Chapter 80 Shocking Past Events He looked at Jiang Tong's back with a melancholy expression...

Jiang Tong burst out laughing and raised her hand to stroke his cheek. "Silly boy, since the Zhengtong Emperor is dead, this engagement can naturally be cancelled."

Su Guanqing buried his head in Jiang Tong's neck somewhat embarrassedly and hummed softly.

When Jiang Tong returned to the capital and settled down, the first visitor to visit was A-Qiao.

She was wearing the Jinyiwei's yisa, looking both dignified and majestic.

She brought two intentions to Jiang Tong:

The first was the cancellation of the previous engagement with Zhu Jiancheng.

Ah Qiao smiled and pulled Jiang Tong up: "Your Majesty means that your marriage is up to your own heart." In other words, from now on, even Jiang Huaishan would not be qualified to make decisions about Jiang Tong's marriage.

Jiang Tong was overjoyed. She naturally understood that such an order could not be the emperor's intention, but must be the work of A Qiao. She was even more moved.

The second decree is for Su Guanqing——

The new emperor overturned the Su family's verdict.

Su Baichuan was no longer a criminal, and Su Guanqing was no longer a pariah.

After hearing this decree, Su Guanqing knelt there, feeling mixed emotions, and it took him a long time to react.

Seeing him looking dazed, Jiang Tong went over and shook him, "Why don't you thank me now?"

"Ah, yes," Su Guanqing reacted, "I thank you for your grace."

Ah Qiao helped him up and said with a smile, "The Jiang and Su families were both heroes who helped Your Majesty ascend the throne. They will surely be granted favors in the future. However, everything is still uncertain, so please wait a little longer."

As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Huaishan burst into tears: "Being able to witness Your Majesty ascend the throne is enough for me. Even if I meet Emperor Jing in the afterlife, I will have an explanation."

——Emperor Gongren Kangding Jing was the posthumous title bestowed upon his adoptive father by Zhu Jiancheng after he ascended the throne.

Jiang Tong and A Qiao, who knew the inside story, looked at each other and said nothing tacitly.

After the decree was announced, Jiang Tong took A Qiao back to her room to talk in private.

It was at this time that Jiang Tong learned from A Qiao what had happened after they separated.

The exposure of the secret letter that day really shocked Emperor Zhengtong. He did not leave the palace for three days.

A Qiao was guarding the empty space, but he was not in a hurry. He wanted to wait for the next opportunity.

But Cao Jixiang couldn't wait any longer.

His adopted son, Cao Qin, was impeached for abuse of power, and the Zhengtong Emperor immediately wanted to arrest Cao Qin. Cao Jixiang and his son, realizing the situation was not right, led the imperial guards in rebellion. Unsurprisingly, the rebellion failed.

Because of this incident, Emperor Zhengtong launched a city-wide arrest warrant, and Aqiao had to temporarily cut off contact with Jiang Tong.

During that time, A-Jiao had been lying low on the surface, but in fact he had been trying to infiltrate the palace security.

"After some effort, I finally got into the palace." As time passed, when Aqiao mentioned it again, he just downplayed the difficulties.

Jiang Tong immediately understood: "Did you force the Zhengtong Emperor to issue the edict of apology?"

Ah Qiao nodded with a smile: "After all, it's my old profession. With the hostages, it's easy to do anything."

Once the crown prince is replaced, the hostage will naturally be useless.

So Emperor Zhengtong died suddenly, just like his younger brother.

But now, the young emperor is still young and cannot rule the country himself, so the court only trusts Commander Qiao.

Therefore, although Aqiao is only a small third-rank official now, he is second only to the emperor and above everyone else.

"How do you feel now? Which position do you prefer, the one in the temple or the one in the martial arts world?" Jiang Tong asked with interest.

Ah Qiao smiled, his eyes curved like a crescent: "It's really quite different."

She tugged at her sleeves and said, "With this status, I can do anything openly and honestly, and no one dares to interfere."

When Jiang Tong met her in his previous life, she was already tired of fighting and killing, and her eyes were filled with fatigue and vicissitudes of life. But now, those almond-shaped eyes flashed with a burning light, which clearly showed her undisguised ambition.

