Chapter 106: Waiting to Die Anyway, my life is pretty boring...

Dust blinded her eyes and choked her throat... "Cough!"

Song Baoyuan woke up from a nightmare.

"Miss!"

"Miss, you are finally awake!"

It was the voices of Qiao Yin and Qiao Yue, and hearing them at this moment made Song Baoyuan feel extremely at ease.

In front of her was the familiar bed curtain. She stared at it for a long time, and everything in her mind seemed like a dangerous dream.

"Don't move yet." The doctor next to him reminded.

Only then did Song Baoyuan realize that there were needles stuck in her head, and there was a strange doctor standing beside the bed, as well as unexpected people.

"He Yue?" She realized she was barely breathing when she spoke.

Zhou Heyue leaned forward and said softly, "Don't worry, Madam Song. Everything is fine now. This is the imperial physician that Lord Chang specially invited from the palace. Lord Chang is right outside. He said to call him if anything happens."

The imperial physician withdrew the needle, but Song Baoyuan still wanted to sit up, so Qiaoyin stepped forward to support her.

"Mr. Chang, and you, why are you here?"

Song Baoyuan looked around and confirmed that this was indeed her home.

"Jiang Shaoqing sent a message to the Chang residence, and Master Chang hurried over with me," Zhou Heyue explained. "I don't know anything else."

"Thankfully, you got medical treatment in time," the imperial physician interrupted. "A few days of good rest will give you everything you need."

Qiao Yue helped pack the medicine box. "Thank you, doctor. I'll take you there."

Song Baoyuan felt she had no strength left, so she leaned on Qiaoyin and asked in a low voice, "What happened?"

"We don't know either. The others in the family said it was my husband who brought you back," Qiao Yin said truthfully. "As for us, Ah Qi said he was surrounded and couldn't find you when he turned back. He only found Qiao Yue and I, knocked unconscious, at the entrance of the alley."

Song Baoyuan's brows and eyes looked tired, her eyelids always felt heavy, and her senses were ineffective.

Although I didn't know how to face that person, I still asked, "Where are they?"

Not getting an immediate answer, Song Baoyuan lowered her head and asked, "Are you outside too?"

Qiao Yin seemed to want to say something but stopped herself.

After a long silence, Song Baoyuan finally realized something was wrong and slowly straightened up. "What's wrong?"

"My husband..." Qiao Yin hesitated, "He's not at home."

Song Baoyuan was not surprised. After all, she had said such heartless words. Even if he felt resentment in his heart, he could understand.

She didn't want to get entangled, but Qiao Yin in front of her was biting her lips and her eyes were silently red.

"What's wrong?" Song Baoyuan's heart tightened, and she asked anxiously, "But what other bullying have you suffered?"

Qiao Yin quickly shook her head, "Miss, Miss."

She kept repeating it, as if grasping at the only lifeline in helplessness, "My dear, he, he was taken away by the imperial guards."

"What?" Song Baoyuan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly frowned. "Why?"

Qiaoyin's head shook like a rattle. She really didn't know, so she was even more scared.

I'm afraid it has something to do with her. Song Baoyuan thought so in her heart and couldn't help but tighten her palms. "Help me up."

She stood up with her arm around Qiao Yin's and walked quickly out the door.

Outside, Chang Yunbai, who was leaning on a cane, was talking to Gao Luoshu who had just entered the room. When the latter saw Song Baoyuan, he hurried over.

"Why are you up?"

"Master Gao is here too." Song Baoyuan's heart sank. Judging from the situation, this must be a serious matter. "What happened?"

"Nothing." Gao Luoshu said with a forced smile, "Just have a good rest, don't worry about it."

Song Baoyuan became increasingly anxious, "Where are they?"

Gao Luoshu pursed his lips, not knowing how to answer.

Chang Yunbai limped closer and said, "With such a big commotion outside, I think it's impossible to hide it. It's better to be frank."

Seeing Gao Luoshu still silent, he continued, "Jiang Keyu caused a disturbance at the Xie Mansion in order to find you. Now Xie Mingru has led a joint petition, accusing him of abusing his power for personal gain and harming an official. The ministers are outraged, and since so many people have witnessed it, there's no way to refute it, so Your Majesty has no choice but to order his imprisonment."

