Chapter 548
: Spring is Coming, January’s Appointment
Chapter 548 Spring Days Are Long, A Month's Promise (5)
Hearing this, she looked up at him and said, "I won't dwell on the past anymore."
Such a resolute look shocked him, as if it prevented him from going any further.
"In the past," he thought for a moment and paused, "does that include me?"
Without even thinking, she said, "Yes."
He leaned over again, "But we've only just begun."
I could tell his sincerity from those eyes. He seldom showed such a look in his eyes, which made her stunned. But she was only stunned for a moment, and then she chuckled.
"My Lord, this is a sign of longevity, and your mind is in a trance."
"A Zhi."
She walked away from him, looked at the snow outside, and then spoke some extremely sad words to the window coffin.
"When I came here, I always thought that I could make up for regrets, make those who have lost find what they want, and let those who are lost get what they want. But there will always be people who are left behind. Jing Qian, you are right about one thing. Xianyang is not a place where it is easy to be quiet. I understood it when I came back. I will never leave here again. ... I once said that you pursue fame and fortune just to protect yourself. But life is not easy for anyone, let alone you. It's been sixteen years, and we are all tired, aren't we? Why do you have to spend your limited energy on other things?"
He looked at her back and thought of the important task that Ying Zheng had entrusted to him some time ago.
After a while, he said, "Azhi, you don't know, you don't know what I want. You have never thought about seeing my heart clearly."
Xu Zhi was silent for a while.
He never believed that she had spent five years pondering him long before she met Zhang Liang. But at that time, he had not yet cleared up from the fog of his previous life and regarded her frequent visits to his house as surveillance.
Some withered herbs lying aside caught his attention. They were covered in dust and most had been crushed. He felt something was wrong. He had smelled this smell in prison before.
She waved her hand, not wanting to talk to him anymore. Before she reached the door, it suddenly moved.
Xu Zhi suddenly stopped.
Li Xian rushed over, hugged her, and pressed the door with his hand.
A faint smell of alcohol wafted behind her, and the wind blew through her. She was pinned in front of him. Due to the huge height difference, she couldn't struggle, so she slammed her elbow into his side.
She hit him hard, and he hissed, but he still didn't let go. He lowered his head and said softly, "There are too many things on the leather belt, don't hurt yourself."
She really wanted to glare at him. That long paragraph of words would work on anyone, but Li Xian never listened to her. She couldn't help but want to curse, "What do you want to do now?"
"Keep your voice down, Azhi. You said you didn't want too many people to see me in your palace. If your maids here are scared by me, it might attract the attention of the guards outside the palace."
"Don't try that on me. The people in my own palace are much safer than you."
After that, a clear female voice rang out from outside the door, "How strange, why can't I push it open?"
The person outside the door tried again and finally gave up.
As the young maid left, she was still muttering, "Could it be that Sister Ayu accidentally locked the medicine room as well?"
...Workshop? Even the people in her palace started speaking like her.
"Azhi, don't you want to be released from detention quickly? You,"
Li Xiancai said a word when she felt a pain on her arm. She didn't care that he was wearing a thick and heavy straight-hem robe with very thick sleeves, but she still bit him.
She wasn't one to sit back and wait for opportunities to come her way; Li Xian was indeed the only official she could directly interact with. She was easily influenced by the way others spoke, and perhaps Feng Jie, who had been speaking to her these days, was too straight-forward and frank.
After she was angered, Li Xian could immediately put on the look of a loyal subject.
She could only teach him a lesson, "You have to wait for me to take action before you can return to normal... You, what you did, are truly ungentlemanly."
Li Xian lowered his eyes and said teasingly, "I am neither a noble nor do I want to be a gentleman. But if Ah Zhi likes, I would be willing to study at the Doctoral Academy."
"...Recently, the Emperor should be re-examining the classics of the Six Kingdoms. Don't scare them to death."
He then released her shoulders and said with a smile, "It seems that Your Highness still cares about His Majesty. You need me to help you leave the palace."
She looked at him and saw the smile in his eyes. She knew that she couldn't unilaterally talk him into going their separate ways.
She wondered what kind of relationship was like theirs? They were neither friends nor enemies, nor a mixture of love and hate.
What they share is obsession, and they are walking on the only and same path.
"You reminded me before. There's a saying that the weather is unpredictable. The weather in the sky is unpredictable and difficult to predict. But for us, human affairs are easy to change, but the celestial phenomena are difficult to change."
Li Xian asked, "Your Highness, are you referring to the astronomical phenomenon of Mars in the heart?"
She was silent for a moment, "Do you believe that the words on the meteorite are God's will?"
"God's will?" Li Xian thought for a moment. "If you're right, it was God's will last time. But it's not this time."
"In the Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han, the mention of 'Mars in the Heart' is accompanied by events like the death of an emperor, a rebellion by a powerful minister, and natural disasters, reinforcing its ominous nature. If someone had warned of the meteorite's fall in advance, perhaps it could have been averted."
Li Xian understood, "I will check. However, I have important matters to attend to recently. This matter still needs Chen Ping to preside over it."
"Okay." She said.
Let the snow shine for a while.
"You've been asking me the same thing for so many days. Do you have a way to get me to see my father sooner? You can also protect Feng Shi. Actually, Lü Buwei's old case involves Zuo Che, and I don't want anyone with ulterior motives to dig it up."