Jiang Tong knew in his heart that for Aqiao, this position was just a starting point.

…

When Aqiao was leaving, she happened to meet King Xiang who came to Jiang Tong to ask him to repair his painting, so Jiang Tong did not see her off.

The one who sent A Qiao out was Su Guanqing.

"Are your eyes okay?" Aqiao asked with a smile.

Su Guanqing shook his head: "I don't know either. Maybe I won't be blind in the future. Or maybe one day I'll wake up and be blind again."

"You've also had many hardships, but things will get better in the future. I have good news for you. His Majesty plans to hold a special examination in the spring. Now that you are no longer a lowly person, you can participate. Do you plan to participate?"

Su Guanqing shook his head again: "I don't know."

"There's no rush. It's still early." Aqiao said as he continued walking forward.

Su Guanqing walked behind her, hesitated for a moment, and suddenly called her: "Miss Qiao, I have something I want to ask you."

A Qiao turned around and looked at him: "What's the matter?"

"Did Miss Qiao and Tongtong really only meet after the dock fire that day?"

A Qiao raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean by that?"

"I know Tongtong's character best. She is not the kind of person who would risk her life for a stranger. If Miss Qiao had not known Tongtong for a long time and had not had a deep relationship with her, she would not have risked her life to rush into the fire." Su Guanqing said.

"That makes sense, maybe. Maybe Ah Tong and I have known each other for a long time." Ah Qiao shrugged, without commenting, and had no intention of explaining.

Seeing her attitude, Su Guanqing made up his mind and finally asked:

"Did you know each other in your previous life?" Su Guanqing said, looking at Aqiao nervously.

In fact, if someone didn't take his words seriously, they would just take it as a joke and laugh it off.

However, Ah Qiao's face suddenly changed color after hearing this. Although her face returned to normal in just a moment, Su Guanqing had already caught this change.

He stumbled back a step, his face pale. "It's true, you two really did know each other in a past life. Tongtong's abilities were naturally learned in a past life. I was wondering how such a miraculous restoration technique could be learned without a teacher."

"Guan Qing, what nonsense are you talking about?" A Qiao widened his eyes innocently, intending to deny it to the death.

Su Guanqing gave a bitter smile: "Master Qiao, why did you hide this from me?"

As soon as these words came out, Ah Qiao's face completely changed: "How did you know? Did Ah Tong tell you?"

Su Guanqing shook his head: "Yes and no."

These days, the memories in his mind, whose origins were unknown, gradually became clearer, and he heard what Jiang Tong said in front of the grave.

At that time, Jiang Tong had probably just lost her good friend Aqiao. She was very sad and looked around, but there was no one who could listen to her true feelings.

So, after more than 30 years, she finally set foot on her hometown again, visited her old friend, and told him her worries at his grave.

Facing Aqiao's suspicious gaze, Su Guanqing curled the corners of his lips and said, "Miss Aqiao, it's not just Tongtong and you who are living a new life."

Ah Qiao seemed a little surprised. After all, it was a pleasure to experience this with someone else. However, seeing that Su Guanqing didn't look particularly happy, he asked:

"Ah-Tong also told me about your past life with her. You were willing to die for her. In this life, you truly love each other. You got what you wanted. Isn't that something worth being happy about?"

Su Guanqing looked depressed. He forced a smile at A Qiao and said, "Yes, you should be happy."

He looked at the door that was so close and said, "I won't see you off. Take care, Miss Qiao."

How could Aqiao not see that this person was obviously in a bad mood after knowing his past life.

Ah Qiao simply couldn't understand why his beloved woman was so devoted to him, and what he hadn't hoped for in his previous life was finally granted in this life. What could he be dissatisfied with? Why did his face fall like that?

But she was not particularly familiar with Su Guanqing, and it was difficult to say much. She looked at Su Guanqing's lonely back and suddenly remembered something:

"etc!"

Su Guanqing turned around and said, "Miss Qiao, is there anything else?"

"There's something I almost forgot to give you." A Qiao said as he took something out of his sleeve and handed it to Su Guanqing.

