Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Coming on Fire.

Last night, Ji Sui had to tormented Lin Zhen for most of the night before letting her rest. Early this morning, he sent someone to take Lin Zhen to the tent.

When Lin Zhen entered the tent, Ji Sui was not there. The maid helped her sit on a low couch covered with fox fur behind the felt curtain, and then went out to prepare breakfast.

Lin Zhen didn't sleep well last night, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She leaned her forehead on the table and closed her eyes unconsciously.

About a quarter of an hour later, Lin Zhen was awakened by a cool breeze blowing into the tent. She put down her sore hands and gently stroked her shoulders.

Then, the men's low voices came into her ears through the felt curtain.

"Why hasn't the general come yet?"

Today, a hunting expedition was planned for Yandang Mountain, and several court officials had come to consult Ji Sui to discuss the deployment of security forces. Ji Sui remained silent for a long time, and a middle-aged man sitting in the tent replied with a smile, "You are newlyweds, with a beautiful woman in your arms. Who could possibly resist?"

Hearing this, several people in the tent burst into laughter.

Lin Zhen frowned when he heard such unbearable words and glanced coldly behind the felt curtain.

After a burst of laughter, the man sitting outside the tent tilted his head slightly to glance outside. Seeing that the guards were standing guard at a distance, he turned back and said softly, "I wonder if you have heard that Ji Sui's new concubine is actually Lin Yunfeng's daughter."

The person sitting opposite him laughed sarcastically: "He killed his savior and married his daughter. He is truly worthy of being our great general."

The speaker was the legitimate son of the Duke of Ning. His ancestors had been two generations of imperial tutors, and he came from a distinguished family. They looked down upon Ji Sui, who had risen to prominence through military exploits. He dared to act so recklessly because he had the deep foundation of the Duke of Ning's mansion, while others did not dare.

Therefore, after this person finished speaking, there was dead silence in the tent.

After a while, a voice broke the silence: "Recently, I heard an interesting rumor that the general is the orphan of Ji Yuanju, the former commander of the Ji family army. If that's the case, then Lin Yunfeng's death is not unjust."

The whole city knew that Ji Yuanju was unable to have children due to injuries sustained on the battlefield. Because there was no need to worry about this, and because Ji Yuanju's wife was the emperor's sister, the emperor trusted him even more. He was the only general among the many generals who had never had his military power stripped away.

The reason why Ji's army was defeated was because of Prince Chen's rebellion five years ago.

When Lin Yunfeng presented evidence that Prince Chen was plotting a rebellion, Ji Yuanju risked his life to guarantee Prince Chen, and was later imprisoned in the Dali Temple by Lin Yunfeng.

After the capital's army marched south to quell the rebellion, Ji Yuanju died in prison due to a relapse of his old injury.

The emperor, grateful for his past contributions, ordered Lin Yunfeng to return Ji Yuanju's body to the princess's residence for a proper burial. On the third day after Ji Yuanju's funeral, a fire broke out in the princess's residence, burning the entire mansion to the ground and burying the eldest princess.

It is true that Ji Yuanju died because of Lin Yunfeng, but it is also true that he had no children.

The man had only wanted to break the current impasse by casually spreading a rumor, but he hadn't expected someone to take it seriously. He even continued, "So, back then, Lin Yunfeng falsely accused Prince Chen of treason in order to be promoted to the Supreme Court Minister, but it's true?!"

At that time, Prince Chen was famous for his virtue and had many guests in his mansion. When the case of treason broke out, in addition to Ji Yuanju who took the initiative to guarantee for him and was thrown into prison, many people in the court were also implicated. For a time, everyone in the court was in danger.

He said that among the officials sitting in the tent now, there were also some who had more or less contact with the Prince of Chen in the past.

They luckily escaped the disaster and naturally did not want to talk about what happened that year again.

The faces of several people in the tent became noticeably grim, and the young man who had just spoken also pursed his lips wisely.

As everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, the thick felt curtain was suddenly lifted up, and a woman in white wearing a veil hat walked out from behind the curtain. After a pause, she strode out of the tent.

They couldn't see the woman's expression through the white gauze, but the moment she stopped just now, it inexplicably made people feel a chill in their hearts.

*

Lin Zhen pursed his lips, his long fingers in his sleeves tightly embedded in his palms, and he walked forward quickly.

