Novelas PaiPai

Capítulo 92

The princess's anger, already like oil-soaked tinder, was ignited by Yang's words, and the flames leaped up. "Conscience? You're talking to me about conscience?" She glared at Yang, tears welling in her eyes. "If you had even a shred of conscience, would you have thought of drugging me? Using such despicable methods on a new bride, what kind of mother-in-law are you!"

Upon hearing this, the hall fell silent. Even Madam Yang remained silent, lowering her eyes somewhat awkwardly under the princess's imposing gaze.

The matter of drugging the princess must have been told to her by Zhang Chengzhao, in order to incite her anger and urge her to confront Yang Shi and protect him with all her might. Thinking of this, I turned to look at Zhang Chengzhao. As soon as our eyes met, he immediately lowered his head guiltily and avoided my gaze. It seems my guess was correct.

Looking at Han, she also seemed somewhat uneasy, turning her head away to avoid my questioning gaze. Zhang Chengzhao's accusations against Yang must have been confirmed by her as well. Of course, I can understand Han's resentment towards Yang, but this means the princess can no longer even maintain a semblance of politeness towards Yang. How will she live under the same roof with her in the future?

Moreover, knowing about the drugging incident would be a severe blow to the princess herself. I sighed inwardly. The princess breathed slowly and heavily, struggling to suppress her unusual emotions. After a long while, she finally managed to suppress her sobs and told Lady Yang her final decision: "I will let bygones be bygones for today's matter, but if you continue to hold my palace maids accountable and dare to speak ill of them to outsiders, I will immediately go to the palace and tell my father and aunt that you drugged me. If they do not punish you, I swear I will not rest until they do!"

Hearing the princess's words, Madam Yang remained embarrassed and silent. Before leaving, she simply flicked her robe at the princess to express her final anger. It seemed the princess had won, but she showed no joy. After all of Madam Yang's entourage had left, she dismissed the rest of the onlookers, then pointed at Zhang Chengzhao and Xiaoyan'er, and said to Governor Liang, "These two have committed a hunting offense. Please reprimand them and devise a way to punish them, but make sure it doesn't become public knowledge, lest others gossip."

Supervisor Liang bowed and agreed, while the princess ignored Zhang Chengzhao's cries for justice and quietly turned to look at me, tears finally welling up in her eyes.

During dinner, the princess ordered wine to be brought, and drank quite a bit by herself in a somber mood. Later, when Lady Han took the wine pot away, she stopped drinking, got up, and went back to her chambers, saying she was tired and wanted to rest early. However, when I returned to my residence that evening and was reviewing documents, I suddenly heard someone knocking on the door. I asked Xiaobai to check, and he quickly ran back and reported, "It's the princess with Jiaqingzi, standing outside the door."

I glanced at the water clock; it was past midnight. So I closed my book, got up, walked to the courtyard gate, and said to the princess outside, "Princess, it's getting late. You should go back and rest."

Her soft voice came from behind the closed door: "I can't sleep, I want to talk to you."

I refused as always: "We can talk about it tomorrow."

There was silence outside the door. After a moment, I tentatively called out to her, but there was no response. I assumed she had left, so I went back into my room to continue reading the documents. But then there was another knock on the door, accompanied by Jiaqingzi's voice: "Mr. Liang, the princess is sitting outside the door and refuses to go back."

I rushed over and opened the door. There, I saw the princess sitting on the ground outside the door, her head buried in her knees, her body curled up in a small ball. Hearing me open the door, she turned her head slightly to look at me, a tired smile on her lips: "Huaiji, I'm so cold."

It was an autumn night, the wind and dew were biting, and she was dressed very lightly, without even a cloak. I felt sorry for her and immediately asked Jiaqingzi to help her into my room.

She sat down in the room, and remained silent for a while before asking me, "Do you have any wine here?"

Yes, but I don't want to give it to her. "You've already drunk a lot today," I said to her.

She shook her head dejectedly: "Brother, I'm cold."

I remained silent, but finally gave in and ordered Xiaobai to fetch a pot of wine.

He quickly retrieved the wine, along with two cups, and placed them before the princess and me. He heated the wine in the pitcher with hot water in the bowl, then refilled our cups before stepping aside. The princess raised her cup and drank half of it. I called Jiaqingzi over and whispered to her to go to the kitchen and prepare a hangover soup for the princess. Jiaqingzi agreed and went out immediately, while Xiaobai followed her out and closed the door behind her.

"Why do we need hangover soup?" Hearing what I, Shi Jiaqingzi, said, the princess twirled her wine glass with her fingertips and smiled faintly. "They say wine can relieve worries, but if you relieve the hangover, won't the worries just come back?"

