It turned out that liking someone was really something that happened in a split second.
Many years later, Yin Tingyan thought back on how he had gone from hating to liking Shangguan Ling.
It had been a long time and he could not remember the details. However, he could remember that night, the woman's eyes were sparkling as she toasted him in the pavilion.
"Your Majesty, when I was about to get married, I heard that if a man was interested in this, he would always rush to write about it. It would be better if he waited for a while!"
That kind of awkward and embarrassed feeling was one had felt for the first time when he had a wet dream as a teenager. He threw the sheets into a ball in fear and did not allow anyone to touch them. It could be compared to that.
Yin Tingyan had never met such a woman. She could be so calm as to bring the words between the sheets to the table.
He could call her frivolous.
But her casual and generous attitude seemed as if she did not care about these things at all.
She could say things that would make people blush, but it also made him feel that he was dirty!
She was not pure and holy, but her bright and forthright style made him like her more than ordinary women.
When Yin Tingyan was young, he had fantasized countless times about what the person he liked would look like in the future.
He thought she would be gentle and virtuous, raising his eyebrows, but he did not expect that he would meet such a scoundrel.
She could do overbearing things with confidence, and she could also coquettishly entangle herself by his side. She had countless new ideas in her head, and she could create countless magical things.
Meeting her had completely disrupted Yin Tingyan's plans for his life. However, he felt that his life with her was thousands of times better than what he had expected.
She could turn all her schemes and tricks into temptations and openly put them in front of him.
When he was with her, Yin Tingyan never had to guess.
She treated him like a wife to her husband.
And he couldn't give her anything other than the position of Empress. All he could do was to take a spoonful of wine.
*
"Your Majesty, The Empress, she's not a human. She's a demon who came from the modern world just like me!"
"The things she created were not her original creations. They were all plagiarized from the things that already existed in our society!"
"The Miao Gu family? Ha, she's only here to lie to you! If the members of the Miao Gu family have so many things, why are they still staying in the remote area in the southwest?"
...
After consuming the love Gu, Zha Xi Mingzhu married Yin Zhongqian.
The benefactor who saved Great Xia married his beloved uncle, Yin Zhongqian, to give the world and the Ning tribe an explanation.
When Prince Zha Xi was released, he did not understand why Zha Xi Mingzhu, who was not Yin Tingyan, had fallen in love with an old man who had no power and influence?
However, this opportunity could not be missed again. With the previous experience, Great Xia had already increased the defense of the border city. The Ning tribe would not be able to invade the city, much less help Zha Xi Mingzhu.
The effect of the love Gu lasted for a year and a half.
A year later, Zha Xi Mingzhu woke up. She and Yin Zhongqian had a two-month-old girl.
As a proud son of heaven, Zha Xi Mingzhu saw everything that had happened and immediately broke down.
She almost threw the girl to death and almost stabbed Yin Zhongqian to death with a hairpin.
Marrying into the palace had become Zha Xi Mingzhu's obsession.
She caused chaos in the entire mansion. Finally, Yin Zhongqian knelt in front of the Phoenix Perch Palace and begged Yin Tingyan and Shangguan Ling to give him another cup of affection.
The effect of the love Gu was mainly targeted at men. It had already exceeded Xia Ling's expectations to be able to make Zha Xi Mingzhu fall in love with Yin Zhongqian for a year and a half.
One more time, it was not possible.
Yin Zhongqian returned with a dead heart.
At this time, he heard of Empress Shangguan Ling's 'great achievements' in this year.
He knew how Empress Shangguan Ling helped Yin Tingyan change his measurement, how she helped Yin Tingyan build water conservancy, and how she created many practical 'tools' to 'benefit the world'.
Zha Xi Mingzhu wasn't stupid. Of course, she knew that Shangguan Ling was her transmigration senior.
When it came to transmigration, there could only be one female lead. Zha Xi Mingzhu thought that she was the female lead, but now, compared to Shangguan Ling, she understood that she was just cannon fodder.
But how could she be willing to put up with this?
Zha Xi Mingzhu had used her death to force Yin Zhongqian to find Yin Tingyan.
With the thought of fighting to the death, she exposed Shangguan Ling's identity and wanted to crack the relationship between Yin Tingyan and Shangguan Ling.
However, Zha Xi Mingzhu did not expect that the eEmperor in the black dragon robe was not surprised at all when he heard these words.
His expression was as indifferent as a god's. Looking at her, Zha Xi Mingzhu felt that in his eyes, even if she said these words, she was not even a grain of sand.
"Even so, so what?"
"No matter who she is or where she comes from, she is Shangguan Ling. That's enough!"
She was Shangguan Ling. That was enough.
The light in her eyes shattered. Zha Xi Mingzhu's expression gradually turned gray and she fell on the bed dejectedly.
Why couldn't she find someone who loved her?
They loved her beauty. Why didn't anyone tell her that as long as she was Zha Xi Mingzhu, it was enough whether she was her or not?
They were both transmigrators. Why did Shangguan Ling get everything and she had nothing!
Zha Xi Mingzhu staggered to her feet. She asked the servants to put on her makeup and pretended to recover. The servants carried her daughter who was two months old.
The little girl was over two months old. She was ugly and did not look like the current her at all. Instead, she looked like the ugly and fat girl from before she traveled to the real world.
The girl's facial features were flat and there were small freckles on her face. Just looking at her made Zha Xi Mingzhu return to the nightmare where she was still an ugly girl.
In the name of bringing the little girl to the palace to visit the empress, Zha Xi Mingzhu took advantage of Yin Zhongqian's absence to enter the palace.
She hid a dagger in the little girl's swaddling clothes.
Taking the opportunity to bow to Xia Ling, Zha Xi Mingzhu took out the dagger and rushed over to stab at Xia Ling's heart.
She was screaming for Xia Ling to die, but she suddenly rolled on the ground in pain, looking desperate.
Zha Xi Mingzhu had the love Gu in her body, and Xia Ling was the owner of the love Gu.
She wanted to hurt Xia Ling, so the love Gu naturally lost control and bit her internal organs.
All of this happened very quickly. When Yin Zhongqian rushed over, Zha Xi Mingzhu in the Phoenix Perch Palace had completely lost her life.
The little girl was being taken care of by the palace maids, and her forehead had a jagged wound. Zha Xi Mingzhu took out her dagger and threw her on the ground without hesitation, knocking against the leg of the chair next to her.
With his body trembling, Yin Zhongqian picked up the little girl and looked at her wound lovingly.
The little girl looked at him with a pair of blue eyes. Only then did she burst into tears. When she cried, she looked 70-80% like Zha Xi Mingzhu.
Unfortunately, Zha Xi Mingzhu was not fit to be a mother at all!
Yin Zhongqian carried the little girl and apologized to Yin Tingyan and Xia Ling.
The palace maids carried Zha Xi Mingzhu's body down. Yin Zhongqian took the little girl out of the palace and then left the capital. Xia Ling never heard from him again.
Later on, when Xia Ling Thought of Zha Xi Mingzhu, she would also think of Yin Zhongqian.
Yin Zhongqian had a gentle personality. If Zha Xi Mingzhu was not an unsatisfied woman, perhaps they would also be an immortal couple?
Zha Xi Mingzhu saw things that she could not get. If she could think about it seriously, she might understand that the one and a half years she spent with Yin Zhongqian was the happiest day of her life.
...
The years had always been limited, and it was easy to lose oneself in parting. The banquet was filled with songs. When you think of mountains and rivers, you think of nothing. When you think of flowers and rain, you think of spring. You might as well take pity on the person in front of you.
- Yan Shu's "Huan Xi Sha"