The Queen of Romance: A Summer of Sweet Classics

Chapter 348 Extra Story [-]: Chu Xing

Poppy once asked him why he chose her among the seven girls who stood in the inner courtyard of the Chu family in late spring.

She was still young when she asked this question, squatting in front of him, with a few fingers on his knees, looking up at him from bottom to top.Her eyes no longer had the timidity she had when she first came to Chu's house, but she was cute and friendly, and they were extraordinarily black and moist, making people feel lively and cute when they saw it.

He never told her that she was able to stay that day because of such a look.

With a bit of alertness and a bit of a naive, more importantly, the other girls lowered their eyebrows and lowered their eyes. Occasionally, when they raised their eyelids out of curiosity, they quickly lowered their heads tremblingly. She was the only one. She was cautious, but she had been looking at him since she saw him, and she was looking straight at him, looking open and above board.

At that time, Chu Xing looked at her with Zhi Yi with one hand, thinking a little funnyly, with such a little girl by his side, life would definitely not be as boring as before.

That day, he only had to look at her once, and without asking questions, he was able to touch Poppy's temper.This child doesn't have much patience, and maybe even has a bad temper, but he has a bright mind and a lot of courage. Maybe he can't help but play a little clever in the future, and he may even act secretly.

He took her to various occasions, but in just one month, people on the road had already spread the name Poppy.A few days later, after reporting to him on official duties, Lu Ming added something casually, saying that the gifts he gave at his birthday party the day before yesterday were different from those in previous years. Many people gave jewelry suitable for girls instead. For accessories, someone even sent a jade man carved from a piece of Burmese jade, half the height of a person, with eyebrows and eyes very similar to Poppy.

When Chu Xing heard this, he looked up at the poppies on the flower corridor outside the study.The jade bracelet on her wrist has already slipped onto her forearm, but she only stands on tiptoe, concentrating on teasing the newly raised black-tailed wax-beak in the cage, completely unaware that she has become the object of compliments from Taoists.

Later, he observed her calmly, and found that Poppy's unconsciousness was just because she had never cared about those people.

At that time, her mind was as clear as her eyes, so it was easy to guess.I like to look at him with my head tilted every day, and when I talk to him, I have a smile in my eyes, and sometimes I act recklessly, and they all have a clear purpose, but it's just because I want to stick to him more intimately.

He has always been used to being alone, but after Poppy came to Chu's house, he felt that it would be nice to have such a person by his side.

It can even be called faintly pleasant.When you clearly know that there is a person who does not put anyone else in his eyes, and only you are in his eyes, and you can easily control all her emotions, the feeling of exclusiveness is much more wonderful than imagined.

He carried her by his side, hired the best teacher according to the best standard, and taught her carefully.He also allowed her to direct people to build a swing frame on the flower porch outside the study, and even acquiesced in her dragging him out while he was listening to Li Zhi's report, just to make it easier for her to ride on his shoulders and pick the highest one. branch of crabapple flowers.And so on, or out of line or absurd, whatever Poppy proposed, he almost never refused her.

He was happy to see her radiant and proud appearance, so he didn't care that she was spoiled by lawlessness, and he wanted her to grow up proudly and beautifully.Even though he was in the Chu family, in the plan he had given her in his heart, he didn't let her join the underworld.Before reaching the bottom of Poppy's eyes, those bloody and cruel things from the Chu family were brushed away lightly by him.He taught her knowledge of books and etiquette, and he hoped that she would be like a girl from a normal family, and that under the shade he extended for her, she could live a peaceful life with peace of mind.

Poppy refused to do so.He asked her to read the history of classics, but she only liked "Han Feizi"; he asked her to read foreign history, but she got a copy of "On the Monarch" from nowhere.Poppy has memorized those books that are rational and calm, and are dedicated to complex calculations and intrigues.And such as "The Analects of Confucius" and "Historical Records", it was always because he forced her that she reluctantly hummed and memorized it.

Sometimes, however, Poppy will rack her brains to escape even if it is forced.The most commonly used method is to rub against him when he is in a good mood, slowly squat down in front of him, hold his knees timidly with both hands, and when looking up at him, his eyes are full of silence. plea.

When encountering her demeanor and actions, no matter how determined Chu Xing was to teach her a lesson, he couldn't help but soften his heart.

He grew up with her for 11 years, which was already a period of emotional precipitation and introversion, and a cold and hard heart.Being in charge of the Chu family by himself is even more disciplined, with clear rewards and punishments.The word "out of control" was no longer used in his habits, but later he recalled that when he faced Poppy and begged for mercy, almost every time he ended up with inexplicable softness under her eyes, hugging her on his lap and caressing her. hair, coaxing her back.

