Chapter 19
Inside Yan Nuan Pavilion.
“Cough…cough…cough…” Song Beiyao got up from the bed, his hand covering his chest, coughing violently.
His face was still stained with tears; he raised his hand and wiped them away.
“Host, what’s wrong with you?” the system curiously asked. “Your luck value is now at -144! Why do you look like you’re about to die?!”
Song Beiyao gasped for breath, bending over, his head deeply bowed, like a fish stranded on a shallow beach. Only after a long time did he reply, “Special circumstances; I cried too hard just now; my heart is a little overwhelmed; I need some time to get out of character.”
The system asked again, “What does ‘getting out of character’ mean?”
“A professional term related to acting.” Song Beiyao finally recovered, went to the table, poured a glass of water, and drank it. “After getting into character, you must get out of character.”
“Oh, but what if you can’t get out of character after getting into character?” the system asked again.
“Getting too deep into the role, heh.” Song Beiyao chuckled, went to the door, opened it, looked at the fluttering snow outside, and said casually, “It depends on what kind of role it is; you might end up dead.”
The system: “Then you…”
“Me?” Song Beiyao slightly raised his eyebrow, curling his lips, “Of course I won’t, I’m an award-winning actor.”
—
In the original text of Zhu Lu Jiu Zhou, the significant event marking the intensification of the succession struggle was the visit of the Bei Qi envoy to the Great Zhou.
This event was supposed to happen a year later, coinciding with the Great Zhou Emperor’s rapidly deteriorating health. Bei Qi, as one of the powerful nations in the Nine Continents and a neighboring and allied country of the Great Zhou, visited at this time; ostensibly to seek a princess in marriage to maintain peace between the two countries, it was actually to probe the situation in the Great Zhou and prepare for a future invasion when the Great Zhou was in chaos.
Now, the Emperor’s deteriorating health and the visit of the Bei Qi envoy had both been brought forward.
This means that the most intense stage of the succession struggle has begun.
…
The next day at the Mao hour (5-7 am), Ling Feng got up early as usual and practiced his morning exercises in the courtyard of Yan Nuan Pavilion.
After practicing for a while, he saw the door of the main room open, and Song Beiyao came out. Ling Feng’s eyes widened: “You, you…”
“What’s wrong with me?” Song Beiyao found his dumbfounded look amusing.
“You usually don’t get up until the Chen hour; why are you up so early today?” Ling Feng mysteriously leaned closer. “Something’s amiss; confess honestly, is there some kind of secret operation?”
“No.”
It’s just that the days ahead won’t be peaceful; he needs to exercise a bit; if something really happens, he still needs some escape ability.
Song Beiyao walked to an open space, stretched his limbs, and stretched his waist. This body was young and had a foundation in martial arts; its flexibility and muscle explosiveness were quite good.
He then walked to the wall and tried to lift his leg and place it on the wall to stretch. As soon as he put his leg on the wall, a rush of blood surged through his chest and lungs, and his vision darkened. He held his leg and rested for a while, finding that it still didn’t work. His body wasn’t fully recovered; he couldn’t force it and had to give up.
Looking to the side, Ling Feng was staring at him dumbfounded: “No way, how can you do…” he extended both hands to gesture, “Put your leg up like that??”
“Oh, the splits? Can’t you do it?” Song Beiyao was puzzled; wasn’t this also a basic martial art skill?
“Of course I can’t! Why would I practice this? It hurts so much!” Ling Feng’s eyes scanned him up and down with laser-like intensity, incredulously saying, “Song Beiyao, did you practice this while learning martial arts?”
“Yes, I did practice this while learning dance.” Song Beiyao smiled.
He had practiced classical dance for nine years; if he hadn’t injured his leg and fractured his calf, unable to continue high-intensity dancing, he wouldn’t have switched to studying performing arts.
Later, he debuted, from obscurity to becoming famous and reaching the top; countless people wanted to uncover his past, wanting him to dance again; he only smiled calmly: “I haven’t danced for too long; I’ve already forgotten.”
No one knew that when he decided to give up dancing, he hadn’t been able to eat a single meal for a month, losing weight to the point of being gaunt.
