N-M Chapter 128 Yaoyao, Thank You
Chapter 128 Yaoyao, Thank You
Su Yaoyao was led by Xiao Chenyuan for a while before she realized that this was not the way out of the palace.
She turned her head to look at him.
The man's profile was stern, his jaw taut, and his thin lips pressed into a straight line.
"Your Highness," she asked softly, "where are you taking me?"
Xiao Chenyuan paused in his steps.
He turned his head to look at her, his eyes deep and thoughtful, as if he had a lot to say, but in the end he only uttered four words:
"You'll know when you get there."
He paused, then asked, "Are you tired? If you are, I'll carry you on my back."
Su Yaoyao blinked. She wasn't tired at first, but looking at his broad back—
"I'm tired~" she said matter-of-factly, "Your Highness, carry me."
Xiao Chenyuan smiled slightly, said nothing, and squatted down in front of her.
Su Yaoyao leaned over, wrapped her arms around his neck, and rested her chin on his shoulder.
He had a faint sandalwood scent mixed with ambergris, so pleasant that it made you want to take a bite.
"Your Highness." She leaned close to his ear, deliberately lowering her voice.
"Um?"
Your ears are red.
Xiao Chenyuan paused, the blush on the tips of his ears deepening.
"……No."
"Yes." Su Yaoyao gently blew a breath, "It's even redder now."
Xiao Chenyuan didn't say anything, but tightened his arms supporting her knees and bounced her up a little.
Su Yaoyao chuckled to herself, leaning against his back and listening to his steady, powerful heartbeat.
One, two, three...
This made Su Yaoyao feel incredibly at ease.
The palace road is very long, and the red walls on both sides recede into the distance.
Occasionally, palace servants would pass by and, upon seeing the Crown Prince carrying a famous woman from afar, would immediately lower their heads and give way.
No one dared to look up.
This road is very long.
Su Yaoyao leaned on his shoulder and suddenly had a strange feeling.
He was taking her to a very important place.
A place I've never taken anyone to before.
She didn't ask. She simply rested her chin on his shoulder, her fingers gently twirling his loose hair.
Xiao Chenyuan didn't speak, and neither did she.
A breeze blew from the end of the palace path, fluttering his robes and her skirt. The two were like a moving painting.
Finally, he stopped in front of a palace.
The palace wasn't in a remote location, but it was unusually quiet.
There were no palace servants coming or going, not even a single eunuch sweeping the corridors. Yet the bluestone slabs in front of the hall were spotless, the door knockers gleaming, and the palace lanterns under the eaves newly replaced.
It's regularly maintained, but no one dares to get close.
"This is..." Su Yaoyao asked softly as she got off his back.
Xiao Chenyuan remained silent.
He pushed open the palace door.
With a creak, the dusty light rushed in, illuminating the furnishings inside the hall.
The hall was dimly lit, with fine paper pasted on the windows, filtering the afternoon sunlight into a hazy mist. Tiny dust particles floated in the mist, like the sediment of time accumulated over the years.
Xiao Chenyuan stood in the center of the hall, his back to her.
"This is my mother's bedroom," he said.
The sound was very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something.
Su Yaoyao's heart skipped a beat.
The Crown Prince's birth mother—the Empress Yuan who died young.
There were very few rumors about this former empress in the palace, and less than a year after her death, the emperor appointed the current empress.
More often than not, no one dares to mention it, and no one dares to ask about it.
Su Yaoyao never expected that Xiao Chenyuan would bring her here.
She never expected that he would let her see him like this.
He stood in the empty hall, his back view as lonely as a solitary monument.
Su Yaoyao walked over and took his hand.
Xiao Chenyuan gripped her hand tightly, his fingertips gradually calming down.
"When I was little..." he suddenly began, his voice a little hoarse, "I used to come here often."
Su Yaoyao listened quietly.
"After she left, this palace was sealed off. My father forbade anyone to enter or even mention it." He paused, "Later, when I grew up, I told my father that I wanted to come and clean it."
"He agreed?"
Xiao Chenyuan shook his head: "He neither agreed nor stopped me."
