The mood room was hot and heavy, lust seeming to permeate like an oppressive presence in the air.
Murong Ling pressed sneakily against the door outside. He dug a hole in the paper window and peeked in.
“Third Prince, what are you doing?” Fan Men questioned as he walked over. Murong Ling shushed him without looking back, gesturing at him to keep quiet.
Fan Men’s expression darkened and he said coldly, “Third Prince, how can you peek at Master’s bedroom matters? Please leave now or I will have no choice but to inform Master.”
Murong Ling straightened his back and looked at Fan Men. “Brother Fan, don’t do that. I’ll let you have a peek too.”
What? Fan Men was speechless.
“Brother Fan, aren’t you curious about your Master’s bedroom affairs?”
Fan Men quickly shook his head. He didn’t even dare think of it. Master was usually overflowing with elegance, his name was recognized by everyone and he had multiple women by his side. But despite this, he maintained the untouchable aura of a god. Fan Men didn’t dare to even think of a soft body pressing on Master’s hard chest at all, softening him.
The thought alone was too much for him to even imagine.
“Brother Fan, your Master is great at pretending and so are you. It’s fine if you don’t want a peek, but don’t you dare tell on me.”
Hearing this, Fan Men was speechless.
…
Jun Xiqing was aching all over, her body covered in kiss marks. She was already drifting off to sleep after an intense session of love-making.
After a long while, she finally woke up.
Her long lashes quivered and she opened her eyes. She was no longer in the wooden hut and the limousine had already driven out of the small village. The first rays from the morning sun shone through the car windows, and she was lying against a warm chest.
It seemed that the entire time, Lu Yeming had been hugging her, letting her sleep in his embrace.
“When did we leave?” Jun Xiqing stirred, wanting to get up.
But Lu Yeming only wrapped her tighter in his arms and replied, “We set off at dawn. We’ll head back to the Palace first. There’s still quite a distance so you can sleep a bit more.”
Jun Xiqing balled her fists up and rubbed her sleepy eyes before raising her eyes to look at him. He had already changed into a custom-made black suit, his fringe pushed back against his face, revealing his handsome face. It seemed he had reverted back to the elegant and unpredictable West Duke.
Closing her eyes again, Jun Xiqing wriggled deeper into his arms. “When did you find out about your true identity?”
Lu Yeming lowered his deep eyes to look at her calmly. “The year I turned 18, when I brought my mother to Country A.”
He was referring to Madam Xuanji.
Jun Xiqing understood that he loved Madam Xuanji and Elder Sister Mo’er deeply. They were women he would give his life up to protect.
In fact, she was interested in Madam Xuanji as well. She had heard stories of her before and felt that she had lived a magnificent, yet mysterious life.
“Did Madam Xuanji know your true identity?”
No matter how much she had been able to deduce, this was what Jun Xiqing couldn’t guess at all.
Lu Yeming nodded. “Mm.”
Of course! With her intelligence, how could she not have recognized her own son?
“One day, my mother saw a book from somewhere and showed it to me, telling me that the King of Country A had a Dragon Totem on his back, like me.”
Lu Yeming smiled gently as he recalled the past.
Jun Xiqing’s watery eyes were bright. “Madam Xuanji lived a full life and definitely knew whether I was her biological son. But I don’t understand why she chose to return to the Capital, to Lu Jinwen’s side even without her biological son.”
That year, Lu Jinwen had killed his own son.
So why did Madam Xuanji choose to go back?
Lu Yeming’s smile was faint. “Lu Jinwen thought that without her biological son, there would be no more possibility between Mother and him. Everyone thought so as well. It was a pity that even before he died, Lu Jinwen had no idea that Mother already knew.
“It wasn’t that there were no more possibilities between Mother and Lu Jinwen because she no longer had a child. In fact, that was the sole reason she returned to his side.
“If you think about it carefully, Lu Jinwen had already set this plan in motion many years ago, when he picked me up from along the streets and sent me to Mayor Tang for adoption. His heart was full of tricks and for his whole life he had only been planning for one person. He had been planning for the possibilities between Mother and him. All those years, no matter what happened, he still refused to give up… But Mother’s mind was clear and she saw how much Lu Jinwen loved her.
“In the end, Mother returned to the Capital. I was thinking that even after a lifetime or misfortune and setbacks, they still refused to let go of each other’s hands in the face of fate, so being buried together was their fate after all.”
Soft sobs wracked through Jun Xiqing. The love story of the legendary businessman Lu Jinwen and Madam Xuanji really was one filled with regret.
Even as she took her last breath, Madam Xuanji’s dying words were that she didn’t want to relive her past and meet this man called Lu Jinwen ever again.
“In Madam Xuanji’s eyes, you are her biological son,” Jun Xiqing said with a smile.
Lu Yeming’s eyes turned gentler. To him, in his heart, Madam Xuanji was his biological mother as well. He respected and loved her.
“If you already knew your true identity, why didn’t you return to the Palace? Your surname is Murong.”
Lu Yeming didn’t answer this question immediately. Instead, he looked at Jun Xiqing and asked, “Why do you think?”
Jun Xiqing spoke up. “I used to think that it was because of Elder Sister Mo’er, and still do so now. No one in the world can compare to Elder Sister Mo’er in your heart. She’s your greatest love. But after the battle in the Palace, I realized that whoever was born with the Dragon Totem was born with a certain fate as well. You’ve been chasing power and status and the shrewdness in your eyes is for your country.”
Lu Yeming reached out to caress her beautiful face with his long fingers. She had finally peeled away the layers around him to stand by his side.
“The Crown Prince’s disappearance shook the entire country. All these years, the Dukes have been cutting up this land into their own territories, creating chaos everywhere. You’d be aware that the Palace is currently protected by Murong Fu. Even if I were to return to the throne, I would be the first person they would want to get rid of.
“I’ve been planning for this situation all these years, not daring to slack off for a single instant. I’ve been waiting for the right time to calm this chaos down and build a safer country for everyone.
“But…” Lu Yeming paused. “My surname is Lu, not Murong.”
Jun Xiqing held his hand. “You want to stand at the place closest to Elder Sister Mo’er and receive her love.”
Lu Yeming lowered his eyes. “Isn’t the place closest to her also the farthest?”
“But how are you going to reach the top without taking the Murong name? A bloodbath is inevitable.”
A beautiful face floated into Lu Yeming’s mind. He hadn’t seen her in a long while.
As the limousine cruised through the road, the distance between them gradually shortened.
A light breeze ruffled against his soft features and he said quietly, “I would trade half my life so that she could live without restraint for the rest of hers. I won’t let her die early.”
