His lips brushed against her earlobe as he murmured in a deep, magnetic voice, "You really know how to run fast."
Du Gu Luanyue felt Huo Wei's scorching breath on her cheek. When she turned her eyes, she saw his extremely deep and wildly handsome face. Her heart tightened involuntarily, and she quickly disappeared from his sight.
As soon as Du Gu Luanyue left, Huo Wei looked back and saw the jade pendant. Anger welled up in him. He picked up the thing and went to find Shen Guilan. His tone was unfriendly as he said,
"What's with you going to that old man about a trivial matter in my life?"
Shen Guilan picked up the jade pendant, wiped off the moisture, and carefully put it away.
"I've reported your business with Queen Du Gu to Master. He'll come down the mountain soon to keep an eye on you."
Last time, Shen Guilan just went along with Huo Wei's words on the surface to give him a way out. In fact, he wanted to test Huo Wei's heart.
Unexpectedly, without waiting even a single day, Huo Wei rushed to the hot - spring palace.
It must be that after Shen Guilan gave him that way out, Huo Wei felt even more unrestrained in his heart, which was why he was so quick to frolic with the queen.
Suddenly, Huo Wei kicked over the tea table beside Shen Guilan. The tea cups on it crashed to the ground and shattered.
He stomped hard on the support of the wide chair Shen Guilan was sitting on. His fierce eyes were ablaze with anger as he roared,
"After playing the role of a proper gentleman in the court for so long, do you think I'm good - tempered?"
The killing intent and wildness that Huo Wei had accumulated on the battlefield suddenly flared up. He was like a bandit leader, more like a fierce, hot - tempered general, but definitely not like a noble prince.
Shen Guilan still sat upright. He reached out his slender fingers to smooth the long hair by his temple and said,
"Master said that you have the ability to destroy the Western Liao, but you don't know how to deal with women."
"It's just a show. I don't like her!" Huo Wei raised his voice, as if only in this way could he sound confident enough.
Shen Guilan raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at him, sneering,
"Don't you know who Queen Du Gu is?
His Majesty clearly knows that Queen Du Gu is a princess of Southern Chu, and her marriage to Northern Yan is to stop Northern Yan from attacking Southern Chu.
Even His Majesty, who is so clear - headed, cold - hearted, and calculating, has been bewitched by this young queen who has only been married for a few months.
Huo Wei, how old are you? How much experience do you have in matters of the heart? Are you as shrewd as His Majesty?"
Huo Wei retracted his long legs. Leaning forward, he narrowed his long and narrow eyes and said,
"Since I returned to the imperial capital after destroying the Western Liao, it's been almost half a year. I've been isolated and helpless in the court.
None of those Northern Yan nobles take me seriously.
That old thing, Murong Min, under the pretext of recognizing me as his adopted son, gave me the empty title of a different - surname prince without even a fief. What kind of real prince am I?
Du Gu Luanyue is in a similar situation to me. I think she might have some means against Murong Min. It's worth cooperating with her once."
Shen Guilan shook his head. He didn't trust Du Gu Luanyue at all.
"Master said that the most effective way to gain military power is to fight in person, lead troops, share life and death with the generals, and cultivate your own confidants.
In the end, it's those who hold military power who have the final say in the empire's territory.
Do you think His Majesty recalled you from the Western Liao border to the imperial capital and made you his adopted son for what?"
Huo Wei pursed his thin lips into a straight line. A coldness like the ice and snow on a high mountain flashed in his deep black eyes. The passion that had been ignited in his heart was now slowly cooling down.
Shen Guilan said, "Naturally, it's to trap you, that wolf. Because it's very easy to trap you. A net formed by the court full of Northern Yan noble families can make you, a fierce beast, unable to move forward even an inch."
Shen Guilan usually liked to read Buddhist scriptures and study Taoism. His personality was a bit cold and lonely.
Over the years, he had never repeatedly urged Huo Wei on one thing.
