It was late at night, but the lights in the study were still on. Xiao Yi frowned, tightly holding the letter in his hand as if trying to see some clues through the thin paper. The flickering lights blurred the truth of some things.
He felt deeply that he was going deeper and deeper on this road, and the road was getting narrower and narrower. However, he would not allow himself to turn back. Rubbing his temples, Xiao Yi slowly leaned back on the chair. Thinking back to the drinking order of the brothers at the banquet just now, he suddenly laughed lightly.
Xiao Gang gave him a drinking game based on proverbs about characters: "A single Xiang is Xiang, add a dot and it becomes Xiang, remove three dots and add rain and it becomes frost." He did not give the answer at that time, but he was thinking in his heart: Everyone should clean the snow in front of their own door and not worry about the frost on other people's tiles.
Such silent words, such a meaningful warning.
In fact, he doesn't care, as long as he gets everything he wants.
Xiao Yi thought so, so he picked up his pen and wrote a letter. He explained everything in a few lines. Just when he was about to call Qiao Yu in, he heard someone at the door say, "Your Highness, the Sixth Prince is here. He is now in the hall..." Xiao Yi immediately said, "Please ask him to come here."
After a long while, he looked up and saw Xiao Lun standing not far from the door, looking at him gloomily. Xiao Yi was startled, and saw that there seemed to be traces of wet fog on his cloak that had not been untied yet. He stood up with a half-smile: "Sixth brother, it's so late, shouldn't you be on your way out of Jiankang?"
Xiao Lun looked a little tired because of the journey. He walked slowly towards him, his eyes fixed on him: "The carriage is parked at the door of your house. Come to see my seventh brother and leave immediately."
Xiao Yi looked up at him: "Sixth brother, what's the matter?"
Xiao Lun did not beat around the bush. His eyes were full of urging, questioning, and accusation: "I heard that you married another woman from the Yuan family as a concubine?"
"Yes." Xiao Yi smiled, "Why?"
Xiao Lun was furious at the indifferent tone and expression. "How could you do this? You married another woman right after Seventh Sister gave birth to a child? Have you ever thought about how Seventh Sister feels?"
Xiao Yi was stunned, his eyes dimmed, and he said in a calm voice: "Sixth brother, this is my family matter after all. Besides, Xu Zhaopei didn't say anything, why are you so excited?"
The word "family affairs" choked Xiao Lunyu, and he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. After a long silence, he slowly said, "Okay, since Seventh Brother said so, I won't say anything. I just hope you won't break your promise." There was an indiscernible light in his eyes, and he spoke the last sentence word by word, like a kind of coercion.
Xiao Yi said calmly, "Of course. I would do the same without Sixth Brother's explanation."
"Really?" Xiao Lun sneered and turned around. "Then I'll leave. You take care of yourself."
Before Xiao Yi could say "I won't see you off", he turned around and looked at him strangely, as if reminding him: "But then again, why didn't Seventh Sister react?" The teasing eyes were like vines in the dark night, entwining Xiao Yi and making him unable to move. He wanted to wave them away in annoyance, but he couldn't cut off such thoughts. The more they entangled, the tighter they became, arousing all the hatred and annoyance.
In fact, he was just as jealous as Xiao Lun.
She was clearly beside him, so close, so within his reach. But her heart was so far away. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how he put down his pride, he could not touch her warm heart. She was too stubborn, too obstinate, and too simple. He would not turn back unless he was burned by fire, but by then it was too late.
He hated her stubbornness.
He hated her stubbornness and her refusal to look back.
He resented her for being so heartless.
Just because he cared deeply about her. He didn't know when the thought came to him, he wanted to stay with her like this. No matter what happened to other people, no matter what would happen in the future, he wanted to face the ups and downs with her. However, this seemed to be just his wishful thinking.
"Qiao Yu." Xiao Yi called.
A head popped in from the doorway: "My Lord, what's the matter?"
"Has the princess slept yet?"
Qiao Yu looked sideways and said, "Your Majesty, the light is still on."
Xiao Yi nodded and handed him the letter he had just written: "Give this to Maichen." Qiao Yu took it and held it in his arms, then asked carefully: "Your Highness, do you really want to do this..."
Before he could finish his words, Xiao Yi's cold look froze his heart and lungs. He lowered his head and said nothing more.
"I'm tired too." Xiao Yi said calmly, "I'm going to take a rest." Seeing Qiao Yu walk eastward, he said, "Let's go to Yuan Ming's place tonight."
Qiao Yu paused, turned around and looked at him in a daze for a long time.
Xiao Yi blew out the candle beside the table. He couldn't see Xiao Yi's expression, but he could feel the complexity he had never seen before, which was weighing on Xiao Yi layer by layer. (To be continued)