sovbooks Chapter 517 Will Xu Fenghua choose her child or her younger brother Xu Longxiang?
Chapter 517 Will Xu Fenghua choose her child or her younger brother Xu Longxiang?
Yunluan stood by the door, her hand on the hilt of her sword, her gaze fixed on Qin Mu's face, and remained silent for a moment.
Her brows furrowed slightly, forming a very faint knot between them.
"Your Majesty, are you testing Xu Longxiang?"
Her voice was cool and detached, with a hint of probing.
Qin Mu leaned back on the soft couch, propping his chin up with one hand, and the smile on his lips deepened.
He shook his head, his gaze fixed on the deep night outside the window.
"No. The one I intend to test is not Xu Longxiang. Xu Longxiang is already a confirmed traitor, there is no need to test him."
Yunluan's eyes flickered.
Her brows relaxed, then furrowed again, and she nodded thoughtfully.
"Did His Majesty deliberately say these things to Consort Hua to see if she would inform Xu Longxiang?"
There was a hint of realization in her voice.
Qin Mu smiled and tapped his fingers lightly twice on the armrest. "Do you think she would?"
Yunluan remained silent for a moment.
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind—Xu Fenghua was Xu Longxiang's older sister, the eldest daughter of the Northern Border, and had been forcibly taken as a concubine.
She must have harbored hatred and resentment, and she must have tried every means to help Xu Longxiang.
She definitely will.
Yunluan nodded, her voice clear and firm. "I believe so."
Qin Mu shook his head, the smile still lingering on his lips, revealing no emotion. "I don't think so."
Yunluan was slightly taken aback, a hint of confusion flashing in her eyes.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but swallowed the words back.
She didn't know why His Majesty was so certain, or where his confidence came from.
She just stood there, looking at Qin Mu, her eyes full of doubt.
Jiang Zhaoyue sat on the embroidered stool to the side, still holding the book she hadn't finished reading.
She raised her head, glanced at Qin Mu, then at Yun Luan, and a slight smile appeared on her lips.
"Consort Hua is pregnant. It is His Majesty's child."
Yunluan's pupils suddenly contracted, as if she had been pricked by a needle.
She finally understood.
Why is Your Majesty so certain? Why do you say that Xu Fenghua would not inform Xu Longxiang?
Because Xu Fenghua is carrying His Majesty's child.
It was a choice between a mother and a younger brother.
It was a scale, with the unborn child on one side and the younger brother who had grown up with her on the other.
She didn't know who Xu Fenghua would choose, but she knew that His Majesty was gambling.
She took a deep breath and gradually suppressed the surging, turbulent waves.
"Your Majesty understands. He wants to see whether Consort Hua will choose her younger brother Xu Longxiang or the child in her womb."
Her voice was very soft, so soft it was as if she were talking to herself.
Qin Mu smiled and nodded, then tapped his fingers twice on the armrest.
His gaze fell on the deep night outside the window, the smile still lingering on his lips, revealing no emotion.
"I am very curious. I want to see who a woman would choose between her own brother and her own flesh and blood."
Yunluan lowered her head and remained silent.
Jiang Zhaoyue put down the book in her hand, stood up, walked behind Qin Mu, placed her slender fingers on his shoulders, and massaged them gently.
Her voice was soft, tinged with an indescribable emotion.
"Your Majesty, what do you think Consort Hua will choose?"
Qin Mu closed his eyes, feeling the gentle pressure on his shoulder, and the smile on his lips deepened.
"I don't know. I just... want to see."
Jiang Zhaoyue's eyes flickered slightly.
"Your Majesty would probably prefer Consort Hua to choose your child."
Her voice was soft, with a hint of cautious probing.
Qin Mu opened his eyes, looked at her, and the smile on his lips deepened.
"She will likely do so. But if she doesn't, then don't blame me for being ruthless later."
Jiang Zhaoyue's fingers paused for a moment, then continued to massage.
Her gaze fell on the deep night outside the window, and a complex feeling welled up in her heart.
"Your Majesty, I believe that Consort Hua will not disappoint you."
Qin Mu smiled, closed his eyes, and leaned against her, his posture as languid as a satisfied cat.
"I hope so."
The hall was quiet for a moment.
The candlelight burned quietly inside the lampshade, casting the shadows of the two people close together on the wall.
Jiang Zhaoyue's lips parted slightly, then closed, then parted again, then closed again.
The words rolled around in her throat countless times before finally being squeezed out.
"Your Majesty, I... also wish to have your child."
Her face turned red, as red as if it had been stained with rouge, the redness spreading from her cheekbones all the way to her ears and into the depths of her collar.
Qin Mu opened his eyes, looked at her shy expression, and smiled.
"Okay. Let's do our best tonight."
His voice was soft, with a hint of a smile, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary.
Jiang Zhaoyue's face turned even redder, so red it looked like it was about to bleed.
She bit her lip, lowered her head, and dared not look at him.
Yunluan stood at the door, her hand on the hilt of her sword, her back ramrod straight.
Her face was expressionless, but something was faintly shining in her deep eyes.
Qin Mu turned his head and looked at her, the smile on his lips deepening.
"Do you want to too?"
Yunluan's face turned red instantly.
She lowered her head, not daring to look at him, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.
"Your subordinate... Your subordinate..."
She was unable to speak.
Qin Mu smiled, leaned back in his chair, and tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest twice.
"Then don't leave."
Yunluan's body trembled slightly, a tremor so gentle it was like the fluttering of a butterfly's wings.
Looking at Yun Luan's appearance, Jiang Zhaoyue's lips curled up slightly, and she couldn't help but chuckle.
Qin Mu stood up, straightened his robes, and walked towards the bathroom.
He took two steps, then stopped without looking back.
