Chapter 74 Nosebleed Ah Jin, do you want me to hug you? ...
The ninth day of the fourth lunar month is an auspicious day, and it is also the day that the imperial court designated for the enshrinement of the Buddha's relics in the pagoda. There are only nine days left until now.
A few swirling jasmine blossoms floated on the tea. Meng Shutai glanced at them but didn't have time to pick them up.
The construction of the pagoda is nearing completion, and all the settlement accounts have been delivered, piling up like a small mountain on the desk.
Logically speaking, a wealthy and leisurely family like the Meng family, which relied on the blessings of their ancestors, should have declined after three generations. But who knew that Meng Shutai would emerge in this generation, who devoted himself to both national and family affairs, and single-handedly created a situation for the Meng family that seemed to last for thousands of generations.
The officials of the Ministry of Works shuddered when they saw Meng Shutai obsessively calculating the figures in the report. Royal projects—who wouldn't be scrambling for a piece of meat? Even the lowest-ranking craftsmen building pagodas would receive more than others. These figures on the books, of course, were just empty words, easily blown away.
They each guarded their own small desks, exchanging glances among the official documents with furtive glances, and finally all looked toward the lowest-ranking clerk in charge of writing.
The junior official understood the meaning, bowed his head, stepped forward, and offered the cup of jasmine tea to Meng Shutai.
"My lord, you have been working hard these past few days. Please have some tea and rest for a while. The matter is all settled; a day or two won't make a difference."
Meng Shutai frowned slightly, but quickly relaxed his brow, turned to the clerk with a gentle smile, and accepted the cup, saying, "Thank you, sir."
He glanced at the people there and knew what they were up to—they all wanted him to go easy on them and tolerate their falsified accounts. These people were deliberately making mistakes in their act so that those who were interested would understand their intentions. At that point, there was no need for further words; the undercurrents would naturally converge, and everything would fall into place.
Meng Shutai had known about such people's tricks since childhood and didn't mind playing along with them. However, after a few performances, he figured out their routines and found nothing new. This made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles, caught between feigned affection and pretense.
But if we're talking about acting...
The clear tea reflected his lips, the tip of his nose, his drooping eyebrows and eyes, and the smile in his eyes.
Acting with Le Jin was the most fun. Her clumsiness wasn't intentional; Meng Shutai loved seeing her pushed to the brink and give up in front of him. Even when she was fierce, she was nothing more than a cat baring its teeth compared to him.
I took a small sip of warm tea, but suddenly coughed violently as if something had irritated my throat. The cough didn't bother my throat much, but a gentle, ticklish sensation slid down my nose, landing in the cup like red plum blossoms among jasmine flowers.
They've arrived.
With a clatter, Meng Shutai put down the cup and took out a snow-white handkerchief from his sleeve to cover his mouth and nose.
Seeing his unusual behavior, all the officials in the room craned their necks to look at him. The minor official closest to Meng Shutai asked with concern, "What's wrong, young master?"
The blood from his nose soaked through his handkerchief, but not much, as Meng Shutai had expected. He covered his mouth and nose and coughed for a while, then, noticing the bleeding had stopped, removed the handkerchief and smiled at the clerk:
"It's nothing, I just choked on my tea."
The officials breathed a sigh of relief and soon resumed their duties. Meng Shutai carefully tucked the handkerchief into his sleeve, his phoenix eyes shimmering with a radiant light, like the ripples on an ancient lake at sunset.
"These accounts are all in order, which shows that you gentlemen have been careful and responsible these past few days. However, the tower will be opened in nine days, and the interior must be properly arranged."
Upon hearing this, the clerk knew that Meng Shutai had let them off the hook, and his withered, rat-like face beamed with joy. "Of course! The nine floors of the pagoda were completed ten days ago, and the top floor, where the Buddha's relics are enshrined, has been locked up for days and no one dares to enter. I and all the staff can guarantee that there will be no mishaps when the pagoda is opened."
"Okay, that's good." Meng Shutai nodded with a smile, picked up the cup of flower tea with blood in it, and drank it all in one gulp.
