Chapter 64: Marriage Don’t Move, Let Me Hug You

At midnight, the rain was still drizzling. Zhao Quesheng couldn't sleep and decided to go to the study to do something. When she walked around the corridor to the study, she found that the candle was still on.

Zhao Quesheng hesitated for a moment and didn't dare to push the door open.

Since Jiang Tong was released from prison, she has become serious.

Zhao Quesheng had once met Zhao Ji's master. He was a stern old man, his disciples trembling with fear at the slightest puff of his beard or a glare. But Jiang Tong now looked even more terrifying than that old man. She didn't need to puff her beard or glare, but just a glance could send chills down your spine.

Not to mention Zhao Quesheng, even Zhong Wanci and Jiang Huaishan felt a little scared when they saw her like this.

Later, when the imperial decree granting the marriage came down, the whole family looked at her in fear and anxiety, fearing that she would lose her temper on the spot and disobey the decree.

However, Jiang Tong just accepted the order calmly and never talked about this matter with anyone afterwards, as if it didn't exist at all.

Since Mao Zhang's death, Jiang Huaishan thought that those assassins had scattered and had given up hope of sending the late emperor's orphan to the throne. Now that Zhu Jiancheng was recognized by the Zhu family, the Jingtai emperor's lineage would not be extinct, and Jiang Huaishan was simply satisfied.

He was overjoyed that his daughter would become the future Princess of Qing. He repeatedly told his daughter to continue the lineage of Prince Qing.

He was immersed in his own joy and did not notice the flash of ridicule and disgust in Jiang Tong's eyes.

But Zhong Wanci noticed it.

As a mother, she always felt sorry for her daughter. She wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with Jiang Tong several times, but Jiang Tong always refused to respond and instead deliberately distanced herself from her.

Although he lives in his own home, surrounded by his parents and relatives, Jiang Tong lives like a lonely person.

Since the news of the arranged marriage came out, many people wanted to get involved in the future Princess of Qing's affairs, and countless precious paintings were sent to Jiang Tong for restoration at high prices.

Unlike before, Jiang Tong would refer some of them to Zhao Ji, but this time she accepted all the damaged calligraphy and paintings.

Although some of them were severely damaged, most of them had minor defects that were very easy to repair. Jiang Tong simply handed all the calligraphy and paintings to Zhao Quesheng to deal with, and she only selected some of the ones she was interested in to repair.

Everything seems to be fine.

Jiang Huaishan was happily waiting to become the father-in-law of the future King of Qing, and Zhong Wanci also began to prepare dowry and wedding clothes for Jiang Tong.

Only Zhao Quesheng, who faced Jiang Tong every day, noticed that something was wrong.

She discovered that some of the paintings and calligraphy selected by the teacher didn't need repair at all, but Jiang Tong still diligently carried out the steps of "cleaning," "uncovering," "repairing," and "restoring" them. In fact, many of the paintings and calligraphy had no missing parts or holes at all, so they didn't even need repairing or restoring. After removing the old parts, they were remounted.

...It's somewhat unnecessary.

Zhao Quesheng had countless questions in his mind, but he didn't dare to ask any of them.

Just as Zhao Quesheng was standing at the door of the study hesitating, the door suddenly creaked open from the inside.

"Why aren't you sleeping so late? What are you doing at the door pretending to be?" Jiang Tong's cold voice sounded. She stood at the door without a smile on her face. The dim candlelight flickered behind her, illuminating a dark and blurry shadow in front of her, extending all the way to Zhao Quesheng's feet.

Zhao Quesheng lowered her head, and the flickering shadow right in front of her made her feel a bit lonely.

In an instant, a strong emotion surged from the bottom of her heart. She threw all her fears behind her. She stepped forward and hugged Jiang Tong, burying her face in his chest, sobbing, "Teacher, don't carry this alone. Let me help you. I also want you to come out soon."

Jiang Tong's face showed a barely perceptible surprise, and then he sighed softly, "You know everything?"

Zhao Quesheng nodded: "Disciple saw words on the folded note."

She actually always knew that Jiang Tong was doing something that could not be known to others.

When they repair the painting's core, they inevitably encounter aging fibers. To prevent creases from being visible after restoration, they cut paper of appropriate thickness into strips no wider than a millimeter, known in the industry as "folding strips." These are then applied to the creases on the back of the painting to help it stand up again.

The folded strips are thin and thin. Once the painting is remounted, no one can see the small strips of paper sandwiched between the painting and the paper of destiny.

Even if the calligraphy and paintings were confiscated by the Embroidered Uniform Guards and torn into pieces, those warriors who did not understand calligraphy and painting restoration would not be able to discover the secret of the folding strips.

Jiang Tong took advantage of this and secretly passed secrets among the royal family members and ministers who were dissatisfied with Emperor Zhengtong.

Jiang Tong gently stroked Zhao Quesheng's head, a rare hint of tenderness in her voice: "This is a capital crime, aren't you afraid of death?"

Zhao Quesheng said with red eyes: "In this life, only my teacher and master treat me well. As long as I can help my teacher and master, I am not afraid of anything."

"Okay, come in with me." Jiang Tong nodded, turned and walked in.

"yes."

