Chapter 603: The Past is Dead (2)
It was the fifteenth of the month today. A full moon was hanging in the sky, shining brightly and casting its light upon the estate. When the pale moonlight filtered through the half-opened window, it lit up a small area before their lounge.
The old couple lifted their heads up to behold the moon outside the window, a sense of fulfillment warming their hearts.
As they enjoyed this warm moment together, they didn’t know that there had been a very different outcome in their past life. House Jing’an had come to an end just two months later from this day.
Back then, Countess Jing’an had been bedridden from her old illness. The estate had been ransacked by imperial troops searching for evidence, and the matriarch had fallen ill and become bedridden as well.
The count had been arrested and publicly executed in the market, while the three He brothers had been sent off to exile in the north.
That nightmarish ending was drifting further and further away from them now…
He Changdi stood by the window, staring at the full moon hanging in the sky in a daze. The cool moonlight threw a bright silver cloak over He Sanlang, setting him aglow.
He stood with his hands behind his back. The spring night breeze brushed over his skin, lifting up the two locks of hair by his face, making him look like a deity who had descended upon the earth.
Chu Lian had woken up in the middle of her sleep from thirst. When she opened her eyes and found that her personal heat source had disappeared, she sat up dazedly. She pushed aside the gauze bedcurtains and looked towards the outside.
There was only a single dim lamp lit in the room, so Chu Lian spotted He Changdi immediately under the light of the moon.
She found it strange that her husband was standing at the window in the middle of the night and in such thin clothes. It was spring, so the nights were still cold.
She slipped her feet into her night slippers and took up He Changdi’s cloak from one corner. She walked up to him and tiptoed to place the cloak around his shoulders.
“It’s so late, why aren’t you sleeping?” Chu Lian’s sleep-addled voice was slightly hoarse.
The usual wit and clarity in her almond-shaped eyes had given way to a misty sleepiness.
He Sanlang felt something warm on his shoulders. That warmth seemed to seep from his chest directly into his heart, making his chilled heart beat faster.
He suddenly reached out and tucked Chu Lian under his arms. He bent down slightly and asked gently, “Why are you awake?”
His dear wife slept like a log on most days. Even earthquakes wouldn’t be able to wake her up.
Chu Lian wasn’t totally awake yet, her eyes were fighting to stay open. Thus, she simply leaned on her husband and put her head against his chest. She mumbled, “I was thirsty when I woke up. I saw that you weren’t in bed so I came to look for you.”
He Sanlang noticed that his wife’s head was bobbing as she spoke, seemingly about to fall back asleep on the spot. The corner of his lips curled up helplessly. The dark mood he had been in was completely swept away by his wife’s adorable appearance.
He kissed the top of her head.
“You’re still sleepy?”
Chu Lian’s consciousness was already slipping away. She wrapped her arms tighter around He Sanlang’s narrow waist, “Slee… py…”
He Sanlang resisted the urge to chuckle, “Didn’t you get up for water?”
Right after he finished speaking, he realised that Chu Lian had already nodded right off while bound tightly to his waist.
This little troublemaker.
He Changdi’s heart was filled at once with both sweetness and helplessness.
Having this little woman in his arms, he felt like he was raising a spoiled little daughter.
He Changdi bent down and moved Chu Lian’s grip around his waist up to his neck instead. His palms went under Chu Lian’s pert bottom and he lifted her up like a child…
Chu Lian was still leaning against his chest, unaware of her surroundings now.
He Changdi spared one hand to pinch her flushed cheeks, before turning and walking over to the bed. He set her down on the bed and pulled the cover over her to keep her arm.
Instead of blowing out the lamp and getting into bed himself, he walked over to the desk in the room. He set a small cup of cold water on the little clay stove and waited for it to warm up.
Once that was done, he took the warm teacup and brought it over to the bedside. He took a sip of water into his mouth and fed it to Chu Lian with a kiss.
The sleeping woman subconsciously gulped down the warm water in her mouth and inadvertently licked her lips. That little action made He Changdi’s pupils dilate.
He took in a deep breath and turned around, setting the teacup down on the bedside table. He sat for a long moment before he finally sidled back under the bed covers and by Chu Lian’s side. Out of habit, he reached over to tuck Chu Lian into his embrace.
With his wife’s familiar fragrance around him, He Changdi’s messy thoughts slowly calmed down.
Although the fate of House Jing’an had been rewritten in this life and he had been able to avoid many of the disasters that had befallen them in his past, even to the point of earning a noble title for himself, he couldn’t help the inescapable worries popping up in his mind.
He was worried that this was all just a dream. That when he awoke again, he would be faced with the cruel reality of his past life.
It wasn’t until he had Chu Lian in his arms, when he could feel her living, breathing body before him, that He Changi could be sure that all this was real.
Once he had calmed down his chaotic emotions, sleepiness started taking over his mind.