Chapter 91 Chapter 91 Don’t cry, be good
"Zhaohua?" Jiang Hexue felt it, her eyelashes slightly raised, and she called him softly. "Did you hear that?"
Shen Qingchen just held her fingers lightly, and naturally did not answer her or make any other reactions.
But this was enough to make Jiang Hexue happy.
"If you could hear me, I'd say a few more words." She cautiously moved closer to him. "Zhaohua, I love you."
"I'll always wait for you." She hooked her pinky finger with his, touching her wedding ring to his. "No matter how long it takes."
"But you can't make me wait too long..." Jiang Hexue promised, then added softly, "I'll be so sad I'll cry my eyes out."
"When the time comes, you can't just pamper her with candied kumquats, fried dumplings, almond pastries, or walnut curds..."
She murmured a few more words until the medical officer came to change his dressings, then she left without disturbing them.
-
The days without Shen Qingchen by her side passed quickly.
The Liang army's morale collapsed and they were defeated. Beixuan's so-called 80% to 90% of the country's troops lost their commander. As soon as they arrived at the border, they were chased by Xu Qingyan and his men. A small half of them were killed, and the rest fled back to Beixuan in disgrace.
As for the remaining soldiers of the Liang family, they are all people of Longlin after all. Those who should be recruited and pacified should be recruited and pacified. Those who cannot be recruited will be enslaved and put under unified supervision.
He was merciful to ordinary soldiers, but he also slaughtered the deputy generals loyal to the Liang family to prevent rebellion.
Jiang Hexue, Tian Yu and Fu Xian helped out, so they were not so busy after all. They would talk to Shen Qingchen in the morning, during lunch break and before going to bed at night.
His condition had stabilized, but she still couldn't be careless. She couldn't stay too long, only fifteen minutes each time.
She would chatter with him about some funny things. For the first time, she felt the way he had been racking his brains to find a topic to talk about. Without him around, she found it difficult to laugh, and it took all her strength to hold back her tears.
I didn’t know what to say, so I just kept repeating “I love you” over and over again.
Shen Qingchen's response to her was limited to shaking her hand back.
But at first it was just his little finger, but now he could barely hold her whole hand. Jiang Hexue would then carefully separate his fingers and interlock them with his.
Between the time when the rabbit was missing and the black was sinking, the imperial edict arrived in Kyoto first.
It turned out to be the imperial edict of Emperor Hengshun sentencing Shen Zelin to death for the Wei Shutan incident.
Jiang Hexue had no idea why this emperor, who valued his reputation so much, suddenly changed his mind, but it didn't matter to them.
Immediately afterwards, Jiang Heye jumped over to her excitedly again.
"Sister, I've found the source of that medicinal ingredient," he said seriously. "It's Jade Dragon's Saliva, which only grows in extremely cold places like the Northern Xuan Imperial Capital. It can cure the cold poison in my brother-in-law's body."
"That's Beixuan's national treasure. It was included in my mother's dowry, but I heard from Magistrate Tian that my mother gave it to the current Lady of the Changping Earl. It seems to be in Sister Fu Xian's hands now."
It would be much easier to deal with it in Fu Xian's hands. If it had stayed in the Zhenbei Marquis Mansion, it would have been destroyed by the Jiang Tao.
Jiang Heye was so busy preparing medicine for several days that he had no time to rest. Jiang Hexue then went to find Fu Xian on his own.
"The Jade Ambergris that Jiamiao gave me?" Fu Xian, who was familiar with the subject, was embarrassed when she heard this. "I gave it to my younger brother yesterday."
"But Hexue, don't worry, I will accompany you to ask him for it now." She stood up hurriedly.
"I can go by myself." Jiang Hexue stopped her, her brows furrowed. "I have some matters with Fu Wang, and we can't put them off any longer."
Fu Wang lived in the mansion of the Earl of Changping.
Jiang Hexue said goodbye to Fu Xian and left in a carriage.
She didn't bring anything with her and thought for a long time with her chin in her hand along the way.
She still couldn't guess what Fu Wang was thinking.
Fu Wang must have no hostility towards her...but what grudge could there be between him and Shen Qingchen?
She still remembered that when she mentioned Fu Wang to Shen Qingchen at the beginning of their marriage, he had almost no impression of him.
As his thoughts were flowing, the carriage slowly stopped in front of the Changping Earl's Mansion.
The Earl of Changping was not at home, and it was Fu Wang who opened the door.
He was not surprised at all that she came alone, and he still had that carefree smile from his youth: "Sit down."
There was chilled fermented glutinous rice in the celadon cup. Jiang Hexue didn't bother to be polite with him. She sat down opposite him and touched her lips with the wine.
"You came to me to ask for the Jade Dragon Saliva?" Although Fu Wang asked a question, there was no doubt about its meaning.
Jiang Hexue nodded.
"If you want it, I'm willing to give it to you. But if you want to give it to him, I won't." Fu Wang crossed his legs. "If I didn't have this Jade Dragon Saliva, Hexue, would you ever come to see me again in this life?"
"What answer do you want to hear?" Jiang Hexue asked directly. Fu Wang stroked the edge of the lamp and chuckled, "I knew it. This is the only way to see you."
"Actually, Hexue, there's just one thing I can't figure out. After thinking about it, I think maybe only you can help me solve it."
He drank a whole cup of iced fermented glutinous rice in one gulp, and the broken ice made his teeth chatter slightly.
"I just want to know, how is Shen Qingchen better than me?"
-
The room was silent.
Jiang Hexue looked at him calmly and did not answer immediately.
