Chapter 84

Rong Tang remained silent for a long time, then stepped back, freeing himself from the forehead-to-forehead constraint of the person before him.

He once again realized the extent of Su Huaijing's sensitivity, to the point where Rong Tang wouldn’t be surprised if one day Su Huaijing directly asked him, "Have you reincarnated?"

This person defies rules and restrictions, and is alarmingly perceptive, as if nothing in this world could escape his watchful eyes.

Rong Tang couldn't help but wonder, how many details had he inadvertently exposed to Su Huaijing over the past year?

Because the truth was so bizarre, beyond normal comprehension, he never thought to deliberately hide it.

Without suspicion, there would be peace; but if one were to harbor doubts, even his identity as "Crown Prince of Ning Xuan" would be worth pondering over.

Su Huaijing might have noticed things that “Rong Tang” should not know or care about, yet he never asked a single question. It was as if he was waiting for Rong Tang to confess, or perhaps it didn’t matter to him. Instead, he used the wishes earned through his cunning for such an ambiguous and absurd request.

Even the dreams were fabricated, so how could there be a 'next time' to seek him in a dream?

Rong Tang pursed his lips and said to Su Huaijing, "Dreams are all fake."

"I know," Su Huaijing nodded.

Rong Tang: "Then are you still going to waste this wish?"

"It's not a waste," Su Huaijing said. "Tang Tang, one-third of a person's life is spent sleeping, and due to your physical condition, you even sleep more than the average person."

His hand, caught and held by Su Huaijing, left Rong Tang puzzled, asking, "So?"

Su Huaijing: "If your waking and sleeping moments intertwine to compose your life experiences, how can you be so sure that your dreams aren’t real?"

Rong Tang was stunned, almost believing that Su Huaijing had seen through the truth.

He blinked lightly, saying, "But dreams are fake."

Su Huaijing gazed at him steadily, a trace of pity in his eyes, and agreed, "Alright, they are fake."

Rong Tang knew by his tone that Su Huaijing didn’t believe him. As he was about to argue, Su Huaijing leaned in, supporting himself on the carriage's bed, and captured his lips.

Rong Tang's eyes widened in shock.

He had been cornered while trying to avoid Su Huaijing, now with his legs pinned and arms weakened, almost completely vulnerable.

Yet Su Huaijing just closed his eyes, gently rubbing their lips together, with a comforting intent.

Outside the window, the sound of horse hooves on snow rustled. It was nearing dusk. The sun had been absent all day, the colors of the clouds reflecting on the snowy ground, with steaming wonton stalls set up at street corners.

In winter, Yu Jing lacked the vibrant life of summer, but the city still bustled with market life and a handful of pedestrians.

Su Huaijing, seizing moments when Rong Tang was distracted, had stolen kisses several times, often because Tang Tang was adorably unaware, and Su Huaijing couldn't restrain himself, thinking that this was his rightful husband, so why couldn’t he kiss Rong Tang?

Each time, it left Rong Tang blushing and embarrassed, pretending to be angry before giving up.

This time, however, Su Huaijing made no extra movements, simply drawing close in their kiss, slowly and powerfully conveying a message: I am comforting you, you can trust and even depend on me completely, I will never, ever neglect you.

Even if it's just a false dream.

When the kiss ended, the carriage stopped in front of Ning Xuan King's Mansion. Su Huaijing withdrew from in front of Rong Tang, who was still breathing unevenly, unconsciously parting his lips slightly, revealing the tip of his tongue.

As Su Huaijing leaned over to tidy up, the voice of Shuang Fu came from outside the carriage. Rong Tang finally came to his senses, his ears reddening, his expression stern, about to reproach Su Huaijing, who quickly stuffed a candied fruit into his mouth to silence him.

Rong Tang was stunned, frustrated, and nearly resorted to violence!

His emotions were finally lively, unlike a lifeless puppet.

Su Huaijing smiled slightly, intending to lead him out of the carriage, but Rong Tang waved his hand, glaring fiercely at him, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve, still keeping a piece of candied fruit in his mouth, and jumped out of the carriage himself.

Shuang Fu, waiting outside, was even a bit surprised, craning his neck to look into the carriage, wondering why his master didn't come out with the young lord.

Annoyed, Rong Tang strode forward: "You go and serve in his room!"

Shuang Fu was confused: "Young lord?"

Su Huaijing, bending over to get out, heard this and shook his head, amused yet exasperated, quickly catching up to Rong Tang and grabbing his hand.

Rong Tang struggled, but couldn’t break free, and stopped in place, glaring at Su Huaijing: "Let go."

With the candied fruit still in his mouth, his words lacked force and even sounded a bit coquettish.

Su Huaijing also acted coquettishly: "We are at the mansion gate, my husband, don’t bully me."

Rong Tang: "?" Can I even bully you???

He felt like he was about to be infuriated to death by Su Huaijing! But still instinctively glanced around.

At dusk, the lanterns over the gate of Ning Xuan King's Mansion were already lit. Guards stood on both sides of the gate, the gatekeeper bowed and opened the main door to welcome them. Shuang Fu and other servants were waiting for their masters to enter the mansion before going through the side entrance. So, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that at least a dozen pairs of eyes were on them.

In high-ranking households, an incident in one family's backyard today could spread through half of the elite circle by the next day, let alone standing right at the main gate.

Rong Tang choked up for a moment, realizing he really had no way to deal with Su Huaijing.

If he publicly rejected Su Huaijing at the door, there might be matchmakers visiting tomorrow, suggesting remarriage for him.

