The Prince Consort's Beloved

Xiao Luobai originally wanted to return to the capital as soon as possible, but because his wounds had been reopened several times, Li Yuanrou was worried and insisted that he recuperate in Guanyun Village.

In order to kill time, Li Yuanrou visited friends everywhere and accidentally collected a bundle of storybooks from Yao Jinhua. When she saw an interesting one, she ran to share it with Qingluan and Daya, and when she saw a tear-jerking one, she threw herself into Xiao Luobai's arms and cried bitterly.

Xiao Luobai tried to coax her with a smile at first, but after seeing Li Yuanrou's eyes swollen like peaches from crying for several times in a row, he forcibly confiscated all her notebooks.

That was one of the few days when Li Yuanrou could cry whenever she wanted and someone would comfort her immediately. In the countless days and nights that followed without him, she missed those days terribly, and missed him terribly...

………………

After a few more days, with the help of Zhuge Hongzhan's miraculous medicine, Xiao Luobai's injuries slowly healed. He no longer needed crutches and could walk slowly and independently. Li Yuanrou moved back to Xiao Luobai's room.

The two of them began to be inseparable again, but Li Yuanrou had a psychological trauma due to the last drunken incident, and she would never touch Xiao Luobai again. She even piled two quilts between them when they slept every day, and if she moved around, she would hold on to the quilts.

When Xiao Luobai wanted to touch her once, she righteously said a wise saying: "Low-level happiness comes from indulgence, and high-level happiness comes from restraint."

Xiao Luobai looked aggrieved: "I restrained myself, but I am not happy..."

Li Yuanrou sticks to her bottom line and never compromises.

Slowly, although Xiao Luobai had not fully recovered, he was able to move freely. The people in the mountain village had begun to evacuate in an orderly manner. Bai Rou and his party were also preparing to return to Shangjing City. Li Yuanrou was busy packing up.

With the lesson learned from the last assassination attempt, Xiao Luobai mobilized the guards and soldiers from the princess's mansion before returning this time, preparing to return in a grand manner.

By that time, Guanyun Village would have been deserted, and all important things would have been taken away, and those that could not be taken away would have been burned, so even if a big fuss was made and everyone knew about it, there was no need to worry about being discovered.

Xiao Luobai's things had basically been moved to the princess's mansion a long time ago, and there was nothing else he needed to take with him except the portraits of Li Yuanrou he had painted.

Li Yuanrou still felt a little regretful when holding the portrait that was pulled into two pieces. There were portraits of her from the age of 7 to 14. Xiao Luobai said he would paint another one for her, but Li Yuanrou refused, saying that she wanted both of them to be in the painting together.

Xiao Luobai didn't need to look up to see it, he just drew it based on his memory.

The two people in the painting are standing side by side with their fingers clasped together, both with smiling faces, looking extremely happy. Unlike previous paintings of girls crying, there is no sadness at all in this painting.

The painting was completed in one go, with smooth, lifelike strokes.

Li Yuanrou held the scroll and marveled at it, sighing repeatedly, saying that Xiao Luobai was omnipotent and praised him to the sky and on earth again, which made Xiao Luobai very happy. Li Yuanrou's inner admiration for Xiao Luobai had reached its peak.

She looked at it carefully, and when she saw the handwriting at the signature of the scroll, her expression paused slightly, and when she looked up again, her eyes were wet.

The signature was written with Bai Rou and the other person’s names, and it said: The wind keeps an appointment, the flowers do not fail, and we will never let each other down year after year.

Xiao Luobai smiled, his eyes were gentle, he embraced the tearful Li Yuanrou in his arms, and kissed her between her brows. He knew that Li Yuanrou liked those poems, so he whispered softly, "The moon under the sea is the moon in the sky, and the person in front of you is the one in your heart."

Li Yuanrou, a person with little education, enjoyed such poetic expression full of strong emotions immensely. She was also addicted to Xiao Luobai's gentle embrace and was unwilling to extricate herself.

She raised her sparkling almond eyes and said in a muffled voice: "I am uneducated and cannot speak."

Xiao Luobai hugged her tighter again, and his deep, long laughter echoed in Li Yuanrou's ears. The tenderness in his laughter seemed to drown people, it was very intoxicating.

Li Yuanrou has been particularly fond of crying these days. She is worried about gains and losses, while Xiao Luobai is particularly fond of laughing. He sees that she cares about him and depends on him.

The two people seemed to complement each other and fit in well with each other.

Li Yuanrou packed up all the paintings and began to rummage through boxes and cabinets for the red robe. Finally, after her unremitting efforts, she found it. There was not just one, but both red and black ones. They had all been hidden at the bottom of the box by Xiao Luobai. Li Yuanrou was overjoyed. In the face of Xiao Luobai's stiff and unhappy expression, she happily put all of them into her bag.

Before dark, Zhuque sent back a message saying that He Wenzhen was preparing to return to the court, but the war was not over yet. He Wenzhen did not want to fight anymore and submitted a letter to the emperor, saying that he would take off his armor and give up all his powers and marry into the eldest princess's family. The young emperor Li Yuanqi agreed.

