Chapter Seventy-Five
"Shut up!" Zhou Yanqing interrupted her sharply before she could finish speaking.
The word "divorce" is like a merciless hand, tearing open the scars in his heart again and again, reminding him of his foolish decision back then.
He lowered his head, his body trembling slightly, and the hand that was holding Si Yanmo's chin slipped down and rested on her waist.
Seeing this, Si Yanmo felt as if something was stabbing her heart repeatedly, not heavily but painfully.
She raised her hand and, within the area controlled by the red cloth, gently stroked Zhou Yanqing's shoulder, trying to comfort him.
Zhou Yanqing sensed her emotions and hugged her tightly, his arms tightening as if he wanted to merge her into his own bones.
"Can't you like me even just a little bit, just a tiny bit?"
He was the one who "kidnapped" Si Yanmo, yet now he's the one begging her to change her mind.
Si Yanmo remained silent, unable to offer any definite response.
She hasn't even figured out her own heart yet, so what can she say?
"Zhou Yanqing, I'm sorry."
"You know what I want to hear isn't 'I'm sorry'."
"You know I won't say anything else."
"Then I won't let you leave."
Zhou Yanqing raised her head, her threat almost childish.
Si Yanmo said helplessly, "You know this is pointless. Besides, I'm a shaman, and I have many other things to do."
Hearing this, Zhou Yanqing became even angrier, gripping her arm tightly, "You can only be Si Yanmo now, imprisoned by me..."
He paused, then came up with a heartless phrase: "a caged bird."
After saying that, he didn't care whether Si Yanmo wanted to or not, and picked up another piece of food with his chopsticks and fed it to her.
Looking into the man's resolute eyes, Si Yanmo knew that there was no turning back.
A wise man doesn't fight a losing battle, so she obediently ate the food the man fed her.
The two of them fed each other like that, and anyone who didn't know better would think they were a very loving young couple.
——
Si Yanmo woke up in the early hours of the morning. By the time she finished eating, it was already bright daylight, and Zhou Yanqing had gone out.
Sunlight streamed through the window, casting a beautiful halo on the golden cage, but she had no time to appreciate it.
For her, the most important thing now is not to escape, but to tell Zhou Yanqing about Wei Jingzhong.
This old fox has finally shown his true colors. If we don't get him off the stage as soon as possible, things will get even more difficult later.
Wei Jingzhong was already working in the Ministry of Rites before Qin Zixiu took office, and after Qin Zixiu ascended the throne, he took up the position of Minister of Rites.
Over the years, officials throughout Qin have become deeply entrenched in his network, perhaps knowing more people than Zhou Yanqing does.
The Ministry of Rites was a highly lucrative and prestigious position in Qin, and he had amassed a considerable fortune over the years.
He appeared to fear Zhou Yanqing, but in reality, he used the money to train shadow guards and secret soldiers or to bribe officials; his heart was already set on the position of the King of Qin.
If Zhou Yanqing wanted to solidify his position, he had to get rid of him; and if he wanted to reform these unbroken sacrificial rules, he also had to get rid of this stubborn old man.
For both of them, removing Wei Jingzhong from power would be entirely beneficial.
But now the problem is how to talk to Zhou Yanqing. No matter what she says, Zhou Yanqing will definitely think that she is using him or fulfilling their original agreement.
He's holding a grudge right now, and either of these two things could cause him to explode.
"Ugh..." Si Yanmo wanted to scratch her head in frustration, but the red cloth pulled her hand back, making her even more annoyed.
She had always thought that relationships were a troublesome thing, and she still found them troublesome now, but she couldn't help but think of that person's trembling figure.
She couldn't help but ask herself, did she really have no feelings for Zhou Yanqing?
Before she could figure it out, Zhou Yanqing entered the room again. This time, he didn't open the cage door, but simply sat opposite her, his expression unchanged, slowly flipping through the documents that had been delivered, as if she didn't exist at all.
Si Yanmo tried to get attention, "Zhou Yanqing... everyone needs to use the restroom sometimes. You can lock me up, but at least let me use the toilet..."
Zhou Yanqing didn't even lift his eyelids. "There's a chamber pot on the floor, of course..."
He closed the folded book, rested his chin on his hand, and said with a playful look in his eyes, "I can help you too."
Upon hearing this, Si Yanmo almost choked on her own saliva and quickly shook her head, "No need, no need."
Seeing that she couldn't get the conversation going, she could only try to probe indirectly, "Um... has anyone told you about Wei Jingzhong?"
“No.” Zhou Yanqing’s tone was icy, as if she had said something wrong again. “I told you that you are no longer a shaman, and the affairs of the court are no longer your concern.”
"So you're planning to find a new sorcerer to keep me locked up for the rest of my life?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanqing seemed to have discovered a new continent, "It's not impossible."
She actually provided this pervert with ideas?
Si Yanmo was speechless. It seemed that neither feinting nor indirect approaches would work, so she had no choice but to get straight to the point.
