The Slender Waist-Chapter 694 - 501: Sudden Affection

Yecheng.

As night fell, the surroundings quieted down, not a single human voice to be heard.

This city, referred to as the "Imperial City" by others, appeared to Li Sangruo as nothing more than a city of the dead. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Two palace attendants stood guard outside the door, standing respectfully, yet no one would listen to her.

She was the Empress Dowager, presiding over the court.

Yet she was also a prisoner.

A prisoner of Li Zongxun.

Confined in the desolate Fangyun Hall for a month, no one had come to visit her, nor had anyone spoken to her; this place felt more like the Cold Palace than the Cold Palace itself.

What she possessed, aside from a slap-in-the-face empty title only a palace maid would scorn, was wine.

In the span of a month, she had consumed far too much wine.

Wine jars were continually brought in; exactly how many, she couldn’t keep count.

From the moment she opened her eyes she drank, continuing until she passed out, numbing herself, letting her mind die, living like a walking corpse.

And this was Li Zongxun’s only act of kindness.

Father and daughter they may be, this was how he treated her...

Li Sangruo gave a cold laugh, shook the wine pot by her hand, her complexion changed, and with a bang, she threw it away.

"Bring me wine!"

She had a bad temper.

And now, it was even on a hair trigger.

"Where’s the wine? Are all of you dead? Can’t you see I’m out of wine?"

No one answered.

Not even a breeze stirred within the hall.

It was empty, with only her...

Li Sangruo struggled to rise.

"It seems you’ve all turned heaven upside down..."

The corner of the curtain moved slightly.

Just as Li Sangruo was about to erupt in anger, she saw a tall figure entering, his expression on a gaunt face unreadable, cold, grim, pallid, like someone barely alive, walking straight up to her.

In his hand, he held a sharp longsword.

Fresh blood dripped from the sword’s tip, soaking into the brown straw mats, spreading instantly...

Li Sangruo’s eyes widened, she propped herself up with her hands, her legs kicking as she continuously scooted backward...

"What are you doing? Uncle Shaogong, what, what are you planning to do?"

Tang Shaogong said, "Empress Dowager, come with me."

Li Sangruo’s mind wasn’t very clear, and she looked at him suspiciously.

"Go, where to? No, I won’t go. I am the Empress Dowager, I cannot go anywhere."

"If you don’t leave now, you’ll lose your life," Tang Shaogong repeated his words with a flat tone, "The Prime Minister wants the Emperor of Chunde to abdicate. He wants to become the Emperor, can you still be the Empress Dowager? Hurry, your life is at stake."

Li Sangruo’s heart jolted.

She wasn’t surprised by Tang Shaogong’s words.

It wasn’t a day or two that Li Zongxun had wanted to be Emperor; his ambition had become apparent already when her son was still on the throne...

But at such a critical moment...

"The Beiyong Army presses close to Yishui, the battle tightens, yet he is so eager?"

Tang Shaogong said, "It’s precisely because the Beiyong Army is within striking distance that he can no longer wait..."

Glimpsing Li Sangruo, Tang Shaogong’s face remained impassive, showing neither ripples nor tension.

"If Pei Jue reclaims Yecheng, the Prime Minister’s dream of becoming Emperor will likely never come to pass in this lifetime. This is his last chance..."

Li Zongxun’s dream of becoming Emperor had persisted for so long, and he had been scheming fervently for half his life; even with the enemy at the gates and bloodshed everywhere, he still intended to don that imperial robe.

Li Sangruo laughed.

"That does fit his style."

She then looked up at Tang Shaogong, blindly laughing with no sound.

"Now that things have come to this, what can I do? Look at these deep palace alleyways that trap me like a beast, where can I go that’s beyond the palm of his hand..."

Tang Shaogong said, "You still have me."

The oil lamp in the hall crackled faintly, its popping sounds from the wick striking heavily upon Li Sangruo’s heart."

"Uncle Shaogong? Are you planning to take me... out of Yecheng?"

"Yes."

Tang Shaogong’s face was blurred, and Li Sangruo squinted, trying to see him more clearly, but to no avail.

"No..."

She smiled weakly, her pale face like the snow in early winter, donning a bitter smile yet void of any semblance of life, as if her soul had already been extracted.

"I won’t leave. I am the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager governing Dajin... I am the Empress Dowager as long as I live, and when I die, Li Zongxun will bury me with the rites befitting an Empress Dowager... And for generations to come, everyone will remember me, Li Sangruo, the Empress Dowager who once presided over the imperial court..."

She murmured, her eyes flickering with unease and desperation, yet her words were final.

"If I sneak away, who am I, who can I still be? Heh... that’s not what I want... Let him come and kill me, kill and bury me..."

She looked up at Tang Shaogong’s indifferent face.

"You go. Don’t let Li Zongxun’s people see you... I don’t know why you would help me, but... I am grateful."

She glanced at Tang Shaogong’s sword.

"If anyone asks, I’ll pretend I never saw you."

Tang Shaogong looked down, his expressionless face gazing at her.

"I’m taking you to Yishui, to find Pei Jue."

