My hotel is full of emperors throughout history.

Outside the door, the night was deep.

The red lanterns swayed gently in the wind, casting a warm red glow.

Li Lizhi stood under the lantern, her back to Chen Mo.

Her shoulders were trembling slightly.

Chen Mo stood two steps behind her, watching her slightly trembling back, feeling as if a million ants were crawling inside him.

He wanted to speak, but didn't know what to say.

Finally, Li Lizhi spoke first.

"Manager Chen."

Her voice was calmer than before, but it still trembled slightly.

"Um."

Chen Mo responded.

Li Lizhi took a deep breath and slowly turned around.

The lantern light shone on her face, making the blush even more pronounced.

She looked at Chen Mo, her eyes slightly red.

"I……"

She opened her mouth, but the words caught in her throat.

Chen Mo looked at her, his heart pounding in his chest.

Li Lizhi clenched her sleeves, then loosened them, then clenched them again.

Finally, she closed her eyes, as if she had made up her mind—

"I like you."

she says.

The sound wasn't loud, but in the quiet night, it was as clear as the tolling of a bell.

Chen Mo was stunned.

Li Lizhi opened her eyes, looked at him, and tears suddenly streamed down her face.

"I...I don't know when it started..."

She spoke incoherently while crying.

"It might have been the first time you made chestnut cake for me, or the time you taught me how to cook, or even... the time you bought me new clothes..."

She wiped away her tears and continued.

"I know what I'm doing...it's really inappropriate...I'm a princess from the Tang Dynasty, and you're a shopkeeper from the future. We...we're separated by so many years..."

She wiped away another tear, but her voice grew increasingly firm.

"But I just like you."

I want to see you every day.

"I want to spend the New Year with you, put up Spring Festival couplets together, hang lanterns together, and do so many things together."

"I think--"

She couldn't continue.

Because she saw that Chen Mo's eyes were also red.

I like you too.

Chen Mo spoke.

Li Lizhi suddenly raised her head, her eyes instantly filled with surprise.

But before that surprise could unfold, it was interrupted by Chen Mo's next words.

"but--"

Chen Mo looked at her, the moonlight falling on his face, illuminating the complex emotions in his eyes.

"The me you like... isn't actually as good as you imagine."

Li Lizhi was stunned.

Chen Mo continued, speaking slowly, as if he were thinking as he spoke:

"What I like now could very well be something else in the future. These things make me seem... special."

He paused.

"But do you know what? Here, I'm just an ordinary person."

"I run a small inn and live a simple, ordinary life. Without all those strange and unusual things, I am nothing."

He looked at Li Lizhi with a gaze so earnest it was heartbreaking.

"Your current liking for me stems from the novelty of being a 'person from the future,' and your curiosity about things you've never seen before."

"But once we're actually together, once the initial excitement wears off, once you realize I'm just an ordinary person—"

"Will you still like me then?"

Li Lizhi opened her mouth, as if to say something.

Chen Mo did not give her a chance.

"We have a saying here, called 'dispelling mystique'."

He said.

"It means that as you get to know a person better, the mysterious aura surrounding them will gradually fade away, leaving only their most authentic self."

He smiled, a smile tinged with bitterness.

There's a saying that goes, "When you're dating, you look at the good points, but when you get married, you look at the bad points."

"I don't have any special skills. I can cook, drive, and take care of people. I also get tired, get annoyed, and have a lot of flaws. Actually, I'm not that great."

The courtyard fell silent.

The moonlight fell on them, casting long, long shadows.

Inside the room, behind the door, a group of people held their breath.

Liu Che had a smirk on his face, looking like he was about to watch a good show.

Zhu Di nodded slightly, as if he was savoring something.

Ying Zheng couldn't help but curse.

"Does this kid even know how to talk? He should be hugging and kissing her right now, what is he babbling about? I'm getting impatient watching him."

"Don't be like that! We feel that Chen is absolutely right!"

Old Zhu muttered to himself.

"After all, it's about living life together, a lifetime together, not just a few days."

Li Shimin's expression was complex, more complex than ever before.

Watching his beloved daughter confess her love to him...

grass!!!

Li Yuan sighed softly, lost in thought.

Empress Ma and Wei Zifu exchanged a glance and both gently shook their heads.

Empress Zhangsun gazed at the young man's retreating figure outside the door, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes.

Little Sizi had his mouth covered, his eyes wide open, completely unable to understand what Manager Chen was saying.

