Hurting so much he didn’t know what to do, nor why he continued to live on miserably.

“Stop drinking!” A cold voice came from above his head.

Pei Yuanshao propped up his chin and looked up at her. The lady in white pressed her cherry lips tightly, her brows furrowed, staring at him with a serious face.

His crimson lips parted slightly, his voice as cold as icicles in the depths of winter, enunciating clearly and sternly: “Get out!”

“Stop drinking!” The person’s grip on his wrist grew tighter, she repeated displeased.

She snatched the wine cup from his hand and placed it on the square table with a “pa” sound.

The nameless anger in Pei Yuanshao’s heart grew. He straightened up, took two steps forward, forcing her back into a corner.

He curled his lips, his smile growing wider and wider, his ink-black eyes filled with mockery and malice.

He lowered his head, his alcohol-laden breath spraying on her nose, lowering his voice, he said hoarsely: “Why is Liu Xiucai so concerned about this prince, could it be that you’ve fallen for me?”

He twirled a lock of her hair that fell over her shoulders with one hand, ambiguously breathing out a whiff of alcohol near her ear, pretending to be flirtatious as he winked at her: “Xiucai has the beauty of a celestial being, surely that enticing fragrance on your body must be delightful. Why not let this prince have a taste today?”

Liu Changning stared at him for a moment. The person before her had a seductive smile at the corner of his lips, truly enchanting. But those grey, defeated eyes were hollow and desperate, devoid of life.

This contrasting expression inexplicably made one’s heart ache.

Because she had seen this person’s vibrant, flamboyant self before, even when beaten and scolded, he still maintained an unbending attitude.

Now faced with such lifeless eyes, she could only see despair so thick it couldn’t be dissolved.

Liu Changning sighed inwardly, hooked her arm around his body, used a clever move with her lower leg, flipped their positions, switching their directions.

She raised an eyebrow, imitating his manner, and asked flippantly: “Do you really want to taste?”

A flash of bewilderment passed through the eyes of the man in red. He stared blankly at the person before him, his lips parting and closing, but unable to make a sound in time.

That person didn’t give him a chance to react. She pulled his head down, her lips pressing against his inch by inch.

Pei Yuanshao’s body stiffened, the coolness touching his lips made his whole body shudder.

He struggled with all his might, but that person somehow had the strength to pin him firmly against the wall.

Their lips touched briefly before quickly separating.

That person raised her eyes and said with a half-smile: “See. You don’t really want to!”

A blaze of anger flashed through Pei Yuanshao’s ink-black eyes. He used his inner force to push the woman off him.

But that person was a step ahead, releasing her hold on him.

Her tea-colored eyes gazed at him quietly as she asked slowly: “What happened to you these years?”

The tone was so familiar, as if they had known each other before. Pei Yuanshao’s pupils, dark as ink, contracted sharply.

He blinked repeatedly, forcing the mist in his eyes to fall onto his face. Before him, that person’s face was clearly reflected – fair skin, delicate eyebrows, almond eyes, cherry lips.

It wasn’t her. She was Liu Cang Yun, the top scholar from a humble background. Not his village woman Liu Changning!

If that person had become Chancellor Liu Changning, he wouldn’t believe it! It couldn’t be!

Pei Yuanshao clenched his fist, drew out the whip in his hand, and raised it to strike her body, but when he met her tea-colored eyes again, he paused mid-air.

He swung the whip back, sweeping the bowls and plates off the square table, creating a mess.

Pei Yuanshao’s face was cold as he shouted angrily: “How dare you!”

The person before him seemed unafraid. She tucked the fallen strands of hair at her forehead behind her ear and said unhurriedly: “I’ve read the scrolls gifted by Master Jia. Now the Long Emperor and the Zhennan King are in a standoff. Although the party struggle is intensifying, the royalist faction hasn’t lost its advantage. I guess, your eyes lacking vitality is not because of court politics.”

The coldness in Pei Yuanshao’s eyes intensified. He was so angry his whole body trembled, one hand tightly gripping the red whip, its tail sweeping back and forth on the ground. It seemed that with the slightest carelessness, it would lash out again.