The number of times increased over time, so that once Shang Yi came and saw their way of getting along, before leaving, he said to him with a half-smile: "Looking at it now, it seems that the little girl you raised has ridden Same on your head."

Shang Yi said more than once that he spoiled Poppy too much, but he didn't take it seriously every time, thinking that his treatment of her was just a little extra indulgence, far from over the top.It wasn't until Shang Yi changed his statement this time that he was finally stunned and slightly shocked.

It took him a few days to look at Poppy intently, only to realize that she had grown up gradually, but she hadn't become what he imagined.

He always thought that she was just a little willful and willful, but it was only in those few days that he realized that when Poppy was behind his back, her actions were already far beyond his expectations.

He never granted her any power, only once when Li Zhi was around, Poppy, who was leaning on his knee, suddenly asked for the dungeon interrogation that Li Zhi was supposed to be in charge of.His instinct was to frown and refuse, but he couldn't help but feel soft-hearted after being hugged by Poppy's arm and shaking his eyes helplessly.Poppy left happily that day, and after two days she handed in the interrogation record.That interrogation was not an important matter, and he was busy, so he only had time to glance at the results, asked a few casual questions, and put it aside.A few days later, he suddenly thought of this matter, and called Lu Ming to ask a few questions, only to realize how brutal and violent Poppy's interrogation was that day.

The interrogation presided over by her that day was simpler and bloodier than Lu Ming's usual presided over.Poppy only looked at the two people at the table with cold eyes. After more than ten minutes of arguing and protesting, she became impatient, and casually pushed a set of gold-rimmed bone china tea sets to the ground.When the interrogation room fell silent, he said, "You two fight, any part of the body is not limited. Whoever is killed first will be the main culprit. If you refuse to do it, it is tantamount to automatically acquiescing to manslaughter. According to the rules of the Chu family Disposal. Now, begin."

Later, as expected, one of them was beaten until he bled to death from his seven orifices.

After listening to Lu Ming's words, he found out the interrogation records that Poppy had submitted, but there was no mention of these processes.Immediately called Poppy to the study, unexpectedly after being questioned, Poppy was only silent for a moment, and replied disapprovingly: "If you die, you die, what's the big deal."

He couldn't believe it when he was contradicted by her words.At that moment, he was so frightened that he almost threw out the paperweight in his hand: "Try telling me again!"

When he seldom speaks harshly to her, Poppy stealthily looks at him, bites her lip, and finally says stubbornly: "What am I afraid to say? Of these killers raised by the Chu family, which ones don't live in fear every day? How many people can really make it to the day when the golden basin washes their hands? Sooner or later, they will all be betrayed by their party members, executed by their superiors, and hunted down by their enemies. Since death is sooner or later, anyway, the difference between them is nothing more than When he goes out to take a few more lives from other people, what's the big deal if he dies or not? What's the big deal if he dies? Anyway, it doesn't make any difference whether these two people are alive."

Her hands were behind her back, her chin was raised high, and she couldn't be more right when she said some nonsense.He was very angry, but there was no anger on his face. Instead, he smiled slowly: "Your words can drive Yan Wang to the ground. According to what you say, are there any rules in the Chu family?"

For a moment, he saw her sneer at the word "rule" he read, and quickly covered it up, just stood there silently.He couldn't figure out why she suddenly became like this for a while, and he reprimanded in a deep voice in shock and anger: "Who taught you these messy things!"

"there is no one."

"Speak or not?"

"No one." Poppy raised her head quietly, "Do you think, since I grew up here, do I need someone to teach me these things?"

When she said this plausibly, the bright red attire she had just been riding on the horse hadn't changed, her figure was sharp and dashing, but her expression was compelling, without the slightest fear, on the contrary she was extremely beautiful.When he saw it, he felt his temples throbbing, he lifted her up, pressed her onto his knee and slapped her hard twice.

Poppy hadn't been treated like this for a long time, so she burst into tears, turned her head and shouted at him, "Why did you hit me! I didn't do anything wrong! You are not allowed to hit me!"

He said in a deep voice, "If you don't hit me again, you'll go to heaven! When did I teach you to be so ruthless!"

Poppy struggled under his palm and cried loudly: "Li Zhi Lu Ming and the others have done this before! Why did you punish me alone and not punish them! What they did was a hundred times more vicious than this, and you didn't even say a word I'm not wrong at all! You're biased! You're unfair!"

