Chapter 32
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The wooden bathtub had not been removed and the water in it was still steaming slightly.
The lights in the room were dim.
At this moment, Li Ying seemed willing to promise him everything.
Yun Qingci leaned back on the pillow, appearing relaxed and waiting, and allowed the other party to get closer and closer.
Those dark eyes were just like in his memory. So deep one couldn’t see the bottom, but at this moment it seemed their surface was glistening with love and desire.
Yun Qingci held a grudge.
What are you doing now?
Even if Li Ying’s sincerity was coming from his heart, it was difficult for him to accept it calmly.
“Your Majesty.” Yun Qingci put his fingers on Li Ying’s shoulders, and when Li Ying exhaled, he said slowly: “Do you mind if this subject calls another person?”
Li Ying’s breath stopped abruptly, and the sincerity in his eyes was instantly replaced by ruthlessness: “What did you say?
“I was just kidding.” Yun Qingci blinked and said, “Of course, it’s more fun for two people to do it.”
It seemed Li Ying had a pot of cold water poured on his head, and all his enthusiasm cooled down.
Yun Qingci was that kind of person. If he couldn’t get his way, he would always get it back somewhere else. The more the atmosphere was right, the more he wanted to stab the person in the heart.
Li Ying’s eyelashes fluttered and he slowly retreated, but his neck was suddenly caught.
Yun Qingci was reluctant to give up: “What, do you regret it?”
Li Ying didn’t say a word.
Yun Qingci deliberately didn’t want him to feel good. Even if he was allowed to stay tonight, there would be a knife hidden in the honey. When Yun Qingci loved someone, he was kind to them with all his heart and soul. If he didn’t love, he would definitely find ways to make the other person unhappy.
Li Ying knew him too well.
But he couldn’t blame him. Yun Qingci had loved him with all his heart, held him more important than his own life and, in the end, Yun Qingci had entrusted his very life to him.
He might be paranoid, overbearing, arrogant, not good enough or even bad enough in the eyes of many people.
But for Li Ying, his conscience was clear.
Li Ying was the least qualified person in this world to say that he was not a good person.
“No,” Li Ying said, “I will do whatever you say.”
Yun Qingci was very pleased that he understood the current affairs so well. He tightened his arms bossily, pulled the other party closer and said, “If you’re attending to one in bed, you should behave like you’re attending to one in bed, so look happy.”
Li Ying couldn’t look happy, all his vigorous interest was beaten down by this one sentence from the other party.
Yun Qingci’s skin was very soft, his body was very fragrant, and his hair was full of familiar and nostalgic smells.
Li Ying’s lips touched his cheek.
Yun Qingci hummed softly and said, “That’s it.”
He was like a melon that was forcibly twisted, and he was like a bow that was pulled by a tyrant.
Perhaps a duck caught in a trap was more appropriate.
The duck was in pain, but the trap was exuberant.
Li Ying had used almost all of his patience on Yun Qingci; they had been married for twelve years and no one knew Yun Qingci better than Li Ying.
He was a dutiful emperor and a dutiful servant.
Yun Qingci didn’t care what he thought. As long as he got what he needed, it was enough for him.
After half an hour, Yun Qingci softly nestled in his arms, looking tired.
Li Ying stroked his long hair carefully, listening to his breathing slow down, and then said, “Tonight, I want to rest here.”
He was the Son of Heaven, so there was no need to ask for permission, but for some reason, he felt that if he didn’t do this, Yun Qingci would come back to his senses later and would order someone to carry him back to Jiangshan Palace.
“Okay,” Yun Qingci rubbed his cheek against his chest and said faintly: “Lie down.”
Li Ying laid down like a saint. At this moment, all his value was infinitely diminished, as if he was just a tool responsible for coaxing Yun Qingci to sleep.
He lowered his eyes and looked at the person in his arms. He finally resigned, tightened his arms and whispered, “Did you summon Ruan Lian over again today?”
“…so what?”
After a lot of tossing and turning, Yun Qingci’s bones were soft and he was even sleepier than before.
But he was still somewhat wary of him.
“Do you think there is something wrong with him?”
“What do you mean?”
Li Ying considered his words and said, “For example, did he ask you about your family, like in the front hall that day?”
“…He asked about my eldest brother today,” Yun Qingci said, “I don’t know anything about him.”
A cold light flashed in Li Ying’s pupils.
He patiently stroked Yun Qingci’s back. The latter obviously had no intention of doing anything anymore at this moment, and soon fell asleep.
He finally slept deeply in front of him again.
