Ning Dao Covered with Snow

Chapter 426 Unyielding to the Death
The man standing in front of Ning Qingyang was no longer the naive and sincere person he once was. He looked down at her, his eyes filled with determination.

He used to care about her preferences, but now he only wants to satisfy his own desires.

Ning Qingyang said slowly, "You've changed."

“Yes, I have become stronger, isn’t that a good thing?” After saying that, Li Baizhou bent down, stretched out his right hand towards her, and pretended to stroke her cheek.

Ning Qingyang grabbed his wrist and pulled hard.

Li Baizhou fell into the bathtub. Ning Qingyang took the opportunity to get close to the edge of the bathtub and desperately climbed up. Li Baizhou quickly stood up, reached out and grabbed her sleeve, and pulled her towards him with all his might.

Ning Qingyang struggled desperately, and with a tearing sound, her sleeve was ripped.

A small piece of light red fabric remained in Li Baizhou's hand. Ning Qingyang finally climbed ashore. She rushed to the door of the room and was about to open it when she heard Li Baizhou's voice behind her.

“If you take another step forward, I will call for help. Then all the palace servants and guards will see the dignified Princess Consort of Xizhou in a room with me, her clothes disheveled. Guess what outsiders will think when this gets out? And what will Yan Hengyu think?”

Ning Qingyang paused in her steps.

She turned around stiffly and saw Li Baizhou slowly walking out of the bathtub.

Both of them were soaking wet, their clothes clinging to their bodies, clearly outlining their figures. If outsiders saw this, Ning Qingyang would be unable to clear her name even if she jumped into the Yellow River.

She absolutely cannot compromise like this.

She suddenly grabbed a candlestick from the table next to her, blew out the flame, pulled out the candle and threw it aside, revealing the tip of the candlestick used to hold the candle.

She pressed the sharp point against her neck, her expression utterly resolute.

"Go ahead and call for help. When those people rush in, they'll find my corpse. How will His Majesty explain that then?"

Li Baizhou stopped in his tracks. He could tell that Ning Qingyang was not bluffing; she was genuinely prepared to risk her life.

He stared intently at her: "Would you rather die than rekindle your old relationship with me?"

"Yes!"

Ning Qingyang answered decisively and without the slightest hesitation.

Li Baizhou's expression turned ugly: "Are you still holding a grudge against me for abandoning you back then? At that time, the Xie family was powerful, and Consort Xie had already killed my mother. I didn't want you to be harmed by Consort Xie as well, so I had to pretend to change my mind and separate from you. I did that to protect you!"

"Did you marry Minister Qiao's daughter also to protect me?"

Li Baizhou explained, "I was forced by circumstances to do it."

"Why make so many excuses for your choice? You chose Qiao Lingyi just to win over Minister Qiao and pave the way for your future. Since you've chosen power, don't talk about true feelings anymore."

Li Baizhou said in a deep voice, "But I want both."

"There's no such thing as a free lunch!" Ning Qingyang looked up at him with neither arrogance nor servility, and said with a death-defying resolve. "As the emperor, you forced a minister's wife to her death for your own selfish desires. Yan Hengyu will not let you go, the Censorate will not let you go, and the spittle of the people will certainly not let you go!"

After saying that, she was about to forcefully slam the candlestick down when Li Baizhou hurriedly stopped her, saying, "Stop! Don't hurt yourself, I'll let you go!"

Ning Qingyang stopped moving: "Step back." Li Baizhou retreated step by step back into the bath, his eyes fixed on the candlestick in Ning Qingyang's hand.

Ning Qingyang stepped back to the door, opened it with one hand, glanced outside, and seeing that no one was there, she immediately stepped over the threshold and ran out quickly.

The footsteps outside the door quickly faded into the distance and soon disappeared.

Li Baizhou's face was ashen. He had originally thought that Ning Qingyang would still have some lingering affection for him, but judging from her unyielding attitude just now, she had no feelings for him whatsoever.

He stood in the bath for a long time before slowly walking out.

The eunuchs came in to help him change his clothes.

Li Baizhou asked, "Have everything been arranged for Yan Hengyu?"

The eunuch replied in a low voice, "This servant has already instructed Songluo, and she knows what to do."

Li Baizhou walked out of the room expressionlessly. The reason Ning Qingyang was so cold to him was because she only had Yan Hengyu in her heart. But if she saw Yan Hengyu sleeping with another woman, would she regret her choice?

He returned to the Zichen Palace. It was already late, and he had to attend the morning court the next day. He should have gone to sleep, but his mind was filled with Ning Qingyang's resolute expression, and he felt extremely distressed.

He ordered wine to be brought to him, and sat alone in his bedchamber, drinking cup after cup until he was completely drunk.

Shortly after he fell into a drunken stupor, Yan Hengyu carried someone silently into the bedchamber. He placed the unconscious Ji Songluo next to Li Baizhou and then quietly left.

Li Baizhou was so drunk that he was in a daze. In his half-dreaming and half-awake state, he found a woman lying next to him. In the dim night, the woman was wearing a light red dress, and her features looked very familiar.

He reached out and stroked the woman's face, murmuring, "A-Yang, is that you? You still can't let me go after all. That heartless look you gave me just now was all an act, wasn't it? You've never forgotten me, and neither have I. All these years, I've always kept you in my heart. Knowing you were going to marry someone else, my heart was torn apart. Now that you're here, don't leave again. I will cherish you..."

As he spoke, he passionately kissed her.

Yan Ciwan watched as the two figures gradually overlapped. She couldn't bear to look any longer and turned to look elsewhere, but the embarrassing voice still pierced her ears. She covered her ears with her hands and prayed that this scene would pass quickly.

Perhaps the heavens heard her heart's desire, for the scene before her eyes began to change, and the sounds behind her faded away.

Yan Ciwan was finally able to put her hands down. A moment later, she stood outside the Zichen Palace. Yan Hengyu and Ning Qingyang knelt at the bottom of the steps, kowtowing to the emperor to say goodbye.

Li Baizhou looked down at them. Ning Qingyang had changed into a light blue dress and her attitude was indifferent, as if she had forgotten everything that happened last night.

Her heartless demeanor angered Li Baizhou, who immediately issued an imperial decree to bestow the dancer Ji Songluo upon Yan Hengyu as a concubine.

Yan Hengyu felt disgusted, as if he had swallowed a fly, but he still had to pretend to be happy and accept the imperial decree with gratitude.

Ning Qingyang was also in a bad mood, and didn't give Li Baizhou a single extra glance the whole time, while Ji Songluo was full of worries and anxiety.

After the three of them left, Li Baizhou took out the piece of light red clothing fabric.

He tore this piece of fabric from Ning Qingyang's clothes in the bath last night. As soon as he saw it, he recalled everything that happened last night, and his expression became dark and ambiguous.

Sooner or later, he will kill Yan Hengyu and then take back his military power and the woman he loves!