Aunt Gui hesitated to speak. When she saw her master's expression, she finally lowered her eyes and said nothing.
"Guifen." Queen Mother Zhang suddenly raised her head and stared at Nanny Gui with her falcon-like eyes: "You won't be soft-hearted about those harms, will you? You have been ups and downs in the palace. Why can't you see through it as you get older?
?”
Aunt Gui trembled: "I only have my wife in my heart, how can I care about the people around me?"
"Guard your heart." Empress Dowager Zhang frowned: "Don't let the Ai family be isolated and helpless. There is not even the last person in the Xichu harem who can talk to you..."
The palace of Princess Protector was as quiet as anyone. Lin Chu walked all the way and could not see a single person.
Although Lu An had prepared rain gear in advance, half of his clothes were still wet due to the strong rain and wind.
"I have already told Lu An to boil some hot water. You should go back to your room and change into clean clothes."
Lin Chu looked at Duanmuyan, and there was something wrong with this girl from just now. Duanmuyan, who was resolute and cold in the Changchun Palace, seemed to be just an illusion born from the haze of consciousness in the pouring rain.
"Brother Chu, can I still call you that?" Duanmu Yan was like a candy, tightly pulling on Lin Chu's sleeves and not leaving for a moment: "Actually, in Yan'er's heart, I don't want you to be my master at all.
"
Her voice was weak and feeble, and the smile on her slightly raised lips was pale and hollow. The brilliance in her bright eyes was gone, leaving only despair and desolation.
Lin Chu's heart trembled when she saw it, and he couldn't bear to push her away.
"Brother Chu, you are the only one I have now." She leaned her head towards Lin Chu and cautiously probed: "Don't leave me, okay?"
Lin Chu looked stunned, as if she had returned to such an afternoon in her childhood. In that coveted peaceful era, she had done the same thing, holding another woman's arms and begging her not to leave.
However……
He was in a trance for a moment, but when he came back to his senses, Duanmuyan had brought him into the house. The little girl stood three feet away from him, her clothes were half unbuttoned, and her shoulders and back were astonishingly white.
"Duanmuyan!" Lin Chu was horrified and subconsciously closed his eyes and turned around: "What are you doing!"
"Brother Chu, don't leave!" Duanmuyan rushed over and hugged Lin Chu from behind. He tried his best to prevent anyone from breaking away.
The woman's snow-white jade arms were stretched in front of her eyes, and the girl's warm fragrance came to her face. Lin Chu frowned and sighed: "What are you going to do?"
"Brother Chu, my mother is gone, and so is my father." Lin Chu's shoulders were filled with warm dampness, and the girl choked with sobs and said intermittently in her ear: "When my father left, he said that I was a sinner of the Hua family and a mourning star!
Say you never see me again in your life."
"The kindness that my uncle and the Queen Mother used to treat me was all fake. Now...I only have you left."
"I know you don't like me, but I have no other way. I only have you, and the National Protectorate also needs you. Only if I truly belong to you can the National Protectorate remain in your hands."
Her words were slurred, and her shame and grief made her cry bitterly. The arms that hugged Lin Chu tightened, but they tightened and she refused to let go.
Lin Chu's heart trembled slightly.
Duanmuyan was like a golden branch, and he had plenty of food and clothing since he was a child. The belief he had held for many years collapsed overnight, which was enough to become the last straw that broke the camel's back.
The Protectorate Army was the last source of support and dignity in her hands, and for this reason she gave up her own face. What she did today was an act that even she herself despised.
"Let go."
"I don't." Duanmuyan gritted his teeth and pressed his entire body closer to hers.
"Let go first." Lin Chu lowered his voice, with a hint of coaxing tenderness: "I won't leave, I have a secret to tell you."