The ice blocks in the room had not yet completely melted, keeping the temperature pleasantly cool.
Su Zhenzhen's lips were being bitten and kissed by Lu Hexu. He probed deeper, swallowing her breath.
His movements were very gentle, less like a kiss and more like he was trying to confirm she was still alive.
Su Zhenzhen gently bit him back.
Lu Hexu's eyes trembled slightly.
He pinned the woman's wrists and kissed her even deeper.
Su Zhenzhen was out of breath again.
She felt terribly suffocated. Whether it was five years ago or five years later, why could she never learn how to breathe during a kiss?
"Zhenzhen, you haven't improved at all."
Su Zhenzhen: ...
"Neither have you."
As soon as she said it, Su Zhenzhen regretted it.
Because she clearly saw the man's Adam's apple bob. "Kiss more, and you'll improve."
Lu Hexu seemed to especially love kissing her until she couldn't breathe, watching her face be overtaken by a flush, her eyes growing misty as if on the verge of tears.
Su Zhenzhen had tried to learn how to catch her breath, but every time she put it into practice, she would always forget.
The man's hand cradled the back of her neck, pulling her into an even deeper kiss.
Unable to breathe, Su Zhenzhen's fingertips dug into Lu Hexu's nape, leaving several crescent-shaped marks.
"Does your hand not hurt anymore?"
She had only lost one fingernail, the one on her right index finger.
The nails on her other fingers were fine, though there were many tiny, fragmented cuts.
After Su Zhenzhen removed the bandages herself, she only left the dressing on her index finger.
The scars on her hands had not yet faded. The mottled marks on her pale skin did not look pretty at all.
Su Zhenzhen wore a pair of thin white gloves. This prevented the sun from darkening her scars and kept others from seeing her wounds.
Especially Lu Hexu.
In front of the person you like, you always want to be a little more perfect.
"It hurts."
Su Zhenzhen extended her hand, clad in the thin white glove, with only her index finger still wrapped in a dressing.
Lu Hexu held Su Zhenzhen's fingertips and kissed them.
Through the glove, he gently nibbled.
The scars underneath had scabbed over and felt very itchy.
But Su Zhenzhen felt that her heart was being kissed until it was even itchier.
-
The weather grew increasingly scorching, and more and more ice blocks were placed in the room. Lu Hexu's vitality was like an outdoor spring, drying up more and more under the blazing sun.
He spent more and more time lying in bed. He never went out during the day, only taking her hand for a stroll at night.
Su Zhenzhen looked at Lu Hexu sleeping beside her.
She got up with extreme caution, stepped over him, and finally lifted the bed curtains... Su Zhenzhen's gaze paused.
She took another look at Lu Hexu.
The man's eyes were closed, his long, slender eyelashes resting against his skin. His pale cheeks were slightly flushed from the room's temperature, and his white inner robe hung slightly open, revealing the beautiful lines of his collarbones.
Su Zhenzhen swallowed hard, then averted her gaze and picked up the box containing the silver needles.
So heavy.
Time to flee the scene.
Su Zhenzhen's hands hadn't fully healed yet. Carrying such a heavy box out to do something bad was actually quite strenuous.
She carried the box outside.
The sun was shining brightly—the perfect time to do bad deeds.
Su Zhenzhen looked up; the sun was indeed very nice today.
She wandered around the estate holding the box.
"Miss Su?"
Wei Heng walked over carrying a food container and saw Su Zhenzhen pacing under the corridor.
Su Zhenzhen immediately covered the box with her wide sleeves. "Godfather."
Wei Heng's gaze swept over her sleeves. "Miss Su, is something the matter?"
"Nothing. I slept too much, so I came out for a walk. By the way, where is Little Persimmon?"
"Is Miss Su referring to the injured young gentleman? He is staying in the Fuqu Courtyard."
"Oh." Su Zhenzhen spoke while walking in the opposite direction. "I'll go for another stroll."
Su Zhenzhen quickly ran off with the box.
Finally, she found an ideal spot.
The lotus pond in August was at its most vibrant bloom.
The green leaves stretched to the sky, spreading all the way to the corridor. As the summer breeze swept by, green waves rolled.
