Chapter 74
Chapter 74
Weiqing Song did not understand.
In storybooks, the male lead became jealous while the heroine remained oblivious. Misunderstandings and tension stretched between them until he could endure no more and confessed his true feelings. They bared their hearts and lived happily ever after.
Why, when it happened to him, did he receive a personal attack?
Worse, she had attacked his character design, as Shengsheng would call it.
Shengsheng herself knew nothing of his grievance.
“If I remember correctly, San reported that there were two of you.”
Weiqing became angrier.
There was even a third man?
“Am I alone not enough to satisfy the Chief?” His voice cooled.
Shengsheng fell silent.
Why did that sound so strange? Had the filthy lock corrupted her mind?
Now she was truly troubled. Heaven knew why Weiqing had come looking for her.
She absolutely could not let that black-hearted creature discover Dafu Zhou Jewelry.
With that thought, a soft laugh escaped her.
“My apologies. Mount Liang is no longer accepting recruits. Please return wherever you came from.”
*Leave. Don’t make me beg you!*
Dafu Zhou Jewelry?
After hearing something interesting, Weiqing contemplated for two seconds. Then his gaze settled on the tall man to Shengsheng’s left, and darkness flashed through his eyes.
Shengsheng Zhou, you would rather keep Siran Ming beside you than see me?
Very well.
“Then I shall not impose. Farewell.”
He tightened the reins and turned the carriage around.
Shengsheng, who had prepared for an elaborate battle of wits, stared.
Why did he look angry?
Someone tugged lightly at her.
She looked up into Siran’s deep, black eyes.
“Shengsheng, shall we go back?”
He did not know the green-robed man–Song Something-or-other–but instinct told him the stranger was not simple.
Was he another person who knew Shengsheng’s true identity?
The sudden sense of danger made irritation churn within him.
Shengsheng watched the carriage recede in the opposite direction. Her feelings were complicated, but she indulged Siran.
“Let’s go.”
The beauty trailed two or three paces behind, looking dejected.
She had been unable to enter their conversation at all. Her presence had felt superfluous.
The thought saddened her further.
“Beautiful? Hurry up.”
The tender voice came from ahead. The little girl had stopped and turned. Her lovely, black-grape eyes reflected the woman’s figure.
The beauty smiled. “Coming.”
* * *
A carriage sped along the rugged mountain road. Its driver was plainly in a foul mood. Despite the dangerous terrain, he never slowed.
“Weiqing, are you truly that angry?”
A languid voice with its distinctive lingering cadence came from inside.
The driver did not turn. “So you finally decided to come back?”
The other man only smiled. “I went to investigate something.”
His continued calm drained the anger from Weiqing.
“Do you truly not care?”
The object of the question was vague, yet the other man understood at once.
Instead of answering, he asked, “What about you? Forgive my bluntness, Weiqing, but your feelings came from nowhere.”
Weiqing frowned. “Not entirely nowhere. She is interesting. She differs from ordinary women, even the ones in storybooks. Is that not enough?”
Weiqing Song loved all things interesting.
From childhood, he had been taught that the future emperor must become an enlightened ruler. He must be reserved and restrained. He must never allow others to read his emotions. He must believe in the Buddha and convince the world that today’s Crown Prince would become a benevolent sovereign.
But was that truly him?
It was not.
He wished he could be like Siran Ming, who remained ruthlessly himself even when denounced as a tyrant–brutal in method, but efficient.
Weiqing could not.
His father’s teachings and his mother’s expectations shackled every limb, leaving him unable to move.
Then an accident left him wandering alone in a distant place, where he met Fusheng Duan.
There, he could reveal his true nature, play without restraint, and do whatever he pleased. It was perhaps the happiest time of his life.
After returning to Zhen, he resumed his former mask.
He loved storybooks. He loved characters who defied convention for vulgar romance. He loved emperors who did not strangle their own desires out of concern for every living creature.
How free they were.
Then Shengsheng appeared.
Weiqing did not know what she was fighting for. At first, he felt only curiosity.
Later, he began wondering what she truly wanted.
Despite possessing all manner of bizarre abilities, she remained bound by the plot. Her lively mind stood in stark contrast to her rigid actions.
She did not have to obey. She did not have to endure.
Yet she chose both.
The sight of her desperately resisting, struggling to break some invisible restraint and win her freedom, was impossible to ignore.
Because of her, even Weiqing began doing things openly that he had never dared before.
The lie he told his father about an illegitimate daughter remained absurd even now.
He knew his father must have recognized the nonsense, yet the emperor had not exposed him. That rare indulgence made Weiqing realize for the first time that perhaps his father was not as harsh or severe as he had imagined.
Fusheng offered no opinion on his explanation.
Shengsheng was certainly interesting.
“There is something wrong with Siran Ming.”
At the shift to serious business, Weiqing pulled himself free of his memories.
* * *
Deep in the quiet night, Shengsheng allowed Siran to use her room while he recovered and chose another for herself.
To prevent a certain someone from climbing into her bed at midnight, she placed a lock outside the door–and installed it directly in front of Siran.
He had followed her before. He knew the “charms” of that wretched lock.
Of course, this was not the same lock. Shengsheng had not become so muddleheaded that she would hang that filthy butthole lock outside her own room.
Ah, wait. She knew what you wanted to ask.
Why would anyone lock a door from the outside?
Because this was a magical lock its owner could control at will by chanting a spell.
Do not ask questions. It came from their old friend, the magic world.
Shengsheng hugged her pillow and slept soundly.
Suddenly, something cold touched her cheek.
Her eyes opened without hesitation. She rolled upright and found herself staring into a pair of smiling eyes.
Seeing the candle that had somehow been lit on the distant table, Shengsheng drew a deep breath to steady herself.
She knew it!
She leaned her head beyond the edge of the bed and looked up.
Unsurprisingly, a large hole gaped in the roof.
Was this karmic retribution for her earlier entrance?