Chapter 169: Why Can’t I Marry a Wife?

BANG!

THUD!

CRASH!

Xiao Yang savored the breakfast Ling Ji had brought her, alternating between sips of porridge and bites of a steamed bun.

Meanwhile, a certain kidnapper who had just woken up kept bumping into things—first the bed, then the wall. After finally managing to stand up and grab a cup, he promptly dropped it.

Ling Ji was very worried but didn’t dare to go to him.

"Your Majesty, Master... Is he all right?"

Holding her porridge bowl, Xiao Yang replied leisurely, "Everyone dies. Sooner or later... or from social death. And some people who look alive have actually been dead for quite a while."

Ling Ji: "?"

Mu Yunlian was falling apart. He’d gotten emotional and let his dark personality take over, saying all sorts of things he shouldn’t have. But when he woke up, the dark personality was gone, leaving his rational self to face the mortifying fallout alone.

It was just like getting drunk. The crazy things you do while drunk aren’t the scary part. What’s scary is waking up and having to face everyone. You said everything while you were out of your mind, and now you’re sober. Your sanity has returned, you remember it all—and so does everyone else.

Xiao Yang had put Mu Yunlian’s mask back on for him, but he felt more exposed than if he were completely naked. In the end, he simply couldn’t stand it and vanished.

Mu Yunlian disappeared for a full two days, but Xiao Yang wasn’t worried in the slightest. She ate well and drank well every day, with Ling Ji waiting on her hand and foot. Life was so comfortable that she found herself stretching languidly, her whole body relaxed.

Fine wine, delicious food, and a beautiful attendant. A life without a single care. She could comfortably live like this, a pampered freeloader, for a hundred years.

Once she and Ling Ji got to know each other, Xiao Yang dropped all pretense of politeness and started making requests.

"Ling Ji, I want to eat meat."

"Ling Ji, I want to eat braised rabbit."

"Ling Ji, I want some melon."

"Ling Ji, I’m huuuungry..."

Xiao Yang would just call out her requests without even asking if they were possible to fulfill. Ling Ji, for her part, saw nothing wrong with this. Whatever Xiao Yang said, she did. Her motto was to grant every wish, and she handled most things personally unless it was impossible.

Ling Ji was an excellent cook, and Xiao Yang showed her appreciation by eating with gusto and showering her with praise.

"Delicious! This is perfectly seared and flavorful, and this is so soft and chewy. Ling Ji, your skills are better than the imperial chefs’!"

"The food is delicious, and you’re beautiful. How could the heavens possibly create such a perfect wife?"

Coming from anyone else, such compliments would sound cheesy and over-the-top. Coming from another woman, they might even sound passive-aggressive.

But Xiao Yang was different. Her praise was genuine, her appetite was genuine, and her jealousy was genuine.

She was jealous that men could take a wife, and jealous that she couldn’t marry Ling Ji herself.

I mean, she was the Emperor! She had all that money, all that power, such a venerable status.

SO-WHY-THE-HELL-CAN’T-I-MARRY-A-WIFE?

WHY-THE-HELL-NOT?

Thanks to Ling Ji’s constant feeding, Xiao Yang’s face had visibly filled out. Her fair, tender skin and roguishly boyish features didn’t look fat at all. Instead, she just looked healthier, her cheeks so plump and supple they looked like they would burst with water if you pinched them.

Her lazy posture as she lay there, basking in the sun, was just like that of a beautiful cat.

Her body was so soft it seemed boneless, as if the next moment she would slide off the chair like a cat.

No one could resist the joy of doting on someone and watching them flourish.

Ling Ji’s world now revolved around feeding Her Majesty, taking care of Her Majesty, combing her soft hair, and preparing beautiful clothes for her.

It wasn’t until Mu Yunlian reappeared that she finally remembered.

’Ah, right... I do have a master.’