Su Zhenzhen walked to the edge of the lotus pond, looked left and right, and seeing no one around, raised her hands and tossed the box into the water.
Watching the box sink completely, Su Zhenzhen blew on her fingertips in satisfaction and left.
After wandering around like this, it was almost noon.
Su Zhenzhen looked up at the sky and remembered the Fuqu Courtyard Wei Heng had just mentioned.
There were Imperial Guards patrolling the estate. Su Zhenzhen asked them for directions and then arrived at the entrance of Fuqu Courtyard.
Fuqu Courtyard was extremely far from the main house where Su Zhenzhen and Lu Hexu lived; you could even say one was at the southernmost end and the other at the northernmost.
Su Zhenzhen walked until she felt like blisters were forming on the soles of her feet.
She thought that by the time she walked back from Fuqu Courtyard later, she probably wouldn't need to eat lunch and could go straight to dinner.
There were Imperial Guards stationed at the entrance of Fuqu Courtyard.
These guards seemed to recognize her. Without even asking a question, they let her straight in.
The courtyard wasn't large, but it was quiet and secluded. With no one to disturb it, it was quite suitable for recovering from an illness.
Su Zhenzhen knocked on the door, and a voice came from inside.
A young eunuch came over to open the door.
The smell of medicine wafted out from the room. Su Zhenzhen stepped inside and saw the pale-faced Little Persimmon lying on the bed.
"You're here." He still couldn't sit up, his body wrapped haphazardly in bandages.
Su Zhenzhen walked over, bent down to check on him, and then placed three fingers on his pulse.
His life was no longer in danger, but he had lost too much blood and was very weak; he needed to rest well.
"I'm sorry for dragging you into this," Lu Mingqian said weakly from the bed. "Actually... I am the heir to the Prince of Su."
After Lu Mingqian spoke, the room fell into a stretch of silence.
Su Zhenzhen glanced at him. "Wow, you're actually a prince's heir."
Lu Mingqian: ...
"Did you guess my identity early on?"
"No." Su Zhenzhen shook her head, starting to spout nonsense. "Someone outside just told me."
In the beginning, when Su Zhenzhen saved Lu Mingqian, she hadn't known his identity.
It was just because he looked somewhat similar to Lu Hexu, which evoked a sense of familiar pity in Su Zhenzhen.
While Lu Mingqian was unconscious, Su Zhenzhen took the jade pendant from his body and gave it to Jiang Yunshu.
The bookstore Jiang Yunshu ran was not just a simple bookstore, but an intelligence station for the Great Zhou Dynasty.
In just three days, a secret letter was sent over, containing Lu Mingqian's true identity.
After reading the secret letter, Su Zhenzhen began to ponder whether or not to keep him around.
Keeping him would definitely be very dangerous.
At that time, Lu Mingqian hadn't woken up yet.
He was still young, only fourteen years old.
He lay weakly on a bed reeking of herbal medicine, wearing clothes that Su Zhenzhen had stripped off a dead body.
The roof of the house was still leaking, and Su Zhenzhen really had no spare silver to fix it. The herbs she fed Lu Mingqian were ones she had freshly dug up from the mountains over the past few days.
He had a terrible fever. It was raining outside, and although it was also drizzling inside the house, the weather outside was freezing. If she threw him out, he would certainly not survive.
Su Zhenzhen held Lu Mingqian's jade pendant in her hand.
She remembered Lu Mingqian's ending in the original novel.
Because of a high fever, he died in a remote, poverty-stricken place on a freezing winter day.
This person, Lu Mingqian, had eaten vegetarian food and chanted Buddhist scriptures since childhood, carrying an air of Buddhist serenity about him.
He had never witnessed the cruelty of human nature, believing instead that the world was a gathering place for all things true, good, and beautiful, until he was hunted down and killed by his own illegitimate older brother.
Such a person could never become the lord of a territory.
Because all he possessed was a compassionate heart.
If he were to encounter some opportunity that could change his temperament, perhaps he might still survive.
Unfortunately, in the original novel, in order to push forward the Rebellion of the Vassal Kings, allow Lu Changying to rise to power and go to Shen Yanci's side, and resolve this final point of conflict, Lu Mingqian was destined to become a stepping stone for the outbreak of war.