Because Huo Wei was a rational and ruthless person. On the battlefield, he was always decisive and merciless when killing the enemy.
Normally, Huo Wei never made him worry, but this time, he was a little anxious.
"Don't you remember the bloodshed in the second year of Qiyuan in Northern Yan, the tragic case that implicated nine generations of a family?"
Shen Guilan frowned and looked at him, afraid that his junior brother would go astray at this most crucial moment after so many years of hard work.
Shen Guilan stood up. His chest heaved with excitement as he said,
"Junior brother, you carry the last hope of the people of those nine generations. Their wronged souls still linger over Northern Yan. You can't make a single mistake!
Have you forgotten how your mother died?"
Huo Wei's straight nose cast a deep shadow under the dim palace lamp. He slowly turned around and slumped down on the soft chair.
"Cooperate with Du Gu Luanyue first. After seizing power, prepare to attack Southern Chu."
Hearing this, Shen Guilan let out a sigh of relief.
"No, you can't have any more to do with her. I'm afraid you'll get trapped.
Moreover, your mother's family used to be a scholarly family, and your father's family was a family of brave generals. They were all people who adhered to etiquette.
According to etiquette, Queen Du Gu is your elder. You should call her Empress Dowager. You shouldn't break the ethical code. Although the family is gone, you still need to inherit the family tradition."
He was a man born for revenge. The only meaning of his life was to avenge his family.
There were spring flowers and autumn moons, mountains and rivers, starry skies and sunsets, and lights of thousands of families in this world, but these things had nothing to do with him.
Avenging his family as soon as possible and calming the pain of the wronged souls of the nine generations was his only goal in life.
Since the day Huo Wei understood things, Master and Shen Guilan had always told him this. In that bloodshed, only he, a five - year - old child, survived. Everyone else had died.
Shen Guilan was a few years older than him. His family used to be brave generals who fought on the battlefield with Huo Wei's father.
But all the Shen family members died in the war, so his father raised Shen Guilan in his own mansion as if he were his own son.
Therefore, they were like brothers from different families who grew up together and had a life - and - death bond.
Huo Wei leaned back on the chair. His long and narrow cold eyes darkened. Expressionlessly, he said, "Okay."
Shen Guilan looked at him deeply again. This junior brother had been protected by him since childhood.
If Du Gu Luanyue tried to seduce him again, he would kill her himself without hesitation, no matter what the cost.
Huo Wei sat silently and lonely under the dim palace lamp. His wild and beast - like fierceness had disappeared.
Now he was once again the proper and cold different - surname prince, learning to walk, dine, talk, and behave in a proper and polite way like the Northern Yan nobles.
The licentiousness and absurdity in the hot - spring palace continued. Du Gu Luanyue returned to her own palace and saw Murong Min sleeping among more than a dozen beautiful women. She just smiled faintly.
She had known what kind of person Murong Min was from the very beginning. During the time when she was sick, he only came to take a look and then went to Zhao Chuyan's palace.
She was very clear that a man who was simply lustful couldn't be kept by beauty alone.
The exclusive favor as the queen would sooner or later fade with the arrival of new concubines.
To stabilize her position in the harem, besides the emperor's exclusive favor, she also had to understand men's pleasures.
Two days later, Du Gu Luanyue asked, "Where is Xie Xuanjin, the crown prince of Dongning? I need to see him tonight to find out what Dongning thinks."
Aunt Meijiang had sent someone to inquire about it early in the morning. Calmly, she said, "In the garden behind the Half - Mountain Palace. This old servant will accompany Your Majesty there."
Without hesitation, Du Gu Luanyue went to the garden behind the Half - Mountain Palace and found Xie Xuanjin.
Xie Xuanjin was a little surprised when he first saw her, but he still smiled politely and said,
"If the prince of Yuzhang finds out that Your Majesty has come to see me at night, it might not be good, right?"