Chapter 81

 

As soon as Lu Shi Qing heard that he could “hug to sleep” and “we’ll talk about it tomorrow”, he already thinking of what to name their baby in the future. But he quickly restrained his daydreams, and decided to play it safe, hug her well first, after all, only when you keep your feet on the ground can you rise up step by step.

So he stretched out his arms and rolled her into his arms. Because this time he was no longer afraid of revealing his wounds, so they slept face to face.

Yuan Ci Xian was really tired, physically and mentally exhausted after a whole day, feeling like she had been beaten up by someone. But since she softened her heart and agreed to sleep with him, she stopped struggling and just pressed against him and closed her eyes.

But her mind didn’t really rest, her brain was still full of shadows of Lu Shi Qing and Xu Shan.

In fact, she was not such a good-natured person. She was willing to forgive because she calmed down and thought about it: If it were her, how would she choose.

In fact, all this time, Lu Shi Qing never gave her a chance to really understand him. It wasn’t until tonight, when the two figures that had been split in half by him slowly reunited, that she finally understood what kind of person he was, and how difficult it was for him to live in this ever-changing Chang’an city.

The political situation was turbulent, and surrounded by enemies he was walking a road full of thorns, a road that countless people dare not passed. He lived in a dilemma, with a monarch like a tiger in the front, princes with wolf ambitions in the back, political enemies pressuring him with open and hidden means from the left, and ignorant people labelling him as a ‘running dog’ without understanding the truth on the right.

Under such circumstances, he couldn’t help being careful at every step, and couldn’t help being cautious in his words and deeds. Each and every thorn he cut down could lay towards a brighter future for Great Zhou, but one wrong move could result not only in his own death on the front lines, but also in the destruction of the entire dynasty that followed behind him

In this world, love was not the only important and valuable thing. If you have a broad perspective of the world, you shouldn’t live too narrowly. Therefore, if she were Lu Shi Qing, she wouldn’t easily reveal her dual identity and political side when she first fell in love.

At this point, she had no reason to blame him. What’s more, in the past year, no one was really honest with anyone. She couldn’t just tolerate her own concealment, but criticized his deception. That was not even.

As for the deep friendship between them later, he still didn’t say anything, and she also unable to understand. Some words were not said at the beginning, and after holding back for a long time, he didn’t know how to speak, otherwise why he burdened himself with a hundred lies just to cover up the first one?

And in the process of lying, she was not the only who suffered.

How could Lu Shi Qing fail to notice her affection for “Xu Shan”? She thought that the struggles and sorrows he had were by no means less than hers.

After thinking about this, she already softened her heart a bit, and she couldn’t harden her heart and stand coldly on the sidelines when she heard a person as proud as Lu Shi Qing say such humble words in the mud.

So, she forgave him.

It was just forgiveness was a matter of reason, but acceptance was a matter of emotion. At the moment, she was still unable to fully accept and let go, fully integrated him and Xu Shan in her heart, so she found an excuse to dragged on consummating the marriage, and bought some time to take a breather.

Her head was heavy thinking about these, and gradually she felt sleepy, but unexpectedly, the palm around her waist became hotter and hotter, so hot that she almost broke out in sweat.

She opened her eyes uncomfortably and looked up, only to see that Lu Shi Qing hadn’t closed his eyes, and had been looking down at her for an unknown amount of time.

She met his gaze and sighed: “You don’t sleep, what are you looking?”

Lu Shi Qing explained: “I’m looking, you have two hair whorls.”

“…” Oh, then it’s no wonder he looked at it with great interest.

But Lu Shi Qing was serious, thinking that she was indeed in line with his preferences in every way, even her hair has one more whorl that others, and she had a symmetrical look.

He felt satisfied in his heart, but saw that the corners of her mouth twitched slightly, as if she thought that he was boring and refused to talk to him, so she turned her back and wanted to sleep peacefully.

With this turning, the hand that was holding her was forced to slide to the other side of her waist, directly touching a strange bulge through the thin layer of inner clothes.

Yuan Ci Xian trembled almost immediately, and shrank back into the bed, as if hoping that he would not notice.

