The cold wind rustled Qi Huan's skirt and lifted a few strands of her hair, tickling her cheeks. She casually tucked the loose strands behind her ear and gracefully entered the same private room as before.
When she saw the man in the wheelchair, she was stunned for a moment in disbelief, but quickly regained her composure. She sent Yan Qing and Tao Su to stand guard outside the door.
"Shu, why are you here?"
"I heard from my secret guards that you had gone out, so I came to wait for you."
Meeting his intense gaze, Qi Huan joyfully rushed towards him, cupping his face in her hands. Looking down at him, she examined his features again and again, finally unable to resist kissing the lips she had longed for.
The cool sensation made her shiver slightly, but Li Shuchen wouldn't let her retreat. He held the back of her head, deepening the kiss.
Without realizing it, Qi Huan had settled onto his lap, kissing him passionately. Their tongues intertwined, expressing endless longing.
When her breathing quickened, Li Shuchen finally released her, leaving her almost breathless. He held her tightly in his arms, alternating between light pecks and gentle licks, tirelessly savoring her sweet red lips.
Gradually, Little Li began to stir.
She hurriedly tried to move away, but Li Shuchen held her in place.
The man's low, magnetic voice sounded in her ear: "Don't move."
Qi Huan blinked, obediently staying still. She tried to find a solution: "Shu, repeat after me—form is emptiness, emptiness is form..."
"Form is emptiness, emptiness is form, and when we have time, we indulge in form."
"......"
Held in his arms, Qi Huan dared not move, afraid of stimulating him further.
Fortunately, Li Shuchen only buried his face in her shoulder, reciting a mantra to calm himself, exercising restraint.
After a long while.
Li Shuchen sat up straight, intending to discuss something with her, but his gaze involuntarily fell on her slightly swollen lips. He looked up, meeting her doe-like eyes brimming with affection.
Seeing the love in her eyes, it was as if a gentle breeze had rippled across a shimmering lake, causing his heart to flutter once more.
The mantra he had just recited was rendered useless.
He sighed helplessly, resigned to reciting it again.
Qi Huan seized the opportunity to climb off his lap, sitting on a nearby round stool. Her cheeks flushed, she gulped down several mouthfuls of tea.
After fidgeting with her fingers for a moment, her gaze once again fell on Li Shuchen's incomparably handsome face. Changing the subject, she asked in a crisp voice:
"Shu, were the County Princess title and the case reversal your doing?"
Li Shuchen nodded slightly, appearing nonchalant. As if these two matters were the simplest things in the world.
But Qi Huan knew that the title of County Princess wasn't something to be bestowed lightly. Li Shuchen must have put in considerable effort.
Moreover, Qi Yu's wrongful conviction was from long ago. The Emperor was busy indulging in food, drink, and entertainment every day. How would he have time to remember and actively overturn the case?
It was all because of Li Shuchen.
Qi Huan gazed at him with bright eyes, her heart feeling as if it were soaked in honey, sweet beyond measure.
Being looked at like this, a hint of darkness flashed in Li Shuchen's eyes... He was tempted to selfishly omit part of the truth.
But he was even more unwilling to deceive Huan in any way.
As his thoughts raced, Li Shuchen suddenly feigned an anxious expression and said softly, "Huan, your grandfather's exile was related to my mother, the Empress. Perhaps you shouldn't have suffered in Mo County... Do you resent me?"
Catching a glimpse of vulnerability in his expression, Qi Huan stood up and walked to his wheelchair. She hugged his head, gently stroking it: "My grandfather was exiled before you were even born. What does that have to do with you? How could I blame you?"
The corner of Li Shuchen's mouth curved into a barely noticeable smile. As if unintentionally, he leaned against her soft body and continued, "Perhaps without Physician Qi's help, I wouldn't exist."
!
Qi Huan's pupils dilated in shock. She exclaimed, "What do you mean you wouldn't exist without my grandfather's help? Could it be... your mother and my grandfather had an affair?"
