Chapter 78: Secrets

Due to the sudden assassination, the palace walls were almost cleared, with remnants of lanterns left in the attic by the rushing palace women.

Chaos ensued around Xuande Gate, and the Forbidden Army guarded vigilantly, yet no one dared to stop Ning Yin’s steps.

The night wind was bitterly cold, blowing down a sky full of stars.

Ning Yin carried Yu Lingxi onto the carriage of Prince Ning’s Palace. He then opened his cloak, enveloping her in his embrace, gently stroking her trembling shoulders.

The guards remained focused and asked, “Where does Your Highness wish to go?”

Ning Yin lowered his eyes and spoke warmly, “How about going to see the lanterns with Sui Sui?”

Yu Lingxi had no interest in the lanterns. She recalled the fiery human lanterns burning brightly in her past life, the desperate madness staining Ning Yin’s purple robe. Her throat tightened.

“Call the imperial physician to detoxify her.”

Yu Lingxi clutched Ning Yin’s garment tightly, her breath trembling. Ning Yin chuckled, gripping her hand, “I’ve been exposed to poison since childhood, different from ordinary people. This dosage won’t kill me.”

“Go and call the physician!”

Yu Lingxi, stubborn, raised her eyes, emphasizing her tone. The guards outside the carriage, upon hearing the resolute command from inside, subconsciously shivered. Since Prince Ning ascended to power, with his deep thoughts and ruthless methods, no one had dared to command him in such a tone. This young lady was indeed too reliant on favoritism.

The guards remained on edge, but Ning Yin indulged in a smile.

He lightly touched the bright flower ornament on Yu Lingxi’s forehead with his lips and said, “Back to the mansion, call the physician over.”

On the palace wall, Cui An was about to be beheaded by Yu Huanchen.

Unlike the Han people’s slightly wavy hair, his hair fell loose, adding a touch of gloominess to his fair face. Cui An was, after all, a eunuch, without the presence of the Empress, he lacked legitimacy, and his subordinates were in disarray. Only a few trusted followers were still resisting.

Yu Huanchen pointed his sword at Cui An, sternly saying, “The seven northern tribes have long been annihilated. Why do you have to cause chaos again?”

“If you saw your father being beheaded on the horse and turned from the son of a future general into a eunuch under the coercion of fate, would you also advise yourself like this?”

The night was as dark as ink, Cui An casually tidied his disheveled hair, “General Yu relied on killing my father and clan to become famous. Now his son comes to question me, ‘why’… Such noble sentiments.”

Yu Huanchen frowned, “My father was only following orders to quell the northern tribes. If your Cui family had not offered beautiful women to poison our late Emperor, how could it have caused the catastrophe of your clan’s extermination?”

“Karma, so I am avenging my people. What’s wrong with that?”

Cui An, with a smile that hung on his face all year round, finally revealed a bit of resentment. “In last year’s autumn expedition, your Yu family should have perished in the north.”

Thick as ink, the night concealed the Emperor’s arrival. With the escort of Ning Zizhuo and Yu Xinyi, he rushed to Xuande Gate and heard only this sentence from Cui An.

“Rebellion! All of them have rebelled!”

The Emperor widened his hazy eyes, choked with anger.

The trusted attendant he entrusted with important tasks turned out to be a lurking enemy general from a hostile nation!

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes and heard it with his own ears, he might have remained in the dark!

Cui An squinted his eyes. Only now did he understand that Yu Huanchen deliberately delayed and probed, allowing the Emperor to understand who the true traitor with “inside connections to foreign enemies” was.

“If I’m defeated by you, I have no complaints.”

Cui An raised his hands, took a step back until his back touched the palace wall’s railing, then stepped on it.

Before Yu Huanchen could intervene, Cui An had already jumped off the city tower.

He quickly adjusted his posture, climbed the intertwining lantern ropes, used the force of the ropes to cushion his fall, rolled to the ground. Then, he swiftly killed two Forbidden Army soldiers who were surprised and couldn’t retaliate, immediately taken away by waiting accomplices, blending into the dispersing crowd under the cover of the night.

Yu Huanchen heavily slapped the railing, his brows furrowed.

Yu Xinyi had Emperor settled, then approached, “We’ve already sent people to pursue; he won’t escape.”

Yu Huanchen wasn’t thinking about this matter. Even if he didn’t take action, Prince Ning’s people would never let Cui An go. He just didn’t expect that Cui An had been implementing his revenge plan from so early on.

