The Gilded Cage - CH 92

Calm – How Much Have You Thought and Fought For Yourself? (2)

In the bedroom, Chu Ning slept for almost two hours before slowly waking up in the dim silence.

The inner room was empty, save for a solitary lamp flickering on a candlestick beside the screen.

She got up from the bed sideways, hugging her sore arms to waist, waiting for her thoughts to slowly return to her head.

She didn’t expect that she would sleep so long in a completely unfamiliar bedroom full of a man’s scent.

When she was with Xiao Yu in the past, she would always clean up after the incident and force herself to go back to her room before sleeping. Xiao Yu was suspicious by nature. Although he married her, he still slept alone every night, so she was not worried about sleeping in the same bed with anyone. It just so happened that when she was by his side, she was always very tense and didn’t dare to relax, so she was happy to have the opportunity to relax alone.

If he occasionally let her sleep with him, she would have slept very lightly, and when he left the next day, she would return to her room to make up the sleep.

Something unusual happened tonight.

She smiled helplessly, thinking that the thoughtfulness of Xiao Kezhi before she fell asleep made her dazed. After all, no one else had ever treated her like this.

The maid’s dress had been taken away, and her original royal dress was folded beside the bed. She brushed her long hair from the back of her head and dressed, placing her bare feet on the ground.

There was also a hot spring pipe under the bedroom, which warmed the ground.

She stretched for a moment, and when she saw the bright lights outside, she walked out lightly.

On the long platform seat outside, Xiao Kezhi was reading a scroll under the lamp with a pen in his hand. He wrote comments from time to time, and his whole person was bathed in the bright yellow light. His look of concentration was eye catching.

She stood by the screen and watched him silently, and for some reason, she suddenly remembered that today was New Year’s Eve.

She remembered that when she was young, every New Year’s Eve, her father went to the palace for a banquet. No matter how late it was, he would come back to accompany her to watch the new year come in. Later, when she was older, she would also attend the New Year’s Eve banquet in the palace with her father, but her father still insisted on taking her home to reunite with her relatives and pay homage to her deceased mother.

At that time, New Year’s Eve was a day full of warmth and love for her. As long as she thought about it, she would feel happy.

But later in the East Palace, Xiao Yu didn’t like the day when the ruler and his ministers gathered together and celebrated together.

He didn’t want to see Empress Dowager Qi being condescending, nor did he want to see the Emperor and his concubines enjoying themselves, and he didn’t want to be forced to act humble and submissive in front of them. On this day, he always pretended to laugh outside to socialize with everyone, but when he returned to the East Palace, he would return to his gloomy side.

Therefore, the entire East Palace did not dare to have any cheerful and loose atmosphere.

In her memory, the New Year’s Eve of the past two years was as cold and lonely as the snowy winter night outside.

Today was different – not touching or warm, and maybe even a little dangerous, but unique enough.

“You’re awake?” Xiao Kezhi, who didn’t even raise his head, had somehow discovered her existence and asked in a deep voice while writing.

“Yes.”

Chu Ning responded, hesitated for a moment by the screen, and suddenly walked to the desk, knelt down gently, lowered her head, and cast down her eyes. She said softly, “A’Ning has something to ask Your Majesty’s permission for.”

Probably expecting what she was going to say, Xiao Kezhi’s hand holding the pen flexed silently, but he did not stop her and only said lightly, “Tell me. Today, I will accept it.”

Chu Ning, with her hair down and her back straight, said humbly, “Your Majesty once asked A’Ning why she approached him deliberately several times. A’Ning really doesn’t ask for anything that Your Majesty doesn’t know.”

As she spoke, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes before continuing, “A’Ning wants to ask Your Majesty to clear A’Ning’s father, “criminal minister” Chu Qianyu, of the trumped-up charges against him and return him to an innocent status.”

Without waiting for him to ask again, she explained how she discovered the truth and learned that Xiao Yu was the culprit.

She thought that when she talked about these things, her emotions would be uncontrollable, but when she actually said them just now, she only felt a sense of relief. The sharp thorns of the emotions of pain, hatred, depression, grievance, and helplessness were temporarily worn away, wrapped in a calm attitude.

In front of him, she finally didn’t have to pretend to be someone else and was finally able to show her most secret side.

Now, she just had to wait for his answer.

“I beg Your Majesty to grant A’Ning’s request.” She bowed slowly, her tone calm and sincere. Although she begged, she was not humble or embarrassed.

Xiao Kezhi did not speak, but his pen hand had stopped writing unknowingly. The saturated ink dripped from the tip of the pen, and a drop of ink smudged on the paper.

“All your schemes were for your father?” He looked down at the writing on the book, and his tone was flat, making it difficult to discern his emotions.

“Yes, for my father, I am willing to do anything.”

She answered firmly and without hesitation, finally causing him to raise his head and look at her with complex eyes.

“What about yourself?”

How much have you thought and fought for yourself?