203: Chapter 203 Those Peaceful Days

He gazed at the patch of sky outside the high window and spoke slowly.

"From today onward, everything continues as normal."

"Let last night be a secret shared only between us, shall we?"

Su Daji was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood his meaning.

The King did not want to involve Queen Jiang.

He did not wish to break the fragile and strange balance currently existing between the three of them.

A trace of disappointment flickered in her heart, but it didn't last long.

Regardless, she had finally, truly become his woman; that was enough.

However, last night, she had been even more dazed than Su Chen and hadn't noticed.

The person who had gotten their wish just like her...

Was not just one.

"Demon Concubine Su Daji understands."

She nodded obediently, supporting her sore and limp body as she sat up, beginning to grope around for her scattered clothes.

Su Chen also rose slowly.

He glanced at the bedding.

In the gap while Su Daji turned away.

He naturally used the corner of the quilt to lightly brush over the bed, quietly covering those two marks and the tangled strands of hair.

He also hid the final evidence of another person's presence from the previous night.

It was as if it were all a blurred spring dream.

Leaving no trace behind.

...

Life returned to its usual routine.

At least on the surface.

Under the pressure of the approaching army,

Each of them had endless things to do.

The gradually rising atmosphere of impending slaughter quickly diluted the traces left by that absurd night.

Aside from recuperating and striving to stay alive until the day Zhaoge fell...

Su Chen still listened to the condensed military and political reports from Queen Jiang every day.

Though most of it was bad news.

Under the nourishment of medicinal soups provided by Jiang Li regardless of the cost, his body barely maintained a state where he "could walk and move without immediately collapsing."

Of course.

It was visible to the naked eye that his health was worsening day by day.

His coughing and hemoptysis became increasingly frequent, and he had thinned until he was barely recognizable.

To ensure Su Chen could still walk normally on the day Zhaoge fell,

Queen Jiang brought out almost all the forbidden medicines for him to take.

These drugs could allow Su Chen to barely hold on for a while longer.

But the price was that extreme, unbearable pain would appear throughout his body.

That level of pain was not much weaker than that of a woman giving birth.

Furthermore, it emanated from his internal organs and every bone in his limbs.

Though Queen Jiang's heart ached, she had no other choice.

She could only watch helplessly as Su Chen swallowed the medicine that could either be called a lifesaver or a poison in one gulp.

From that day on, let alone sleep, Su Chen didn't even close his eyes.

The pain tortured his body.

It felt as if the moment he closed his eyes, he would be in hell.

Su Daji's injuries, under the regulation of Queen Jiang's medicine,

Combined with the nourishment of Su Chen's "Yang energy" (as she stubbornly believed),

Actually recovered faster than expected.

Currently, as long as she didn't use her cultivation, the power that had been running rampant in her meridians didn't give her any trouble.

Her entire condition was maintained in a delicate balance.

She no longer clung to Su Chen all day; instead, she often took the initiative to assist Jiang Li with palace chores or visit the wounded soldiers.

Her fox-like eyes lost some of their seductive charm and gained a bit more serenity.

Except when she looked at Su Chen.

Jiang Li was the busiest of them all.

She not only had to allocate the few remaining resources,

But also soothe the panicked populace and cooperate with Su Chen to secretly transfer personnel and records.

She also had to find the energy to look after Su Chen and Su Daji's health.

Between her and Su Chen, they returned to their former "monarch and official" and "partner" mode.

Their conduct was proper, and their conversation appropriate.

Even Su Chen was momentarily dazed.

It was as if she truly hadn't participated in the absurdity of that night.

If not for those occasional glances that crossed in moments when no one was watching.

Toward Su Daji, she was also composed, her attitude even gentler than before, occasionally asking for her opinion on palace affairs.

When the three of them dined together, the atmosphere was actually much more harmonious.

Because everyone knew.

Beneath this "normalcy" was an increasingly tightened string.

Outside Zhaoge, the beacon fires drew closer day by day; the place names in the battle reports became more familiar, and news of falls became more frequent.

Scattered resistance across the Yin Dynasty was like candles in the wind, being extinguished one after another.

The Western Zhou army was like a surging torrent, carrying the momentum of "Heaven's Mandate" and the edge of divine assistance.

They surged unstoppably toward the final royal capital.

Inside Zhaoge.

The shadow of death, like thick ink, squeezed every inch of air.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this pressure of approaching doomsday.

The three of them, by unspoken agreement, began to refuse the service of palace attendants for the most common daily routines.

At the request of Queen Jiang and Su Daji,

Su Chen no longer let the Eunuchs serve him personally for washing and dressing.

The two women took over these trivial matters.

Of course, with Su Chen's current physical condition, it was common for him to suddenly faint from pain while walking.

Sometimes he would find joy in his misery and think,

When he was unconscious, did the two women serving him closely have any intimate moments?

During meals,

They would often dismiss the attendants, leaving only the three of them sitting together.

Initially, it was Su Daji's whim; she said she wanted to eat porridge personally cooked by Su Chen.

She remembered when they were in the Zheng Territory, he had set up pots for the disaster victims.

Though in the end, he hadn't brewed it himself.

At the time, Su Chen only gave a weak smile, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Although he, who had been an orphan since childhood, knew how to cook porridge,

At that time, Su Chen hadn't personally cooked for them, but had ordered the servants to do it.

The reason was simple.

As the grand King Zhou, if he dared to cook porridge, the commoners might not even dare to eat it.

Who would have thought.

The next day, Jiang Li silently prepared simple cooking utensils and rice.

Right in the small side chamber outside Su Chen's bedchamber.

Thus, in this deep palace of a crumbling nation, such a scene appeared.

The King who once held the world in his hands, wrapped in a thick fur robe, sat on a small stool, slowly picking out impurities from the rice.

The Queen famous for her intellect rolled up her sleeves, watching the fire under the clay pot with a focused expression.

And the Consort whose beauty moved the world carefully placed things that were cut unevenly and could barely be called "vegetables" into the boiling porridge.

The porridge often burned.

After all, a princess didn't need to learn how to control a fire.

The vegetables were either too long or too mushy.

After all, a demon consort didn't need to learn how to prepare vegetables.

The only thing that was passable was the rice in the porridge.

Under such a combination, the taste was naturally far from delicious.

But the three of them, accustomed to delicacies, ate quietly.

The dense steam blurred each other's faces,

Temporarily isolating them from the despair of the world outside the window.

Sometimes, Su Daji would talk about some harmless anecdotes from the Hehuan Sect or her blurred memories of her childhood home.

Her voice was soft and gentle.

Jiang Li would talk about the scenery of the East Sea in the Jiang State.

When she spoke of a certain immortal herb that could extend life—something only heard of in legends—her tone was calm.

As if she were just talking about an ordinary object.

Yet also as if she were deliberately hinting at someone.

Su Chen mostly just listened, occasionally interjecting a sentence or two, or laughing softly at their clumsy operations.

This wasn't his problem.

It was truly that the pain throughout his body and his daily declining spirit left him with less than a tenth of his usual vigor.

Otherwise, with his status as a legendary driver from a polytechnic university,

He would have definitely played hard with these two beauties... at Fight the Landlord.