Originated from mountains and seas, life never ends

Chapter 127 You Come Too

Nangong Huaxue: ...

No, when the competition was announced, I didn’t put on any makeup in front of so many people, but you didn’t recognize me. But when I went out for a meal and changed my makeup completely, you recognized me?

Although Nangong Huaxue was speechless, she understood him and knew that he usually didn't pay attention to the emperor, so she just curled her lips and said, "It's me."

Qin Xiao nodded thoughtfully and let go of his hand: "Did you recognize him that day?"

Nangong Huaxue: “No.”

Qin Xiao:?

Nangong Huaxue chuckled: "I asked someone to collect information, and I guessed it when I saw Mo Hanyu."

Qin Xiao: ...

"If you were here, you would definitely look for him." Nangong Huaxue's eyes dimmed as she spoke of this. "So when she saw his face and heard about some of your deeds, she probably guessed it."

Qin Xiao looked at her expression and probably knew what she was thinking. He touched her head and said, "He is dead."

"I know." Nangong Huaxue said, "I heard about it."

"Who told you that?"

"It's mentioned in the royal secret book."

Qin Xiao nodded, and suddenly felt something was wrong, and looked at her: "What secret book?"

"The royal secret book." Nangong Huaxue repeated it attentively. Facing Qin Xiao's surprised eyes, she finally felt somewhat satisfied and shook her head, "You didn't expect it, did you?"

"You are 18 this year?" Qin Xiao glanced at her from head to toe, sat down, and had a strange look in his eyes.

"Yes." Nangong Huaxue pursed her lips and raised her head proudly, "Yes, I am the emperor of my country."

Qin Xiao: ...

Qin Xiao had a complicated expression and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

"What's that look in your eyes?!" Nangong Huaxue met Qin Xiao's gaze and became a little angry.

"No... nothing." Qin Xiao said, but he couldn't help but sighed, "It's not easy for Yuhua to survive until now..."

Nangong Huaxue: ...

Nangong Huaxue: "That's enough."

Nangong Huaxue turned her head away hurt: "Am I such a ridiculous person in your eyes?"

"Not really..." Qin Xiao looked at the tea on the table and couldn't help but sigh again, "What about Wang Ji? I heard some rumors."

Qin Xiao said, looking at her: "What is your relationship with him?"

When Nangong Huaxue heard him mention this, she paused, her eyes moved around, and she seemed to feel a little guilty.

Seeing her like this, Qin Xiao slowly narrowed his eyes.

“It’s just… quite complicated, right?” Nangong Huaxue looked up at the sky, a little embarrassed, and scratched his head, “Well, I like him quite a lot, he’s really amazing… My God, that guy, really is…”

"So, what is your relationship now?" Qin Xiao was unmoved.

Nangong Huaxue: ...

"Well, I feel like he's attracted to my body and I'm a little bit attracted to him, but nothing has happened yet?" Nangong Huaxue blinked and asked tentatively.

Qin Xiao: ...

Qin Xiao: "Are you also greedy for your own body?"

Nangong Huaxue: "...Why do you think so?"

"Your expression is a problem." Qin Xiao said coldly, raising his head, "Did he bully you?"

“Not really.” Nangong Huaxue scratched his head. “He was quite nice to me… In fact, until three years ago, he was still a somewhat vicious kid in my eyes.”

"Child?" Qin Xiao suddenly pulled the corner of his mouth, "You are still a child now."

“Hey hey hey—” Nangong Huaxue interrupted, staring at him, dissatisfied, “How can you say that? I’m—eighteen years old!”

Qin Xiao: ...

Nangong Huaxue emphasized the word "eighteen" and stretched out the sound, raised his chin to look at him, and reached out to touch the top of his head: "And you? You are only a ten-year-old kid now. Logically speaking, with my current status and position, you should kneel on the ground, kowtow, call me Your Majesty, and thank me with tears for summoning you..."

Nangong Huaxue deliberately lowered his voice and shook his head, looking like a smug villain.

Qin Xiao: ...

Qin Xiao looked at Meng Liyun who was pretending to be arrogant, and suddenly smiled, raising the corners of his lips: "Then... Your Majesty, can you--"

“Hey, hey, hey, forget it.” Nangong Huaxue felt goosebumps all over her body when he called her that, and she quickly shook off the shivers, “It’s just talk, don’t take it seriously.”

Nangong Huaxue glanced at Qin Xiao's expression, knowing that he wanted to know, she coughed twice, picked up the teacup beside her and took a sip, then continued talking.

"Speaking of the first time I met him...that should have been when I was seven or eight years old, right?" Nangong Huaxue recalled, sipping his tea slowly from the cup.

"It was night, and I was in the palace garden, squatting in the bushes, digging for cicada monkeys—"

"Wait, what are you digging?" Qin Xiao felt something was wrong and interrupted her, somewhat incredulous.

"Digging cicada monkeys." Nangong Huaxue didn't feel anything wrong and was very excited. "You don't know, there are many trees in the palace, and there are many cicadas every year. That year I thought of digging a bucket and frying it to taste..."