Her tea-colored eyes stared at him steadily as she continued to speculate: “If it’s not worrying about court affairs, then worldly matters would even less likely cause your eyes to be so lifeless. After all, Your Highness has an honorable status. Even if there are idle gossips in the streets, your position cannot be shaken in the slightest. So why do you have such lifeless eyes? Could it be that you’re troubled by love?”

The long whip in the red-clad man’s hand suddenly raised and fell, striking Liu Changning’s back.

She didn’t dodge. The whip tore through her brocade clothes, leaving a deep mark. The pure white cotton undershirt was stained with blood.

Pei Yuanshao’s heart was suddenly filled with panic at the sight of this glaring blood.

The hysterical anger from earlier was completely worn away.

His ink-black eye sockets uncontrollably welled up with heat. He forcibly held his eyelids, preventing tears from falling onto his face. He dejectedly let his hand drop, the red whip slipping from his grasp.

Pei Yuanshao hoarsely shouted at the woman not far away: “Why didn’t you dodge? You clearly could have dodged earlier, why?”

That person smiled and took two steps forward. She raised her hand to touch his bloodshot eyes and said gently: “I guessed right, didn’t I? You are the Long Emperor’s close minister Pei Yuanshao, the Pei Yuanshao who accepts remonstrance readily and learns from past mistakes. Years ago, under your assistance in governing, the Golden Phoenix Dynasty saw people living in peace and prosperity. You can’t become stagnant water. Open your eyes and look, now officials are mixed, there are many corrupt officials, and people can barely survive. I’ve seen a city full of corpses, everywhere were bodies of those who starved to death.”

Her voice was very faint, but every word struck the heart. She said: “Your Highness, I know you must be going through a lot, but now the reorganization of noble families, the reform of bureaucracy, all need you. You can’t fall. The court now cannot lose another person intent on reform!”

Pei Yuanshao retreated a step in disarray, the corners of his lips curling up. He smiled bitterly and painfully. The heat in his eyes was forcibly pushed back, his smile pressed very low.

His voice was deep but carried a heartbreaking sadness: “Liu Xiucai probably has never been in love. We men are not like you ladies. The court needs me, the people need me. But I need her.”

Liu Changning met his ink-black eyes that seemed able to drip blood, and asked strangely: “Is she that important?”

She didn’t quite understand such intense emotions, but she could feel the thick, undissolvable sorrow in the depths of his heart. She hadn’t expected this person to have loved a woman so deeply.

Liu Changning inexplicably felt a bit sour in her heart. A flash of memory suddenly passed through her mind.

“Liu Cang Yun, don’t regret it. Today you’re indifferent to me, but one day when this Sword Grandpa marries a Sword Grandma back, it’ll be the death of you.”

“Heh!”

The scene shattered, flashing by in an instant. The “Sword Grandpa” in her memory seemed to also wear a red robe, but his features were blurry.

She came back to her senses to see the person before her with deep eyes. He said hoarsely: “She’s dead. When she died, she took half of my heart with her. Heh! What’s the use of telling you all this?”

Pei Yuanshao curled his lips in a self-mocking smile, his gaze falling on the whip mark on her body. His lips trembled: “Does it hurt?”

She said slowly: “It doesn’t hurt. I just wanted to provoke your anger, to let you vent the sorrow in your heart. I once saw in a book that pain kept in the heart, if held for too long, can make a person lose the will to live. It’s good to let it out. If you’re in pain in the future, you can talk to me, perhaps it could…”

Pei Yuanshao suddenly spoke up, interrupting her words. He pleaded softly: “Chancellor Liu… Liu Xiucai, if you want to work with me to govern the current chaotic situation in the court, could you keep your distance from Ziyuan?”

He stared at her steadily, a bitter smile appearing at the corner of his lips: “You’re very similar to that person. Meeting you today, I almost lost control of my emotions. But I understand you’re not her. She died in a raging fire. In the future, I beg you to avoid me. I’m afraid that seeing you will make me think of that person.”

Liu Changning was stunned. She had never seen such desperate gray in someone’s eyes before, so intense that it could seep into her heart.

No wonder, two years ago, the way he looked at her suddenly changed one day, from full of impatience to deep affection. Perhaps from that time on, she had been treated as a substitute.

Liu Changning looked at him with complex emotions and nodded in agreement: “I will respectfully follow Your Highness’s order. In the future, when this humble one sees you from afar, I will surely retreat three steps.”