I smiled at her and said, "What wine in this world can truly relieve sorrow? Drowning your sorrows in wine is merely using drunkenness to temporarily forget your troubles."

“It’s good to be able to forget my troubles,” the princess sighed. “I have so many things I want to forget.” She tilted her head back and drank the remaining half of the wine in her glass, then said, “I hope this glass will help me forget everything about Li Wei and his mother.”

Seeing that I was speechless, she glanced at me with her bright eyes and asked with a smile, "What about you? You must also have things you want to forget, right?"

“Me too…” I hesitated, then picked up the glass of wine in front of me and drank it all in one gulp. “This glass will help me forget those unpleasant memories from my childhood.”

"What is it?" she asked.

There are many things, such as my father's early death, my mother's remarriage, and my entry into the palace... all deeply etched in my memory. An indelible pain...

These were all things I found difficult to talk about, so I remained silent out of compassion. She didn't press me further, and simply offered her own answer: "Oh, you said your family was very poor..."

I forced a smile at her, hoping she would take it as a yes.

“Everyone has their own poverty. When I was little, I thought that not being able to go out and play was my poverty. Later, I realized that I was even poorer... Compared to a woman like Ruozhu, I was the poorest of the poor.” She said sadly, poured herself another cup, and drank it down in one gulp. “I hope this cup will erase the memories that Feng Jing and Zeng Ping left me with... If I had never met them, I would never have known that I was so poor.”

After saying that, she refilled my glass and urged me to say more: "What else do you want to forget?"

After thinking for a long time, I silently finished the glass of wine and told her, "I still want to forget about being a court official and the regrets that this identity has brought me."

"Hmm," she nodded, feigning understanding, "If you weren't an inner court official, you could participate in the imperial examinations, become the top scholar, and rise to the position of Grand Minister."

Not only that. If I weren't a court official, perhaps I could have tried to snatch you away? I thought bitterly, whether from Cao Ping or Li Wei.

Of course, she couldn't say those words out loud, and she quickly began to think about the next question: "What else do I want to forget?... Sigh, let me forget that I am a princess. That would solve everything once and for all, because all my troubles are caused by my identity as a princess."

She drank another full cup, still lost in the thought, "If I'm not a princess, then what am I..." Her gaze drifted to the lotus-shaped wine bowl, and suddenly she had an idea, "Let me be a lotus flower, growing on the autumn river every year, watching the distant sails and the clouds drift by, free and unrestrained, how wonderful that would be."

As I followed her meaning, a beautiful image appeared in my mind, and a smile involuntarily crept onto my lips. Seeing this, she said again, "Don't laugh yet. Tell me about yourself. What do you want to do?"

My gaze gently caressed the corners of her eyes and brows, and I said with a smile, "If you are a lotus flower, then I will be the waves beneath your petals, so that we can come and go year after year, following the wind and rain."

She clapped her hands in approval, then became a little shy, burying her head in the table and giggling. After a moment, she looked up at me, her bright eyes glancing at the wine pot, and said, "Quickly pour it, keep drinking, keep talking, tell me what you want to forget."

I drank the wine as instructed, but remained silent for a long time. When she pressed me for details, I said, "Besides the two things mentioned above, there's nothing else I really want to forget for the time being. If I had to say something, I'd say it's a wish."

She had no objections, and then asked me what my wish was at that moment. I silently drank another glass, and then, taking advantage of the rising tipsiness, told her: "I hope that no matter how we edit our memories, we can still appear in each other's lives."

These words froze her smile. After staring at me blankly for a long time, she gently moved closer to me, touching the scars on my face that had not yet faded. Suddenly, she straightened up, tilted her head back, hugged my neck, and pressed her warm, soft lips to my scars.

“I remember,” she said, gently kissing the scar, her voice almost a whisper, “I remember everything that happened between us… I will remember your smile, your sorrow, every word you said to me, and every scar you left because of me…”

Her voice grew softer and softer until it disappeared completely. She lowered her head slightly, but her forehead still touched my cheek, allowing me to feel her skin, her warmth, and the tears she was shedding.

A single tear slid down my right cheek, slowly spreading to the corner of my lips. I pursed my lips, letting it melt in my mouth.

"What do my tears taste like?" she asked me.

Before I could answer, she embraced me again, her lips, which had kissed my wounds before, now touching mine. I was stunned and at a loss, just sitting there blankly, while she seemed to be seeking the answer to her question herself. Her small tongue had already entered my mouth, gently teasing my teeth, as if trying to find the lost tear between my lips and teeth.

The Lonely City Closes (The Princess Who Fell in Love with the Eunuch) The wine is finished, leaving only sorrow on my brows. 8. Storm

Chapter word count: 3221 Update time: 09-07-05 10:37

8. Storm

(by 2950)