"...Okay, continue." Qin Xiao didn't want to hear her say this and motioned for her to continue.

"Yeah." Nangong Huaxue nodded and continued to recall.

Because her father, the emperor, did not allow her to do such a thing, that night she lied that she had gone to bed, avoided the guards, and ran to the back garden to dig with a small shovel and a small bucket.

Because she was afraid of being discovered, she ran to the deep part of the garden, under an inconspicuous tree where the grass and trees were overgrown, and started digging a hole. Although she felt something was wrong with the soil there as soon as she put the shovel in, she thought it was because she was still young and her perception was wrong, so she didn't think much about it and continued digging.

After digging for a while, he didn't find any cicada monkeys. Nangong Huaxue was immediately a little strange, and he dug another shovel, but the shovel didn't feel right.

She frowned, dug something out of the soil, and found it was a human head covered in mud.

"——A human head?"

Qin Xiao sat up straight and questioned, "Inside the palace?"

Nangong Huaxue nodded: "Yes, but I didn't think much about it at the time, so I shoveled a few more times and found something wrong."

Qin Xiao nodded. Although he was a little slow, he was able to realize that someone had buried the body in the garden.

"That head is obviously new! I can even smell blood!" Nangong Huaxue couldn't help but slap his knees heavily when he mentioned this, and said excitedly, "That must be a newly dug pit. How could I possibly dig up a cicada monkey in someone else's newly dug pit?"

Qin Xiao: ...

Qin Xiao covered his forehead in pain.

"Hmm? Am I right? I think what I said is right?" Nangong Huaxue looked at Qin Xiao's face, still ignorant.

"..." Qin Xiao looked at her tiredly, swallowed back the words in his heart, and sighed as if giving up, "It's okay, you continue."

"Yeah, I thought of it at that time--" Nangong Huaxue smiled proudly and continued to talk to him.

After Nangong Huaxue felt something was wrong, he thought about it, buried the head back, flattened the soil, changed the angle, and continued digging. This time, he dug up a hand not long after.

Qin Xiao: ...

She looked at her hands, blue and white, exposed from the soil. She could vaguely see the forearm hidden under the soil. Because she hadn't paid attention just now, she dug in a little too hard with the shovel and scraped off two fingers.

Nangong Huaxue finally sensed something was wrong.

Logically speaking, there shouldn't be any dead bodies here.

Nangong Huaxue stared at his fingers in the shovel and thought.

But after all, she is still a child of only a few years old, and this kind of thing is not something she can control.

So Nangong Huaxue didn't want to do anything, she just pushed the soil back and flattened it.

She just wanted to dig up a cicada monkey, why was it so difficult?

Nangong Huaxue couldn't help but sigh when he mentioned it now.

Qin Xiao: ...

But she did not give up. After making a rough estimate, she picked up her bucket and wanted to run to another tree to have a look. Before she had taken a few steps, she suddenly heard footsteps and seemed to have stepped on something. At the same time, she heard heavy breathing sounds coming from the bushes next to her.

Nangong Huaxue paused and looked over there. She had no intention of caring about it, but the person hiding over there seemed to have realized that she had discovered her. A black shadow suddenly appeared under her feet, and before Nangong Huaxue could do anything, it quickly wrapped around her ankle and pulled her into the bushes.

Before Nangong Huaxue could even scream, a cold hand covered her mouth tightly, and another hand pinched her neck. With just a little force, her neck was broken.

"Don't make a sound." A cruel voice sounded in my ears, and there was a strong smell of blood all around, but I didn't know whose voice it was.

Judging from his voice, he didn't seem to be very old, and the hand he was holding her was shaking a little.

Nangong Huaxue didn't know who the visitor was, but it was most likely the murderer. She didn't want to take action, as she was held tightly in his arms. His fingers were so strong that she could hardly breathe.

Nangong Huaxue thought for a moment, then stuck out her tongue and licked the palm of the man's hand.

The man seemed frightened, having totally not expected her to do this, and his fingers trembled and loosened a little.

Nangong Huaxue took this opportunity, quickly turned her head, widened her innocent and beautiful eyes, tried to arouse the murderer's sympathy, and played dumb to get away with it.

"I... just want to dig some cicada monkeys, don't tell anyone else."

There was no way, she didn't want to do it. The murderer seemed to be quite young, looking at her stupidly, not knowing if he was stunned by her words.

The man's entire figure was hidden in the darkness. She couldn't see his expression, but she felt that the murderous aura seemed to have faded a little.

Seeing him pause, Nangong Huaxue's eyes dimmed. She realized that the footsteps were getting closer and closer. She wanted to call for help, but before she could make any move, her eyes suddenly went dark and she fell into darkness.

When he woke up again, he saw several guards surrounding him with concerned looks. There were also many people around who seemed to be doing something.

"Your Highness, are you okay?" The maid serving her pulled her, her eyes full of fear.

Nangong Huaxue stood up and found that he was still in the same place. Just as he was about to look under the tree, his view was blocked by someone.

"Nothing's wrong over there... Your Highness, are you feeling well?"