If it weren’t for the unexpected severe illness last year, missing the Northern Expedition, he didn’t know what awaited the Yu family.

…

Ning Yin’s people acted swiftly. When they returned to Prince Ning’s residence, the physician, who feared for his life, was already waiting in the courtyard. Prince Ning’s residence didn’t have colorful lanterns; the only bright colors were the pairs of interlaced floor flower candle holders in the hall.

The physician obviously came prepared. After checking Ning Yin’s symptoms, he lazily said, “Although this poison is dangerous, due to His Highness’s special constitution, the inhalation is not much, and for now, it’s not considered fatal.”

The physician took out two black pills and handed them to Ning Yin.

These pills looked obviously bitter, and Yu Lingxi was about to pour water to help him take them when she saw Ning Yin pick up the two pills and chew them, swallowing them with ease. The pills, bitter enough to make one’s tongue feel dry, were enjoyed by him as if he was savoring some exquisite candy.

After taking the pills for about a cup of tea’s time, Ning Yin raised his hand to his lips, coughed out a mouthful of blood, and a trace of fresh red seeped from his nose.

Yu Lingxi’s breath hitched, “How can you still cough up blood?”

“Don’t be afraid, my lady. It’s good to spit out this poisoned blood.”

The physician wrote a prescription and handed it to Ning Yin, saying, “Two doses per day, continuously for seven days. After tonight, I will leave the capital and travel the world. Your Highness, please take care. Even a body immune to a hundred poisons can’t withstand such turmoil.”

After saying that, without much lingering, the physician left with his medicine box.

The attendants took the prescription and went down to brew the medicine, leaving only Yu Lingxi in the hall with her short and suppressed breath.

“Why are you crying?”

Ning Yin embraced Yu Lingxi, lifting his hand to wipe away her tears. In a low voice, he said, “This precious one, Lingxi, if you cry and harm yourself, even if I die ten thousand times, it won’t be enough to regret.”

Yu Lingxi endured all the way, but when she saw the fresh blood on Ning Yin’s lips, tears still uncontrollably overflowed. She wiped his lips with her sleeve, her voice choked and bitter, “But, I only have this precious Ning Yin.”

Ning Yin quietly looked at her. The candlelight in front shimmered, and the damaged wound in his heart was slowly healing, filled with a warm stream.

He smiled, a smile adorned with the bloodstains on his thin lips, appearing exceptionally exquisite and mad. “Do you know, Lingxi?”

Ning Yin gently touched the flower ornament on Yu Lingxi’s forehead with his forehead, noses touching. He softly said to himself, “I’m very happy tonight.”

In his tender voice, there was a sick satisfaction, as if he had finally obtained a rare treasure through the self-tormenting ordeal.

Yu Lingxi, with a thousand words choked in her throat, finally relaxed her body. Fortunately, after Ning Yin took the pills, there was no more nosebleeding.

He removed his clothes and soaked in the mist-covered hot spring. Gradually, his complexion showed signs of vitality. After a while, he stood up with a splash, the drops of water falling from his cold, white, and agile body, stepping out of the pool with wet footprints.

Yu Lingxi, who had taken off her shoes and socks, suddenly saw a waist-narrow and long-legged robust figure, causing her heart to skip a beat. She instinctively turned her face, pursing her lips, and said, “Did you know the Empress wanted to harm you?”

Ning Yin casually grabbed a black outer robe, sitting in front of Yu Lingxi. “To catch a big fish, one must use oneself as bait.”

Seeing her furrow her brows, Ning Yin laughed indifferently, “In any case, I won’t die.”

“Won’t die does not mean no one will care for you anymore?” Yu Lingxi glared at him, still feeling lingering fear, “Even with preparation, why didn’t you act sooner? You could have acted sooner.”

Ning Yin, with disheveled black hair and a thin black robe, made his cheeks appear unnaturally pale. Leaning against the chair, he thought for a moment and said, “Because I wanted Lingxi to worry.”

He had thought at the time: Lingxi’s heart is so soft; maybe if he made himself pitiful, she would never leave him for a lifetime. But seeing Yu Lingxi anxious and shedding tears, seeing her unhesitatingly stab the enemy with the dagger…

In the end, the one who was heartbroken was himself.

“Is it because of this?” Yu Lingxi couldn’t believe it.

Ning Yin remained silent, reaching out to pull her.

However, Yu Lingxi evaded his hand, staring at him for a long time. She bit her words and repeated, “You gambled with your life for this?”

