Still waiting for Zhaoyang

Chapter 13

一
Shang Rui is in Gu Shun's palace.

He just got the news that there was Qi An's movement.

"Found him?" Shang Rui asked.

"It is said that there are people coming and going in and out of his academy in Jinluo." Minglian replied, but he was complaining about these people in his heart, and the news was not confirmed, so he passed it on to the emperor.

Shang Rui nodded: "Okay, let's explore again."

Just as Ming Lian promised to retreat, he heard Shang Rui call out: "Come back, come back. Jinluo is so close, why don't I go and see for myself." After speaking, he announced Hong Wu's departure immediately.

When he and Hong Wu rode to the gate of Qi An's house with a few guards, it was already close to the second watch.

Hong Wu advanced the academy to explore for a while, then came back and said: "There are only two people in total."

Shang Rui nodded and jumped into the wall.

He wore a narrow-sleeved purple shirt for the convenience of going in and out, and jumped to the front of the main house. He saw that the lights in the house were still on, but there was no movement.

He held his breath and listened for a while under the eaves, then looked at Hong Wu: "Asleep?"

Hong Wu replied: "It should be." And the breathing is so light, it looks like a woman, otherwise it is weak.

"Then take a look." Shang Rui raised his chin and gestured to Hong Wu.

Hong Wu had no choice but to poke open the window paper with his fingers.Unexpectedly, he only glanced inward, then hurriedly moved away.

"how?"

"It is indeed a woman."

"Female?" Shang Rui wondered suddenly.

"Your Majesty..." Hong Wu felt inappropriate, "It's late at night, men and women are different."

"I know, so you stay here, and I go in alone."

"Your Majesty..." He didn't want this result.

However, before he could speak clearly, Shang Rui pushed open the window and jumped in softly.

There was a lamp burning in the house.

The woman was indeed asleep, but she was lying on the table.A very young woman, at most in her twenties.

Seeing that it was really a woman, Shang Rui breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to leave, but suddenly felt a bit of night wind blowing in through the crack of the door, and at the same time smelled a very faint fragrance, like the smell of chrysanthemum or pear blossom.He wasn't sure whether the breath came from the woods outside the house or from the woman in front of him.

He couldn't help turning around to look at her.

With this glance, he just avoided the shadow of the lamp just now, and could clearly see her eyebrows.The woman was resting on her arm, not sleeping soundly, and even moved.

The night wind poured in again, causing the flame in the lamp to move, and he saw the deep tear stains on her face, and the tears that were still dripping.

Round teardrops fell out from the corner of the left eye, flowed across the bridge of the nose and onto the other side of the face, rolled over the eyelashes of the right eye, slid across the arm, and finally dripped onto the table.

One by one...

Like the pearls that are abundant in the Weilu Sea of ​​Gyeonggi Province, the grains fall in the same place, moistening the area.

He couldn't help but took a few steps closer and took another look at her.

A bird chirping sounded outside the door, which was Hong Wu's signal. He got up and left without delay.

two

He Xiang came over from the side room with a light on, and knocked on the door of the main room: "Miss, are you asleep? Why didn't you turn off the light?"

The sound woke Xia Yue up, she raised her head from the table, hurriedly wiped away the tears all over her face, and replied in a low voice, "I fell asleep." Then she turned off the light.

She sat at the table, quietly listening to He Xiang's footsteps drifting away in the dark, but she no longer felt sleepy.

She turned around and looked around suspiciously under the moonlight.

It seemed—there was a strange smell in the house.

A few days later, Mother Chang's grandson was full moon, and everyone said they were going to take a look at that little thing.

The Qin family is in the east of Jinluo City. The chubby baby has a soft and delicate body. As soon as Zijin hugged him, he would not cry or make a fuss.After eating the full moon banquet and having fun for a while, Xia Yue said she wanted to go first, Zijin got up and wanted to go with her, but she refused, but asked Chu Qin to watch him not to drink.

After coming out of Qin's house together with He Xiang, a man waving a gold-edged paper fan walked up to him. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Wang Gan.

Xia Yue stood still for a while without moving.

Wang Gan had seen her a long time ago, and walked over with a smile: "Miss." He deliberately dragged out his voice, and then blocked her way.

That day, he scrambled back home, but he didn't see anyone chasing him. Even the servant who was knocked out ran back by himself. He was afraid that the other party would come to seek revenge, but he didn't expect that after several days, they would be safe and sound. He guessed that they were afraid of the power of the Wang family, and they were even more confident.

He looked Xia Yue up and down, and frivolously picked the ribbon on Xia Yue's waist with a fan: "Miss Min is one of the most beauties in Jinluo, but who knows that the taste inside the clothes is even better." , Laughing wantonly.

He Xiang didn't know why, so she was completely terrified.

