17 Rain Like Tears

◎But soon Ciying couldn't laugh anymore.◎

All the noise around them fell silent again. The old lady struggled to sit up from the bed, but she fainted from anger. Xie Huachang supported the old lady, shouting, "Father, Father!"

The imperial physician hurried forward to take the patient's pulse, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with one hand. The servants in the room had all knelt down again at some point, and when they lowered their heads, they looked at each other in bewilderment.

Amidst the chaos and war, Ciying's heart sank into a lake of silence.

The sun shone quietly among the wild forests and mountains, and her heart rolled like the lake.

She looked at Xie Huaijin standing in front of her and looked at him for a long time.

The young man didn't seem to think that what he said was anything significant. He just looked down at her gently, then took her hand and left the room in the mess.

After getting married, Ci Ying rarely spent such a long time with Xie Huaijin.

A light rain had begun to fall on the corridor. The two stood at the end of the corridor, and the servant turned to fetch an oil-paper umbrella. Ci Ying was a step behind Xie Huaijin, a habit she had inherited from her time as a slave. Even though things had changed around her, she hadn't changed these subtle habits.

Xie Huaijin let go of her hand. The vines on the October Corridor were still green. Ci Ying looked at Xie Huaijin. Like many of her previous dreams, she put on the identity of a wife and finally saw her own shadow in that person's eyes.

Xie Huaijin didn't seem to care much about Ci Ying's eyes. He stretched out his hand, and Mo Yu beside him respectfully handed him a purse. Xie Huaijin glanced at Ci Ying, and Ci Ying felt blessed and slowly stretched out her hand.

The young man smiled silently and placed the purse in Ciying's palm. Before Ciying turned over, he gently wrapped his hand around Ciying's hand. The touch of his fingers, which was as cool as jade, made Ciying retract her hand and hold the heavy object in her palm.

"It's the seal of the mansion. It should have been given to you on the day you married in, but grandma kept finding excuses to refuse." Xie Huaijin's voice was gentle as he carefully explained the whole story. "Now that grandma is ill, it's time to return it to its original owner."

Ci Ying stared at Xie Huaijin blankly, trying to figure out the logic.

But after thinking about it, I can only think that Xie Huaijin is a very good person.

He is a good person, so he never argues with her about the flower viewing banquet and the engagement. So even if from his point of view she used such means to marry him, he will still respect her as a wife.

Ci Ying held the seal in her hand. The seal was not big, just small, and not heavy, but on this rainy afternoon, Ci Ying still felt the weight.

Perhaps her thoughts were clearly written on her face. Xie Huaijin leaned over, brushed off a damp green leaf from her shoulder, and gently instructed, "Ciying, you must fight for what belongs to you."

The young man's hands were white and slender, with distinct joints. Broken green leaves kissed his pale fingers and fell into the soil with the wind in the corridor.

Ci Ying raised her eyes, her heartbeat was almost inaudible. The young man hung the rope of her purse on her fingertips. In the brief moment of contact, Ci Ying saw the long steps covered in snow in her youthful dreams.

The servant then presented an oil-paper umbrella. Xie Huaijin happened to turn around, and Ci Ying opened her mouth but didn't know what to say. In the moment of hesitation, Xie Huaijin had already taken the umbrella and left. Ci Ying stood at the end of the corridor, holding the seal in her hand, gazing at the young man's slender, bamboo-like figure from afar.

She tightened the seal again and her eyes slowly dropped.

Xiaowan was about to say, "Young Madam, you should try to keep the young master," but when she looked at Ciying, Ciying smiled happily at her. Xiaowan's originally tense face also softened, and finally she simply suppressed her original words and stepped forward to support Ciying.

The two of them looked at the purse in Ciying's hand, as if looking at the future.

At that time, Ci Ying felt that she was only one step away from her lover who was once far away from her. They were still young, and spring, summer, autumn and winter would all become bridges for her to walk towards that person.

The head of the household was not as complicated as Ciying had thought before. After she really understood everything, she found that what the old lady had in her hands was very limited.

Of course, this is limited only from the perspective of the entire Xie family. What Xie Huaijin gave her was equivalent to peeling off a layer of flesh from the old lady, so that she would have something to do on a daily basis.

Although things weren't complicated, Ciying still made a lot of jokes in the beginning when she was new and inexperienced, but no one would laugh in front of her. Occasionally, Ciying would still hear gossip in the mansion, but it was much less than when she first got married.

In November, the old lady announced her recovery and attempted to get the seal back from Ciying, but no one paid any attention. A lot had happened in the Xie family recently, and everyone was in danger, with no one to support the old lady.

In this way, although the old lady fell ill two or three times, the seal was still firmly in Ciying's hands.

Ciying only heard Xiaowan talk about these farces when she was busy with work. Xiaowan was very happy to talk about them, and Ciying felt happy too. The old lady sent people to call Ciying several times, but she always refused because of her poor health.

Although the old lady knew about it, she could do nothing about it. Xiaowan had advised her twice, but Ciying felt that if she went there, the old lady would only get angrier, and she didn't need to rush to bring bad luck upon herself.

In mid-November, I heard that the old lady had a very bad temper, which made her completely sick. She said that she needed the younger generation to take care of her.

Upon hearing the news, Ci Ying felt that she could not escape this time. She pushed aside some of the things at hand and made arrangements for the next few months. While she was flipping through books in the study, thinking about how to waste less time, Zhu Yi knocked on the study door.

