Hibiscus as a Painting

Chapter 190

Under the dazzling sunlight, Zi Jin's long, reddish-brown hair shone even brighter, her skin was much fairer than before, and her features appeared even more delicate and refined. Her slender, phoenix-shaped eyes were slightly narrowed, her pale lips were tightly pursed, and her brows were full of defensiveness. Such a vigilant appearance caused a very faint, bitter smile to appear on the corners of Prince Anle's mouth.

Prince Anle slowly lowered his hand from his waist, elegantly tidied his hair at his temples, and smiled faintly at Zi Jin: "Little mute, did you miss me?"

Zi Jin turned her eyes away angrily, unwilling to get entangled with him. She slowly put the golden whip back to her waist, turned around and left without even looking at Prince Anle.

The elegant and beautiful smile on Anle Wang's face froze on his lips. His hand, which had been playing with the stray hairs at his temples, stood stiffly in place. He stared blankly at Zi Jin's back as she turned and left without a trace of lingering affection. The expectations, worries, and longing in his heart, as well as the intense and unyielding yearning, instantly froze into ice. His heart felt as if it had been punched hard, and the pain was unbearable.

"Heh... doesn't the little mute want to know... why I'm coming with you?"

Zi Jin slowly stopped and turned to look at Prince Anle: "Why?"

"Heh... So you finally spoke to me, didn't you?" King Anle's lips curled into a triumphant smile, his eyes filled with undisguised smugness and contempt.

Zi Jin's face instantly darkened. She turned away without saying another word and left.

Seeing Zi Jin's impatience and determination, just as Zi Jin turned around, the smile on Prince Anle's face vanished instantly, and a trace of pain and despair flashed in his eyes. He gripped the hem of his clothes tightly and spoke again, "Little mute, don't you know? Yu Luo has added a male heir to my Sikou family this time." His voice was full of schadenfreude.

Zi Jin slowly turned her head, a faint smile appearing on her lips: "Then congratulations, Your Highness."

Seeing Zi Jin's smile, Prince Anle paused for a moment, then lowered his eyes and smiled lightly: "Of course I congratulate you. If it weren't for this child, why would you be willing to come with me?"

Zi Jin slowly turned around, silently gazing into Prince Anle's peach-blossom eyes, her smile deepening: "I don't believe it."

"Don't believe me?" King Anle looked at Zi Jin's confident smile, a strange sour feeling welling up inside him.

Zi Jin smiled slightly and said confidently, "I... will never believe you again."

Upon hearing this, King Anle slowly lowered his eyes, concealing the emotions within them: "Don't you believe me? Since you don't believe me, why don't you dare ask your brother? And why won't your brother go with you?" His low voice was filled with an indescribable desolation.

Zi Jin stared intently at Anle Wang's peach blossom eyes, which were hidden by long eyelashes: "Why don't you dare look me in the eye when you speak?... From the time I met you until today, when have I not been fooled and deceived by you? Is there a single thing you have done to me without a purpose? You lied to me about being good to me, tricked me into returning to Chen Kingdom, fed me the Soul-Scented Elixir, drew my blood, said that the child was Xiao Bai's, and tried to take my life that day in the Cold Cave. Do you think I will still believe you in this life? However, I will not hold these things against you, but you shouldn't have hurt my master to take Xiao Bai... If my master hadn't repeatedly told me not to hurt you, I would not have let you go so easily today... Of course, I don't want to hurt Xiao Bai because of you, so... Go... It's best not to appear before me again."

King Anle tightly closed his eyes, struggling to suppress the knife-like pain in his chest. He bit down hard on his flesh to keep from crying out. After a long while, when the churning in his chest subsided slightly, he slowly opened his eyes, staring intently into Zi Jin's eyes, and asked in a low voice, "So...you can't tolerate me at all?"

Zi Jin's lips curled into a deep sneer: "I can't tolerate you?... Your Highness, aren't you afraid of your words slipping out? How could I dare not tolerate Your Highness? Your Highness, think about it carefully... Isn't it always Your Highness who can't tolerate me? Isn't it always Your Highness who wants to get rid of me as soon as possible?"

“I want to get rid of him… and then quickly…” Bright red blood seeped from the corner of King Anle’s mouth.

Zi Jin's heart stirred slightly as she squinted at the blood seeping from the mouth of Prince Anle.

King Anle glanced at Zi Jin and hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand to stop the unstoppable flow of blood, which dripped slowly down his fingers onto his front.

Zi Jin's mocking smile deepened, a smile that pierced deeply, deeply, and painfully, for the Prince of Anle. He covered his mouth with one hand and pressed the other tightly against his chest, trying to suppress the churning, burning heat within him, but the heat only intensified. As if finding an outlet, the gushing blood continued to spill from his mouth.

Jin Yu, standing to the side, was extremely anxious. He tried to step forward several times but retreated each time. He was waiting, waiting for the injuries on his lord's body to evoke Zi Jin's pity and compassion.

Zi Jin looked at the Prince Anle, who was spitting blood, with disdain: "Your Highness's methods are truly inexhaustible, but unfortunately... I'm afraid I don't have time to watch the show."