Mu Yunlian hadn’t gone far. He’d been hiding in the shadows, too ashamed to face Xiao Yang. He had spent two days in agony, wishing he could just bury himself alive. And yet, here was Xiao Yang, living her best life...

He didn’t want her to suffer, but seeing her so comfortable was incredibly grating.

’How can someone be so completely unbothered? Doesn’t she have anything she wants to say to me?’

Bending down, he scooped her into his arms.

Holding her was more comfortable, more satisfying than he had imagined.

Mu Yunlian carried Xiao Yang out to the carriage. Meanwhile, Ling Ji moved with incredible speed to pack Xiao Yang’s clothes and jewelry, not forgetting to grab her favorite books and the foods she loved to eat.

Mu Yunlian didn’t say a word to Xiao Yang. With a cold expression, he placed her inside the carriage and stepped back out, just in time to see Ling Ji hauling several bags, large and small.

He knew without asking that all of it belonged to Xiao Yang. His own belongings were already stocked in the carriage; there was no need to haul anything.

He shot Ling Ji a deep look, wanting to ask if she even remembered whose handmaiden she was.

But the person inside was Xiao Yang. It was only natural that his subordinate should serve her.

But... "Ling Ji, Her Majesty is a woman."

Mu Yunlian left to get his horse, and a thoroughly confused Ling Ji boarded the carriage.

She glanced at Her Majesty, who continued to sleep soundly, unfazed by the change in location. ’I know Her Majesty is a woman. What’s the problem with that?’

Xiao Yang slept soundly in the gently rocking carriage, but in her dreams, she felt something coiling around her, restricting her breath. Someone was breathing steadily by her ear, their warm breath ghosting across her face.

As if she were being constricted by a python.

Xiao Yang slowly opened her eyes. It wasn’t a dream. She was being held in someone’s arms.

She struggled a bit, but couldn’t break free.

"What, figured things out?" The victim of social death had risen from his grave.

Mu Yunlian relaxed his hold, burying his face in the crook of her neck. "I’m sorry... This is my fault..."

"I wanted to bring you to Beimeng, to spend some time alone with you and let you see every part of my life. I’ll take you back afterward."

He didn’t want to hurt her, nor did he want to hate her.

He had tried so hard to control those dark emotions, but he had still hurt her and done so many unforgivable things.

Xiao Yang could sense his emotions. He had regained his sanity, and it was time for them to have a proper talk.

"You should hate me. You have every right to hate me."

She herself had wanted to curse the heavens and the earth when she was dropped into this world as the Emperor. After everything he had been through, how could he not be filled with hatred?

Xiao Yang slowly sat up and turned to face him. Their eyes met. As she looked into them, she saw the Meng Xuechen she knew.

She cupped his face in her hands and rested her forehead against his. "I wasn’t finished with what I was saying."

"Whether it’s Imperial Power or limitless wealth, it’s all meaningless to me. None of it holds any real temptation. The only thing in this world that makes any of this worthwhile... is meeting you again."

Xiao Yang didn’t have inner demons, only regrets.

She wasn’t so fixated that she foolishly hoped for the dead to come back to life, but countless dreams had taken her back to the feeling of Meng Xuechen’s cold blood.

Her own life had lost its warmth with his blood, growing colder and colder until nothing could warm it again.

Meeting Meng Xuechen again didn’t send her into a passionate, undying love. Her feelings for him had never been that deep.

But she was truly happy.

After the initial shock, she felt grounded, as if her heart had finally found its place. It felt like her own blood was flowing warmly again.

Mu Yunlian hugged her tightly. "I am Mu Yunlian."

The path he had walked to get here was drenched in blood. The scars that covered his body couldn’t be ignored.

He couldn’t call himself Meng Xuechen anymore. He was no longer her innocent Senior Meng.

"I know."

Xiao Yang said, "We can never go back to the past. I’m just happy to see your face again, happy that you still remember the way things were, so that I can finally thank you. Thank you for saving me."

"I also want to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Meng Xuechen. I was too late."