The Gilded Cage

Chu Ning paused when he lifted the chopsticks, and then said nothing. On the other side of the table, he said to Cuihe: "Don't be so restrained outside, sit down and have a meal with me."

She didn't know why he appeared at the bottom of the mountain at this time, but after listening to Cuihe's words, there was no big movement in the view, and she knew that he had not revealed his identity.

Since he didn't want to be noticeable, she didn't have to hurry.

Everything in the Seven Sacred Temples is extremely simple, and the daily meals are made of vegetables and grains grown by the Taoist priests themselves. Therefore, the fast rice delivered is only two dishes of pickled vegetables and two bowls of light soup cakes, including salt. All put very little.

However, for the two who have just returned from the cold wind and heavy snow, it is enough to warm up their bodies.

After a frugal fast meal, the white faces of the two of them became a little ruddy.

Cuihe collected the cups, plates and chopsticks, and was about to send them out, but there was a knock on the door, followed by Zhao Yanzhou's voice: "His Royal Highness, how is everything?"

He was worried that she could not eat well and could not wear warmly.

Chu Ning smiled and got up and opened the door in person: "Brother, I'm good, I haven't lived in a much more primitive place than this, but you, can I have a fast?"

Probably because she knew that she didn't have to see the prince today, she had a lot less scruples than usual, and her smiling eyes were more crystal clear against the harsh wind and snow.

Zhao Yanzhou looked at her exquisitely flushed face with a calm expression, but insisted on standing outside the door and refused to take any further steps: "The minister has already eaten, but I am worried that your Royal Highness will not be used to staying here. , Just take a look."

Chu Ning's gaze fell on his thin figure and the cold red fingers exposed outside the cuffs, and couldn't help but hand the soup woman who was still a little hot in his arms to his hand, and whispered: "You always worry about me. , You have to remember yourself."

The old lady with the remaining warmth touched his numb finger and passed the limited enthusiasm. His knuckles moved stiffly, holding half of them silently, but not completely taking them.

Just like this, the two hands held the two sides of a soup woman at a distance of less than an inch. One was slender and soft, white and delicate, like exquisite white jade, and the other was well-knotted, well-proportioned and slender, but it was red and swollen from the cold.

He looked down, seeming to have an impulse, wanting to cross the distance of less than an inch and touch her small red fingertips.

But after all, he held it back.

He covered the bleakness in his eyes, held the old lady in his arms again, smiled and folded his hands: "It's windy and snowy outside, your Royal Highness, go in quickly, the minister knows that your Royal Highness is fine, so he will go back. Guanzhong seems to be back. If you miss others, your Highness should be more careful. If the snow stops tomorrow, he will send His Highness up the mountain and return to the palace."

He had never seen Xiao Kezhi himself, and even if he did, he would not recognize his identity. As Donggong Zhanshifu Sizhi, he had never had the opportunity to enter the Taiji Palace to meet the emperor.

"it is good."

She didn't break it, she just nodded her head, until she watched him leave, then turned back to the house again.

The sky gradually darkened. After Cuihe sent the dishes back, he replaced the water in the soup woman with hot water for Chu Ning: "It has been snowing for so long, and it hasn't stopped. I don't know if it will be possible tomorrow. go back."

"Yes, it's obviously past New Year's Day, but there is still such a heavy snow." Chu Ning put on a thick cloak, put on a hood, took the Tang lady into his arms, sighed, and said, "Let's go. , Let's go out and have a look."

Cuihe was taken aback, and then realized that she was going to the saint's place, hurriedly tightening her clothes, putting on her hood, and stepping into the snow with her.

Due to the bad weather, the Taoist priests in the view had long gone back to rest, and even the servants of Chu Ning were hiding in the house. They slowly passed by without seeing a single figure.

Chu Ning has a pair of exquisite moccasin boots on her feet. Although they are thick and cold-resistant, they are very inconvenient to walk in the snow because they are a little cumbersome. She stepped through it step by step, and she only walked a few steps, but taught her that she was gone. for a long time.

Unknowingly, a familiar black figure suddenly appeared in front of her, tall and tall, standing in the wind and snow, but as if not affected by the slightest, motionless, her cold face was a little tight, and her dark eyes fell on her. I don't know how long it has been on his body.

Chu Ning paused, watching him subconsciously want to call "Your Majesty", but remembering that this was outside, the words changed at the end of his mouth: "Uncle Six..."

Xiao Kezhi's face was distorted and stiff for a moment. He stood still and did not respond, but he pointed to a room next to him, turned his head and said to Cuihe: "Go and rest."

Cuihe glanced at Chu Ning, hurriedly saluted, then turned and left, leaving Chu Ning one, and continued to walk forward slowly step by step.

Xiao Kezhi stared blankly at her thickly wrapped, but still had a somewhat slender body. He sighed impenetrably, walked over in three or two steps, hugged her up, and quickly walked back to his own. In the room.

Chu Ning was still holding Tang Po in his arms, so he had to stretch an arm around his neck.

But when he entered the room, he put her down without saying a word, and took off his robe.

She just noticed that there seemed to be a bit of suppressed anger under his tense face.

There was no one else in the room. She couldn't guess why he was upset for a while. She only thought that something happened before coming. She couldn't help but hesitated a bit. She tentatively said, "I wonder if Aning came at the wrong time? If your Majesty is inconvenient, Ah. Ning will go back now."

