Love Lock

Chapter 375 Extra: Zhao Zun and Han Lei

The imperial study fell into a deathly silence, broken only by the suppressed, small sobs of the two little ones.

Zhao Zun held his daughter tightly, patting her back repeatedly with his large hand, but his gaze was fixed on the direction of Changshou Palace outside the window, his deep eyes churning with pain and ruthlessness.

His maid... the Empress, whom he cherished dearly but who now lies in a deep sleep, was being so mistreated by these servants behind his back! And right in front of his children!
A national scourge?

Is Heaven against it?
Was it taken away by Heaven?

Every word was like a poisoned needle, piercing his already wounded heart.

Inside the Longevity Palace, the Empress Dowager was fiddling with her prayer beads, listening to the trembling report from the young eunuch, feeling both shocked and furious. She placed the prayer beads on the table and suddenly stood up.

Not to mention Zhao Zun's affection for Han Lei, even hearing these palace servants badmouthing Han Lei behind her back made her want to beat them.

Li Zhongxin and Ma Zi led a group of guards in quickly. They briefly informed the Empress Dowager of the situation and, without further ado, bound all the eunuchs, maids, and several old nannies in the palace. Amidst cries and pleas for mercy, they roughly dragged them to the Imperial Study.

Throughout the entire process, the Empress Dowager did not intervene at all.

In less than a quarter of an hour, a large group of people were kneeling on the white marble square outside the Imperial Study.

The early autumn sun was still quite scorching, but when it shone on the shivering palace servants, it only made them feel a bone-chilling cold.

They were all completely unaware of what they had done to provoke His Majesty into making such a fuss, disregarding even the Empress Dowager's dignity.

With one arm around the still sobbing Zhao Yueyao and the other holding the pale-faced Zhao Xingheng, Zhao Zun slowly walked out of the imperial study and stood on the high steps.

He surveyed the crowd below from his high vantage point, his gaze colder than the ice in an icehouse.

"I've heard some very interesting rumors," Zhao Zun began, his voice not loud, yet clear enough to reach everyone's ears, carrying a sense of impending doom. "About my Empress, about the mother of the princes and princesses... Some say she's a demon in disguise, unforgivable by Heaven... Hmm?"

The final soft groan struck everyone's hearts like a hammer blow. The palace servants turned deathly pale, kowtowing frantically, their wails echoing everywhere.

"Your Majesty, spare your life! Your Majesty, spare your life!"

"This servant wouldn't dare! This servant never said that!"

"This servant is innocent, Your Majesty!"

"Dare not? You're being wronged?" Zhao Zun sneered, gently squeezing his daughter's small hand. "Yao'er, tell your father, who told you that?"

Little Zhao Yueyao timidly raised her tearful eyes, scanned the crowd, and finally pointed with her little finger at a fat eunuch and a thin palace maid kneeling in the front row.

“It was…it was Eunuch Zhang…and Sister Cui’er…who said it. Yueyao can’t remember anything else.”

The two men who were named immediately collapsed to the ground, their crotches soaked and filled with a foul stench.

"Good, very good." Zhao Zun's eyes flashed with a sharp light, as if he were looking at a group of ants. "The Empress has worked tirelessly for the country and its people. It is a blessing from heaven that she is safe and sound! You lowly servants dare to slander the Empress, curse the Mother of the Nation, and even spread rumors and sow discord among the imperial heirs! Your hearts deserve to be punished!"

He paused, each word carrying a chilling killing intent: "Pockmarked face!"

"Your subordinate is here!" Pockmarked man quickly clasped his hands in greeting.

"Bring the prince and princess inside."

Zhao Zun handed the two little ones to Ma Zi, who then quickly led the young master into the Imperial Study along with another eunuch who served the emperor.

Only after the two little ones disappeared from sight did Zhao Zun's cold voice resound above the heads of these palace servants.

"These lackeys who speak ill of the emperor and mislead the imperial heirs..." Zhao Zun's gaze swept over the faces filled with despair, and he coldly uttered the order, "Cut out their tongues! As a warning to others!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Ma Zi's heart trembled, but he dared not hesitate for a moment and immediately waved his hand.

The execution eunuchs, who had been waiting for a long time and were holding gleaming iron scissors, stepped forward expressionlessly.

