Hibiscus as a Painting - Chapter 105
"If we want the Emperor and Empress to wake up, we can do so through the method of balancing Yin and Yang," Physician Su said quickly, startled.
"You mean you want my brother to share a room with a woman?" Empress Yeonzai frowned and slowly sat down, asking with a sidelong glance.
Physician Su wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve: "Indeed, indeed."
Empress Yeonjae frowned, her eyelids lowered, and a look of struggle appeared in her eyes. After a long while, she slowly raised her eyes and said, "Go and have Chung-hee find a few palace maids..."
"Your Majesty, you mustn't! You mustn't! From the day Her Highness the Empress married Your Majesty, she has been Your Majesty's husband alone. If you do this, wouldn't you... make Her Highness too ashamed to live in the palace even if she wakes up?" Imperial Physician Su waved his hands repeatedly.
"This won't do, that won't do, what do you say? My brother's life is hanging by a thread, how can I care about these things!" Empress Yanzai suddenly stood up, her phoenix eyes wide, filled with flames.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty has already come of age... The Empress and the Emperor have also already been crowned... and they are husband and wife... Why let those palace maids ruin His Highness's innocence? Given His Highness's character... if he wakes up and finds out..." Imperial Physician Su's face turned completely red, looking as if he didn't know what to do, fearing that there might be another betrayal.
"The imperial physician means that I..." Empress Yanzai lowered her eyes slightly and sat back down weakly. "I understand. You may leave."
Physician Su wiped away his sweat and hurriedly withdrew.
Jun Ying emerged from the darkness, silently gazing at the Empress, who was lost in thought. Her long eyelashes obscured her phoenix eyes, making it impossible to discern her thoughts: "Your Majesty..."
Empress Yanzai did not raise her head. She slowly leaned on the table, resting her head on her arm: "Jun Xiaosan, what do you think... I should do?"
"Does Your Majesty have a plan in mind?" Jun Ying lowered his eyes and asked in a low voice.
"I know that Imperial Physician Su is unreliable. But if I lose my brother now, it means I lose everything. My family, my country, and the world... I am nothing but a puppet to be manipulated... My brother must live... Only if my brother lives can I have any hope of survival." Empress Yanzai slowly rose, not glancing at Jun Ying, and walked step by step into the inner chamber.
"Your Majesty, if we were to have an heir now, it would cut off all our chances of survival..."
"Don't worry. I won't want my brother's child, not now... and not ever..."
On the bed, the Emperor and Empress lay quietly in the same spot. His face was still flushed, but his breathing had become steady, though his body was still frighteningly hot. His lips had burned to a deep purple, and were cracked with streaks of blood.
Empress Yanzai slowly removed her clothes and lay down beside the Emperor and Empress. She wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear, "Brother, are you angry with Jin'er? Please don't be angry with Jin'er, okay? Jin'er can't live without you. You're the only one in the world who belongs to me... Brother, please don't abandon me... If I lose you... I can't go on living... They say you won't make it through the night, but I know you can't bear to part with me. You can't bear to part with me, and I can't bear to part with you either, so... Brother, please don't blame me. I'll take you like this."
The emperor and empress's fingers trembled slightly, and their brows furrowed even more deeply.
Empress Yanzai gently kissed the Emperor's face, forehead, and cheeks. When her tongue touched his lips, it traced the scars on his lips, moving and licking them lightly. A sweet, rusty taste of the bloodstains filled her mouth. Her tongue forcefully tried to pry open his tightly closed teeth, attempting to lick them several times, but she was powerless to open them.
The Empress's lips slipped from his mouth, gently licking his earlobe, teasing him bit by bit. The Empress's hands trembled slightly as she slowly unfastened the Emperor's inner garment, caressing his entire body, licking his Adam's apple and the artery in his neck.
The emperor and empress's breathing was shallow and rapid. His hands slowly clenched into fists, and his feather-like eyelashes trembled as his breathing became more rapid, like butterflies alighting on flowers.
"Brother, please don't blame Jin'er for being abrupt. Jin'er only wants to keep you here." The Empress's tongue wandered over the Empress's chest. Suddenly, a short groan escaped the Empress's lips as she gasped for breath, her mouth slightly open.