"Come on. I'll go take a bath first. You may undress yourselves."
His voice drifted over from the front, very soft and faint, as if seen through a thin veil, indistinct.
Jiang Zhaoyue stood up, her hands at her sides, her head bowed, her face still red.
Her fingers clenched slightly inside her sleeve, then relaxed, then clenched again, then relaxed again.
Yunluan stood by the door, her hand slowly sliding down from the hilt of her sword to her side.
Her fingers were trembling slightly, from her fingertips to her wrists, and from her wrists to her arms.
She didn't move; she just stood there, like a stone statue that had been immobilized.
Jiang Zhaoyue walked up to her, reached out her hand, and gently took her hand.
The hand was cold and trembling slightly.
She gripped it tighter, her voice soft and reassuring.
"Let's go."
Yunluan raised her head and looked at Jiang Zhaoyue's rosy face and her smiling, gentle eyes. The string that had been stretched for too long in her heart suddenly relaxed.
She nodded without saying anything.
Jiang Zhaoyue took her hand and walked towards the bathroom.
The two walked very lightly, their footsteps making a soft scraping sound as they stepped on the gold bricks.
Moonlight seeped in through the cracks in the window, spreading a thin layer of silver frost on the ground.
Their shadows were cast on the wall, nestled close together.
........
When Xu Fenghua returned to her room, her steps were unsteady, as if she were walking on cotton.
She pushed open the door, went inside, and closed it behind her.
The latch slid into the slot with a soft "click," a sound that was particularly clear in the quiet room, like a lock that completely separated her from the outside world.
She leaned against the cold door panel, her legs could no longer support her, and she slowly slid down to sit on the ground.
The coolness of the gold bricks seeped up from below, through her clothes, into her skin, into her bones, yet she felt no cold.
Her heart was colder than those gold bricks.
She covered her face with her hands, her fingertips icy cold, pressed against her burning cheeks.
Her shoulders trembled violently, and suppressed, broken sobs leaked from between her fingers, echoing in the empty room.
The voice was very soft, as soft as a wounded beast licking its wounds in the dark, but beneath that softness lay a deep-seated, inescapable despair.
She wanted to tell her younger brother.
This thought burned like a fire in her heart, making her feel hot all over and restless.
She was going to tell him not to go to the appointment, not to go to the dilapidated temple in the north of the city, that the letter was fake, a trap set by Qin Mu.
Xu Longxiang's face appeared in her mind—that young, cold face, yet occasionally revealing a gentle smile in front of her.
When he was little, he followed behind her and called her "sister" in a childish voice, with a kind of innocent dependence.
She taught him to ride horses, to shoot arrows, and to stand tall in the snowstorms of the North.
She said, "Longxiang, you are the hope of the Xu family, you cannot fall."
He nodded, gritted his teeth, fell off the horse, climbed back on, fell off again, and climbed back on.
He never lets her down.
But this time, she couldn't let him know.
The thought was like a bucket of ice water poured over her head, chilling her to the bone.
Her hand touched the latch, her fingertips brushing against the cold metal sheet, and she was about to pull it open.
Then she shrank back.
The movement was quick, like being burned.
Her fingers were trembling slightly, from her fingertips to her wrists, and from her wrists to her arms.
She didn't dare.
She can't.
Qin Mu had clearly told her that he was testing Xu Longxiang.
When he said those words, his gaze fell on her face, and a half-smile played on his lips, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary.
But she understood. She understood completely.
He was telling her—I know about your relationship with Xu Longxiang, I know you'll try to inform him, I know everything.
If you tip someone off, that's betrayal.
But she couldn't afford the price of betrayal.
Her hand unconsciously covered her lower abdomen.
My palms pressed against that thin layer of fabric, feeling that smooth, warm skin.
A life was being conceived there, a child she and Qin Mu were having.
She's not showing yet; you can't tell from her appearance.
But she knew that it was there, growing quietly in the darkness.
It already has a heartbeat, it already has little hands and feet, and it can already move.
She can't let it die.
She couldn't let its heart stop beating, couldn't let its limbs stop growing, couldn't let it close its eyes forever before it even had a chance to open them and see the world.
On one side is her younger brother, and on the other is her child.
On one side is the Xu family's twenty years of nurturing grace, and on the other is the blood connection of a ten-month pregnancy.
Who should she choose?
Who can she choose?
Her tears flowed even more fiercely, welling up from her eyes and streaming down her pale cheeks, dripping onto her dress and leaving a small, dark stain.
She didn't wipe it; she just sat there, leaning against the cold door, burying her face in her hands like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, thinking that if she couldn't see it, then nothing existed.
She can't go.
She gambled with her child's life.
She can't afford to gamble.
She has already wronged her brother; she can't wrong her child too.
She raised her head and looked at her pale, paper-white face in the bronze mirror.
His eyes were red and swollen, his lips were chapped, and his face was covered in tears; he looked utterly disheveled.
She never knew she would become like this.
She used to be the eldest daughter of the Northern Border, the proudest daughter of the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion.
She could ride a horse across the snowy plains of the North, strategize in the business battles of Jiangnan, and hold her head high in front of any man, looking at them coldly with her amber eyes.
She used to never kneel before anyone, never shed tears in front of anyone, and never curl up in the middle of the night like an abandoned cat.
She closed her eyes, and tears welled up again from her tightly closed eye sockets, streaming down her cheeks.
"Longxiang... I'm sorry... Sister, I'm so sorry..."
Her voice was very soft, as soft as a withered leaf falling from a branch, without even making a sound when it hit the ground.
She knew he couldn't hear her.
Separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, by countless palace walls, by that door she could never step out of, he could not hear her.
But she still had to say it.
She was afraid that if she didn't speak up, she would never have the chance to speak again.