Chapter 102: Domineering White Moonlight 21 Death
Ali was so angry that he was shaking all over.
It wasn't fear, but extreme anger and indignation at being fooled. His nails dug deep into his palms, almost piercing his skin.
"Your Highness, what a great actor!" Her voice was filled with undisguised sarcasm and hatred. "Did you enjoy your performance of that grovelling act last night? Using your deceased mother as a pretext to gain sympathy through your grief was simply despicable!"
Xie Jingchuan's face darkened, still half-kneeling at her feet. "Despicable? Ah Li, you're wrong. Perhaps I've always been such a despicable person, you just don't know it."
He raised his head with a gentle expression, and slowly stroked the line of her calf with his palm, saying with the utmost tenderness: "As long as I can keep you, what does this matter?"
Ali looked at him in shock, feeling extremely nauseous. It felt like a cold, sticky, poisonous snake was wrapped around his legs, making his spine numb.
How could he still speak to her with the same gentleness and peace as before after all that had happened?
She dodged suddenly, grabbed everything she could get her hands on and threw it at Xie Jingchuan, desperately venting the anger and hatred in her heart.
Items were scattered all over the floor beside the bed, and Xie Jingchuan received them without dodging or avoiding them. Ali, with red eyes, took out a heavy porcelain bottle from somewhere on the bedside and smashed it over without any hesitation.
Xie Jingchuan noticed it. He could have avoided it, but he still took the blow. The porcelain bottle shattered on his forehead with a "bang", and blood gushed out in an instant.
Ali was suddenly stunned.
The air around seemed to freeze.
A trace of pain flashed in Xie Jingchuan's eyes. He slowly stood up, letting the warm blood flow down his cheeks. However, he saw that Ali immediately shrank into the corner of the bed because of his action, keeping a distance from him vigilantly.
Xie Jingchuan opened his lips, and the emotions in his eyes gradually calmed down. He didn't move forward, nor did he retreat: "You have been sleeping for several days. Don't lie in bed all the time. You will feel uncomfortable."
"...This place is modeled after the Hidden Moon Pavilion, so you shouldn't feel uncomfortable living here."
He glanced at the mess on the floor and said, "Have the palace maids clean it up carefully before you get out of bed and walk around, so that you don't get hurt by the debris."
Ali interrupted his self-righteous plan with a sneer: "Leave? Where else can I go now? I guess in a short time, this entire palace, this entire Jin State, will be yours, right?"
In this situation, what else does she not understand?
She angered the emperor, was imprisoned in the Eastern Palace, and suffered serious injuries that could not be healed...but it was all a trap set by him, a trap that cost him his own life, in order to test her true feelings.
If not, he wouldn't be standing here now, nor would he be able to imprison her so easily in this gorgeous cage.
A few months ago, there was a lot of construction going on in the palace, and it was rumored that it was in preparation for the prince's wedding. In fact, this cage was already under construction at that time.
But she was blinded by her own shortcomings and believed it easily.
After hearing her words, Xie Jingchuan was silent for a moment: "You have never cared about the affairs of the previous dynasty, so how come you are calculating so clearly today? If I ascend the throne in the future, wouldn't that be a good thing?"
Ali's heart gradually sank. He swept his gaze across the hall and calmed down. "How did you find out my identity?"
Such a sophisticated restriction that is specifically designed for her is definitely not something that an ordinary person can draw. Ali must find out who is helping Xie Jingchuan before she can plan the next step.
Xie Jingchuan looked at her and sighed softly, "We've been together for over ten years. I know you better than anyone else in this world. How could I not notice something strange about you?"
He stepped forward, picked up the quilt on the ground, and slowly wrapped her thin body: "Whether you are angry with me or hate me, don't abuse your body."
Ah Li lowered his eyes, knowing that he couldn't get anything out of Xie Jingchuan, so he pretended to be depressed and said in a barely audible voice: "Go out, I want to be alone for a while."
Xie Jingchuan looked at her deeply and nodded: "Okay, you have a good rest. Lan Xin and Ming Shuang are both outside. Call them in if you need anything."
