Chapter 11: His secret crush on someone else was completely obvious...

Zhu Qing stared at the painting of the lady for a long time, but couldn't recognize who she was. He only felt that the forsythia in the background was so beautiful and lifelike, as if it were fresh and fragrant.

The person with such painting skills must be an extraordinary scholar or artist. And since this is Feng Huaihe's territory, Zhu Qing doesn't need to think to know who painted it.

It's unclear why Feng Huaihe hung the painting here instead of in his bedroom. After all, someone who paints something personally must cherish it deeply, and it should be carried close at hand at all times.

Thinking this, Zhu Qing tied her sash, left the room, and headed to the small kitchen.

On the way, I was still thinking that I never expected Feng Huaihe would secretly have a crush on someone else, and he didn't even dare to draw the girl's face.

Zhu Qing had assumed that someone who had reached Feng Huaihe's level in life would be indifferent to all desires. She wondered, however, what kind of girl could catch the eye of someone like him?

As the gentle evening breeze blew, Zhu Qingluan went to the small kitchen, lost in thought.

It was late at night, and a warm red and yellow light shone through the small, paper-covered window in the kitchen. In the distance, Zhu Qing saw Bao Bao lying on the windowsill. Hearing his own footsteps, Bao Bao got up, stretched, jumped off the windowsill, and happily ran towards Zhu Qing.

Zhu Qing even heard it snoring as it ran, and when it got to her feet, it rubbed against her calves vigorously.

Zhu Qing squatted down, picked it up, and walked towards the kitchen.

The kitchen was filled with the bitter smell of medicine. Feng Huaihe sat by the small stove, the flickering fire making his face look gentle. The medicine pot on the stove was bubbling and steaming.

It was warm here, and the coldness on Zhu Qing's body was immediately relieved. She put Bao Bao down, pulled up a small stool and sat down next to Feng Huaihe. Bao Bao followed her and lay down at her feet, snoring.

Feng Huaihe ladled out a bowl of medicine and handed it to Zhu Qing, saying, "Be careful, it's hot."

Zhu Qing took it and found that the rim of the medicine bowl was wrapped with a clean white cloth, and it wasn't hot to the touch.

She blew on the medicine in the bowl and saw its dark color, which suddenly reminded her of the blood from Hua Ning's wound.

Instantly, I realized that the medicine didn't taste bitter, but rather fishy.

Feng Huaihe picked up a fire poker and poked at the stove fire. Noticing that Zhu Qing hadn't moved, he turned his head slightly to look and saw her staring at the medicine bowl without moving, her eyes blank and cold.

The cat at her feet was sleeping peacefully, and only the fire in the stove in front of her flickered from time to time. She was nestled in the yellow light of the fire, as distant as a dream.

Feng Huaihe was mesmerized, thinking of Zhu Qing from his past life and Zhu Qing in this life, both of whom were very close to him, yet seemed to be separated by countless chasms.

The heat from the fire stirred up Zhu Qing's hair ribbon. As Feng Huaihe watched, he couldn't help but reach out to the light blue ribbon. The ribbon fluttered and slipped into his palm; it was soft, cool, and refreshing.

He recalled the disappointed look on Zhu Qing's face in his previous life when she held a headscarf and offered to tie his hair up, only to be refused.

Nowadays, men mostly wear headscarves and women mostly wear headscarves, but Zhu Qing prefers to tie her hair up with a hairband. She says that this not only doesn't make her look old like a headscarf, but also makes her hair long and flowing like hair, without obscuring her identity as a woman.

In her past life, she was the same. The world looked down on women, but she made no attempt to hide it; she pursued her studies as a woman.

His gaze became tender and gentle, more intense than the burning fire beside him.

"Oh, right," Zhu Qing suddenly turned her head, and the hairband slipped from his palm, falling to the ground. Feng Huaihe was slightly taken aback, quickly withdrew his hand, made a fist, covered his mouth and coughed a few times, pretending nothing was wrong and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Hmm?" Zhu Qing noticed his movement as he withdrew his hand and frowned, asking, "What were you doing just now?"

Feng Huaihe deliberately rubbed his fingers together, remaining calm and revealing no flaw: "There's cigarette ash; it fell off your hairband."

