The more Lin Zhi thought about it, the more irritated he became. At this moment, Shen Shu finished making dumplings and came out to look for him. Seeing him standing outside the door, she clapped her hands together and wiped off the flour on her hands before going to hold Lin Zhi's hand.
Lin Zhi's depressed mood suddenly calmed down a lot. Shen Shu smiled and said, "The dumplings have been cooked. Brother Changfeng, will you bring Chang Lan and Chang Sheng to have New Year's Eve dinner with you?"
Changfeng was stunned. After all, he was just a guard. Is it appropriate to have New Year's Eve dinner with his master?
Besides, didn’t His Majesty ask the prince to go to the palace for New Year’s Eve dinner?
But he didn't expect Lin Zhi nodded and simply told him, "Go."
Then he followed Shen Shu and left.
Changfeng pondered on the spot for a while before finally coming back to his senses, the prince... gave the emperor to the pigeon?
The New Year's Eve dinner was quickly prepared. Today's dinner table was much more lively because of Chang Sheng's presence. Chang Sheng kept telling everyone about all kinds of strange experiences at the table.
He told the story of an old lady in her fifties giving birth to a son, to a wealthy businessman who carefully raised his son for more than ten years and then found out that the son was born from an affair with his concubine, and he was angered to death.
His description was so interesting that even Chang Lan was fascinated by it and couldn't help but ask, "Where did you hear all this?"
"Of course I know it from the girl from the Spring Boudoir Pavilion. Those girls from the Spring Boudoir Pavilion not only speak well, but are also well-informed."
As soon as he finished speaking, he said "Ouch" and was stepped on by Chang Lan.
Shen Shu couldn't help but laugh.
After the New Year's Eve dinner, Shen Shu took Lin Zhi to set off fireworks.
Lin Zhi was born in the palace, where many fireworks would be set off every New Year. He was tired of seeing them, so he had no feeling for them.
Shen Shu was born in a modern city, and the city banned the setting off of fireworks, so she was very happy to watch the fireworks rising to the highest altitude and then exploding into flowers.
Lin Zhi was a little bored watching the fireworks, so he just turned his head to look at the excited woman next to him.
Shen Shu squeezed Lin Zhi's hand and looked at him expectantly, "Your Majesty, let's make New Year's wishes together!"
Shen Shu's face was bright and eager. Lin Zhi looked at her face and suddenly thought of his own childhood.
He remembered that the first time he made a wish was when he was five years old. That year he made a pious wish in front of the fireworks: I hope his father and mother will stop quarreling.
The second time he made a wish was when he was seven years old. At that time, he cried in front of the lantern until his nose ran out. He told the lantern that his mother's slap really hurt, and he hoped that his mother would stop hitting him.
The third time he made a wish was when he was ten years old. He collapsed on the ground in pain from poison. When he raised his eyes, he saw a shooting star streaking across the night sky. He made a wish to the shooting star, hoping that his mother would stop feeding him poison. As long as you don't feed him any more poison, you can just beat him.
The fourth time he made a wish was when he was fifteen years old. He knelt in front of his father's mausoleum, hoping that his deceased father would bless him with good health.
The last time he made a wish was five years ago. He stood in the Huguo Temple, trying hard to look at the compassionate face of the Buddha behind the curling smoke, and made a wish to be a normal person.
He had made wishes for various things, but every time he made a wish, things would develop contrary to his wishes.
So at this moment, Lin Zhi just pursed his lips and looked at Shen Shu making a wish.
Shen Shu clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, looking very pious. It didn't take long for her to finish her wish, and then she raised her eyes and looked at Lin Zhi with a smile.
"Your Majesty, it's already very late now, let's go back first."
Lin Zhi agreed, and they both took off their clothes and lay on the bed, but neither of them could sleep, so they had to get up and listen to the sound of firecrackers and fireworks exploding.
Lin Zhi held Shen Shu in his arms and whispered, "After the Chinese New Year this year, you will be eighteen years old."
Shen Shu nodded, and then remembered that she had been with Lin Zhi for so long that she didn't know how old he was, so she turned around and asked him, "What about the prince?"
"Twenty-two."
He was only four years older than her. Shen Shu suddenly asked curiously, "How old is the prince?"
Lin Zhi was a little unhappy when she called her Prince, but he still answered honestly, "Twenty."
It turns out that there is only such a small age difference between the two of them. Does the prince feel uncomfortable every time he calls him Emperor Lin Zhi?
"How old is your Majesty?" she asked curiously.
"forty."
"Then the prince is the late emperor's old son?"
Lin Zhi said "hmm" again, and then said in a low voice, "That's why my father loves me very much."
There was a bit of nostalgia in his tone when he talked about the late emperor. Shen Shu knew that one of Lin Zhi's parents must have problems. She originally thought it was the father, but now it seems that it is the mother.
She suddenly felt uncomfortable in her heart. All children will be more dependent on their mothers, so abuse from the mother will have a much greater impact on the children than abuse from the father.
She hugged Lin Zhi tightly again, and Lin Zhi casually told him some interesting things in the palace when he was a child.
Shen Shu worked hard all day and stayed up very late today. She was already very sleepy. She listened to Lin Zhi's voice for a while and then fell asleep.
Lin Zhi got up quietly after seeing her sleeping. Today he saw Shen Shu sleeping soundly, so he didn't touch her sleeping area. He just got up quietly, got dressed and went to his cabin.
Because he had been feeding poisonous insects less and less recently, several poisonous insects died this time. Lin Zhi lowered his eyes and looked at the few poisonous insects, and finally cut his own wrist to feed them.
The poisonous insects ate happily. After Lin Zhi fed the poisonous insects, he took a handkerchief to wipe the blood on his hands. However, perhaps the wound today was too deep and the blood could not be wiped clean.
He could only put down the veil and let the blood on his wrist slowly flow to his palms and fingertips, and then turn into blood drops and drip to the ground.
After feeding the poisonous insects, he quickly left the hut and returned to his room. Perhaps it was too windy today, so he suddenly had an ominous premonition the moment before he opened the door.
…
Today is New Year's Eve, and Shen Shu dreamed of her parents again.
She remembered that every Chinese New Year, the whole family would get together to make dumplings. Her father liked to put a few coins in the dumplings. Those who eat the coins will be more blessed in the new year.
She always couldn't eat coins when she was a child, so her father later picked out the dumplings with coins and gave them to her to eat. Because of this, her father was scolded by her mother many times.
She dreamed of many things from her childhood, and those dreams were very real, like a movie in her mind. She cried in her sleep, and then woke up crying, sat up and lit a candle.
Although she had only traveled through time for two months, she felt like she had been away from her parents for a long time.
She subconsciously looked next to her, only to see Lin Zhi disappear inexplicably. She breathed a sigh of relief, then raised her hand to wipe her tears until Lin Zhi could no longer see it.
She waited on the bed for a while, and not long after, she saw the door open, and Lin Zhi walked in covered with wind and snow.
But at this moment, Shen Shu's attention was not on the snow falling on Lin Zhi's clothes, but on his hands.
There were blood stains on Lin Zhi's fingertips. Looking up from his fingertips, she could see that there was blood on his palms as well, and all the blood came from his wrists.