Chapter 37 Chapter 37 No makeup, simple clothes
She mentioned again that she wanted to give him incense.
In fact, Xu Qing'an didn't want to pick up again those habits that he had deliberately abandoned.
He asked her, "Is this how Your Majesty wishes me to use incense?"
"Yeah." She leaned on his shoulder and whispered, "What you said before was very right. When we get along like this, it's inevitable that we'll have some chemistry. To prevent others from noticing, we always have to be prepared."
The room was quiet for a moment.
"Okay, since your Majesty has made the arrangements, I will follow your orders."
After hearing the affirmative answer in his ear, Shangguan Xu let go of his hand and slowly sat back.
Their gazes moved and met, and he extended his hand again.
Shangguan Xu started with a tilted head.
The hug just now was an act that crossed the line due to many emotions. That action was heart-wrenching and made Shangguan Xu panic for a moment. Now that she had calmed down, she subconsciously resisted his touch.
Xu Qingan paused in mid-air, "My Lady, there are still tears in the corners of your eyes."
Thinking that he was still useful, Shangguan Xu didn't want to push him too far away now, so he turned back to look at him, smiled, and wiped his lips casually: "Nothing."
He stared at her quietly, his eyes cold and complex: "What kind of dream is it that makes you so upset?"
Shangguan Xu calmed down and smiled patiently, "Why? Mr. Xu is so concerned about my dream. Are you proficient in dream interpretation?"
Xu Qing'an chuckled. "I have read some miscellaneous books. If your Majesty requires, I can try to interpret them." He lowered his voice and spoke seriously, "Let's see whether it is ominous or auspicious."
Shangguan Xu was very straightforward: "No need. What does dreaming have to do with ordinary things? I don't believe in it."
Seeing that he was about to ask more questions, she couldn't help but ask directly, "Xu Qing is so concerned about these things. Could it be that being an official is boring and he wants to become a charlatan in the martial arts world?"
Xu Qing'an tilted his head at these words and sighed as if he was frustrated. He straightened his clothes that were wrinkled by her hug, and when he raised his eyes, there was no longer any tenderness in his eyes.
"Since your majesty is awake, why don't we talk about other things?"
"The heads of several major Jiangnan shipping companies have come to Beijing. Your Majesty, I'm sure you know this. What are your thoughts?"
Shangguan Xu: "According to our previous plan, weren't we planning to seize Jiangnan's water transport system while they were causing trouble? Now that they've arrived in the capital, doesn't that mean our plan is working?"
Xu Qing'an nodded. "Yes, and their coming to the capital together shows that our plan has hit their weak spot."
“But this is also where the danger lies.”
"The reason they reacted so quickly to the Jiangnan incident was because the Su family behind them came up with the idea. Therefore, they must be coming to the capital this time to seek help, so we must be on guard."
Shangguan Xu recalled what Ah Zheng had said to her when she came back today -
Among those family heads was an old friend of hers.
The Jiangnan ship merchants had been in contact with Su Wang for ten years, and Ah Zheng was found in Luozhou four years ago. The two places are not close, so how did she become friends with the Jiangnan people? And why did that person happen to be connected to Su Wang?
"Mother?"
Shangguan Xu came back to his senses.
Xu Qing'an couldn't help but laugh when he saw her coming back to her senses after being distracted. "It seems I've come at an unfortunate time today. Your Majesty seems to have been in a bad mood all night."
Shangguan Xu didn't want him to notice anything, so she curled her lips and met his gaze again. "Yes, a little, but it's just because I just woke up and I'm a little distracted. Otherwise, it's nothing serious." She returned to the previous topic, "Actually, I have a solution that will solve this problem once and for all."
"What?" Xu Qing'an asked seriously.
Shangguan Xu supported himself with his hands and suddenly leaned forward: "Just kill them all!"
Her eyes sparkled, and she spoke in a light voice about taking someone's life.
Xu Qing'an's voice was low and cold: "What did you say?"
His face was frosty, with surprise mixed with anger.
Shangguan Xu found his reaction funny. So many people had died because of his schemes, including Liu Chang and Xue Hong, so why was he still surprised by her words?
Shangguan Xu then continued, "Was there something I didn't express clearly? If you kill all those people, they won't be able to return to Jiangnan. Then naturally, those ship merchants will be leaderless and will collapse on their own."
Xu Qing'an laughed softly a few times, as if mocking or mad, and once again felt that her reaction was ridiculous. She was just that kind of person. When she killed him back then, she didn't leave any mercy. So what if she killed a few more people for the sake of Jiangnan water transportation?