He laughed back angrily: "I am biased? Can you be the same as them? What they do is their job. When did I give you the right to kill people?"

Poppy was stunned for a moment, and suddenly resisted more violently. She broke free of him for a moment and jumped a few meters away from him. He suppressed his anger and called her to come over. , while shouting at him: "You are right, how can I be like them! You don't ask me to interfere in anything, you just treat me as your teasing thing! I have to look up to you to see your face! You are a bastard! A pervert! A rogue!"

"What nonsense!" His face was so dark that water dripped out, and he barely suppressed the last sliver of reason, "Come here!"

In the end, she just looked at him bitterly, turned around and ran out.

Poppy hadn't come back by dinner time, and the housekeeper asked him if he needed to go out to look for it. He was still angry and just waved his hands away.After a while, Chu Xing was still worried, so he called someone to tell him, "Go out and look for it."

The housekeeper responded, and asked again: "If you find it, do you want to call Miss Poppy home?"

He said coldly: "She will come back when she comes back by herself, and if you don't come back, don't bother with her."

After waiting with him for two days, each time the follower reported that Poppy was not doing well outside and was almost hit by a car, but she still had no intention of going home.He was determined to use this incident to torture her, so he restrained his patience and waited for a few more days. At the end of a week, someone finally reported to him that Miss Poppy had returned.

He waited for her to let her into the study for a while, and while approving the documents with a sullen face, he looked at her calmly from the corner of his eyes.It's only been a week since she saw her, and her figure has already been reduced.First hesitating at the door for a while, watching his face carefully, finally he came over, still with the same pitiful appearance of admitting his mistake - squatting down, with a few fingers tightly clung to his knees, looking up , looking straight at him with two pitch-black eyes.

When he thought that she was used to using this appearance as the only way to deal with him, the more he didn't want to pay attention to her.Until Poppy tugged at the corner of his clothes, she said to him in a soft voice: "Poppy knows it's wrong, okay? Don't be angry."

He was about to ask her what was wrong, but when he lowered his eyes, he caught sight of her hands that seemed to be covered with bruises.Following his gaze, Poppy withdrew her hand, was caught by him, spread her palm, and then saw more fine and varied wounds.

He didn't want to soften his heart, but subconsciously couldn't help asking: "How did you do it?"

When he asked this question, poppy's tears welled up in his eyes, with a forbearing grievance on his face: "When I was doing odd jobs, I broke the dishes and scratched them out."

She always showed a little arrogance in front of him, and sometimes she would show her teeth and claws, which is rare, and he finally softened his heart. While asking the housekeeper to get the wound medicine, he scolded her and said, "I raised you so much for To wash dishes for others?"

She became more and more angry and yelled at him: "Who told you not to want me!"

"When did I say I don't want you anymore?"

"I've been away for a week and you didn't ask anyone to find me! I came back by myself! You don't miss me at all, and you don't love me at all!"

He wanted to teach her a few more words to teach her a lesson, but after seeing her tears and wounds, he couldn't even say "don't do this again next time".He could only resign himself to his fate, hold her on his lap, apply her wound medicine bit by bit, and at the same time, he had to endure her yelling and screaming pain in his ear.

Later, he thought about it twice, if he hadn't allowed her to cry and quarrel that day, but had hardened his heart to really beat her to warn her, whether the result would have been different.However, after thinking about it again, if it was possible for things to happen again, he would inevitably let it happen again as it was.

He will not bear it after all, no matter it is the first time or how many times it happens later.

Pampering the past for the first time made Poppy more courageous.She seemed to be sure that he would not really do anything to her, or she thought she had concealed it well, so she dared to intervene in Lu Ming's affairs secretly.Lu Ming brought the lawsuit to him, he thought for a long time, and said to him: "Let her go."

"...Master?"

He said lightly: "When the cooking time is about the same, we will show it to her together."

He waited for two months, until Poppy thought it was possible to close the net, and he was the oriole behind him, but a light change made her two months of hard work go to waste.He called her to him, laid out her flaws and evidence, avoided her eyes, and recounted them one by one with a little carelessness.His words implied disappointment and warning, his face was watery and unreasonable.He stopped talking only when he saw her pale face and her body crumbling.

He thought that she would always put away those messy thoughts, but unexpectedly she bit her lip for a while, and then said quietly: "If you still want me to stay in Chu's house every day like before, and face you every day, why don't you?" Better let me die."

This sentence caught him off guard, as if a sharp awl had been inserted into his heart, causing him to bleed.

He has raised her for so many years, and put so much effort into it, only her words.