Li Sangruo instinctively tensed, her shoulders stiff as she slowly turned to face him.

The scent of alcohol rose from her throat, the once warm room suddenly felt cramped and indistinct, as if a wave of emotion was about to burst forth from within...

And explode.

Tang Shaogong said, "You must have heard the conversation between me and the Prime Minister that day. Let’s go, this is your only way out right now."

Li Sangruo’s lips trembled slightly.

"Yes, I heard it."

Incredulous.

And afraid to believe.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, looking at Tang Shaogong in a blur, and she asked word by word, "Is Pei Jue truly my brother?"

She asked very lightly.

Unsure of what answer she wanted to hear.

Tang Shaogong’s eyes were cool, "Yes."

Li Sangruo shook her head, "I don’t understand."

Tang Shaogong: "You don’t have to understand."

Li Sangruo hesitated, "Then, will he recognize me?"

Tang Shaogong gazed at her intently, "Otherwise, why would the Beiyong Army stay at Yishui for so long without attacking Yecheng?"

A jolt went through Li Sangruo’s heart.

"For me?"

Pei Jue had actually stopped for her, halted his steps for a full month. It was because she was under house arrest, holding back the advance of the Beiyong Army...

Although, this sudden relationship left her utterly confounded, anxious and unsettled, and she didn’t even know how to face Pei Jue... She was still moved beyond control by this gesture.

It was for her.

Pei Jue did it for her.

The man she had admired since childhood would not, because of a change in identity, suddenly encase his feelings...

Li Sangruo lowered her eyes and slowly braced herself with her hands.

"Fine, I’ll go, I’ll leave with you... Let’s go find Pei Jue..."

Li Sangruo hadn’t drunk much that night, but when she tried to stand up, she realized her legs were weak, and she slowly collapsed back to the ground.

Seeing her limp and powerless, Tang Shaogong bent over and embraced her around the waist, lifting her up as if she were weightless...

Li Sangruo was originally thin.

During this period of days and nights in disarray, heavy drinking, and sleeplessness, she had become as thin as a stick, and it took no effort to pick her up...

But Li Sangruo was still shocked.

Although she addressed him as Uncle Shaogong, Tang Shaogong was still an unrelated man, how could he be so close to her?

Perhaps it was because she had been deprived of warmth for too long; now that she was in Tang Shaogong’s arms, her heart, desiccated almost to the point of death, began to beat fiercely as if resurrected.

Everyone said she was indecent, but Li Sangruo knew very well—sometimes what she needed was not a man, but someone to cherish and love her, the kind of warmth she could rely on...

Unfortunately,

She had never received it.

Never.

The Emperor of Xifeng did not give it to her.

Song Shou’an and any of the subsequent favorites did not...

She thought Pei Jue could, only Pei Jue could.

But Pei Jue did not give it to her.

The more she lacked something, the more she sought it, craving to the point of nearly suffocating, treating the abyss as salvation, and constantly sinking, only to obtain that elusive love in her life.

Clutching at Pei Jue obsessively, one favorite after another...

She had done so much, yet she never expected that tonight, at such a special moment, in Tang Shaogong’s arms, she would suddenly feel calm.

That paternal and brotherly strong spiritual support allowed her to let down all her defenses.

"Uncle Shaogong."

She hugged Tang Shaogong tightly, burying her head in his shoulder, and sniffled.

"Why didn’t you hug me sooner..."

Tang Shaogong hadn’t heard clearly what she said; his eyes surveyed the surroundings, holding her and the sword, unable to be distracted.

He said nothing, straightening his shoulders as he walked out of the inner hall, nodded at the two attendants waiting outside, and then, holding Li Sangruo, carefully made his way around the west side of Fangyun Hall...

The wind was strong outside, and the earth was bitterly cold.

Nestled in Tang Shaogong’s arms, Li Sangruo’s entire chest swelled with a surging warmth...

"Uncle Shaogong. I thought, no one in this world cared whether I lived or died... and that no one truly cared about me, loved me..."

"I never expected it to be you. The only person who cares about me would be Uncle Shaogong."

Li Sangruo’s eyes were moist, and with half-lowered eyelids, she clung to him tightly.

"I clearly remember how much you used to detest me... but now, I know you truly pity me, you feel for me. Uncle Shaogong, my heart, it tells me, feels secure."

Tang Shaogong looked down.

He saw Li Sangruo’s gaunt face, and his brows knitted slightly.

"Shut up."

Li Sangruo’s pupils darkened.

Her cheeks began to slowly burn like fire...

But then, Tang Shaogong lowered his voice.

"Someone is coming."

After saying that in a very low voice, he held Li Sangruo and quickly hid behind a large pillar, his arm protecting her, his palm pressing against the back of her head, his eyes coolly watching the outside.

A group of torches approached from afar.

"Hurry, move faster! Don’t let them get away..."

The sound of messy footsteps, like drumbeats on a heart, echoed as Tang Shaogong kept his face hidden behind the pillar, motionless.

Li Sangruo looked up at his face in the shadows...

Compelled, she straightened her shoulders, lifted her head, and gently kissed his cheek.

Tang Shaogong looked down incredulously at her.