He set down his teacup, rose gracefully, bowed to the officials of various ranks, and departed. His movements were as ethereal as a crane, his gait as elegant as a ethereal soul. He still possessed the unparalleled demeanor of Meng Langjun of Luoyang, but two officials whispered amongst themselves after he left.
"Hey, have you noticed that Young Master Meng has seemed a bit absent-minded these past few days?"
"Perhaps he misses his beloved wife at home... But now that you mention it, I remember he almost fainted yesterday after coming down from the pagoda. Do you think Lord Meng might have been exhausted?"
"Hey! What can you do when he's a private minister of the emperor? When there's personal favoritism, power becomes skewed. Even the pagoda can only be inspected by him. It's not an easy job!"
"Yes, yes..." The official who spoke nodded, suddenly realizing that being of low rank and having little influence was actually a good thing.
——
Baoyin excitedly brought over several books of pattern compilations and placed them one by one in front of Lejin.
"My lady, all the fashionable patterns in Luoyang are here, along with sewing patterns for various baby items and teaching materials on various tailoring and embroidery techniques. Do you think this is enough?"
Le Jin lay on the small square table on the tatami mat, yawning deeply before taking the three or four books. However, the pages, which were only about three fingers thick when closed, slipped from Le Jin's grasp. She felt the weight pressing down on her fingertips, and the books all fell to the ground, knocking over a vase on the table, which rolled and shattered.
"Hmm?" Le Jin thought she hadn't been careful with the weight and had accidentally dropped it. She scolded herself a little and then quickly went back to reading.
Baoyin squatted down to pick up the broken pieces, turned around and threw them out, but when she came back she saw that Lejin seemed uninterested.
"Does my wife not like these patterns? Should I go find some more?"
"Ah, no need, no need, this is definitely enough."
A few days ago, Meng Cizhang also went to the Pingning Prince's Mansion to see his sister Jiang. As a result, Jiang Yingyun took a fancy to the eye patch. After learning that it was made by Le Jin, she praised it highly. What was originally an ordinary thing was like a treasure in her eyes.
Knowing that Xie Xianheng would be back soon, Le Jin realized she didn't have much time left. She thought it best to do something for Jiang Yingyun and Yuan Jingming's child, so that she would have something to remember them by when she left this world.
But her needlework was only passable, and children's things needed to be exquisite, so Le Jin asked Bao Yin to find some patterns and tutorials.
As the colorful patterns fell into her eyes, Le Jin thought the first few were quite nice, but after flipping through them for a while, she suddenly felt that these round patterns were spinning! It was like a kaleidoscope was placed in front of her eyes, moving back and forth, making her feel palpitations and dizzy.
She closed the book, pushed the booklets aside, and lazily lay down on the small table. "I'll read it tomorrow. I guess I didn't sleep well yesterday. I'll sleep a little longer."
"Still sleeping?!" Baoyin exclaimed in surprise, "Wife, you slept for a full eight hours last night, the day before yesterday, and the day before that..."
She suspected that Le Jin was sick, so she reached out and touched Le Jin's forehead. "Hey? You don't have a fever."
But her mistress had indeed been feeling very tired lately, and for the past three or four days she had been too lazy to even go out. Before, it was like taking her life if she were asked to stay at the Meng residence and not go anywhere, but now she was actually using her tiredness as an excuse to refuse.
Le Jin brushed her hand away, closed her eyes, and mumbled, "I just feel weak and want to sleep."
Isn't it normal to feel sleepy in spring, tired in summer, and drowsy in autumn?
Baoyin suddenly remembered something, and with a grin, she squatted down in front of Lejin, cupping her face in her hands expectantly: "My lady, did you get pregnant because you've been getting close to the Crown Prince's wife?"
"impossible!"
Le Jin straightened up abruptly, shaking her head frantically. She and Meng Shutai had never consummated their marriage, so where would a child come from?
After Bao Yin guessed that, Le Jin, even though she was sleepy, didn't want to sleep anymore and defiantly chased away the drowsiness. "Get me some snacks, I'll finish looking at the patterns today!"
Bao Yin let out an "oh" and had only taken a few steps when she suddenly heard a loud vomiting sound behind her. Le Jin had vomited.
