Xiao Cheng’s eyes were slightly closed.
The light in his eyes was dark enough to be frightening.
Feng Yun: "I have already defied the heavens and changed my destiny, what more could I want from you?"
Gazing at the storm swirling in Xiao Cheng’s eyes, she smiled faintly, her words neither warm nor fiery.
"Though I have never fancied you, I still gave you a chance. Xiao San, it was you who did not cherish... the Feng Shi Er Niang of that year."
Every word was like a needle.
Each needle hit the mark.
Striking right at the throat.
The Feng Shi Er Niang of her girlhood was madly in love with him. This was Xiao Cheng’s only comfort...
But even this, Feng Yun was not willing to offer him.
She had overturned everything from before.
The girl who waited loyally for her beloved in Yueya Cang, her bashful and flustered smile, her steps exuberant like a frisky fawn...
Those monts that belonged to them, without Pei Jue’s involvent.
She denied them completely.
Again lifting the cup of wine, she tilted it slightly and cleanly poured it onto the wooden table.
"Spilled water is hard to retrieve. The sa goes for us."
"Ayun..." Xiao Cheng reached out and grabbed her hand, enveloping both her hand and the wine cup in his palm, holding them tightly.
"The spilt wine can be refilled."
He forcibly straightened Feng Yun’s wrist, repositioned the wine cup, and poured wine into it once again.
"Look, it’s the sa wine, just as fragrant and intoxicating."
Feng Yun: "It’s not the sa cup from before. Once spilled, it’s spilled. Why deceive ourselves?"
Xiao Cheng’s eyes were bloodshot, as if they were about to bleed.
Slowly, he loosened his grip, then circled the table, squatted in front of Feng Yun, half-kneeling on one knee, his voice hoarse.
"Ayun, it was not that Xiao San of the past was unwilling to cherish you, nor was he heartless or faithless, forgetting the marriage vow he made with you. It’s just that the Xiao San of that ti had not yet spread his wings, was in a difficult situation, and had to wait for the right ti to be able to take you as his wife..."
He had never said such words to anyone before.
However harsh, he had never bowed down.
Yet, for the first ti in front of a woman, he lowered himself, and tears ca falling.
"You lost your mother, I lost my parents."
"At that ti, I too was walking on thin ice, living in hell. How could I dare to drag you to death with ?"
In the whirlpool of the power struggle, people’s hearts were like ferocious beasts, murdering brothers, killing fathers, fighting against kin; no one could keep themselves untainted.
Feng Yun believed the tears that Xiao Cheng shed at this mont were real.
But they were not for her.
They were for himself.
For the lonely young man of the Jingling Royal Residence.
For the Prince of Jingling who, amid sibling rivalry and treachery, climbed to the apex of power over heaps of white bones.
He had his own suffering.
He would get tired.
But it was not her doing.
And her pain, it was all related to him.
Actually, this wasn’t the first ti Feng Yun saw Xiao Cheng in tears.
There had been one ti in her previous life...
The only ti.
When she gave birth to her youngest son Yuchu, it was a difficult birth.
Escaped from the clutches of the King of Hell after coming nine deaths and a hair’s breadth from losing half her life...
As the child was born with a cry, Xiao Cheng was holding the child with one hand and embracing her with the other, crying for joy.
n do not shed tears easily, let alone emperors...
Feng Yun was once moved by those two streams of tears.
Unfortunately, as she kept retreating step by step for him, he persistently pressed on, not treasuring her any extra for having cried, nor for almost losing her...
He personally ruined her love.
As well as her life.
"Ayun..." Xiao Cheng choked up, never before had he felt as weak as he did today, "I’m here to pick you up. Let’s go back and look at the silk trees together, okay?"
Feng Yun listened and then laughed.
"You wish I was dead, don’t you? Don’t make it hard for , or for yourself."
Xiao Cheng gripped her hand tightly, "Are you afraid of Pei Jue?"
Feng Yun’s gaze sharpened, and with a slight smile, she said, "Yes, you’re in Jin Land, how can you take with you?"
Xiao Cheng said, "If you’re willing. Ayun, just nod, and I will take you away from Jin Country imdiately."
Feng Yun coldly laughed, pushed him away, and withdrew her hand from his burning palm, her tone chilly.
"Do you really want to be with ? I’ve been married, and that doesn’t matter to you?"
Xiao Cheng shook his head, his voice hoarse, "I don’t care. As long as I can be with you, I’ll do anything..."
"Good." Feng Yun stared at him indifferently.
"I’ll give you one more chance."
Xiao Cheng’s eyes lit up, only to hear her say: "Abdicate imdiately, decree throughout the four seas, let everyone know, you willingly beco the... secondary husband of Feng Shi Er Niang. From now on dedicate yourself to , forsaking political affairs, and give up the throne."
Xiao Cheng’s pupils shook with shock.
He had never heard such a rebellious and unconventional proposition.
"And..."
Feng Yun smiled faintly, emphasizing each word seriously.
"Even if Pei Jue bullies you, beats you, I might scold you, and you must never regret it, willingly serve , without seeking a status..."
"Ayun..."
"I’m not that cruel and ungrateful." Feng Yun stared at his face, her lips slightly curling.
"The Third Young Master Xiao’s beauty surpasses that of Nanqi, fad far and wide, such glory and handsoness, I, a mortal, am naturally also tempted by beauty..."
"As long as I live in Changn, I will support you, and you will never worry about food and clothing. You will have servants you can order around freely, but these servants will only be loyal to , follow my commands."
"If I feel like it, I would also grace you with my presence, but you can’t resist, regardless of how you feel, whether happy or not, if I want you, then you must give in to , otherwise, it will be seen as disloyalty to the wife and you shall be punished..."
"Of course, I won’t lift a finger myself, I’ll just ignore you, leaving it to Pei Jue, or any of my lovers, to manipulate and insult you behind the scenes because you’re not a Jin person, and here, it’s only fair for you to suffer so grievances."
"For , you have to endure everything. Otherwise, I will doubt your love for ..."
"Should one day, your luck turns sour, and soone ends up playing you to death, that would be your fate."
As she spoke, she began to laugh.
That laughter was a few degrees uglier than crying.
"So, do you still want to be with ? Third Young Master Xiao?"
Xiao Cheng’s heart thundered, he was utterly astounded.
How could she co up with such mad and chaotic words?
And how could she speak them out loud...
"Are you scared?"
"Or unwilling?"
"It seems your love isn’t worth much after all..."
Feng Yun’s eyes held a cold smile, pressing in step by step.
"You can’t do it, Xiao San."
"You have strived all your life, so in love with power, after ascending the throne you wielded supre authority, above tens of thousands, how could you give up your magnificent realm for a woman?
"Power is so enchanting, not just for you but for too. Having tasted power, you want to return to being a confined wife, a bird in a cage? Relying on an intangible, untouchable bond of affection to sacrifice myself for a man... Ha, are you the fool, or am I?"
Xiao Cheng fell silent.
For a long ti, he was unable to regain his composure.
His throat tight, his eyes reddened, his tears not yet dry.
But he couldn’t say a word...
Not a single word.
In fact, he had thought of many ways to take back Feng Yun, "not hesitating to fight" as Pei Jue had said, he had thought of it and done it.
Let it be a loss.
If he died on the battlefield, then Shi’er Niang would rember him for her whole life.
The dead are irreplaceable.
Just like her.
Dying in his past life, she beca the pain of his whole life. From then on, she would stay forever there, irreplaceable by anyone—including the stranger that is Feng Yun in front of him.
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