Empress Yanzai's brows furrowed with joy as she tenderly caressed the Emperor and Empress's skin. Her lips once more covered the Emperor and Empress's, carefully and sweetly licking his gums, sometimes lingering around his tongue and lips, sometimes provocatively probing deeper…
The emperor and empress let out a groan that sounded like crying, and their bodies trembled violently.
"Brother, don't be afraid, give it to Jin'er... Jin'er wants a child with yours..." Empress Yanzai whispered in the Empress's ear, coaxing her softly. Her hand slowly extended, and when it touched that burning heat, the Empress's hand trembled slightly.
The emperor and empress trembled violently, letting out a short groan, their chests heaving.
Empress Yanzai's face was flushed, and lust was churning in her eyes. She took a deep breath and tremblingly reached out to clumsily unbutton the Emperor and Empress's trousers. Several times she accidentally touched the Emperor and Empress's heat, and each time she trembled as if she had been electrocuted.
A hand covered the Empress's trembling hand: "Jin'er..." she sighed helplessly.
"Brother! Brother, you're awake!" Empress Yanzai suddenly looked up, her eyes instantly reddening, and she tightly hugged the Emperor and Empress's waist.
"Jin'er..." The Emperor and Empress's long, feathery eyelashes concealed the sorrow in their eyes. He sighed helplessly, his voice hoarse and torn.
"Brother, Jin'er is so scared. Jin'er is so scared that you will just leave Jin'er like this. If Jin'er makes you unhappy, you can hit Jin'er, you can scold Jin'er, but don't make things difficult for yourself. Jin'er can't live without brother. If Jin'er loses brother, she doesn't want to live alone. If brother is going to leave, take Jin'er with you. No matter where you go, Jin'er will follow brother. She would rather die than be separated from brother."
"Silly Jin'er..." A tear slid down her cheek.
Empress Yanzai buried her head in the Empress's neck and sobbed softly, "How could you be so cruel, brother... You almost scared Jin'er to death."
The Empress gently rubbed her face against the Empress's hair: "Jin'er... why... are you always so worrying?" Her slightly hoarse voice soothed people's hearts like a stream flowing through their hearts.
Empress Yeonjae held the Emperor and Empress tightly, as if a drowning person had grasped at a straw. She sobbed softly against the Empress's ear, tears sliding down her neck: "Brother... Brother..."
The Emperor and Empress's breathing quickened slightly: "Jin'er...please get up first? Your brother has no strength."
Empress Yeon-zai raised her eyes and looked suspiciously at the Empress, whose breathing was becoming more and more rapid. Her face flushed red, but she did not let go of the Empress's waist and rubbed the skin of his waist little by little.
"Jin'er...don't move..." The Emperor and Empress lowered their eyes, their bodies trembling slightly.
"Brother, give it to Jin'er. Jin'er wants a brother's child..." Empress Yanzai's lips teased the Empress's earlobe little by little, her breath carrying the innocence and allure of a young girl.
"Jin... Jin'er... don't move... brother... can't take it..." The emperor and empress closed their eyes tightly, clenched their fists, and breathed heavily, their faces already flushed.
Empress Yanzai gently stroked the Empress's sensitive skin: "Don't you want Jin'er, brother? Don't you want Jin'er, brother?"
"Jin'er is still... young... doesn't understand... not now... Jin'er, be good... don't move around anymore." The Emperor and Empress's long eyelashes concealed the emotions in their eyes, and their voices were broken.
A glint flashed in Empress Yanzai's eyes as she reached out and pinched the tender flesh on the Emperor and Empress's waist hard: "Then brother must never think of abandoning Jin'er again. Even if I die, Jin'er will die before brother!"
The Emperor and Empress groaned softly, their bodies stiffening terribly. A weak, bitter smile appeared on his lips: "Jin'er... don't torture your brother anymore. I won't do it again, never... never again."
After receiving a satisfactory answer, Empress Yanzai obediently nestled against the Empress's neck and stopped moving around.
The Emperor and Empress slowly relaxed, his hand gently stroking her dark hair: "Jin'er... when... when will you grow up... when... when will you understand my heart for you..."
Early winter of the twelfth year of the reign of Emperor Yaochen (528 AD)
The Emperor and Empress—Sikou Xunxiang—caught a cold again, and this time the illness was severe.
The emperor and empress coughed up blood incessantly, and for a time they could not take any medicine and fell into a coma.
Empress Yanzai was extremely anxious and shed tears several times. She stayed by his side day and night, and did not discuss state affairs for a whole month.