Chapter 199: Smelling the Fragrance
Xue Sui gazed at the curtain of rain hanging from the eaves, lost in thought.
The green plum wine on the stove had been warmed three times, its sweet and sour aroma filling the room with increasing intensity…
Jinshu tiptoed over, glanced at the wine warmer on the stove, then at Xue Sui’s pretty silhouette standing by the window, and said softly, “Young Lady, it’s late, perhaps…”
“Add two more pieces of silver charcoal,” Xue Sui interrupted her, her gaze fixed coldly on the dark window outside, the rain shattering into starlight in her pupils.
Jinshu sighed inwardly and moved the charcoal closer to the desk.
The red charcoal crackled in the brazier, reflecting on her lowered profile and heating the copper pot of wine.
Bang—
The night watchman’s clapper struck three times…
No lamps were lit in the darkness; the copper bells on the pigeon coop swayed lightly in the autumn wind, tinkling.
Suddenly, there was a faint sound at the door knocker.
Xue Sui’s fingertips suddenly relaxed.
She gestured for Jinshu to retreat, tidied her clothes, and walked over slowly…
The moment the wooden door creaked open, a cold wind carrying threads of rain rushed in.
Li Zhao did not climb through the window; dressed in black, he flashed into the room like a ghost.
He said nothing, gently lifting his cloak. Water dripped from his hair, sliding down his chiseled jaw, his handsome face flashing with a seductive, dark gleam…
“Your Highness has great courage.” Xue Sui’s gaze swept over his soaked sleeves: “Knowing Prince Duan is suspicious, you still risked coming. Aren’t you afraid these water stains will tarnish the Eastern Palace’s reputation?”
Li Zhao closed the door behind him, bolting it shut with a thud, his voice carrying the chill of the rain, “What am I afraid of? Even if I’m accused by a thousand people, it’s just gossip.”
Xue Sui: “The Crown Prince is the heir to the throne. If his wings are clipped, he’s merely a dragon trapped in shallow waters, at most recuperating for half a year. But I am afraid. I fear ten years of effort will be ruined. I fear petty troublemakers will cause chaos, and all our previous work will be in vain. I fear the twenty thousand white bones in the Old Mausoleum Swamp will never see justice…”
Perhaps the green plum wine had amplified her emotions; her voice held more coldness than usual, like ice breaking in a deep pool, making her lips appear even paler.
Li Zhao sneered, revealing the corners of his eyes, reddened by the Love Gu.
“With me here, the sky won’t fall.”
Xue Sui took half a step back, but Li Zhao grabbed her sleeve. With a light snap of threads, she was pulled into an embrace filled with the faint scent of pine and cypress. Her forehead bumped against his firm shoulder, causing her to groan in pain.
“Li Zhao, what madness is this?”
“Not calling me Crown Prince anymore?” Li Zhao raised an eyebrow, his fingertips pinching her chin.
The red glow of the charcoal flickered in his eyes, reflecting her slightly disheveled hair.
“I am the Crown Prince, and more importantly, a fool ensnared by your Love Silk Gu.”
Li Zhao’s eyes were bloodshot, and the grip on her wrist suddenly tightened, as if he wanted to tear her apart and devour her…
It was the brink of his sanity being destroyed.
He was like a demon.
“Xue Ping’an, when you first entangled yourself with me, did you never consider the consequences?”
Xue Sui’s heart pounded, the Love Silk Gu raging in her chest, making her eyes sting with cold.
“Your Highness is always quick to shift blame. If you didn’t want to use me to check Prince Duan and investigate the Old Mausoleum Swamp, why would you have conspired with me? It was simply a matter of mutual benefit; I didn’t hold a knife to your throat. Why pretend to be so wronged?”
Li Zhao’s breath hitched, his thumb sliding to her cheek, gently caressing it.
“Are you angry? You look so beautiful even when you’re angry… What kind of bewitching sorcery is this Gu? It makes me so absurd?”
