Чистая вода и прекрасные горы

Глава 113

What exactly do you want to do?

"I should be the one asking you that," I said with a cold laugh. "Do you even know where this place is?"

The woman laughed instead. "Where?!"

"It's the imperial harem! A place where countless beauties have been wasted and countless wronged souls have been buried! You seem to know nothing of life or death."

"Your Majesty's words... I truly don't know whether to be surprised or delighted." Yao Shuhuan raised her head, a faint smile playing on her lips. "In the whole world, isn't it you, Rong Zhaozhi, who most wishes for my death? Don't you find it laughable to say such things now? Whether I live or die, you have nothing to say. Don't be hypocritical. You alone have no right to pity me!"

"It's been so many years. My dislike for you has become a habit. The day I have no one to dislike me anymore, I'll feel uneasy." I said, slowly getting up.

"Don't pretend to be magnanimous. I'll tell you plainly, I hate you, Rong Zhaozhi, more than Ling, more than Fu Jing! Ever since you saw us making love in Chaoyang Palace, he hasn't touched me again, not even once! I hate you, and I hate him even more for being so careful around you! I'm going to disgust him, and that's disgusting you too. So... stop pretending. You know how my children died! Rong Zhaozhi, without his favoritism, you wouldn't have won against me."

As Yao Shuhuan's voice gradually faded behind me, my heart was in turmoil.

In the front hall of the East Palace, Granny Jing was lighting a censer of sandalwood incense with swirling purple smoke while writing calligraphy.

When I rushed in, she was clearly stunned and didn't react.

"Are you in high spirits, Granny?" I asked before even stepping inside.

Her hand trembled slightly, and she gently put down the red brush, dismissing the servants who were attending to her.

She turned to me and smiled slightly, "Why has Your Highness come to the front hall at this time?"

"How did you do that, Granny?" I asked.

She did not answer, but asked, "This old woman does not understand Your Majesty's meaning."

"Is this all the skill you've got, Granny? Don't you have any other clever methods?" I looked at her and questioned her in this tone for the first time. She was the most respected old nanny in the Ning Prince's mansion. She couldn't possibly be unaware of Yao Shuhuan's affairs, and she couldn't possibly be indifferent to Yao Shuhuan's several miscarriages.

The old woman approached me gracefully. She looked at me and smiled slightly. "Your Majesty, you still don't understand how to be the Empress of the Rong family. I am just helping you."

I stared at her blankly, a cold smile playing on my lips. "Killing her child is helping me?"

The old woman smiled, her voice gentle, but her smile was unusually cold and eerie. "It's less about helping you and more about helping the Emperor. I watched him grow up, and I won't allow anyone to take everything away from him!"

A chill rose from the soles of my feet, creeping through my entire body inch by inch. I turned abruptly, my back to her, "Back then, when Yao Shuhuan replaced Lu Li to give me the medicine that prevented me from conceiving, was it at the behest of Granny Liu Shang that she tampered with it?!"

"His Majesty needs a legitimate son!"

I suddenly took a step back, unable to suppress the horror and pain in my heart any longer.

The old woman smiled slightly. "It seems that apart from you, the Emperor has no intention of letting anyone else bear his blood. He knows you hate Yao Shuhuan and would never touch her. But the Emperor Emeritus is different. He is most worried about you giving birth to a royal heir, but desperately hopes that Yao Shuhuan's womb will produce a son. The Emperor Emeritus cannot control the Emperor on the issue of offspring, so he can only secretly arrange for Yao Shuhuan to have children with other men. All I did was eliminate those unclean children! I am determined to protect the Emperor, so I don't care about killing!"

"If... I can't give birth to a prince, Yao Shuhuan's child will inevitably become Lu Li's heir. Everything is going according to the Emperor Emeritus's wishes?!" I smiled faintly, "In the world, he is truly one of a kind when it comes to fatherhood!"

Even though he abdicated in favor of Lu Li to atone for his guilt over his brother's death, he still cared about who would inherit the throne. He wanted his descendants to inherit the throne for generations, but Lu Li was not his son, so he could only place his hopes on his grandson!

"Which emperor is the adulterer?"

The old woman slowly lowered her head; she had already said too much and couldn't say any more. Did she think I wouldn't know if she didn't speak?

The doors and windows of the East Palace's rear hall remained tightly shut for several hours. I watched Lu Xiu leisurely pouring and sipping tea, and then asked seriously again, "It really wasn't you?"

He didn't even bother to look at me anymore. "Are you ever going to shut up?!"

I was speechless. "Cuckolding my man is a blow to my dignity. If I ever find out who the adulterer is, I'll tear him to pieces!"

Lu Xiu patted his robe, held up a tea cake in front of me, and said, "I bet it's Fifth Brother, I'll place a bet of five thousand taels."

I snatched the tea cake from the front of me. "I bet Third Brother, I'll also bet five thousand taels." I can't win, and he's bound to lose. As for whether it's Fifth Master or not, Xiaoyu will let me know.