Xiao Luobai felt that this matter was unusual, and decided to return to Shangjing City after everyone in Guanyun Village had safely evacuated in two days.

He had been away for too long and had too many things piled up. Although he had trained a few capable assistants after the New Year to help him take care of everything temporarily in terms of business matters, many developments in the government still required him to personally inquire about and handle them.

Li Yuanrou asked him: "He Wenzheng has persisted for so long, even though he was separated from his elder sister for many years, and even though he did not recognize An'er when he met her. Prince Yun is not dead yet, so why did he take off his armor?"

Xiao Luobai guessed and answered: "He Wenzheng's position as general is no longer useful except for causing his soldiers to die on the front line. The useful card in his hand now is the refined private army he secretly trained. It doesn't matter whether he is a general or not. His position as general no longer poses any threat. As for his sudden return to the court, it was probably because he learned about the assassination of the princess."

The day before leaving, Xiao Luobai took Li Yuanrou to the top of a mountain where he used to watch the clouds.

Layers of white clouds surround the mountains, as if they were covered with a thin veil. The peaks are looming, as if you can grab a cloud with your hand, giving people the illusion of being in a fairyland.

Mountains use clouds as their clothes, and clouds use mountains as their support.

The sea of clouds is vast and the mountains are towering, leaning against each other.

Li Yuanrou asked him teasingly: "Are there fairies in the clouds?"

Xiao Luobai smiled and replied: "The fairy is by my side."

Li Yuanrou laughed, and Xiao Luobai also laughed.

Li Yuanrou asked, "Am I that good?"

Xiao Luobai replied: "I see all living things as grass and trees, but I see you as a green mountain."

Xiao Luobai's sweet words came out of his mouth so easily that Li Yuanrou felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey and smiled foolishly.

Li Yuanrou asked him again: "What exactly does Mr. Interpreter's words mean? You are so smart, I don't believe you can't guess it at all."

Xiao Luobai repeated it meaningfully: "One soul, two bodies, three lives apart, love yet to be found..."

He guessed it to some extent, he smiled and said: "It's probably the literal meaning..."

The third life? He thought...

The two of them stayed from the afternoon until the sun set and had not yet left.

Li Yuanrou lazily leaned her head on Xiao Luobai's shoulder, and the two chatted about the past and the future.

Li Yuanrou finally asked, "What if your identity is discovered by someone with ulterior motives?"

Xiao Luobai said: "Then don't let others find out."

Li Yuanrou said worriedly: "There is no wall that is impenetrable."

Xiao Luobai's words were full of pearls: "Then show a bit of bewilderment, so as to conceal the truth from heaven and earth and disappear into the world."

Li Yuanrou was curious: "What do you mean?"

Xiao Luobai smiled calmly: "It means to keep a low profile."

Li Yuanrou nodded in agreement with a solemn expression.

The night wind is a little chilly.

The clouds had already hidden away.

There was a strange sound coming from the woods not far away. Li Yuanrou raised her head and squinted her myopic eyes to look down, wondering, "What's that sound? There seems to be someone over there?"

Xiao Luobai glanced at Kunpeng who was punching a tree in the woods to vent his anger, and replied expressionlessly: "The idiot in the village."

He muttered to himself with disdain: "You are useless."

Li Yuanrou kept stretching her neck to look over there, trying to see more clearly.

While watching, she asked the idiot what he was doing and why he was cutting down trees. Xiao Luobai didn't want to answer. He felt that the atmosphere was ruined, so he suggested going back.

The two walked back hand in hand. Halfway through, Li Yuanrou began to feel tired. Xiao Luobai said he would carry her back. Li Yuanrou hesitated, but Xiao Luobai insisted.

Li Yuanrou climbed onto Xiao Luobai's back while spitting on herself.

She sighed, "I am a healthy person and I need a wounded person to carry me on his back."

Xiao Luobai paused, turned his head slightly, and said in a questioning and dangerous voice: "Injured?"

Li Yuanrou's heart skipped a beat. She laughed twice in a fake way, rolled her eyes, and tried to smooth things over: "Others would call him a wounded soldier, but my husband certainly can't be called a wounded soldier, hehe..."

She was speechless, her eyes rolled around again, and her mind quickly searched through all the essential knowledge of nine years of compulsory education.

She rested her head on the back of his neck and sniffed his unique fragrance, then spoke leisurely with enjoyment: "The clouds are beautiful, the stars are beautiful, but I prefer the afternoon sunshine. It makes me believe that everything in this world will turn around, and believe in the generosity and beauty of fate."

Her almond eyes curved: "You are the afternoon sunshine."

Xiao Luobai's lips curled up, he was easily brainwashed by Li Yuanrou again.

He smiled, his heroic eyes and brows sparkled in the moonlight. His smile became more and more gentle, as if he was content to own the whole world.

The wind is slightly cool.

Li Yuanrou listened attentively, and the sound of the idiot punching the tree continued.