The area outside the Imperial Study instantly erupted into chaos! Cries, pleas for mercy, and the sound of kowtowing mingled together, creating a scene resembling a living hell.

"Your Majesty, please have mercy! This servant will never dare to do it again!"

"Empress Dowager! Empress Dowager, save me!"

"Your Majesty, please spare this servant..."

The executioner had already seized the fat eunuch, Zhang Gonggong, roughly pried open his mouth, and inserted cold iron scissors. Zhang Gonggong's eyes were bloodshot, and he let out a desperate "hoarse" cry.

Seeing this, the other palace servants were terrified, struggling and wailing, creating a chaotic scene.

Zhao Zun watched all this expressionlessly, his anger surging like magma in his chest. Only such a severe punishment could slightly relieve the hatred in his heart.

Zhao Zun felt that these people's foul language had defiled the purest place in his heart and hurt his and Han Lei's child...

Just as the iron shears were about to close, Zhao Zun caught a glimpse of a corner of the Imperial Study out of the corner of his eye.

There was a soft couch there, covered with a soft brocade quilt—it was where he would sometimes take a short rest when he was tired from reviewing memorials, and more often than not, he felt as if Han Lei was sitting right next to the couch, looking at him with a sweet smile.

Suddenly, a clear image flashed into his mind.

It was his girl, Han Lei.

Not the woman who is now in a deep sleep, her appearance unchanged, but the woman from back then, wearing a tracksuit, watching him deal with the servants, her brows slightly furrowed.

She once said, "Brother Zun, power and status are good things, but indiscriminately killing innocent people is no different from being a tyrant. I don't like seeing you like that."

She doesn't like it.

I remember that time, the maidservant, pregnant, secretly ran away from the palace to do chores. He took his anger out on the servants, punishing them. The maidservant complained about him, and he slept on the floor for several days. And that time, he only punished the servants with a cane; this time, if he were to cut off their tongues…

If the girl were here, she would look at him disapprovingly with her clear eyes, and perhaps she would never want to wake up again and never pay attention to him again.

All his coldness and ruthlessness would always crumble in the face of her principles and kindness.

How could he... make her angry?
Even if she's asleep, he absolutely cannot do anything to displease her. If she wakes up and learns that he cut out the tongues of dozens of palace servants because of her, how disappointed and heartbroken she would be?
"stop!"

A sharp shout, like a thunderclap, resounded across the chaotic square.

All movement froze instantly. The executioner's movements were suspended in mid-air, and the wailing palace servants looked up at the emperor on the steps in disbelief, as if their throats had been choked.

Li Zhongxin looked at Zhao Zun in astonishment: "Your Majesty?"

Zhao Zun closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, the rage in his eyes had been replaced by a deep pain and restraint.

He took a deep breath, his voice slightly hoarse: "...Put it down."

The executioner hesitantly released his grip, and Zhang Gonggong collapsed to the ground like a rag doll, gasping for breath and weeping uncontrollably, having just escaped death.

Zhao Zun's gaze slowly swept over the terrified faces below, and he said in a deep voice, "The Empress is kind and benevolent. If she knew that I had inflicted this cruel punishment on her, she would surely be displeased." His voice was not loud, but it carried a heavy force that struck the hearts of everyone present. "I do not wish for the Empress to be displeased in the slightest."

The palace servants, thinking everything was alright, breathed a sigh of relief. But Zhao Zun paused briefly, then ordered, "Tongue-cutting is spared, but caning is unacceptable. Li Zhongxin, drag all these people away and give them twenty strokes of the cane. After Zhang Dequan and Cui'er have been caned, expel them from the palace and send them to serve in the imperial mausoleum! From now on, anyone in the palace who dares to speak ill of the Empress or spread rumors, no matter who they are, will be executed without mercy!"

From having their tongues cut off to being flogged and expelled, this was already an immense favor. The palace servants dared not utter a word of complaint at this moment, and they all kowtowed to express their gratitude, their voices trembling and choked with sobs.

"Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty! Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty!"

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty!"

Soon, the guards stepped forward and dragged the group of ashen-faced palace servants away. The square returned to its empty state, leaving only traces of the chaos and a faint, lingering stench in the air.

The sun was still shining brightly, but it seemed unable to dispel the bloodshed and terror that had enveloped the place moments before.

Zhao Zun turned and walked back to the imperial study. His back looked exceptionally tall in the sunlight, yet it also exuded an indescribable loneliness and weariness.