She was a bit angry; she didn’t like Ning Yin’s indifference and neglect towards his own body. Perhaps sensing her displeasure, Ning Yin’s expression calmed down. Water drops by the pool dripped into the hot spring, making a faint and light ripple.

After a long time, long enough for Yu Lingxi to think Ning Yin wouldn’t explain, he opened his lips slightly, in a pale color, and said, “Because that woman hated me. The day she escaped from the palace…”

He only said one sentence and then sealed his lips. 

Yu Lingxi was stunned for a moment before understanding that the “woman” Ning Yin mentioned was probably his mother. This was the deepest secret buried in Ning Yin’s heart. In her previous life, he preferred to erase everything related to Concubine Li, unwilling to mention even a bit.

Yu Lingxi intuited that all of Ning Yin’s obsessions and pain were related to this sharp secret. The slight annoyance in her heart seemed to dissipate like smoke, leaving only a faint sense of melancholy and confusion.

Sitting on the couch, she looked at Ning Yin for a long time. Seeing that he had no intention of speaking again, she muffledly asked, “Can I lean on you?”

Ning Yin looked at her, the corners of his lips slightly lifted, and he tapped his knee with his fingers. So Yu Lingxi got up, lifted the pale lilac-colored skirt, and sat on Ning Yin’s lap, resting her head on his shoulder.

Ning Yin didn’t say anything, lowering his head to rub her hair with his nose, wrapping his arms around her. Yu Lingxi allowed him to bury his face in her neck. At this moment, the one who truly needed support was this little lunatic who gambled with his life.

“I was frail since childhood, so my mother devoted all her energy to taking care of me, teaching me to speak and read, and making clothes for me,” Yu Lingxi chattered and laughed, “She is the most gentle and considerate mother I have ever seen.”

“Is that so?” Ning Yin’s low voice came from beside her ear, “When I was born, that woman never looked at me because my body carried the blood of her husband’s murderer.”

Yu Lingxi pressed her face tighter against him, her voice lowering, “My nickname was also obtained by my mother’s plea to Cian Temple. She hoped I would be safe every year.”

“I also have a nickname,” Ning Yin chuckled, “Little beast, bastard… But most of the time, she didn’t bother to call me.”

Yu Lingxi circled his waist, unable to continue.

Perhaps because the ice was broken or because the warm fragrance in his arms was too comforting, Ning Yin continued on his own.

“That woman considered herself noble but was cowardly and timid. She refused to compromise and lacked the courage to face death, so she lived in great pain…” Ning Yin’s voice was slow and calm, as if he were narrating someone else’s story.

He spoke of how the woman was forcefully taken by enemies, how she tried to change her identity and enter the palace, and how she was tormented into hysteria. She often sat motionless and cried bitterly, gradually losing the interest of her enemies. A mad consort would be a disgrace, especially if it was his former sister-in-law. Afraid that the image of the enemy would be tarnished, they sealed the woman along with her palace, not allowing anyone to enter or exit.

In the cold palace, the only joy for Concubine Li Fei was tormenting her son.

Seemingly, as long as she inflicted pain on her son, she could obtain momentary relief.

As the years passed, even the Emperor forgot the existence of his son. Until one night, two eunuchs from Empress’s Palace threw corpses into a dried well outside the cold palace and were burning evidence when Concubine Li Fei discovered them from the other side of the wall.

The deceased were the palace maids who served the Empress when giving birth. On the last night before leaving the palace, they were killed to silence them.

Next to the dried well, there were half-burned medical records from the hospital, so Concubine Li Fei learned a shocking secret—one that could overthrow the Empress – The secret of a fatal scheme.

“Did she take you out of the palace to seek refuge?” Yu Lingxi’s throat tightened.

“Yes and no.” Ning Yin’s arm wrapped around Yu Lingxi while he supported his head with his hand, speaking slowly, “She did want to escape from the palace, but she didn’t intend to take me with her. As I said, she hated that dirty blood flowing within me.”

Yu Lingxi fell silent.

“Her former husband’s old subordinates managed to contact her after much effort, saying they wanted to help her escape from the palace, far away. She was extremely happy and personally cooked a bowl of sweet soup for me. It was the first time in her life she made soup for me. She said she would always be good to me, coaxing me to drink the soup and go to sleep quickly.”

Ning Yin half-closed his eyes, smiling, “But the soup was drugged, with the same Nine Abyss Fragrance that Lingxi once sought in the Immortal City of Desire.”

Yu Lingxi’s heart skipped a beat. This was the first deception Ning Yin encountered.