Zhu Qing didn't suspect anything and instead asked, "Will Eunuch Tian come here again?"

Feng Huaihe looked at the leaping flames in the stove and said, "I went to see him at the palace today after returning from Chongde Garden. He's currently extremely worried about Huang Chao's army pressing in. He'll come if he has some free time. What's up?"

Zhu Qing thought that it would be easy to fool the soldiers of the Shence Army, but she was not so sure about Ueda Reiji.

Zhu Qing asked, "Has the Shence Army caught the man they were chasing today?"

"We caught him, but he didn't have the letter on him and has already been killed." Feng Huaihe said, then remembered something and looked at Zhu Qing with a probing gaze: "Today you told the Shence Army that you would find the letter, do you know where the letter is?"

"Well……"

Zhu Qing didn't know how much Feng Huaihe could trust, after all, Feng Huaihe had given her a hard time during dinner earlier that day if she spoke too harshly.

Perhaps Feng Huaihe has changed a lot since becoming a high-ranking leader.

Zhu Qing managed to keep it a secret, but suddenly became suspicious and said, "That man is a key clue. Surely Eunuch Tian wouldn't be so foolish as to let someone kill him?"

Feng Huaihe said, "They were assassinated during the escort."

Zhu Qing: "But today, when I dealt with the Shence Army, the guarantee I gave wasn't just a letter, but also that spy. Yet you've never asked me about the spy. Could it be that you know who it is?"

Zhu Qingyue thought about it more and more and felt that the possibility was too great. She stared at Feng Huaihe with a knowing look and said, "After all, you were the one who broke those three letters into three parts and had the three of us send them out. Only you know which one is the real one, right?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Huaihe stared silently at Zhu Qing, his fixed gaze made even more enigmatic by the flickering, unpredictable firelight.

Zhu Qing was clever from her previous life, so Feng Huaihe was not surprised at all that she could guess this, and was even prepared for it.

Feng Huaihe had already prepared his explanation and said calmly, "I didn't know. The letter was given to me by Eunuch Tian, ​​and I was only responsible for distributing it to you."

Seeing that he looked calm and didn't seem to be hiding anything, Zhu Qing didn't suspect anything.

After all, if he could think of it himself, then Eunuch Tian certainly could too, and would have questioned him long ago.

Zhu Qing became dejected, clumsily picked up the medicine bowl with her bandaged hand, and gulped down the medicine.

She put the empty bowl aside, reached out to touch Bao Bao, who was fast asleep at her feet, and said worriedly, "Where am I supposed to find spies for the Shence Army in two days?"

The letter was still in her hand and hadn't been burned, which made things easier. But she really didn't know who the spy was.

Feng Huaihe's heart stirred slightly; this was his chance.

Even if he is the spy, he will hide it well, and perhaps he can use this incident to keep Zhu Qing by his side.

Feng Huaihe slowly spoke: "If you feel troubled, I can help you."

Zhu Qing paused in stroking the cat, turned her head, and looked at him warily: "Really? You? You're that kind?"

Feng Huaihe remained silent for a moment, his calm gaze fixed intently on her: "I do have ulterior motives; I want you to agree to three things."

Zhu Qing became interested and straightened up expectantly, asking, "What is it? Is it difficult?"

"It's not difficult. First, cook me a bowl of sweet flower soup; second, tie my hair up; and finally, plant a flower for me."

As Zhu Qing listened, she sensed something was amiss and frowned deeply. These things would be perfectly normal in her modern world, but in ancient times, even with the open-mindedness of the Tang Dynasty, this was still considered to have crossed the line into a normal relationship between men and women.

Zhu Qing suddenly remembered that painting.

Zhu Qing grinned mischievously, narrowing his eyes with a gossipy look: "You want me to plant forsythia for you?"

Upon hearing this, Feng Huaihe's heart skipped a beat.

Is she no longer going to pretend?

Feng Huaihe stared intently at Zhu Qing's expression, trying to find a flaw in her demeanor, and asked, "How did you know?"

Zhu Qing snorted inwardly. How else could he know? His crush on someone else was obvious.

However, Zhu Qing thought again that it was strange and bizarre to entrust his feelings of unrequited love to her and make her do these three things.

A note from the author:

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