Chapter 131 The main text is completed. The main text is completed.

"...If a person walks in the snow for too long, their eyes will burn and they will only be able to see the snow. This is snow blindness, which is somewhat similar to Madam Jiang's symptoms."

"The eye disease is secondary. I'm afraid she'll continue to be in a trance, her spirit wandering, and eventually her life will be in jeopardy."

"Your Highness the Princess has given us a real dilemma. Should we pursue conservative treatment or take drastic measures?"

"Go ask Doctor Zhang."

"The princess has a miscarriage, and Doctor Zhang can't get away..."

Cong Ying lay stiffly on the sickbed, listening to the buzzing discussion of the imperial doctors outside the screen.

Sometimes their voices would disappear, and someone would come to see her, hold her hand and say some comforting words, or sob loudly and softly, making her feel upset.

She wanted to cry too, but she had no tears left.

She didn't know how many days and nights had passed before she heard a familiar voice and her eyelids twitched suddenly.

"I have vowed to stay out of worldly affairs, but you have saved so many girls at Xuandu Temple. I owe you a favor, so I have no choice but to break this rule."

The Lord of the Crimson Cloud Crown held hers with his cool hand, then stuffed a letter into her palm.

"This is what Xie Xuanlan asked me to bring to you."

Hearing this, Zui Ying's hand at her side twitched, and a look of disbelief appeared in her blank eyes.

The Crimson Cloud Crown Master said, "He said fifteen years was too long and he couldn't bear to see you endure such hardship, so he used months instead of years and asked you to meet him in fifteen months."

Cong Ying said in a hoarse voice, "But I saw him put into the coffin with my own eyes... How could it be possible... He still hates me for lying to him, so he deliberately retaliated... to get revenge on me..."

She had thrown herself into a pool of blood and confirmed that both of them were dead.

The King of Jin was of noble status, so he was invited to return to Yunjing for burial. However, Xie Xuanlan's body was intercepted by Taoist Taixiao who arrived in a hurry.

Taoist Tai Xiao had a sly look on his face and said with a flattering smile, "This person had too much evil spirit in his life. He needs to be buried several times before he can be buried. Otherwise, he will turn into a plague monster and bring unrest to the world."

At that time, Cong Ying was distracted and did not make any decision, so Xie Xuanlan's body was handed over.

Now that she thought about it, even though that old Taoist with a big nose was unreliable, he was still the elder brother of the Master of the Crimson Cloud Clan. A thought arose in Ying's heart that she couldn't believe, yet she didn't want to ignore. She clutched the corner of the Master's clothes, wanting to ask but fearing it was just wishful thinking: "He...he...he really..."

The crown master did not give her a clear answer. He just patted the back of her hand soothingly, stood up and left.

Zong Ying was feeling uneasy, her anticipation mixed with hidden worries. She didn't dare to rejoice uncontrollably. She used all her strength to stand up and patted the bed, "Medicine..."

As the medicine entered her mouth, it felt like the smell of blood dissolving in her mouth. After swallowing the bowl of soup, she vomited out most of it. Her stubborn temper flared up again, and she asked for another bowl. She drank it, vomited again, and then continued drinking.

After three or five days of hard work, Cong Ying finally recovered some strength and was able to get out of bed and walk around.

However, his eyes showed no signs of improvement. No matter whether it was day or night, everything he saw was a hazy blood mist.

Princess Chun'an was afraid that others would mention Prince Jin or Xie Xuanlan and hurt her feelings, so she kept her in confinement and allowed no one to disturb her. But there was still one thing, perhaps out of sheer desperation, that she brought to the attention of Cong Ying.

This was told to her by Zi Su.

"The person in charge of searching the Xie residence was Wei Ji. He deliberately made things difficult for Xie Miaozhu, forcing her to crawl out through the dog hole or he would kill her maid. Xie Miaozhu did, but he still wouldn't let her go and even forced her to commit suicide."

Cong Ying slowly frowned: "Xie Xiang and San Lang are both gone. Given Liu Niang's temper, I'm afraid she won't tolerate him..."

