20demayo Chapter 255
Chapter 255
"you're absolutely right. i indeed... have feelings for the imperial noble consort."
so how dare you put her in danger?
xie chenghui smiled and patted painter li's shoulder, watching him being dragged away by the guards with a dazed expression before his gaze softened again.
how could he possibly paint the imperial noble consort in private?
if he could help it, he never wanted to paint her in his lifetime.
because love would inevitably flow through the brush strokes - anyone who understood painting could see the emotions within.
the portrait of the imperial noble consort he had just completed showed less than twenty percent of his true skill, because he feared that if he put too much heart into it, it might one day become evidence for others to attack her.
loving her was his burden alone - why drag her brilliant self into bottomless suffering?
xie chenghui touched the dried paint on the hem of his clothes, then packed up his things with his apprentice and left the bamboo grove.
"yue'er!"
having finally caught up with jiang xinyue, both parties had stopped outside the changchun pavilion.
without the crowd watching, jiang xinyue no longer needed to maintain appearances for the emperor.
the emperor grabbed her sleeve; she shook it off. he grabbed it again; she shook it off again...
after this repeated four or five times, jiang xinyue suddenly turned and pushed him away, her eyes full of disappointment: "why does your majesty follow such a fickle and unfaithful woman as me? still wanting to catch me in the act? want to see how many lovers i have?"
"that's not what i meant."
the xuanwu emperor, knowing he was in the wrong, pleaded humbly: "i was just... just jealous."
"let's go, let's go!"
wang dequan waved his hand: "everyone leave! why are you all standing here? xi que, take them back and get to your duties."
xi que looked quite disgruntled, wondering why she was singled out among so many people.
making her look like a troublemaker.
he hadn't controlled that surge of dark fire that had risen within him, and he had taken it out on yue'er.
ah...
he sat rather pitifully on the stone steps, sighing once, twice, three times...
he kept sighing until wang dequan came over: "your majesty, it's late, you should rest. tomorrow the local officials of qin province will host a banquet for you and the imperial noble consort. you should return to the nine provinces palace to rest! the imperial noble consort probably won't speak to you until her anger subsides."
"if you didn't speak, no one would think you were mute."
the words coming from wang dequan's emotionless mouth were so cold and ruthless, not a single one pleasant to hear.
wang dequan bit his lower lip, looking pitifully at the emperor.
this old fellow was actually feeling wronged...
the emperor, feeling extremely annoyed, sighed again and slowly stood up. he stared at the main door of the changchun pavilion for a while before leaving, looking back every few steps.
he could only think of ways to appease yue'er later.
he hadn't even noticed himself, but the first time jiang xinyue got angry and closed the palace doors, he had thought about coaxing her. but this time, he thought about truly making amends with her.
the difference of a single word revealed how jiang xinyue's position in his heart had become increasingly important.
she hadn't forcefully pushed her way into his heart, but rather had done so gradually, imperceptibly, creating these feelings of attraction and care that he hadn't even noticed developing.
usually, it didn't seem like anything special, but once other excellent members of the opposite sex approached jiang xinyue, it made the emperor feel a sense of violation.
mu tan gently closed the garden gate and reported the situation to her mistress: "my lady, the emperor has left."
"left?" noble lady jiang frowned. "why didn't the emperor wait longer? perhaps the imperial noble consort would have opened the door soon!"
mu tan shook her head: "last time when the emperor angered the imperial noble consort, she kept the palace doors closed and didn't let him in for three months. this time the emperor's offense is even more serious - falsely accusing the imperial noble consort of having an affair with painter xie. wouldn't she ignore the emperor for even longer? in this servant's opinion, it will be at least four or five months."
four or five months?
by then they would have finished their summer retreat and returned to the capital.
if she couldn't reconcile with the emperor before then, wouldn't that just give opportunities to all those concubines who coveted the emperor's physical attention?