After the Affectionate Second Male Lead Reincarnated

Part 5

08

Indeed, on the fifth of November in the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an, I encountered Pei Du, who was being pursued. He was temporarily blinded by poison in his eyes.

But that day, I didn't go up the mountain for Pei Du; I received a notification that a deviation from the plot involving the protagonists had occurred.

At that time, I was solely focused on the protagonists, not noticing anything unusual about the rapid rise of Pei Du.

In the original plot, the assassination attempt on Pei Du by the former crown prince didn't occur in the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an, nor in the snow mountains.

My mission that day was to help Song Yan Yu and Xiao Yan out of the snow forest; otherwise, the plot might have turned into a double death scenario.

I left markers along the patrol routes of the soldiers, secretly guiding them to Song Yan Yu and Xiao Yan.

After that, I chose another path to descend the mountain. My presence could not be explained, so I had to do my best to avoid them.

I could have safely descended alone, but I encountered Pei Du, the one who had saved me at Yipin Lou and deceived me into believing he was there for me.

Leaving with the bloodied Pei Du was not easy, with snow ahead and pursuers behind.

Pei Du was much taller than me, and as I supported him down the mountain, each step had to be deeply pressed into the snow.

The snow reached up to my knees, and the cold penetrated to the bone, which led to the old ailment my brother mentioned recurring every winter.

Pei Du, suffering from a high fever due to the poison, remained unconscious throughout.

At that time, I was relieved. As a noble lady, my presence far from the capital would be hard to justify to Pei Du.

Besides, I didn't want Pei Du to have any suspicions about me.

As for now, telling Pei Du about this would undoubtedly be like reopening an old wound.

I didn't know how Jiang Huai Zhi found out I had saved Pei Du, perhaps he noticed I had fallen in love with Pei Du sooner than I did.

"My leg ailment was from playing in the snow too long. I lied at the time to avoid being scolded by you, brother. Please don't cause any more trouble."

I hurriedly pulled Jiang Huai Zhi away, not forgetting to bow to Pei Du as we left:

"My brother acted impulsively out of concern for me. Please do not blame him, Your Majesty. If punishment is necessary, let it fall on me."

As I hastily turned back, I caught a glimpse of Pei Du's furrowed brow.

Whether it was confusion or disgust, I no longer cared to guess.

09

As I pulled my brother out of the imperial study, he was still seething with anger.

In the novel, Jiang Huai Zhi was the same way; when it came to matters involving Jiang Luo Yu, he always became agitated.

During the past twenty years since I arrived here, he had pampered and protected me, shielding me from most of life's storms.

In my heart, he was like my true elder brother, and I didn't want anything to happen to him.

"Pei Du didn't know all these years?" he asked me.

"I already told you, it was because I was being playful..."

"What kind of snow do you have to go so far to play in? Do you think I don't know the truth?" Jiang Huai Zhi's questioning left me speechless.

"I just felt it wasn't necessary to tell him."

When I thought Pei Du loved me, I didn't want to speak out and be doubted. When I found out he didn't love me, saying these things would only be self-humiliating.

Jiang Huai Zhi sighed. "Then how did you get that injury on your neck?"

"The emperor mistook me for someone else and accidentally hurt me. Brother, you don't need to worry about it."

According to the novel's plot, Pei Du had already started dismantling Jiang Huai Zhi's power in the court.

Although I had always tried to maintain a balance between them, I feared that my brother's actions today would disrupt this balance.

"Really?" Jiang Huai Zhi didn't believe me.

"Really."

Jiang Huai Zhi sighed again, shaking his head.

"If you're unhappy, just tell me..."

Before he could finish, I hugged him with tears in my eyes.

"Alright. Brother, please remember not to act so impulsively in the future. After all, you are a minister, and he is the emperor. If he ever punishes you, what would happen to sister-in-law and my nieces and nephews?"

"Also, the emperor may have seemed gentle and easy to control on the surface, but he was actually very suspicious and disliked being controlled. The court had always been wary of any single faction becoming too powerful. Now that Xiao Yan had achieved outstanding military merits, you must not make enemies with the Xiao family, no matter how much you looked down on them..."

Jiang Huai Zhi laughed. "Why are you more long-winded than me today, as if we siblings will never see each other again?"

"After all, I'm the empress now. It's inconvenient to leave the palace often, and we see each other less. I just wanted to remind you of a few things. Are you annoyed with me?"

I pretended to be angry and asked him.

"How could I dare find the empress's words bothersome?" he teased me.