Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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At this time, the moon hung high above the city walls of the capital. It was late spring in Yan State, and the pear blossoms of Qiushan Mountain were already covering the mountains and fields.
The streets were brightly decorated and bustling with activity.
Because good news kept coming from the North, and people heard that the army had won a great victory, the frost disasters and hunger of the people in many places had greatly improved. As a result, the people were much happier than last year, and every household went out to release river lanterns, hoping to continue to live in peace and prosperity.
Su Xi looked at the familiar capital city, where she even recognized many of the cartoon characters’ faces, and the rouge stall was still there in the market just like last year.
And she felt a surge of emotions.
Last year, the state of Yan was not like this, as it was beset by internal and external troubles. Externally, it faced invasions from neighboring countries, and internally, it suffered from natural disasters. Even in the capital city, under the emperor’s nose, many people starved to death.
Although there were many people in the market, most of them were walking hurriedly in a state of anxiety.
Now, these ordinary people were much more relaxed, both inside and out…
The little one deserved a lot of credit for this.
Therefore, aside from the game’s single-minded goal of sending the cub to the throne, the cub was also suitable to ascend to that position and bring peace to the Yan Kingdom.
As Su Xi thought this, she glanced at the little cartoon characters, including Changgong Wu, who were still working diligently. As the cub’s farm gradually expanded to some prefectures and counties, Changgong Wu became increasingly busy.
Changgong Wu was very capable as an assistant, but he was not suited to be a manager. Fortunately, before the cub left the capital, he had the foresight to hand over the overall management affairs to Zhong Ganping.
At this time, the farms gradually expanded to dozens of locations, and the novel technologies of cold-proof sheds and greenhouses gradually took root in the Yan Kingdom, initially solving the problem of food shortages caused by disasters throughout the country.
Of course, improving the land by growing food required a gradual and step-by-step approach.
Hearing that the Zhenyuan army was about to return to the capital, Changgong Wu and others lit lanterns and held a victory banquet in their house outside the capital, joyfully waiting for Young Master Lu to return.
Although the officials in the Ministry of War who had served under Lu Huan didn’t show it on their faces, they couldn’t help but discuss Lu Huan’s great achievements in the army, speculating that he would likely be promoted upon his return. Their hearts were filled with mixed emotions— jealousy, but also genuine admiration.
Yun Xiupang was also very excited. He was looking around the mansion and kept asking his servants why the Zhenyuan army had not entered the city yet.
Su Xi glanced at the people she knew, feeling genuinely proud and happy for her cub. It had been a long and difficult journey for him to get to where he was now, having come here from being a concubine’s son in the Ning Wang’s mansion.
The cub’s friends were also Su Xi’s friends, but they didn’t know that Su Xi existed. Su Xi used to switch the interface to the Northern Territory when she logged in before. Now that she had returned to the capital with the cub, she couldn’t help but look at these familiar little people one by one.
Stealing a string of candied hawthorns from the market, Su Xi excitedly turned the screen to find the cub.
The army had just arrived in the capital and was currently encamped outside the city. They must wait for the emperor’s summons before they could enter the city.
Su Xi searched through the army’s tents but couldn’t find Lu Huan; he must have gone somewhere else. Su Xi then opened the map and found that Lu Huan was in the imperial palace, inside the Emperor’s Hall of Mental Cultivation.
What happened while I was gone all afternoon?
Su Xi was startled and subconsciously thought that the emperor wanted to do something to Lu Huan, so she quickly switched the interface.
As soon as she switched to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, she found that all the eunuchs and officials in the hall had been dispatched, and there were only two figures inside: the emperor talking to the cub.
The cub must have just arrived outside the capital with the army and was then brought here by the emperor’s men.
Su Xi went inside and saw that the cub was standing safely opposite the emperor in the candlelight, which put her mind at ease.
The emperor was only in his forties and not yet old, but the look in his eyes as he gazed at his son was full of vicissitudes.
The vast Hall of Mental Cultivation seemed boundless, and the little one’s figure was already taller and more upright than his.
Although he was the supreme ruler, sitting on that throne was also a kind of constraint, so much so that, in the flickering lamplight, Su Xi could see a hint of loneliness in his unfathomable expression.
Su Xi rarely saw the emperor’s face show any emotion other than majesty, anger, or unfathomable depth. Although she didn’t know what he was thinking at the moment, she felt that he seemed to want to take a few steps closer to the cub.
However, the distance between the cub standing opposite him was a very safe and distant one, like that between a ruler and his subject, so he clenched his fists and forcibly restrained himself.
The Emperor stared at Lu Huan for a while before finally speaking: “You look a lot like her.”
Lu Huan remained silent.
He had no memory of Consort Qing, and since everyone in the court was very secretive about her, he naturally couldn’t find out anything about her.
Because he had no memory of it, this sudden revelation of his past was like a floating duckweed in the wind to him; it may have stirred ripples in his heart, but it couldn’t leave any deep impression.
The emperor stared at Lu Huan, his eyes filled with complex emotions. After a moment, he said to him, “At court tomorrow, I will restore your status as a prince. Although I could not protect your mother from harm, I will certainly protect you from danger.”
The emperor spoke these words with utmost solemnity, almost as if each word were a promise worth a thousand pieces of gold.
Lu Huan felt a bit sarcastic. The first half of the sentence might be true, but the second half was not to be trusted.