"He..." Song Baoyuan's eyes paused slightly, "Will he be okay?"

Chang Yunbai avoided her gaze and said vaguely, "I'm not sure yet."

"Ahem." He cleared his throat and said seriously, "Luckily you woke up, so I can explain to him. You should rest at home for the next few days. It's best not to go out, so as not to be targeted again. If anything happens, send a message to the Chang Mansion or the Gao Mansion. You don't have to worry about Jiang Keyu's affairs. Gao Luoshu and I will find a way."

Song Baoyuan's mind was in a mess, and after a while she said, "Thank you."

"We have to go first."

"No need to send me off." Gao Luoshu said before Song Baoyuan could react, "You should have a good rest."

Song Baoyuan stayed where she was, watching them leave, her eyes gradually losing focus.

*

There was a crackling sound in the room, and the two maids guarding the door were worried.

"Let me out!" Xie Yuchao's voice was filled with anger.

Finally, Steward Lin came over with his men. The maids breathed a sigh of relief and quickly unlocked the door.

Seeing the door open, Xie Yuchao intended to rush out, but as soon as he stepped over the threshold, he was blocked by three or four servants.

"Let me out!" Xie Yuchao said angrily, "How long do you plan to keep me locked up?"

Steward Lin was helpless. "Master, you haven't eaten for a whole day and night. No matter what you want to do, your health is the most important thing, isn't it?"

Xie Yuchao clenched his fists and forced himself to remain calm, "Uncle Lin."

"Master, don't worry." Steward Lin knew what he wanted to ask. "That Miss Song has been taken back by Young Master Jiang, and the imperial physician has been invited to visit the house. I believe she will be fine. She is a weak woman, and as long as you don't make a fuss, the master will not embarrass her anymore."

"What do you mean?" Xie Yuchao sneered. "Threatening me? He means that if I don't listen to him, he will make things difficult for Ayuan, right?"

Steward Lin opened his mouth but no words came out.

"How can there be a father like this in the world!"

Xie Yuchao raised his voice, as if he thought that this way the person who was not in the room but should hear it the most could hear it.

"Master." Steward Lin personally placed the tray in the maid's hand on the table, "You should eat something first."

Xie Yuchao stubbornly asked himself, "How long does he plan to keep me locked up?"

"There are rumors spreading everywhere now, and the master is actually protecting you."

It was for his own good. Xie Yuchao felt more annoyed than ever with this rhetoric. "That's ridiculous."

Steward Lin had wanted to speak out to ease the relationship between the two masters, but now it seemed that he was powerless.

Xie Yuchao kept staring at the door, trying to find a chance to escape, but the servants blocked his way tightly.

"Let me out!"

*

Even during the day, the imperial prison was often dark.

Jiang Keyu asked the jailer for paper and pen, and sat at the table, writing non-stop in the light coming through the narrow window.

Time passes quietly.

He was so focused that he didn't hear the approaching tapping of the cane, nor did he even notice the jailer unlocking his cell door.

"Jiang Shaoqing, someone is here to see you." The jailer reminded him.

Jiang Keyu turned around and saw Chang Yunbai slowly walking in. She asked hurriedly, "How is Ayuan?"

"It's nothing serious." Chang Yunbai said, moving to the table and sitting down.

"That's good." Jiang Keyu nodded, without looking at him, and continued with the work at hand, about to fill up the fifth sheet of paper.

Chang Yunbai picked up the other papers on the table and asked, "What are you writing?"

"I have some things to tell you." Jiang Keyu said calmly, "I need you to take them out for me and hand them over to Ayuan. After that, I can only entrust her, Chengcheng Suisui and others to you."

Chang Yunbai was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened in disbelief when he realized what was happening. "What do you mean? I thought you were so calm because you had a backup plan, but now you're asking me to entrust you with something?"

Jiang Keyu didn't even raise her head and continued writing.

"I'm talking to you!" Chang Yunbai snatched the pen from his hand dissatisfiedly. "You've been writing a suicide note for so long, and there are so many words in it. You really need to write a book!"

"There are so many things involved, and the relationships are so complicated. If I don't write it clearly, what will she do if she encounters problems in the future?"