"minister……"
Xu Zhi stopped him from talking and looked at him. There was not much emotion in her eyes, and some were actually mostly rational, but she looked up at him, trying to increase the stakes.
"I will consider what you said. But I need time. During this time, I will absolutely trust you," she said.
This sentence only lasted ten seconds, but it made people feel that more than twenty days had passed, more than ten years, sixty years, two lifetimes...
But he knew it was a lie.
Though it was a lie, it was exceptionally sweet; a gentle lie is especially moving. He saw the silhouette of the paper-cut window decoration flicker on her beautiful face, shimmering in her serene eyes.
He thought it was good that she was willing to lie to him like this.
"How long does it take for Azhi to consider this?"
She considered, "Three months."
"Too long."
Xu Zhi had never expected him to think it was long, so she couldn't help but raise her voice, "Long? For something this important, it's normal to think about it for a year. I spent six months preparing for my trip to Chu."
"Azhi, I'd rather give you time. You said you'd trust me, so I think it's reasonable to let you consider it for ten years. But the official business His Majesty has given me can't wait."
"What business?" she asked.
He swallowed the words back as they reached his lips. He regained his usual smile and said, "I'm helping your father with some chores. You'll know before New Year's Eve."
The implication was that he only gave her less than a month. Such a quick turnaround was truly Li Xian's trading style.
"I disagree."
He reached out his hand, pulling the person back, raising his eyebrows, "How can Your Highness show your sincerity? However, even a few words from Your Highness can indeed coax me into willingly offering everything."
His sleeve was suddenly grabbed, and the two of them were very close to each other.
She said seriously, "You can't say that. I never lie. I'll think it over carefully."
"If you need to think about it, then that means you don't have a trace of sincerity... Ah Zhi,"
Their breaths were entangled with each other.
He didn't stop for a moment, nor did he let her escape, and quickly restrained her in his hands.
"plum……"
She seemed to really want to say something, but Li Xian had already sealed his name back.
She said she didn't want him to bother her anymore, but he insisted.
So he forced her to speak, like a frosty wind, carrying with it the loss, dissatisfaction and sadness from their previous conversation.
She retreated and pushed him away, but he tightened his grip around her waist, holding the back of her head as he thrust deeper and deeper, wanting to pursue her and take possession of her without a fight.
Both of them breathed heavier, and his eyelashes trembled slightly, "Azhi likes to look at me with her eyes open."
It took her a moment to remember that she had forgotten to bite him!
There was a hint of tears in her eyes as she pushed him away, "You bastard, you lecher!"
After all, she had been influenced by the nobles for too many years, and the number of people who acted rudely in front of her over the years could not be counted on one hand.
There is no one else who dares to treat her like this.
She was so desperate that she couldn't say anything else.
She frowned, her cheeks flushed, her breathing was unstable, but her eyes were as sharp as a knife, full of resentment.
Li Xian was very satisfied. He smiled ruffian-like and held her face. "I am the bastard. But I am not the lecher. Your Highness should not humiliate yourself. What did Your Highness say before? Presumptuous, despicable, let me die."
Seeing her pause, Li Xian leaned over to her neck and rubbed it twice. When he raised his head, his eyes were filled with confusion. "Azhi, you can say I took advantage of someone in distress or that I was unscrupulous. But I sincerely asked for this friendship between Qin and Jin."
Li Xian said such humble words, but his actions did not show any humility at all.
Xu Zhi couldn't bear it any longer and pulled out the dagger tied at his waist.
He didn't reach back to grab the knife at his neck, but smiled and raised his hands, holding them in the air, "Azhi, don't do this."
She could feel his warmth and the scent of his breath beside her ear.
He didn't take the danger seriously, and the blade had already left a bloody mark on the side of his neck.
In the early years, Xu Zhi only thought he was the son of Li Si, who was also someone who wanted to change the ending like her. Later, she didn't mind using love as a rope and tool to ask him to move forward according to the original agreement.
But how could she forget that he was completely different from Zhang Liang.
Zhang Liang restrained, struggled, and was conflicted between morality and decadence.
But Li Xian won't.
He will not give up until he achieves his goal. He is keen on living in darkness and living a life on the edge of a knife as a spy.
He wanted to seize her mind and make her feel his presence at all times.
He didn't take it seriously at all, staring intently at the scarlet blood stain on her lips, his eyes sweeping across her lips, as if he was still lingering on her taste.
"This counts as a blood oath, doesn't it?"
As he said this, there was another knock on the door, more urgent than before.
"Your Highness, Princess! Princess?"
Xu Zhi was going to open the door.
Li Xian pulled her back and raised his hand to hold the door shut again. "Don't forget that Hu Hai is your younger brother and the Second Emperor."
"But Azhi, don't worry. No matter what, he won't stand a chance this time."
Before Xu Zhi could recover from the soft touch on his forehead, the shadow of the leaning figure quickly dissipated.
A Yu looked nervous and spoke faster, "Your Highness, Lord Li. Something happened to the two young masters."
"Man is born with worries, and the long-lived are confused. He who is worried for a long time does not die. What is the suffering?" This comes from Zhuangzi's "Supreme Happiness". "Confused" means mentally unclear. This sentence describes how people are troubled by worries as they get older, and live in a state of mental confusion, which is quite painful.