Protect him? Although the emperor sits on the throne, he can’t even protect the woman he loves most, so how could he possibly protect him?
If he had protected her with all his might, Consort Qing wouldn’t have died such a cold and tragic death back then.
Moreover, now that his true identity had been revealed, the emperor must have other plans in mind, right?
For him, the only person who brought him a bright yellow lamp when he was in dire straits was the one who could be trusted.
Lu Huan remained expressionless and said, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
The emperor opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but the young man’s indifferent face showed a sudden realization. He paused, turned his back, waved his hand, and said, “Enough, you may leave.”
Lu Huan took his leave and turned to leave.
After he turned around, Su Xi saw the emperor sigh and stand alone in the Hall of Mental Cultivation for a long time, his figure somewhat lonely.
Su Xi didn’t know what happened back then, but at this moment, she felt that the emperor must have really liked the cub’s mother back then.
But no matter what the entanglements of the previous generation were, they were all in the past. It was the cub who was abandoned in the Ning Wang’s Mansion and suffered humiliation from childhood. Even if the emperor felt some guilt, he had never seen the cub’s quagmire in the Ning Wang’s Mansion and could never truly empathize with him.
Look, although he had decided to acknowledge his son back, he didn’t even know how his son suffered in the Ning Wang’s mansion.
He might know, but what he said to the outside world was that he raised the Ninth Prince at Changchun Temple from childhood. In order not to embarrass himself, he would not go against the Ning Wang’s Mansion under the pretext of “mistreating the prince”.
Thinking about it this way, Su Xi felt a pang of sadness, still feeling that the innocent child was the most pitiful.
The cub had already come out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation and walked through the Imperial Garden. Su Xi followed him and tugged at his sleeve.
Lu Huan seemed to sense something and opened the curtain to look at her through it. As soon as he opened the curtain, he saw her pouting and looking at him with worry.
Lu Huan’s jealousy, which stemmed from her going on a blind date and from seeing her head close to another person, vanished instantly.
Even after recognizing his father and mother, he received no affection whatsoever.
He only had her.
His life had two sides: a dark and burdensome side, like his roots, and a bright and benevolent side, like the straw that pulled him up. And that side was entirely her.
Su Xi didn’t know what Lu Huan was thinking, but she wanted to comfort him. So she thought for a moment, racked her brains, and said to him, “Look on the bright side. Becoming a prince isn’t so bad. At least we can go to the Imperial Academy openly and honestly, and we can show off in front of those two guys, Lu Wenxiu and Lu Huan. Plus, we can wear more luxurious clothes. The Emperor said he would protect you, so if there’s any conflict in the future, he should be a little more on your side.”
Lu Huan smiled and said calmly, “How much can we believe in the Emperor’s words?”
He strolled leisurely in the night, gazing up at Su Xi, and said, “A monarch possesses too much and faces too many temptations, and gradually loses his original intention. Perhaps when he first saw Consort Qing, he was momentarily amazed and then felt affection for her. But if Consort Qing were still alive, she might have become a widowed concubine like the others. It is because she is gone after the emperor had her but could not protect her. This guilt is what made Consort Qing the eternal white moonlight in the emperor’s heart.”
Seeing how insightful he was at such a young age, Su Xi found it somewhat amusing: “You speak so eloquently, but what about you?”
A monarch, a heartless emperor. The little one chose to continue the mission, to walk down this path; so, isn’t this very word his ultimate destiny?
Su Xi felt a mix of emotions.
She asked the question casually, but to her surprise, Lu Huan stopped in his tracks and looked at her from the pebble path amidst the pear blossoms in the garden.
Seemingly having guessed her thoughts, he couldn’t help but defend himself.
“I’m not like him.”
Lu Huan said in a low voice, “I’m different from everyone else. I only want that one.”
“If I can’t have what I want, then don’t want anyone.”
….
He tried his best to clearly convey the meaning of those words to Su Xi.
He gazed at Su Xi, his dark eyes seemingly containing a thousand unspeakable emotions in the night. This gaze, through the curtain, across a thousand years, fixedly landed on Su Xi’s face.
As if forcing Su Xi to confront this issue, his beautiful eyes stared at her intently, never looking away, like a deep vortex, making Su Xi inexplicably blush.
She felt as if there was a thin veil between them, and it seemed as if he had poked it for the first time.
Etc–
Su Xi suddenly remembered that a few days after returning from the Ministry of War camp, Lu Huan, who was still a little dumpling, was very awkward and his emotions were unpredictable.
At that time, in the courtyard of the Ministry of War, the candlelight under the eaves flickered yellow, and he said to himself: “If one day I meet another well-educated and virtuous woman, and I fall in love with her, would you still hope that I would get married and grow old with someone else?”
At that moment, Su Xi looked at his eyes, which were gradually losing their brightness, and felt that his question was inexplicable.
…But now, perhaps her mindset has quietly changed, and as she recalls it tonight, she finally notices the word “another” in his words back then.
Su Xi’s breathing suddenly became rapid, and her heart pounded like a drum.
Lu Huan stared at her, refusing to look away, as if he was determined to wait for a result, even if it took forever.
Although she tried her best to remain calm and not show any sign of it, her slender fingers clenched nervously inside her sleeve.
The author has something to say:
Su Xi: Wait, why does what I said a year ago seem to have a completely different meaning today!
Lu Huan: Because you treated me like a cub a year ago! (Sadly sticking a voodoo doll in his hand)
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