She knew in her heart that this was bad; she must be sick. She quickly turned around to clean up Le Jin's vomit, but when she looked over, she saw that what Le Jin was vomiting was not yellowish-white sour water, but bright red blood.
"Ah!!!" Baoyin screamed in alarm and immediately ran out shouting, "Help! Our wife is vomiting blood!"
She hurriedly ran along the veranda, lifting her skirt, and bumped into a group of servants carrying sticks and ropes. Without thinking, she grabbed the leader and cried out, "Quickly, go and call a doctor! Our lady is sick! She's vomited a lot of blood!"
The head servant flicked his hand and said coldly, "Tie her up."
Bao Yin was shocked. Several burly men stepped forward and pinned her down, binding her with ropes. She glared at them, twisting her body and shouting, "Why are you tying me up! I was brought here by the young mistress's family! Have you no guts to touch me?"
"Why? Ha, because of this!"
The servant threw a stack of light pink letters at Bao Yin's face. "Miss, don't say we broke the rules. These are filthy letters found in your room. According to the rules of the manor, maids and servants are not allowed to have private dealings with men outside the household. Even if you came from the young mistress's family, you still have to abide by our rules. We apologize for the intrusion!"
That was a letter that she had hidden for Le Jin. How did these people find it? Bao Yin couldn't possibly implicate Le Jin at this moment, so she could only cry out that she was innocent.
However, after the servant finished speaking, he waved his hand, and the person who had been tied up stuffed a piece of cloth into Bao Yin's mouth to muffle her screams, and dragged her away.
Baoyin struggled desperately, trying to break free from their hold. Her wife was still coughing up blood; how could she bear to leave? But these bastards had no sense of urgency and wouldn't listen to her at all; for a moment, she felt utterly helpless.
Leading her around a corner, Bao Yin finally saw a figure in her anxious gaze.
She screamed at the man, running straight in that direction, her neck turning red and veins bulging on her forehead.
The guards looked into the distance following her movements, and immediately held their breath and stood at attention with their heads bowed.
"I hope you are well, my lord."
Meng Shutai walked over slowly, looking at the agitated Baoyin with an expressionless face. He seemed to know everything and asked the servant with a sideways glance, "What does she want to say?"
The gag in Baoyin's mouth was ripped off, and she cried out in a panic, "Young master, my wife is vomiting blood! Please come and see her!"
However, Bao Yin did not expect that the handsome young man in front of her would not even frown after hearing her words, but instead slowly bloom a bright smile.
"Oh, I know."
Meng Shutai pointed his finger, and the servants stuffed the cloth ball into Baoyin's mouth again and forcibly took her away.
A gentle breeze whispered past Meng Shutai's ears. Bathed in the radiant golden sunlight that adorned the long corridor, he was in high spirits and hummed a short poem with a slight smile.
As Meng Shutai slowly walked towards his and Le Jin's house, he suddenly saw a trembling hand reaching out from under the vermilion carved door. He stopped and watched with amusement as the hand struggled to grab the threshold and helped the person behind the door climb out.
It is Le Jin.
She had already collapsed on the bed after vomiting blood, but in a daze, she heard Baoyin shouting "Injustice!" So she gritted her teeth and tried to wake up to see what was going on.
But as soon as her feet touched the ground, she knelt down and could only lie on the ground, panting heavily.
The pain in her knee pulled her out of the dazed state she had been in for days, and Le Jin broke out in a cold sweat, as if she had fallen into a bottomless abyss.
There was no time for her to be afraid; Baoyin's condition was paramount. She had no choice but to support herself with her hands on the ground and crawl little by little to the threshold. By the time she grasped the threshold, she was already covered in cold sweat, her vision blurred with flashes of light, and the taste of blood filled her mouth.
Unable to hold on any longer, she leaned against the door and closed her eyes to rest. The next second, she heard the rustling of clothes beside her.
She opened her eyes, looked up, and saw a beautiful and elegant face smiling down at her. The eyes were filled with endless tenderness and pity, but also with an overwhelming joy that seemed to contradict it.
"Ah Jin, do you want me to carry you?"
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Author's Note: Before reaching the crematorium, someone always has to do something really stupid [covering face and peeking][covering face and peeking][covering face and peeking]
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