The guards nearby all recognized her as the general's newly welcomed wife, and no one dared to step forward to stop her. She walked out of the soldiers' jurisdiction and stopped in front of a shallow stream.

Lin Zhen felt a tightness in her chest, and even her forehead ached slightly. After a while, she slowly sat down, holding onto a stone beside her.

She lifted the veil of her face with a dazed look, and stared at the flowing stream with empty eyes.

"Zhen'er."

A low call came from behind her, and she turned around subconsciously, and saw Ning Shilu's thin figure standing not far away.

Lin Zhen stared at him for a moment, then suddenly remembered something. He hurriedly dropped the veil on his hood and turned around, but it was too late.

"Zhen'er, it's really you!"

Ning Shilu strode forward, leaned over and clamped Lin Zhen's shoulders, his red eyes staring at the gauze curtain hanging in front of him.

The woman under the veil remained silent. He slowly loosened one hand and reached for the veil.

Just as he was about to touch me, Lin Zhen's voice came from under the veil: "Sir, just pretend you haven't seen me today."

Ning Shilu's hand, frozen in mid-air, slowly curled up. Suddenly, he stretched out his hand and swept the veil on Lin Zhen's head to the ground. He stared into her bright eyes and said in a hoarse voice, "Zhen'er, he was the one who forced my uncle to death!"

Lin Zhen lowered his eyes, avoided his gaze, and said nothing.

Lin Zhen's silent reaction was like a sharp dagger slowly cutting into Ning Shilu's heart. In his eyes, his elder sister was as lonely and noble as the moon. She would rather die innocently than give herself to a thief and let him bully her.

unless……

He suddenly laughed softly, let go of Lin Zhen's shoulders, turned around, and moved his feet dully, not even realizing that the hem of his clothes was immersed in the stream.

Last night, he almost didn't sleep all night. Whenever he closed his eyes, two figures appeared in front of the window at night.

I don’t know how many jars of wine I drank, but my mind was still clear.

At that time, Ning Shilu's eyes were bloodshot and he was in a trance. He had not taken a few steps before he staggered and fell into the stream.

Although the water was not flowing fast, it was already late autumn and the stream water was icy. Lin Zhen looked at his disheveled figure, pursed his lips, walked forward, and bent down to help him up.

Ning Shilu was dragged out of the water by Lin Zhen in a shaky state. Before he could stand firmly, he pushed Lin Zhen hard with a look of disgust, as if he was stained with something dirty.

Lin Zhen was caught off guard and fell suddenly, splashing water and wetting her hair.

There was no annoyance on Lin Zhen's face. Instead, she just lowered her eyes and looked at the water quietly. The few strands of black hair dripping with water on her temples made her face look even paler.

The original cold and aloof air she had possessed seemed to have completely dissipated. At this moment, Lin Zhen was like a river clam that had lost its hard shell, immersed naked in the water, revealing its fragility.

Ning Shilu had never seen Lin Zhen like this before, and his heart of disgust softened unconsciously.

He moved his fingertips slightly, and was about to help Lin Zhen up, but a woman's voice came from not far away: "Prince!"

Qu Ruyun lifted her long skirt lightly, disregarding the noble demeanor of a girl, and ran to Ning Shilu with her skirt fluttering, pulling him out of the stream.

"Your Highness is now well again, and you must not stand in this icy water."

After Qu Ruyun finished speaking, she set her eyes on Lin Zhen. When she took Ning Shilu to the attic yesterday, she was already about 80% sure in her heart, but it was just her guess after all. When she saw that it was really her today, she couldn't help but feel a little excited.

She also didn't want to treat another woman with such a cruel heart.

But she had no other choice...

Ning Shilu watched Lin Zhen slowly stand up on the protruding rocks in the water. He wanted to go forward to help him, but his arm was tightly held. Qu Ruyun looked up and said to him softly, "Your robe is wet. Go back and change."

In the end, he did not reach out his hand, and let Qu Ruyun support him and leave.

Lin Zhen looked in the direction they left, and after a moment, slowly withdrew his gaze.

The hem of her skirt was stained with mud. Lin Zhen took a deep breath and squatted down by the stream. She dipped the stained hem of her skirt in the water and rubbed it hard.

