The Tyrant's Beloved Empress

37

An Chang Qing's head was filled with questions as he stood in place, wondering what Xiao Zhige could be busy with at this hour. In his daze, he heard someone calling him from behind.

"Cousin Chang Qing..."

Li Hai Yun's eyes lit up looking at An Chang Qing. Under the influence of alcohol, he wanted to grab his hand as he stepped closer, "I..."

"Why are you here?" Seeing his red face and the strong smell of alcohol, An Chang Qing took a step back. He looked around and said, "Cousin didn't bring anyone with you? Let me call someone to send you back."

Li Hai Yun looked at him with sadness, "I came here to look for you... Are, are you still mad at me?"

He stuttered as he began to explain, "I didn't know... I didn't know that you were betrothed to the Northern Warlord. They all hid this from me... I turned down the marriage as soon as I returned home. I had planned to bring it up with my family after I'd made my achievements in the imperial exams, I didn't expect it would be too late..."

An Chang Qing was becoming increasingly confused thinking that there was something wrong with this person today. As his relationship with Li Hai Yun was not intimate, he was getting a little impatient, "My betrothal has nothing to do with you. You're drunk, I'll go get someone to take you back."

Li Hai Yun took the chance and pulled at his sleeve, speaking determinedly, "I'm not leaving! If I were to leave, you have to come with me!"

.....

Not far away, An Chang Yu was watching this scene. When he looked back and saw Xiao Zhige approaching the two, a smile finally spread across his face.

His effort wasn't in vain after all.

He gave one last look at Li Hai Yun who was still holding on to An Chang Qing's sleeve before turning his back to leave.

Li Hai Yun, An Chang Qing, neither of them were worth anything in his eyes. But one was a high-achieving scholar who his father had used as an example to berate him and the other had dared to rub his power in his face and bullied his mother.

Now, it was quite gratifying that these two were tangled together. That way, he could cleanly kill two birds with one stone.

After tonight, these two who had brought utter disgust to his eyes would no longer have the chance to annoy him.

.....

Holding tightly onto the lantern which had taken him a lot of effort to retrieve, Xiao Zhige took large strides to get back to An Chang Qing while desperately trying to suppress the smile on his face.

Although he was not good with words and a little dimwitted when it came to emotions, he was not an idiot. He could feel An Chang Qing's changes towards him but his preconceived assumptions had made it difficult for him to disregard his insecurities.

He was afraid that no matter how much he hoped, it would all be for nothing.

That was until he saw the wish in the lantern.

On a small scroll stuffed into the lantern were the beautifully written words in black and white: to grow old with my husband.

When he had managed to secure the lantern, he had hesitated. A thousand possibilities had crossed his mind but he would never have guessed that An Chang Qing's wish was to be with him until after their hair turned white.

He thought that deep down, there would always be a shred of aversion towards this marriage in An Chang Qing's heart. But the truth was that he had been too negative from the beginning. His Wangfei did, in fact, have feelings for him and was even willing to spend this life with him.