Lian Yu grabbed her hand and guided it toward his lower body. Suzhen’s eyes went wide as she cried out: “Pervert! Let go of this young lady!”

She struggled while saying: “I’m really worried about your intelligence. You’re the Emperor – can’t you handle the Bureau of Palace Attendance? Don’t you understand romance novel tactics? Quick knife, quick blood – if you’re afraid of pain, you can bring a small animal into the bridal chamber, then quick knife…”

Lian Yu had already pressed her hand down, but hearing this, his lips twitched and he couldn’t help bursting into laughter.

“Since Scholar is so bold, I won’t be polite.”

He pounced on her fiercely, conveniently pulling down the bed curtains—

“No, help, I was joking,” Suzhen screamed, rolling wildly across the bed. “If you won’t marry me, don’t think of touching me!”

Lian Yu snorted coldly and pinned her down, gazing deeply at her slightly intoxicated face and her shocked, frightened expression. It was as if he’d returned to the streets of the capital when he met her as Murong Liu.

He was just teasing her, knowing she couldn’t completely let down her guard yet.

If he went too far, she’d be scared away.

He smiled bitterly inwardly – he could only endure for now.

But he couldn’t help touching her lips and caressing them, and the two couldn’t help kissing.

After a long while, Suzhen pushed him away breathlessly, glaring at him: “What? Not putting on your ice-cold face anymore? Particularly annoying.”

Lian Yu curved his lips, a trace of darkness flashing in his eyes: “How else should I act? Continue pressing my warm face to your cold butt? You publicly claimed to have a sweetheart and trampled me underfoot. You knew I was impersonating Huo Chang’an but pretended ignorance to watch me make a fool of myself. You even gave me up for Wuyan.”

“Besides ignoring you, what else could I do? Otherwise, all I could do was force you to submit. Would you not cry and wail? It’s all thanks to you – how dare you blame me for treating you badly?”

“Your fainting tonight was perfect – now everyone knows my relationship with you is improper. Those who don’t know the truth probably think I’m a cut-sleeve.”

Suzhen was actually quite pleased inside. If she were to consider cause and effect, she had indeed sinned first, but she still put on a stern face.

Seeing this, Lian Yu was truly angry and hateful – she had the ability to push all the blame onto him!

His eyes narrowed dangerously as he fell silent, luring her to coax him.

Suzhen hadn’t seen Lian Yu laugh as openly as when she mentioned “quick knife” for a long time. During this period, he had been cold and harsh toward her.

Her heart felt stuffy, so she reached out to pinch his face: “Smile. Don’t put on that stern face. If you keep scowling, I’ll join Quan Feitong’s faction.”

Lian Yu’s gaze immediately darkened. He sneered and grabbed her hand: “You dare!”

“I haven’t asked you about your business with Quan Feitong yet. You bit his mouth, didn’t you?”

As he spoke, he gripped her chin tightly. A folding fan magically appeared, and he rapped her head three times with it.

Suzhen held her head crying in pain – this guy really hit her! She cursed herself: why did you bring up what shouldn’t be mentioned! She quickly explained the Minzhou incident again, finally saying: “Quan Feitong deliberately made Lian Jie misunderstand and threatened that if I didn’t go with him, he’d kill Lian Jie.”

“I might not believe he’d dare kill a prince, but Quan Feitong is such a demon – I didn’t dare disobey. Tonight too, he was the one who came at me. I bit him – did you want me to kiss him instead?”

Lian Yu listened with a cold face, finally roughly wiping her lips with his finger.

After their earlier tussling, her lips were already somewhat painfully swollen, but now she didn’t dare provoke him. She wanted to tell him about Quan Feitong’s accusation that he’d killed his father, but after hesitating, she ultimately didn’t speak. The same concern remained: Quan Feitong was too scheming. What if this caused friction between him and Lian Jie? That’s exactly what Quan Feitong wanted!

Just like tonight – she thought this person was kindly bringing her along, not knowing he had planned it all along.

His withdrawal from the marriage was actually to force Lian Yu to take Shuangcheng, creating discord between her and Lian Yu. He knew their relationship was already strained.

She had understood this without Lian Yu’s harsh explanation – she just had been drunk and most upset with Lian Yu. If he pressured you, did you have to agree?

Was Gu Shuangcheng so important to you?!

He had just said he’d give his life for her!

Thinking of this made her heart ache, and she remembered another person.

Seeing her suddenly distracted, Lian Yu unconsciously softened his voice: “What are you thinking about?”