He couldn't tell what it was like in his heart.When she walked away, the butler came in with a teapot. After a moment of silence, he persuaded Wen Tun: "Miss Poppy is just a child. Before children grow up, they always have the mind to criticize adults. What is wrong with adults? If you don’t do it, the child will definitely not believe in evil and try it out. It’s often useless to say it at this time, and suppression will make her rebound. You might as well wait until she hits her head and bleeds outside, and then she will know what it is Well, what is bad, will naturally come back by itself."

He listened to the suggestion for the time being.Haven't bothered with Poppy for a long time.He thought that Poppy would come to him impatiently, but unexpectedly she didn't take the initiative to meet him.He was so indifferent, Poppy seemed relieved, the more she went her own way, the bigger the movements she made.But after all, he was young and inexperienced, and when he was scheming against others, he was also being taken into account. One night when he picked up goods at the pier, he was plotted against and shot past his stomach.

That night he slept very lightly for no reason, and he picked up Lu Ming's phone as soon as he called, and woke up instantly when he knew what happened.

He rushed to the hospital and saw her lying on the hospital bed with her eyes closed tightly, with a large area of ​​half-dried blood on her waist.

He felt that he was completely cold from the beginning to the end.

After all, he couldn't bear it first.Every time he wanted to sharpen her temper, in the end, it was himself who sharpened the corners.After Poppy was discharged from the hospital, he taught her fighting skills and shooting techniques, and then separated part of Lu Ming's duties and gave them to her.He looked at her still face, and warned lightly: "Do your own thing well, don't think about it, and don't move halfway."

Her expression remained calm, she only bowed and said yes.

He felt that there was a little disapproval in her bland expression.And what happened later also proved that she didn't listen to his words at all.He would still tease Li Zhi and Lu Ming from time to time, and because the power was more convenient in his hands, he would intensify it.From time to time, he could hear complaints about Poppy from other people's mouths. No matter how many times he reminded her, she always bowed her feet and answered, and she forgot all about it in the blink of an eye when she left the study.

Until one day when he had a small gathering with Shang Yi, the latter watched Poppy bring tea and then retreated quietly. Then he looked at his face, shook the teacup twice, and asked with a smile, "Why did I hear that there is a quarrel in your family recently?" ?”

"It's just a rumor."

"But from what I've seen until now, I also feel that you really don't get along with that little girl you raised?"

He glanced over and didn't bother to answer.Shang Yi didn't want to miss this topic easily, and said with a smile: "Didn't you tell me at the beginning that you put this little girl by your side just to find an obedient and well-behaved thing to relieve boredom? Now if you feel Seeing little Poppy grow up is not what you want. You can marry her off as soon as possible, or you can send her to the Southwest where you won’t see her. After all, there are many beautiful and clever girls in your Chu family, so find another one. It’s not the same with the new one.”

Shang Yi downplayed it, but his hand stopped, and he said simply after a long while: "It's not that easy."

Shang Yi raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, "What's not easy? I don't think it's easy."

He felt that Shang Yi was really a crow's mouth, and every time he came back to C City, he would easily set aside a lot of disasters.When Poppy came to the study at night, he took a look at her, and suddenly realized that many years had passed since she first came to Chu residence.

Once she was still small, mischievous, and aggressively climbed a crabapple tree, but she was afraid halfway and asked him to hold her down.Now she has grown to the height of his chin, the baby fat on her face has long disappeared, her body has also developed significantly, her demeanor has become quieter and more graceful, and her eyes have revealed a dazzling and graceful complexion, which is alluringly beautiful .

She brought him tea, but he took it absent-mindedly, accidentally knocked over half of it, and poured it into her hand.Fortunately, the tea is mild.This time he didn't wipe her fingers again, and handed her the handkerchief. She raised her head to look at him, and then slowly took it, drying her fingers one by one.He looked at it for a while, then slowly said: "Poppy, you said before that you don't want to stay in Neizhong, I will send you to City D, and all the places there will be under your control, do you want to?"

Poppy opened her eyes slightly, looking at him in disbelief.He looked in her eyes for a long time, but he didn't find any joyful emotions, only surprise, grievance and resentment, and soon her tears welled up, and she said to him: "Are you driving me away?"

With her appearance, he could only soften his heart: "If you don't want to go, then forget it."

Somehow this matter got into Shang Yi’s ears, and after two days, he called him and asked him with a smile: “Ah, I just said it casually at that time, you really want to send your precious girl out of a City? Are you willing to give up? "

He replied: "Where did you hear the gossip, there is no such thing."

The moment he proposed to send her away, he really clearly felt reluctant.