He raised his eyelids, and there was a lingering mad smile at the corners of his eyes and lips, while his eyes were tinged with innocence: "Your Majesty, I am a civil servant."
Shangguan Xu feigned surprise and uttered a sigh, "But isn't Xu Qing also skilled in martial arts? He can enter and exit Da'an Temple as if it were no one's home. Killing a few people should be easy for him, right?"
Xu Qing'an leaned on the couch, clutching the quilt tightly in his hands.
But his expression remained unchanged. He slowly leaned towards her, his finger touching her cheek. "Speaking of this, Your Majesty, aren't you afraid of what I will do to you..."
"So you will?" she interrupted, letting his fingers stroke her jaw.
He was speechless by her question.
Because of course he had thought about those things, and even when the violent aura could not be stopped, he really wanted to stab her neck! He held on tightly and would not let go, not asking why, just wanting to get back at her for what she had done to him in the same way.
His eyes rested on her jaw, and he circled his fingers around it.
Shangguan Xu looked at him quietly. Ever since he last came to Da'an Temple, she felt that he was more complicated than what she saw now.
Even if a student came from a scholarly family, if he wanted to become one of the top two candidates in the Spring Imperial Examination, he would have to put in far more effort in his studies and literary studies than the average person. But besides that, did he still have time to practice martial arts? And it wasn't just a casual learning. He was not only proficient in riding and shooting, but also had great attainments in physical skills, which allowed him to bypass the Yulin Guards and rush straight into her bedroom in Da'an Guo Temple.
You must know that the Jin Dynasty clearly distinguished between civil and military affairs. Apart from the six arts that a gentleman must learn, if the family has no martial arts background, the head of the family would rarely let the younger generation learn martial arts, and would only spend more energy on cultivating their studies. Even if he needed to learn martial arts to improve his health due to illness, he would not be able to reach such a level of martial arts.
Yes! He also has a miracle doctor at home who can cure his difficult illnesses.
Shangguan Xu thought that there must be some background behind him that she couldn't find out.
He didn't reply to her, but just caressed the skin on her chin tenderly, and then slowly moved it up to the side of her face.
As the touch moved, his eyelids slowly opened, and when his gaze met hers again, there was an ambiguous smile in his eyes. Shangguan Xu hesitated for a moment, but when she reacted and was about to retreat, he was suddenly pushed down on the couch!
Shangguan Xu looked up at him in surprise.
There was a smile in his breathing, and his hand fell between her eyebrows, but he gently stroked her eyebrows without any unnecessary offense.
"Your Highness, you said before that I didn't trust you, but when have you ever believed me?" He leaned over her, carefully tracing the shape of her eyebrows, lingering and cherishing. "Since I have displayed all my current abilities to Your Highness, it is naturally so that You can better understand me. Why should Your Highness worry that I will do something bad?"
Yes, if he really had other thoughts, there would be no need to reveal all his cards.
Xu Qing'an: "In the end, it's all because I'm incredibly lucky. When I was young, I was in poor health, and everyone said I wouldn't even make it past my twenties. Unexpectedly, I met a miraculous doctor who saved me from danger. Not only did he give me medicine to help me recover, he also went out of his way to find a martial arts teacher, which strengthened my physique. That's how I got to where I am today."
He stopped her from dwelling on it and went back to the previous incident: "It's not impossible for Your Majesty to kill those people. It's convenient for them to do so now that they're all gathered together. The people in Jiangnan are also complaining about them because of the previous incident. So even if they really died on the road, we can easily find a reason to justify their death by retaliating."
"The difficulty is that they are now being watched by the Su family, so it's not easy to take action."
Shangguan Xu looked up at the person above her. She had now completely adapted to the dimness of the room and could see his expression clearly with the night light coming in from outside.
She said that not because she really wanted to kill those people, but because she wanted to see his reaction and see how many things he was hiding that she didn't know.
She grabbed his wrist and asked him seriously, "Do you have any idea?"
Xu Qing'an smiled silently. "No, I was just analyzing the rationality of your Majesty's move. However, while it may be rational, it would be very troublesome to implement. Your Majesty can't really expect me to carry out an assassination attempt on your behalf, right?"
Shangguan Xu said, "You don't have to be alone. Why not find someone else to do it?"
"Who are you?" Xu Qing'an moved closer to her. "How about your Majesty lend me a few Imperial Guards and let me make the arrangements?"
As he spoke, as if suddenly enlightened, he suddenly thought: "Since we are going to arrange the assassination, why not just make the target of the assassination the center of all the contradictions - that Mr. Su..."
"No!" Shangguan Xu, who had been calm until now, immediately responded after hearing this, "We can't kill him like this."