Lu Xiu and I wandered around the West Palace in the dead of night, sneaking around. Lu Xiu complained that I was inconvenient to move around and too conspicuous to be discovered, and refused to take me with him several times. I insisted on seeing for myself and insisted on following him.

Lu Xiu and Lu Xiu squatted in the Huanxi Courtyard for most of the day, and he cleaned up all the pastries they had brought.

"There's not enough sugar in the mung bean cake," he commented while eating.

“It looks like bricks,” I chimed in. “Lu Li likes this kind of thing. I’m so happy that I’m throwing away all the mung bean cakes stored in the Eastern Palace. I can’t stand the smell of it.”

“Xi’er also likes mung bean cake,” Lu Xiu suddenly said. “She’s nothing like me. I like red bean cake.”

Seeing the figure that suddenly appeared behind Lu Xiu, I quickly covered his mouth.

As I watched, the figure in the gray robe appeared outside Yao Shuhuan's room. After only three knocks, someone answered the door. As if it were a very common occurrence, the person in gray stepped into the inner room.

"Adulterer?!" Lu Xiu and I exchanged bewildered glances. "With—"

I tossed down a bag of mung bean cakes, grabbed Lu Xiu, and dragged him along the wall to the window. The window was half-open, but still about a person's height. The room was eerily quiet, as if there was only air. Lu Xiu, his fingers wet, poked a hole in the window paper and met half an eyeball.

I pinched Lu Xiu a few times, but he didn't react. I pulled him up and turned him around, and his face was as red as a flower. Before I could even get close to the window paper, he covered my eyes and pulled my hand down. When I saw the scene inside, I couldn't help but gasp. The woman was completely naked, and the man was mechanically moving on top of her, without any foreplay, going straight to the point. The atmosphere was so tense that there wasn't even a woman's moan or a man's panting. They were both cooperating with each other as if completing a task, tacitly understanding each other.

Lu Xiu and I both blushed simultaneously. Lu Xiu picked up the bag of pastries, and although he was eating them, I knew he couldn't really taste anything. Neither of us spoke or moved, waiting for the adulterous couple in the inner room to finish what they were doing.

"Starting tomorrow, you don't need to come anymore." A woman's voice gradually came from behind me. I peered back through the window and saw Yao Shuhuan dressing as she said, "I forgot to tell you, I'm pregnant again."

"Is that so?" the person who answered asked coldly. "Will she be able to give birth this time?"

"His Majesty has already agreed to the Emperor Emeritus's request to transfer Granny Jing to the garden. I'm afraid that old codger won't be able to do anything this time."

"I'm leaving." The man fastened his belt and made to leave.

Yao Shuhuan rushed forward and wrapped her arms around the man's waist. "Aren't you going to hug me? You've never hugged me before, and neither has he! At least hug me and say you're happy. Aren't you happy? If this is our son, our son will be the next emperor, I will be the Empress Dowager, and you will be the Regent! The whole world will be ours."

The man pulled the woman's arm away, his voice icy cold, "I'm leaving."

"If it's a son, will you never come to see me again?"

"Yes," the man replied, having exhausted his last bit of patience, and finally turned around and walked towards the door.

His silhouette loomed into my view, and I could barely make out who he was. I grabbed Lu Xiu's sleeve; he was even more shocked than I was, trembling all over. In the darkness, Lu Xiu's gaze as he looked at me was distorted.

"Did we see wrong?" Even his voice trembled.

“We shouldn’t have come.” I shook my head, my eyes fixed.

The door to the inner room was pushed open, and the man in gray stood motionless outside, lantern in hand. I pulled Lu Xiu back to hide, but he not only didn't move, but dragged me a few steps forward. The man in gray saw our eerie figures, took a few steps closer, and from a distance, he raised his lantern to see us clearly, while we saw him even more clearly. A chill seemed to grow even stronger!

"Ah! The mung bean cake is sweet!"

"Yeah, what did I tell you? The ones in my East Palace are the best. Do you have to steal all the mung bean cakes in the harem before you'll believe me?" What is he trying to do?! I grinned foolishly along with Lu Xiu, sweat already dripping from my forehead.

Lu Xiu waved the cloth bag in his hand and said with a smile to the man in gray, "Fourth Brother, what a coincidence! You're here to steal some food too?"

Lu Xiu was completely out of his mind. Didn't he notice that Fourth Master's expression had changed?

"You have a lot of things to do." He finally spoke, and his words were chilling.

"Because some people are dishonest," Lu Xiu said with a light laugh.

"Those who meddle will die."

Lu Xiu met the man's eyes. "Fourth Brother, you really are the most filial. But don't you feel bad about doing these things that go against your own wishes?"

With a single palm strike, Fourth Master sent Lu Xiu flying five meters away. Lu Xiu leaned against the old banyan tree, and before he could even utter a word, he coughed up half a mouthful of blood.

"Seventh Sister-in-law, let's go!"