Some time later, Li Ying slowly got up from the couch. He cautiously avoided disturbing Yun Qingci, pulled his boots under the screen, called Liu Ziru and whispered a few words in his ear.
Liu Ziru glanced behind the screen subconsciously, “Lord Empress’s side…”
“I naturally will have an explanation.”
Liu Ziru took the order and left. Li Ying stood quietly in the night for a while and then returned to the couch bed lightly. Yun Qingci moved as if noticing something. Li Ying gently patted him on the back, and he fell asleep again.
This was the first time the two of them slept peacefully together since they were reborn.
In the middle of the night, Li Ying had another nightmare, dreaming of the time when he went to the other courtyard to find Yun Qingci.
At that time, Yun Qingci was very young. He regained consciousness to encounter the death of his mother. He closed up and didn’t like to talk to anyone.
Li Ying tried everything to amuse him and take him everywhere, but Yun Qingci was also unwell and the injury to his lungs made him breathe heavily as soon as he trotted two steps.
So Li Ying could only stop and wait for him.
He remembered the kite that was released that flew away. Li Ying wanted to chase after it alone, but Yun Qingci kept jumping in a hurry. Without thinking, Li Ying stepped forward two steps and carried him on his back.
Two young kids chased after the kite like a blast of wind.
Yun Qingci, who was hugging his neck and laughing, suddenly lost his voice.
The kite hung far away in the treetops.
Li Ying seemed to feel something and slowly stopped.
“Ah Ci?”
As soon as he spoke, he realized that his voice was no longer childish. The whole world turned black and white in an instant. Li Ying carried the person on his back and walked forward slowly. His back was soaked with something, and a head leaned softly on his shoulder.
There was blood dripping from his shoulders, and it trailed along their walking route for a long time.
Li Ying couldn’t walk anymore, but didn’t dare to make a sound.
He was afraid of disturbing Yun Qingci.
He didn’t know if he was afraid of disturbing Yun Qingci in his dream, or Yun Qingci who was sleeping next to him.
He opened his eyes.
Cold sweat soaked his whole body, but the lover beside him was still sleeping soundly.
Yun Qingci slept until he woke up naturally. After getting up and freshening up, he sat at the table and ate. Li Ying had already dressed up and had been practicing his sword for more than half an hour.
There were two shortbread pastries in today’s meal. Li Ying handed the sword to Liu Ziru, washed his hands in the silver basin that Yinxi had brought, and then came to Yun Qingci and said, “Let’s eat together?”
Yun Qingci nodded and said, “Which pastry will you eat?”
Li Ying chose one casually and sat down beside him.
Jin Huan wrapped the shortbread pastry in greaseproof paper, but Yun Qingci raised his head and said, “Cut it all and put it on a plate.”
Cutting the shortbread pastry into a size that can be held and eaten freely was his favorite way to eat when he felt lazy. The shortbread pastry was cut into pieces, together with the chunks of fresh meat inside it. The sauce that soaked the fresh meat was overflowing, and the whole plate was full of fragrance.
Yun Qingci squeezed his chopsticks but did not move and motioned to Li Ying to eat first.
The reason was: “What if it is poisonous?”
Li Ying: “… …”
He either didn’t trust Li Ying, or he was deliberately trying to annoy him.
Yun Qingci waited solemnly for him to take a bite before moving to eat.
Swallowing the food, he said: “Tomorrow is the fifth day of the first month. Do you really want to dismiss the harem?”
“The decree has been drawn up. I will prepare generous gifts and let Mr. Liu handle it personally.” Li Ying seemed to be discussing it with him. “Although I have no love for them, they were still nominal concubines of the palace, so when they are married again, we must make sure that everything is in order.”
Second marriage was actually very normal for a woman in this country and would not be looked down upon by normal people; but it was hard to say about some abnormal ‘noble’ people.
Not all of these women were vain; there were also good women with a gentle temper who had to wrong themselves for the sake of their families.
Li Ying meant that if these women married again in the future, it had to be ensured that they would not be oppressed in their husbands’ homes and would have a smooth life.
Yun Qingci felt that what he said was reasonable, and said, “You can pick some of them you don’t like and dismiss them. If there are any that you like, forget it.”
Li Ying had a good conversation with him, but such a sentence stifled him immediately. After a long silence, he said, “I don’t like any of them.”
“Are you not afraid of facing officials who will make things difficult for you, as you did before?”
“I am no longer the original Li Ying.”
Yun Qingci’s eyes filled with laughter, and he said, “You are right, we are no longer who we were.”