Xiaowan brought Zhuyi in. A month later, Ciying heard about Xie Huaijin again.

Zhu Yi said, "Anhuai has suffered another flood. It's almost December now, and the weather is freezing. The crops are rotting. Even with warehouses open, people are still starving and struggling. The emperor has noticed something is wrong and has sent you to Anhuai to provide disaster relief and comfort the people."

Ciying closed the book and frowned slightly.

Zhu Yi said again, "The young master said Anhuai is the young lady's hometown. The lady must be worried about it. I want to ask if the lady wants to go with him."

When Zhu finished speaking, Ci Ying was stunned for a moment: "Are you going together?"

Zhu Yi was still kneeling on the ground and nodded.

Ciying naturally agreed.

Her impression of her hometown... only lingered on the words of the young man: "Ciying, your mother jumped into the well yesterday. From now on, just pretend that your parents don't exist in this world."

After entering the Xie Mansion, Ci Ying stayed with Xie Suwei and had not left Chang'an in the past ten years. In these years, she had not seen that boy again, so she had no idea what had become of the others.

Hometown...If possible, Ciying just wants to burn a stick of incense for the embroiderer.

On the day of her visit, she heard that the old lady's illness had become more serious, and she specifically asked Ciying to go and take care of her. Ciying turned around and listened to the report. She knew very well that the matter in the study had leaked out, and it was the old lady's doing.

She looked at Xie Huaijin. The young man didn't make a decision for her directly as he had before. Instead, he looked at her quietly. The servants knelt together, shrouding the hall like a gloomy rain. Ci Ying clenched her hands, and without much regard for etiquette, she ran to Xie Huaijin and whispered, "Should I bring anything else?"

Xie Huaijin said no.

Ci Ying held Xie Huaijin's hand, her palm trembling slightly.

The young man felt it and held her hand tightly.

The servant knelt behind her and kowtowed to Ci Ying: "Young Madam, Young Madam, the old lady said that she must see you today..."

Ci Ying was not very good at dealing with this kind of thing, or no matter how she dealt with it, it would not be appropriate, so she took a light step and hid behind Xie Huaijin.

When everyone looked up again, they saw Xie Huaijin's cold face. He knelt again, but stopped saying those words.

Zhu Er burst out laughing, and Zhu Yi looked at him coldly. Zhu Er made a face at Zhu Yi and stood with his back to the wall as punishment. Mo Yu looked at Ci Ying quietly, her face flushed. She was obviously not very good at doing this kind of thing. The fingers pinching Xie Huaijin's sleeve trembled several times.

In the carriage, Ci Ying covered her face with a book. The carriage was large, and Ci Ying sat on one side, Xie Huaijin across from her. The longer she was in the carriage, the longer Ci Ying covered her face with the book.

Xie Huaijin didn't care at first. The sunlight poured into the carriage and bounced around on Ci Ying's body opposite him as the carriage shook. His fingers were inevitably stained with it.

When Xie Huaijin was about to get off the carriage as they were leaving the city gate, he discovered that Ci Ying was already fast asleep. When the carriage stopped, she suddenly fell asleep in Xiaowan's arms. Xie Huaijin stopped in his tracks as he was about to get off the carriage, sat down, and looked at Mo Yu beside him.

Mo Yu got off the carriage and took out the token from his sleeve. The soldiers bowed their heads and saluted: "Thank you, sir."

The carriage quickly drove out of the city. Xie Huaijin bent down to pick up the scroll on the ground, his eyes lingering on Ciying's face for a moment. Ciying was completely unaware of this. She had been so exhausted from arranging the subsequent affairs in the past few days that she fell asleep with the scroll blocking out the light. When she woke up, it was already dusk.

Ci Ying was stunned. When she opened her eyes, the carriage was still moving.

The sound of wind rustled by her ears, and the sunset over the mountains was beautiful. Ci Ying looked up and saw Xie Huaijin, dressed in green, brewing tea. Seeing that she had woken up, the young man leisurely handed her a cup and said gently, "Awake?"

The tea was warm, not scalding. Ci Ying couldn't tell what it was, but she knew it was of the best quality. Inside the carriage, Xie Huaijin quietly sipped his tea. A subtle crackling sound came from the stove. The light of the setting sun outside, mixed with the light of the flowing water, fell on the carriage. Ci Ying quietly gazed at the mountain scenery, a smile on her lips.

But soon Ciying could no longer laugh.

The closer they got to Anhuai, the more chaotic the roads became. On the morning of the fifth day of their journey, Ci Ying even saw the body of a young child on the side of the road, and they were still a day's drive away from Anhuai.

All this was familiar, and reminded Ci Ying of what happened when she was six years old.

As if seeing her reluctance, the carriage stopped when there was no one around. Zhu Yi and Zhu Er remained indifferent while Ci Ying ran down.

No one stopped her. The child's body was stiff and looked like he had been dead for two days.

Ci Ying didn’t have such a good look, she carefully picked up the child and checked his breath with her hand.

But how can a dead person breathe?

Ci Ying was stunned, her eyes fixed, and her hand touched the wound on the child's neck. The dried blood stained the girl's fair skin.

The child did not die of starvation, but was killed by a knife.

In the carriage, Xie Huaijin quietly looked at Ci Ying who was holding the child.

His wife's eyes turned red for a strange child.

In times of famine and chaos, the rain is like tears.

【Author’s words】

I can't seem to make up for yesterday's chapter. I'm accompanying my friend on his birthday. I'll update more on the day I become a V, darlings [pigeon]