Ali lay down exhausted with her clothes on, her eyes dry and painful. She raised her hand and quietly wiped away the tears that were about to fall, leaving him with only a cold back.
Xie Jingchuan clenched and unclenched his hands hanging at his sides. It felt as if a huge hole had been broken in his heart, and cold wind kept pouring in from there.
He stood quietly not far away, and only when he saw her breathing gradually stabilized did he walk towards the palace door.
As he was about to leave, Ali, who had originally closed his eyes, suddenly asked him, "If I had chosen to follow your instructions and leave the palace from the beginning, would you really let me go?"
The hall was silent for a moment.
The palace door opened and closed again, leaving her alone.
Xie Jingchuan did not answer, but Ali already knew the answer.
*
After that, Ali's life was no different from before.
The restrictions set by Xie Jingchuan were only within this palace, and there were no signs of confinement on her body or in her inner elixir.
Just as he said, as long as she didn't think about running away, she wouldn't be hurt.
Except for not being able to leave the palace, Ali's food, clothing and other daily necessities are several times better than before. She can just say something casually, and what she wants will be on the table tomorrow.
All kinds of rare treasures and silks were delivered to her palace every day, just to make her smile.
Worried that she would be bored all day, Xie Jingchuan even ordered people to collect several large boxes of folk stories. Even if Ali went without food or sleep for several years, she would not be able to finish reading them.
Such days are becoming more and more extravagant and more and more disturbing.
As for Xie Jingchuan himself.
He did not force her to do anything anymore, but just came to see her every day, sometimes just to drink a cup of tea, sometimes just to sit for a while, and then hurried away.
Ali is now imprisoned here and there is no way to stop him from coming.
She hated him very much in her heart, but she also knew that she had no power to fight back, so she could only endure it for the time being, treating him as nothing, and out of sight, out of mind.
Ali would not do something as extreme and helpless as committing suicide like the people in the storybook.
She will live well and live until the day she regains her freedom.
Xie Jingchuan didn't know what she was thinking. He came to her late at night occasionally, but did nothing. He just hugged her and fell asleep without letting her refuse.
The two of them lay intimately in the same bed, but each had his own thoughts and dreams.
Early that morning, Xie Jingchuan dug Ali out of the quilt while she was still asleep and made her sit in front of the dressing mirror.
Last night, Xie Jingchuan suddenly appeared beside the bed. Ali was so scared that he couldn't fall asleep for a long time. He only took a light sleep until dawn. Now he is so sleepy that he can't even lift his head.
Lan Xin and Ming Shuang, who had been waiting outside the hall early in the morning, heard the noise inside, pushed the door open, and washed Ali's hands and face in an orderly manner.
Xie Jingchuan stood behind A-li, reached out and hooked a strand of her black hair, and took the jade comb from Lan Xin's hand: "I'll comb your hair today, okay?"
Ali was feeling sleepy and nodded randomly.
She has figured out these days that Xie Jingchuan has never been an easy person to talk to. If you reject him, he will try every possible means to make you nod willingly and accept something you were originally unwilling to accept.
Every time Ali refused, Xie Jingchuan would intensify his persuasion and pestering.
Seeing Xie Jingchuan's eager eyes, she was too lazy to waste any more words, since it was not her who was putting in the effort anyway.
"Your Highness, please do as you please. Why ask me?"
Xie Jingchuan smiled, picked up the jade comb solemnly, and slowly combed through the silky long hair again and again.
"I still remember when you were little and still lived in Shou'an Palace, you were always late for school," he began, his voice as gentle and mellow as morning dew. "So I would run to Shou'an Palace an hour early every day just to see why you were so late."
The comb slid through the hair silently.
Xie Jingchuan put down the jade comb and picked up the osmanthus hair oil on the dressing table: "So, every time before you go out, you must comb your hair into a beautiful and unique bun, and you will not get up until you are satisfied."
He dipped a little with his fingertips and spread it carefully through her hair. "But at that time, the palace maids around you couldn't comb your hair well, so you were late every day."
The sweet and warm fragrance quietly spread, enveloping the world and awakening some of Ali's thoughts.