Upon entering the hall, he took Zhao Yueyao from Ma Zi's hands and gently placed her on the soft couch, then patted Zhao Xingheng's head. "Father..." Zhao Xingheng looked up, his eyes still showing lingering fear, but even more so confusion, "You're not going to kill them?"

Zhao Zun squatted down to be at eye level with his son, his voice low and gentle: "Yes, I won't kill them. Your mother doesn't like your father killing people. Father... can't make her angry, but Father also has to punish them."

Zhao Yueyao crawled over and clung to Zhao Zun's arm dependently, asking softly, "Father, is Mother... really just sick? When will she wake up to see Yueyao?"

Zhao Zun held the two children tightly in his arms, as if drawing strength from them and giving them complete protection.

His gaze returned to the direction of Weiyang Palace, the palace where the ice coffin was placed, a place he visited every day.

"Yes, she will." His voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable firmness, as if answering a child, but more like telling himself, "Mother is just too tired and has fallen asleep. She will definitely wake up once she has rested. Then, Father will take you all to pick her up, okay?"

"Okay!" the two children said in unison, snuggling into their father's broad and warm embrace.

Zhao Zun stopped talking, but hugged his two children even tighter. His gaze fell on a pot of wine on the antique shelf, and he thought to himself, "Four years have passed, and the children are four years old now. Girl, when are you coming back? If you don't come back soon, I'm going to come looking for you."

The sunlight outside the window was perfect, but the Imperial Study was filled with an overwhelming sense of longing and waiting.

All of Zhao Zun's violence and coldness melted away the moment he thought of Han Lei. He was willing to restrain himself for her sake, to be the wise ruler she hoped for, and to wait for a miracle that, though perhaps unlikely, would sustain his entire world.

Because he knew his girl didn't like it. That was enough.

The atmosphere in the Imperial Study seemed to have a weight on it, pressing heavily on my heart.

Zhao Zun gently placed his daughter, Zhao Yueyao, who had finally cried herself to sleep, on the soft couch and tucked her in.

The little boy, Zhao Xingheng, nestled close to his sister, his long eyelashes still glistening with tears. His little hands clutched tightly at the corner of Zhao Zun's clothes, as if afraid that his father would also disappear.

Zhao Zun sat on the edge of the couch, his gaze lingering almost greedily on the faces of his two children. Yao'er's eyebrows and eyes resembled her mother's very much, especially when she smiled, her face curving like a crescent moon.

Heng'er's stubborn, pursed-lip expression bore a resemblance to his mother's obstinacy. This small, warm body was the fruit of their love, his only and most precious connection to that world.

For over a thousand days and nights, my longing for you has been like a persistent, incurable disease, never ceasing for a moment.

When he was reviewing memorials, he would sometimes feel as if someone was grinding ink for him.

When he sleeps alone at night, he subconsciously reaches out to his side, only to touch the cold brocade.

He would occasionally catch a whiff of her unique jasmine scent mixed with the warmth of the sun in the air, but when he turned around, all he saw was the flickering candlelight and the empty space.

Where are his maidservants, his queen, the only light and warmth in his life? Are they... thinking of them too?

“Girl…” He stroked the stubble on his chin and called out very softly, his voice hoarse and broken, as if afraid of disturbing the sleeping child, and also afraid of scattering the illusory image in his mind, “If you don’t come back soon, I will be too old… I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold on anymore.”

He bent down and placed a gentle kiss on each of the children's foreheads, a kiss filled with endless tenderness and unspeakable pain.

Zhao Zun and his two sons are desperately missing Han Lei, and Han Lei in another world is also desperately missing them!
On a cold winter night, the north wind howled.

Han Lei wrapped her slightly faded old down jacket tighter around her and strolled slowly through the deserted ghost market.

Compared to the ornate buildings and warm, fragrant rooms where Zhao Zun and the children lived, this place was filled only with cold reinforced concrete, a bleak wind, and bottles and jars that looked particularly cheap under the pale lights of the stalls.

how many years?
She had almost become numb to the time.

From the warm, spring-like peak of happiness, with a husband and children, she suddenly fell into this cold, lonely modern world. What she lost was not only her identity and the era, but also the entire spiritual anchor of her soul.

