Chapter 3: I will bury you under the Qionghua Terrace

Until returning to the prince's bedroom, Shen Zhiwei still didn't understand what Xiao Wangqing's gaze meant.

But she would not be stupid enough to ask Xiao Lingjun and disturb the crown prince's brief good mood.

The attendants at the Prince's Mansion walked almost silently. Shen Zhiwei took the medicine soup brought by the little maid and couldn't help frowning when she smelled the bitter fragrance. Even after years of being wrapped in this smell every day, she still couldn't get used to it.

Shen Zhiwei is a person who cannot endure hardship.

The next second, someone pushed a plate of candied fruit in front of him. The peach flesh was cut into even small pieces, the surface was a little shrunken and dry, and covered with a layer of crystal clear honey.

She blinked in the misty hot air, looked up and saw Xiao Lingjun's smile, she was stunned, and in a panic, she held the bowl with both hands and drank the medicine in one gulp.

Then, his facial features were wrinkled by the stimulation of the winding bitter taste, and the tip of his tongue still had the granular feeling of the medicine residue.

Shen Zhiwei still remembers the scene when he first met Xiao Lingjun.

Her father is a real corrupt official.

He was corrupt by nature, deceived the world and stole fame, and ended up with his entire family being executed.

A seven-year-old child can understand some truth. Shen Zhiwei, who was in the Ministry of Punishment at that time, was of course afraid, but she felt that she deserved to die. She had survived to this day by using the medicinal herbs that her father had bought from the people, and she deserved to pay with her life.

By the way, while waiting to die in prison, I begged Queen Mother of the West to rebirth into a good family in my next life.

The Queen Mother may have heard it, cut off her way to reincarnation, and sent Xiao Lingjun over.

Xiao Lingjun arrived unexpectedly, accompanied by the Crown Prince's tutor. The eight-year-old Crown Prince still had baby fat, but already had the gentle outline of his future.

"I'm in need of a counselor who died young." Brocade boots crushed the dry grass. Xiao Lingjun bent down slightly, his long hair touching the iron chain around her neck. She was beautiful and her words were very pleasant. "I've heard of Miss Shen's great name for a long time. Would you be willing to exchange ten years of your life for immense wealth?"

Shen Zhiwei thought that she seemed to have eaten and taken something at the same time.

When Xiao Lingjun picked her up from the Ministry of Punishment, he said that it might be sooner or later, but Shen Zhiwei would not die of old age.

Xiao Lingjun needs a confidant who can discuss state affairs with him, and Shen Zhiwei wants to live a few more years.

The two hit it off and agreed that Shen Zhiwei would die suddenly on the night of Xiao Lingjun's wedding. Xiao Lingjun allowed her to extend her life, but only for her.

Shen Zhiwei watched the entire Shen family being executed, and the curses and cries penetrated his eardrums.

From then on, Shen Bandu was alone, and she drank bowl after bowl of bitter and poisonous medicine, but her illness never recovered.

Time flies. Looking at the increasingly fierce profile of the young crown prince, Shen Zhiwei thought that he could face death calmly.

At the age of ten, he wrote a paper on river defense, at the age of thirteen, he inspected the grain transport in the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers on behalf of the emperor. He reformed the warehouse leveling system to reduce rice prices by 40% within three years. When lecturing in the Wenhua Hall, he proposed "light taxes and levies, and start anew with the people." Xiao Lingjun was undoubtedly a wise ruler.

Shen Zhiwei also diligently served as his study companion.

Until she discovered that Xiao Lingjun was showing signs of softening his heart.

The taste of the medicine he drank every day changed, the incense burner was replaced with new incense, the fox fur he wore was an inch thicker, and the lining was sewn with purple and gold sable fur that the emperor personally bestowed upon the prince.

Shen Bandu rarely felt panic.

There were so many eyes in the palace, and no one dared to say a word about Xiao Lingjun's obvious favoritism. This was not the emperor's indulgence of the crown prince.

They just wanted to develop the crown prince's weakness and then have him cut it off with his own hands until fangs grew on the rotten flesh.

Just because she won't live long.

The emperor doted on Empress Hui extremely, and Xiao Lingjun was born the crown prince. Shen Zhiwei was destined to be buried with all the royal secrets.

Xiao Wangqing came as a timely help on a snowy night. As a member of the prince's party, his act of saving other princes was a definite betrayal, even if it was done out of kindness.

So Shen Zhiwei did so, with a bit of compassion that she was unwilling to admit.

