novelSusiti Chapter 336 Red Smoke Only Recognizes One Person in Her Life
Chapter 336 Red Smoke Only Recognizes One Person in Her Life
Liu Hongyan's body stiffened abruptly.
She stood there, still in the same position she had been using to straighten his robes, her hands suspended in mid-air, her fingers slightly curled, like a flower frozen before it could bloom.
Xu Longxiang.
The moment Qin Mu uttered that name, it was like a stone thrown into a calm lake.
All the things she thought she had suppressed, forgotten, and stopped thinking about surged up inside her.
She remembered the alleyway from last night, the figure standing in the shadow of the locust tree under the moonlight, and those dark brown, bloodshot eyes that still stubbornly shone brightly.
She remembered his words—"After we've accomplished this great thing, marry me."
The voice still echoed in her ears, hoarse and as light as a fallen leaf drifting across the water.
She did not answer at the time.
She thought she would never think of those words again.
But at this moment, Qin Mu mentioned his name.
That sentence resurfaced from the deepest part of my heart.
A complex emotion flashed in Liu Hongyan's eyes.
The emotions were so complex that she herself couldn't figure out what was inside them.
It's a little exciting.
It's like stealing something from someone, hiding it in your sleeve, and walking past the owner without them noticing—that kind of heart-pounding, sweaty-palmed, fearful yet exciting thrill.
I feel a little ashamed.
Last night, she was in another man's arms, beneath another man, calling out another man's name in a different voice.
And that person is still waiting for her to come back, waiting for her to be his bride.
I'm a little excited.
It wasn't excitement about Xu Longxiang, but excitement about the "betrayal" itself. Like a bird that has finally broken free of its cage, it could have flown back, but instead chose to stand outside the cage, looking at the empty cage, and a strange, guilty pleasure welled up inside it.
There's still a slight discomfort.
The discomfort was very mild, as mild as a strand of hair falling on the skin, itchy and prickly, not painful, but impossible to ignore.
She didn't know why she felt so uncomfortable.
Was it because she betrayed his trust? Was it because she shattered his expectations? Was it because less than an hour after saying "Marry me," she was in another man's arms?
Or is it because...
She found herself not to regret it?
she does not know.
All she knew was that those emotions surged within her for a moment, and then she gradually suppressed them.
It's like stuffing a bunch of random things into a box that's too small, pressing it down hard, pressing it down until the lid can finally be closed, until you can't tell anything is wrong from the outside.
The expression on her face returned to calm in less than a breath, from that momentary daze.
Liu Hongyan lowered her head.
Her long hair slipped down her shoulders, covering half her face and the complex emotions that hadn't yet fully faded from her eyes.
"Your Majesty," she said, her voice hoarse but each word clear.
"Hongyan is now your woman. As for Xu Longxiang—" She paused, her voice becoming even softer, as if she were talking about something unrelated to her.
"Hongyan has no feelings for him."
Qin Mu turned around.
The morning light shone in from behind him, obscuring his face in a faint shadow, making his expression impossible to discern.
All I could see was that the curve of his lips had deepened even further.
He walked back to her and stopped.
He reached out, his slender fingers gently touching her cheek, slowly sliding from her cheekbone to her chin, and then from her chin to her earlobe.
The movement was slow and gentle, like caressing a precious piece of porcelain, or confirming the ownership of an item.
"You're quite easy to conquer." His voice was soft, with a hint of amusement and a casual teasing.
"You completely changed your mind after just one time?"
Liu Hongyan raised her head and met his gaze.
In those phoenix eyes, there was no evasion, no shyness, and no trace of the bewildered panic of the previous night.
There is only one clear and unwavering light.
The light surged from the depths of his pupils, like an eternally flowing, eternally unfrozen dark river beneath the frozen surface of a river in the North during winter.
The corners of her mouth curled up slightly.
The upward curve of her lips was more pronounced than before; it wasn't a well-trained laugh, but a genuine laugh that welled up from the depths of her heart, a laugh that even she couldn't control.
"Your Majesty," she said, her voice soft and steady, like a sword that has been repeatedly tempered and finally found its sheath.
"Although my reputation outside isn't very good—"
She paused, and the light in her phoenix eyes shone even brighter.
"But in this lifetime, I will only recognize one person."
She spoke very softly and casually, as if she were talking about something extremely ordinary.
It's as if it's saying the sky is blue, the snow is white, and the wind in the North is cold.
No proof is needed, no oaths are needed, no vows to heaven or covenants to earth are needed.
She was simply stating a fact.
A fact she had just discovered, one she hadn't yet fully digested, yet one that was already etched into her very bones.
Qin Mu looked at her.
Looking into her clear, determined phoenix eyes, and at the faint smile on her lips that she couldn't suppress.
He smiled softly.
"Very good," he said.
Only two words.
It was very light and faint, like a petal that had fallen onto the water's surface. It was pushed by the wind, spun around gently, and then sank to the bottom.
But when Liu Hongyan heard those two words, her eyes suddenly stung.
She didn't know why.
She didn't know why she felt like crying when he said "it's good".
She didn't cry under him last night, she didn't cry when she woke up this morning, and she didn't cry when she mentioned Xu Longxiang or remembered his words, "Marry me."
But at that moment, as he stood there, bathed in the morning light, he looked at her and said, "It's good," and she felt like crying.
She gritted her teeth and forced back the tears.
Qin Mu looked at her slightly reddened eyes and said nothing.
He simply reached out and gently patted the top of her head.
The movement was very light and casual, like soothing a kitten that had finally learned to obey.
Then he turned around and walked towards the palace gate.
After taking two steps, he suddenly stopped without looking back.
"Get some rest today." His voice drifted over from the front, very soft and faint, as if seen through a thin veil, indistinct.
"I will come to see you again tomorrow."
He stepped forward and crossed the threshold.
A moon-white robe flashed at the doorway and disappeared into the morning light.
Liu Hongyan stood still, motionless.
Her hands hung at her sides, her fingers slightly curled, maintaining the same posture as before.
Her gaze fell on the empty palace gate, and on the golden morning light pouring in from outside.
She stared at it for a long time.
So long that the morning light moved from the threshold to the corner of the table, from the corner of the table to the seat of the chair, and from the seat of the chair to her feet.
She finally moved.
She slowly squatted down, crouching in that small patch of morning light.
She reached out her hand, her fingers touching the light.
The light was warm, and it spread through my fingertips, along my veins, little by little.
A slow smile curved her lips.
The curve was very shallow and faint, almost invisible in the morning light.
But it is indeed there.
Like the first flower to peek out from under the snow in the northern winter, small, white, and fragile, yet stubbornly blooming.