Xia Yue was extremely angry, she was a very strong person, and it was even harder to show weakness in front of such a person.If there was a knife in her hand at this moment, if only one person could do things and one person should be responsible, she vowed to cut him into pieces on the spot.

But in this world, is it as simple as one life for another...

Wang Gan leaned closer to his face and said with a smile, "It seems that not only did I keep quiet, but Miss Min was also reluctant to tell others. We have such a tacit understanding, why don't you be kind, and marrying you as a concubine is also considered your luck."

Xia Yue sneered, as if she had been bitten by a dog, so she walked around.

When she turned her head, she saw Zijin behind her.Zijin chased out from Chang's house at some point and stood frozen in the distance.

"Zijin..." She was suddenly at a loss.

He approached step by step, staring straight into Xia Yue's eyes, and then moved to Wang Gan's face: "Wang Gan, is it you?" His face twisted in pain.

He has been looking for the culprit of that incident, but he dare not ask Xia Yue, and has been doing it secretly.

It's just that he didn't expect that he also knew that person, Wang Kui's adopted son Wang Gan.

With tense veins in his fist, he suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Wang Gan's skirt, then punched him in the face.The weight of this punch was the angriest punch in his life, and it contained his pain, as well as his remorse and sadness.

The action came too suddenly, and the two attendants next to Wang Gan wanted to stop them but were restrained by Chu Qin and Chu Zhong. There was also a smart one who saw something was wrong from a distance and rushed back to Wang's house to find a helper to report.

"Master, there are many people on the street. Let's talk in a quiet place." Chu Qin gestured to Zijin while looking around.This is not a prosperous place in Jinluo, but there is a constant flow of people coming and going.Wang Gan has always been a character who walks sideways in the city. He was beaten like this, which naturally attracted the attention of several passers-by.

Xia Yue said: "Zijin, calm down, he didn't do anything to me."

But he turned his head to look at her, his eyes shot straight into Xia Yue's heart, it was breathtaking.

This was the first time anyone had seen him get angry, but that angry face was full of complicated emotions.

"He deserves to die even if he touches you." Zijin said as he pushed Wang Gan to the most hidden corner by the city wall.

Wang Gan leaned his back against the wall, thinking that someone had already reported the news, so he pretended to be calm and smiled, "I thought I would have brought you here to play, but your sister was reluctant..." Before he could finish speaking, Zijin He swung his furious fist into his stomach again.

He didn't dare to listen, although he understood it when he saw Wang Gan.

Wang Gan was in terrible pain. Seeing Zijin's anger, he threatened with a trembling voice: "If my father... comes, none of your family will be able to survive. If you dare to touch a hair of the Wang family, the emperor and the queen Definitely destroy... destroy your entire clan, the emperor..."

While speaking, Zijin had already turned around, pulled out the sword from Chu Qin's waist, and put his hand on Wang Gan's neck.

Wang Gan sucked in a breath of cold air, and the sword around his neck choked back his last words.

"Young master!" Chu Qin held down the hilt of his sword, not wanting him to do something wrong in his rage.

"Zijin, it's not worth it," Xia Yue stood in front of him, "It's not worth committing your own death for such a person."

"Kill him, and I will pay for my life on the spot!" He said angrily.

"What about me? What about Chu Qin and Chu Zhong who have worked so hard to watch you grow up? He Xiang, Chang Mama, Min Rong, what about them?"

"No matter what, I can't let him go."

Xia Yue smiled wryly and said: "On the day you paid for his life, should we go to rob the dharma ground or collect your corpse? Then Wang Kui covered the sky with one hand in Jinluo. If he wants our whole family to die at the same time, what should we do? ?The king's family has power over David, who is behind it, and you know how we escaped.

"You just saw Mama Chang's grandson, he is so small and cute, he is so soft, he has only been in this world for a few dozen days, and you want to make him pay for his life with you?"

She grabbed his arm holding the sword, and pulled it down bit by bit: "Your mother saved your last breath and dug you out of the dead, just because you despise yourself so much? It's not worth it, your life is so precious , It’s not worth it to fall on such a villain.”

Finally, he put down the sword dejectedly.

Wang Gan broke free, ignoring the two servants who were beaten, and fled a foot away.Seeing that Zijin didn't move, he suddenly had some courage, turned back tremblingly and said, "Let me tell you, today's matter won't be just... forget it. It's best for you guys to go back... It's best to ask for it every day." The Bodhisattva blesses me with a long life, otherwise... I will suffer from wind-heat and headache someday, and your family will pay for dozens of lives." After finishing speaking, he ran away.

After Wang Gan walked away, Xia Yue patted his arm lightly: "That's all, I don't mind at all." Then she left alone.

Zijin originally thought that Xia Yue didn't mention anything about the beast because she didn't know her at all or didn't want to recall the pain, so he had to investigate secretly.But it wasn't until just now that he suddenly understood that it wasn't that she didn't know, but because she was protecting him, afraid that he would be stupid.

