Chapter 10          Sincerity

“Taizifei, His Highness went into the study after dinner.”

The maid was respectful and courteous. She did not just give her the directions, but held the lamp in front of her to lead the way, and sent her to the study thoughtfully. She even reminded her in a low voice from time to time to pay attention to her feet.

Walking slowly on the zigzag corridor, Le Zhi was finally able to take a closer look at the unfamiliar Taizi Mansion.

Perhaps due to the wedding, the mansion was still decorated with bright red lanterns hanging on the eaves, adding a lot of joy to the mansion. Like the Eastern Palace, this place was very big but deserted, with not many maids and servants.

Just like how Huo Du made her feel, cold and lonely. When she interacted with him, there seemed to be an invisible barrier around him that separated him from everything in the world.

Since she was brought back to the country Qi by Huo Xu, her original plan was to have a pillow talk with Huo Xu and wait for the opportunity to rescue her sister who was under house arrest. Le Zhi knew very well that she had nothing now, except for this body, a body that Huo Xu had never obtained before.

Huo Xu had a desire for her, was not he?

Even if she could not rescue her older sister in the end, she could use herself as bait and perish together with Huo Xu. The imperial family of Great Li was never afraid of death. If she really got to this point, she believed that her older sister would find a way to kill herself, and then they would meet again in the underworld.

Her imperial father, imperial mother, and imperial brother would be waiting for them.

However, in order to quell the anger of the neighboring countries, Emperor Qi bestowed a marriage to her to marry the Taizi. Huo Xu also wanted to take advantage of the situation and use her beauty to get rid of his biggest threat. This disrupted her original plan, but it also made another plan emerge from the bottom of her heart.

According to Huo Xu, Huo Du was by no means a person easy to deal with, otherwise, he would not suppress the struggle in his heart to let her marry Huo Du. Le Zhi knew that if a hypocrite like Huo Xu deliberately did not want her to marry, he would always have a way to convince Emperor Qi.

However, he did not.

Furthermore, Huo Xu told her more than once that Huo Du was a vicious wolf. It could be seen that Huo Xu hated him, but also feared him. In addition, the idle discussions of the servants in the post station gave her a general idea that Huo Du must not be a good kind.

However, everything was not necessarily true.

In the past, as the little princess of country Li, she lived under the protection of her family. There were many things that she did not need to think about. She was happy and unrestrained, too lazy to think about it.

When she was a child, her imperial father said that she should treat the little prince from country Qi better, and she listened. After she reached marriageable age, her imperial father promised her to Huo Xu. Her imperial mother, imperial elder brother, and imperial older sister all said that Huo Xu was as gentle as jade and someone they grew up with since childhood. If she married him, she would definitely live a happy and peaceful life. At that time, she did not understand love, but at least she had the friendship she grew up with Huo Xu since she was a child, so she agreed.

In the end, the country was defeated, and the family was destroyed.

The Great Li governed the country with benevolence, and her imperial father was the kindest person. But in the end, he appreciated the wrong person and believed in the wrong person.

Therefore, Le Zhi swore that she would never trust others easily. She only believed in herself, could only rely on herself, and only had herself.

Even if those people described Huo Du as such, she was only skeptical. She had to see it for herself. And she saw it very clearly in these two days. Huo Du was not only ruthless and bloodthirsty but also indifferent and self-reliant.

Although Huo Xu was hypocritical, she could still detect his inner greed through his hypocritical skin. As for Huo Du, except that Little Lame Huo could enter his eyes, she could not see what he cared about or wanted at all.

But Le Zhi was somewhat convinced that with Huo Du’s character, he would not sit still and let Huo Xu invade his territory.

In that case, the enemy of the enemy, could she and Huo Du become allies?

Once this idea germinates, it grew wildly. Le Zhi thought that what she wanted was not just to perish with Huo Xu, she wanted to avenge and kill too many people. She also wanted to save her older sister, find her missing imperial sister-in-law and her young nephew. At the same time, she could not help worrying about the common people of Great Li who had become subjugated people.

How could the country and family, relatives and common people offset each other with only one person, Huo Xu?

If her imperial father knew that she had such thoughts, she did not know how he would react.

The innocent and kind-hearted Le Zhi died a month ago. Now the only person alive was the little princess of Li who crawled out of purgatory. She could no longer live only for herself.

Huo Xu might be right when he said that Huo Du was a vicious wolf. But if it was not for the vicious wolf, who else could defeat a demon like him?

She had no idea how dangerous the road she was going to take next would be. Asking a tiger for its skin and dancing with the wolf*. Her every step would be like stepping on the edge of the cliff, and the slightest mistake would make her smashed to pieces.

(Asking a tiger for its skin and dancing with the wolf* – A metaphor of conflict of interest with the object one looks for, and it will never succeed. Later discuss with the wicked, asking him to sacrifice his own interest, which will definitely be impossible.)

But she has no way back, and she also did not want to turn back. Taking a heavy sigh of relief, Le Zhi’s cheeks were as pale as paper, but the steps she took were calmer and firmer.

The maid in front thought she was tired and hurriedly said, “Taizifei, you will arrive at the study in a few more steps.”

“Alright.” Le Zhi responded warmly.

—

Inside the study.

“Your Highness, Third Prince has secretly contacted Taizifei…”

Before An Xuan finished his words, the man sitting by the window turned his wheelchair gently to look at him, and put his index finger on his lips to signal him to silence, “An Xuan, it’s not fun to say some things too clearly.”

An Xuan was at a loss… What does His Highness want to play?

There were sounds of footsteps coming from a distance outside the door, and then followed by a knock on the door, “Your Highness, Taizifei asks to see you.”

Hearing this, An Xuan was even more shocked…

At this hour, isn’t it time for Taizifei to set out from the east back gate to meet Third Prince? Why does she come here?

A flash of surprise flashed across Huo Du’s face, but his eyes were filled with smiles.

Isn’t the fun coming?

Seeing Huo Du nodding, An Xuan immediately went to open the door with understanding. After inviting Le Zhi into the room, he walked out of the study and closed the door.

“What’s the matter?”

His tone was still cold without warmth. Le Zhi walked up to Huo Du with a serious expression, and slowly bent her knees towards him with her hands folded.

Seeing this, Huo Du leaned forward and reached out his hands to hold her, without letting her kneel down.

“Why do you want to do such a big ceremony?” Huo Du chuckled, “It seems to be a big deal.”

“Yes.” Le Zhi nodded slightly. Since he would not let her kneel, she squatted down and looked up at him, “Huo Xu wants to see me, does Your Highness think I should go?”

On the way to the study, Le Zhi thought about a lot of excuses but finally felt that it was inappropriate. Finally, she decided to throw the problem to Huo Du, let him decide, and let him see her sincerity.