Chapter 443, 124 words
Ji Qingwu lowered her eyes to look at the two people's intertwined fingers.
She deliberately dragged out the last syllable, her fingertips lightly stroking the calluses on his knuckles.
"What I mean is, the past is like fleeting smoke, it's long gone."
Zhao Mingyan's brow twitched, and he slammed the military treatise down on the sandalwood table, his eyes seemingly immersed in a deep pool.
"Who is Ah Wu talking to?"
After he left, Zhao Mingyan already knew who Ji Qingwu could talk to, and who she could have interacted with in the army.
Ji Qingwu didn't answer directly, but instead hooked his finger and shook it.
She smiled, her eyes crinkling with a gentle curve: "Does Your Majesty agree with what I'm saying? The past should be left behind; I've already forgotten it all."
Zhao Mingyan's eyes darkened further as he said, "What A-Wu said is golden advice; there's no way it could be wrong."
Ji Qingwu smiled even more brightly, hooked her fingers around his and pressed her thumb firmly onto his.
Zhao Mingyan finally couldn't hold back any longer. His facial muscles relaxed little by little from his chin upwards, and the smile lines at the corners of his mouth deepened. He took her hand in his palm and squeezed it back tightly.
The pent-up anger in his heart was swept away.
Ji Qingwu really knew what he truly cared about. It wasn't that she was oblivious, but that she refused to put her heart into thinking and guessing.
Her relationship with Sihai was merely that of master and servant, without any transgression of boundaries. She simply used this pretext for convenience during her escape.
But Wei Ting was different. Ji Qingwu had chased after him, trying every means to make him smile. Moreover, Wei Ting had indeed been married to her in name only.
Now, hearing her recount her past with Wei Ting is like hearing a fleeting dream; she has already let it go.
The deep fog that had been lurking in Zhao Mingyan's heart dissipated. He nodded to Li Yuzong, who then left the tent and waited outside.
Ji Qingwu saw the little wolf flash by the door, still wagging its fluffy tail at her.
Zhao Mingyan completely gave up on reading military books, pushed everything on the table aside, and stared intently at her face.
"What else did A-Wu say to him?"
Ji Qingwu thought of the arguments she had made about clouds and Wushan in front of Wei Ting, and her ears burned like red jade.
She really couldn't bring herself to say these words in front of Emperor Wusu.
Ji Qingwu's hand was squeezed by him. Zhao Mingyan raised his long eyebrows slightly and urged her to speak quickly.
She looked back at his face, but chose to change the subject.
"If that's the case, Your Majesty, please don't dwell on the past, okay?"
Ji Qingwu's fingers were still hooked around his, and she said helplessly, "My faking marriage with Sihai was a last resort."
She really had no better options; this was the best she could think of for self-preservation.
Ji Qingwu traced the source of the incident: it all stemmed from her breaking her promise when the emperor set off at night.
She said with regret, "I didn't mean to break my promise that day. It was because my older sister encountered difficulties during childbirth."
Ji Qingwu did not reveal the family affairs of the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion, but glossed over them with a few words.
“I promised His Majesty that I would go to the Northern Frontier with you, and I will keep my promise.”
Zhao Mingyan did not wait for Ji Qingwu. Sanchuan came to report that she was delayed because the wife of the heir of the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion was giving birth.
He breathed a sigh of relief and immediately made a decision to assign half of his secret guards to keep a close watch on her safety.
The Prince of Yong was not enough for Yuan Heng and Qiu Qiu who remained in the palace, so he also sent Duan Mingfeng there.
But after setting off, it felt like a piece of his heart was empty.
Zhao Mingyan's voice was hoarse as he asked, "Didn't the guards I left behind tell you the verbal order I left behind?"
Ji Qingwu immediately pouted, feeling wronged. The guards not only said it, but also carried it out thoroughly, forbidding her from leaving Lin'an even a step.
Zhao Mingyan frowned and said, "You're always disobedient."
During the Xijin raid, he narrowly escaped the wolf king's attack. Upon returning to the military camp and seeing the burned granary, all he could think about was how to make Xijin pay for their blood debt.
But as he rode away, his peripheral vision caught sight of a figure kneeling on the wet ground. His limbs acted before his brain could, tightening the reins and turning the horse around.
When Zhao Mingyan saw clearly the woman kneeling behind everyone, soaking wet, with torn clothes and swollen knuckles, he sighed inwardly.
He ordered her to raise her face, and unsurprisingly, she saw another ashen face.
Only those eyes remained, still bright and clear as ever, pure and pitiful as they gazed at him.
At that moment, Zhao Mingyan felt that the missing piece in his heart had finally been filled.
But this precious child had tormented him so badly that even after returning to his place, his chest ached terribly.
Seeing the emperor's furrowed brows, Ji Qingwu dared not utter a sound for a long time.
Silence fell in the tent.
He said she was disobedient, so should she just obediently wait for him to come back in Lin'an?
Ji Qingwu's fingers twitched a few times, then suddenly broke free from his grasp.
Under Zhao Mingyan's surprised gaze, Ji Qingwu stood up and walked towards the inner room, where she went to the cabinet next to the bed to search for her luggage.
Zhao Mingyan's eyebrows furrowed almost into a knot, and he called out in a deep voice, "Awu."
Ji Qingwu ignored him and continued searching. Seeing that she had no intention of leaving with her bag, Zhao Mingyan's eyes flickered, and his tone softened considerably.
"Awu, what are you looking for?"
Ji Qingwu returned to the desk, still holding something in her hand, and threw it back into the emperor's arms.
Perhaps due to his turbulent emotions, Ji Qingwu did not control his strength well, and the jade handle of the imperial edict grazed his tense chin, leaving a red mark.
Zhao Mingyan's face darkened visibly.
The imperial edict for establishing an empress, which everyone had been seeking, was unexpectedly returned again and again after it was given to someone.
Zhao Mingyan felt a sharp pain in his chest, and the veins on his forehead bulged out.
"Awu, don't be willful!"
Ji Qingwu stood in front of him, his posture particularly upright, like a soldier standing guard at the gate of a military camp.
She stared intently at him, pursing her lips several times until they were bloodless, and clenching her fists.
Zhao Mingyan tried hard to suppress his anger, watching her reaction with his dark eyes.
Is he trying to rush over and punch him a few times?
Zhao Mingyan narrowed his eyes. If Ji Qingwu were to leave in a fit of anger again, he would be the one to back down first.
He thought it over carefully and decided it would be better to resolve the problem now.
Zhao Mingyan sighed and said, "Awu, I didn't mean to blame you."
Ji Qingwu, however, stretched out his palm with a serious expression and stopped in front of his face, signaling him not to speak.
Zhao Mingyan's eyes flickered, but he ultimately stopped speaking.
Compared to Ji Qingwu's serious actions, her voice was much weaker.
"One hundred and twenty-four characters."
Zhao Mingyan's gaze fixed on her clenched fist.
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