The side hall behind the Hall of Supreme Harmony was completely silent.
Outside the palace, the melodious sounds of string and wind instruments mingled with the greetings and laughter of the officials, creating a bustling atmosphere that made the grand birthday banquet tonight exceptionally lively.
Here, it's like the eye of the storm before it arrives, so quiet that only each other's breaths and heartbeats remain.
The guests had all taken their seats, and all the palace maids and eunuchs were in their places. This side hall, which served as the final preparation place before the emperor and empress's appearance, now only had Lin Wanwan and Xiao Che left.
Lin Wanwan wore an elaborate and magnificent gown adorned with a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix, and a crown with nine dragons and nine phoenixes. The gold, jade, and pearls swayed gently with her subtle movements, producing a clear and melodious sound. She stood quietly in front of a huge dressing mirror, looking at her own dignified and regal self, her eyes as calm as a deep pool.
Xiao Che, dressed in a black robe embroidered with gold dragon threads, appeared even paler than before, yet his features became even more striking, making him incomparably handsome. He didn't look in the mirror, but simply stood quietly behind Lin Wanwan, his gaze fixed intently on her.
There was a tacit understanding and tension in the air that needed no words.
They all knew that when they walked hand in hand out of this side hall and stepped into that magnificent banquet hall, a long-planned, life-or-death battle would officially begin.
The seemingly peaceful and prosperous Taihe Hall was actually a battlefield teeming with murderous intent.
Hidden among the clinking glasses and lively conversation were dozens of wolves ready to devour their prey.
Hidden within those ornately decorated palaces lies a raging fire powerful enough to reduce everything to ashes.
Tonight, they will either crush their rebellion completely and usher in their own dawn.
Alternatively, they would be buried in this magnificent tomb along with all the officials and civil servants of the court.
There is no third way.
"The hairpin is a little crooked."
Xiao Che suddenly spoke, breaking the silence. His voice was soft, carrying a hint of gentleness that was barely perceptible.
He took a step forward, getting even closer. Close enough that Lin Wanwan could clearly see his long, thick eyelashes in the mirror, and the deep, ocean-like tenderness in the depths of his eyes, a tenderness that existed only for her.
He reached out and gently straightened a slightly disheveled gold hairpin with tassels beside her phoenix crown. His fingertips, cool and slender, trembled almost imperceptibly as he carefully brushed her hair, as if handling a rare treasure that would shatter at the slightest touch.
Lin Wanwan didn't move; she simply looked at him quietly through the mirror.
His movements were so focused, so gentle, as if he had no vision of the impending swordplay, the raging fire about to erupt, or the life-or-death gamble that concerned the fate of the nation.
His whole world consisted of her and the small phoenix hairpin under his fingertips.
After tidying up the phoenix hairpin, he didn't immediately withdraw his hand. Instead, he slowly slid down her hair and gently cupped her cheek.
He didn't say anything more.
At this moment, all words seem superfluous.
He simply took something out of his pocket.
It was a dagger.
The dagger was entirely black, with a simple and ancient design, no more than the length of a palm, small and exquisite. But in the candlelight, the blade gleamed with an eerie, ghostly blue light.
A dagger coated with deadly poison.
It can kill instantly upon contact with blood.
He gently and decisively slipped this deadly weapon into Lin Wanwan's wide sleeve, letting its cold touch brush against her warm skin.
This is not sending her to charge into battle.
This is telling her—
If, by any chance, the situation gets out of control and reaches the worst possible point...
Do not let yourself fall into enemy hands and be humiliated by others.
It is better to be a broken jade than a whole tile.
Lin Wanwan's heart clenched suddenly, as if gripped tightly by an invisible hand. She lowered her eyes, looking at the cold silhouette hidden in her sleeve, and grasped the cold dagger.
She raised her hand and grasped Xiao Che's hand before he could retract it.
Then, she took out a small, pre-prepared item from her sleeve.
It was an exquisite white jade porcelain bottle.
The bottle contained a deadly poison she had extracted from various herbs using modern knowledge; it was colorless and odorless, causing instant death upon ingestion without any pain.
She gently placed the small porcelain bottle into his warm palm.
He didn't ask what it was.
She didn't explain either.
But they all understood.
This is the ultimate trust between them, a trust to which they would entrust their lives.
It was also a romantic promise between them that needed no words.
They entrusted their last means of escape to each other. If death was inevitable, they would never let the other person walk the path alone.
The impending bloodshed and the silent yet profoundly tender entrustment create an extreme and intense conflict, filling this small side hall with a heart-pounding, tragic, and poignant emotional tension.
Xiao Che slowly closed her fingers, holding the small medicine bottle tightly in her palm. The warm, smooth jade seemed to still carry the lingering warmth of her fingertips.
He looked at her deeply, his deep eyes churning with unspoken words, but in the end, they only turned into a very soft sigh and a gentle sentence that seemed to melt into the air.
"Let's go, my queen."
A faint, yet chillingly murderous, smile curved at the corners of his mouth.
"It's time to go..."
"...Watching the show."
The moment he finished speaking, the master of ceremonies' loud and clear announcement, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, resounded throughout the entire Hall of Supreme Harmony!
"Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress—have arrived—!"
The sound pierced through the palace gates, carrying a majestic aura that proclaimed to the world, and clearly reached the ears of the two.
The play is about to begin.
Lin Wanwan raised her head and met Xiao Che's gaze.
At this moment, all the tenderness and affection in their eyes transformed into an unspoken understanding and a resolute determination to fight side by side.
The two looked at each other and smiled.
That smile held both the composure of being bound together by life and death, and the chilling urgency of an impending trap.
Xiao Che reached out his hand to her.
Lin Wanwan gently placed her hand in his palm.
Their fingers are intertwined.
They joined hands, turned together, and faced the door to the palace that was about to open, a door leading to blood and fire.
They were about to step into a deadly battlefield, a place meticulously prepared for them.
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