His head, which was resting on her knee, slowly lifted as he heard the seriousness in her tone, but he said nothing. She also continued without looking at him, "In my opinion, you should separate from that boy, but I won't pressure you on it; I will wait until he is judged according to his actions. But as Jasrah said, you should take another spouse. I want you to find happiness like any other man your age. I want to see your lineage, Yibo. I have also prepared, step by step, to confront anyone who tries to sever our thread of happiness by killing innocent children just because they are your spouses. This time, I am also prepared, I am prepared to confront everyone, Yibo..."
A sob choked her. Even in his heart, he could feel her crying, but there was no sign that anything would come out his mouth.
Jasrah, who also had tears in her eyes, slowly reached out towards him. Sitting, she took his hand in hers, full of care, and called his name. He slowly rose and fixed his eyes on her, though it was impossible to fully grasp the state he was in, even for them.
The tears that continued to stream down her face, she wiped away, averting her eyes slightly, as his sharp gaze was too much for her. "Be patient and understand us. We deeply feel the pain of the events that have happened, all of which are tied to you because of your position as the supreme leader of this nation. The time has come for us to step forward and confront everyone on this matter. We can no longer stand by. Until today, we had pinned all our hopes on that boy, but in the end, he also plotted your ruin. That is why I thought it appropriate to seek a wife for you, knowing you don't have the time for it, and we, for our part, will handle all the proper arrangements to ensure we cut this thread of misfortune. All we need is your approval, as this matter does not require further observation either."
King Yibo showed no reaction, nor did he change the gaze he was fixedly directing at them.
Then, they all fell silent, for they knew his temperament well....
After leaving Dowager Taihou's quarters, he headed for his exclusive gym, equipped with all kinds of modern machines. The guards stationed outside immediately straightened up and offered their greetings. He merely blinked as he entered, without even glancing at them. It seemed today was a day for exercising authority and aloofness, or perhaps the conversation with his mother was truly eating away at him.
The gym was exceptionally well-appointed for any observer, with exercise equipment arranged in a special wardrobe of various kinds.
He removed his soft robe, set it aside, and took out a set of clothes, putting on only the long pants. He was a well-built man, though one wouldn't know it directly if he wasn't shirtless. With an intensity that suggested he was in a fury, he began operating the treadmill, his eyes tightly shut. He spent a long time at it until he was drenched in sweat before stopping and moving on to lift small, hand-held weights....the kind you lift while seated. Though they appeared lightweight, they were actually extremely heavy.
He spent nearly fifteen minutes there before moving on to lift heavy weights while lying on a bench. He continued switching between exercises until he had spent over two hours and some minutes inside. Finally, he removed his sweaty pants, put on fresh ones, took a bottle of water, and gulped it down while catching his breath, alone as always, as even his trusted attendant did not accompany him here.
As was customary, he found his customary tea in the room where he had slept, as the kitchen staff and his trusted attendant had continued their work. He spent time drinking the tea, savoring the pleasant scent that filled the room from the incense he had burned after finishing his workout. Then, he went to bathe and cleanse his body. He spent a considerable amount of time there before emerging and heading to where his clothes were laid out to get ready.
What a sight he was when he emerged, radiating a kind of majestic aura. A uniquely blessed scent once again filled the room in a short time. His gaze fell on the room's clock, and he frowned slightly. He needed to go check on how Zhan had slept. He was running late, as he had a case to preside over in the imperial court room today.
Without deciding on the appropriate course of action, he left, filled with the authority and stubbornness characteristic of his demeanor, walking as if floating on air, lifting and setting down his feet with a silent intensity. His face showed no sign of knowing what a smile was. He reached the corridor that would lead him directly to the living room and paused briefly. A short hesitation pulled him back, and he slowly turned and headed for the room where Zhan had slept.
His scent and the sound of his leather shoes, which always announced his arrival from outside, made Zhan's eyes flutter open and fix on the door. Then, he quickly looked away and continued eating the dates socked in honey in a small white bowl in his lap.
Just as he had greeted him under his breath, Zhan also responded from behind pressed lips without moving or looking up, even though he desperately wanted to.
"Good morning."
Zhan said, his head bowed without looking up at him, despite his intense desire to do so; he restrained himself. Instead of returning the greeting he had been given, he instead asked him a question abruptly, his shaded eyes watching Zhan with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Are you in any pain right now?"
Zhan eyes lifted slowly and settled on him for the first time. A terrible dread washed over him, seeing that the exact clothes he had dreamed of were the very ones he was wearing this morning....it was like something out of a fantasy. But his courage, along with a threat of overwhelming awe, filled his eyes.
Unprepared, Zhan steadied his own heart, which was beating rapidly. But in reality, it was just another instance of his expression hardening, as King Yibo's often did.
He simply shook his head in response instead of answering verbally.
