HomeAfter I Bloom Hundred Flowers DieChapter 607: Am I Truly So Important to You?

Chapter 607: Am I Truly So Important to You?

On the long table, plain white porcelain shone like jade, elegant and refined.

A few white peonies drooped in the vase, adorned with dewdrops, creating an elegant and pleasant scene.

Just like Shen Xihe’s sideways glance at him, it contained no impurities, all emotions visible.

Whether in the past when she was guarded against him, or now when they could be called honest with each other, Shen Xihe never disguised or concealed her emotions.

He could see her thoughts at a glance and smiled gently: “I did deliberately involve you in state affairs, but not for the reasons you think. I know your greatest concern is that human hearts can change and that once I hold great power, it might be disadvantageous to you or the Northwestern Shen family. I thought if I shared everything in my hands with you, perhaps it would set your mind at ease.”

In guiding Shen Xihe to understand more about court affairs, Xiao Huayong did indeed have some preparation for the future – if one day he was gone, she wouldn’t be overwhelmed. But more than that, it was as he said: the best reassurance was letting Shen Xihe hold power.

As long as she held great power, she naturally wouldn’t worry about or guard against him.

These words fell like light feathers on Shen Xihe’s heart lake, creating barely visible ripples.

“Aren’t you afraid that my ambitions might grow and become disadvantageous to you?” Just as she couldn’t be certain that Xiao Huayong wouldn’t be corrupted by power and wealth in the future, becoming unrecognizable, who could trust that she wouldn’t be the same?

This dynasty had once had an Empress, and throughout history, countless women loved and monopolized power.

“I trust you,” Xiao Huayong’s dark pupils held a gentle smile like thin mist. “You’re not that kind of person.”

Shen Xihe couldn’t help but laugh, her laughter containing a sense of Xiao Huayong’s naive misunderstanding: “Beichen, many great villains in this world once had beautiful, kind aspects. Their transformation into monsters happened step by step.

Right now, though I’m not an evil person, I’m not a good person either.

In the future, I don’t know what I’ll encounter, whether I’ll remain the same, or… become grotesque.”

“As I said before, if one day you change, it must be my fault. Paying the price for that would be getting what I deserve.” Xiao Huayong’s eyes still sparkled with spirit.

Shen Xihe sighed inwardly. Looking at Xiao Huayong, she couldn’t help but be momentarily lost in thought. After an unknown time, she couldn’t help but voice the doubt hidden in her heart: “Am I truly so important to you?”

She really couldn’t understand what she had done to make Xiao Huayong so infatuated.

They say heroes can’t resist beautiful women, and Shen Xihe didn’t deny her charm, but in her understanding, someone like Xiao Huayong with his intelligence and methods should be commanding thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, pursuing grand ambitions to reach the throne.

She didn’t deny that Xiao Huayong was human and could have romantic feelings, but he shouldn’t be this romantic.

She finally asked this question, and Xiao Huayong couldn’t help but let out a low laugh from his chest. He sat down beside Shen Xihe: “I know how you see me, but you underestimate me.”

“Underestimate?” Shen Xihe didn’t understand.

“Those things you mentioned, though not effortless for me, aren’t difficult either.” Xiao Huayong said these breathtakingly arrogant words in a calm tone. “I was born to wealth and privilege. If I want power, even His Majesty would become my blade. Though not an emperor, with a bit of thought I could enjoy an emperor’s power over life and death.

Compared to the throne, longevity is probably harder to obtain. I’m not one to be sentimental about spring and autumn; I’ve done my utmost to cure the poison.

In life, nine out of ten things don’t go as wished. Perhaps this is the only thing in my life that hasn’t gone as wished. These years, traveling thousands of miles, before meeting you, I viewed life and death very lightly.”

Having grown detached from power, wealth, life, aging, sickness, and death, how could he have any obsessions?

He was just seeking to live freely and contentedly in his remaining years.

“Until I met you. I can’t say exactly what’s so good about you, nor do I understand why I care about you so much, wanting to be with you, wanting to cherish you in my heart.

If you ask me what you did to fascinate me, what charm you possess that made me sink so deeply, I cannot answer.

Everything is just… following my heart.”

In his life, after coming to terms with life and death, he just sought to follow his heart freely.

Perhaps everyone has their exception, just as Daji was to King Zhou, Shen Xihe was his exception.

If he hadn’t been poisoned in childhood, constantly surrounded by power struggles, and hadn’t seen through so many joys and sorrows, perhaps he would have become the person Shen Xihe imagined – a young man full of grand aspirations and lofty ambitions.

If he hadn’t met Shen Xihe, perhaps he would have been like ordinary men, following convention, taking wives and concubines, living without interest, with male-female relationships being merely decorative, dispensable.

Shen Xihe still didn’t understand. She admitted that Xiao Huayong was no longer ordinary in her heart, his importance comparable to her father and brothers. But it hadn’t reached the point where she could abandon everything for him.

Xiao Huayong’s feelings for her seemed as though if anything happened to her, he would follow her in death.

But she wouldn’t. Without Xiao Huayong she would naturally be grieved, would recall their time together in the future, but wouldn’t die for him, nor would she become devastated and forget who she was because of his absence.

She didn’t understand, and Xiao Huayong didn’t press the matter. The current state of their marriage already satisfied him.

Every day since their marriage, he felt truly alive, not detached from the mundane world coldly watching people’s struggles, occasionally meddling out of malicious amusement, followed by endless lonely solitude like snow.

The next day, the women of the four great Northeastern families, led by the Shiwei Protector-General’s You family, came to pay their respects. Shen Xihe met this Third Miss You who was reportedly favored by His Majesty for marriage to Prince Lie, Xiao Changying.

Unexpectedly, Third Miss You didn’t have a large frame and didn’t look robust. However, being from such a place, she lacked the delicate petiteness of Jiangnan ladies and the gentle restraint of capital noble ladies. She was tall, with a heroic air between her brows, wearing a men’s style collared robe, her movements clean and efficient.

Seeing Third Miss You reminded Shen Xihe of Bu Shulin.

After exchanging greetings and some pleasantries, Third Miss You’s younger sister, who appeared innocent and charming with fair skin, unlike her sister, said with a naive expression: “The Crown Princess is different from what others say. The Crown Princess is cultured and gentle as a spring breeze, yet those people said the Crown Princess was deeply scheming and ruthless…”

“Fifth Sister!” Third Miss You couldn’t help but scold in a low voice.

Speaking like this, hadn’t she just told Shen Xihe that they had specifically inquired about her character?

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