Su Guanqing took it and looked at it. It was a wooden bead bracelet. It looked quite ordinary, but it exuded a special woody fragrance.

He remembered something and looked up suddenly: "Is this Fu Liu's thing?"

A Qiao nodded: "He asked me to give it to you."

"He..." Su Guanqing's heart was filled with various emotions, but he didn't know what to say, "Where is he?"

“No more.”

Su Guanqing suddenly raised his head: "What?"

"Some time ago, I just took over the Jinyiwei," A Qiao touched the tip of his nose, "some people were unwilling to be loyal to the new emperor... many people died at that time."

Su Guanqing never expected that Feng Fuliu would die. He took a step back dejectedly. His feelings towards Feng Fuliu were actually quite complicated, with both gratitude and resentment. When he learned of Feng Fuliu's death, all his emotions suddenly vanished and he didn't know how to react.

"Did he... leave any message for me?" Su Guanqing asked finally.

"I haven't heard of this." Aqiao shook his head.

…

Su Guanqing looked at a painting pasted on the paper wall.

That was Chen Rong's "Clouds and Rain" painting from the Northern Song Dynasty. It was sent by Prince Xiang, Zhu Zhanji, for revision.

Jiang Tong has already carried out the three steps of "washing", "exposing" and "repairing".

Now it’s time to connect the pens to the full color.

Su Guanqing could see now. He didn't need Jiang Tong to describe the contents of the picture to him. He could see it himself.

There is no inscription on this painting, but Su Guanqing has seen countless paintings, so he can naturally recognize who painted it.

In the painting, two black dragons are coiled on the high mountains along the coast, lively and agile, with their eyes wide open. Clouds and mists are rolling beside them, and ancient trees are towering into the sky. When the viewer stands in front of the painting, he can feel the majestic momentum coming towards him.

In the picture, there are several obvious blank spots on the rocks, which were obviously damaged before and just filled by Jiang Tong, and there are still some vacancies in the painting.

Jiang Tong also looked at the picture for a long time before she picked up the brush and dipped it in ink. She did not paint carefully bit by bit, but moved the brush very quickly, adding a stroke just right in the missing places, and then dipped a clean brush in water to blend the edges.

But in the blink of an eye, she filled in the blank.

She did not stop, but continued to fill in the blanks, big and small, one by one according to the needs of the picture.

Zhao Quesheng stood to her right, not daring to breathe, watching very seriously.

After Jiang Tong finished repairing it, he turned around and asked Su Guanqing with a smile: "How is it?"

"The writing is full of vigor and the style is flawless." Su Guanqing smiled warmly and praised sincerely.

Strictly speaking, this was the first time he saw Jiang Tong write.

He had imagined Jiang Tong picking up the pen countless times in his mind and guessed at Jiang Tong's level. But when he saw it today, Jiang Tong's realistic technique was so good that even he himself felt inferior.

Over there, Jiang Tong had already started explaining the key points to Zhao Quesheng.

The master and the disciple faced the two dragons, gestured, and spoke very seriously.

No one noticed that the smile on Su Guanqing's face gradually faded. He stared at Jiang Tong's back infatuatedly, with an lingering melancholy in his expression.

"It's just right. Since you have some free time today, you can copy this painting." Jiang Tong said finally.

"Yes." Upon hearing this, Zhao Quesheng immediately went to her desk, took out clean rice paper, and prepared to copy the painting.

Jiang Tong dismissed Zhao Quesheng and turned to see Su Guanqing looking somewhat dejected. Thinking he too was itching to paint, he asked, "Guanqing, do you want to draw?"

When she said that, Zhao Quesheng thought there was a demonstration to watch, so he immediately handed the pen to Su Guanqing and looked at him expectantly.

Su Guanqing was distracted. When he came to his senses, he was already standing in front of the desk, and he didn't know when he had taken the pen in his hand.

Picking up the pen and putting it to paper had long been an instinct ingrained in him. He held his wrist in the air, about to start writing, but at this moment, the brush slipped from his fingertips and hit the paper, leaving a large ink dot.