“But she didn’t expect that I had been forced to ingest a lot of poison since I was a child. My body reacted differently from ordinary people, and the soup didn’t affect me much. I woke up in the middle of the night. Her plan was exposed, and she could only take me with her.”

Ning Yin chuckled at this point.

His laughter was somewhat cold, and it was unclear whether it was sympathy or sarcasm.

“She was too foolish. A madwoman trapped in the cold palace for many years, how could she be worth rescuing? Finally escaping to a dilapidated temple outside the palace, only to find the Empress and the Imperial Guards waiting there to ‘catch the adulterer’.”

Ning Yin’s dark eyes turned cold, sneering, “As for what happened afterward, Lingxi already knows.”

All of this was just a trap set by the queen to eliminate evidence openly. A dilapidated temple, mottled stone Buddhas, the night was so dark and cold, and no one came to rescue them.

Empress Feng couldn’t bear children, but she was happy to destroy the maternal instincts of others. She threw a dagger in front of Concubine Li Fei and her son, forcing her to make a choice.

“That woman didn’t know that her hoped-for old subordinates had long been bribed by the Empress and betrayed her. She felt freedom was within reach.”

Ning Yin chuckled, “She looked at me and cried, saying ‘I’m sorry’.”

“Ning Yin…”

Yu Lingxi’s heart ached, unable to bear hearing the rest.

“When the dagger first pierced in, I heard a ‘pfft’ sound, and then it was intense pain, a thousand times worse than any whipping I had ever endured.”

Ning Yin recalled, describing the cruelest scene with the calmest tone, “When too much blood flowed, gradually, I couldn’t feel the pain anymore, only darkness and cold.”

“Don’t say anymore…”

“That woman was truly foolish. How could the Empress spare her when she learned such a big secret? Maybe it was thanks to the Nine Abyss Fragrance, or perhaps her hands were shaking too much and she didn’t hit accurately. When I woke up, I was still lying in the broken temple, and that woman was lying beside me, her body convulsing violently from the deadly poison.”

Deadly poison…

Yu Lingxi had heard that those who ingested this poison wouldn’t die immediately. Instead, they would struggle in extreme pain for a day and night, contorting before dying with a disfigured appearance.

Ning Yin said that Concubine Li Fei’s beautiful face and body twisted, but her crimson eyes stared at him without blinking. She was begging Ning Yin to give her a merciful end.

So, the young man covered in blood cried as he plunged the dagger into her convulsing body.

She finally quieted down, her purple-red lips trembling as she intermittently said, “Thank… you…”

A tear slid from the corner of her eye into her hair, and no one knew who the tear was shed for.

“The first time I killed someone, I don’t remember what it felt like. I just knew that blood splattered in my eyes, and the sky and the bright moon were dyed a beautiful crimson…”

“Don’t say any more!”

Yu Lingxi embraced Ning Yin, trembling, “Don’t say any more, Ning Yin.”

Ning Yin stroked Yu Lingxi’s hair and then took her hand, placing it on his left chest through the open shirt.

“She stabbed me here.”

His dark eyes deep, he guided Yu Lingxi’s hand to touch the narrow scar on his chest, “That woman said no one would love me.”

“Love” was too elusive for Ning Yin, so as long as Yu Lingxi stayed by his side forever, it was enough for him. 

This was his way of loving.

“Are you an idiot? Are you really an idiot?”

Yu Lingxi’s eyes stung, gazing with teary eyes, “What are you trying to prove? Can’t you feel my feelings for you?”

Ning Yin lowered his head, silently embracing her more tightly. He had felt it a long time ago; it was warm. After all, no one else would protect him as foolishly as she did, holding a dagger to “protect” him.

Feeling the strength of Ning Yin’s embrace, Yu Lingxi pursed her lips, lifting his handsome face with both hands, gazing at his ink-black eyes.

Then she leaned down, her soft breath brushing past his Adam’s apple, over his collarbone, finally planting a gentle kiss on the scar over his heart.

Ning Yin noticeably tensed.

Then his eyes softened into a smile, and his hand, following her waist, lifted her gently.

“Not enough.”

Ning Yin pinched her jaw, “Love a little more.”

Yu Lingxi blinked, unhesitatingly kissed the tip of his nose, then moved down, imprinting the tender fragrance on his thin lips.

Ning Yin’s eyes drooped, covering the surging depth.

He opened his mouth, letting his beloved indulge in gentle mischief without hesitation.

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