C113 (1/2)

After Zhu Guanliang left, only she and Zhao Shiqian were left in the house. Zhou Leping felt awkward, after hesitating for a moment, he wanted to take off the mask on his face, but Zhao Shiqian grabbed her hand and said, ”Don't!”

”Your Majesty …”

”It's been a long time since I've seen you like this. It's been four years since we've seen each other, and I've almost forgotten how you looked before.” He seemed to be infatuated with her, and couldn't stop himself from getting closer to her. ”This looks good, I like it.”

In the past, Zhao Shiqian used to look at her in this way. At that time, almost everyone, even she herself thought that she would be together with him, so she did not avoid him, but now it was different.

”Why?” Zhao Shiqian sat in front of the table and knocked on the table, telling her to sit down, ”Sit, let's talk.”

Zhou Leping cupped his hands and sat opposite of him. They looked at each other and didn't speak for a while.

Zhao Shiqian saw that her eyes were blazing with anticipation and lowered his head. He rubbed his hands on his knees, and felt as if a bucket of water was being poured over his head. He waited for him to say something, but was afraid that he wouldn't be able to take it.

Fortunately, after looking for a long time, Zhao Shiqian finally came back to his senses, took out something and passed it to her, ”This is the birthday present we have prepared for you.”

”Huh?” She looked up and saw him holding out a pouch. ”What's this?”

”I really can't think of anything to give you. After thinking over and over again, what you lack the most right now is money. Here is some silver taels. About the military pay from before …” ”It was I who let you down, and punished you with another year's salary. I expected that you would be in such a tight spot these days, and could be considered to be in a rush to save you.”

The Emperor could not afford to pay her so much silver, but it was still enough to give her some to save her life.

The gift he sent her was a gift. Money was the most vulgar and also the most useful. However, if someone else were to gift it to her, she might have accepted it happily for a long time. Thus, he gifted it to her … It felt awkward no matter what.

If she did not accept, Zhao Shiqian would give it to her, ”Don't be so polite with us.”

Then, he conveniently grabbed her hand with a burning gaze. It was unknown if it was intentional or if he forgot to let go, but the warm feeling in his palm caused Zhou Leping to suddenly stand up. His knees went weak and he almost kneeled down, ”This subject is terrified.”

Zhao Shiqian's hands were empty, his heart was also empty, he grabbed her arm and pulled her up, ”Privately, you don't have to be so courteous to us.”

The atmosphere became even weirder. Zhou Leping stood up and immediately retreated two steps, ”The emperor is the ruler and I am the subject. With the rules, it's better to keep some distance between us.”

Zhao Shiqian's hands paused, ”Are you really separating from us more and more just because of this level of identity between us?”

He walked to the window and stood with his hands behind his back, recalling the past, ”I remember that you and I had the most intimate conversation in the past. When I was the crown prince, I had to be extra careful with every word and action, but I didn't have that many rules for you. Do you remember when you hit me?”

Of course she remembered that time, Zhao Deng was there as well, the three of them sneaked out of the palace and out of the palace, while the others sneaked out of the palace. They found a tavern to compete in alcohol, Zhao Deng was the one who got drunk first, her alcohol was bad, if she drank too much she started to go crazy, Zhao Shiqian wanted to send her back, but on the way, she punched him with her alcohol.

That time, he was not light at all. His face and nose were bruised and his arms were dislocated.

When she woke up on the second day, she was so scared that she was about to die. She was scared that if she wanted to rob a house, she would need to be beheaded. However, when Zhao Shiqian returned to the palace, he insisted that he fell down.

What kind of person was the crown prince? He was the future emperor, a man with golden branches and jade leaves, a man whose noble roots made people nervous. Yet, he practiced a set of drunken fist on the crown prince.

Many years had passed since this incident. Even now, when she thought about it, she was still holding her little heart and wiping her sweat, not knowing how to respond to these words.