This man's radiance truly amazed him. By his face, you would never guess Zhan's character, for he had the composure of people with cold dispositions who disliked excessive talk. But when he opened his mouth, his blessed countenance could strike one down. Zhan's particular brand of confusion was unparalleled by any other confusion he had known in his life. His lips twitched slightly, his expression hardening again as he spoke from behind clenched teeth, abruptly saying, "There is a phone in the side drawer. You can speak with Mamy about anything you need. If you want to do online shopping, that's also fine. There's a card with it her." He finished speaking, moving slightly towards the table holding papers Zhan didn't recognize, picked up a pen, wrote briefly on a paper right in front of him, set it down, and without another word, turned to leave the room.
"Thank you."
Zhan said softly, blinking, and as he said nothing more, King Yibo continued on his way. As if prompted, Zhan suddenly stood abruptly. He had barely touched the soft carpet in front of the bed when, by some fortune, he managed to reach him.
King Yibo was trying to place his hand on the door handle when he saw Zhan standing before him like a phantom.
Zhan blinked his eyes slightly, moving his pink lips restlessly. "If you're going out beyond your section, please be patient, don't go, please."
His eyes fixed on him with a look that Zhan couldn't interpret. Zhan had to steady himself, playing with the belt of the robe he was wearing, which suited him very well as it was blue-black. He himself had just gotten up and found it, not knowing where it came from, but he knew that King Yibo had left it for him, just as he had done yesterday.
King Yibo's eyes slowly lowered to Zhan's pale hand, which had no dirt under the fingernails. As if he would say nothing, he then returned his eyes to his face and asked abruptly, "For what reason?"
Zhan's lip pout slightly. "Just because."
"Just because?"
He repeated it as a question, with a kind of mocking, teasing tone. His gaze continued, filled with analysis... Zhan himself shrank back, feeling his feet tremble, for the King sharp eyes, which held him captive, felt like they were stripping away the last of his courage to stand. Slowly, he moved with the intention of leaving, but King Yibo caught him by the hand. Immediately, Zhan looked up at him as if he were about to burst into tears, but he steadied himself again, averting his gaze and pushing out his lip further to fight against looking at him...
His eyes blinked slowly open, fixed on Zhan. In a quiet voice that, if you weren't close to them, you wouldn't even know he was speaking, he said, "Do you know who you are standing in front of?"...
Unable to hold back, Zhan finally looked up and glanced at him, then quickly looked away again. But fearing he would see his failure, he said, "King Yibo, son of King Murong. The King of the Beiping nation." He answered him, his face bewildered, with no tremor in his tongue or his voice.
He was stunned into silence. He slowly blinked his eyes. Today, this young man Zhan was mentioning his name without a single stammer, without a hint of doubt or fear, looking directly into his eyes. It was something he had never heard except from the lips of his mother or grandmother. Even his most trusted confidants rarely mentioned it. (This boy will be the death of him.)
"Don't say I'm shamelessly trying to distract you before I've finished stating my desires, since you were the one who asked me." Zhan spoke, tilting his head, his eyes slightly clouded with a bold confusion, cutting off his thoughts with that voice of his that stirred his heartbeat as if he could read his mind.
The King said nothing to him, despite him glancing at him repeatedly. He simply moved closer to Zhan, continuing to stare at him for several minutes, making him feel like a little child he was privately laughing at in his heart. Then Yibo withdrew, slightly pressing against Zhan's body....there was truly no sign that he knew how to smile.
Zhan let out a shaky breath. The King forced smile seemed not to have reached his eyes.
"What is your desires?"
The words left his lips somewhat low, as if forced. Without Zhan agreeing to look at him, he said, "There are many. The important ones now all concern you."
A look of acknowledgment crossed his face. He lifted his head, his eyes filling with tears he was struggling to hold back. In a voice so weak it seemed not his own, he said, "I want to know the condition my parents are in, even though I've been told you destroyed them. I want to know who Mulan is. I want my eyes to confirm for the two-faced people of the Beiping Empire and the world, even if I cannot clear my name to anyone."
The way he looked at Zhan as if he were a new creation made it seem his own eyes were pinned on him. Slowly, he lifted his foot, took one to three steps forward, paused directly in front of Zhan as if to merge their bodies. But he didn't do that; he left a gap no wider than a finger length.
Quickly, Zhan's courage rose, seeing he had given him a little space, for despite being somewhat tall himself, he was nothing before King Yibo, who wasn't exceptionally tall either, but still had to be called tall. As he was looking into his eyes, Zhan was also looking at him, but his were filled with a cloudiness due to the trembling his body was doing, unable to pull away.
King Yibo hand rested on the sturdy body of the door, intensely captivating, and this allowed him to envelop Zhan completely once more, so much so that Zhan felt even breathing was becoming difficult for him, as the King body filled him everywhere, making it feel as if the room had shrunk for them.