The weather was very cold, and the rain leaked pattering into the room.
Su Zhenzhen's gaze involuntarily fell upon Lu Mingqian's face; the young man was pale from the freezing cold.
They really looked alike.
Especially from the side profile.
Su Zhenzhen wondered, did the fourteen-year-old Lu Hexu also look like this?
"Su Zhenzhen," Lu Mingqian called her, his lips trembling.
Su Zhenzhen was jolted awake from her memories.
She blinked slowly and withdrew her hand that had been resting on Lu Mingqian's pulse. "Mm, it's nothing serious. None of these are fatal wounds. Just rest well and recover your health."
"He is a madman."
Who?
"Lu Hexu, he..." is faking illness to trick you, "Cough, cough, cough..."
Before Lu Mingqian could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by his own fit of violent coughing.
Su Zhenzhen quickly got up to pour him a cup of tea.
Lu Mingqian drank the tea, finally suppressing the itch in his throat.
The room fell silent for a moment. Su Zhenzhen sat by the bed, looking down at her own fingers. "You don't know this, but I had a very difficult time for a while. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been able to hold on."
Now, when Su Zhenzhen thought back to the past, it wasn't that she had good luck; it was only because Lu Hexu was there.
Why did those people die so inexplicably?
It was because he was protecting her.
A person's heart is truly hard to control.
Before Su Zhenzhen even realized it herself, she had already fallen for him.
"I don't like asking for trouble. I only saved you because there is someone I want to protect."
Su Zhenzhen had already witnessed the cruelty of war.
She did not want to see lives plunged into misery and suffering again. Having seen the desolation of corpses littering the fields, she yearned even more for the peace of lush, green life.
In the original novel, Lu Mingqian was a compassionate person. She thought, if she saved Lu Mingqian, could she alter the course of the Rebellion of the Vassal Kings?
Su Zhenzhen didn't know; she just felt she should give it a try.
Of course, deep down in Su Zhenzhen's heart, the most crucial factor she tried hard to ignore—the real reason she went out of her way to save Lu Mingqian—was still his face, which bore a thirty-percent resemblance to Lu Hexu's.
Otherwise, with so many people lying dead or dying on the road, why did she specifically bring him back?
When Su Zhenzhen saw Lu Mingqian lying on his side there, at her very first glance, she even thought the person was Lu Hexu. At that moment, her heart had literally stopped beating.
In that instant, Su Zhenzhen finally realized that Lu Hexu held such a special place in her heart.
Lu Mingqian's gaze fell on Su Zhenzhen's face.
She had her head lowered, a faint smile appearing on her usually pure and gentle face.
This smile was different from her usual smiles. It was as if she were thinking of someone she deeply cherished, and a soft flower was blooming right from the bottom of her heart.
Lu Mingqian suddenly felt a bitter ache in his chest. He subconsciously shifted his body but aggravated his wounds.
"Are you alright?" Su Zhenzhen checked on him and found no major issues.
"Wait for me to come back..." Lu Mingqian suddenly reached out and grabbed Su Zhenzhen's sleeve. He looked at her, a faint blush rising on his youthful face. "I need to make a trip back to Pingliang. When I return, I will come find you..."
Su Zhenzhen blinked, somewhat surprised.
Under Lu Mingqian's gaze, she slowly pulled her sleeve out of his grasp.
"I have already waited for the person I want to wait for."
She just didn't know what Lu Hexu was thinking in his heart.
And what kind of relationship did they have now?
Footsteps sounded at the courtyard entrance, and then the door to Lu Mingqian's room was pushed open.
Su Zhenzhen turned her head and saw Lu Hexu, wearing a black cloak and a deathly pale face, appearing behind her.
The sunlight poured in fiercely from behind him, dazzling the eyes.
Su Zhenzhen immediately stood up to grab his hand. "Why did you come out now?"
The man had walked all the way here, his body drenched in hot sweat, yet his face was ashen.
"I woke up, and I couldn't find you."
Lu Hexu leaned over, resting his head on Su Zhenzhen's shoulder, but his gaze fell upon Lu Mingqian's face. "Zhenzhen, I'm so hot..."
