What could I do? My husband was a jealous jar with many ears and supernatural abilities. If someone were to be drowned in vinegar, it wouldn’t be you, would it?
Just as we reached an impasse, Mo Qu approached, clasping his hands and saying, “Madam, I am under my master’s orders to ensure that my master sees you. If you insist on leaving, I’ll have no choice but to press your acupoints and carry you in.”
I glared at him. As he moved, I shouted, “Stop! I’ll walk in myself.”
Mo Qu gestured for me to enter. I glanced at him and pushed the door open.
Before the embroidered screen depicting Luo Shui Xian, Yan Huo knelt, pouring tea for himself. Seeing me burst in rudely, he simply smiled, his eyes like a clear mountain stream, reminiscent of our first meeting.
He wore a dark red Zhu Zi deep robe and an ink bamboo hairpin, unlike the gorgeous robe adorned with blue sapphires from before. I disliked this “just like back then” feeling, as if he were deliberately making me recall details from our first meeting. However, the Zheng Huo of the past, now Yan Huo, was not the gentle merchant’s son I once thought, but the Emperor of Xi Liang whom I had never truly understood.
I bore him no grudge nor regret; I just felt strange.
He maintained an expression as if reuniting with an old friend, softly saying, “Thirteen, I’ve finally seen you again.”
I kept a straight face and formally greeted him, “This concubine greets Your Majesty.”
“Thirteen…” Sadness filled his light brown eyes.
“Your Majesty, I am already married. It might be inappropriate to continue using the old form of address,” I replied irritably. His every move felt ambiguous—did he really want to rekindle old memories?
My heart became complicated. I didn’t expect that Xia Zhiqian’s stories about me had spread to Xiliang, and that I beating her up had circulated throughout the Three Kingdoms. No wonder even Princess Nan Rui was looking at me strangely.
Yan Huo pondered for a moment and softly asked, “I’ve heard that Lord An has a reputation for being dissolute. Xiao Yao, are you truly doing well?”