Xue Sui turned her head to avoid his touch, but he grabbed her waist, pulling her close, forcing her to look up at him. His long fingers, like thorny vines, tightened around her neck.
Harder.
Even harder.
They were so close, their breaths audible.
He seemed intent on strangling her…
Xue Sui met his gaze calmly, almost hearing his rapid heartbeat.
“Your Highness has come tonight to take my life?”
Heh!
Li Zhao’s hand slid to her lower back, tightening its grip.
“If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it ten years ago under the rockery at Pu Ji Temple. Why wait until today?”
Ten years ago…
Under the rockery at Pu Ji Temple?
The wealthy young gentleman who draped his fox fur cloak over her to keep her warm…
Was it Li Zhao?
Memories like knives sliced through ten years of time, cutting through her decaying flesh and shame.
The man before her slowly merged with the young boy in her memory…
Xue Sui’s pupils contracted sharply as she watched his Adam’s apple bob and her blood seem to freeze.
It was him!
The black fitted robe outlined his lean, flowing waistline. The black jade ornaments hanging from his waistband gleamed, mirroring the crimson in his eyes.
“Xue Ping’an, you were cunning, but you shouldn’t have schemed against me.”
Li Zhao’s laughter held a hint of self-mockery.
“Your Highness, what do you mean?” Xue Sui asked.
“The intelligence about the Xizi scout that Xue Qingzhi apprehended, you leaked it. The gunpowder from the Xizi caravan turning into yellow sand, you did that. You wanted the Eastern Palace to take the blame for secretly hoarding gunpowder, using a borrowed knife to kill. Xue Liu, how venomous your heart is?”
Xue Sui lowered her gaze to avoid his burning stare, turned, and pushed the warmed wine cup onto the desk.
“I told Your Highness about this ‘Breaking the Barbarian’ strategy from the beginning.”
She gestured for Li Zhao to sit down.
Her fair fingertips gently picked up the wine pot.
The wine in the white jade cup rippled like amber.
“The green plum wine has been warmed for two hours. It’s smooth and good for the stomach. Would Your Highness like to try some?”
“One plan fails, so you resort to a beauty trap?”
Li Zhao suddenly clasped her hand holding the wine pot, examining it closely. As their breaths mingled, it felt as if the heat of the Love Silk Gu was coursing through their veins, the veins on the back of his hand bulging…
“What have you added to the wine this time?”
“Just green plums, honey, and Poria,” Xue Sui replied nonchalantly.
Li Zhao stared at her, and with her hand, drank the wine cup in his palm in one gulp.
“With the Love Silk Gu, I doubt you’d dare to poison me.”
Poison?
Xue Sui shook her head, “It was merely to create an opening with the Ministry of Justice. Why must Your Highness be so enraged?”
Li Zhao sneered, leaning his hand on the desk, trapping her between himself and the table. The faint scent of Suxin Orchid on her person, mixed with the sweetness of the green plum wine, stirred the Love Silk Gu in his blood.
“You are to be ennobled as a consort, adorned with a phoenix crown and robes, and Prince Duan will dote on you… Truly free and unfettered.”
Xue Sui looked up to meet his gaze, her expression faltering slightly.
“I am already part of Prince Duan’s household. Whether as a concubine, a secondary wife, or a consort, it makes no difference.”
Her words were calm, but Li Zhao felt as if he had been doused with ice water.
“It makes a difference.”
A consort was different from a concubine, a secondary wife, or a mere concubine…
In terms of status and position, as well as patriarchal rites and systems, she would be a legitimate principal wife recognized by the imperial family, recorded in the clan genealogy, no longer an expendable concubine…
An imperial decree of ennoblement would forever bind her to Li Huan, making it official. She could never become his Crown Princess, leaving no room for maneuver.
This was the root of his fury…
Li Zhao was startled by his own thought.
This was wrong.
This was not his original intention.