“Yesterday I caught Wei Jingzhong red-handed, now is a good opportunity to get rid of him. This guy is ambitious and ruthless, getting rid of him will benefit you.”
"By what right do you speak to me like this?"
Sure enough, this guy is overthinking things again!
Si Yanmo's gaze was fixed on his slightly clenched hand. His right hand was gripping the folded book, about to crush it, and upon closer inspection, it was trembling slightly.
He was nervous.
Seeing through this disguise, Si Yanmo felt much relieved.
"As your wife."
With a snap, the folded book fell to the ground, and in the sunlight, the dust that rose was almost visible, converging into the shock in the man's eyes.
"What...what did you say?"
The trembling voice carried surprise, confusion, and, of course, an inexplicable sense of grievance.
She was referring to the lady, not the sorcerer, not the Princess Consort of Qin...
Si Yanmo chuckled inwardly; puppies were indeed the easiest to coax.
"As your wife, I worry about you, about the instability of your throne, about your subordinates betraying you, and of course, about something happening to you."
She spoke each word gently and earnestly, as if she were a wife worried about her husband, making polite remarks as usual.
This tone fascinated Zhou Yanqing. He stood up, walked to the cage, and stopped a second before he was about to open the cage door.
"You...you just want me to deal with Wei Jingzhong, right? Don't try to fool me."
“I wanted you to deal with Wei Jingzhong,” Si Yanmo leaned forward to get closer to him, “but that’s because I was worried about you. This man is ambitious and opportunistic. Now that I’ve exposed him, if I don’t take advantage of his moment of panic and push him down, he will definitely retaliate in the future.”
“At that time, he wasn’t just retaliating against me.” She tried to raise her hand to reach for the man’s hand resting on the railing.
As their fingertips touched, a tingling sensation spread throughout Zhou Yanqing's body. He was stunned and didn't know how to react.
After a long while, he lowered his head and chuckled softly, with a hint of helplessness and loneliness in his voice, "Amo, you're always good at coaxing people."
"But you like listening to it, don't you?"
“I don’t want you to say this just because I like to hear it,” Zhou Yanqing grabbed her hand, their fingers intertwined through the cage bars, his eyes filled with intense aggression, “is this what you truly want to say?”
"What if I am sincere?" Her fingers gently caressed Zhou Yanqing's tiger's mouth, as if to express her comfort.
"No, you hate me."
The puppy's tone was definitely aggrieved, leaving Si Yanmo wondering about the origin of those words.
When did I ever hate you?
“You can be very good to any man, and you’re sincere to them all, but with me…” he smiled bitterly, “you’re just compromising and trying to take advantage of me.”
These words almost made Si Yanmo laugh in anger. "Then tell me, who am I truly sincere to?"
“Zhong Zihe.”
"Didn't I say that Zihe and I are like family?"
"At least you were sincere."
Si Yanmo was speechless. "So you're still jealous?"
"And what about Zhou Junsong?"
When Zhou Yanqing mentioned this person, her words carried a hint of hatred and a touch of inferiority.
In this life, he and Si Yanmo have been together for so long, but they still haven't developed feelings for each other. However, in her previous life, she truly wanted to be with that person for life.
Why?
Zhou Yanqing began to hate his past self. Why didn't he go to find Amo in his past life?
He will definitely protect Amo, unlike that good-for-nothing.
Amo will definitely like him too...
Is that really the case?
“That’s from a past life.” Si Yanmo never believed that past and present lives could be confused.
But some people are struggling with the question, "But you like him."
Upon hearing this, Si Yanmo realized that this person had misunderstood quite a bit.
“Zhou Yanqing, I…you know, I’m someone who’s been conscious for less than four years in total, including my past and present lives. I don’t know what it means to like someone.”
When she opened up to a man for the first time, she truly didn't know what liking someone meant or what kind of emotion love was.
She never even imagined that she would be so intimate with a man one day.
She didn't know what she meant to Zhou Junsong in her past life, but the feelings she had for him were definitely different from those she had for Zhou Yanqing.
She would not accept Zhou Junsong touching her, nor would she throw a tantrum at him.
Their relationship seemed more like that of a servant and his employer, not even respectful, and there was no mutual exploitation involved; she was left to eke out a living in his household.
But Zhou Yanqing is different...
Arguing and bickering with him makes me happy, just like the kind of happiness I feel with Zhong Zihe, but with a slight difference.
When he helped her counteract the effects of Ye Shengge's drug, her first reaction wasn't disgust, but panic and confusion.
When Si Yanmo discovers that he is good to her, she is touched; when she discovers that he is sad because of her, she feels sad and guilty.
These emotions combined were telling her that Zhou Yanqing was different from others.
She just couldn't tell what this difference was.
She lived too short a life and was too unaware of her own feelings; emotions were the biggest problem for her.
When Zhou Yanqing sent her those intensely emotional signals, her first reaction was to run away. She couldn't understand men's feelings and didn't know how to respond.
So she said, "I don't know what 'like' means. I don't know if other people really like me. I don't know how to respond."
"Zhou Yanqing, I really know nothing about this."
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