"Why?" Xu Qing'an was puzzled by her uncharacteristic behavior. "If we kill him, wouldn't the Queen's biggest rival be gone?"
Shangguan Xu calmed himself down, letting himself speak softly, as if in his usual state. "Let's not even talk about how many guards he has around him. Whether or not your plan succeeds, even if it does, killing him won't do any good. He's my biggest rival right now, but I'm not just facing him; I'm facing the Soviet Party he built. If he dies, the Soviet Party behind him will only become more angry and chaotic, and the chaos will be even worse than the current one."
"But that's not even the worst of it."
"The worst part is, if an assassination attempt is made on him and he survives, what do you think he will do? Will the superficial peace in the court still exist then?"
In fact, no matter how much she said, it was not the reason why Shangguan Xu did not kill Su Wang now. She had only one reason - Su Wang was not worthy of dying as a wise prime minister.
In fact, when she learned the whole story of the shipwreck on the night of Shangsi, she really thought about finding someone to kill him. She even wanted to kill him directly at close range countless times, inserting a sword into his heart and then pushing it in inch by inch.
How could she not want to kill him? Of course she wanted to kill him! But after thinking about it, what could she do?
She would be happy for a while if he died, but the shipwreck on Shangsi Night was ruled an accident, which was only revenge that she knew about. His reputation as a wise minister was spread throughout the world. If he was assassinated, the people of the world and even future generations would have a higher evaluation of him and respect him more.
But how can someone like him be worthy of this!
So Shangguan Xu must...must let him witness with his own eyes all the disguises he had set up being dismantled!
She wanted to destroy all the fame and reputation that he considered to be the most important and that he was most proud of!
She wanted to expose his true face in front of everyone in the world, while he was still alive, without any excuse to hide it.
Xu Qing'an looked at her, and even in the dim light he couldn't hide the resentment rising in her eyes. He didn't know where her resentment came from, so he guessed it might be her annoyance at Su Wang, the mountain that stood in her way.
You can't kill me, and you can't avoid me, so why are you so tired now? Is this the life you want?
Her hand was still on his wrist, and she was beneath him, without makeup and wearing simple clothes. This was actually the look of her that he had liked the most, because he always felt that these were the times when their hearts were closest.
But now our hearts are really close, but we are on guard against each other, and our feelings are so far apart because of such hypocrisy.
He placed his hands beside her and smiled, "Your Majesty has given it much thought. We still have to take things one step at a time."
After testing the possibility that he really didn't have any other power, she temporarily lowered her guard and said, "After careful consideration, I feel that the assassination attempt is too risky. Don't rush to move those people. There are people in Jiangnan to support them. If they come to the capital, they will just make a last-ditch effort."
What’s more important is that there are people in there who are related to A Zheng. For A Zheng’s sake, Shangguan Xu cannot touch them now.
"Oh? There are people from the Empress in Jiangnan." Xu Qing'an noticed that the force she applied to her wrist was gradually easing, so he moved his hand away to tuck the quilt for her, and softened his voice.
Shangguan Xu smiled softly. Perhaps it was because of the dream she had just dreamt that she was upset, or perhaps it was because waking up in the middle of the night to deal with him was too much effort. Now she felt distracted and her eyelids were heavy. She didn't care whether there was any probing intention in his words or not. She just closed her eyes and said, "Since you said you want to block Su Xiang's water transport route, then someone has to take over."
"It's really late, and we've almost finished talking about everything. Xu Qing, you should go back and rest early."
He saw that she was tired, so he stopped talking to her.
He glanced down at the quilt that had fallen around her waist when she stood up just now, and pulled it down with both hands, pulling it under her neck and covering her whole body. His movements were gentle, which really made Shangguan Xu feel a vague sense of security, but she could no longer open her eyes.
The incense he brought was indeed mixed with soothing and calming incense, and he knew it was working now.
But he continued, "It seems that talking to Her Majesty has cost Her Majesty too much energy. But for Her Majesty to just go to sleep like this is too..." He lowered his voice, "Too bold."
After all, he was also a foreign official, so she closed her eyes in front of a foreign official with peace of mind.
He gritted his teeth, feeling a little annoyed. He couldn't help but lean over and kiss her on the forehead. He then slowly moved to her neck and sniffed it. He said in a teasing hoarse voice: "Fortunately, I can control myself, otherwise..."
But Shangguan Xu still ignored him.
Seeing her sleeping peacefully and letting him do what he wanted, he leaned on the corner of the quilt and clenched his hands, feeling angry and pitiful. "The night is still long, so I wish you a sweet dream."
Shangguan Xu did not respond.
He stood up and left angrily without saying anything more.
And after he left, she really had a good night's sleep.
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