Ling Feng didn’t know what came to mind, but the man suddenly stopped talking, his eyes drooped, and his expression was momentarily desolate.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Ling Feng waved his hand in front of him.
Song Beiyao quickly reacted, regaining his smile: “Nothing. Ling Feng, let’s go for a walk in the manor.”
The Crown Prince’s manor was vast; to be honest, he hadn’t really explored it properly. In the winter morning, it got light late; at this moment, only a faint blush appeared on the horizon; it wasn’t as dark as night, nor as bright as daytime; everything could be seen clearly, yet everything seemed dark.
The servants of the manor had already started their day’s work. Song Beiyao walked along the path; the servants who had seen him before would directly bow to him; those who hadn’t seen him before, upon meeting him, were first shocked and dazed, their eyes wide, and then bowed anxiously.
“What’s wrong with these people?” Ling Feng followed behind Song Beiyao, feeling bewildered. “Why do they all have the expression of having never seen the world before?”
“Because you’re too handsome; they’ve never seen someone so handsome,” Song Beiyao teased.
Ling Feng touched his face: “Is that so? Although I think so too…” He was about to be complacent, but then he thought again, turning his head and angrily saying, “Alright, Song Beiyao, you’re tricking me; you were standing next to me; why would they look at me?!”
He made a gesture to pounce, Song Beiyao chuckled and played along, running forward two steps.
At this moment, suddenly, “Clang!” Something flew through the air, flashing past, bringing a chill, and directly nailed to the bamboo in front of Song Beiyao.
Ling Feng quickly pulled him behind him: “Careful!!”
Song Beiyao took a closer look; it was a sword; the force was so strong that it completely pierced the hard bamboo. If the other party had intended to kill him, he would have undoubtedly died. Obviously, this was just a warning.
“Who dares to trespass into His Highness’s martial arts training ground!”
Qu Lan, following Pei Ji, leaped out from the bamboo forest, about to stop the outsider from trespassing; upon closer inspection, the person standing outside the bamboo forest was the consort.
As soon as he landed, he immediately bowed, “Greetings, Consort.”
“Did you throw that sword?” Ling Feng raised his eyebrows, raising his voice, “Do you know that you almost injured someone!”
“This subordinate…” Qu Lan slightly raised his eyes and looked at the bamboo forest; he couldn’t expose His Highness at this time; he could only stubbornly say, “Please forgive the consort; this subordinate didn’t know it was the consort.”
Song Beiyao saw the clue and said softly, “It’s alright; I don’t know the paths in the manor; I went to the wrong place and almost disturbed His Highness’s martial arts practice.”
He then said to Ling Feng, “Let’s go.”
Just as they were about to leave, a low voice came from deep within the bamboo forest: “Come in.” It was Pei Ji’s voice.
Qu Lan was slightly surprised; His Highness’s bamboo forest was never allowed to be entered by outsiders. He quickly reminded, “Consort, His Highness wants you to come into the bamboo forest to find him.”
“I understand.” Song Beiyao didn’t hesitate and stepped in.
Ling Feng also wanted to follow, but Qu Lan stopped him.
“What are you doing?!” Ling Feng frowned coldly.
Qu Lan didn’t answer, thinking, the consort is so intelligent; how can his attendant be so unobservant.
“Oh, I understand; you want to fight me, right?” Ling Feng pulled out the sword from the bamboo: “Guard Qu, your martial arts are so good; it’s not too much to let me have a sword, right?”
Qu Lan: “…”
The bamboo forest was deep; the bamboos around were tall and towering; the bamboo leaves were lush, blocking the few rays of sunlight.
All the way in, Song Beiyao didn’t see Pei Ji. Suddenly, the wind picked up, the bamboo leaves rustling; Song Beiyao subconsciously felt a cold light approaching from behind. As soon as he turned around, the sword point was aimed at his heart, suddenly stopping, only a hair’s breadth away from piercing; he had no room to dodge.
Song Beiyao was instantly startled; he looked up and saw Pei Ji in black clothes, his black hair tied up and fluttering in the wind; his face was hidden in the shadows, indistinct.