Zi Su said, "You guessed right. Xie Miaozhu stabbed Wei Ji with a dagger. Wei Ji's life or death is unknown. Xie Miaozhu was taken to the Dali Temple prison. I'm afraid it won't end well. The Third Young Master was kind to me in the past. I wanted to plead for Liu Niang, but I'm not as close to the princess as Wei Yin'er, so I had to tell you."

After hearing this, Cong Ying said, "I'll go see her."

She forced herself to change her clothes and wash up, and with the help of Zisu, she went to the Dali Temple prison to see Xie Miaozhu.

Xie Miaozhu stubbornly said that she didn't want to interfere. Congying sighed, but before she could say anything, Xie Miaozhu started crying in grievance. Suddenly, she threw herself into Congying's arms like a dog-skin plaster and said, "I miss my third brother. He will never come to help me vent my anger again..."

Zong Ying's nose felt sore, and he patted her shoulder gently: "And your third sister-in-law."

In her capacity as Princess Jin, she forcibly took Xie Miaozhu out of prison and sent him to Jisuyuan, where he had lived before. She sent someone to inform Madam Xie, and then went to the Princess's Mansion to meet Princess Chun'an.

She recounted the twists and turns to the princess and wanted to plead for Xie Miaozhu, but the princess did not listen carefully and just stared at her.

"Aying, you're finally cheering up."

Cong Ying paused slightly and replied, "Just reluctantly."

"What about your eyes? Still can't see?"

Cong Ying shook his head.

The princess said, "In his will, the Prince of Jin has handed over all his authority to you. Since His Majesty has approved it, there is no need to ask for my approval for such a trivial matter as clearing an injustice and adjudicating a case. You can handle it yourself."

"But Yin'er..."

"She won't blame you, but she won't let Xie Miaozhu go either."

The princess paused and said, "So, if you want to protect Xie Miaozhu, you can't just protect her once, you have to protect her for a long time, understand?"

After Cong Ying left, Princess Chun'an fell into deep thought. Coincidentally, Xue Luwei, the acting headmaster of Taiyi Women's School, came to see her.

After discussing the chores, the princess told Xue Luwei about this matter and sighed to herself, "Perhaps my previous approach was wrong. Cong Ying shouldn't be pampered, lest she become obsessed with her sorrow and unable to get over it. I should find something else to keep her concerned about, something she can't let go of."

She told Xue Luwei some things, and a few days later, Xue Luwei went to visit Congying in the name of seeking advice.

Xue Luwei was very anxious. "Aying, something has happened. Recently, many court officials have jointly petitioned the emperor to abolish the Taiyi Women's School, or to bring the women's school under the jurisdiction of the Imperial College. At the same time, all female teachers should be dismissed and those sour scholars in the Hanlin Academy should be allowed to teach instead."

Cong Ying quickly asked, "Why did they suddenly attack?"

Xue Luwei: "The apparent reason is that many Taiyi students are no longer willing to submit to their parents' wishes and marry. In reality, these court officials are here for the princess."

"Is it about conferring the title of Princess Zhenguo on His Highness?"

"That's right." Xue Luwei said, "The Princess Zhenguo is only one title away from being crown prince. These officials are afraid that after the princess ascends the throne, she will promote Taiyi's disciples and squeeze out their positions."

Cong Ying fell into deep thought: "Although it is understandable, they are too impatient."

Xue Luwei sighed and held her hand: "Aying, what do you think we should do?"

Congying patted her hand soothingly: "It's okay, I will help you." Taiyi is her hard work, and the princess is her master. Congying will never watch her life's career being trampled upon by others.

Xue Luwei was very happy to get her promise: "Then you must take good care of your health. I will tell His Highness the good news right away!"

So during the following days, Cong Ying no longer had time to lie in bed and lament the passing of time. Even when she was receiving acupuncture and taking medicine, she had to listen to several female officials take turns reading to her the copied memorials from court officials, and then she would verbally refute them one by one and have someone transcribe them.

For some unknown reason, the princess assigned Gan Jiu to be by Cong Ying's side and await orders.