Li Ying, who was stabbed again: “…”
Yun Qingci continued to eat the meat in the shortbread pastry, picking and choosing, and then left all the dough for him. “What about your country? In the past, everyone forced you to share rain and dew, so that you could have an heir as soon as possible, but I have not been reasonable enough and didn’t let you. And now you don’t want it yourself?”
“I promised you not to have children.”
He promised. Yun Qingci remembered that incident. “We are no longer who we used to be, you can take back the promise.”
Li Ying’s face turned blue, and he said after a long time: “I have made up my mind. You don’t need to ask again. When the time comes, I’ll pass it to the orphan of my elder brother.”
“Your mother doesn’t like him.”
Li Ying was unhappy and looked at him sullenly.
The late empress was a completely different woman from Qin Feiruo. She was a perfect woman in the eyes of men. But her health was poor, and although she was in harmony with the late emperor, she was always worried that there would be no one to inherit the throne. So, she recruited a number of concubines for the late emperor. Among them, her own sister.
Li Ying’s elder brother was a son of her sister, Concubine Wei. He has been in poor health since birth. After growing up somehow, he finally married a beautiful wife. He died not long after, leaving a widow and a posthumous child.
His sweet wife loved him very much and was depressed after giving birth. She died, leaving only the child, who was raised by Concubine Wei. He was just over two years old now.
However, Empress Dowager Zhang didn’t like the previous empress, and naturally she didn’t like her younger sister, and she didn’t like this child either.
She did not allow Li Ying to adopt the child.
Yun Qingci suddenly remembered something and said, “Your mother is also strange. You are not allowed to adopt or give birth. She was also encouraging me to be jealous and not allow you to go to others… Has she never thought about what would happen if you die and there is no one to succeed you?”
Li Ying lowered his eyes and silently picked up the rest of the shortbread pastry to eat.
“Why do I feel like I’m being used…” Yun Qingci muttered, frowning slightly. Yes, Empress Dowager Zhang repeatedly instigated him to quarrel with Li Ying, making him look like a villain in Li Ying’s eyes. Li Ying had already promised him that he would not want a dragon heir, so, he had never thought about it in this aspect.
But this woman, she didn’t want Li Ying to adopt and she didn’t let Li Ying give birth with Yun Qingci’s help. Didn’t she want to hold a grandson?
No, she wanted to. Yun Qingci had heard her urge Li Yan to have children.
Even if she did not insist on Li Ying giving birth because she wanted to spare Yun Qingci’s face, she never expressed it in her actions either.
She was the mother of the emperor. If it had been arranged, Li Ying would have had a child in the twelve years they were married.
Something was wrong.
Yun Qingci ate the last piece of fresh meat, chewed for a while, then suddenly stared at Li Ying.
The latter’s expression was calm and he was eating quietly, as if he was either deep in thought or was not thinking about anything.
… …Yun Qingci slowly suppressed that weird thought.
He kicked Li Ying.
The latter raised his eyes.
Yun Qingci smiled at him and said, “I wronged you in the past. I’ve thought about it, it’s better for you to have a child. Of course, if you don’t like these concubines, I can arrange someone else for you, there are many beautiful women in my Yun big family.”
This was a great honor, and Yun Qingci believed that as long as he proposed it, the entire family, including the woman, would not have any objections.
Li Ying looked at him for a while, his jaw tightening silently. His forehead throbbed with pain.
He said slowly: “Do you know what you are talking about?”
“I said you have to have a baby.” Yun Qingci seemed to be very serious and added casually: “Since you love me so much, it doesn’t matter if you give birth to a child for me, right?” ”
He was serious. The country needed a successor. If there was no accident, when the young emperor ascended to the throne, Prime Minister Yun would still be an auxiliary minister, and then he would be the prime minister of three generations of emperors. With a push from the Yun family’s power, Yun Qingci might be able to take over the government and intervene in political affairs openly.
It was necessary for Li Ying to leave a child, because Yun Qingci could not guarantee that he would always be willing to remain in such a stalemate with him.
He died once, so Li Ying naturally had to die once.
That was fair, wasn’t it?
***
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Omigod! QingCi is such a brat, and Li Ying is a fool!
Everybody has flaws, and everybody has selfishness so I won’t criticize, but I hope they both regret it in the end. It’s the only way to be fair. 😤
Can someone explain what wierd thought??[…Yun Qingci slowly suppressed that weird thought.]
That there’s something fishy with the b!tch empress dowager. That she was using MC. That ML knows and is doing some scheming to stop it. But here MC still doesn’t realize which is why I really like to hit his head.