To make ends meet, and for the sake of that almost laughable hope of time travel, she found a job at a small private clinic.

Once a top medical student and the wise and decisive empress of the Great Jing Dynasty, she is now so mentally confused and unable to concentrate that she is almost unable to conduct diagnosis and treatment independently. She can only become an assistant to other doctors, doing odd jobs such as taking blood pressure, recording medical records, and preparing instruments.

The clinic owner, considering she was an acquaintance, gave her relatively free time to search for a "method of time travel".

Of course, this "convenience" is also clearly reflected in her salary. Her salary is a full third less than that of doctors with similar qualifications.

She doesn't care.

The money only needs to be enough to pay the rent, buy the cheapest food, and support her continued search.

She spends all her time after get off work wandering around ghost markets, flea markets, and antique streets.

She even used drawing software to meticulously draw the design of the jade pendant Zhao Zun gave her, clearly marking the details of the pattern and leaving her phone number.

She printed countless copies and distributed them to every stall owner who might come into contact with antiques.

She only knew that it was a jade pendant given to her by Zhao Zun, but she still didn't know that the jade pendant had a name, called "Love Lock".

"Boss, if you see a jade pendant like this, please call me immediately. I will reward you handsomely!" She repeated this sentence thousands of times.

At first, she was eager and hopeful, but later it gradually turned into a numb habit.

Each time she took out her own drawing, the stall owners mostly responded with perfunctory nods or curious glances at this "strange person".

Years have passed, and her phone has never rung because of the jade pendant.

Her slovenly lifestyle was directly reflected in her body.

His once healthy, rosy cheeks were now deeply sunken, his eyes were covered in dark circles, and his body was so thin that he looked as if a gust of wind could blow him over.

He spent most of his salary on transportation and printing flyers, and he saved as much as possible on food, often having a steamed bun and a packet of pickled vegetables as a meal.

Longing and despair were like two venomous snakes, relentlessly gnawing at her mind day and night.

"Brother Zun...Baby..." she called out silently in her heart, each word filled with blood and tears.

Those vivid memories were the only thing that kept her going, and also the root of her unbearable pain.

That evening, the weather was exceptionally cold, and one's breath instantly turned into white mist. There were even fewer stalls operating in the ghost market than usual, scattered sparsely, adding to the desolate atmosphere.

Han Lei mechanically stopped at each stall, her gaze sweeping over the antiques, some of which were hard to distinguish from the real ones. Just as her eyes locked onto a stall selling old copper coins, a thinly dressed figure pulling a tattered cart picked up a mineral water bottle from the ground and bumped into her as he straightened up.

"Ouch!" they both exclaimed simultaneously.

Han Lei was knocked back half a step. Upon closer inspection, she saw a woman in her fifties with a face marked by the ravages of time. She was wearing an inappropriate thin coat over a somewhat dirty reflective vest, and her cart was piled high with cardboard and plastic bottles.

The woman hurriedly apologized, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry! Miss, I didn't see you, did I hurt you?"

Han Lei was distracted and simply waved her hand casually, "It's nothing."

Her attention quickly returned to the stalls next to her, hoping to find even the slightest clue.

However, in the instant she turned around, a flash of inspiration seemed to strike her.

The woman who had just bumped into her had a jade pendant hanging from a blackened cord outside the open collar of her old coat.
Although it was just a fleeting glance, and although the jade pendant looked dirty and old, its shape! Those familiar outlines and patterns!

It's so similar! It's almost exactly the same as the jade pendant Zhao Zun gave her, the one she remembered and saw on the drawing paper!
No, it's not exactly the same; she was certain that it was the jade pendant she was looking for.

This discovery sent a jolt through Han Lei, her blood seemed to boil at that moment, and her cold, numb limbs regained their strength.

A huge rock was thrown into the still lake of my heart, which had been stagnant for years, stirring up towering waves.

Now that she has seen the jade pendant, her memories are no longer a dream!
Everything that happened was not a dream!
Zun Ge and Bao Bao are real people! And this jade pendant is the key to their lives!
She couldn't help but reveal a long-lost smile, one filled with excitement and ecstasy.

Han Lei quickly turned to look at the woman, but in the short time she was stunned, the scavenging woman apologized and dragged her cart into a dark alley.

Without a second thought, Han Lei immediately took off after him.

A day of rest, fully recharged. Back to asking for a dragon service again!