Seeing her slender back, he felt so desolate and difficult in his heart.

All for him.

For him, she had no choice but to leave the imperial capital with her father without a trace.

For him, she missed a good match.

For him, she was insulted by others, but she dared not open her mouth to ask for help in front of her.

For him, she never even mentioned who the real culprit was.

He suddenly wanted to catch up with her and ask her, why do you always treat me like that child from before, always thinking that I still need your protection.What should I do so that you can see me as a man?What else do I need but to keep growing?
At that moment, what he hated the most was not Wang Gan, but himself.

Facing the direction in which Xia Yue was leaving, he remained silent. After a long time, he turned his head to look at Chu Qin and said, "Chu Qin, I want to see King Huai."

three

In the middle of the night, Chu Qin suddenly came and knocked on the gate of the academy.

Xia Yue put on her clothes and asked anxiously, "What's wrong?"

Chu Qin said with a bitter face: "Miss, go and have a look, we can't persuade the young master."

When I returned to Min Mansion, I saw Zijin in the gazebo by the pond.He was leaning against the pillars of the gazebo, and he was still holding a wine jar in his hand.

It was old sake from the wine cellar at home.

When Xia Yue's mother was alive, she had prepared her daughter Hong, and she had put it away for many years.First, ten altars were buried in the soil of the yard, and they were said to be dug out when Xia Yue got married.The remaining ten or so altars are reserved for Zijin's marriage.

Xia Yue walked over and snatched the wine jar from his hand.

He turned to look at her.

She said angrily, "How did I tell you not to drink, not to drink!"

He was silent.

"Who did you learn this from?"

He still doesn't speak.Moonlight fell on his face, and he just stared at her.He usually blushes very easily, but after drinking, his face turned whiter and paler.Xia Yue didn't know how much he drank, but seeing that his expression was still clear, she continued to scold him.

"Chu Qin can't control you anymore, can he? They worked hard to watch you grow up..."

"Have I grown up?" He interrupted her suddenly and asked back.

The fresh wine on his lips was still wet, stained with moonlight, making the corners of his mouth sparkling, but his eyes were staring straight at her.Those eyes resembled the lake water of Jin Luo Chun Ri, clear and pure.

Xia Yue suddenly remembered his thoughts, felt embarrassed, and avoided answering: "I'm too lazy to talk to you." After finishing speaking, she grabbed a wine jar beside him and was about to leave.

Just as he turned around, he stretched out his arms and hugged her.

He was sitting, she was standing, and he was around her waist.

Xia Yue was in a hurry: "Zijin, they will see."

But he buried his face and said against the skin of her waist through the clothes: "I can't hear what you say, I don't want to hear it."

Even when he said such unreasonable words, his tone was still extremely bitter.

He paused, and then said: "I won't let you go either. If you call them here, you might as well explain what you have said. That would be the best."

He and she were deadlocked for a while.Seeing that she didn't intend to break free, the tight string in his heart was loosened.

He was afraid that she would push her away, and he was afraid that she would cry.

He was even afraid that she would frighten him by uttering decisive words like last time, so he would rather choose not to listen to anything.

He said: "In the future, don't threaten me with the words of you becoming a nun. I will be very scared and heartbroken. Whether you don't like me or hate me, don't threaten me with yourself. So do whatever you want , You let me call you whatever you want, I will follow you.

"Sometimes I wonder, if I hadn't been rude to you that day, could we still be the same as before. So, I should cover it up and hide it, rot in my heart, and I won't let you know until I die. And, if it wasn't for me...if it wasn't for me...if it wasn't for me..."

Because of ear problems in his life, he seldom spoke such lengthy words in front of people, and it was very difficult for him to stop after a while, coupled with the alcohol.But at this moment, when he said this, he couldn't control his emotions anymore, and the last sentence was almost choked up so that he couldn't continue.That kind of regret devoured his mind all the time, almost driving him crazy.

Xia Yue fully understood what he was going to say.She hastily put the things in her hands on the stone table, and stretched out her hand to lift his head, but he was clinging to her waist, refusing to let her touch his face.

She knew he was crying.

Immediately, she felt his tears gradually wet the clothes around her waist that were touched by his eyes.

Xia Yue hesitated for a moment, her hands finally landed on his head, her fingers inserted into his black hair, and her tears also burst out.

That night, Zijin finally fell asleep on her lap.

By being drunk, he was self-willed for the last time in his life.

He swore that he would become a man strong enough to protect her, so that she would never suffer any grievances in this life.

On the second day, Zijin went to the Southern Region with Chu Qin and Chu Zhong, while Xia Yue took He Xiang to her mother's hometown in the Imperial Capital.

(End of this chapter)