But sensing the heavy atmosphere, she also became serious.

In the courtyard, Li Lizhi finally spoke.

Her voice was soft, yet firm.

"Manager Chen, are you finished speaking?"

Chen Mo looked at her.

Li Lizhi took a step forward.

The moonlight fell on her face, illuminating the earnestness in her eyes.

"I know everything you're saying."

Chen Mo was stunned.

Li Lizhi continued, her voice more steady than before.

"I know you're just an ordinary person. You can cook, drive, and take care of people. I also know you get tired and annoyed."

"I also know you get up late in the morning and like to sleep in; I know you can't eat spicy food and always look pained when you eat hot pot; I know your handwriting is terrible; I know you like Xiao Sizi and always secretly save her some good food when she comes over—"

"I know all of that."

She looked at Chen Mo, her eyes sparkling as if they held the full moonlight of the courtyard.

"But I like you, not because you're from the future."

"It's because you are you—the one who drove us to the hospital in the middle of the night, the one who cooked porridge for my grandfather, the one who patiently taught me how to knead dough, the one who had so many random things written on his phone by my older brother and still innocently said, 'This isn't my phone.'"

Li Chengqian: ………………

Li Chengqian: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Li Chengqian: !!! !!! ? ???

Li Chengqian, standing at the door, froze, looked up at Li Yuan, and stared blankly.

Fortunately, Li Yuan and Li Shimin's attention was focused outside, and they already knew about it, so they didn't pay much attention to him.

However, Empress Zhangsun was different; she glanced at Li Chengqian thoughtfully.

Chen Mo opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.

Li Lizhi took another step forward.

The two were now only one step apart.

"You mean... the exorcism?" she murmured the word, a hint of amusement in her voice. "I've already had it done."

She looked up and met his eyes.

"I know you're just an ordinary person."

"But I still like you."

A night breeze blew by, and the lanterns under the eaves swayed gently.

The moonlight shone down, falling on the two of them and coating them with a silvery glow.

Chen Mo looked at her, at those bright, sparkling eyes, at that earnest face that made his heart ache—

He suddenly laughed.

"The moon is so beautiful tonight!"

The smile spread from the corner of her eyes, up to her eyebrows, and finally settled at the corner of her mouth, curving into a soft arc.

"Miss Li."

He called her.

Li Lizhi blinked: "Hmm?"

Chen Mo took a step forward.

Now, the two of them are only inches apart.

He looked into her eyes and spoke slowly and earnestly, word by word.

"What you just said—"

He paused, then smiled so broadly his eyes crinkled into crescents:

"Could I listen to it again?"

Li Lizhi was stunned for a moment.

Then her face flushed red, even redder than before.

"……you!"

She stomped her foot and turned to run away.

Chen Mo grabbed her wrist.

The force wasn't strong, but it was enough to stop her.

The two of them stood there in the moonlight.

One of them had her head down, her face as red as a lantern under the eaves.

One of them looked at her and smiled as if he had found a treasure.

"Don't run away," Chen Mo said, his voice as gentle as the moonlight filling the courtyard. "I haven't answered you yet."

Li Lizhi kept her head down, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

"You...didn't you already answer that...?"

"I was asking the question just now," Chen Mo said with a smile, "Now it's my turn to answer."

Li Lizhi remained silent.

But she didn't break free from his grasp.

Chen Mo looked at her profile, at the moonlight dancing on her eyelashes, at the tips of her red ears—

He suddenly felt that a certain part of his heart was full.

"Li Lizhi".

He called her by her full name for the first time.

She trembled slightly.

"I like you too," he said. "Not the princess, not the ancients, just you. I like the way you blush, I like the way you earnestly teach Sizi to read, I like that awful dish you made the first time—"

Li Lizhi suddenly looked up: "Disgusting?!"

Chen Mo laughed out loud:

"It tastes awful, absolutely awful."

Li Lizhi glared at him, but there was no anger in her eyes, only a bright, sparkling light.

Chen Mo stopped smiling and looked at her seriously.

"But I still like it."

"Those terrible dishes, all the things you did for me, all the days you spent by my side—all of it makes me feel that meeting you was the greatest luck of my life."

He looked into her eyes and spoke each word clearly.

"I am just an ordinary person, a 21st-century youth named Chen Mo."

"If you'd like—"

He paused.

"I want to be your Chen Mo."