"Why do you all like him more? Is it just because his last name is 'Chen'?" Fu Wang asked, a smile still on his face, but the corners of his eyes were red. "Ever since he came to Liangzhou sixteen years ago, my father has been endlessly restricting me, saying that I am inferior to him in everything and that I should learn everything from him."
"Before, he was still a marquis. Heye was ill that year, and all the young men in Liangzhou gathered around me. But when he came, they all gathered around him."
"My friends tried to please him, but he wouldn't even look at them. Even you and Gan Le treated him better than I did."
"In just one month, he easily replaced my position in your hearts - but we have known each other since childhood."
"Even after he passed away, everyone in Liangzhou still praised him, and no one remembered me anymore." As he spoke, the red at the corners of his eyes grew darker. "But I clearly did nothing wrong."
"Hexue, how could he take everything from me and still act so calmly, as if he had done nothing wrong?! And you—were you all fooled by him?!"
Jiang Hexue blinked blankly: "So... you have always hated him?"
"Shouldn't I hate him?" Fu Wang laughed self-deprecatingly. "I hate him, I hate him so much. I wish he could experience all the pain I've experienced—but I can't do anything about it."
"Later I found out that he liked you."
"In the winter of the seventeenth year, he came to Liangzhou looking for you. Jiang Tao told him the news of your death. I was standing by, and it was the first time I saw him lose his composure like that."
"We know that only you can make him suffer."
"So, Hexue, back in Kyoto, you asked me why I did this, why I kept provoking you? Because I wanted him to experience pain, whether it was unrequited love or anything else, but he couldn't live his life smoothly!"
"He was there when I said those ambiguous words, but you never noticed, and I don't know if he ever told you."
Jiang Hexue clenched the celadon cup and looked at Fu Wang.
She was no longer the irritable girl she used to be, and she would not throw a cup of iced fermented glutinous rice wine at him.
She just looked at him for a while, then said softly, "But Fu Wang, he never thought of stealing your things."
"He's from a royal family, so wherever he goes, he's always surrounded by people who curry favor with him. Perhaps that's why, as you said, your friend tried to curry his favor, but he didn't say a word."
"And Gan Le is so close to him because Zhao Hua is her uncle. She has always considered you a friend. When I left Kyoto, she asked me to give you her regards."
"Before everything that happened in Kyoto, I also truly considered you a friend. As for how close I was to him back then..." Jiang Hexue paused, finally speaking the truth. "It must have been because his appearance was truly pleasing to my eyes. Or perhaps, back then, I developed feelings for him that I hadn't even realized."
"But Fu Wang, we have never ignored you."
She spoke in a gentle voice, and the young man in front of her with a fierce look in his eyes stared at her blankly, and then his expression gradually calmed down.
After a while, he stood up and left without looking back.
Jiang Hexue sipped half a cup of fermented glutinous rice wine, then saw him returning with a brocade box. Without a second thought, she knew it contained Jade Dragon Saliva. She readily took it, her eyes curved, and said, "Thank you."
"I'll take you there." Fu Wang followed her.
She never refused.
He just waved to him when he reached the door.
"Fu Wang, Uncle Fu has always been a beloved elder in my heart. He has always loved you and Ah Xian very much." Jiang Hexue said seriously. "There are some misunderstandings. You two need to open up and talk about it."
She thought of Wei Shutan and said softly, "When there are flowers to be picked, pick them now. Don't wait until there are no flowers left to pluck empty branches."
-
When he handed the Jade Dragon Saliva to Jiang Heye, he found that the imperial physician from Kyoto had also arrived at the post station. Jiang Hexue no longer worried about the medicine. Feeling tired, he planned to take a nap.
When I walked into the room, I found that the bedding had been changed.
"It's almost the You month, and the weather is hot, so I changed the quilt for the princess and added a Xiangfei bamboo mat." Xuemei explained.
"Yes, Princess, I found this under your pillow when I was changing servants." She handed a letter to Jiang Hexue.
The envelope was made of moon-white silk, with a light golden beeswax print in the shape of a white jade flower. Jiang Hexue knew who the letter was from at a glance.
But she just put it away carefully and took it out to read when she went to accompany Shen Qingchen in the evening.
He still moved a low stool and sat beside the couch, gently softening the sealing wax with candlelight. Jiang Hexue carefully opened it and took out the letter.
"Zhaohua, come and read the letter you wrote to me today." She cleared her throat and introduced herself to Shen Qingchen before beginning to read. "Qingqing Qiongqiong, it's like meeting you in person."
She would comment on every sentence she read: "You usually don't call me like this, yet you dare to write like this in your letter."
The first few sentences were about military intelligence, and she read them fluently, but when she looked down, her throat became choked.
This was the wish that Shen Qingchen whispered to her that day.
"Peace and joy, happiness every day, not to mention whether you are by my side..." The moment she said it, the tears she had been holding back for many days fell. "How is it possible..."
The hands clasped with his unconsciously tightened more and more. Jiang Hexue lay down and murmured: "Chen Qingchen, you are so stupid. How can I do this when you are not here..."
Through tearful eyes, the corners of her eyes were gently touched.
It was the fingertips with thin calluses that gently wiped away her tears.
A slightly cold yet familiar touch brought Jiang Hexue back to her senses in confusion. She blinked and looked through her tears.
Her vision was blurred and she couldn't see clearly for a moment.
All I could hear was the familiar clear voice of the young man, which was tinged with a slight hoarseness.
"Don't cry, dear."
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The author has something to say: "1" is from "Golden Threaded Clothes"
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