He walked to the dressing table, opened a sandalwood box, and took something out from the bottom.
It is a hairpin.
very beautiful,
The carving is intricate and exquisite, but it is definitely not in the style of the Yong Kingdom.
Xiao Chenyuan placed the hairpin into her palm.
"My mother loved this hair ornament the most when she was alive." He looked at her, his eyes calm, but his voice trembled slightly. "She said it was from our homeland, and that I would give it to her when I found someone I loved."
He paused, his gaze lingering on her face: "I once thought I'd never be able to give her away..."
Su Yaoyao looked down at the hairpin in her palm.
In the dim light of the palace, the deep blue gemstones resembled sleeping eyes.
motherland.
She didn't ask which country it was from.
No one asked what secrets his background held behind the hairpin, no one asked who his mother was, and no one asked about the past he had never mentioned.
She simply gripped the hairpin tightly, looked up at him, and
She stroked his eyebrows and eyes, "Mother must have been very beautiful, Your Highness looks like her."
Xiao Chenyuan looked at her, his Adam's apple bobbing.
After a while, he gently pulled her into his arms.
"Yaoyao," he whispered to her.
"Um."
"Wait until I've taken care of things..." His voice was muffled.
"I'll wait for you." She didn't wait for him to finish speaking. She believed him. Since he didn't want to talk about it now, she could wait.
Xiao Chenyuan simply hugged her even tighter.
What he didn't say was that his mother, on her deathbed, held his hand and said, "Yuan'er, don't hate. Don't hate your father, don't hate those who made you lose everything. Your mother only wishes for your peace and happiness, to live an ordinary life."
But in the end, he did not become an ordinary person.
I also failed to refrain from hatred.
A beam of light suddenly filled a space in my heart that had been empty for over a decade.
"Yaoyao," he called to her.
"Hmm?" Su Yaoyao looked up.
"Thank you," he said.
Su Yaoyao was quiet for a while, then wrapped her arms around his waist.
The hall was very quiet, so quiet that you could hear the sound of incense ash falling.
Spring sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the window, drawing thin, golden lines on the ground.
The light fell on Xiao Chenyuan's shoulder, on his cool and aloof eyes, and on the dark blue hairpin that lay quietly in Su Yaoyao's palm.
There are many things he didn't say.
She understands everything.
She suddenly felt like doing something.
It wasn't to flirt with him, or to tame him; it was just... to make him a little happier.
"Your Highness." She looked up.
Are you staying overnight tonight?
Warm breath sprayed onto my ear.
Xiao Chenyuan's ear tips turned slightly red, and his Adam's apple bobbed gently.
"……Keep."
Su Yaoyao's eyes crinkled into a smile: "Then I want to eat the roasted chestnuts from that shop in the East Market. Your Highness, please buy them for me."
"it is good."
"I'd also like osmanthus cake."
"it is good."
"And I also want the Eight Treasure Roasted Duck from Zuiweng Pavilion."
"it is good."
"And Wufangzhai honey... theirs is the thickest..."
"good...."
She rattled off a long list, and Xiao Chenyuan responded to each one without the slightest impatience, completely oblivious to the fleeting blush in Su Yaoyao's eyes.
Finally, she felt embarrassed and whispered, "Isn't that too much?"
Xiao Chenyuan looked at her, and a gentle smile finally appeared in his eyes.
"No," he said. "You can have whatever you want."
---
As she was leaving, Su Yaoyao suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Outside the palace gates, a faint, almost imperceptible scent of perfume wafted in the air.
Su Yaoyao subconsciously turned around.
The palace road was deserted.
Xiao Chenyuan also smelled it.
He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the empty palace corridor, but he said nothing.
"Let's go." He took Su Yaoyao's hand. "Let's leave the palace."
Su Yaoyao didn't ask.
She simply gripped the pale blue hairpin tightly in her palm and followed him, step by step, away from the silent ancient palace.
Behind them, the palace doors closed silently.
In the shadows beside the palace, a crimson hem swayed gently before disappearing into the shadows.