He was merely trapped by the Love Silk Gu, fixated on her…
How could he have ever imagined making her his Crown Princess one day?
No, no…
Li Zhao’s face suddenly darkened.
“Xue Ping’an, you are clearly acting out of self-interest. You are using my rivalry with Li Huan, using my… for you…”
He suddenly fell silent, digging his fingers into her waist.
“Do you think I don’t understand? You only use me.”
Xue Sui had never seen Li Zhao like this. His eyes seemed to blaze with a wildfire, yet were suppressed by a deep restraint, like a trapped beast that could tear everything apart but instead clawed at its own heart.
“Perhaps Your Highness is no different?”
She reached out and pushed Li Zhao’s shoulder away, looking up at him.
“We are mutually using each other.”
Li Zhao lowered his head, pressing her hand against the table.
The wine cup tilted, and the amber liquid spilled over the edge of the table, leaving a dark stain, like the chaotic thoughts in her mind at that moment.
“We both know this, why pretend to be ignorant?”
Li Zhao stared at her reddened eyes from the exertion, letting out a cold laugh.
“Do you think, without the Love Silk Gu, I would willingly fall into your trap? Xue Liu, you were the one who acted unjustly first, yet you blame me for being unrighteous later?”
Xue Sui met the dark currents churning in his eyes, a chill running down her spine.
“Since our paths diverge, we shall not plot together. All past grievances are settled. Your Highness, please leave. I will not see you off.”
With that, she abruptly flicked her sleeve and rose to escort him out, but Li Zhao grabbed her wrist and yanked her towards him—
The wine cup on the table fell to the ground, startling the Spirit Feathers in the cage into fluttering.
Xue Sui was startled and kicked out, but his knee blocked her knee, pinning her against the edge of the table.
His black robe tangled with her lotus-root-colored skirt, their gazes intertwining in the dim firelight, forming an ambiguous vortex.
“What is Your Highness doing?”
Li Zhao leaned close to her ear, his voice hoarse and indifferent.
“Settling everything is easy. Give me the antidote for the Love Silk Gu!”
“The Love Silk Gu has no cure, doesn’t Your Highness know?”
“Then I will use you to detoxify,” Li Zhao chuckled, his eyes crimson like a ravenous beast. He gripped Xue Sui’s wrist and made to unfasten her clothes.
“Li Zhao…” Xue Sui’s heart trembled slightly, and she called his name coldly, trying to awaken his reason, but Li Zhao responded with even greater intensity.
“Even if the King of Heaven himself came, it would be useless.”
Xue Sui: “…”
She was not afraid of Li Zhao.
She was only afraid of the rising heat in her throat.
She shouldn’t have been greedy for that cup of green plum wine; being close to him made her limbs weak, like being entangled by love’s silken threads…
“Crown Prince, this is not how we should be…”
Before her voice fell, her waist was suddenly gripped by an iron arm, the embroidered jade belt digging into her painfully.
His uncontrolled kiss slid from her earlobe to her neck, nibbling gently at her collarbone, like a young beast angrily marking its prey. The burning of the Love Silk Gu, mixed with the sweet and sour of the green plum wine, made every inch of her skin tremble.
“Did Li Huan touch you here?” His lips brushed against hers, his voice hoarse, the flickering firelight illuminating the rain on Li Zhao’s temples.
“Madman,” Xue Sui cursed softly.
“Does it hurt?” Li Zhao panted, pressing her against the cold desk, looking at her resentful eyes beneath her disheveled hair, and gave a self-mocking smile…
Suddenly, he pulled her hand and pressed it against his chest.
His heart was beating extremely fast.
“Do you know how I’ve endured these past few days? I’m in so much pain, right here.”
The sweat beads on his temples fell onto her cheek, chillingly cold.
Xue Sui calmly asked, “Does Your Highness intend to be a paramour?”
The dim firelight cast distorted silhouettes of the two figures on the screen.
