The next day, at the hour of Mao.
Duan Changchuan woke up slowly according to his biological clock.
Unlike sleeping in the Mingsheng Temple, today I just felt that the bed was exceptionally warm... The bedding was soft, and I felt like I was sinking into a ball of cotton.
So comfortable…
I slept well too.
The boy, who had just woken up and was still groggy, rubbed his body slightly in the quilt without even opening his eyes.
As I was rubbing against him, an arm suddenly grabbed my shoulder...
The next second, there was warmth on my lips.
A familiar voice sounded beside my ear, saying, "Be good, don't move... You kept me awake all night, I'll sleep a little longer."
Duan Changchuan:
!!!
He immediately jumped out of the bed.
What happened just now? Where did Bai Su touch him? Mouth, mouth, mouth... mouth
Besides, why is he at Bai Su again!
The boy, who had just woken up, sat in the bed in a daze, without any response for a long time.
Bai Su felt the bed get cold, she opened her eyes blearily, and this was the scene she saw.
I realized it later... I seemed to have pecked the child's lips just now
Judging from his reaction, he must have been quite upset.
Phew.
Isn't it said that the emperors in ancient times were all precocious and were arranged to have maids as concubines when they were twelve or thirteen years old? How come my own child is so innocent
Bai Su suppressed her laughter in her heart and apologized solemnly: "I'm sorry, I was not fully awake just now and accidentally offended Your Majesty. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
Then she took the initiative and asked him directly: "Your Majesty, why are you making love to me? I remember that you and I sleep in separate beds before going to bed."
Sure enough, as soon as the words fell, the young man sitting by the window froze.
Seeing that he didn't answer, Bai Su pretended to be puzzled and continued: "Your Majesty, are you sleepwalking again? Come to think of it, the last time you sleepwalked, you came to me in the middle of the night. I thought there was an assassin in Qinglu Palace."
The boy became even more stiff.
His face turned red, but he couldn't say a word.
After being stunned for a long time, he left a sentence: "Night... Night wandering is a disease, and it is not something I can control!"
Then he hurriedly put on his clogs and walked out the door.
"Queen, please sleep a little longer. I have to prepare to go to court."
The moment the door closed, Bai Su poked her head out and asked, "Your Majesty, will you come to Qinglu Palace tonight?"
I heard a decisive voice: "Don't come over!"
Leaving behind a very light scent of gardenia.
The Alpha leaned one arm on his chest, stroked his lips with his fingers, and put them to the tip of his nose to sniff.
I couldn't help but let out a low laugh.
-
Time flies and it is already the end of March.
On the days when grass is lush and birds are flying, willow catkins are floating in the palace like snow.
In the imperial garden, flowers are in full bloom and butterflies and bees are flying.
The air was filled with the scent of grass and flowers.
The most beautiful thing in the world is the sky of Shengjing today.
The students who succeeded in the Spring Examination finally entered the palace and took part in the final examination in the Jinghe Hall, where they competed for the final three places.
In the hall, it was so quiet that the only sounds could be heard: the turning of papers and the sound of pens being put down.
The young emperor, wearing a dragon robe, sat on the highest dragon throne, with the regent and prime minister sitting on both sides.
The two chief examiners in charge of this spring examination moved among the students, looking down from time to time.
A policy paper will determine the life of every student here.
It was over in the morning.
The students left one after another, and then there was a two-day period of paper marking.
The results will be announced on the last day of March.
The golden silk cloth was stamped with the emperor's seal, and the first place in the top three was written in black ink:
First-class Jinshi
First on the list: Lin Qing.
In the spring examination in March, he became the top scorer in the imperial examination.
This was the promise he had made to Bai Su... Now, he really did it.
A young man in bright yellow clothes stood at the gate of the red brick and green tile palace, staring blankly for a long time.
Outside, there was an all-encompassing rain.
The dense water droplets in the puddles in front of the temple created white mist.
"Your Majesty, you have been watching here for an hour. It is raining and the wind is cold... Be careful not to get caught in the cold."
Changle came over and reminded him.
The young man came back to his senses and asked, "What time is it?"
"Your Majesty, it's almost past 3 p.m., it's time to get ready to go to Jinghe Palace."
At 3:30 pm on the You hour, the students who have passed the imperial examination will gather in Jinghe Hall to attend the dinner held in the palace.
By then, Regent Duan Jing'an, Prime Minister Bai Yanyuan, princes and nobles, and all the well-known ministers in the court will participate.
Duan Changchuan and Bai Su, the emperor and queen of Datong, will also participate.