The man was quite heavy. Leaned on by him, Su Zhenzhen's body tilted slightly.
She tried hard to steady herself, held onto him, quickly adjusted the cloak over Lu Hexu's body, and then led him away without looking back.
Lu Mingqian lay there, watching the two leave intimately, and subconsciously bit his lip.
-
The main room of the house was equipped with an ice basin, filled with freshly replaced ice blocks.
After the doors and windows were closed, the temperature inside was much more comfortable than outside.
Su Zhenzhen asked Wei Heng to bring in a bathing tub, and then she added ice blocks into it.
She had Lu Hexu lie inside and used a water ladle to pour ice water over his body.
The man's body temperature began to drop. He lay there, his face ghastly pale, with one hand still tightly gripping Su Zhenzhen's wrist.
Su Zhenzhen continuously poured water over him, then fed him honey water and gave him heat-relief pills.
Finally, the man's condition stabilized, and Su Zhenzhen breathed a sigh of relief.
She leaned over the edge of the tub, tilting her head to look at Lu Hexu lying inside.
The man had his eyes closed, his head tilted back as he gasped for air, looking like a fish that had finally returned to the water.
And she was like the wicked bait that had hooked the fish.
Su Zhenzhen gently moved her wrist, and Lu Hexu opened his eyes. He was covered in water, his clothes clinging to his body, and crystal-clear water droplets beaded on his face.
Fine water droplets slid slowly down his sharp jawline, and the clothes on his body were completely soaked through.
His eyelashes were also covered in water. His fan-like lashes drooped down, covering his eyes and hiding the gloomy hostility within them, making his entire person appear somewhat pitiful and fragile.
This made Su Zhenzhen unable to help but think of Lu Hexu during his teenage years.
The original novel did not have much description of this tyrant, Lu Hexu.
Because this was a novel with Shen Yanci as the male lead, as a supporting character, Lu Hexu's past and history were not important.
Su Zhenzhen really wanted to know why Lu Hexu had turned out like this.
Why was he so afraid of sunlight?
Why was he so terrified of silver needles?
His headaches, his sleepwalking, his loss of taste...
The room fell quiet, leaving only the sound of Lu Hexu's breathing.
As his body temperature dropped, the man's breathing gradually steadied.
He kept his eyes closed, lying there quietly, looking as though he had fallen asleep.
Su Zhenzhen reached out her hand, her fingertips touching his wet cheek.
"Lu Hexu, why are you afraid of the sunlight?"
The man's eyelashes trembled.
Lu Hexu pursed his lips and turned his body slightly to the side.
The water in the tub moved with him, and the ice blocks stirred, making a faint clinking sound.
Su Zhenzhen withdrew her fingertips. She looked at him quietly, "If you ever feel that it hurts too much, you can tell me about it."
The scorching heat on his back, caused by the sunlight, cooled down, but what spread upward in its place was a piercing, bone-deep itch.
Lu Hexu soaked in the bathtub for a day, and Su Zhenzhen stayed with him for a day.
It wasn't until nighttime that Lu Hexu finally emerged from the bathtub.
He changed out of his soaking wet clothes and saw Su Zhenzhen sitting there, struggling to use her chopsticks.
Lu Hexu walked over and looked at the dishes on the table.
Stir-fried lotus root slices, sweet and sour pork, boiled shrimp, winter melon soup, blueberry yam, licorice ice water, and two bowls of rice.
Seeing Lu Hexu come out in fresh clothes, Su Zhenzhen pointed at the plate of boiled shrimp and said, "This shrimp bit me."
Lu Hexu sat down beside her. "The shrimp is already dead."
[Is it possible she just wants him to peel the shrimp for her?]
Lu Hexu glanced at Su Zhenzhen, rolled up his sleeves, and began peeling the shrimp.
The boiled shrimp were bright red and translucent. His fingers moved deftly, pinching the shrimp head and giving it a gentle twist, then peeling along the shell until the complete, tender white shrimp meat slipped out.
Lu Hexu dipped the shrimp meat into the seasoning on the side, then brought it to Su Zhenzhen's lips.
