Chapter 54
"Is this the real reason why you don't want to return to Beijing?"
Suddenly, a deep voice came from his ear. Zhao Fanghua nodded without thinking: "Yes, yes——"
wrong!
This sound!
Zhao Fanghua froze suddenly, turned his head mechanically, and stared at the masked "little mute" beside him in disbelief.
She swallowed, her throat tightened, and she stretched out her fingertips to tremble and peel off the cold mask.
Beneath the mask was Zhao Qinglan's familiar face, but now it was shrouded in gloom.
"Ah!!!" When Zhao Fanghua saw him, she was like seeing a ghost. She screamed like a groundhog and subconsciously wanted to hide backwards.
From the very beginning, Zhao Qinglan was worried about Zhao Fanghua staying alone in the Zhang Mansion, but it was not easy for the old stubborn Zhang Huaiyuan to agree to give Zhao Fanghua a new identity. Later, when he proposed to go and see Zhao Fanghua, he sternly refused on the grounds that it was against etiquette.
The longer I can't see you, the more I miss you, like weeds growing wildly.
He really couldn't help it tonight. Since he couldn't meet her openly, he might as well take a look secretly.
Who knew that just as I climbed over the wall, I ran into this heartless little guy who had packed up his valuables and was about to run away!
A surge of anger rushed to the top of my head, but now that I was holding the person in my arms and feeling his real body temperature, a hint of relief was mixed in with the anger.
Fortunately, he came.
After Zhao Fanghua screamed, she immediately shrank her neck and forced an ingratiating smile on her face: "Oh! Why is it you, A Lan! The weather is so nice today, hahahahaha..."
She laughed dryly, trying to hide the turmoil in her heart.
It’s over! The little mute turned out to be Zhao Qinglan! The little mute turned out to be Zhao Qinglan!
Did she scold Zhao Qinglan in front of him?
Did she also say a lot of lewd words, and even tried to trick him into becoming her lover?
Zhao Fanghua not only felt that he couldn't live anymore, he was even so embarrassed that he could dig a new Zhang Mansion out of the wall with his toes!
"Are you still leaving?" Zhao Qinglan stared at her, his voice flat but carrying an unquestionable sense of oppression.
Zhao Fanghua shook her head like a rattle: "I'm not leaving, I'm not leaving! I'm definitely not leaving!"
Zhao Qinglan snorted and said word by word, "I don't believe it."
"What can I do if you don't believe me...ah!" Before Zhao Fanghua could even utter the word "Fa", she felt her body lighten and was picked up by Zhao Qinglan around the waist.
She exclaimed, her arms subconsciously wrapped tightly around his neck, and her warm body was forced tightly against his arms.
Zhao Qinglan pursed his lips tightly, his face terribly gloomy. Holding her in his arms, he stepped easily and jumped off the wall, walking straight towards the quiet courtyard where Zhao Fanghua lived in Zhang's mansion.
Zhao Fanghua quickly buried her face in his chest, wishing she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
Is there anything more embarrassing in this world than being caught red-handed by the right person while running away from your marriage?
there is none left!
The courtyard was quiet, and the moonlight sprinkled on the stone road.
Zhao Qinglan walked silently all the way, carried her into the room, and placed her on the cushioned bed.
As soon as Zhao Fanghua's feet touched the bed, she shrank to the innermost corner of the bed in two steps like a rabbit, hugged her knees, and looked at him warily and guiltily.
Zhao Qinglan straightened up and looked down at her huddled in a ball. A cold smile suddenly curled up at the corner of his mouth. "What did Sister say just now? She said she wanted to... pledge herself to me? Hmm?"
Zhao Fanghua's heart was filled with alarm. He immediately grabbed his collar with both hands and denied it hastily: "I'm not! I didn't! You heard it wrong!"
"Really?" Zhao Qinglan chuckled softly, and suddenly leaned forward, his shadow instantly covering Zhao Fanghua.
He brought his face very close, his lips almost touching her cheek, but he stopped when he saw her little face wrinkled tightly in fear.
The two maintained this ambiguous and dangerous posture for a long time without moving.
Zhao Fanghua's heartbeat was as fast as a drum. After waiting for a long time without seeing any follow-up, he couldn't help but quietly open one eye to take a peek at the situation, and ended up bumping into Zhao Qinglan's bottomless eyes.
Being caught red-handed, she was so frightened that she quickly closed her eyes tightly again.
Zhao Qinglan sighed almost inaudibly, and her warm breath sprayed on her sensitive neck.
"Sister..." His voice was low and hoarse with a hint of barely perceptible grievance, "Do you really... not like me at all?"
Zhao Fanghua felt itchy on the place where his breath touched her neck. She couldn't help but twist her shoulders slightly, biting her lower lip, but didn't say a word.
Seeing this, Zhao Qinglan let out a bitter, self-deprecating smile. "Sister, you could boldly confess your love to a little mute whose name and origin you didn't know, and repeatedly tried to trick him into being with you...but when faced with the real Zhao Qinglan, all you could do was run away?"
