Chapter 71 Chapter 71 "What is the reason for Master Zhang's late night visit? ...

The cell was cold and empty.

Ah Zhen chatted with Xue Yuanyin, who was chatting haphazardly and seemed a little absent-minded.

It was noon now, and the sun shone through the window, making it seem a little brighter.

After she finished her breakfast, she waited for an hour, and then another hour, until Ah Zhen brought lunch, but Zhang Jingxuan still didn't come.

Maybe the morning court meeting lasted too long and he hasn't left yet?

The old emperor is in poor health, but the country cannot be without a ruler. Isn't the crown prince about to ascend the throne? The atmosphere in the capital must be filled with joy and excitement.

Xue Yuanyin sent Ah Zhen to eat, and picked and chose in the lunch box. In the end, she only ate a piece of red radish. After tasting it, she couldn't help but spit it out.

This tastes so bad. She hates radish the most. How can Zhang Jingxuan eat it?

She reluctantly ate a few mouthfuls of rice, felt poorly hungry, and put down her chopsticks.

Having barely slept the entire night before, Xue Yuanyin asked Ah Zhen to put away the lunch box, and then she lay back on the mattress and couldn't help falling asleep.

When I woke up an hour later, the cell was empty and there was no sign that anyone had been there.

After waiting for another hour, only the high-ranking official in the scarlet robe came and told her that today was the last day of the five-day period.

Seeing that she still had no intention of speaking, he left with a hint of anger.

Xue Yuanyin propped up her chin, staring at the orange-yellow sunset that streamed in through the narrow window. Winter nights darken quickly, and today's darkening was especially fast, like a sign of impending snowfall.

I wonder when it will snow? Tonight? Tomorrow? The day after tomorrow?

Xue Yuanyin thought, I hope it will snow before tomorrow so that she can still see the snow scene.

If it snows the day after tomorrow, she won't be able to see it.

Ah Zhen knocked on the door and brought in the dinner. She couldn't help but say, "Young lady, please eat it while it's hot. You haven't eaten much these past few days."

Xue Yuanyin watched the sunset slowly set and the sky gradually darkened. She retracted her gaze and smiled at Ah Zhen:

"Silly girl."

Ah Zhen had no idea that she would be gone tomorrow night.

But Xue Yuanyin didn't tell her. Since there was someone to talk to her in prison, Ah Zhen would never know.

After dinner, the sunset glow was completely extinguished, and the dim twilight filled the prison cell.

Xue Yuanyin used the moonlight to fold little mandarin ducks out of cattails. She was a little slow and had folded another row unknowingly. She had almost pulled all the cattails bare.

When she is anxious or stressed, she likes to fold things so that she can calm down and think about things.

She knew that Prince Yu and Xue Chang had a backup plan, and she could also vaguely guess their own plan, which was nothing more than sacrificing pawns to protect the king, keeping a low profile, and waiting for a comeback.

But today she thought about it all day, and after thinking it through, she still couldn't find out what the loophole was.

Zhang Jingxuan hadn't come over all day. What had caught him off guard? He'd deliberately said those words yesterday to distance himself from her.

Xue Yuanyin felt a little anxious, even a little uneasy.

It's not that she didn't ask the jailer, but he refused to tell her anything. This state of information isolation made her like a deaf and blind person.

She desperately needed to do something to vent.

Xue Yuanyin went to the iron gate and said to the jailer:

"I'm looking for Zhang Jingxuan. Please summon him for me. I have something very important to ask him."

One of the jailers looked at him, but couldn't bear it anymore and sighed:

"Miss Xue, if you don't want to cause him any more trouble, you'd better be honest and accept the punishment obediently."

Xue Yuanyin frowned slightly.

Is something wrong?

She didn't ask any more questions and returned to her bed. Night fell and the stars hung low in the sky. It was time to go to bed.

She closed her eyes, but her mind was in turmoil, emotions piled up in her heart, and she had no desire to sleep.

Xue Yuanyin was no longer worried about herself, she was a little worried about Zhang Jingxuan.

-

It was midnight, and the Zhang family had already extinguished the lights under the eaves.

The red palace in front of him towered into the clouds. Zhang Jingxuan didn't know why he was here. He only saw a military token in his hand with the word "Wen" engraved on it.

Wenfu Order? Didn’t he already receive the Wenfu Order?

He heard a noise ahead and looked up to see his ministers gathered in the square, watching something.

He was suspicious, but also felt anxious and had a premonition. He walked over quickly and saw that everyone made way for him. A eunuch dragged a dying woman past.

There was a deep cut on the woman's neck, and blood was oozing out. She was motionless, only her chest was still rising and falling slightly, and it was obvious that she was about to die.

The eunuch turned around and dragged the almost lifeless woman away.

Someone nearby heard the news and came over. Seeing this, he smiled and explained, "It's just a female prisoner in Laurie waiting to be punished. She's dead now. We will drag her away and throw her into a mass grave immediately to avoid polluting the eyes of the adults."

Only then did Zhang Jingxuan see her face clearly.

She was a young girl with an oval face, a small nose and mouth. Her eyelids were quietly closed and her lips were pale and bloodless.

The plain clothes on his body were dotted with blood.

His heart suddenly skipped a beat, and it felt like a dense mass of needles piercing him, causing him to feel a sharp pain.

——It was a face he was very familiar with.

…

Zhang Jingxuan suddenly opened his eyes and stood up from the desk.

The room was pitch black, with only a little moonlight leaking in through the window. On the desk was a handwritten letter he had finished, a corner of which had been bent. Suddenly waking up, he realized that cold sweat had soaked through his underwear.

It turned out that I had just had a nightmare.

