"What did you just say to Qi Mengmeng?"
Xia Chuli stared at Shen Qingfeng with a look in his eyes that Shen Qingfeng had never seen in the current Xia Chuli before.
Resolute, resentful, and aggressive.
However, this look was not unfamiliar to Shen Qingfeng at all. In fact, it was so familiar that it had haunted his entire past life.
Shen Qingfeng shuddered all over. He subconsciously took a step back and stared at Xia Chuli in horror.
Yes, he was afraid of this Xia Chuli. The painful days of his past life still haunted him, and the culprit of all this was the person in front of him, the person who looked exactly the same as the one from his past life.
No! How could Xia Chuli become like this? In this life, he had foiled Xia Yonglin's plan to depose the crown prince. Although the process had been a bit bumpy, at least it had been resolved. Now that the matter was settled, there was no reason for Xia Chuli to become like this, right?!
Just as Shen Qingfeng was thinking, Xia Chuli didn't give him much time to observe. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the fierceness in his eyes flashed by, as if everything had just been an illusion to Shen Qingfeng.
"You..." Shen Qingfeng opened his mouth, hardly believing his own eyes. "A Li, what's wrong with you?"
Xia Chuli lowered his eyes and said softly, "I just want to know what you said to her just now."
His voice was soft and gentle, without any edge or coercion. Yes, it was still that Xia Chuli.
Shen Qingfeng secretly let out a sigh of relief. He comforted himself that he must have been bewitched just now. Why on earth would he think of that demon from his past life for no reason?
"I just said some polite words to her," Shen Qingfeng said casually. He composed himself, stepped forward, and helped Xia Chuli up. "It's windy. Don't stand by the window. Go lie on the bed."
Xia Chuli was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay."
Shen Qingfeng helped Xia Chuli back to the bed and helped him sit on the edge of the bed. He pulled over the quilt to cover his legs.
"Have you had dinner?" Shen Qingfeng asked.
"Yes," Xia Chuli nodded and then asked, "Qingfeng, did you come to see me?"
"Of course."
Xia Chuli smiled. He grabbed Shen Qingfeng's hand and said, "Qingfeng, I like you."
Shen Qingfeng was stunned. He coughed lightly and quietly withdrew his hand. He said, "A Li, I think I made myself clear the other night."
Xia Chuli smiled faintly and said, "So what? I'm just expressing my own feelings."
Shen Qingfeng was silent.
"Will you respond to me?" Xia Chuli persisted.
Shen Qingfeng didn't want to argue with him anymore, so he changed the subject and said, "It's time for you to go to sleep."
"You're the only one I have left," Xia Chuli said.
Shen Qingfeng was silent again.
"Then will you help me seize the throne?"
"Yes," Shen Qingfeng said firmly. Even if he could no longer love Xia Chuli, he would do this for him. This was also the only and last thing he would do for him.
Xia Chuli let out a low laugh.
That's all right.
Once he had seized the throne, the first thing he would do was to kill Lu Yan. Then, Shen Qingfeng would be his.
This matter was so simple, yet it had taken him many days of being tortured by nightmares to figure it out.
The nightmare was eerie and terrifying. Every night in his dream, he would walk alone in the huge Bian Palace. Along the way, he wouldn't meet anyone. In the dream, the sky was always a dark red like blood, covering the entire Bian Palace in a terrifying and bloody atmosphere.
He always walked aimlessly, but no matter how many twists and turns he took, he would always end up in the Shanhe Hall in the end.
He remembered very clearly that in the dream, the Shanhe Hall was full of blood and the remains of limbs. The person sitting on the dragon throne had his head separated from his body, and he was still tightly holding his head in his arms, looking down at himself standing in the pool of blood.
He couldn't see the person's face clearly, but he felt that the person was extremely familiar.
Get him, by any means necessary.
The head-separated guy said so.
Kill all the people close to him, lock him up! Imprison him! Let there be only you in his life!
The guy screeched. The head in his arms began to grin, and the scarlet blood flowed out of his mouth and down his chin to the severed neck.
Only then did Xia Chuli see that the person's neck seemed to have been directly chopped off by someone.
One knife to kill, head separated from the body.
Tie him up! Tear off his clothes! Humiliate him! Make him only yours!
The voice became more and more crazy, screeching like a madman. In the bloody Shanhe Hall, it was so fierce that it made people's hair stand on end.
"But he likes my uncle..." Xia Chuli seemed to be infected by this atmosphere. He opened his mouth and roared loudly, "He's changed! He likes Lu Yan!"
Jie jie jie jie...
The voice cackled strangely. The eerie laughter made Xia Chuli tremble all over. His legs went weak, and he slumped to the ground.
He fell to the ground and reached out his hand to touch. His hand was full of thick, red blood.
If you can't get him, destroy him! Destroy him!
Xia Chuli suddenly looked up. The entire Shanhe Hall seemed to suddenly distort. The sounds of war and fighting were endless. A fire suddenly broke out somewhere and engulfed the entire Shanhe Hall in an instant.
The red-lacquered wooden beams of the carved and painted buildings were melted by the fire. The colorful dyes turned into liquid and dripped drop by drop onto the blood-covered ground, flashing bright and desperate colors.
Xia Chuli was so scared that he turned around and ran, but how could he escape? The door of the Shanhe Hall was tightly locked, and as the tongues of fire raged, the wooden beams began to collapse one by one.
"What do you want to do! Let me out!" Xia Chuli roared heart-rendingly.
Destroy him! Destroy him! Destroy him!
The voice never stopped. Every time, Xia Chuli would wake up in such a crazy and obsessive voice, then look at the dark ceiling and break out in a cold sweat.
Later, he understood that the person was right.
If there was no one else around Shen Qingfeng, then wouldn't he only belong to himself?
He just had to kill Lu Yan and then keep Shen Qingfeng in the palace. As time passed, Shen Qingfeng would surely fall in love with him again.
He had plenty of time, enough to slowly soften Shen Qingfeng's heart.
"Then help me ascend to the throne, Qingfeng," Xia Chuli said like this, looking deeply into his eyes as if making an oath that would last through the ages.
Shen Qingfeng looked at him and then looked away. He said softly, "Okay."
Good. Then they were on the same side.
At least for now, Shen Qingfeng would always stand by his side. He just had to wait, wait until the day he sat on the throne.
"Do you know that if it weren't for this incident, today would have been my wedding day with Qi Mengmeng?" Xia Chuli said.
"Didn't Your Majesty cancel it?" Shen Qingfeng asked in confusion.
Xia Chuli sneered and said, "After the memorial to pardon me today, Father immediately gave me another imperial edict."
Shen Qingfeng was stunned, and a bad feeling rose in his heart.
Xia Chuli looked out of the window, squinted his eyes, and said, "Father wants me to marry Qi Mengmeng the day after tomorrow."