Even, not just reluctant. When the word "possession" appeared clearly and suddenly in his mind, he was caught off guard.

Before that night, he had never thought of it.

When he brought her by his side back then, he never thought that so many years would pass in the blink of an eye.When he threw away the documents he was eager to approve for the first time, and hugged the nightmare poppy on his lap and coaxed him to sleep, he thought in his heart that it would only be four or five years later, and the relationship would always fade away.At that time, he will refer to her opinion and give her the best escape route.

Now four or five years have passed, he thought about this thought for a moment, and then suppressed it.

Now if he wants to send her out, he will not be willing; but if he insists on following his wishes, Poppy will not be willing in the end.

She made it clear from a very early stage that she didn't want to stay in Neizhong, and she didn't want to face him every day.But he asked her to go to City D, and everyone knows that the most concentrated power of the Chu family is in City A and the southwest border. Even if he did not have any other intentions, in the eyes of outsiders and herself, it was almost equivalent to a disguised form. exile.

People who suddenly lose support are more downcast than those who have never had support, and Poppy knows this truth.

He had never considered a matter for such a long time, and he was so cautious that he hesitated.He tried to go back to the scene when Poppy was still in Chu's house, he was with the smoking and drinking beauties all night long.He spent a month trying to blend into the lustful sex of feasting, feasting, green nephrite jade, but finally found that it was not suitable.I also thought of other methods, most of which were eliminated in my mind before they were implemented, and the remaining two or three were just a taste.And then it became more and more confirmed that he would not be willing to send her out.

After he was sure of this idea, when he was thinking about how to calmly gather people's hearts back, he found that Poppy had become more and more alienated from him during this period of time.

She seldom acted coquettishly and begged in front of him, let alone pester him to do some interesting and extraordinary things.On the contrary, he became strangely overly well-behaved and sensible, and taciturn, always lowered his eyes, and occasionally raised them carefully when he wanted to spy on his face, and then lowered them quickly.When in front of him, he no longer flaunted himself recklessly, but gradually achieved enough, advancing and retreating appropriately.

Her eyes were still black and white, but he didn't know when, it was difficult to figure out her thoughts clearly.

She kept this mask in front of him for a long time, and he still couldn't get used to it.Once, when she finally asked her why she was so well-behaved and sensible all of a sudden, Poppy pursed her lips slightly, without raising her eyelids, and said, "I'm afraid you will drive me away again."

He said, "When will I drive you past?"

Her attitude still seemed to be very submissive, but no matter how much he asked, she kept silent.She has always treated him like this recently. He glanced at her and asked again: "Is it because of the thing about letting you go to City D?"

She heard the movement of her eyelashes, but she still didn't speak, only slowly showing a drowsy tiredness.He knew that she was pretending to be stupid again, so he scratched her palm with his fingertips, but she still didn't wake up, but intensified, she lowered her eyelids and whispered to him, "Do you have anything else to do?"

He glanced at her and asked without answering, "Are you sleepy?"

After she nodded seriously, he reached out to her: "come here."

He could read the reluctance on her face after she was stunned for a moment, but she still came over after all, took off her shoes and lay on her side on the beauty couch with her back facing him.He wanted to tell her to turn over, but after thinking about it for a while, he gave up. He just smoothed the few strands of hair wrapped around her neck, wrapped his arms around her waist, and gently patted her to sleep.

She pretended to be asleep at first, and was patted on the back by him non-stop for a long time before she finally fell asleep slowly.He propped himself up with one hand, propped up by the pillow, and found it a bit funny to see her lavish hands and feet after she fell asleep, subconsciously wanting to occupy the entire beauty's couch.Most of the unhappiness caused by her just now dissipated, and she was about to pinch the tip of her nose lightly, but she saw her eyes rolling, her brows furrowed, and she began to speak inarticulately, which meant that she was dreaming.

He leaned over slightly, and finally heard what she said clearly: "Chu Xing, I really hate you."

He froze for a moment.

He didn't move for a while, suspecting that he heard it wrong, but he heard her repeat with closed eyes: "Chu Xing, I hate you."

He seemed to be frozen there, unable to move for a long time.

It is dusk outside the window, and the world seems to be soft.It was the same time a few years ago, when he carried her down from the crabapple tree, he bumped into a tree full of crabapple flowers.There is one flower that falls on the tip of her nose, the light pink color just sets off her two rouge-like cheeks.

After staying together for so many years, he had hoped to stay like this until the end of his life.After all, it was just her simple three words, she hated him.that is it.

(End of this chapter)