Chapter 437: Chapter 433: Blossoms and Full Moon—Empress Extra Story (Part 4)

The two riders left the palace and headed north for several miles.

The elopement location was not far from the Imperial Palace, gradually rising towards the northeast.

At the highest point, they reined in their horses to a stop.

From their high vantage point, they looked around, seeing stars hanging over vast fields and the moon reflecting in the cold river.

Looking back to the south, the grand palaces and the city full of lights were all visible at their feet.

The scene was stunningly beautiful.

Tang Xiaobai had been to Dragon Head Plain north of the Capital City before, but never at night, and certainly not on a clear Lantern Festival night.

“In the past, when you were in your boudoir, every fifteenth day of the first lunar month, you went to the flower market with your family to admire the lights; in recent years, you joined the common people in celebration on the upper floors;”

“Having a birthday during the Lantern Festival is never a lone affair.”

Tang Xiaobai listened, momentarily at a loss.

She hadn’t really paid attention to this aspect.

With so much excitement, it didn’t matter if it wasn’t unique.

Besides, those around her never missed giving her birthday presents because of the Lantern Festival.

She hadn’t expected him to feel wronged on her behalf for this.

Tang Xiaobai couldn’t help but laugh, “Now it’s a unique kind of excitement!”

At the top of this deserted slope, overlooking the flourishing Capital——

Tang Xiaobai suddenly recalled a classic line!

On horseback, the Empress suddenly and boldly waved her arm, “Look! This is the kingdom I have conquered for you!”

Li Mu was taken aback.

Tang Xiaobai thought for a moment and corrected herself, “This is the kingdom you’ve conquered for me!”

Li Mu laughed softly, “No, it’s the kingdom you’ve conquered for me.”

Without her, he would never have wanted to fight for this throne, this kingdom.

When he was arranged to escape to Zhenzhou back then, his heart was filled only with destruction.

To have Li Mingyi send out troops with just cause, to see this world torn by war, to see this kingdom battered and broken, just to match the suffering he endured over the years.

It was she who brought him along, reading all the classics and looking at the loyalty and the wise, dismantling and rebuilding the world of misery in his heart bit by bit.

Saddened by the hardships of the people, angered by the rampant bandits, stabilizing the borders of the Northwest, defeating enemies beyond the outer border.

She said, this world should be like this, and so it was.

“Do you like it, Ah Jiao?” he asked softly.

“I like it!” Her apricot eyes curved, her smile brilliant as stars.

To be brought to the mountain top by her beloved young man to watch the stars, how could such a romantic thing not be liked?

Just—

Tang Xiaobai quietly glanced at the distance between them.

This distance, however, was not romantic at all…

“Are you cold?” Li Mu suddenly asked.

Hmm?

He didn’t seem to want an answer.

Just after Li Mu asked, he leaned towards her, stretched out his arm, and pulled her to sit in front of him.

The wide fur coat enveloped her in his scent instantly.

“Now it won’t be cold,” His Majesty the Emperor said seriously.

Tang Xiaobai giggled.

Yet like this, she didn’t want to watch the stars anymore.

She pulled up the fur coat, covering half of her face, hiding even her nose, and took a deep breath.

Li Mu never liked incense, but being the emperor, his body inevitably picked up some scents compared to before.

The fur coat carried a faint musk scent, mixed with the frost of trees and grass along the way, a refreshing sweetness.

She sniffed it repeatedly, unable to resist hiding her entire head within the warmth of his coat, feeling enveloped by him.

“What is it?” His voice came through the thick, soft fur, deep and numbing to her ears.

“Cold…” Tang Xiaobai replied self-assuredly.

The words she spoke dragged a little, both coy and sweet.

Tang Xiaobai found herself blushing at her own voice, unconsciously burying her face deeper.

Outside the fur coat, his arms slowly tightened around her.

Her back pressed against his chest, feeling solid, almost stiff.

Inside that fur cocoon, the temperature soared rapidly, so much that Tang Xiaobai wanted to poke her head out.

At this moment, her head suddenly felt a weight, as if Li Mu had rested his chin on top of her head.

He seemed uncomfortable too, shifting a bit, his voice slightly muffled against her ears, “You’ve hidden yourself, how can you watch the stars?”

“Then… shall we not watch?” Tang Xiaobai tentatively reached out a hand, scratching at his arm that circled her waist, “I want to return to the palace…”

…

Came hurriedly, returned slowly.

Tang Xiaobai hid within the fur coat, feeling as if the wind had stopped, time had stopped too.

What she smelled was him, what she heard was him, what she thought of was him.

After an unknown amount of time, the horse finally halted, and sounds of the Palace Attendants paying respects arose around them.

Tang Xiaobai nestled further into his embrace, whispered, “My hair is all messed up.”

Li Mu comprehended and pulled off the coat, wrapping her entirely, carried her off the horse, and walked towards the palace hall.

Tang Xiaobai counted his steps, quietly tugging at his sash when he stepped into the bedchamber.

Li Mu paused, lowered his gaze to her.

At that moment, she raised her eyes too, her apricot eyes shimmering with light.

“Are there still memorials tonight?” she asked softly and quietly, her fingers also lightly and quietly fiddling with his sash.

Her voice was so soft, almost indistinct;

The touch was so gentle, almost imperceptible.

Yet Li Mu heard it clearly, felt it clearly.

As if she were whispering right in his ear, as if she had already pulled apart the many layers of his robes, as if her delicate hand had already slipped within, gently caressing his chest.

“Ah Jiao…” he spoke with some difficulty, yet didn’t know what to say.

She blinked, a blush suddenly tinging her brows with shyness.

“Today is my birthday…”

Her slender white fingers twirled around his dark-colored sash in loops.

Watching this scene, Li Mu’s eyes grew red at the corners.

When the sash was wound to its end, her movements stopped, and Li Mu’s breath paused with it.

Her fingers stopped there, slightly bent.

Just a tiny bit more force, and she could easily pull it apart.

If she dared to pull it apart, he wouldn’t let her go. Li Mu thought.

But she stopped, unmoving.

Not even willing to exert a tiny bit of force.

A soft, innocent voice drifted over, “Won’t brother stay with me?”

Before the words had even fallen, Tang Xiaobai’s world spun.

Moments later, her back pressed against some surface, and when she opened her eyes, she only saw his eyes, dyed a bewitching red, like blossoms of peach, mesmerizingly beautiful.

He clutched her fingers, tangled in the sash, and forcefully pulled down.

The sash instantly snapped away, his robes falling open with it.

“How shall I accompany you?” His voice seemed seared by fire, rough and hoarse, his gaze fierce and cold, utterly different from his usual gentle obedience.

Tang Xiaobai couldn’t bear such a gaze, her face burning, nervously grasped onto his arm, thought for a while, and while climbing up to hook around his neck, quietly said, “However you like…”

A taut line snapped in Li Mu’s mind, and he almost fiercely buried his face into her neck, biting down.

She let out a soft gasp, her fragrant, delectable body shifting further into his embrace, trembling as she sought out his ear—

“Brother… Ah Jiao can’t stand any longer…”

A tiny voice, more like a plea for help than a plea of surrender.

“Bang!”

The last taut thread in Li Mu’s mind snapped—

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