There were bursts of burning pain in the palm of his hand from time to time. Lin Zhen loosened the hem of the skirt in his hand and spread out his palm. There were traces of blood oozing out of his palm. He didn't know when he was scratched.

After just a glance, she quickly curled up her hands and continued to scrub her clothes as if nothing had happened.

No matter how hard she tried, there were still dark stains on the white gauze that could not be washed off. She clenched her teeth and rubbed the gauze in her hands violently until she was exhausted and her hands trembled slightly.

The words she heard in the tent and Ning Shilu's look of disgust towards her intertwined in her mind.

Lin Zhen finally stopped what he was doing, and his eyes had turned red with ripples in them.

A rustling sound came from the jungle not far away. She had faintly heard such a sound when she was arguing with Ning Shilu just now.

She blinked her eyes, her expression returned to normal, she wrung out her skirt, and walked towards the direction where the sound came from.

As expected, Lin Zhen spotted someone behind a low slope. She looked slightly surprised. It was the wheelchair-bound man she had encountered a few days earlier. The woman in men's clothing beside him was gone; he was still alone.

"I didn't expect that you have the habit of eavesdropping on other people's secrets."

"Have you finished listening? If you have, you can go away."

Lin Zhen's words were extremely cold, but the man in front of him didn't move at all. He was wearing a moon-white cloud-patterned official robe of a fifth-rank local official today, and a thin blanket was still covering his legs.

He did not look flustered at all by Lin Zhen's questioning. He just frowned slightly and remained silent.

Lin Zhen glanced at the wheelchair beneath him. Her emotions, rarely out of control, made her use awkward words to attack a person with limited mobility: "Could it be that this time, Master, you also need me to give you a ride?"

Hearing this, the man's slender, white hands, gently placed on the thin blanket, curled up slightly. After a while, he bowed and said, "My wheelchair was accidentally stuck by a branch. I am waiting here for the maid to call someone. I really have no intention of prying into the girl's affairs. What I heard today will definitely rot in my heart."

Lin Zhen watched him bow his head humbly and pursed his lips for a moment.

He seemed to feel that this was not enough, and after a moment, he pulled out a jade token from his sleeve. "I am Yu Shi, the governor of Qizhou. This is a gift from the emperor to my father. You can use this to find me at the post station at any time."

"If today's incident gets out, I'd like to leave it to you, young lady, to decide."

To outsiders, it made no difference whether she was Lin Zhen or not. The reason why Lin Zhen spoke so harshly was mostly because he was venting his anger on others.

After hearing the reason, Lin Zhen was speechless for a moment, and after a long time he said stiffly: "No need."

"Please accept it, young lady." The man said again in a deep voice.

For some reason, the man had a unique demeanor even though he was sitting in a wheelchair. Lin Zhen was stared at by those dark eyes and couldn't say no.

She raised her hand and took the jade token from the man's palm.

The fingertips that had been dipped in the stream water were as cold as snow. They accidentally brushed across the man's warm palm. He shuddered and quickly withdrew his hand.

*

Lin Zhen walked back to the stream and was about to put on his veil hat when he heard the sound of hurried horse hooves.

Ji Sui saw Lin Zhen's figure from afar, immediately pulled the reins and dismounted.

His face was gloomy and he walked towards her at a brisk pace.

Ji Sui was still wearing a slim-fitting black brocade robe. His broad shoulders made his upper body look very strong. A silver belt was tied tightly around his waist, and his leather boots made a sound as they stepped on the ground.

He walked towards Lin Zhen with brisk steps, with a large field of fiery red poppies blooming in the jungle behind him.

Lin Zhen had only heard about the fire in the princess's mansion from other people and had never seen it with his own eyes.

But at this moment, she seemed to see the fire five years ago.

And Ji Sui was walking towards her through the karmic fire.

She never knew whether he was Ji Yuanju's orphan, but she knew that he was from the princess's mansion.

She knew it when she discovered that he intended to assassinate her father.

Lin Zhen stared blankly at the figure that was getting closer and closer to her, and a thought that she had been avoiding suddenly emerged in her mind.

If what those people in the account said is true...

"Who allowed you to run around?"

Ji Sui strode closer and suddenly grabbed Lin Zhen's wrist, staring at her with burning eyes, his chest heaving.