Tonight will be the first time Bai Su meets Lin Qing after entering the palace.
The young and successful top scholar originally wanted to ask the current emperor for a favor on such an occasion to marry the girl he had loved for many years.
But fate plays tricks on us...
The former lovers suddenly ascended to a high position and became the emperor's wife.
And he was still running on the original path, even though everyone told him that there was no way forward, he still walked silently.
Now, one step away from the finish line, he finally arrived here...
The road ahead collapses and it is difficult to cross the chasm.
How should Lin Qing deal with himself today and tonight
How should Bai Su face it
As for himself...
"Your Majesty..."
Seeing that he didn't move, Changle urged him again.
Duan Changchuan then suppressed his troubled thoughts and turned back to his room.
"Change my clothes."
"yes."
-
The dinner began with the sound of stringed instruments.
No one expected Lin Qing to become the top scorer in the imperial examination.
After all, a person who had failed the imperial examination four years ago, won the first prize twice in just four years. Looking at the entire history of Datong, there has been no one before and no one after.
The struggle for imperial power was a tragedy filled with blood and tears.
The regent and the prime minister, who had caused the tragedy, remained silent; Duan Changchuan, as the person at the center of the scandal, also quietly chose to avoid it; and the two protagonists of this tragedy were even less likely to bring it up on their own initiative.
As a result, this banquet, which was full of undercurrents, went on peacefully.
Apart from…
This handsome and glorious top scholar could not help but glance at the bright red figure sitting in the first place.
He poured wine into his mouth cup after cup.
The intense gaze became more and more unconcealed as the banquet progressed.
Bai Su couldn't ignore it.
Before the banquet, Bai Su was prepared to ignore this "her" former lover. After all, their identities had become what they were now, so it was understandable that she was indifferent.
Unexpectedly, when Lin Qing looked at her... the young man next to her lowered his lips.
You can see that he is becoming more and more unhappy.
Pick some food for him, no...
It's not okay to hold his hand secretly.
It's no use coaxing her anymore.
Helpless, he could only lean over to the boy's ear and whisper, "I'm going to say a few words to Lin Qing. I promise this is the last time and I will never meet him again. Don't think too much about it."
As expected, the boy's mood became even lower.
The hands on his legs wrinkled his robe.
But he still spoke calmly and said, "Go."
Bai Su had no choice but to hold both of the boy's hands in her palms: "We have to make this clear. You will still work with him in the future, right? If there is a gap between us, how can we work together? The more you hold a knot in your heart, the more serious it will be."
"I don't think that if you explain it to him, the rift will be resolved... I took his wife away, and this is not a misunderstanding that can be resolved by just talking about it."
"Do you remember what you said to me in the pavilion that day?" Bai Su asked, "You said you didn't want to do that, right? Duan Changchuan, you are a victim, not a perpetrator. Don't belittle yourself by being a perpetrator. Look at Bai Yanyuan, then look at Duan Jingan, they are the culprits. Don't bear anything for people who have nothing to do with it."
The boy held her hand tightly...
He didn't speak for a long time.
The green and thin pheromones overflowed lightly from the back of the neck.
Clear information came to my mind in an instant:
[But, please don’t leave...]
Bai Su felt as if something had stabbed her hard in the heart...
Her Omega was unconsciously dependent on her.
This dependence was something he himself was not even aware of.
"I'll just be out for a little while and I'll be back soon. I promise it won't be too long. If you don't believe me, you can count in your mind. I'll definitely be back when I count to 100. If I don't come back after counting to 100, I'll be punished to sweep the floor in front of the Mingsheng Temple every day, okay?"
After using all his strength, the boy finally let her go.
She sat back sideways, pretending to be indifferent as she straightened out the robe that was wrinkled by him.
"Who asked you to sweep the floor? You didn't sweep it clean."
Still cute and hypocritical.
Bai Su curled her lips and said, "Then I'm out?"
"Come back early, the party is almost over."
"good."
…
-
Outside Jinghe Hall.
A woman in red, holding an oil-paper umbrella in one hand, walked under the palace wall illuminated by lanterns.
The rain hit the candlelight in the lantern, casting dim shadows on the ground.
Only when he turned into a secluded path did he stop and turn around.
A scholar in plain robe walked with difficulty on the palace road paved with bluestone steps.
"Lin Qing."
When the scholar approached, Bai Su spoke softly.
The man was stunned, looking her up and down.
Bai Su wanted him to give up, so now she just let him watch openly.
After a long time, the person in front of him finally said with certainty: "You are not Su Su."
Afterwards, light gradually appeared in those lifeless eyes.