It was as if this illicit entanglement was branding a stain on the white paper of propriety, crushing the imperial dignity and fraternal bonds into dust…
“Ping’an.”
“Xue Ping’an.”
Li Zhao’s voice was hoarse as he slowly opened his arms, trembling, and drew her into his embrace. His raspy voice was so low it seemed to be squeezed from his teeth.
“Just do me a favor. Help me.”
No one knew how he had spent these days, each day his reason being burned away by the Love Silk Gu, he was like a demon chained in hell, repeatedly beaten by desire and fantasy…
Restraint, endurance, torment.
Life was worse than death.
When the Love Silk Gu acted up, only her scent could offer him some relief.
That was why he carried a handkerchief he had taken from her, almost letting Li Huan catch him…
And why, after Emperor Chong Zhao issued his decree, he was consumed by jealousy, causing his blood to surge and triggering the Gu’s backlash, bringing him to the brink of losing control…
“Don’t move! I’m not some wild beast in heat…”
Li Zhao sensed her struggle, his voice low.
He gently rubbed her neck again, his breathing rapid and disordered, mixed with a faint scent of wine.
“I just want to smell your Suxin Orchid scent…”
Xue Sui’s fingertips trembled as they touched the burning heat of his chest, “Does it smell good?”
“Unique in the world, unparalleled.”
At this moment, he finally relaxed his grip, lowered his head, and kissed her hair.
“Don’t be afraid. Li Huan is not in the mansion. Mister Qiu sent a secret letter saying there’s news about the envoy from the Old Mausoleum Swamp. He’s taken his guards and gone to Qixia Mountain for the rendezvous tonight.”
Xue Sui: “…”
Li Zhao curved his lips, “Still angry?”
Xue Sui saw the light in his eyes. It was a desire more fervent than the Love Silk Gu.
She heard her own voice soften.
“Did you do it? Just to lure him away?”
“Mm.” Li Zhao rested his head on her shoulder. His usually tall and straight frame sagged, as if waiting for someone to lick his wounds…
“Ping’an, I like it when you call my name.”
Xue Sui raised her hand, then curled her fingertips in mid-air. After a pause, she suddenly pressed down on his shoulder, her expression hardening slightly.
“Li Zhao.”
“Mm?” he replied softly, tightening his grip on her.
“I’ll help you.” Xue Sui suddenly broke free from his embrace, walked to the bed, lifted the plain silk curtain, took out the prescription Senior Sister Yuheng had given her from under the pillow, and turned to hand it to Li Zhao.
“This is the best method I can find for resolving the Love Silk Lure. As for the Love Silk Gu…”
At the time, Senior Sister Yuheng had said that this thing was like an illusion, actually relying on the toxicity of the Love Silk Lure. Over time, it would gradually lose its effect…
But Li Zhao’s inability to control himself, and her own recent unease, gradually made her suspicious of the Love Silk Gu’s true existence.
This was why she was eager to ask Yuheng for clarification…
But Li Zhao was like a drowning person, beyond control…
In the past, Xue Sui would not have cared about him.
But ten years ago at Pu Ji Temple, Li Zhao had saved her.
She couldn’t bear to watch him sink into despair.
Moreover, his loss of control and decisiveness…
No longer made him a heartless collaborator.
If this continued, she didn’t know how recklessly he would go mad…
Xue Sui was unwilling to sacrifice herself.
Ten years of long waiting and planning, she had paid too much.
Her great revenge unavenged, her wish unfulfilled, she would not allow herself to give up easily…
But she could let Li Zhao go.
Xue Sui frowned and pondered for a moment, then filled a wine cup.
“When I find the antidote for the Love Silk Gu, I will give it to you. We had a deal, and now we part as friends, not enemies. We helped each other halfway, and there’s no animosity between us. How about we drink this cup of wine together and then forget each other in the martial world?”
It’s been a long time since I wrote romance… I’m rusty…