Annoyed, Rong Tang chewed on the candied fruit a couple of times before letting Su Huaijing lead him into Ning Xuan King's Mansion.

Along the way, Rong Tang ignored everything Su Huaijing said, only occasionally responding with a noncommittal "hmm" when absolutely irritated.

Su Huaijing, however, wasn't upset, and as they entered the Moon Gate of Tang Hua Courtyard, he seemed to suddenly remember something, asking, "Tang Tang, you asked me earlier what gift I wanted?"

The candied fruit in Rong Tang's mouth had already been chewed up, leaving only the pit to be spat out.

Hearing this, he paused, then nodded while standing still, "Yes, what do you want?"

Arguing aside, anger aside, a New Year's gift still had to be prepared.

After all, who else was he but his own dear child?

Rong Tang mentally convinced himself, treating it as if dealing with a rebellious, disobedient child at home, and he, as a mature, sensible, and understanding father, shouldn't squabble with his son.

With this thought, Rong Tang instantly felt relieved, his eyes and brows lifting slightly.

Su Huaijing, standing opposite him, saw the expression on his face and found it amusing, intuitively feeling that Tang Tang must have come up with some mischievous thought.

Fortunately, he didn't mind; any mischievous thought was fine as long as it made Tang Tang happy.

As the moon rose over the western hills, a few paw prints of raccoon dogs were on the snow. Su Huaijing leaned forward, and Rong Tang's brief moment of glee instantly vanished, startled away.

Fearing another sneaky attack from Su Huaijing, Rong Tang immediately stepped back, watching him warily, his lips tightly pursed, not caring that he still had the candied fruit pit in his mouth, which was quite uncomfortable.

Su Huaijing chuckled, "What is brother Tang Tang thinking about?"

"What good can come from you calling me 'brother'?" Rong Tang quickly retorted with a jarred voice.

Su Huaijing briefly paused, then broke into a smile, bringing up another fact they both knew well, "But Tang Tang is indeed my brother, isn’t he? If Sheng Chengming can call you that, why can't I?"

Rong Tang: "..."

It seems not.

He was a bit shaken.

However, before he could react, Su Huaijing followed up by saying, "I've decided on my New Year's gift."

Rong Tang was startled, lowering his guard, "Go ahead."

He had actually prepared many things for Su Huaijing, including several residences in the capital purchased in his name, and even bought a manor on the outskirts of the city, planning to renovate it like Song Garden as a gift for him.

But such a project was time-consuming and not yet complete, so Rong Tang had been keeping it a secret from Su Huaijing.

He thought that as a major antagonist, Su Huaijing would need to win people’s hearts, expand his influence, infiltrate the royal court, and even gain the Emperor's favor, which would all require considerable financial resources.

Although Su Huaijing managed Shu Dao Pavilion in the capital and likely had other assets, such things could never be too plentiful.

It was somewhat mundane, but these were the most practical and thoughtful gifts Rong Tang could come up with.

But Su Huaijing said, "I want Tang Tang to love me."

Several cats lived in Ning Xuan King's Mansion, some of which had jumped into Tang Hua Courtyard and made nests in a corner. Now they were meowing, the tree branches swaying in the wind, continuously shaking off accumulated snow. Rong Tang stood frozen, feeling both embarrassed and angry!

Annoyed, he spat the pit of the candied fruit into his hand and quickly asked, "Is that something you should say to your brother!?"

Su Huaijing innocently retorted, "Why not? We have no blood relation, and even if we did, it's common for cousins to marry in this world. Does it mean they don’t speak of love in their marriage?"

Rong Tang: "You're twisting words and forcing logic!"

Su Huaijing, far from ashamed, boasted proudly, "It was Tang Tang who proposed to me. Have you had a change of heart?"

His astonishingly beautiful appearance, when adopting an innocent and pitiful expression, could move anyone's heart.

Rong Tang's ears were already red, and seeing this, he felt like he was about to burn, standing in the snowy landscape without feeling cold.

But he couldn't out-argue Su Huaijing!

He's never been able to out-argue the major antagonist!!

The young master of the Rong family was almost furious to death, even thinking at one point that this was worse than the confrontations in his past two lifetimes!

At least back then, nobody spoke so bluntly, leaving no room for retaliation.

He didn't even realize why he felt that this remark left him no room to breathe, when all he needed to do was to retort.

But Rong Tang just didn’t know how to respond, standing there in frustration, finally squeezing out, "Even zombies wouldn’t eat your brain!"

Then he turned around and walked away!

Bah! Love-struck fool!

Here I am thinking about paving the way for your future, and you're thinking about all these nonsensical, unmentionable things!

Rong Tang walked briskly back to his room, almost forgetting the news he had heard earlier in Ke Hongxue's courtyard, and the scene he saw in the system space.

At that moment, all the melancholy and emptiness in his heart were gone, replaced by the embarrassment teased out by Su Huaijing, not even noticing the expression that slowly turned serious on the face of the person who had just left.

The moon and stars moved higher, illuminating the snowy ground as if it were daytime.

Su Huaijing stood still, looking at the door that had just closed.

Rong Tang, you shouldn’t have refuted that my dream was unreal.

You got it wrong from the very beginning.

-What if you ignore me?

You looked for me, didn't you?

You sought me out, I ignored you, and that's why you fell into a nightmare?

Su Huaijing pinched his fingertips, lost in thought about something.

After a while, a hint of red stained the snow, marking the white night.