Free Web NovelChapter 67: Chapter 67: Her Identity Was Seen Through Long Ago
Mo Lingling said, "Are you trying to fool me, young sir? How could such a good person exist in this world?" fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Ji Qingwu immediately offered a compelling example.
"They do. For instance, take the gentleman before you. If a man like him exists, how could a woman like that not?"
Mo Lingling stared at Emperor Wu Su.
His dashing, handsome features went without saying; he was the center of attention wherever he went.
Even when he deliberately restrained it, his powerful aura exuded an oppressive presence that was impossible to ignore.
At Liangxiang Pavilion, she had seen many imposing court officials, but none could compare to the sheer pressure this nobleman exerted with a single glance.
Mo Lingling lowered her head in disappointment. ’So people like that really do exist.’
Ji Qingwu nodded. "There’s always someone better out there. Miss, there’s no need to feel ashamed."
Seeing them dare to discuss the Emperor, Duan Mingfeng roared, "How dare you be so insolent in His Majesty’s presence!"
This overreaction was unlike the Imperial City Deputy Historian. Emperor Wu Su glanced at him, his expression calm.
"An old acquaintance?"
After a moment of stunned silence, Duan Mingfeng lowered his head and affirmed it.
Emperor Wu Su stood up and said coolly, "Ming Feng, escort Miss Mo back."
"But I must protect..."
"It’s fine."
Duan Mingfeng accepted the order, strode over, grabbed Mo Lingling’s arm, and began dragging her out as if he were hauling a prisoner to their execution.
Mo Lingling, not giving up, looked back and shouted, "Young sir, just take me in! I’ve set my heart on you!"
Hearing her continue to pester them, Duan Mingfeng’s expression darkened. He was already considering knocking her unconscious and carrying her away.
Ji Qingwu also stood up, looked toward Emperor Wu Su, and said softly, "Sir, please help her."
’The woman is pregnant, after all. Duan Mingfeng is just dragging her away without an ounce of tenderness.’
"Help her how? Help you take her as a concubine?" With a tug of his long arm, Emperor Wu Su pulled Ji Qingwu in front of him.
He looked at the snow-white lapels of her robe and asked, "Has your wife at home agreed to this? Why are you asking me instead of her?"
’Wife...’
Ji Qingwu was speechless. It was just an excuse she’d given Mo Lingling. She didn’t have a wife. Of course, she was asking him—because he was the one with power.
Emperor Wu Su slowly approached her, his pace unhurried, his eyes filled with a probing curiosity.
She instinctively took a step back, a trace of panic rising in her heart. Whenever they were alone together, she was always utterly defeated.
「At that same moment.」
As she was being dragged by Duan Mingfeng, Mo Lingling clung tightly to the staircase railing, looking back with pleading eyes at the wonderful young sir who had captured her heart.
Then she froze, stunned. She stopped struggling and was dragged off balance, stumbling and falling to the floor.
Seeing her sitting on the ground, staring blankly upstairs, Duan Mingfeng also turned to look.
He saw the handsome young sir in the turquoise robes and his own master. One was retreating in a fluster, while the other was advancing without restraint.
This continued until the young sir’s slender, pale neck was seized, his slight frame left with nowhere to run, pinned motionlessly against the wall of the private room.
The scene was enough to make one’s face flush and heart race.
Mo Lingling’s knees hurt a little from the fall, but her mood had improved. She mumbled, "So he’s a cut-sleeve. It’s only normal he’s not interested in me."
’She dares to call the Emperor a cut-sleeve!’ Duan Mingfeng clamped a hand over her mouth and warned in an icy tone, "If you want to live, shut your mouth and pretend you saw nothing."
「The atmosphere between the two upstairs.」
Was not nearly as romantic as it appeared to outsiders.
Emperor Wu Su concealed the emotion in his eyes and asked nonchalantly, "That female servant from the brothel, what did she call you?"
With the back of her neck in his grasp, Ji Qingwu felt a sense of crisis, of being completely controlled by him from head to toe.
She answered properly, "Young sir."
Those two words held no particular emotion, but to the man’s ears, they sounded inexplicably pleasant and soothing.
Emperor Wu Su’s gaze traveled down from her collar as he asked with great interest, "Which family’s young sir are you? State your name. Let’s see if I know you."
Ji Qingwu couldn’t keep making things up, or she would have to spin countless lies to cover this one.
She could no longer play dumb. She gave a dry laugh and said, "Your Majesty, your eyes are so sharp to have seen through my disguise in a single glance."
Emperor Wu Su’s gaze roamed her face. "What I saw through was more than just that."
His words were laced with deeper meaning.
Ji Qingwu’s eyes quivered.
She knew she should follow his lead and ask what else the Emperor had seen through. He was luring her to seek the answer.
But could she bear the consequences of asking? She knew this day would come sooner or later, but she was still a coward.
Emperor Wu Su stared at her petal-soft lips, waiting for her reply.
Ji Qingwu’s hand clenched, relaxed, and then clenched into a fist again. Her face scrunched up.
She said nervously and cautiously, "I have a question I’d like to ask Your Majesty. Can Your Majesty promise not to get angry?"
"That depends on the question."
Emperor Wu Su reached out and caressed her face, his tone uncharacteristically gentle.
"However, since it is Ah Wu who asks, I will be more patient."
His gaze was so scorching that Ji Qingwu couldn’t help but lower her eyes.
Just then, she inadvertently glimpsed something.
Instantly, her pupils constricted, and a tidal wave of shock crashed through her heart.
Hanging from his robe was a jade pendant.
It was a lifelike little koi carp.
Her eyes began to burn. This was the jade pendant she had personally tucked into Yuan Heng’s brocade quilt. Jiu Jiu had an identical one; they were a matching pair of carp pendants Mrs. Qiao had commissioned for her.
Ji Qingwu’s lips trembled uncontrollably.
’This pendant... I left it for Yuan Heng, and he’s kept it all this time...’
Her gaze drifted slightly upward. The cord the pendant hung from was a five-color thread.
It was the very one she had woven with her own hands yesterday in the Diligent Governance Hall, while he held her down on the Dragon Chair.
He hadn’t worn it on his wrist. Instead, he had hung it on his person in this manner.
The five-color thread and the Koi Carp Pendant—both of them were hers.
Every one of Ji Qingwu’s eyelashes trembled, and the blood seemed to churn in her veins.
’The truth is, Emperor Wu Su saw through my identity long ago.’
’All this time, I’ve just been deceiving myself. He was waiting for me to reveal the truth on my own...’
But why hadn’t he flown into a rage as she had imagined?
Was he planning to punish her all at once after she walked right into his trap? Or did he have a special tolerance for the woman with whom he had spent a night of passion?
A flood of memories, of everything that had happened since she returned home, rushed through Ji Qingwu’s mind.
That verbal edict had clearly told her that the Emperor did not want Miss Ji to enter the palace as a concubine.
But now, he regretted it.
He wanted her.
So, what was it about her that he desired so desperately?
At the desk in the Diligent Governance Hall, she had seen that dark look on Emperor Wu Su’s face—it was a raw, unconcealed lust.
Emperor Wu Su had been on the throne for many years, yet he had only one Prince. Even the highly favored Princess Consort Wei had not borne him a single child.
At this thought, her heart clenched. Her fingernails unconsciously dug into her flesh, drawing crimson marks.
’It’s because he discovered the secret: that only I can bear him heirs.’
’All he wants is my body.’
Emperor Wu Su gently caressed her delicate chin with his thumb, urging, "Why haven’t you asked yet?"
Ji Qingwu took a deep breath, her eyes flickering incessantly.