It's not that I don't want to leave, it's just that I'm frozen in place and can't take a step, staring blankly at Lu Xiu.

“Foolish woman, hurry up and go find Seventh Brother. He’s not the Fourth Brother he used to be; he’s just a dog of the Emperor.”

Before I could even ponder the meaning of Lu Xiu's words "a dog," the person in front of me had already walked up.

"Zhao'er, come here."

He actually called me that! I shook my head, but the voice kept echoing in my ears. As if bewitched, I took a step closer.

"Don't go!" Lu Xiu's shout rang in my ears.

I couldn't retreat, nor could I advance. Looking at his still cold, deep affection, I sensed something different about him. I didn't understand! I truly couldn't understand him. From the increasingly indifferent look in his eyes, from his drawing his bow to greet me below the city walls, from his hoarse shouts at me, I had already lost all comprehending him. It felt as if an entire world separated us!

He came closer, and with one hand, he grabbed my throat. My throat ached, and I stared blankly at his cold face. It had been so long since I'd seen him; he seemed so unfamiliar. His fingers gradually tightened their grip on my neck.

My head was buzzing, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think, everything was pitch black, and the bones in my neck were cracking softly.

I reached out and grabbed his sleeve. "Fourth Master..." Is this how you meant by "day and night" to end things with me? Is it better to destroy what you can't have? Is that what you mean?

The light in his eyes shattered instantly, and the force in his hands only increased. His eyes were filled with despair, a piercing pain of utter annihilation; he was venting his despair and agony! My willpower compelled me to struggle, but he seemed determined to bind me to his very bones. He used such ferocity, as if he wanted to crush me to pieces with all his emotions!

His eyes were clouded and unfocused. In those deep eyes, I saw a strange bitterness in Fourth Sister-in-law's expression, as if mocking me, or perhaps blaming me with sorrow. In that reverie, there was also Lu Li... his calm gaze.

I slapped him in the chest, and he stumbled back two steps.

finally.

He let go of me.

The hazy light in his eyes gradually faded.

He released me not because of that palm strike, but because of Lu Li, who had appeared behind me at that moment.

"Fourth Brother, why bother?" Lu Li's voice was soft.

In the blink of an eye, I was protected behind Lu Li.

"The Emperor has decreed that anyone who discovers this—"

"Is it inevitable to die?" Lu Li chuckled softly, picking up where the Fourth Master left off. "If that's the case, wouldn't I die several times over?!"

Fourth Master shifted his gaze slightly, a fist clenched at his side.

The warmth in Lu Li's eyes suddenly diminished. "Fourth Brother should remind Father that since I have already agreed to send the nanny away, Father should also keep his word and not touch my woman."

Chapter Thirty: My Son Returns So Late

Following behind Lu Li, I dared not utter a single word the entire way. He exuded an aura of power that seemed to reach from afar. I knew I had angered him, or rather, I had nearly scared him to death. Indeed, Fourth Prince and Yao Shuhuan were not people I should have involved with. He silently escorted me back to the palace, then turned back to Chaoyang Palace himself. I hugged my blanket and looked out the window, tossing and turning for a long time without being able to fall asleep, so I simply got up.

What time is it? He put on his clothes, stood up, and pushed open the door. The night wind was a bit chilly, blowing against his face and dispelling the last trace of sleepiness. He walked to the entrance of Chaoyang Palace, looked around, and saw only darkness, with only the faint light from the western building. He hadn't gone to sleep yet either.

As if possessed, I circled around to the front of the inner hall, only to have the lights inside suddenly go out. Startled, I quickly stepped back and hid behind the wall, peeking out to see a young eunuch carrying a lantern coming towards me. Lu Li came out of the room, raising his hand to rub his temples.

He had already strode forward, but suddenly stopped and turned to look in the direction where I was standing. The lanterns beside him flickered on and off, but he didn't move an inch.

I timidly stepped out of the shadows, looked at him with an innocent expression, and quickly knelt down obediently.

He held up the lantern, trying to get a better look at me, his voice tinged with displeasure, "Why aren't you sleeping at night, wandering around everywhere? I really don't know what's wrong with you!"

"Your Majesty, I have come to beg for your forgiveness," I said solemnly.

Lu Li's expression froze, a hint of anger flashing in his eyes: "Are you deliberately trying to provoke me?"

"I offended His Majesty, and according to the rules I should apologize, but why do you insist on saying I angered you?" I looked up at him, still with a completely innocent expression. "Tell me, how can I stop being angry with you?"

He couldn't stand what I said, so he turned and walked away, only to turn back. Finally, he sighed helplessly, walked over, reached out and pulled me up, holding my hand in his fist. His tone, seemingly reproachful but tinged with concern, said, "When will you stop causing me any trouble?!"

"What's the point of having that feeling if I'm gone?" I immediately changed my expression and opened my mouth to retort, but when I suddenly looked up, I saw that his eyes were sunken, and my heart softened. I said softly, "I was wrong, okay?"