Chapter 272:
By then, if grudges arise again, who knows what he will think.
He is the Emperor, with plenty of women eagerly offering themselves to him.
Now at twenty years old, because of the imperfection of his past life, he is obsessed with her alone, his heart and eyes full of her.
If she goes back, all his obsessions will be fulfilled.
When he reaches thirty, forty years old, as the Emperor’s authority grows heavier, as she changes from a fresh and lovely young lady to a woman with loose skin and flesh, who can guarantee that under the erosion of time and power, his mindset will not change?
Will there be other women between them again?
Of course, Xie Wanning has no doubt that she is the one he loves most.
No other woman will make him deeply concerned again, repeatedly spit blood, white-haired in youth.
But what she wants is not these.
She lacks courage, and with the memory of her past life, she can no longer believe him without reservation.
In his affection for her, how much obsession is mixed in, she cannot discern.
She dares not believe he will not change, nor believe that under day after day, year after year of fulfillment, he will remain devoted to her until death.
If by then, half their lives have passed, and other women appear by his side again.
While she, from the young lady in her teens who dared to flee regardless of everything, becomes a middle-aged woman in the rear palace, raised for years on fine clothes and food.
Will she still have the boldness to flip the table?
She cannot afford to gamble!
All her courage was used up in her past life.
In this life, she is just a coward.
She believes Lu Ziyan loves her, and believes that the current Lu Ziyan is willing to die for her.
But she dares not believe his affection can keep them free of grudges and see them through this life.
Once she loses, she will be beyond redemption.
She will have squandered the opportunity of rebirth given by heaven, plunging herself into desperation again.
So…
“I’m not going back,” Xie Wanning patted the child’s back and said softly, “I like life as it is now.”
Xie Yanyu lowered his eyes: “Have you decided?”
“Mm.”
“Good,” Xie Yanyu took the child and smiled: “If my younger sister wants to live freely, then as you wish.”
Xie Wanning’s nose tip felt sour, she blinked hard, “I’m still in postpartum confinement, Elder Brother must not make me cry.”
Xie Yanyu felt greatly wronged, but he dared not argue with her, soothed her a few times, then carried the child out.
Lu Ziyan’s arrival was an unexpected event with no real danger.
But now that he has returned to the Capital City, with how closely he is watching Pei Yuqing, he might discover at any moment that the person is not in the Capital City.
So a few days later, Pei Yuqing also decided to set off back to the Capital City.
Separated by the window pane, he bid farewell to Xie Wanning from outside the window.
It was called a farewell, but silence took up most of the time.
In such a situation, everything that needed to be said between the two had already been said.
Even “deep affection but shallow fate” is not enough to describe their story.
One can only say, fate plays tricks on people.
After Pei Yuqing left, not long after, Xie Wanning came out of postpartum confinement.
However, the planned move ultimately did not happen.
Still because of Lu Ziyan.
They were all afraid of Lu Ziyan’s unpredictable nature, whether out of concern for the child that day, he might have casually left some contingency.
He has too many capable subordinates; if he left even one behind, and that person learns the child has moved away from the Prefect’s Mansion, and moved together with Xie Yanyu…
Then they would inevitably realize that Ji Chengfeng is not the child’s biological father, but since it is Xie Yanyu’s, he would surely take it back to the Capital City, rather than raise it in Bianzhou.
Even if Xie Wanning’s death is already conclusively determined, with so many clues, it is inevitable he might think more.
Therefore, Xie Wanning had no choice but to continue living in the Prefect’s Mansion.