The pain in his neck reminded him that he had not slept well. Zhang Jingxuan moved his body slightly, feeling sticky all over. He walked out and saw Huaizhou sleeping on the floor in the outer room, keeping watch.

Hearing footsteps, Huaizhou stood up and said, "Master, are you awake?"

Zhang Jingxuan hummed, his voice slightly hoarse: "How long have I slept?"

Huaizhou said: "It took about an hour."

Zhang Jingxuan nodded and said, "Prepare some water. I want to take a bath."

Huaizhou knew that his son was a germaphobe and would not go to bed without taking a bath even at late night. He agreed and left the room.

After Zhang Jingxuan finished his bath, he came out and looked at the clepsydra. It was almost three quarters past midnight.

He wiped off the water droplets on his body, changed into a robe, and put on a crane cloak. He was dressed as usual, except that he took off the ornaments around his waist.

After his clothes were neatly arranged, he walked out of Zhanyun Courtyard.

Huaizhou looked at the young master's departing figure and asked hurriedly, "Young master, it's so late, where are you going?"

Zhang Jingxuan paused and said, "I'm going out for a while. No need to make a fuss."

After saying this, his back disappeared at the gate of Zhanyun Courtyard.

-

At the hour of Hai, every household went to bed and the capital was silent.

The pointed eaves of Zhuyue Palace were hidden in the darkness of the night, dim and gloomy. The iron door of the underground dungeon was hidden in the dark corner, and it looked cold and chilly when illuminated by the moonlight.

Zhang Jingxuan stopped in front of the dungeon door.

There was only one prisoner in this private jail. He had found an excuse to ask the prince for pardon, but he didn't expect that this excuse would become the sharp knife that catalyzed her step-by-step death.

He had regretted turning away countless times. If he had not insisted on being kept in solitary confinement by her, would the prince have not tortured her?

The dungeon door was not locked at all. Zhang Jingxuan pushed open the iron door and walked in with a torch.

The jailers were resting and were surprised to see him coming so late at night. They were about to salute him, but Zhang Jingxuan raised his hand to stop the jailers and signaled them to leave.

Ah Zhen was not here at night, and after the jailer left, there was no one else in the prison.

Zhang Jingxuan gently placed the torch on the lamppost. The people inside were asleep and unaware of his arrival.

He opened the iron gate and walked in. Using the silver light coming through the narrow window, he carefully avoided the winding chains on the ground, approached and stopped, looking at the girl curled up and sleeping on the mat.

Looking at her carefully, he realized that she had lost a lot of weight. Her slightly blunt chin had become pointed, and the soft flesh on her cheeks had disappeared. Her plain clothes made her look particularly empty.

How come you lost so much weight?

When did your body become so weak?

He had clearly told her to take good care of her, so how did she end up like this?

Zhang Jingxuan lifted his robe and sat on the edge of the couch. His fingertips slowly moved over and gently stroked her cheek.

The girl's eyes were closed, her breathing even. He knew she must be fast asleep. When the jailer reported to him today that she hadn't slept much at night in the past few days, he had sent a doctor to prepare a medicinal meal to help her sleep and mixed it into her lunch box.

She had her meal and then had a good sleep.

Didn't you see she wasn't awake yet? With her inner strength, she couldn't sense his presence. Fortunately, she was sound asleep, allowing him to take a good look at her.

He came to confirm one last time that she was safe and sound so far.

Zhang Jingxuan stood up, left the cell, went out for a while, and came back with a bowl of medicine in his hand.

The mansion always has a supply of medicinal soups for treating physical deficiency, and Mrs. Zhang drinks them on time every night. He ordered someone to bring some over. Since the mansion was close, the medicine was not yet cold when it was delivered.

Zhang Jingxuan placed the medicine bowl on the bedside, put his elbow through the back of her neck, picked her up from the couch, and leaned her against his chest.

She was so thin that it felt a bit uncomfortable to hold her in my arms.

Zhang Jingxuan straightened her tilted head, picked up the medicine bowl with his other hand, handed it to her lips, and slowly fed it into her mouth.

At first, she didn't swallow the medicine and spilled some of it. Later, perhaps she vaguely realized that someone was feeding her medicine, so she opened her lips and unconsciously swallowed the bitter medicine.

He stared at her lips as she swallowed the medicine, slightly lost in thought, thinking that on this last night of the five-day period, she was sleeping soundly and he could safely take one more look at her.

But precisely because he was distracted, he didn't notice the moment when the girl's eyelashes fluttered.

…

After feeding her the medicine, Zhang Jingxuan put down the medicine bowl, bent down and put her back on the mat.

The girl closed her eyes, breathing evenly and sleeping peacefully. The hot breath from her nose gently brushed the inside of his arm, making it a little itchy.

He glanced at her and was about to pull his arm free when the chain was pulled, making a sharp sound.

Zhang Jingxuan paused slightly.

After the chain was in place and would no longer be affected, he slowly lowered her head and slowly pulled his arm out from behind her pillow.

At this moment, the girl who was sleeping soundly suddenly opened her eyes, her eyes were extremely clear and she was not sleepy at all.

The room was dark, lit only by the silver glow and the lights outside the iron gate. In this dim and ambiguous night, she looked directly at him with these few rays of light, clearly seeing the unexpected surprise in his eyes.

She suddenly curled the corners of her lips cunningly.

Zhang Jingxuan was indeed caught off guard, and his body froze for a moment.

She reacted very quickly, grabbing his arm to prevent him from pulling away. She looked at him with round, clear eyes, with just the right amount of surprise and subtle meaning on her face:

"Oh! An acquaintance... I wonder why Master Zhang is visiting so late at night?"