Reborn To Be The Imperial Consort [BL]-Chapter 120: Dancing Daffodils — I

[Bonus Chapter 5]

"Allow me to rephrase your request, Xinyuan..." In a faint yet powerful voice, the Divine Phoenix Li Jinhua murmured, her fingers bending as they drummed on the surface of the polished desk in her study.

With her eyes cast down for a brief moment, the divine doctor seemed to be considering her words. "You say you wish to roam around in Jianghu? To accomplish what, if I may ask—" Her gaze flicked upwards, green clashing against the molten gold as she gave him a slow once over "—philanthropy? Help those who are under-previledged?"

Remaining silent, Li Xinyuan gave her a slow nod, his hands folded on his lap as he knelt on the floor, legs folded under him whilst his long, lustrous raven hair pooled behind him. "Yes, Shizun."

Li Jinhua’s eyes flashed with thoughts as she let out a hum, leaning on the back of her chair, she watched him for a few nerve-wrecking seconds. "Pray tell, what caused this change of heart?"

Li Xinyuan refrained from exhaling a snort as he raised his head to look at his aunt, the molten gold of his eyes meeting her green irises, warmth clashed against warmth, gold collided with the earth as he broke the prolonged stare down, tearing his eyes away from hers. "Shizun speaks as though I am incapable of compassion or harbouring goodness in my heart."

Giving her a gentle, wry smile, he continued. "Who says that for me to want to help the less fortunate, I ought to have some sort of underlying intentions?’’

Li Jinhua bowed her head, her lips pulling up to a sordid curve as she let out a soft chuckle, shaking her head as she looked down at him, her eyes turning half-lidded. "I do not recall insinuating any of the things you mentioned, my nephew."

Li Xinyuan stilled, blinking to himself as he cursed internally. Ow, fuck.

Him and his stupid mouth!

In truth, Li Xinyuan didn’t just want to explore the world of Jianghu, but he also wished to go and look for the one true entity that was the female lead. With the changes that had occurred to the story line, he was as curious as he was apprehensive to see the changes that might have occurred to the character who had the second strongest influence over this world’s consciousness.

"Are you perhaps feeling guilty over something that you intend to do?"

Li Xinyuan took a silent breath as he looked into the Divine Phoenix’s eyes, keeping his face expressionless, he replied in an impassive voice. "How could that be, shizun?" Ever so slightly canting his head, the surgeon continued, his tone that of askance. "Has there ever been anything that I have been able to hide from you since I was but a child?"

In response to his words, Li Jinhua let out a snort that barely hid a small chuckle as she leaned further into the armrest of her chair, her lips curled into a sardonic smile as she hummed in a contemplative manner that was more mocking than anything else. "Oh, Xinyuan... But you have. Plenty of things, I believed."

Li Xinyuan did not allow her words to deter him, or falter his momentum as he spoke, allowing a miniscule smile to slip on his face, his eyes bright with feigned innocence. "But shizun, I believe you are merely mistaken. I have nothing to hide from you."

Oh, dear, oh dear, did he have one too many secrets hidden away from the Divine doctor.

"I’m afraid your beliefs are far too different from mine, nephew. You lie."

"Not a word that I have spoken till now is a lie, aunt."

Seeing how unwilling her nephew was to take a step back, stubbornly taking a stand against her in a rather childish fashion, Li Jinhua could feel the vestiges of an impending headache looming above her as she breathed out a deep sigh.

Resting her forehead against her palm, the Divine Phoenix simply shook her head. Using her free hand, the woman waved her nephew off in dismissal and replied. "Scram! I shall take your request into consideration.

Heaving a deep sigh again, the divine doctor grumbled to herself. "Is it too late to withdraw what I said about taking this into consideration? This brat.."

In the end, Li Xinyuan won, in the sense of the little back and forth that him and his aunt exchanged the other day because Li Jinhua ultimately agreed to let him leave the hospital for as long as he need—under the conditions that he must always have Hu Lijing by his side and that he wrote back to her as often as he could, with the beautiful and dumb looking carrier pigeon she gave him.

Both of which were, well, easy enough!

Li Xinyuan had no plans whatsoever to wander around the terribly deep waters of Jianghu all on his own. He was neither so dumb so as to believe that he would be safe without anyone by his side nor suicidal enough to even entertain the notion.

As he listened to his aunt pour all her concern over him and Hu Lijing, he nodded in an appeasing manner while allowing the divine doctor to nag him on and on and on.

But when Li Jinhua passed the dumb looking pigeon to him, the surgeon had his doubts. Without a word, he allowed the bird to perch on his forearm as he observed it, watching the feathered creature tilt its head a little too much, the surgeon raised an eyebrow to let his scepticism be known.

"This is the carrier pigeon... That you were speaking off?" Doubtfully, he inquired, catching the nine-tailed fox side-eying the bird from the corner of his eyes. At the divine doctor’s solemn nod, Li Xinyuan made a slight face.

"What are you making that face for?" In an almost defensive manner, Li Jinhua scoffed.

"Oh," The surgeon caught and composed himself as he cleared his throat. "I was simply wondering..."

"Wondering what, pray tell."

"Ah, that this bird seems nowhere intelligent enough to hunt for its own prey, much less deliver letters to and fro."

At his words, Hu Lijing turned his head, masking a laugh with a cough. "Ahem."

Li Jinhua took a deep breath. "Be respectful, brat. This pigeon was your mother’s favourite, it is personally trained by her."

Hu Lijing choked for a moment as Li Xinyuan looked back and forth between the pigeon and his aunt, seeing her solemn expression, he cringed internally. "Ah... I was not aware of that. I am sorry." He looked away, feeling a little speechless.

Well, this is awkward, he couldn’t help but think, looking around. Thankfully for him, a screech heading towards them saved him from that predicament.

Li Xinyuan head snapped towards the clear blue expanse of the sky wherein a singular bird zoomed towards them. Its feathers were as white as snow and clutched in its sharp talons was a small box wrapped in delicate silk. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

Subconsciously, the surgeon raised his free arm for the snow-like—nearly ethereal—bird to land on. Which the bird did as it dropped the box on his open palm.

Li Jinhua raised an eyebrow. "This..." Was not a normal bird.

In truth this majestic, snow white bird was from a branch of a mythical bird family: XueQiao. A prized kind that only and only the imperial family could and owned.

Even Hu Lijing raised an eyebrow. "Is that not..."

Li Xinyuan ignored them in favour of gently opening the box dropped in his hand. First, he saw a beautifully carved, blue jade hairpin resting inside, under which seemed to be a small piece of paper. The surgeon took a deep breath and carefully unfolded it to read.

And the—

Almost immediately, a flaming rosy hue climbed on his ears as he closed the box—with the hairpin and the paper inside—with a bang.