Chapter 1974: Dragon and Phoenix: Finale

Li Guanyi’s voice fell into Li Zhaowen’s ears, and in an instant, Li Zhaowen’s right hand behind her back clenched slightly, her nails pressing into her palm. The slight pain made the skin of her palm pale, but it allowed the expression on her face to remain as composed as ever.

She examined the Emperor Qin in front of her, trying to find the appearance of his youthful self on that face. In the end, she only smiled slightly and said, “Your Majesty, you’ve come to the Western Regions, why not let me know so I could prepare a proper reception for you.”

Li Guanyi laughed and said, “If I hadn’t come, would you have come on your own?”

Li Zhaowen remained silent, her gaze shifted, and she naturally laughed:

“Your Majesty still has the leisure to discuss poetry at this moment, it seems.”

The Emperor Qin made no comment.

The fortune teller exclaimed, huddling with his stall, shivering at the side. Tu Shengyuan, tied up in the bushes beside, took a glance and instantly recognized this was the Yin Yang Family’s great sect master from the Academy, who sealed his memory again to wander the world.

Tu Shengyuan shook his head disdainfully.

How come the Yin Yang School is always full of jokesters?!

Hmph!

A bunch of fools who enjoy watching the fun, yet always end up becoming the entertainment themselves.

I’m not worthy to be in your ranks!

He lifted his head and then, like a caterpillar, stretched and contracted his body, attempting to sneak away silently. Unfortunately, back when Ling Pingyang wanted to bind Wen He and bring him back to Jiangnan, he developed an excellent technique for tying people, combined with the Thousand-Day Drunk and compound anesthetics, leaving Tu Shengyuan completely paralyzed and unable to escape.

Finally, he was grabbed by Wen Qingyu, which made him sigh. Well, there’s no escaping it. Helpless, he stopped resisting and started whispering in his heart to his late wife instead.

“My lady, it’s not like I wanted to see this gossip.

It’s this brat Wen Qingyu who insists on dragging me to watch it!

You, watching from the heavens, surely wouldn’t count this as me breaking our agreement.”

Tu Shengyuan didn’t resist much. Glancing over there, if his mouth wasn’t gagged, he would’ve probably made a ’tsk’ sound through the gap in his lips. But at that moment, he could only make the cloth stuffing in his mouth tremble slightly.

He watched the two people conversing leisurely, smiling with ease.

Everything conformed to decorum, nothing overstepped any boundaries. However, when he looked at the Duke’s gaze, it was already glued to the Emperor Qin. As they walked side by side, his right hand fingers behind his back gently tapped the railings along the way, rising and falling, as if a spring breeze caressing the willow.

Yet he still restrained himself within the bounds of etiquette.

Although adhering to the rites of lord and subject, the elaborate formalities, the affection in his gaze had not dispersed.

Tu Shengyuan understood eighty percent of it in his heart.

The man was contending with himself. Thought processes turned in his mind, and he concluded something almost right. Duke Li, born noble, so proud that someone like him won’t readily abandon the empire to return to the palace; yet, even so, the bond formed in youthful encounters, the unwavering devotion, couldn’t be let go either.

He wanted this and also that.

Unwilling to give up either.

This duke’s etiquette, the ceremony of lord and subject, is this Duke’s last protective façade of self-respect and pride. Underneath the façade is the most intense affection in the world.

“Tsk tsk tsk, tsk tsk tsk!”

Let’s see when your façade gets set aflame.

Tu Shengyuan couldn’t help tsking, but his voice couldn’t get out.

“Mr. Tu, did something come to mind?”

A gentle and sincere voice made Tu Shengyuan stiffen, as if he’d been spotted by a viper. He hadn’t intended to look, but couldn’t resist, slightly turned his head, seeing Wen Qingyu over there smiling at him.

Tu Shengyuan shook his head like a rattling drum, and Wen Qingyu didn’t press him, just leisurely watched the two over there, saying:

“Perhaps, it’s because of the Emperor and Empress.”

?!!!

Tu Shengyuan’s body stiffened, looking at Wen Qingyu like he’d seen a ghost when he said that.

It’s rumored that during the Emperor’s grand wedding, Duke Li didn’t attend. Changsun Wuchou’s face nearly cracked trying to smooth things over.

These two words, plus Duke Li and Empress Xue, so many things, youthful entanglements, yet Miss Yaoguang who stays at home doesn’t care. Duke Li, being an elite political figure from birth, a child of high-ranking officials, couldn’t possibly not care.

Especially since he’s a proud Divine General.

Tu Shengyuan felt numb, feeling that today he hadn’t just said what he shouldn’t but also heard what he shouldn’t.

Isn’t this an omen for death?!

My lady, do you miss me so much?

Old Tu looked mournful as he saw Wen Qingyu with a slight smile on his lips, say, “I happen to have the most exciting and interesting storytelling under heaven, Uncle interested?”

Tu Shengyuan shook his head vigorously.

Wen Qingyu removed the cloth from Tu Shengyuan’s mouth, in a gentle and refined manner, said harmlessly, “Then I’ll just inform the Duke and the Empress of what you’ve heard today.”

Tu Shengyuan’s eyes went wide.

At last, with a sense of resignation and a slight feeling of dying, he laughed involuntarily.

“Damn it!”

Wen Qingyu continued, “I vow in the name of Wen Qingyu, and it’s the Emperor’s will too. It’s bound to be the most top-tier storytelling, regret for a lifetime if missed.”

Tu Shengyuan noticed that this time, this strategist used his real name with the Emperor Qin, so he hesitated and said, “You say it’s the most top-tier storytelling?”

Wen Qingyu said, “From ancient times to the present, the absolute pinnacle!”

Tu Shengyuan knew in his mind that not a word could be trusted from this guy’s mouth. He should be angry and decisively refuse, indicating that even if beaten to death, he wouldn’t agree.

The problem was, he had a mouth.

So he heard himself say, “Let’s hear it, then?”