72 Chapter 72

◎The Xu family's soft rice is really delicious.◎

June 8th, near noon.

The scorching summer air spread on the road like a big fire, and mixed with the blowing summer breeze, it became a continuous heat wave that hit people's faces.

Wei Che wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand, clamped his legs around the horse's belly, and ran even faster towards the city gate.

The imperial guards at the gate naturally recognized that this was the Prince of Wei who had just been appointed to the Imperial Guards for a short time, and quickly waved the crowd at the city gate to make way, clearing a clear path for the Prince of Wei.

Wei Che said "Thank you" loudly and rushed out of the city gate like a gust of wind.

It only takes half an hour to ride from the city gate to the villa under his name.

He hurried on his way under the scorching sun. As long as he thought of Xu Qinghe's clear and cold face, the heat in his body would be relieved a lot.

It turns out that this girl can also cool down the body in the summer heat. Wei Che smiled and found it interesting.

Half an hour later, he dismounted in front of the villa. One of his two subordinates, Chen An, came forward first. He was tall and thin, like a moving bamboo pole.

Wei Che threw the reins to him and asked, "Where's the princess? Did you get anything out of that little beggar?"

Chen An replied, "The princess is painting in her study. It seems she has already found out. Please ask the prince to ask the princess in person for details."

"Painting again?" Wei Che raised his eyebrows, remembering how the girl would look worried whenever her master urged her to paint when she was little, and a smile spread across the corners of his mouth.

She initially learned to paint in order to fulfill the unfulfilled wish of Princess Nan'an, but now painting has become more of a specialty.

Ever since he got her painting from a nobleman from an unknown family, he knew that this girl might be short of money, so he specially gave her all his private property after bringing her back to the Duke's Mansion from the Qi Mansion - in fact, even without this, those things should have belonged to her.

But I didn't expect that this girl was so stubborn and actually refused it.

Wei Che smiled to himself, his head down, and was about to walk towards the study, but then he turned on his toes and went in the opposite direction.

He raised his hand and sniffed his arm. The girl was very particular and liked cleanliness, so he should get himself ready before going to find her, so as not to offend her for no reason.

A quarter of an hour later, Wei Che put on a royal blue brocade round-necked robe that he had left in the villa. He casually took a towel to wipe his dripping hair clean, and tied it on top of his head with a hairband of the same color. In such hot weather, it didn't take long for his hair to dry completely.

After he finally felt refreshed, he stepped into the study room that was specially carved out in the courtyard.

The girl was wearing a blue dress that reached her chest today. She was painting at the desk with a brush in her hand. When she heard footsteps coming from the door, she stopped writing and looked up.

For some reason, Wei Che seemed to see her stunned for a moment, with a layer of mist in her dark eyes, but she came back to her senses in an instant.

She blinked to suppress the mist in her eyes, lowered her head and continued writing, saying lightly, "So it's you. Have you apologized to your mother?"

"If it's not me, who else do you think it is?" Wei Che walked over and pulled the paintbrush out of her hand. It would be fine if she couldn't compare to her precious maid, but now she couldn't even compare to a painting?

He glanced at the painting and saw a forty-year-old man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, who was not as good-looking as him.

Xu Qinghe still lowered his head, clenched his fingers and said nothing.

He seldom wore such sober and restrained colors. Just now, standing at the door in the backlight, the light and shadow blurred his edges and corners, and even his facial features were in shadow.

It was clear that the similar pair of eyebrows and eyes were gone, she couldn't even see his face clearly, and she had never seen Xie Qi as an adult, but at a certain moment, she absurdly mistook the man in front of her for an old friend.

She thought it was Xie Qi.

But when he came closer and closer, until his facial features were finally revealed in front of her, she suddenly realized that she had made a mistake.

This is really unfair to Wei Che.

So she didn't dare look up at him.

"Why are you hiding from me? Are you angry?" Wei Che sat down on the other side of the table, put down his paintbrush, and explained, "Your hands were already hurting yesterday, so why are you rushing to paint today?"

Is the lack of money so severe that we have to fight for every penny?

Xu Qinghe calmed down and forced herself to raise her head with a normal expression. She met Wei Che's smiling eyes and said, "You haven't answered my question yet."

Wei Che propped up his head and replied with a smile: "Of course, I have already coaxed her into submission. She will not misunderstand you again in the future, so don't worry."

"I've finished answering, now it's your turn." He said with a smile.

"I didn't take you for granted." Xu Qinghe rubbed his wrist and said insincerely, "I wasn't angry either. I was just blinded by the sun."

Wei Che opened his palm towards her and said, "Put your hand over here, I'll give you a massage. I learned this from a master, and I guarantee it will be comfortable."

Xu Qinghe hesitated for a moment, but finally extended his hand.

Wei Che hadn't lied to her. Compared to her own random, random pressure, his strength was gentle and moderate. She didn't know which acupoints he was pressing, but she felt her wrist sore and her entire arm stretched, relaxing her whole body and sweeping away all the fatigue from the previous half day. But...

"Your technique..."

Wei Che stopped moving immediately, his entire body frozen in place for a moment, his throat slightly dry: "...What's wrong?"

He got carried away for a moment and forgot that the so-called "expert" was himself.

When Xie Qi was young, he went to the battlefield. It was the time when young men grow up. Every time he came back, he looked different. Xu Qinghe thought it was fun, so she drew a portrait of him every time he came back.

It would have been fine if she just painted portraits, but every time she finished she would deliberately rub her wrists and complain to him that her hands were sore from painting. Xie Qi would then come over and massage her wrists with a smile.

If you press it many times, you will naturally develop a unique set of rules.

As expected, Xu Qinghe asked, "Who did you learn this technique from?"

Wei Che lowered his head, his eyes evading: "Who else could it be? The imperial physician in the palace."