It is like a person dying of thirst in the desert, seeing a huge lake in front of him;
Like a person who is terminally ill and waiting to die, he finds out that everything is just a misunderstanding...
There was wild joy in the eyes of the person in front of me.
"Susu, she didn't marry into the palace, right? Where is she? Please tell me..."
As he spoke, he clasped his hands in front of his chest and bowed deeply to her: "I am a student of limited talent, but I will devote all my energy to serving your Majesty and the Empress in the future. Su Su is my beloved, and I beg the Empress and your Majesty to grant us this blessing."
The rain suddenly got heavier.
It hits the oil-paper umbrella, making crackling sounds.
The air was eerily quiet.
Lin Qing bent down for a long time but didn't hear any response, so he stood up in confusion.
"… Madam?"
He asked.
A low sigh came from the mouth of the elegantly dressed woman...
Then, the man slowly rolled up his sleeves, revealing a pair of white wrists.
There are two long, extremely hideous scars on the wrists.
"Sorry... You're right, I'm not her. But I'm also her..."
She is her, and her body is hers.
She is not herself anymore. The soul of this body has been replaced by another person.
So, she is she, and she is not she.
Lin Qing looked at this pair of familiar hands...
The largest callus on her right index finger is because she said that no one cleans her garden, so she has to clean it herself every day. She likes to use force on that spot, so after a long time, she has a very big callus...
There is a small black mole on the inside of her left wrist. She said that once when she was walking on the street, an old fortune teller said that people with this mole have bad luck and must get rid of it, otherwise they will suffer for the rest of their lives. But she had no money... She smiled and said, "It seems that the fortune teller's prediction was not accurate, otherwise how could I have met Mr. Lin?"
She said: It’s great that I met Mr. Lin, my life must be good.
She said: Muzhi, everything will be fine, everything will be fine, you have to believe me, look at me, I had a very bad life before, but now I am fine.
The smile on her face at that time is still deeply imprinted in my mind.
But now, when Lin Qing looked at the two finger-long scars on his wrist, he felt as if a loud thunder, accompanied by heavy rain, was striking from the sky.
In an instant, his world shook.
"I'm sorry, I'm definitely not her."
The familiar yet unfamiliar person in front of me stated indifferently.
He pulled his sleeves back.
Watching those two scars gradually disappear from sight...
The top scholar who was talking eloquently and brilliantly in the assembly, at the top of the list, seemed to be crazy at this moment, and cried out in despair: "Don't..."
Then he pulled up Bai Su's arm and held it tightly.
"Let me take one more look... just one more look... just one more look..."
"Please..."
"My lady... I beg you..."
Bai Su closed her eyes deeply.
Then he calmly withdrew his hand.
"Zhuangyuan, please respect yourself. I am no longer your Bai Su, I am..."
Halfway through his words, his eyes swept across a piece of bright yellow clothing at the end of the alley.
Suddenly, all the words were stuck in my throat.
Duan Changchuan...
When did he come
How long have you been here? How long have you been listening
The other party seemed to have just noticed her gaze, and the corner of his bright yellow clothes flashed away.
At the end of the alley, Changle's exclamation came from afar:
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty! Don't run away! The doctor said you can't run now!"
"Your Majesty, please slow down. My umbrella can't keep up with you... Your Majesty!"
Duan Changchuan is running...
Duan Changchuan didn’t even hold an umbrella!
When Bai Su thought of her pregnant Omega who was outside in the rain, she no longer cared about her appearance, lifted up her long skirt and chased after the boy.
-
Turning the end of the alley and entering the main road, I saw people running in a hurry.
The little eunuch holding an umbrella followed behind all the way.
Bai Su threw the umbrella in her hand to the ground with a "bang" and ran towards the man.
"His Majesty!"
“Stop it!”
"Duan Changchuan, don't run!"
She shouted and chased after him.
Fortunately, the boy's physical strength was not as good as before after he became pregnant, and he was quickly pulled back by her.
"Duan Changchuan, why are you running? What if you get hurt?"
The boy was soaked in the rain, with water running down his cheeks.
His face was pale from the cold... Only his eyes were red.
"You said you would come back after counting to one hundred... but I counted to two hundred..."
"I counted to two hundred, and you didn't come back..."
The boy looked at her, his lips trembling.
He asked her in a trembling voice: "Bai Su, why didn't you come back..."
The author has something to say:
later…
Bai Su: Your Majesty wants to choose a concubine
Duan Changchuan: I... I haven't chosen yet...
"Pick four?"
"No... No, not even one... Please let me go... Woo..."