Chapter 191:
As their eyes met, his gaze softened, and he soothed, “Don’t be afraid. The Emperor’s feelings don’t count for anything. With me by your side, he can’t hurt you.”
Xie Wanning’s eyelashes trembled slightly. “Do you think… I’m the femme fatale written about in the history books?”
Father and son suspicious of each other, sovereign and minister turned against one another, brothers slaughtering each other.
In her past life and this life, two lifetimes, her existence seemed to have harmed quite a few people.
He usurped the throne and forced the palace, and among those he crazily took revenge on were his own brother, birth father, and the Lu Family that had raised him.
The Lu Family didn’t know his identity and cherished this sole descendant like a treasure, protecting him like an eyeball.
That was his grandmother, mother, aunt, and younger sister that he had called out to for twenty years.
In the end, because of one her, he…
The hand on her chin exerted a slight force. Lu Ziyan said irritably, “Don’t overthink it. When have you ever harmed anyone? It’s those blind ones who come to bully you. They deserve to die. Don’t have any compassion for them!”
He was very close, and his words drilled word by word straight into her ear canal, blowing away Xie Wanning’s self-judgment.
She paused, then obediently nodded. “Forget about the last life. In any case, this life you need to restrain your killing intent and stop creating those sins of killing.”
Lu Ziyan smiled. “Don’t worry. Even if it’s to accumulate blessings for you, I won’t kill the innocent indiscriminately.”
He thought, since they could die by his hand, of course they wouldn’t be innocent.
Xie Wanning had no idea what he was thinking. Actually, that day when he easily agreed to let Pei Yuqing go, she had been a bit uneasy. Now she only hoped she could persuade this Killing God to put down the butcher knife and stop taking lives at every turn, thinking of chopping people into minced meat.
The two had completely different thoughts, yet they chatted quite pleasantly.
Not long after, Ming Jian led a group of people in.
Selecting people to enter the General’s Mansion naturally required verifying their identities and backgrounds. Time was urgent, and there was no time to buy from outside, so the ones standing before Xie Wanning now were all servants from other officials’ mansions in Northern Frontier City.
They were all Lu Ziyan’s trusted subordinates. Hearing that the General’s Mansion now had a female master but no servants to attend her, they were naturally willing to help out.
Sure enough, Ming Jian had carefully selected these few and brought them over along with their contracts of servitude.
It was only for a few months of residence, so Xie Wanning wasn’t particular about selecting personal maidservants. She said, “I don’t need anyone attending me closely. Do any of you know how to do hair?”
Doing hair was delicate work, and she truly didn’t know how.
Five of the maidservants stepped forward. Xie Wanning pointed at two based on eye affinity, asked their names, and said, “It’ll be you two.”
As for the others, they could do sweeping and cleaning work in the courtyard.
Lu Ziyan didn’t concern himself with such minor matters. He took Xie Wanning’s hand, stood up, and took Ming Jian to the study in the front courtyard.
Just then, several boxes filled with clothes and jewelry were delivered.
The two selected maidservants had shown their faces before the master and became the chief maidservants in the courtyard. They methodically led the others in organizing everything.
All the way until dinner time, Lu Ziyan still hadn’t returned.
He was too busy. Even though he had decided not to press the advantage, there were no more battles to fight this year, but the warfare from the previous days had only just stopped. Jin Wuji had died at the hands of the Great Khan, there were still a few rats jumping around in the Capital City seeking death, and he had to know all the news from every prefecture and county one by one.
Most importantly… that sickly person’s news.
He had to keep that person’s whereabouts in the palm of his hand, to ensure no change occurred in their impending marriage.
At night, Xie Wanning ate dinner by herself. After bathing and lying on the bed flipping through a book to prepare for sleep, Lu Ziyan finally returned from outside.
Dressed in a black robe as if he had stepped through wind and snow, his face was full of cold, stern chill.
Seeing the young lady reading on the couch, his eyebrows and eyes softened, and he praised, “Wanwan is so diligent.”
“…” Xie Wanning was thoroughly silent for a moment, too lazy to pay him any mind.
Lu Ziyan closed the door, walked to the bedside in a few steps, and leaned down to kiss her.
His breath was still somewhat cold, faintly carrying the smell of alcohol. Xie Wanning frowned and dodged. “Have you been drinking wine?”
The kiss missed. Thinking she disdained the alcohol smell on him, Lu Ziyan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and he said, “I’ll go wash up.”
His actions were decisively swift. Without waiting for Xie Wanning to say anything, he turned and went to the washroom nearby.
That hasty formation truly startled Xie Wanning. Her mind flashed to his ruthlessness that night, her legs went a bit soft, and she hurriedly set the book aside, lay down, closed her eyes, and forced herself to sleep.
She still remembered from her memories that there had been a few times when he came to her courtyard too late. As long as she was asleep, he wouldn’t specially wake her up for sexual intercourse.
Thus, when Lu Ziyan came out, the young lady who had been leisurely reading was gone, leaving only a mound of quilt bulging up.
He coughed lowly, lifted the quilt and lay down, his arm embracing her shoulder as he said softly, “…Does it still hurt?”
Xie Wanning thought, if she was asleep, she couldn’t speak.
But what kind of person was Lu Ziyan? As long as she could still breathe, he could tell whether she was really asleep or pretending.
After waiting a moment and seeing the young lady in his arms truly had no intention of speaking, he lowered his gaze to look at her tightly closed eyes for a while, then held her wrist and slid it downward…
His palm touched a scorching hot spot. Xie Wanning’s heart’s tip jumped fiercely, nearly opening her eyes instinctively.
…She finally experienced what it meant to be riding a tiger and finding it hard to dismount.
She still didn’t know how her eyelashes were trembling. Lu Ziyan held back his laughter and simply undid his undergarments.
He pressed her hand on it.
Xie Wanning could no longer pretend. Her hand struggled to pull away but was held fast by him.
He was clearly doing something so domineering, yet his tone was extremely aggrieved. “…Wanwan has never touched it. Do you disdain it?”
“…Shut up!” Xie Wanning was annoyed and furious. “Let go of my hand!”
Lu Ziyan wouldn’t. He guided her fingers to touch himself and said very earnestly, “This is your thing. Can you get to know it properly?”
Xie Wanning’s mouth went dry, both shy and angry, but his strength was truly too great. She couldn’t pull her hand free no matter what. In a fit of anger, she suddenly clenched it tight.
…If there was anything on Lu Ziyan’s body that she could pinch painfully, it was probably only this.
She hadn’t even held back her strength. In the instant her five fingers tightened, she was shocked that her slender fingers couldn’t completely encircle him.
Lu Ziyan gasped in cold air, his face turning pale. “Wanwan!”
Xie Wanning was startled. “Does it hurt a lot?”
Lu Ziyan’s vision went black, unable to speak for several breaths. Only after recovering did he lift the quilt, stare at it, and grit his teeth. “Do you want to cripple me!”
“I didn’t mean to,” Xie Wanning covered her eyes and countered. “You’re too fragile.”
“…” Lu Ziyan nearly laughed in anger. He pulled away the hand she was using to cover his eyes and accused in his tone, “It hurts a lot. What do you say we should do?”
