Mo Rongzhan was indeed angry, but the moment he saw her, he just wanted to hold her in his arms and kiss her fiercely to let her know that he was on the verge of going crazy these days suppressing the urge to go to her. But the moment he saw her backing away, it was as if a cold wind had blown through his heart, instantly dousing his burning heat.
She was still resisting him, unwilling to accept his closeness. In order to avoid him, she would rather secretly leave the capital with Huangfu Chen. If he had not gone to look for her that night, he knew not how long it would’ve taken him to find out that she was gone. If he had not been worried enough to send people to look for her, he would not have known that something had happened to her.
As long as he thought of the grievances she had suffered in this private mine, his heart was sore and constricted. He wished he could dismember the body of the person who had stolen the mine. However, these feelings were not as bad as the heartache and despair he felt when he saw her retreat in fear.
He turned his head, looked at her coldly, and asked her in a low voice, “In order to avoid zhen, would you rather go to Huaijiang than to go back to the capital?”
Indeed, she went to Huaijiang to avoid him, wanting to think carefully about what to do next. But she just did not expect to be… caught here by Zhao Tianji’s people, not to mention that he would come to their rescue.
“If I go to Huaijiang, I will naturally return to the capital,” she quietly said. Originally, she thought he was cold and ruthless*but suddenly realized that he wasn’t so. Everything was just a result of being misled and kept in the dark. The hatred that supported her soul while she wandered in the palace for two years and didn’t even disappear after being reborn in her sister’s body, had suddenly lost its way. She now was very confused and didn’t know what to do next. Reject him? He still refused to let go of her even though she had tried to threaten him with suicide. However, she was unwilling to leave just like that, because she had not let Lu Lingzhi get his retribution.
[*无情无义 wú qíng wú yì- completely lacking any feeling or sense of justice (idiom); cold and ruthless]
Staying in the capital meant she must face Mo Rongzhan’s feelings. She even needed him to deal with Lu Lingzhi. Therefore, she was in a dilemma and did not know what to do.
Mo Rongzhan took a deep breath. “Lu Yaoyao, in this life, zhen has never put a woman in my heart in this lifetime. How much exactly do you want to trample zhen’s heart?”
“I’m not…” Ye Zhen wanted to explain but didn’t know where to start, she lowered her head, not daring to look at his livid face.
“You are not what? Aren’t you trying to avoid zhen, aren’t you afraid that zhen will pester you so you left the capital?” Mo Rongzhan fiercely grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in front of him, asking her in an angry voice.
Ye Zhen put her hands against his chest. “I… I want to avoid you, but I also want to go to Huaijiang, because~”
“Don’t worry, zhen will certainly not pester you again in the future. You don’t have to avoid zhen. Zhen truly will not blame you if you trample zhen’s heart.” He gripped her shoulders, his eyes burning with anger. Since she would rather run away in order to avoid him, what’s the point of forcing her to accept him?
“Are you serious?” she asked in a daze.
His thin lips formed a sneer. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
Did she want this? Ye Zhen herself didn’t know what she was looking forward to.
Mo Rongzhan interpreted her silence as acquiescence, he turned around to go down the mountain.
Ye Zhen frowned and looked at his back, her heart sank little by little. She knew not where the impulse stemmed from, she suddenly ran up and reached out to grab his sleeve.
Mo Rongzhan wanted to shake her hand away, but he didn’t have enough strength, so he simply looked back at her indifferently.
“I just want to go to Huaijiang to help Imperial Physician Qi Yizheng….” Ye Zhen clutched his sleeves tightly with both hands but didn’t dare to look up at him.
“Let go,” Mo Rongzhan said in a deep voice.
Ye Zhen had originally impulsively grabbed his sleeve. Now that he had shouted at her, her heart was filled with shame and anger. Her fingers immediately loosened. She glared at him, then turned to leave.
Mo Rongzhan let out a deep sigh in his heart, wrapped his long arms around her slender waist, taking her into his arms domineeringly. He dipped his head and kissed her pink lips, sucking and licking her little tongue; lingering, affectionate, and unrelentin. He wanted her to know how much he had missed and worried about her.
Ye Zhen was kissed to the point that her legs were soft and her hands clutched his robe. It was only when she was almost out of breath that he finally let her go.
He buried his face in her neck, sighed in a hoarse voice, and said, “Yaoyao, who asked you to torment me like this?”
“Who’s tormenting you!” she whispered.
“Go back first, Tang Zhen and the others are still under the mountain.” Although there was still a lot to say to her, it wasn’t the time now. They had yet to find the person who was in the sedan chair that day.
Before Ye Zhen could say anything, she was picked up by Mo Rongzhan and carried down the mountain at a fast speed.
“Who was the person who spoke from inside the sedan chair that day?” He looked down at her, very wary of the person in the sedan chair that day.
“Zhao Tianji, who lives in the villa over there, the private mine here belongs to him,” she said, “How did you find this place?”
He frowned. He didn’t seem to have heard of this person’s name before. He hugged her tighter. “Did he hurt you?”
“No, in fact, Zhao Tianji is not difficult to get along with….” Although he seemed cruel in some things, she felt that he was actually a good person, and since he had helped Huangfu Chen before, he was definitely not a really cruel person. .
Seeing that the little girl in his arms seemed to have a good impression of Zhao Tianji, Mo Rongzhan felt sour. “Have you been getting along with him for the past half month or so?”
She said, “His legs are not good, I treat him… He and Master are old acquaintances, but Master has been put under house arrest by him for more than half a month.”
He paused. “He put Huangfu Chen under house arrest but asked you to treat him?
“There was a misunderstanding between them because of Mu Qing, so he refused to let Master treat him.” She explained. “Did you see the marks my master left behind to know we were here?”
“We sent people to look for you. When we arrived at Gujia Village, we lost our clues and found it after searching for a few days.” He asked in a low voice, “Did you get hurt?”
Ye Zhen shook her head gently. “No, just worried that… can’t get out of here.”
“Zhen has said that no matter where you go, even if one needs to dig three feet in the ground, you will be found.” Mo Rongzhan kissed her forehead, whispering with thin lips against her skin.
“I’m still going to Huaijiang,” she said.
He really ought to be more ruthless with her, rather than immediately softening… holding her in his embrace whenever she shows a slight willingness to get close to him.
“Can you not go?” he whispered.
She shook her head resolutely. “I just want to go to Huaijiang.”
“Yaoyao, you would rather leave the capital to avoid zhen, don’t you… you really don’t want to be with zhen?” Mo Rongzhan gently put her down, looking down at her clear eyes.
“When I come back from Huaijiang, I will tell you something. If you still feel like making me the empress at that time, then… let’s talk about it then,” Ye Zhen said.
“Good!” Mo Rongzhan nodded.
♚♚♚