Chapter 107: Then That’s How We’ll Settle Things
Until our hair turns white? Yu Xiaoxiao looked perplexedly at Gu Xinglang. Are there really husbands and wives who can stay together for a lifetime? The damned dog man who’d raised her had said he’d stay with her until they were both old. And the result? She’d died and ended up here.
Xianzong laughed coldly. “Even the best husband and wife will have someone that passes away first.”
Those who were fickle in love were usually coldhearted as well. They refused to believe that anyone could be with them for a lifetime, so they ended up with multiple loves to staunch the pain of losing any one person. Emperor Xianzong was obviously one example.
A young man like Gu Xinglang hadn’t had time to consider such issues. For a while, he was left dumbfounded and mute. Yu Xiaoxiao cocked her head to one side in thought before declaring, “In the future, I’ll die first and you die later.”
Hearing this, Xianzong grew anxious. “On what grounds?”
“If Little Gu left first, I’ll be sad,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied.
Xianzong was rendered silent.
Gu Xinglang tried to imagine losing Yu Xiaoxiao and felt a stab of pain in his heart. Yu Xiaoxiao felt his grip tighten around her hand–enough to cause pain–and looked up to see that his eyes were rimmed with red. She opened and closed her mouth before finally saying, “Forget it, you can die first. I can take it.”
Was there any humanity to those words? Xianzong found it hard to understand. He wanted to laugh, but the atmosphere didn’t seem right. For a moment, the emeror was left tangled in his emotions.
“I won’t make you sad,” Gu Xinglang said with a heavy look at his wife. “I promise you, I’ll only leave this Earth after you do.”
Yu Xiaoxiao stared at Gu Xinglang for a long while, her heart warm. She really wanted to hug and kiss him right then. “I like him!” she declared to Xianzong while pointing at her husband.
Xianzong nearly choked on his spit. You’ve already married him, so who else would you like besides him?
Gu Xinglang’s face reddened. Even though he’d been married to Yu Xiaoxiao for a while, he was still rather defenseless against her shocking words. Yu Xiaoxiao shifted to sit next to him and lied down in his lap, her voice filled with cheer. “Then that’s how we’ll settle things. You have to do what you promised me.”
“Alright,” Gu Xinglang looked down at the girl in his lap, his eyes dancing with a smile. “Then that’s how we’ll settle things,” he echoed quietly.
Xianzong felt that the whole scene was a distressful sight. Did they forget that the emperor’s sitting right next to them, ah? Look at them being so lovey-dovey. Does the sovereign still exist in their eyes? He began to cough with all his might.
Being interrupted in the middle of her affections annoyed Yu Xiaoxiao to no end. “Shut up!” she snapped.
Gu Xinglang didn’t even dare to look up at the emperor and simply pretended he didn’t hear a thing.
Seeing his own daughter curled up in Gu Xinglang’s lap like a cat, Xianzong couldn’t bring himself to curse them for acting like indecent lovers. He finally understood the meaning of the old adage, “sons and daughters are nothing but incurred debts.”1 Could he pretend that the empress and him never gave birth to this daughter?
Yu Xiaoxiao breath puffed past the back of Gu Xinglang’s hand, a little ticklish as it numbed him. Gu Xinglang couldn’t help using his fingers to stroke her hair. Despite her expressionless face, her hair was quite soft. He lost himself in touching the strands and was soon staring at her in a daze.
Yu Xiaoxiao turned over in Gu Xinglang’s lap. After coming to this world, she really looked at someone’s face for the first time. It wasn’t because he was handsome, but because she wanted to remember what he looked like. Gu Xinglang soon flushed under the attention but decided to joke, “Xiaoxiao, are you satisfied with my looks?”
Yu Xiaoxiao arched one of the prettily painted eyebrows that Zhao mama had drawn for her2 before she sat up to kiss him on the lips. “I’m satisfied.”
Xianzong felt like he was going to go blind!
Gu Xinglang played with strands of Yu Xiaoxiao’s hair while wearing a slight, warm smile.
Xianzong wanted to speak up before the hugging couple before him tried something even more stimulating. However, he didn’t get to start before the carriage rolled to a stop. The head commander of the shadow guards called out from outside, “Your Majesty, we’ve reached the palace.”
Yu Xiaoxiao glanced at Xianzong. “You should go home. We’ll go back too.”
Xianzong wanted these two shameless wretches to get lost, but he didn’t get to speak before Jing Zhong’s voice rose from outside. “Your Majesty?”
Yu Xiaoxiao sat up in Gu Xinglang’s lap. She was certain that damned eunuch was up to no good again.
“What is it?” Xianzong answered.
Jing Zhong’s forehead was covered in sweat as he stood outside. He had brought people to search the entire palace for the emperor and was preparing to send out a party of imperial guards to search the city next.
“He’s not saying anything, so you should just go in, ah,” Yu Xiaoxiao reasoned. “If there’s anything to talk about, wait until tomorrow. Do you need me to bring you back?”
Jing Zhong hadn’t want to bring up Consort Zhao’s matters in front of Yu Xiaoxiao. Like Consort Hua, he was certain that the eldest princess was to blame for Consort Zhao falling ill this time. However, when he heard that the princess was offering to bring His Majesty back to the palace, he began to suspect she wanted the emperor to not find out his consort was ill.
“Your Majesty,” Jing Zhong said immediately, “Consort Zhao has suddenly fallen seriously ill.”
The three figures in the carriage gave a start. Xianzong might be angry at the Zhao Clan, but he still held feelings for Consort Zhao. After recovering, he asked urgently, “What’s wrong with Consort Zhao?”
Yu Xiaoxiao didn’t want for Jing Zhong to answer. “She was sick to begin with, wasn’t she?” Can someone strong enough to survive two lightning strikes die from disease instead? Yu Xiaoxiao didn’t believe it.
Jing Zhong replied, “This servant doesn’t know the details.”
“I’ll go with you to see your mistress,” Yu Xiaoxiao told Xianzong.
Xianzong was too worried over Consort Zhao to bother with the mistress misnomer again. He ordered, “Enter the palace.”
The carriage rolled through the gates. Gu Xinglang said, “Your Majesty, is this subject going to see Esteemed Consort Zhao as well?” That doesn’t seem appropriate, right?
Xianzong finally remembered that his son-in-law was sitting in this carriage too.
Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Little Gu, you can just wait in the carriage. There’s nothing worth seeing about that wicked consort.”
Xianzong pointed a finger at Yu Xiaoxiao. “You, get lost for Zhen this instant.”
“I’ve already entered the palace,” Yu Xiaoxiao argued back, “So I might as well take a look at that wicked consort. Imperial father, my medical skills aren’t bad, ah. If that wicked consort’s pretending to be ill to gain your pity, I’ll definitely expose her! You don’t need to worry about being tricked.”
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