But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince brushed it off lightly and only punished her to recite a book. That night, the heating in the East Palace was too hot, so hot that Shen Zhiwei's nose felt sore.

The biggest fear of a sharp blade is never breaking, but being held for too long, until even the handle becomes warm from the palm.

This is not a good sign.

Shen Zhiwei was holding the edge of the bowl in a daze, and suddenly her mouth was filled with sweetness.

"Awei's face is wrinkled like a dumpling." Xiao Lingjun seemed to be completely unaware of his study partner's stunned expression. He squinted his eyes and picked up a piece of candied fruit to feed her teeth. "It was just delivered after the fruit room banquet. Let me taste it."

“…sweet.” Naturally, the things presented to the Prince’s residence were of the best quality. Shen Zhiwei chewed the preserved fruit in her mouth and was led by him to sit on the couch, almost biting her tongue.

"Of course candied fruit is sweet." Xiao Lingjun smiled again.

Shen Zhiwei always had to think twice before speaking to Xiao Lingjun, but the results were often not satisfactory.

"After the spring, the floods in the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers will require another visit from Awei. Although the Minister of Works is overseeing the work and the riverbanks have been repaired, saving the lives of the people, the amount of relief money submitted by the Ministry of Revenue is not correct."

Tea was brewing in a celadon cup, emitting a lingering steam. When Shen Bandu raised his eyes, he could see his own prince's helpless smile: "If I send those old foxes from the Censorate, I'm afraid they won't even be able to find a crack in the riverbank."

"I'll have my shadow guards disguised as drug dealers accompany me, and all the post stations along the way will be replaced by people from the Eastern Palace. You only need to watch, no need to do anything."

"...Just think of it as checking for me. The peach blossoms in Jianghuai should bloom earlier than those in the capital."

The last sentence was wrapped in the warm sigh of the crown prince. Xiao Lingjun rarely sighed, and Shen Zhiwei didn't know what to do for a moment.

Normally, this task should have been taken over by the Du Shui Jian, but the prince gave the imperial supervisory power to her, a dying person.

He also said that it didn't matter even if it couldn't be done, just treat it as a way to relax.

"Those who falsely report their achievements are likely to harbor corruption. I will certainly live up to your Highness's trust."

Shen Zhiwei didn't know how to face such a precious meaning, if she hadn't still been drinking the poisoned medicine, if she hadn't clearly felt that her body was gradually weakening.

I'm afraid she would really think that Xiao Lingjun wanted to pull her back from the underworld and drag her into the turbulent river during the spring flood.

"If I die in Huai'an..."

"I will bury you beneath the Qionghua Terrace," Xiao Lingjun raised his hand to gather her fox fur coat tightly, and resumed his gentle and courteous demeanor, as if his earlier loss of composure was just an illusion on Shen Zhiwei's part. "Let Ah Wei listen to the music from the pleasure boats every day, so she won't feel lonely down there."

"It's too early to talk about this now. New Year's Eve is almost here, and Wei still has three days to decide on the style of the window paper-cuts."

It was a clumsy way of changing the subject, but it made Shen Zhiwei feel relieved for no reason.

On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, the corridors of the East Palace were festooned with glazed palace lanterns. Shen Zhiwei, draped in a sable fur coat, sat in the warm room, cutting window paper-cuts. Dozens of scraps of red paper lay piled on the desk, a crooked "Fu" character interspersed with a strange-looking rabbit.

Shen, who had been cutting paper-cuts for ten years but whose skills had not improved at all, did not feel guilty at all, but just wasted gold foil and rice paper silently.

The fine snow fell on the window lattice, softening the sound of Xiao Lingjun's footsteps as he walked through the snow.

There were still unmelted snow on the crown prince's shoulders, but he first stuffed a small hand warmer into Shen Zhiwei's palm: "It's newly made by the Ministry of Works. It's said to be able to keep warm for six hours."

Then he carefully picked up the rabbit window paper-cut that was casually thrown on the table, took a closer look, and his eyes swept over the person wrapped in the mink fur coat, and he couldn't help laughing.

"The rabbit cut by Awei looks like a snowball with horns."

"Thank you... Your Highness, for making fun of me." She swallowed the thanks she had just uttered smoothly. Shen Zhiwei raised her head while holding the hand warmer. She was curled up in her fur coat, looking like a rabbit that had become a spirit.

She was the only one registered in Shen Zhiwei's household registration book. She never hid her unhappiness. Now, knowing that Xiao Lingjun was deliberately joking with her, she squeezed out a small laugh from her throat.