He had actually wanted to ask her this earlier!

“Who is A Luo?”

“Who was the one you loved before?”

Both spoke almost simultaneously, then looked at each other with complex expressions.

Lian Yu’s eyelids drooped slightly. Finally, he smiled, got up to put on his robe, extinguished the room’s lights, leaving only two candles by the bed.

He lay down on her outer side, patted the pillow beside him, and spread his left arm wide, his broad sleeves flowing like clouds across the bed.

Somehow, compared to their earlier intense entanglement, Suzhen felt her heartbeat was no less rapid now. As if completing some ritual, she carefully lay down on his arm.

The moment she rested her head, Lian Yu immediately pulled her into his embrace.

He touched the hair cascading over his body and slowly began speaking, hiding nothing as he told her the complete story of Gu Xiluo.

On both sides of the bed, two candles burned gently, wax tears occasionally falling onto the gilded candlesticks. All the gold and splendor in the room was suffused in dancing light and shadow, painting a picture of peaceful years.

Suzhen listened carefully. When he finished, she was silent for a long while.

In the dim lamplight, she tried to picture A Luo’s appearance in her mind – she seemed so clear yet so blurry.

Her heart was full of shock. Such a pity – such a vibrant life just gone like that. Such jealousy – in Lian Yu’s heart, this young woman must be irreplaceable by anyone. Such gratitude – this girl had accompanied him when he needed it most. Yet such fear – who did Lian Yu truly love most in his heart?

She hadn’t forgotten what Lian Yu said – that she wasn’t even one part as good as A Luo.

She feared nothing on earth, yet didn’t dare ask him: since she wasn’t as good as A Luo, did that mean he also loved A Luo more than her?

She frowned, her lips moving several times, but she could never ask.

“I know what you’re thinking. Sometimes I feel I truly understand you.”

“To me, you’re far from being as good as A Luo, but you are you. A Luo is a time I can never return to, while you – I think, I’m certain – you’re the person I want to spend my life with.”

Lian Yu spoke word by word in her ear.

She trembled all over at the certainty in his tone, suddenly half-rising to stare at him wide-eyed.

Lian Yu’s gaze was deep and steady, staring back at her intently without a trace of hesitation.

“Now can you tell me your true background? Are you really a descendant of the Xia family? Who exactly was that man in your heart originally?”

Suzhen saw his gaze sharpen to become extremely keen, and the muscles beneath her tensed. At this moment he was like a dangerous, highly aggressive leopard. Her heart had been wildly excited, but suddenly became infinitely bitter. How should she answer him?

Tell him her background directly – it was time, wasn’t it? They’d already reached this point – what couldn’t be said?

But would he hold a grudge against Li Zhaoting?

Moreover, she and Li Zhaoting had taken the imperial examinations together and now both served as officials. Could he believe they truly had no improper intentions? She was certain he wouldn’t harm her, but Li Zhaoting, who had originally been engaged to her and was now a key member of Quan’s faction – wouldn’t he transfer his anger?

That would be a mortal disaster!

She was desperately anxious – she didn’t want to hide anymore!

Could she tell him her background first and make up something about Li Zhaoting?

No, impossible!

She immediately rejected this idea.

Once he knew she was Feng Suzhen, Li Zhaoting could never be hidden.

Li Zhaoting was already famous throughout the realm, and his engagement to Feng Suzhen wasn’t secret. If she told him she was Miss Feng, it would be equivalent to telling him her relationship with Li Zhaoting.

What should she do? How could she avoid deceiving him while hiding Li Zhaoting’s involvement?

In the past, when Li Zhaoting was watched eagerly by county girls, she always fantasized that if someday a wonderful man fell in love with her and made Li Zhaoting jealous and angry, it would be so exciting!

Now the situation was reversed, but she’d finally encountered it – why wasn’t it fun at all like she’d imagined!

“Mm?”

Lian Yu propped himself up on his elbow, looking at her leisurely, but his gaze was burning and bright, the heat and sternness in his eyes almost burning a hole in her body.

Suzhen was frantic with anxiety, cursing inwardly. Facing an opponent stronger than herself in this “look, I told you everything without reservation” situation, all her schemes were useless. She prayed: Help me, Father! If your spirit is watching, please save me! Tomorrow I’ll roast a whole pig to honor you!

“Your Majesty, are you… asleep?”

Whether the ghost of Imperial Consort Feng really heard her, Xuanwu’s anxiously bitter voice outside the door saved her – ten times more bitter than hers: “Miss Gu is outside the palace… requesting an audience.”