…

In fact, Jiang Tong had already prepared herself mentally. Either her side would change the situation and bring Su Guanqing out openly, or the matter would be exposed and she would meet Su Guanqing in the afterlife.

But she never expected that Su Guanqing would come out of prison on his own.

That day, when she sent Zhao Quesheng to deliver the calligraphy and paintings, the little girl rushed back with a pale face as soon as she left the house, and shouted at her incoherently:

"Master! Master! I saw Master..."

Jiang Tong raised an eyebrow: "Calm down and speak slowly."

Zhao Quesheng gathered himself together and finally uttered a coherent sentence: "Master is back! He's at the door!"

For a moment, Jiang Tong thought she had misheard. Although she knew Xiao Quesheng would never lie to her, especially about something like this, she still subconsciously scolded him, "Nonsense! Your master is in the Imperial Prison. How could he possibly come back on his own?"

"It's true. I just ran out and I met someone. It was my master, my master who called me. It was really my master. He called me and asked me to come back and report. He, he was outside..." Zhao Quesheng's mood had not yet calmed down, and his words were still a little disorganized, but Jiang Tong had already understood.

She dropped the scraps of paper she was sorting and rushed out the door.

Zhao Quesheng also rushed out behind her.

When he ran out of the gate, Jiang Tong looked around and his first reaction was disappointment.

Su Guanqing was not at the door.

She even ran to the alley entrance, but did not see a tall, thin, elegant and graceful young man. Outside the gate of the Jiang residence, there was only a dirty and smelly "beggar" sitting on the steps under the threshold.

Hearing footsteps, he stood up with difficulty and "looked" in the direction of Jiang Tong.

Jiang Tong paused and met his "gaze". His face was so dirty that it was hard to see his features, but his eyes were still unfocused and dust-free.

"Is it... Tongtong?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

Jiang Tong felt a pang of pain in her nose as if she had been hit in the face by a fist. She suddenly pounced on him and hugged him tightly.

He had lost so much weight that when Jiang Tong touched him, she could only feel a series of bony vertebrae.

"Tongtong, don't, I'm dirty." His trembling voice sounded in her ears.

"Don't move, let me hug you." Jiang Tong hugged him tighter, as if she was afraid that if she let go, Su Guanqing would disappear again.

Zhao Quesheng ran out after him, without saying a word. He just stood obediently aside, wiping his tears.

…

Su Guanqing's sudden return caused chaos in the entire Jiang Mansion.

The servants were ordered around by Zhao Quesheng——

The west wing had been unoccupied for a long time, and it was covered in dust. Someone needed to clean it up; the bedding and pillows needed to be taken out and patted and aired; the clothes needed to be washed and ironed; someone needed to call a doctor for a visit; and the kitchen was busy, too, preparing meals according to Su Guanqing's tastes...

When Jiang Huaishan heard that Su Guanqing had returned, he was overjoyed. But when he heard that Su Guanqing was so thin that he was emaciated, he almost burst into tears and was about to go see him.

Zhong Wanci held him back and asked, "Will there be any problems if Guanqing comes back at this critical moment?"

"What could be the problem? This must be a general amnesty from His Majesty..." Jiang Huaishan was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly remembered, wasn't it said that the general amnesty would only be granted after Prince Qing got married and inherited the title? It was still too early.

However, before he could figure it out, Zhong Wanci interrupted him.

"Who told you this!" Zhong Wanci stamped her feet. "I was talking about Guan Qing and Tong Tong..."

Jiang Huaishan said, "Why are you still talking about this old almanac? Tongtong has already been betrothed to the late emperor's orphan. There's no possibility for them to be together."

Seeing that he was not understanding, Zhong Wanci was extremely anxious: "It's because Tongtong has already been promised to someone else! Now that Guanqing is back, what if something happens between them? What will happen then?"

"You just like to think about all kinds of things. Tongtong is not a child without sense of propriety." Jiang Huaishan waved his hand and walked towards the west wing.

Zhong Wanci had no choice but to support him and go see Su Guanqing together.

The two men walked to the west wing and saw that the door was wide open. Servants were coming in and out to clean, but there was no sign of Su Guanqing.

"Where is Mr. Su?" Jiang Huaishan stopped a servant and asked.

"Master, Mr. Su is taking a bath." A servant replied.

Jiang Huaishan looked around again, even to the bedroom, but didn't see Su Guanqing, so he asked, "Where do you take a shower?"

The servant hesitated for a moment, then said, "...In the eldest lady's room."

"Isn't this nonsense?! Who arranged this? Do you have any brains? How can Mr. Su take a bath in the eldest lady's room?" Jiang Huaishan got angry when he heard it, and shouted angrily.

The servant lowered his head, tapped his heels, and dared not answer.

"Where is the young lady now?" Zhong Wanci asked anxiously.

The servant bit his lower lip, as if he didn't dare to speak. However, under the repeated questioning of Jiang Huaishan and Zhong Wanci, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and stammer, "... Miss... Miss is in her own room. Su... Master Su is not able to move around easily, so Miss is... is helping... helping him inside."

"What?!" Jiang Huaishan was shocked, and Zhong Wanci's face turned pale with fright.