After Xiao Kezhi's movements, his face seemed even more ugly.

He looked at her sideways with a bit of irritation in his eyes, but his heart softened when he saw her snow-white cheeks and a thin layer of snow on her cloak that were gradually melting into water.

He pursed his lips and still didn't answer, but walked to her, untied her wet cloak, and put it aside.

There was no charcoal basin in the room, and there was a moist cold. She couldn't help but shudder, and subconsciously hugged the soup woman in her hand tighter.

At this moment, Xiao Kezhi's heart softened.

With a long sigh, he took her into his arms again and took her to sit on the couch.

Chu Ning was slowed down by the warmth in his arms, took the initiative to encircle his waist, bury his face on the edge of his neck, and whispered: "How can your Majesty come down to the mountain today?"

She understood. He was angry because of her, but he didn't know what it was for.

Xiao Kezhi sniffed the delicate fragrance in her hair, only feeling his mind slowly relaxed, and couldn't help but lower his head and kiss lightly along the hairline on her forehead.

"It just happened to be going down the mountain today to do something."

He had said it before, and seemed unwilling to tell her.

Today is the second day of the first lunar month. Unlike the previous two days, there are envoys to meet and there are ceremonies to attend. It is a real day off. Therefore, after he got up early in the morning, he took a few guards down the mountain to see the lives of the people in nearby villages and towns.

He should have gone back earlier, but he remembered what Liu Kang said before leaving the palace. Knowing that she had come down the mountain today, he inexplicably stayed at the foot of the mountain and did not go back. Instead, he asked people to take a look on the road, but didn’t want to, Xueyue. The greater the coming, the mountain road was also blocked.

However, he did not intend to tell her in the latter case.

He continued to kiss along her chin, biting from time to time, leaving a shallow, sunken tooth mark, with a bit of possessiveness, and then slowly returned to smoothness.

He had only hugged her the night before, and after only one day, he began to feel that it was not enough.

"Can you get the medicine Liu Kang gave?"

Chu Ning felt that his body was getting hotter and hotter. He was sitting on the side next to him, but at this time he was sitting on his knees with his waist, his legs folded and half kneeling on the couches on both sides, and his head was raised by him. I couldn't help kissing, a haze-like blush slowly floated on an exquisite snow-white face, and his face and lips became more rosy and plump because of the heat, especially alluring.

"I got it, thank you, Majesty." She grabbed the clothes on his chest, her eyes were damp, but she suddenly wanted to ask, "Why does your Majesty treat Aning well?"

In fact, what she wanted to ask more was what he meant by his words that day, but somehow, she didn't want to mention the words of that day. The kind of warmth that made her nose slightly sour really made her feel at a loss. .

"Don't you understand?" He held her back with one hand so that she could not escape, while his deep eyes stared at her deeply, "Naturally because I like you."

He has always claimed to be fearless, but when he said this, he gritted his teeth unconsciously. After all, I have never experienced such a thing.

But Chu Ning didn't have the shyness and joy he expected, but suddenly calmed down and looked at him dreamily.

"What?" He frowned and let go of his hand slightly.

She opened her mouth and whispered, "The prince also likes me..."

The "like" in his mouth, she couldn't tell how heavy she was. She only knew that even Xiao Yu who deceived her and took advantage of her can be regarded as liking her. This kind of liking is like liking a private item. Things are average.

He was silent for a moment, and whispered: "Do you think I am the same as him?"

"Different."

She said this without hesitation. His body was not as cold and gloomy as Xiao Yu's. Although he was always cold and sharp, there was an aura of trust and awe inside him.

More importantly, he didn't take her back to Tai Chi Palace directly because of his desire.

But why does he do this to her?

At first, she only thought he was just like most men, she was after her beauty. After all, this is a big reason for Xiao Yu's meager love for her.

If she has ten thousand family wealth, she is willing to dedicate all of it to the court, just to exchange her father's innocence; if she has a strong power, she is also willing to exchange it. But she knew that she had nothing, only beauty, which could be exchanged for.

However, he was able to ascend to the throne by his own ability. He was clearly a man of great wealth. How could he mess up his mind just because of his beauty? What she asked at first was only a promise from him.

There must be other reasons for this now.

Is it the stimulus produced by the taboo of identity?

People are always unavoidable.

She suddenly laughed, determined not to dwell on it anymore, and instead stared at him with a pair of shining eyes.

With a somewhat weak and beautiful face, he showed a lot of temptations and amorous feelings, which made his eyes a little bit dark.

She knelt on both sides of him, straightened her body, put one hand on his shoulder and the other hand to the back of her head, and took off the hosta with hair.

One head streamed down like a cloud of green silk, drawing soft waves in the air. Half of his white and delicate cheeks were blocked by the hair, and a pair of wintry eyes stuck to him condescendingly, and the hosta in his hand also pressed against his neck and slid gently.

The cold tip irritated his hot skin like that, slowly dipping from the neckline into the placket, making him tensed.

"The prince is the husband, and your majesty is the sixth uncle, naturally different..."

With a blue vein on his forehead, he squeezed her wrist and cut it back to the back. Instead, he used her hosta to poke away her layers of clothing, but he was not in a hurry. He just twisted her hair like a soft brush, one inch. One inch, carefully appreciate.

She was running away, he saw it.

"You niece, I will talk to me today, which one is more satisfying for you..."