She opened her mouth and took a gentle bite.
"I also want some winter melon soup."
Lu Hexu scooped a spoonful of winter melon soup for her.
"Lotus root?"
Lu Hexu picked up a slice of lotus root and brought it to her lips.
Su Zhenzhen ate and drank her fill. As she sat there resting, Lu Hexu finally began to eat at a leisurely pace.
He didn't like bland foods like the lotus root slices or winter melon soup. He selectively ate the sweet and sour pork, blueberry yam, and the licorice ice water.
"You are so picky," Su Zhenzhen said in a small voice.
The man gave her a slow, deliberate look.
"You are the one who is picky."
Su Zhenzhen glanced at the food on the table.
She didn't touch the things she didn't like.
Even the things Lu Hexu didn't like, he could still manage a couple of bites.
Su Zhenzhen: ...
"In the past, whatever you cooked that you didn't like, you would make me eat it."
Su Zhenzhen: ...
She thought he hadn't known.
-
Su Zhenzhen's shop had burned to the ground. After two days and two nights of urgent work, the hired laborers had finally cleared away the ruins.
She stood in front of her shop with Wei Heng, looking at the leveled medicine shop and house, still wondering how she was going to explain this to the landlord.
How much would she have to pay in compensation?
Mr. Landlord, did you buy property insurance?
"Miss Su, this is the land deed."
"The land deed? For me?"
"Yes." Wei Heng smiled and nodded. "My master has already purchased this place. He said that whether you want to rebuild the courtyard exactly as it was or redesign the layout entirely, it is entirely up to your preference, Miss Su."
Su Zhenzhen stared blankly at the land deed in her hands, her eyes dazed.
"Meow..." Sushan squeezed in through the small side door and rubbed against Su Zhenzhen's calf.
For the past few days, it had been living in the large mansion next door, eating well, sleeping well, and having several gardens to play in.
It had leaped into the ranks of wealthy cats.
Following me really made you suffer.
Su Zhenzhen began to wonder if her decision to take Sushan away back then was right or wrong.
Forget it. Better to follow a begging mother than an official father.
The chubby, well-fed Sushan tilted its head, lay down, and rolled around on the ground.
Su Zhenzhen picked it up and patted the dust off its body.
-
Su Zhenzhen carried Sushan back to the courtyard. She carefully pushed open the room door. The bed curtains were half lowered, and Lu Hexu was sleeping inside.
Su Zhenzhen quickly tried to shoo Sushan outside to play.
But the room was much cooler, and Sushan slipped in when Su Zhenzhen wasn't paying attention.
It swished its feather-duster-like tail, patrolling the room.
Every time Su Zhenzhen almost caught it, it would sidestep nimbly, leaving her behind, until it finally darted onto the bed in a flash.
Su Zhenzhen ran over and grabbed it.
Sushan let out a very soft, squished sound.
"Meow..."
"Shh." Su Zhenzhen quickly covered its mouth. "Don't make a sound."
Sushan curled up its body, lay down obediently, and licked its paws.
With the kitten quieted down, Su Zhenzhen's gaze fell on Lu Hexu's face.
The man seemed to have been disturbed, yet not fully awakened.
He furrowed his brows, sleeping restlessly.
Su Zhenzhen got up quietly, fetched a silk fan, and gently fanned him.
This silk fan had been soaked in insect-repelling herbs by Su Zhenzhen. When fanning, it carried wafts of an herbal fragrance that could soothe the mind and calm the spirit.
Su Zhenzhen's gaze shifted to the bed curtains.
She hadn't had much to do during the day lately, so she had made some more scented sachets.
Su Zhenzhen put down the fan, opened Lu Hexu's wardrobe, and took out the sachets she had made. Then she brought over a stool and hung them one by one on the bed curtains.
A colorful row of sachets hung there. Sushan looked up and stared at them for a while, reaching out a paw to bat at them. It missed, and was scooped up by Su Zhenzhen and escorted out.
The room fell quiet.
Su Zhenzhen returned to Lu Hexu's side. She lay down carefully, and after staring at the man's face for a while, she too began to feel sleepy.
Summer afternoons were the hardest to endure.
Su Zhenzhen soon fell asleep.