After only two weeks, Congying was already feeling a headache from Gan Jiu's stupidity. She had three main phrases around Congying: What, Why, and Why? She was bound to offer a counter-argument to any point Congying raised, and she was bound to reveal something about anything Congying instructed her to do.

If this matter was not related to the princess's accession to the throne, Cong Ying would have suspected that she was deliberately looking for trouble.

Cong Ying was really worried about having such a stupid aide serving as the first female official beside the princess, giving her advice from time to time. Therefore, she became more and more concerned about the princess's affairs and devoted almost all her attention to it all day long.

In fact, Gan Jiu did it on purpose.

Seeing that Congying was busy and exhausted, she went to Princess Chun'an and acted coquettishly, "Your Highness is really kind to me. In order to let me vent my anger, she specially asked me to go and mess with her. I am just a little embarrassed to bully a blind man."

The princess smiled but said nothing.

Cong Ying had twice led the Taiyi Women's Academy to victory in the Qinglun Debate. With her as the backbone, the atmosphere of uncertainty and depression within the Taiyi Academy was lifted. Following the example of their predecessors, Taiyi students traveled in groups to the local prefectures and counties to study, partly to escape the limelight of the court, and partly to spread the princess's influence and safeguard the Taiyi Academy's reputation.

The temple became Cong Ying's main battlefield.

On the one hand, she summoned the censors loyal to the princess and taught them how to refute remarks unfavorable to the princess in the court. On the other hand, she used the power left to her by the King of Jin to use some political tactics of divide and conquer behind the scenes.

For example, some of the censors who submitted the same impeachment letter were promoted while others were sent away, which made them feel unfair towards each other.

As for the allied families maintained through marriage, they sent people to spy on their secrets and to sow discord.

These methods were not very glorious, but they were very effective. By the end of October, when the first snow fell in Yunjing, the voices against Princess Chun'an in the court gradually died down.

"It's snowing! It's snowing!"

Cong He ran around in the yard, pinched out a solid snowball, brought it in and stuffed it into Cong Ying's hand: "Sister, feel it."

"It's very cold." Cong Ying smiled: "It's beautiful outside, right?"

There seemed to be a hint of melancholy in her gentle expression, and it was unclear whether it was for herself or for something else.

Princess Chun'an—who had been granted the title of Princess Zhenguo yesterday, enjoying the honor of a crown prince—was now sitting across from her, pouring her tea across a small table. She put the snowball away, replaced it with a cup of hot tea, and sighed slightly, "Half a year has already passed in the blink of an eye."

Ying thought silently in her heart that there were still nine months to go.

Although she had hope in her heart, she did not dare to expect the days to pass too quickly. She was afraid that after enduring these nine months, there would not even be a spark of hope left among the ashes.

The princess said, "I originally wanted to promote you to be the secretary of the Princess's Palace, but too many people have complained about your eyes. For now, you will be forced to be a servant. After the New Year, I will send someone to find the teacher of Zhang Yizheng, who is said to be a descendant of Zhang Zhongjing. I will help cure your eyes as soon as possible so that you can return to the court to serve as an official."

Cong Ying thanked her: "Your Highness, I am sorry for taking such trouble for me."

Her attitude was indifferent, without much desire, as if regaining her sight was just an insignificant matter to her.

Her reaction made the princess feel nervous.

Yes, now the dispute over the Eastern Palace is almost settled. A few years ago, Cheng Danyin brought Xie Miaozhu to say goodbye and left Yunjing to return to Chenjun. Princess Xuande gave birth to a son, who inherited the title of Prince of Jin. The atmosphere of grief in the Prince of Jin's Mansion gradually disappeared.

Everything that worried Cong Ying was slowly getting better, but she herself seemed to be stuck in a pool of blood in Xuandu Temple, never taking a single step forward.

Cong Ying took a sip of tea and said, "There is one thing I must ask for Your Highness's permission."

The princess perked up: "Go ahead."

"Ah He has grown up. I want her to go to Xizhou and start as a centurion. That way, someone can help the princess keep an eye on Prince Consort Xuan. The military power of Xizhou cannot always be in the hands of others. If she is lucky in the future, maybe she can help the princess take it back."

The princess' heart skipped a beat.