Nangong Huaxue stood up and knew that the body had been discovered. She said nothing, but just shook her head blankly.

The maid took her back to the palace, and the emperor arrived in less than ten minutes and asked her what she knew. Nangong Huaxue didn't want to get involved in the incident, so she pretended to be scared and didn't know anything.

But despite this, her father still found out that she ran out in the middle of the night to dig cicada monkeys. He was so angry that he put her in solitary confinement for three months. By the time she was able to go out, she could no longer dig cicada monkeys, and no one around her mentioned what happened that night anymore.

After Nangong Huaxue finished speaking, Qin Xiao was still covering his forehead, unable to recover for a long time.

"So... now that you're the emperor, have you dug up any cicada monkeys?" Qin Xiao was silent for a moment and asked hesitantly.

Nangong Huaxue:?

"--wrong."

Before Nangong Huaxue could speak, Qin Xiao realized the absurdity of the question and raised his hand to stop her: "Wait a moment, my mind is full of cicada monkeys now."

Nangong Huaxue: ...

"...So, the person who held you hostage is Wang Ji?" Qin Xiao recalled her words and frowned, "How did you know for sure?"

"My father was still alive at that time, and he called him before he died." Nangong Huaxue said.

After the incident that day, Nangong Huaxue thought that the murderer had been caught and killed long ago, but she didn't expect to see him again a few years later.

It was the winter when I was 12. Snow fell from the clouds, and snowflakes flew all over the sky, covering everything around me with white. The water in the garden pond also froze over, and the ice was so thick that you could walk on it.

At that time, the emperor's father had some health problems, and doctors were sought in large numbers.

Although Nangong Huaxue didn't have any special feelings about her father's passing - the old man had lived for hundreds of years - but because her father was really good to her, she helped the doctors to boil medicine, find herbs and make pills whenever she had time, and stayed by his side the rest of the time.

That day should have been the first snow, and it snowed for two days. Her father happened to be in better condition during those days, so he didn't need her to accompany him, so she strolled around the palace by herself.

When she saw the lake was frozen, she wanted to jump on it and slide. Although the guards around her tried their best to stop her, they could not persuade her. They could only stare at her intently, fearing that she would fall into the water.

Nangong Huaxue didn't understand their worries. After all, her attributes had been awakened for so long, and she had also practiced, so it was impossible for her to fall into the lake and drown.

After playing for a while, Nangong Huaxue felt an inexplicable gaze falling on him. He looked in one direction and saw a young man he had never seen before standing by the lake, staring at him.

It was so cold, even though she was of the fire attribute, she was wrapped in a thin coat. But the young man seemed to not feel the cold, wearing a dark blue robe that reached his ankles. The cold wind blew over, lifting the edge of his robe, revealing that he was only wearing a single layer of clothing.

The young man has a handsome face, red lips, white teeth, and his eyelashes are stained with a few snowflakes, from which it can be seen that he is most likely not of the fire attribute.

Nangong Huaxue stopped, not because of the young man, but because of the emperor standing next to him. There were several guards standing beside the two of them. Her guards lowered their heads and stood behind the emperor, not daring to say a word.

Nangong Huaxue: ...

Her father looked at her steadily and took a slow, deep breath.

Nangong Huaxue was startled when she saw this, and without waiting for her father to speak, she immediately ran to his side. However, because she was too anxious, she didn't pay attention and released some Qi. The hot Qi flowed along her toes, and the ice under her feet melted instantly. She staggered and was about to fall.

Fortunately, she reacted in time, lunged forward and grabbed the ice in front of her, pulling her wet ankles out of the icy water. She didn't even dare to raise her head and ran over.

Facing his father's complicated expression, Nangong Huaxue smiled foolishly: "I just want to see if the ice is solid..."

Seeing the emperor's increasingly dark face, Nangong Huaxue shrank her neck, spoke softly, and finally stomped her feet lightly, dried her own shoes and socks, and shut up.

"Is it... strong?"

The young man next to my father suddenly spoke and asked with a smile.

Nangong Huaxue was stunned and looked at him.

She was a little surprised.

One reason was that he dared to say this in a teasing tone in front of his father, and the other was because of his voice.

Although his voice had changed a lot, she still recognized that the person who was held hostage that night was... him.

"Who are you?" Nangong Huaxue wanted to know his identity, so she asked.

The young man seemed to have not expected her to be so straightforward. He paused, narrowed his eyes slightly, and smiled: "Your Highness Wang Ji."

Wang Ji?

Nangong Huaxue was stunned. Before she could say anything, she heard her father beside her speak: "He is the current head of the Wang family. Since your father passed away, you have worked hard over the years. You have done a great job."

"Your Majesty, thank you for your compliment." Wang Ji lowered his head slightly, his eyelids drooping to hide his thoughts.

Nangong Huaxue looked at him, then at her father, and felt that something was going on, but she didn't want to be involved in any of it, so she wanted to find an excuse to leave.

"Come with me to the study." The emperor's words interrupted her thoughts. She looked up and met her father's cloudy but sharp eyes.

"Huaxue, you come too."