Having nothing to say, he placed two fingers under Zhan's chin and lifted his face perfectly for them to look at each other. His own blinked open and closed again, in a state difficult to interpret, and he spoke.
"After you fulfill those,then what?"
As he spoke, he once again trapped his sharp eyes within Zhan's, which were gathering a cloud of unknown origin, making Zhan slowly begin to twist his head away, his eyes clouding over again from the feeling that their proximity was like a poison more potent than his imprisonment. His lips moved slowly; in a murmur, his voice trembling slightly, he said, "Pass judgment on yourself for your crimes."
King Yibo barely managed to swallow the laugh that was trying to escape. He moved his face close to Zhan's again, which made his heartbeat accelerate so much he could hear his own breath catching. But he controlled himself and continued twisting his own pupils in a way that sought to expose the secret he was struggling to suppress deep in his heart.
"After the judgment you passed on me for wanting me dead wasn't enough... my soulmate?"
Zhan's eyes widened in extreme shock. A powerful saliva choked him, for the King words had come to him with extreme force. However King Yibo tried to hide his laughter this time, he failed, until a subtle smile escaped him. He simply pulled Zhan close, pressed him against his body, and continued his smile, unable to hold it back.
Zhan was completely frozen until he pulled him back, and they ended up at the bedside. King Yibo, his smile simply continuing, tap Zhan's back. Then he gently took the jug of water from the side drawer, and poured a little into a small cup. He sat up, and without a word, placed the cup against Zhan's lips.
Quickly, Zhan began to drink the water with cloudiness that had filled his eyes, determined to continue swallowing. When he had finished, King Yibo withdrew, his expression hardening again as if he had never been smiling. Unwilling to meet his eyes, Zhan slid down, turned his back to him, and lay down.
King Yibo also said nothing more to him, simply stretching out.
"For goodness sake,don't go, they will harm you. They have placed something under the chair you surpose to sit."
Zhan's choked voice, strained from the constriction he had caused, pierced his eardrum again. He froze completely, like a remote-controlled doll, then slowly turned to look at him, seeing he was serious. Zhan was curled up, facing the bed head.
After looking for nearly a breath, King Yibo turned and continued on his way without looking back. Zhan's eyes darkened intensely, feeling him leave his sight.
His soul in turmoil,as if in a whirlwind, he went straight to the small bed, his feet unsteady, saying, "I told you the truth, if anything happened to you, so why does it affect me?"
For several minutes, Zhan couldn't move from the position King Yibo had left her in. He wrestled with his heart, which was urging him to go check if the King had really left. "If he has left, that is his problem." He said aloud, pouting as if his body were made of clay. But deep in his heart, it declared to him, (If the King dies, then you will never know the truth about losing your parents or who Mulan is.) Suddenly, Zhan stood up as if prompted, quickly slipped on his slippers. Even though he had sleep in the section, he didn't know this room, but regardless, he went out, looking around.
And there, Zhan emerged into the large living room as if summoned.
Quickly, Prince Aoying, who was sitting on the floor beside his feet with some inconspicuous scattered items, looked up. King Yibo, however, did not move; his eyes were on the phone in his hand.
A hidden sigh escaped Zhan, and he glared at King Yibo from under his lashes, but deep in his heart, a kind of rapid beating was happening. He was certain the scattered items before them were the things he had seen in his dream, just as the clothes the King was wearing were exactly what he had seen on him in the dream.
Slightly flustered, Prince Aoying composed himself again. His thoughts, filled with respect, were interrupted as he said, "May the Royal Consort be granted continued health and a blessed, enduring spirit. Greetings on your emergence."
Hearing the matter, Zhan felt a series of shivers, seeing the elder who himself would be elder to King Yibo, not even him, yet was greeting him with a bow of utmost respect. This hierarchy of rulers was not for him.
King Yibo, who still hadn't shown he was aware of his presence, stole a glance, then composed himself, Zhan opened his mouth, greeting Prince Aoying.
For goodness sake, everything was in chaos. Despite being a direct descendant of the house, how can the royal consort to address him? Zhan said nothing more; he turned and went back the way he had come.
With a glance, King Yibo looked after him from under his gaze, the way he had been watching him for some time. Zhan began to frighten him. He had to admit he was afraid. At first, he had dismissed what Zhan said as unimportant, but his heart refused to allow that. He had called Prince Aoying to postpone the case of the people waiting for him for two days under some pretext.
With respect, Prince Aoying was informing him that even the victim,, didn't show up, they send palace attendant to find him was because he was the one being sued.
He simply paused,gave the order, and ended the call. After ensuring everyone had left, the Prince called again to inform him. It was then he gave the order to check his sitting chair, as Zhan had said something had been placed there. And indeed, in less than twenty minutes, Prince Aoying arrived with the items that had been found. They were clearly materials for sorcery....
Zhanxianyibo💚❤️💛