"Then shouldn't you be thinking of ways to protect yourself?" Chang Yunbai couldn't understand. "Without you, how could these orphans and widows live comfortably on a few pieces of paper? If something really happened, do you expect a cripple like me to arrive in time?"

Jiang Keyu took back the pen, but forgot where she had written.

"What can I do? That man is so powerful that even His Majesty can't do anything to him. I've tried to find faults with him over the years, but he's done so many things, yet I can't find even a single one."

Chang Yunbai was dumbfounded. "Then you dare to point your sword at him? Haven't you suffered enough at his hands? Didn't you think about this beforehand?"

"I don't have time to think!"

"Don't you have time now?" Chang Yunbai angrily brushed aside the blank paper in front of him. "Are you just waiting to die?"

Jiang Keyu turned her face away, and suddenly loosened her clenched hands.

He suddenly said with a look of melancholy, "My life is pretty boring anyway."

Chang Yunbai was stunned.

After a while, he began to question: "Did I hear it wrong? I feel that you either have no other options or you simply don't want to live anymore."

Jiang Keyu's gaze aimlessly fell on the corner of the cell, and he spoke in a light tone, "I really have no other choice, but fortunately, I have almost completed what I should do."

"So you can die without regrets?" Chang Yunbai suppressed a curse in his heart. "Are you kidding me? You're usually quite smart and intelligent, but at this critical moment you're being melancholic and sad. What's your point?"

Jiang Keyu remained silent.

Seeing him like this, Chang Yunbai's anger flared up, just like when he was depressed because of his broken leg and Jiang Keyu came to comfort him.

But now the emotions are reversed.

Behind Jiang Keyu, a green figure slowly appeared. He didn't notice it, but Chang Yunbai caught it out of the corner of his eye.

Chang Yunbai glanced at him, then turned around and said, "Let me ask you one thing. Since you think your death doesn't matter, then you don't care about your wife Song anymore, right?"

Loneliness slowly enveloped Jiang Keyu like a curtain, dimming his eyes.

"If I weren't there, she might have been happier." He sighed softly, "But I don't know if she would be sad for me for a short time."

"I think so." He said to himself, "After all, a husband and wife are bound by love for a hundred days."

But she was not confident, and her voice became increasingly lost. "But, she said she hates me, she hates me the most."

Chang Yunbai: "..."

I laughed out of anger.

"Are you serious?" Chang Yunbai tilted his head, letting him look directly into his eyes. "Back when you were ostracized, oppressed, and almost at your wit's end, you were able to endure and be cunning. Now, she just says she hates you, and she's shattered you. You feel like the sky has fallen, and you're just hanging there trying to kill yourself."

Jiang Keyu lowered her eyes and said nothing more.

"Go away!" Chang Yunbai couldn't stand it any longer, picked up a stack of blank papers on the table and hit him on the head.

Caught off guard by this blow, Jiang Keyu turned around in annoyance, "What are you doing?"

Chang Yunbai didn't want to pay attention to him, picked up his crutches and stood up.

Seeing that he was about to leave, Jiang Keyu didn't want to keep him. She just sorted out the papers she had written on and stuffed them into his hands.

"Please pass it on to me."

Chang Yunbai pushed it away in disgust, "Give it to yourself if you want!"

"If I can give it myself, I won't ask you for it." Jiang Keyu was not polite at all and even snatched his crutches in a mean way.

Chang Yunbai was furious, "Can't I just call her over?"

"But she doesn't want to see me!"

"cough."

As soon as Jiang Keyu finished speaking, a cough was heard outside the cell.

Jiang Keyu was stunned and didn't look back immediately because she was not sure whether it was her imagination.

But even if it is, what’s the harm in taking a look?

He shifted his gaze tentatively, only to see Song Baoyuan standing alone in the shadows outside the cell, dressed in a wide-sleeved bamboo-green dress. She clutched a food box, her entire being quiet and composed, like an orchid blossoming in a valley, whose blooming time is unknown.

It was not an illusion. Jiang Keyu immediately let go of the hand that was arguing with Chang Yunbai, causing the latter to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

Attracting attention, Song Baoyuan immediately lowered her eyes and looked at the ground, suddenly not knowing what expression to make.

Jiang Keyu's gaze quickly shifted away from her, and he was at a loss like a child who had done something wrong.