Free Web NovelChapter 174: Chapter 173: As Sweet as Honey
The County Princess Nanyan, who hadn’t left Prince Rui Mansion for years, knelt in front of the Princess Mansion, pleading for Li Luan’s life.
Princess Yunhua had hated her for years, but in the end, she still saw her.
"A life for a life," the princess said. "Since you left me, there’s no place for you by my side anymore. I don’t like things that have been touched by others."
Nanyan had no way back, nor did she want one. If she could trade her life for Li Luan’s, she had nothing she wouldn’t part with.
If back then her mother could have traded her life for her father’s, that self-slashing blade might have been quicker and more decisive.
Nanyan returned to Prince Rui Mansion, and after the Holy Emperor decreed that Li Luan would guard the Imperial Mausoleum forever, she dressed grandly and hung herself.
Porcelain dolls always break; it’s better to end it herself than have Princess Yunhua smash and destroy her.
Given a chance to live again, Princess Nanyan knew exactly what she wanted to do.
If unable to change Li Luan and Mu Lianhui’s marriage, she thought she would still choose to marry Li Xiang, as long as she could watch Li Luan from nearby, she didn’t care about anything else.
And fate finally favored her. If she couldn’t seize the opportunity, she’d truly betray heaven’s grace.
In the eyes of others, guarding the Imperial Mausoleum might be endless suffering, a fall from the clouds to the ground, but to Princess Nanyan, being beside Li Luan, whether in the regal Prince Rui Mansion or a humble farmhouse, as long as Li Luan was there, she found joy in it.
Du Yunluo tried hard to calm herself, saying, "Have you ever thought that in this life without Lady pleading to the Imperial Consort, without you trading your life before the Princess, would Prince Rui still have the chance to guard the Imperial Mausoleum?"
Princess Nanyan laughed, her eyes curved, dimples shallow: "Then I would still accompany him, live with him, die with him. I’ve endured those days of only watching him as a stepmother, what else am I afraid of? At least, I have eight years, even if it’s just eight days, I have no regrets."
Du Yunluo bit her lip tightly. Others wouldn’t understand these feelings, but she deeply resonated. Wasn’t she like this?
She wanted to save Mu Lianxiao’s life wholeheartedly, but whether she could succeed, Du Yunluo wasn’t fully certain; perhaps a single mistake would mean returning to the green lamp and old Buddha.
But so what, she dared to gamble, to fight, even if it meant being scattered to the bone, stealing three years five years was happiness.
Even knowing the road ahead was rugged, she still marched forward without looking back. In this regard, Du Yunluo and Princess Nanyan were very much alike.
The only difference was that Du Yunluo had the possibility of turning the tables, but Princess Nanyan did not. The path of rebellion chosen by Li Xiang and Li Luan wouldn’t stop, Nanyan was powerless to change Prince Rui and his son’s decisions.
That’s why Du Yunluo said she felt ashamed.
Princess Nanyan took a long breath: "These words have been pressing on my heart for a long time. No one has been able to speak them these years, having someone so similar to me, it feels like finding someone to talk to. Miss Du, what happened afterward? How long did you wait?"
Du Yunluo smiled faintly: "Fifty years. After he died, I lived alone for fifty years."
Though she smiled, her voice was neither joyful nor sorrowful, and even so, Princess Nanyan was deeply pained.
She left decisively, not enduring the loneliness of growing old alone. She closed her eyes, ending all pain, and upon reopening them, there was new hope, but Du Yunluo, on the other hand, waited fifty years.
In fifty years, many past events became ancient history, yet the person in her heart remained undying.
Princess Nanyan looked at Du Yunluo and said softly, "You see, I changed my whole life, you can too."
This kind of encouragement was more convincing than anything, Du Yunluo giggled.
"County Princess," Du Yunluo pondered for a moment, asking, "When did you realize? We hadn’t interacted much before, unknown to each other’s personalities, how did you know?"
This question wasn’t unexpected for Princess Nanyan.
She did not conceal and said, "It was in the Heavenly King Hall when you mentioned Duke Zhen Guo Mansion."
Du Yunluo was taken aback.
"The matters of Duke Zhen Guo Mansion are only known by the Empress Dowager, the Holy Emperor, the Empress, the Princess, and the Duchess, it being undecided, no word leaked, but you knew, so I suspected you were like me," Princess Nanyan said.
Du Yunluo pursed her lips: "Just based on that alone?"
"As you said, we had no contact before, so the details were all I had to grasp." Princess Nanyan paused and continued, "Others might not think of it, but I went through it this way, wondering if you were too."
Du Yunluo furrowed her brows, Princess Nanyan’s words made her see more clearly, but more than that, it was unsettling.
Seeing Du Yunluo’s serious expression, Princess Nanyan was surprised and asked, "What’s wrong?"
Du Yunluo closed her eyes, her hand at her side clenched then relaxed, over and over.
A thought repeatedly surfaced in her mind, her heart leapt to her throat, and such hesitation and contemplation lasted the time of burning incense, only then did Du Yunluo open her eyes.
Her apricot eyes were dark, the gentle radiance cool, floating with a shallow layer of brightness, yet still inscrutable.
Du Yunluo stepped slightly forward, almost whispering into Princess Nanyan’s ear: "In the Heavenly King Hall, when the County Princess said she hadn’t yet had the chance to offend Lady, in fact, decades ago, you had already thoroughly offended her, hadn’t you?"
Princess Nanyan’s eyes tightened suddenly, holding back a nearly uttered exclamation.
Mu Lianhui’s past hatred for her was something Princess Nanyan understood perfectly.
Regardless of whether Mu Lianhui loved Li Luan or not, he was her husband, her son’s father.
Nanyan’s thoughts could hide from heaven and earth, even Princess Yunhua didn’t understand until the end; otherwise, with the princess’s personality, how would she let Nanyan trade her life for Li Luan’s?
But Mu Lianhui couldn’t be deceived.
**** Living in Prince Rui Mansion, Mu Lianhui naturally felt Nanyan’s special affection for Li Luan, but she could only endure and suppress.
Tell Li Xiang, Nanyan didn’t care; Li Xiang at most would neglect her, but couldn’t strip Nanyan of her title as Princess Consort; tell Li Luan, it was self-imposed trouble. Even though they weren’t childhood sweethearts, since Mu Lianhui couldn’t determine if Li Luan ever had feelings for Nanyan during youthful ignorance, what if knowing sparked unusual emotions...
Bound by the identities of stepmother and stepchild, Mu Lianhui knew even if the two had feelings, they dared not act, but the discord remained.
If it were other concubines or consorts, Mu Lianhui would naturally suppress without mercy, but she was the County Princess Nanyan, the Princess Rui, her nominal mother-in-law.
Mu Lianhui didn’t need to worry about Nanyan and Li Luan ending up in the same bed, nor about Nanyan saying suggestive things; their interaction was just like stepmother and stepchild. Nanyan hid her intentions well, except for Mu Lianhui, no one else knew.
Mu Lianhui clearly understood Nanyan’s psychology: Nanyan feared nothing, except for Li Luan disliking her.
If Nanyan wasn’t afraid of Li Luan’s hatred, she would have pursued Li Luan instead of Prince Rui.
Yet Nanyan didn’t take action, merely watching Li Luan from a distance; Mu Lianhui couldn’t accuse, couldn’t suppress, she had no way but to endure the daily frustration.
