"Awake? You woke up so soon?" Lin Qiao stood up abruptly. "What else did Luo Nanchen say?"
Mo Xiujie thought carefully and reported every detail to Lin Qiao. "After the emperor woke up, his eyes were first hazy. He asked where this was. Then his eyes became a bit clearer and he asked where the empress dowager was. After that, he told this humble official to fetch you."
Lin Qiao nodded. It seemed that Luo Nanchen was going to settle the score with her for the injury he suffered yesterday because she hadn't gone.
After all, Luo Nanchen didn't know that it was fate that made him get hurt.
Mo Xiujie led Lin Qiao into Luo Nanchen's tent. Having completed his task, he was very observant and told all the servants to leave.
Luo Nanchen was sitting on the bed. His lips and cheeks were extremely pale. But the moment he saw Lin Qiao come in, his eyes brightened as if there were lights in them.
Lin Qiao took the initiative and pretended to be frail. "Yesterday, I didn't go to the back mountain because... because I was ill. Cough, cough, cough..."
Luo Nanchen threw off the quilt and seemed about to get out of bed. Lin Qiao quickly held him down and covered him with the quilt again. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Is it serious?"
Lin Qiao didn't understand. "Huh?"
Luo Nanchen's voice was deep. He stared at Lin Qiao carefully, examining every part of her. "Is it serious?"
"Oh, you mean my illness..." Seeing that Luo Nanchen took it seriously, Lin Qiao smiled awkwardly. "It's okay now. I'm really sorry for causing your injury. It's my fault."
"It's not your fault."
Lin Qiao looked at Luo Nanchen, and a feeling of gratification welled up in her heart, like the pride of a parent seeing their child grow up.
Sure enough, a boy in love is different.
He was so gentle and considerate!
However, in the original novel, although Luo Nanchen's character was quite distinct and three - dimensional, there didn't seem to be any description of his gentleness.
Lin Qiao shook her head. It was really a rare sight...
Luo Nanchen looked at Lin Qiao, his voice a bit hoarse. "Why... why did you leave?"
Lin Qiao was tucking in the quilt for Luo Nanchen. Startled by this sudden question, she was a bit dazed. "What do you mean by leaving?"
Luo Nanchen's lips were pale. He lowered his eyes and didn't look at Lin Qiao. "Mo Xiujie said that when they found me, I was the only one in the cave."
Lin Qiao was stunned.
Luo Nanchen bit his lips. "Are you going to go back on your word?"
Lin Qiao finally felt that something was wrong.
Luo Nanchen's voice became even deeper. His Adam's apple rolled up and down. "But yesterday, you clearly, clearly..."
"Wait, wait a minute," Lin Qiao's mind went blank. "You knew that it was me... in the cave yesterday?"
Luo Nanchen gritted his back teeth, looking extremely frustrated. He stiffened his neck and gave a grunt.
"When did you know?"
Luo Nanchen frowned. "What do you mean by when?"
Lin Qiao's voice was a bit trembling. "Y - you... always knew it was me?"
Luo Nanchen didn't understand what was going on, but still nodded.
Lin Qiao was completely dumbfounded.
Damn it!
Why didn't the disguise technique work? Why did the system malfunction? The system had promised so well!
This damned dog system. She would surely fight it to the death one day.
Lin Qiao asked timidly, "So the things you said yesterday were actually... meant for me?"
Luo Nanchen took it for granted and was a bit annoyed, as if hating iron for not becoming steel. "Otherwise?"
Lin Qiao was stunned. She really couldn't handle the straightforward confession of a younger man.
It was too bold, without any detours.
"I like you."
Lin Qiao's mind continued to freeze.
"I like you. It's not the emperor liking the empress dowager. It's Luo Nanchen liking Lin Qiao. It's me who likes you."
Luo Nanchen said each word very seriously. His lips were pale, but his words were burning hot. His cheeks were pale, but his eyes were bright.
Facing this sudden situation, Lin Qiao was at a loss. She didn't know what to say or what to do.
She turned around and ran away.
Run, run, run. For Luo Nanchen, she had run like a rabbit in the past two days.
Back in her tent, Lin Qiao took a breath and immediately said, "Chunhua, Qiuyue, quickly, pack our luggage."
Qiuyue was wiping the table. Knowing that Lin Qiao was always an impatient person, she wasn't in a hurry. "Your ladyship, what happened?"
Lin Qiao was determined. "Return to the capital."
"Why?"
"For no reason. Run first."
She needed to calm down and think about what was going on.
This was too stimulating. For Lin Qiao, the fact that Luo Nanchen liked her was even more stimulating than sleeping with him.
After all, one was a physical exchange, and the other was a spiritual exchange.
One was the depravity of morality, lust; the other was the absurdity of the world, love.
Comparing the two, the emotional one was more serious.
Lin Qiao ran in a hurry. She came in a hurry and left in a hurry. She didn't pack anything and just ran away.
How urgent was she?
So urgent that Luo Nanchen immediately got out of bed, stumbled, then got up and ran to Lin Qiao's tent to look for her, but couldn't find her.
Mo Xiujie rushed over and supported Luo Nanchen, whose face was pale and who seemed on the verge of despair. "Your Majesty, why are you in such a hurry? Didn't you follow this humble official's advice and get closer to her in the name of mother and son?"
Luo Nanchen's eyes were dull, and his lips were pale. "I've tried. I can't do it."
Mo Xiujie grimaced and frowned. His facial expression was extremely rich. "Is it that difficult? Isn't it just calling her mother..."
Seeing Luo Nanchen's increasingly intimidating look, he obediently shut up.
Luo Nanchen's lips were pale. "I can't regard her as my mother, not even when acting."
Mo Xiujie came up with another idea. "Your Majesty, this official has a new idea."
Luo Nanchen said, "Speak."
"You should act like a rascal to the empress dowager."
"What do you mean by a rascal?"
"Just force your way."
Luo Nanchen gave Mo Xiujie a glare.
Mo Xiujie shrank back but still braved himself. "N - no, not that kind... Just act like a rascal, a hooligan. Stick to her all the time in a way that the empress dowager can't refuse."
Luo Nanchen frowned, looking very distressed. "I've even moved my memorials there. I stay in the Palace of Eternal Joy except when I'm in court. How else can I stick to her?"
"Not that kind of sticking," Mo Xiujie taught him in the manner of an experienced person. "You need to have a sense of presence and maximize your value. When you're by the empress dowager's side, you need to make her feel your existence."
Luo Nanchen nodded. "I understand. Let's go back."
"Back to the tent?"
"Back to the palace."
Lin Qiao was in a hurry to run away and wasn't afraid of anything happening because she knew that as an empress dowager, she wasn't of much use to the country.
It wouldn't matter at all if she disappeared or even didn't come on this spring hunting trip.
But it was different for the emperor.
The emperor was the backbone of a country.
Lin Qiao ran away first because she knew that there would be a sacrifice after the spring hunting, and the sacrifice needed to be presided over by the emperor.
Luo Nanchen couldn't come back for a while.
She needed some time to calm down.
But Lin Qiao didn't expect that just two days after she returned to the palace, Luo Nanchen and the main troops were back.