"......"
Li Shuchen choked, pulling her back into his arms. He lightly tapped her forehead: "If that were the case, Physician Qi would have suffered much worse than exile."
Qi Huan realized he was right.
"Oh, yeah. If my grandfather had really cuckolded the Emperor, our ancestors' graves would probably have been dug up for posthumous punishment, and I wouldn't be alive today. So, what kind of help did my grandfather actually give the former Empress?"
Li Shuchen's tone turned cold: "Mother once asked Physician Qi to develop a colorless, odorless, and potent aphrodisiac."
"Ah?"
Seeing her clear, large eyes filled with curiosity, Li Shuchen's face finally showed a hint of a smile.
After making sure no one was eavesdropping, he began to recount the imperial family's secrets in detail, as if gossiping, just to make her happy.
"Do you remember the corpse you saw after the mudslide?"
Qi Huan nodded: "Yes, you said his name was You Zhu, and he was Longqing Elder Princess's male favorite."
"Mm-hmm. Before he died, he told me that what my mother had entrusted to my aunt to take out of the palace, he had hidden in a graveyard in the outskirts of the capital."
"But he forgot which grave he buried it in."
Seeing him pause, Qi Huan poked his chest, urging him to finish the story in one breath. At the same time, she couldn't help but guess: "You didn't dig up all the graves in the outskirts, did you?"
"Not all of them."
"Just about half."
"And then filled them back in."
"What he hid was the Emperor's daily activity log."
In an angle Qi Huan couldn't see, Li Shuchen's gaze suddenly turned sharp, and the corner of his mouth curved into a faint sneer.
"The first log was from the 10th year of Longshun. The Emperor favored his consorts no more than three times a month."
"The second log was from the 11th Year of Longshun Era. The Emperor favored his consorts, calling for as many as three concubines in one night."
"Following this lead, I began to search for people who had served by Father Emperor and Mother Empress's side back then. I finally found a palace maid who had been released from the palace to marry. Only then did I learn that my birth was merely the result of the drug."
"Back then, Father Emperor was the eldest legitimate son, but he had no heir for a long time. His position meant fight or die. Mother Empress didn't want to die with him, so she devised a plan to drug him, and soon after, I was conceived."
"For some reason, Father Emperor flew into a rage. After arguing with Mother Empress, he accepted the reality but vented his anger on Physician Qi, who had prepared the drug for Mother Empress."
Qi Huan looked at him in shock: "Then why did the Emperor agree to overturn my grandfather's case?"
Did his conscience finally get the better of him?
Li Shuchen caressed her delicate hand, a glint flashing in his eyes: "From abstinence to indulgence, from being allergic to peanuts to eating pastries with crushed peanuts without incident, Huan, can you guess why?"
"...Because the current Emperor is a fake?"
She had carefully noticed that Li Shuchen sometimes referred to the Emperor as "Father Emperor" and sometimes as just "Emperor."
Perhaps, after the 11th Year of Longshun Era, the person on the dragon throne was not his real father, but an imposter.
Combining this with the book she had given him before, Li Shuchen quickly understood what she meant by "fake." He kissed her forehead approvingly: "Huan is so clever."
"......You made it so obvious, I'd be stupid not to guess it." Qi Huan pouted, but her heart was filled with sweetness.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and perhaps in Shu's eyes, her entire being sparkled. He always found ways to compliment her.
But she enjoyed it.
And she returned the favor by praising him: "My Shu is the smartest person of all. You discovered the Emperor's problem so quickly......"
A trace of bitterness welled up in Li Shuchen's heart.
"I'm not smart. I merely followed the clues Mother Empress left behind, step by step. If I had discovered his problem earlier back then, perhaps Mother wouldn't have died."
"Shu, we can't change the past. We need to look forward."
"I'll be by your side, helping you avenge your mother."