He put down the scissors and red paper in his hand, stood up, looked around, bent down, picked up the snow under the corridor, made it into a ball, and threw it directly at the crown prince.

Of course, he held back his strength, and Shen Zhiwei wasn't angry at all.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince raised his wide sleeves to block the flying snowballs, and then placed his cold fingertips on the back of Shen Zhiwei's neck.

Prove with practical actions that Your Highness is still Your Highness.

"Your Highness!" Shen Zhixiao's smile froze, and the hand warmer almost fell into the snow. The collar of his mink coat was stained with snow, which melted into tiny water droplets and slid down his collarbone into his clothes.

Xiao Lingjun smiled as he brushed the snow off her shoulders. Just as he was about to say something, he heard the sound of footsteps at the end of the corridor. The eunuch who was in charge of the message came trotting in and kowtowed three times on the blue bricks. "Your Highness, the Crown Prince, the Third Prince requests an audience."

Xiao Lingjun and Shen Zhiwei exchanged a glance, and when he turned around, he had already put on the dignified smile that a crown prince should have.

"Xuan."

Xiao Wangqing came in a wheelchair. He had taken off the blue-gray robe that Shen Zhiwei had worn when they first met, and put on a red short jacket with gold edges that had a New Year atmosphere.

No one in the Xiao family has a bad appearance. Even if they are still pale and thin, even if they still have no expression, they still look handsome.

On the other hand, the young eunuch pushing the wheelchair behind him looked very ugly. He was not wearing a cotton coat, his fingertips holding the wheelchair were frozen blue and purple, and his back was shaking slightly.

Shen Zhiwei took it all in, keeping quiet and acting like a quail half a step behind the Crown Prince. She had just wanted to go into the inner room to avoid suspicion, but was stopped by Xiao Lingjun. The Crown Prince's smile made her feel uneasy, so she naturally gave up the idea of ​​refusing to leave.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you." The wheelchair stopped five steps away. Yesterday's injuries hadn't healed quickly. Xiao Wangqing accepted the cane respectfully handed to him by the eunuch beside him, stood up, bowed, and glanced at the snow-covered Shen Zhiwei's fur coat. "Your Majesty has ordered your Majesty to assist in investigating the floods in the Yangtze and Huaihe River regions."

"Third brother is still seriously injured and has not recovered yet, so why do you need such a grand gift?" Xiao Lingjun raised his hand to support him. "The emperor is compassionate and the Shu brocade he gave him actually makes my third brother look better."

Shen Zhiwei raised her head and glanced at Xiao Wangqing's face and knew that her Highness was talking nonsense again. His face was pale and his lips were white, and he looked weak. He had just been ill a few days ago and was injured like that yesterday. Xiao Wangqing needed rest the most at this time.

The emperor ordered the lame prince to assist in flood control. This was not a favor at all; it was clearly an attempt to kill him along the way.

Xiao Wangqing's expression remained unchanged. He bent down again before returning to his wheelchair. He pulled out a memorial from the Ministry of Rites from his sleeve and began to speak nonsense that the three people present knew was obvious: "Your Majesty, I am deeply loved and respected by you. I should share your worries and live up to your love for me."

Shen Zhiwei almost laughed, coughing twice and covering his lips. He turned his head and noticed that Xiao Wangqing's calf was wrapped in new gauze, and a bleeding wound could be vaguely seen, now mostly hidden by his trouser legs, as if deliberately wanting others to see it.

"Since it is the emperor's order, third brother should take care of your health." Xiao Lingjun's knuckles turned white as he took the memorial, and the smile did not reach his eyes. "The road between Jianghuai is long, and it just so happens that Shen Bantu also wants to inspect the river works on my behalf, so we can go together."

"The Third Prince has injured his bones and muscles. The long journey may aggravate his condition." Shen Zhiwei realized she had said something wrong just as she opened her mouth. Xiao Lingjun's fingers under his wide sleeves gently pinched her lower back, causing her to bite the tip of her tongue in pain.

Xiao Wangqing raised his eyes upon hearing this. His eyes, which were always shrouded in cold mist, were now exceptionally clear and expressionless, yet it seemed as if there was an invisible tail swaying behind him.

"Thank you for your concern, Master Shen. My injury has healed a lot."

Shen Zhiwei got goosebumps because of her unwarranted imagination, and when she heard him say that, the temperature of her fingertips turned cold along with her heart.

This is bad.

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There is a dog