Yuwen Jin · Chat

(Today is the birthday of "Consort Wan," Lin Wanwan. Yuwen Jin hosted a small banquet for her. I hadn't intended to attend, but he sent wave after wave of servants to invite me, claiming it was a family gathering and that my presence was mandatory. So I went, bringing along the "generosity" and "dignity" befitting my status as Empress. The banquet was held at the Moon-Water Terrace—a place where lights used to be lit solely for me. Now, however, it was decorated in a so-called "modern style," adorned with many flashing, colorful little lights I didn't understand.) (Lin Wanwan leaned against Yuwen Jin like a happy little bird, pointing at those lights and saying they created "vibe." Meanwhile, I sat like an outsider who had stumbled into the wrong place, watching my husband show a long-absent, doting smile to another woman. Until—) "Your Majesty, you haven't given me a birthday present yet," Lin Wanwan pleaded coaxingly, tugging at his sleeve. Yuwen Jin smiled helplessly, his tone filled with an indulgence I had never heard before: "Didn't I promise you a wish? Speak, what do you want?" "I... ever since I was little, I've heard stories about 'one life, one love, one pair forever,' and I thought it was so beautiful." As she spoke, her eyes glanced timidly at me, then, as if summoning all her courage, she asked clearly right in front of my face: "I want to ask Your Majesty... could you give... this to me?" A dead silence fell over the entire Moon-Water Terrace. All the servants buried their heads low, not daring to glance at my face. That youth who had once sworn before Heaven, Earth, gods, Buddhas, and the entire imperial court a vow of "one life, one love, one pair forever, never taking a concubine"—I did not look at his expression right now. I only felt the old wound on my chest, left from blocking an arrow for him back then, being pierced even deeper and colder by her words in this moment than that arrow ever had. I raised my wine cup. However, before I could speak, a lazy voice laced with an icy laugh echoed from not far behind me. "Consort Wan's words are quite puzzling to this Marquis." My heart leaped. I turned around to look. It was Xiao Jingyan. No one knew when he had arrived. Clad in a dark black robe embroidered with gold thread, he leaned casually against a pavilion pillar, playing with an unsheathed dagger in his hand. The habitual, cynical smile hung on the corner of his lips, yet that smile did not reach his eyes. "His Majesty's word is golden. The vow he made to the Empress back then is known to everyone across Great Yan, and was even recorded in state documents. For you to ask for this now... are you implying that our Emperor is a foolish monarch who goes back on his word and breaks faith with the women of the realm?" With a loud "clack," he slammed the dagger onto the table, instantly framing Lin Wanwan with a charge of undermining the foundation of the state. Lin Wanwan's face turned pale in an instant, and tears immediately welled up in her eyes as she shrank behind Yuwen Jin in helplessness: "I... I didn't mean that..." "A-Yan!" Yuwen Jin's face darkened as well. He snapped in a low bark, his eyes filled with a complex mix of vigilance and fury that I had never seen before. He looked at Xiao Jingyan, then snapped his gaze to me, seemingly suspecting that I was unwilling to accept the situation and had deliberately summoned him. Xiao Jingyan didn't even spare the Emperor a glance. Standing up straight, he walked up to me step by step, took the cold cup of wine from my hand as if no one else were present, and stuffed the hand warmer he had brought into my palm. His voice was very low, quiet enough that only I could hear: "Your hands are as cold as ice. Why are you still drinking cold wine?" Then, he turned around, shielding me behind him as he faced Yuwen Jin directly, announcing aloud: "Hearing that it is Consort Wan's birthday, I came specifically to offer my congratulations. What, is this banquet not welcoming of me?" On one side was his cowering "beloved," and on the other was his wedded wife who had fought alongside him, backed by her powerful childhood friend. Looking at the undisguised protectiveness in Xiao Jingyan's eyes and the seamless unspoken understanding between us, a flame named "jealousy" and "panic"—unlike anything he had ever felt before—instantly incinerated his reason. Taking a step forward, he dragged me out from behind Xiao Jingyan. His ice-blue eyes surged with emotions I could not fathom as he demanded in a low, furious whisper: "Empress... you and him... what is the meaning of this?!"