However, Lu Shi Qing had already touched this scar when he was stripping her wet clothes at the Shangzhou Post Station, and he didn’t feel anything wrong with it, but he was surprised by her reaction. Seeing this he moved his body to chase after her: “I already know, why are you hiding?”

Yuan Ci Xian recalled drinking too much wine at the time, and she did tell about this scar to comfort “Xu Shan”, but now she suddenly regretted it.

Seeing that she turned her back and didn’t speak, Lu Shi Qing thought she might be angry, so he apologized, “It was my fault for lying to you at the beginning, but now that I have scars too, consider me deserving it.”

Yuan Ci Xian shook her head, signaling that she wasn’t thinking about this, and then moved a little further away from him, even her head hanging from the pillow. She explained: “I only have one scar, it’s not symmetrical.”

“…”

Lu Shi Qing suddenly felt both angry and funny, he really didn’t know what’s in her head, but after thinking about it carefully, it was not surprising that she thought like this. After all, he once used a mole as an excuse to reject Shaohe, so it was normal for her to misunderstood and worried that he would dislike her. In the end, there was no girl who wouldn’t mind having such things as scar, let alone, she met someone who was extremely picky like him.

But in fact, if she didn’t tell him, he didn’t think of the asymmetry of the scar at all. Even now that she had reminded him, he still didn’t think it was unsightly.

Let her to add a symmetrical scar? That’s ridiculous. Wouldn’t it be his heart that was hurting?

Taking a step back, he would rather poke his own eyes.

He reasoned with her: “Yuan Ci Xian, according to what you mean, do I have to stab myself again?” The wound on his chest was also not symmetrical.

Yuan Ci Xian snorted: “I don’t know you, maybe that’s how you calculate.”

Lu Shi Qing choked, he moved an inch in, and leaned over: “I don’t mind it.” As if afraid that she would not believe it, he emphasized again, “Really.”

After saying that, he added: “If you don’t believe me, show me.”

Yuan Ci Xian looked back at him in surprise: “What is there to see?”

Lu Shi Qing tied his eyes when he stripped her clothes last time, so he really didn’t recognize what kind of injury causing the scar, and he was afraid that a straightforward inquiry would make her remember the bad past, so he wanted to take a look.

He made an excuse: “I’ll take a look and show you my sincerity. You can pay attention to my expression.”

“…” It seemed he’s out of his mind, she twitched the corner of her lips, “Forget it, I believe you, don’t need to take a look. Just sleep.”

Lu Shi Qing refused to give up: “I’m just going to take a look, I won’t eat you, what are you afraid of.”

Yuan Ci Xian ignored him.

Seeing that she was determined not to fall for this reverse psychology, he had no choice but to hold back first, lifted the quilt and looked helplessly at the already stretched sore tent. He waited for a stick of incense, and seeing that she seemed to be asleep, he then cautiously reached over and lifted the hem of her clothes, ready to take a sneak peek. Unexpectedly, as soon as his hands held a layer of clothes, he was “slapped” away by someone who should have fallen asleep.

The back of his hand turned red immediately while he hissed in pain, and then he heard her say: “Lu Shi Qing, you’re so troublesome, are you going to sleep?”

Isn’t she the one who doesn’t “sleep”? He retreated silently, lay flat and let out a long sigh, and opened his eyes to look at the curtain above his head.

There was a tiger who would take advantage of people sleeping to take off their clothes, so how could Yuan Ci Xian sleep peacefully, seeing that he did not close his eyes, she was afraid that he was planning to wait for an opportunity to move again, so she gave up: “Will you sleep after looking at it?”

As soon as Lu Shi Qing heard this, he hurriedly answered: “Yes.”

She gritted her teeth: “Just one glance.”

“Just one glance.”

Yuan Ci Xian wanted to sit up so it would be more convenient, but when she lifted the quilt, Lu Shi Qing held her down: “Don’t bother, you just lie down.”

He then moved his body, turned around, leaned a little towards the end of the bed, and stretched out his hand to remove her inner clothes. The movement was quick but the range was small, only making her showed her waist.

Yuan Ci Xian felt her abdomen became cold, she blinked three times in a row, feeling that there was something strange with the situation, but before she could figure it out, Lu Shi Qing’s hand had already touched her scar, and it made her tremble slightly.

