Da Li Temple - Chapter 45.1

Chapter 45.1
Inside Man

Su Moyi was startled and rushed to pull her hand. However, there was a sudden emptiness in his hand. Lin Wanqing pulled her hand away when he touched her.
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Su Moyi was stunned. “Are you alright?” He asked. The hand left hanging in mid-air was a little embarrassed, but he didn’t retract it.
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Lin Wanqing shook her head, avoiding his gaze, bending down and about to pick up the broken porcelain on the floor when Yue Niang entered the room with her maids at this time.
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“I, I’ll go change my clothes ……,” Lin Wanqing mumbled, almost fleeing.
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The closet was at the other end of the room, separated by a large brocade embroidered gold screen from the bed and table. Sandalwood incense was burning in the room to calm the mind, and last night’s flirtation had yet to dissipate.
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It was a short walk, but Lin Wanqing felt like she had walked for a long time. She reached the back of the screen with great difficulty and sidled up to hold onto the closet.
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Su Moyi’s mother was Princess Anyang. It was Princess An Yang whom her father killed. Only then did Lin Wanqing remember the hand-copied Nan Dynasty Laws she had found on his bookshelf long ago. It turned out that this was why he aspired to join the Da Li Temple. He was eight years old that year, and it was also precisely the thirty-seventh year of the Tianqi era. Her heart plummeted as if she had stepped down an empty staircase. This weightlessness made Lin Wanqing, who had always been calm in all matters, disoriented for the first time. She stood frozen behind the screen for a long time until Su Moyi’s puzzled voice came from behind her.
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“What’s wrong?” He asked, and in his tone was a rarely seen gentleness. He approached her and took her hand to inspect it before looking at the damp patch on her skirt.
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“Are you, are you …… uncomfortable?” Su Moyi asked this question with some nervousness, his voice was trembling. He forced himself to be calm and woodenly opened the closet. He picked out a red jacket from it and handed it to Lin Wanqing, saying, “Quickly change into it …… Even though it’s the height of summer, it’s always bad to wear wet clothes. Be careful of catching the dampness.”
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Lin Wanqing answered and took the jacket.
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“Well…… if you’re uncomfortable there, later I’ll ask Yue Niang to send some ointment.”
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Lin Wanqing didn’t respond; she just turned her back to him and took off her outer garment.
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“I …… will be gentle next time ……”
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“My Lord,” A slightly cold voice came, but the woman before him didn’t turn around. She caressed the red jacket in her hand, and one could vaguely see the two butterfly bones that fluttered because of her breathing. She paused and said softly, “Could you please help me find some …… birth control pills ……”
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“What?” Su Moyi’s heart sank, and on second thought, he suddenly realized, “Ate those too much will hurt your body. It’s fine if you — I will be responsible for it.”
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“Lord,” Another sudden interruption, Lin Wanqing clutched the jacket in her hand and whispered, “Last night …… because of the ‘Confused Heart,’ I became uncontrolled. But now, I haven’t avenged my family’s wrongful death and haven’t brought the evil person to justice. I don’t want to talk about these childish feelings yet.”
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The person behind her was quiet for a moment. She hadn’t turned around, and the knuckles of her fingers gripping the jacket paled.
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Suddenly, warm palms tackled her arm, and he pulled Lin Wanqing. He went further, imprisoning her with his eyes and body.
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“What do you mean?” Su Moyi asked—his eyes, which had always been waveless, tinted with a stern color.
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“I ……” Lin Wanqing was afraid to look into his eyes and wanted to incline her head to avert her gaze, but her jaw tightened.

Su Moyi did not allow her to turn her head and forcefully twisted the person back, his gaze pressing.
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Lin Wanqing was shocked by this sudden pressure. When this person transformed into Lord Su, he always carried a sharp chill, so unsympathetic that it was as if he was interrogating a prisoner.
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Therefore, Lin Wanqing, whose chin was still in the other party’s hand, immediately lost the wind in her momentum and could only mumble, “Greater good is more important …… It is no hurry to slow down our matters for a while.”
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The man in front of him collected the hostility of his body and loosened her chin. His eyes softened, and he said, “Then you should have explained to me last night. I won’t release it inside — again.”
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After saying this, Lord Su uncomfortably reddened again.
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Lin Wanqing was shocked by his seamless transition from tiny puppy to hungry wolf and then to puppy again. She could only nod silently.
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‘I won’t release it inside again,’ it seems that Lord Su is still thinking about the future —
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Lin Wanqing hung her eyes apprehensively and was about to ask him to go out when Su Moyi took away the jacket in her hand.
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“Quickly change into it.” Lord Su ordered, reaching out to tug on her skirt.
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Lin Wanqing had been tossed around by him last night, so now she didn’t have the strength to be stubborn with him. So she could only turn into a marionette and let Lord Su personally serve her to change her clothes.
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The fine sunlight outside the window poured in, reflecting a pair of silhouettes on the ground.
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Lin Wanqing remembered that the last time someone had donned a skirt for her was years ago when she was still a four-year-old girl. A trace of familiar warmth rose in her heart. As long as she could keep her identity, the truth would always come out one day after Song Zhengxing got arrested.??

*
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Daming Palace, Chang’an Hall.
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In the late afternoon, the poisonous sun scorched the green stone slabs outside Chang’an Hall, and the hot air smothered the lofty hall with misty air.
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The Empress Dowager had just gotten up from sleep and was sitting on the couch drinking tea. The room was still heavy with heat, even though there were four pots of ice around the couch, and two maids kept fanning, one on the left and the other on the right.
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However, the Empress Dowager still tightened her brows and complained about the heat with an unhappy face.
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A Burst of footsteps suddenly sounded outside. Someone stopped at the door and asked, “Is the Empress Dowager awake?”