At this moment, he suddenly realized that if Pei Ji really wanted to kill him, it would be as easy as crushing an ant.
This was the absolute suppression of martial arts skill.
“Cough, cough, cough…” Song Beiyao seemed to be suddenly startled; after coughing a few times, he seemed to be exhausted and fell straight towards the sword point.
Pei Ji immediately retracted his sword; Song Beiyao fell into his arms.
“Stand up.” Pei Ji reached out to push him away; however, the person in his arms coughed heavily a few times and then fell silent.
He frowned slightly, his large palm resting on Song Beiyao’s shoulder, looking down.
A few rays of early morning sunlight penetrated the bamboo leaves and fell on this area. The young man in his arms had raised his head at some point; he was smiling at him, a mischievous look in his eyes: “My husband, were you worried about me just now?”
Pei Ji’s gaze traced from his picturesque eyebrows and eyes, down to his nose, and then to his smiling lips, swallowing, “You did it on purpose?”
Song Beiyao winked at him: “My husband intentionally tested my reaction; I also tested my husband; what’s wrong with that?”
The hand on his shoulder suddenly withdrew; Pei Ji turned and strode out of the bamboo forest.
Song Beiyao instinctively rushed forward, immediately steadying his steps; glancing at the gray number in the lower left corner that had dropped to -135, he curled his lips and hurriedly chased after him: “My husband, don’t you have any feelings for me?”
“No.”
“But I clearly see that my husband has feelings for me.”
“Shameless.”
—
Pei Ji was busier these past few days than before; Song Beiyao, apart from meeting him in the bamboo forest that morning, hadn’t seen him in the following two days.
At the end of January, Li Du was still freezing; the night before the palace banquet, Song Beiyao sat by the fire in the main house, warming himself with tea and admiring the snowy scenery; Ling Feng was dozing off with his chin propped up on his hand.
At this time, two young servants hurriedly stepped into the courtyard, each carrying a rectangular wooden tray, on which something was placed, covered with red silk.
The two walked to the door of the main house and said to Song Beiyao, “Consort, these are the clothes His Highness the Crown Prince personally chose for you; he wants you to wear them to the palace banquet tomorrow.”
Ling Feng, who was dozing beside him, fell heavily and woke up, muttering, “No wonder someone came to take your measurements the past two days.”
He stood up, went to one of them, and lifted the red silk: “Wow, these clothes…”
“Ling Feng, don’t be impolite; bring them in,” Song Beiyao said to the two young servants. “Thank you for delivering them; please tell my husband that I like them.”
“Yes, Consort.”
After the two left, Ling Feng said, “You haven’t even seen them yet; how do you know if you like them?”
Song Beiyao smiled and replied, “Whether I like them or not, they’re someone’s kindness; how can I disappoint them?”
“Tch, so meticulous,” Ling Feng brought the two trays over and placed them on the low table beside him, lifting the red silk.
He first took out the clothes from one of the wooden trays. A top and bottom, obviously an inner layer. “This white inner set is fine.” He put it back and picked up a dark red jacket from the other tray.
“This outer robe, look at this color; it doesn’t match you at all! I don’t understand why Pei Ji chose this.”
After saying this, Ling Feng immediately looked at Song Beiyao, wanting to get his agreement and complain together; unexpectedly, Song Beiyao was staring at the clothes in his hand, his eyes flickering slightly.
“Why, you wouldn’t like this, would you?” Ling Feng was incredulous.
“Let me see it.” Song Beiyao reached out to take it.
The texture was soft and smooth; the quality was excellent; this color wasn’t as bright as red, nor as dull as ordinary dark red; it was just right, dignified yet light. The cuffs and collar were edged with gold thread, adding a touch of brilliance.
Song Beiyao gently folded the clothes and put them back on the wooden tray.
A top fashion magazine had once commented on him, saying that he was a man who would look good even in a burlap sack, but wine red was the most complementary to his temperament. Like a gentle rose blooming at midnight, exuding a captivating fragrance in the tranquility.
Song Beiyao didn’t expect that Pei Ji had accidentally chosen this color.