She quickly lowered her eyes to look at him, and when one look was done, she wanted to pulled down the hem of her clothes, but when she stretched out her hand, she heard him ask, “Is it a spear wound?”

Lu Shi Qing furrowed his brows in the shape of the character “川,” and rubbed his thumb over the raised scar on her skin twice. Judging from the shape of the wound, it looked like it was stabbed by a spear, and it was close to the back of the waist, so it must have been a sneak attack. Fortunately, the injury was not deep and seemed to have been stopped in time, otherwise such a fierce move might have endangered her life.

His throat went dry, and he suddenly felt a wave of fear.

However, Yuan Ci Xian was distracted by these words. Seeing his expression of pity, but without the slightest disgust, she nodded nervously, pretending to be relaxed and said: “It’s nothing, just a traitor mixed in the army.”

Lu Shi Qing took a sharp breath, and said seriously: “Yuan Ci Xian, I read the letter you sent last time, and I didn’t put an act to reply to you, because I was afraid that the debts I owed would accumulate more and more, so I simply saved it. But I must answer you carefully now.”

She hesitated, “Answer me what?”

“My aspiration is mine, and it has nothing to do with you. Regardless of what happens, as long as I’m around, the four regions will have no place for you to use your skills, and there’s no need for you to go through fire and water for Great Zhou.” He smiled, “This chance to be famous in history is mine, only if I die first, then it will be your turn.”

She frowned: “What are you talking about…”

“Just to tell you, don’t go to the battlefield in the future.” After Lu Shi Qing finished speaking, he frowned and looked down at her scar again.

It was only then that she realized that her clothes hadn’t been closed yet, she said with a strong voice but could not hide her embarrassment: “Done looking, now sleep.”

Yuan Ci Xian then pushed his hand that was holding her clothes, but he clasped her wrist instead, saw him leaning down without warning, then he put his lips on her scar, and licked it lightly.

She went numb all over, almost jumped up in shock, “You…”

She already knew that he didn’t dislike it, what was he doing!

Lu Shi Qing prevented her from getting up with one hand, and blocked her from kicking him with the other, then pinned her on the bed. Hearing her shortness of breath, he raised his head and said with burning eyes: “Yuan Ci Xian, you hear the water clockIt's a timekeeping device that measures time by the regulated flow of water from one container to another. In ancient China, it was used to keep time during the night..”

She asked tremblingly, “… what?”

Lu Shi Qing’s lips curved slightly, and his eyes darkened. “It’s the promised tomorrow.”

After a stick of incense, Yuan Ci Xian gritted her teeth and thought, no wonder Lu Shi Qing could become a high-ranking official. This kind of crafty scoundrel who fought for every inch and never gave in should be able to achieve great things!

But she’s not bad either, she smothered him to death!

Lu Shi Qing buried his head in her shoulder, feeling miserable: “Yuan Ci Xian, I can’t get in, you loosen up…”

She stubbornly refused. Come on thief, let’s go down in flame together! If you want to suffer, we will suffer together, the Heaven will not spare anyone!

He frowned deeply, and gnashed his teeth in her ear and said: “Then I’ll be rough…”

Yuan Ci Xian stubbornly didn’t answer, and when he ruthlessly break the cauldrons and sink the boatmetaphor for not leaving a way out and being decisive in doing things, she bit his shoulder to death and let him to follow her to scream in pain.

Now Lu Shi Qing understood the true meaning of “biting on Qingqing and not letting go“, but the conquest was not yet complete, the road ahead was still arduous, and he was hesitating whether to slow down, when he suddenly heard her hoarse voice: “Long pain is worse than short pain. If you are a man, just go all out and do it!”

He was driven forward by the stimulation, but unexpectedly once he exerted himself to the utmost, he reached the end, and his dignity was swept away.

His mind was blank, and he looked at Yuan Ci Xian who was also clueless.

The two blinked dumbly at each other. In the end, Yuan Ci Xian came to her senses first, raised her knee and knocked him away: “The tossing is over, right? No play to perform, right? Go sleep on the couch!”

In the future just sleep on the couch!

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TN: time and time again I wonder how this novel passed censorship!