Upon hearing this, Prince Anle's eyes flashed with urgency. He hurriedly turned around, desperately wiping away the blood that kept spilling from his mouth, but the more he tried, the less he could clean it. He didn't want Zi Jin to see him in such a wretched state, didn't want to see her mocking smile, and even less wanted to hear her sarcastic and taunting words. The more he tried, the more his chest ached. Unable to catch his breath, Prince Anle coughed incessantly, coughing up more and more blood.

Jin Yu rushed forward and pressed several acupoints on Prince Anle. Prince Anle gasped for breath, the churning in his chest subsiding considerably. He quickly turned around, only to find no one behind him. He anxiously looked around.

Jin Yuxu helped Prince Anle up: "Your Highness, don't look anymore, the young lady... has already left."

“He’s gone…” King Anle lowered his eyes slowly, the light and sharpness around him gradually dissipating, as if he were a dying man whose life force had been drained in an instant. He walked step by step to the water’s edge, squatted down, stared at the stream for a long time, and began to carefully wash the blood off his hands.

"Your Highness, please don't be sad. The young lady just didn't think things through for a moment, which is why she said such hurtful things."

As if he hadn't heard Jin Yu's words, Prince Anle carefully washed the blood off his hands and face, his face deathly pale. He slowly stood up and removed his outer robe and inner garment.

"Your Highness is not fully recovered yet, and the stream is cold and damp, so please do not go into the water," Jin Yu said urgently.

Without even raising his eyes, King Anle slowly walked into the water and meticulously washed his entire body and long hair. Once everything was done, he went ashore and changed into brand-new robes.

Jin Yu took a dry cloth that had been prepared beforehand and carefully wiped Anle Prince's long hair. Anle Prince's bloodless face was devoid of joy or sorrow, extremely serene, and his aloof appearance made him seem as if he no longer belonged to this world. After drying his long hair, Jin Yu skillfully styled Anle Prince's hair into his usual bun.

"Cloud-like hair bun".

Jin Yu paused for a moment. The Cloud-Soaring Bun was only used during the most solemn ancestral worship ceremony, and the technique was quite complicated. Although Jin Yu was not unfamiliar with it, it still took a lot of time. "Master, please change to a simpler bun. It's getting late. If we don't go back soon, the Lord will definitely be anxious."

“Cloud-like hair bun.” King Anle continued without opening his eyes.

Jin Yu's brows furrowed with unspoken worry, yet he ceased his attempts to dissuade Prince Anle. He skillfully styled the prince's hair, but just as he was about to insert the hairpin, Prince Anle presented him with a crudely made willow hairpin. Jin Yu paused slightly, then took the hairpin from Prince Anle and secured it firmly.

Prince Anle slowly opened his eyes and strolled to the stream. The cheap and rough willow hairpin clashed strangely with his meticulously styled hair and embroidered snow robe, but Prince Anle seemed unconcerned. He adjusted the hairpin again and again, and gradually a hint of softness flickered in his otherwise calm eyes. His stiff expression softened, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly, as if he was more satisfied with the hairpin than with his hairstyle.

Seeing that Prince Anle had regained his smile, Jin Yu's heart, which had been hanging in mid-air, finally settled down. Over the years, Jin Yu had never changed his expression in the face of Prince Anle's various strange tempers, but for some reason, this time his expressionless face made Jin Yu unusually uneasy, with a very bad premonition.

Prince Anle slowly stood up, and Jin Yu quickly stepped forward to straighten his robes again and again. Only when there wasn't a single wrinkle left did a satisfied smile appear on Prince Anle's lips once more.

Prince Anle touched his chin, which had become sharp due to his thinness, and stroked his extremely pale face as he looked into the stream: "Am I ugly?"

“You’re overthinking it, Master. You’ll definitely like the young lady even more now. It was precisely because the three sons of the Jun family were so thin and pale that they won the young lady’s favor,” Jin Yu said softly, his eyes lowered.

"Hehe..." Prince Anle seemed quite satisfied with the answer, chuckling softly, his mind almost in a daze. "Jin Yu... do you know? The first time she saw me, she regarded me as a celestial being... A beautiful woman rolls up the beaded curtain, sitting deep within, her brows furrowed. Only tear stains are seen, but who knows whom she hates... Who knows whom she hates... Jin Yu wasn't afraid of me back then... do you know that?"

Jin Yu lowered his eyes and handed over a purse containing loose silver: "This... seems to have been dropped by you, young lady."

King Anle was slightly taken aback, then took the purse, carefully rubbing the embroidery on it, and looked at the loose silver inside. He then hung it on his body without any hesitation, saying, "Hehe... You've even learned embroidery?... This looks not bad at all, it matches my snow-white robe perfectly."

Jin Yu watched as Prince Anle hung the purse on his person, hesitated for a long time, then gritted his teeth and said, "These loose silver coins... perhaps this is all the young lady has... it seems the young lady has had on her journey..."

King Anle smiled, his hand tightly gripping the purse at his waist: "I'm going to starve her and see if she dares to oppose me again." With that, he turned and walked back the way he came.

Jin Yu looked at Anle Wang's back and seemed to want to say something, but when he met Anle Wang's unusually gentle profile, he finally said nothing more, picked up his robe from the shore, and was about to follow.

King Anle turned around and said in a low voice, "We don't need those robes anymore, just leave them here."

Jin Yu put the robe down again and quickly followed in Anle Wang's footsteps.