How can they be buried here?"
Compared to her shock, Xiao Jingting was remarkably calm and composed: "She has never thought of staying in the palace, let alone being favored. If she is really sent to the imperial mausoleum and buried with a man like that, it will only pollute her soul."
Lu Zhiwan: “…”
What he said seemed to make sense, and she couldn't refute it.
The sun always sets early in late autumn. The two stood in front of the tombstones for a while before it got much darker.
After a long silence, Xiao Jingting squeezed Lu Zhiwan's slightly cool fingertips and wrapped them in his palm: "Let's go, we'll come see them another day."
Lu Zhiwan nodded, looked at the two tombstones again, and then turned around with a heavy heart.
The afterglow of the setting sun was everywhere. Looking at the tall and slender figure of the man in front of her, she couldn't help but quicken her pace and hold his arm.
Xiao Jingting was slightly startled and looked at her sideways.
Lu Zhiwan raised her face and smiled brightly at him: "I feel a little cold, but I won't feel cold if I hold your hand."
Xiao Jingting: "...It's up to you."
Lifting my feet again, the orange glow enveloped the silent forest of stele, and a soft voice of my heart sounded quietly beside my ears -
"Xiao Jingting, don't be sad. At worst, I can accompany you in the future."
He paused and lowered his eyes calmly.
The girl beside him looked straight ahead, her rosy lips slightly raised, the sunset glow sprinkled on her fair cheeks, as if covered with a layer of crimson mist, and her black eyes were also sparkling, as if filled with light.
Xiao Jingting's throat rolled slightly.
Suddenly, he wanted to kiss her.
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