The morning light filtered through, and the light of light golden filtered in through the carved window lattices, flowing through the layers of gauze curtains and softly falling in front of the dressing table.
The two figures overlapped in front of the window, like a loving couple from an ordinary family, and it seemed as if they really were living a peaceful and tranquil life.
He lifted her long hair, his movements skillful and gentle, as if he had practiced it thousands of times.
Seeing that she finally opened her eyes, Xie Jingchuan asked her: "Which hairpin do you want to wear today?"
Following his words, Ah Li's eyes moved to the dressing box, and she reached out and picked out a peach blossom hairpin: "This one will do."
Xie Jingchuan took it, and the hairpin flowed through his fingertips, deftly weaving it in and out, fixing it, and creating an exquisite and intricate bun.
"Later, the Inner Court Office sent an elderly nanny with excellent hairdressing skills, which allowed you to show up at Chengguan Pavilion on time." He continued with the unfinished words, a slight curve at the corner of his lips, indulging in the wonderful time in the past.
Ah Li looked in the mirror and was quite satisfied: "That nanny has a very nice name, Mulan."
Her eyes flickered as she changed the subject: "But Aunt Mu passed away years ago. I think she has already gone through reincarnation and forgotten the past."
In an instant, the warm fragrance of osmanthus in the air seemed to condense into cold fragments.
In the bronze mirror, Xie Jingchuan's gentle smile, which he maintained deliberately and immersed in memories, faded and peeled off bit by bit, revealing his pale inner self.
He slowly stood up, and the fingertips that were tying her hair suddenly wanted to touch the side of her face, but Ali turned her head away resolutely, and the fingertips stopped in mid-air.
The hall was eerily quiet, with only the ticking of the clock striking at people's hearts.
"when--"
A heavy and stagnant bell sounded, breaking the silence of the palace. The sound was not sharp, but it carried a weight that could crush everything, making people's hearts sink suddenly.
"when--"
The second sound followed, slower and deeper than the first, with a long, suffocating tail.
Ali's back suddenly straightened, and his face was filled with uncontrollable horror.
This is the death knell of the Emperor...
The bronze mirror vaguely reflected Xie Jingchuan's expression at the moment, neither sad nor happy, as if it was just an ordinary piece of news.
Officials from the Eastern Palace and the Crown Prince's close ministers had already gathered in the Eastern Palace. Mo Wen knocked on the palace door and said, "Your Highness, it's time to go."
Xie Jingchuan inserted the last pearl hairpin firmly into A-li's bun, his voice horribly hoarse: "It's done. I have something else to do. I'll come see you later."
He let go of her and turned around suddenly. The tenderness on his face disappeared completely, replaced by his usual majesty and coldness.
When the emperor passed away, a tremendous change was exploding in the former dynasty and the harem. Ali still could not leave the palace and could only listen to the few words brought by Lan Xin and Ming Shuang.
They said that His Majesty was seriously ill and could not be saved. Everyone had expected it and his death could not be considered sudden.
It is said that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has successfully ascended the throne and has now moved to the Purple Palace to live.
It is said that the court seemed to be in chaos for a few days, but it was soon pacified by the new emperor.
Lan Xin and Ming Shuang seemed to have been warned by Xie Jingchuan, so even when chatting with her, they were careful not to reveal too much about the outside world.
She tentatively brought up a few topics, and they all answered flawlessly without any loopholes.
Ali nodded, pretending to be unaware, but the sweet pastry in his mouth tasted bland.
She was now completely blind and deaf to her surroundings, and even if she wanted to plan an escape, she had no way to do it.
She couldn't stay here any longer and had to find a way out.
And soon, that opportunity came.
On this day, Ali and the other two were playing dice in the hall for fun. Xie Jingchuan hurried in from outside. Lan Xin and Ming Shuang retreated when they saw this.
He took Ali's cloak in his hand and stood in front of her: "Come with me to a place."
Ali was puzzled: "Where are you going?"
Xie Jingchuan had a complicated expression: "Qixia Palace, the imperial concubine has requested to leave the palace to guard the mausoleum of our father and will set off tomorrow..."
He pursed his dry lips and said, "I think you would like to see her one last time."
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