East Palace. Zhiwen Pavilion.
Rows of bookshelves are filled with more than 100,000 volumes of ancient and modern books. Some of them are often seen and have never been opened. When someone touches them, the dust will roll wildly.
The library of Youda was completely silent, with only the floating light and shadows coming in from the window changing silently. The carved wooden door creaked open, and then a pair of embroidered shoes with scarlet phoenix and dark cloud patterns stepped in. The hem of her light dress fell on the marble floor, making a slight friction sound. Her thin shadow was spread on each bookshelf, stretching very long.
She walked very slowly, as if every step was on the edge of a knife. Zhao Pei tried her best to suppress the pain and panted slightly. She looked around but could not see Xiao Tong. The clinking of the jade above her head was particularly crisp in such a quiet study.
When she reached the last row of bookshelves, Zhao Pei stopped.
The man in white shirt stood quietly in the corner, half leaning against the bookshelf and flipping through the ancient book in his hand. His slender fingers moved between the yellowed pages. His brows were slightly furrowed, as if he was in deep thought, puzzled, or meditating. His hair was not fully tied up, and a few strands of black hair hung on his snow-white clothes, making it look even more shiny. There was a small window on the wall, and the sunlight shone on him while also illuminating the dust floating around him. But he was unaware of it, and was seriously immersed in the book in his hand.
Zhao Pei did not speak, but stood there and watched him silently. The golden sunlight sprinkled on him, coating him with a layer of light. At this moment, Zhao Pei felt that he was like a white lotus. Although it was born in the mud and grew in a pool of green water, it was not stained by dust, not coquettish, and was transcendent and otherworldly like an immortal.
"Cough cough." Zhao Pei cleared her throat, which caught his attention.
Xiao Tong looked up and was stunned to see Zhao Pei. He stared at her for a long time to make sure it was not his eyes that were blurring, then he asked softly, "Seventh sister?"
Zhao Pei smiled: "Big brother."
Xiao Tong put down the letter, frowned and walked out. He looked around but didn't see anyone, so he turned around and asked her, "Pei Pei, why... did you come here alone?"
Zhao Pei nodded. This happened suddenly and she didn't have much time. She said immediately without any greetings, "Brother, I have something important to tell you."
Seeing her serious and urgent words, he immediately looked stern, pulled her into the shade of the bookshelf, and asked seriously, "What happened?"
"Brother, do you know Qinglan's background?" Zhao Pei asked straight to the point. Xiao Tong was stunned, and opened his mouth slightly but hesitated to speak. Zhao Pei didn't wait for him to speak slowly and immediately said: "Brother, listen to me. Qinglan is a woman who cannot be kept. She is an informant, an informant of Xiao Yi!" Although Zhao Pei tried her best to lower her voice, the excited words still echoed in the library.
She stared straight into his eyes, but the expected surprise did not appear. A fleeting pain flashed across his pupils, and then a smile slowly emerged: "Pei Pei came to me specifically for this matter?"
Zhao Pei nodded: "Deshi, that Qinglan is not a good person. I don't know what she is plotting with Xiao Yi, but it is extremely dangerous."
Xiao Tong looked at her with a gentle smile: "Don't worry, Pepe, I will take care of it."
Zhao Pei suddenly felt something was wrong. She lowered her head and thought for a long time before she looked at him with wide eyes: "You, you already know?"
"Yeah." Xiao Tong nodded and smiled softly. Zhao Pei's expression darkened and she looked at him with a look of reproach: "Then why do you keep her by your side? Aren't you afraid that she will do something? Aren't you afraid that your every move will fall into Xiao Yi's eyes?"
Xiao Tong sighed, still smiling, but there was a color in his eyes that she had never understood: "Isn't this good? What Qinglan saw is what Seventh Brother saw. Doesn't it make him feel at ease?"
Zhao Pei, however, wrote in confusion, "Don't you hate him for hiring someone to spy on you?"
He shook his head: "It's because of our status. We all have our own frustrations, so we can't blame others." Zhao Pei fell into silence, and a bitterness rose in his heart. For the man who had been enduring in front of him, he had shouldered too much and gradually eroded his figure. He had been imprisoned for too long, and his eyes, which were originally bright and clear with a bright smile, were covered with fatigue and powerlessness that were difficult to conceal.
“Deshi…” She called his name, but her voice was stuck in her throat and was as thin as a thread.
After the silence, it suddenly became awkward. She regretted her impulsiveness and came to him recklessly to tell him a secret that could not be considered a secret at all. Zhao Pei finally understood that he was the master of the East Palace after all, so how could his thoughts be as simple as hers? The only thing Xiao Tong did was to remain unchanged in the face of all changes, to be tolerant and forbearing.
She smiled awkwardly and said, "Well, in that case, I'll leave first." Then, she knelt down and prepared to leave. The piercing pain in her ankle surged up, and she took a breath and held back a forced smile at him. Then she hurriedly turned her back to him and released the expression on her face, frowning and biting her lips.
"Pepe..." The sad call was like a thousand threads that entangled her, making her unable to move. Zhao Pei stopped and listened to him again: "Why did you come to tell me this?"
She was stunned, and without turning back, she looked at the light and shadow floating on the wall: "I think you must know these."
"Seventh brother... This is a matter between you and me. Aren't you afraid that it will be disadvantageous to him if he knows it?" Xiao Tong looked at her back with deep eyes and asked without thinking. However, he regretted it as soon as he said it.
Zhao Pei was silent for a long time, so long that Xiao Tong thought she would never look back.
Zhao Pei turned around slowly and with great effort. Xiao Tong then realized that her red eyes were covered with a layer of mist. She looked at him with a bleak smile, and her eyes were filled with loneliness and emotional pain that made his heart palpitate. She said word by word: "I admit that I like Xiao Yi. I am also an ordinary woman, how can I not be moved by him. But I love you. If I have to choose, no matter what happens, no matter who is right or wrong, I will lean towards you."
Sadness was like a thread, entwining him tightly. Such a straightforward and exposed look contained infinite sadness and regret. She blinked her eyes as if to comfort herself, smiled bitterly: "Am I stupid?" But tears came out.
He couldn't bear to watch any longer, so he turned his head away to look at the flying dust. For half of his life, he was like the dust, tumbling and struggling in the endless world. But he forgot that everything he did was so in vain.
If........One day...
Zhao Pei lowered her head, feeling weak and numb all over. She felt that this place was too depressing and sad. Now she could no longer bear anything about this relationship. But she still approached stubbornly without knowing the consequences. And then, after getting injured, she was reluctant to leave.
She shook her head in self-mockery and turned around under his dull gaze. She wanted to move forward, but found a person standing in front of her. The person's expression was hard to tell whether he was happy or angry, and his eyes were as deep as water as he looked at her.
Zhao Pei's heart skipped a beat, and her whole body suddenly felt cold, even the air around her became colder... (To be continued)