She was dreaming.
She had returned to the Qingliang Palace.
But it wasn't the Qingliang Palace from her memory.
The sky was dark, and the summer air was extremely hot and stifling, carrying a metallic stench of blood that seemed like it would never dissipate.
Su Zhenzhen saw Zhao Lingyun leading the patrol battalion as they stormed into the Qingliang Hall.
The emaciated Lu Hexu was pinned to the ground, and those men plunged long swords into his body one after another, like absolute madmen.
There was blood everywhere.
Su Zhenzhen saw an unfamiliar look in Lu Hexu's eyes.
She heard the sounds coming from his throat. It wasn't crying, nor was it whimpering. It was as hoarse as a broken gong scraping together, carrying the metallic scent of blood froth. It was intermittent, every syllable sounding as if it were being ground out of his very flesh and bones.
The pale, frail youth lay sprawled on the ground, completely covered in blood.
Zhao Lingyun waved the crowd aside. Holding a machete, his pupils filled with bloodthirsty madness, he aimed excitedly at Lu Hexu's neck.
The youth's dark pupils trembled, seeming to shift upwards.
Su Zhenzhen opened her mouth, trying to make a sound, but it felt as if something was blocking her throat. She couldn't even breathe.
She wanted to rush over, gather Lu Hexu into her arms, and stop Zhao Lingyun, but her body felt as if it were restrained by something. She couldn't move at all.
She stood there, watching helplessly as Zhao Lingyun raised the machete in his hand and chopped down on Lu Hexu's neck.
One strike, intentionally aimed off-center.
A second strike, again intentionally off-center.
A third strike, hitting the neck, but deliberately not cutting all the way through.
A fourth strike, a fifth strike... Su Zhenzhen watched as the youth's pupils faded from crystal-clear glass beads to a dull, lifeless gray.
Zhao Lingyun lifted the youth's severed head, holding it in his hand, as the patrol battalion soldiers behind him swarmed forward.
They dismembered his broken remains.
Fresh blood soaked the ground, mixed with flesh and gore.
With red eyes, Su Zhenzhen opened her mouth wide to gasp for breath, but she couldn't draw in any air no matter how hard she tried.
Her vision blurred entirely, as if her brain, fearing she would completely break down, had automatically initiated a shielding mechanism.
Su Zhenzhen began to realize that she was dreaming.
Her body and mind suddenly relaxed. She felt herself constantly falling downward, until she was caught by a pair of hands.
Su Zhenzhen opened her eyes and saw Lu Hexu in front of her.
Lu Hexu reached out and wiped the tears from her face.
"Zhenzhen? Su Zhenzhen?"
Su Zhenzhen's gaze gradually focused on Lu Hexu's face.
She reached out her hand and slowly stroked Lu Hexu's face.
Su Zhenzhen sat up, rolled over, and pressed herself against the man. She felt his arms and legs all over to confirm that Lu Hexu was still alive.
[He is alive.]
Su Zhenzhen lowered her head. The tears that had gathered at her jawline fell onto Lu Hexu's face and slid down his cheeks.
The scalding tears flowed into the man's temples, carrying a damp warmth.
Su Zhenzhen leaned down, uncontrollably burying her face into Lu Hexu's shoulder as her tears soaked his neck.
"I had a nightmare."
Lu Hexu grew quiet. He reached out and gently stroked the woman's slender back.
She was still crying, her tears refusing to stop.
[I dreamed that you died.]
There was an unconcealable choke in Su Zhenzhen's voice.
When she had been on the mountain, looking at that cat-ear gold hairpin and discovering a person buried beneath it, Su Zhenzhen had subconsciously recalled this exact scene from the original novel.
She never expected it to manifest as a nightmare and haunt her sleep today.
Lu Hexu wrapped his arms around her, letting her rest on top of him. The two of them lay together on the bed, feeling the rhythm of each other's breaths.
Lu Hexu gently grasped Su Zhenzhen's hand and pressed it against his own chest.
"I am alive."
Su Zhenzhen closed her eyes, feeling the steady beat of the man's heart.
It wasn't just Lu Hexu who was terrified of her dying.
She was just as terrified of losing him.