Zhao Fanghua lowered his head, his face buried in the shadow of his knees, making it impossible to see his expression.
After a long while, she finally uttered in a muffled voice, as low as a mosquito: "That's different."
"What's different?" Zhao Qinglan asked quickly.
Zhao Fanghua finally made up her mind, raised her head abruptly, met Zhao Qinglan's amber eyes fixed on her, and summoned her courage to speak loudly, "Of course that's different!
"To the little mute, I'm the eldest princess, the absolute superior. If I find him interesting, I can make him my concubine, but it's just a concubine. But with Zhao Qinglan..." Her voice trailed off. "I'm the inferior, whose life, honor, and loss all depend on him. I have absolutely no room for resistance or choice in any of his arrangements. Just like if you want me to die, I have to die. If you want me to change my identity, I will become Zhang Dongling."
Zhao Qinglan looked at her deeply, then suddenly spoke, his tone too serious to be a joke: "I can also be your concubine."
Outside the court, in your and my boudoirs.
Zhao Fanghua still shook her head. "I'm just answering your question about why my attitude towards the little mute and Zhao Qinglan is different. As for the other question... you asked me why I don't want to return to Beijing, and why I don't want to... marry you..."
She paused and took a deep breath: "Do you know why I insisted on breaking off the engagement with Shen Xiujin?"
Zhao Qinglan was stunned. He hadn't expected her to suddenly bring up this past incident. His brows furrowed slightly. "You told me at the time that it was because of our personalities. But I know the truth is that he had an affair with my cousin."
"Yes, but not entirely." Zhao Fanghua looked him straight in the eye and decided to come clean. "Since you've known for a long time that I'm not the original Zhao Fanghua, I might as well tell you the truth. I come from another world. Where we are, we practice monogamy, and a man can only marry one wife. Of course, I know that this may be meaningless to powerful people, and I don't know how many wives they will marry behind their backs. But I can't accept it, I can't accept it from the bottom of my heart. I don't just not accept Shen Xiujin having a concubine, I don't accept my husband having any woman other than me. So..."
After she finished speaking, she seemed to have exhausted all her strength, lowered her head, and whispered, "Please let me go."
After hearing this, Zhao Qinglan let out a complex yet self-deprecating smile, "Then why are you so sure... that I'll take in many concubines?"
Zhao Fanghua raised his eyelids, his tone resigned to his fate, "Even if you don't want to, the entire court will force you to accept it. Throughout history, haven't there been many ministers who have kept an eye on the affairs of the emperor's harem?"
Zhao Qinglan raised her eyebrows, a strange light flashing in her eyes. "You read quite a variety of books... But, my sister, how come you are sometimes smart and sometimes so stupid?"
After saying that, he suddenly reached out and gently tapped Zhao Fanghua's forehead.
Zhao Fanghua cried out "Ouch", covered the place where he was hit, and looked at him with wide eyes.
It was at this moment that she realized belatedly that Zhao Qinglan had taken off his shoes and climbed onto her bed, sitting right next to her. The distance between them was so close that they could almost feel each other's body temperature.
Zhao Fanghua subconsciously shrank back, but his back hit the cold bedpost. Only then did he realize that he had nowhere to retreat.
In the silent room, the only sound I could hear was my own heartbeat like a drum. This was different from before!
She had slept on the same bed with Zhao Qinglan, but at that time she only regarded him as her blood-related brother.
But now, he had gotten into her bed so openly.
"This... this is against etiquette..." Her voice was as small as a mosquito's hum, and her fingers unconsciously clenched the collar of her clothes.
Zhao Qinglan raised her eyebrows slightly upon hearing this. "If etiquette and laws could restrain me, Sister would still be learning the rules from the palace maids, instead of discussing whether it's appropriate or not."
Zhao Fanghua nodded quickly. That was true. She was about to become the queen, but there was no palace servant to teach her etiquette.
Zhao Qinglan reached out his hand, gently twisting a strand of hair that had fallen by her ear with his fingertips, and toyed with it slowly. "Or... is Sister scared?"
"Who, who's scared!" Zhao Fanghua retorted, stiffening her neck. She watched helplessly as the man leaned forward, his warm breath brushing against her eyelashes, but just as their noses were about to touch, he suddenly retreated.
This sudden withdrawal almost caused her to lose her balance as her body leaned back due to tension.
Zhao Qinglan took in her embarrassment, chuckled softly, and slowly untied the jade belt around her waist with his slender fingers.
Zhao Fanghua looked up suddenly when she heard the rustling sound, and saw that he had taken off his outer shirt at some point. The collar of his plain white shirt was slightly open, revealing his porcelain-white skin and well-defined collarbone.
She was so shocked that her tongue was tied: "You, you, you! What are you going to do?"
Zhao Qinglan leaned over and rested his arms on the bed rails beside her, trapping her in a small space. The ends of his hair brushed against her burning earlobes. His voice was very low and bewitching: "Of course it is--" He paused deliberately, his breath brushing against her sensitive neck, and then he slowly uttered the second half of the sentence.
"I'm here to offer myself to His Highness..."
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