Xu Qinghe suddenly held him down with his backhand, his eyes slightly cold: "Which imperial physician in the palace?"

That technique was clearly something Xie Qi gradually figured out through their interactions day after day. It was unique to Xie Qi, so how could he have learned it from the imperial physician?

Wei Che had no choice but to say half-truthfully: "Okay, I'm lying to you. I'm not with the Imperial Physician."

"Who are you with?" Xu Qinghe was determined not to give up until he achieved his goal.

She always felt that some broken clues were about to be connected into a line, but she could never grasp it.

"Remember June of the 22nd year of Yongshun? It was just as hot," Wei Che said, lost in memory. "I went to the southern border with my father and eldest sister. I met the princess then. Also present was General Xie. I complained to him that my eldest sister's hands were sore from practicing music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, so he taught me this wrist massage technique."

What he said was half true and half false.

It is true that in the 22nd year of Yongshun, Wei Yiqun took his eldest daughter Wei Fu and legitimate son Wei Che to the southern border. It is also true that Wei Che learned the wrist rubbing method from Xie Qi.

Xu Qinghe lowered his eyelashes, slowly withdrew his hand, and only hummed softly, without saying anything else.

"You and that young General Xie..." Wei Che asked tentatively.

Now that he is the Prince of Wei who is deeply in love with the princess, and the topic has brought up Xie Qi, it is reasonable for him to ask about the princess and her ex-fiancé.

However, Xu Qinghe did not want to mention this matter in front of him.

"Let's get down to business, Wei Che." She interrupted him and continued, "I just asked that little beggar, and he said that a month and a half ago, in the dense forest north of the city, he saw someone kill a teenager and bury him in the woods. It was a thunderstorm that night, and a lightning bolt happened to strike, allowing him to see the murderer's face clearly. I showed him Wei Si's portrait, and he confirmed it was Wei Si without a doubt."

Besides, they were not the first to approach the little beggar.

According to the little beggar, he accidentally saw the murderer that day, and the murderer also discovered him, so he had been tracking him down and would kill him if necessary.

Fortunately, another force was looking for him later, and the two forces confronted each other, and Wei Si was ultimately at a disadvantage.

The group that came later were more peaceful and questioned the little beggar in a nice tone. The little beggar told them everything he had seen.

This incident happened a few days ago, so Xu Qinghe guessed that the second wave of people should be related to Mr. Jiang.

But when she talked about this with Wei Che, she simply erased the matter without leaving a trace.

Wei Che pondered for a long time, his eyes falling on the paintbrush he had just put down, a smile on his face: "So that's how it is. It seems that the princess's painting has done a great job."

He suddenly raised his eyes and stared into Xu Qinghe's. "I just don't know where the princess got those portraits from? From Wei Si in the beginning, to Xun Fang later, and now to the little beggar."

Where did she, a princess living in the backyard, get all these portraits related to Xu Zhou's disappearance?

His gaze was too direct and too scorching. When Xu Qinghe first met it, she felt as if she had been seen through and felt very guilty.

She looked away and remained silent for a long time.

"Wei Che, I don't want to tell you. I also... don't want to lie to you."

She would not put all her chips on Wei Che alone, nor did she want him to know and control all her cards.

"If you don't want to say it, then don't say it. I won't force you." Wei Che laughed softly, gently took her right hand that she had just withdrawn, and rubbed her wrist again.

He knew that this was the self-protection method she had learned in the past five years.

She came to Beijing alone, and there was no one she could trust except Nanzhi. If she had not remained vigilant all these years, she might have been cheated to the point of being completely deceived.

They had only been reunited for half a year, and had only been together day and night for a month, so it was normal for her to be wary of him.

"Are these two portraits on the table also the ones you obtained through that method you don't want to tell me about or lie to me about? Are they also related to Wei Si?"

The three portraits on Table Mountain were the ones Xu Qinghe had spent most of the day painting from Mr. Jiang yesterday. She had already given all the portraits from yesterday to Mr. Jiang, and the two she had painted this morning after questioning the little beggar. Wei Che had just finished the third when she entered.

"There were supposed to be five paintings, but there are still two left. I don't know if they are related to Wei Si, but I just think these people's features are familiar. Can you take a look and see if you recognize them?"

She had lived in the deep palace for many years and didn't know many people in the capital. She only vaguely felt that these people's facial features had some similarities in kinship, and at the same time... they seemed to be somewhat similar to someone she had met.

For a moment, both of them leaned over to look at the three portraits on the table, carefully scanning each person's facial features and attire.

Finally, almost at the same time, the two said in unison: "It's the Wei family."

——He is a relative of the Wei family.

Because they are all from the Wei family, their facial features are very similar; because Xu Qinghe has met Wei Ming, Queen Mother Wei and others, he feels familiar with them.

But at the same time, because these people were only branches of the Wei family and had never appeared often in official circles or at banquets, the two of them did not recognize them at first.

Although he already had a guess in his mind, Xu Qinghe quickly picked up the pen again, intending to quickly draw the other two portraits.

Wei Che opened his mouth to dissuade him, but in the end he didn't say anything.

He just sat aside, leaving her enough light to watch her with her bright eyes as she drew out the clues they had been following all the way, stroke by stroke.

If he had not made up his mind to get this girl back, he really didn't know how far he would have gone in his search for the truth.

From this perspective, he seemed to have really become what those young men in the Southern Territory mocked him as when he was young, a "giant son-in-law".

What's wrong with being a gigolo?

What's wrong with being a son-in-law?

At least Xie Qi had a chance before, and those people just said the grapes were sour because they couldn't eat them.

After all, once you have a taste of the Xu family's free food, you will become addicted.

【Author’s words】

It's late again

——

Fixed some settings