What Ying said was not wrong in itself, but the tone in which she said it gave off a sense of unease, as if she was making arrangements for her affairs after death.

The princess pondered for a moment and said, "Aying, you've read so much. You must understand the meaning of 'Duke Zhou feared rumors, and Wang Mang was humble before he usurped the throne. Had he died then, who would have known the truth about his life?'"

Xie Xuanlan led his troops to besiege Yunjing not for rebellion, but after his death, no one cared about his true intentions.

"It's okay that you're weak, but don't you care about his reputation after his death? If you're unwilling to write a history book for him, I'm afraid he'll be nailed as a traitor for eternity." The princess pondered and finally thought of another thing that Congying would definitely care about.

Cong Ying was stunned, then smiled: "Your Highness, that's not what I meant, don't worry."

Thinking about how busy the princess has been these days, yet she still has to pay attention to her condition from time to time, Cong Ying felt a warm feeling in her heart.

She rubbed her hand and reached out to hold the princess's hand: "I arranged all this just to recuperate and heal my eyes."

After thinking for a moment, he assured her, "Even if the Lord of the Crimson Cloud Crown is lying to me, even if he never comes back, I will not commit suicide. I will live well."

After all, her life not only carries her own sorrows and joys, but is also the one that Xie Xuanlan exchanged for his life, and is protected by the princess in every possible way.

She repeated solemnly: "I will live well."

Even if life is not happy, it will always be immersed in his blood.

＊

Winter goes and spring comes, autumn follows the end of summer.

The fifteenth month has arrived.

There was no movement from Xuandu Temple, and the Lord of the Crimson Cloud Crown was nowhere to be found.

Cong Ying remained as gentle and calm as usual, showing no emotional fluctuations. However, the people around her who knew about this, such as Princess Zhenguo, Zi Su, etc., were all extremely nervous. They had to pretend to be indifferent in front of Cong Ying, and at the same time, they had to be careful not to say the wrong thing.

The atmosphere in Jisu Garden was strangely depressing.

There was only one person who was very happy, and that was Du Rupan who came to propose marriage.

He stood before Cong Ying, and although he knew she couldn't see him, he still bowed respectfully, unable to contain the excitement in his voice, as he said to her:

"Last month, I had the honor of attending the Taiyi Qingtanhui. They discussed the issue of women remarrying, saying it should be treated with the same tolerance as men remarrying. I thought that Madam Jiang was a trusted minister of the princess and was admired by women all over the country. If she could take the lead in remarrying with the old status of Princess Jin, she would surely set an example for women all over the country. So, so..."

He thought for a long time, and seeing that Congying was only smiling slightly, he mustered up the courage to say, "So I want to ask Madam Jiang, are you willing to abandon your sinking boat and sick tree and marry me?"

Cong Ying asked, "What day is today?"

Du Rupan said, "It's already July 26th."

Yesterday was the fifteenth day of the lunar month. Ying thought quietly in her heart.

Du Rupan had already prepared himself for a setback, but unexpectedly, after a while, Cong Ying nodded and said, "Okay, I promise you, you can come and propose marriage in three days."

After being stunned for a moment, Du Rupan was overjoyed and went home in a daze to prepare the marriage proposal and the betrothal gifts.

The news spread quickly.

The princess was surprised, and Zisu was horrified. They all tried to persuade her, "If you really want to get married, there are many good men in the world. Why choose him? Du Rupan is a bit petty after all."

Cong Ying shook her head and said, "No need, he is the most suitable."

Cong Ying did not say what was the most suitable one, and others did not dare to ask more.

The news spread for three days and soon reached Xuandu Temple.

Three days later, Du Rupan arrived to propose marriage, carrying large and small boxes of betrothal gifts. However, due to the hasty preparations, the boxes were not of the same specifications, and the rented carriages had not been reinforced in advance. As the convoy moved along, the boxes inexplicably became scattered, and precious gold, silver, jewelry, famous paintings, and ancient books were scattered along the road. When Du Rupan discovered this, he hurried back along the way to collect the items and return them to passers-by one by one.

And so the auspicious time was missed.

Congying was not in a hurry and sat in the flower hall to paint a picture.

Her eyes were still blind. Zhang Zhongjing's descendants came to see her and said that she had a heart disease.

Since it is a heart disease, just take things as they come.

Although she couldn't see, she didn't write randomly, but was still very methodical. In a moment, she sketched out the outline of a person, holding a knife and leaning against an osmanthus tree.

"Perilla, Perilla, help me get some red ink." Cong Ying shouted.

No one agreed for a long time, and Cong Ying didn't force it, thinking: I'll just use black ink.

She was about to put pen to paper when a hand grabbed her wrist.

Cong Ying was startled because she didn't hear any footsteps and didn't know when someone came to her side.

It seemed to be a man, his knuckles slender and strong as he gripped her, the calloused fingers rubbing slowly against her wrist. Zong Ying seemed to sense something, but she didn't cry out. She simply turned her head in the man's direction, trying to see him clearly with her unfocused eyes.

She appeared calm on the surface, but her pulse was beating rapidly.

"When did you become so impatient? Why not wait a little longer?"

His voice was clear and light, with a barely perceptible sigh, like an old, dusty string in his heart being suddenly plucked.

Zong Ying's whole body began to tremble, from her wrists to her whole body, her eyelashes trembled uncontrollably, she blinked, and suddenly two lines of tears fell.

She herself couldn't see that the tears were red.

This was the first time she cried since she became blind.

This scene seemed to have shocked the person in front of him. He didn't speak for a long time until the blood-red tears fell on the drawing paper, flowing all over the place where she had originally wanted to fill with red ink.

It's his sleeve.

Suddenly, Cong Ying was embraced by someone. His heartbeat and body temperature were clearly transmitted to her through the clothes, as well as his choked, pitying voice: "A Ying, my A Ying..."

…

It was not until dusk that the locked door of the study was finally opened.

The pens, ink, paper and inkstone on the table were all swept to the floor, and the unfinished painting was hung beside the couch with great care.

The green gauze curtain of the small couch had fallen, revealing Cong Ying, who had fallen asleep from exhaustion, lying inside. Her eyes were still red, and tears were still hanging on her long eyelashes.

Xie Xuanlan looked at her, then looked at the purple bite marks on his wrist, and suddenly smiled.

As he laughed, he lowered his eyes and sighed.

Thinking back to when they were deeply in love, Cong Ying, who had been silent all this time, suddenly grabbed his hand and asked him, "Who are you... Are you Saburo, or His Highness?"

His tone and intonation sounded like that of the Prince of Jin, but his body was young and strong. She could still feel the arrow marks from the past on his chest. The strong force between their entanglements reminded her of the feeling when they were hanging out in Xizhou.

Xie Xuanlan responded with a kiss, and after a while he said, "I don't know."

The memories of the two people merged in his mind, and he couldn't tell who he was.

He held Ying's fingertips and traced his own outline, from his eyebrows to the bridge of his nose, lips, Adam's apple, and all the way down. Where she touched, it was as if tiny flames ignited, burning away all the pain and confusion he had felt since waking up. His torn soul slowly healed, and the ethereal feeling settled into her palm.

He kissed Congying's eyes and watched her tears gradually turn from blood red to clear.

"I am whoever you like, and you will be my home from now on." He whispered in her ear.

Her tear-washed eyes slowly came into focus, reflecting his face, and then she raised her hand and touched his face accurately.

Xie Xuanlan was surprised, and suddenly paused. He asked her tentatively: "Can you... see?"

Cong Ying said, "I recognized you."

Whether it is Prince Jin or Xie Xuanlan, they are both her Sanlang.

【End of the article】

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The author has something to say: The main text of "From Firefly" has come to an end. After a few days of rest, I will start updating the extra chapters, which will include at least the following two parts:

(1) The daily life continues after the end of the main text; (2) Prince Jin and Xie Xuanlan appear by chance and separate into two people.

There may be other content. The specific number of extra chapters will be determined based on the data after the main text is completed and the requirements of the ranking list.

Thank you all for walking this long way with me! Maybe I'm not perfect, but I love you all! [Spread flowers][Spread flowers][Spread flowers]