Chapter 138
As soon as he opened his mouth, a mouthful of cold wind choked him, chilling him to the bone, and he couldn't help but cough twice.
The few remaining blossoms on the plum branch trembled and were blown away by the wind. Wei Li, holding the bare plum branch, smiled awkwardly at Zhao Xiheng, revealing a set of white teeth, "They're all gone."
After two years apart, he didn't come back to see them immediately.
He wanted to make Zhao Xiheng happy, but he didn't know what to give her, so he went to Qingzhou and picked a few plum blossoms. However, the wind and snow were too heavy, and by the time he arrived, most of them had already been blown away.
Zhao Xiheng saw the last red plum blossom, which was tossed about by the wind. The red blossoms mixed with the white blossoms and drifted away to who knows where.
"Even without it, you're still beautiful." Zhao Xiheng buried half her face in her collar, and in a muffled voice, she rushed over and hugged him.
It's good that he's back.
Having been apart for so long, she sometimes dreamt that something had happened to Wei Li. She pinched his waist, but it was still stiff, and asked, "Does it hurt?"
Wei Li bared her teeth. "Why did you pinch me? Why doesn't it hurt?"
"I'm afraid it's a dream. Let me pinch you and see if it hurts." Zhao Xiheng kept her face buried in his chest.
Wei Li raised his hand and flicked her forehead. "Can't you pinch yourself? I finally came back for a visit, and you're willing to do that?"
"Hmm... You're almost thirty, how can you hold a grudge against a girl in her early twenties like me?" Zhao Xiheng snuggled against him, wiping away her tears.
"Twenty-eight! Twenty-eight! Not thirty! Even one day off doesn't make it thirty!" Wei Li argued forcefully.
The two of them spoke, and it was the same familiar taste.
Wei Li felt it was really inappropriate for the two of them to be standing in the wind, so he pulled her towards the door.
Zhizhi clutched her clothes and stood at the doorway, watching them from afar.
When Wei Li left, she was only six years old. Even though Zhao Xiheng often mentioned him to her, so much time had passed that Wei Li was now just a faint shadow in her heart.
Only now, with him standing before him again, does that shadow come alive.
It wasn't until Wei Li picked her up and lifted her up that Zhi Zhi, looking at his face which was so similar to her own, overcame her last remaining shyness, wrapped her arms around his neck, and deliberately asked him sternly in a stern voice, "Why are you only coming back now? You have no idea how many books I've studied."
Young Master Zhao Tulin is not shy at all!
"How about this?" Wei Li conjured up a small ivory rabbit and placed it in her palm.
It's only because they haven't seen each other for a long time that Wei Li is indulging her a bit; if she had dared to speak like that a few years ago, he would have already found fault with her.
The rabbit was confiscated from the treasury of the Xianbei royal palace. It was carved from wolf fangs, had a light beige color, and was only about the size of a thumb. It was considered a specialty of the Xianbei.
Actually, it was just a bit more exquisite and difficult to make; it wasn't particularly outstanding or expensive. However, Wei Li took a liking to it at first sight. Zhi Zhi was born in the Year of the Rabbit, and he thought it would be cute to give her to play with, so he brought it back with him.
"Then I'll reluctantly forgive you." Zhizhi was a little rich and didn't lack valuable things, but the things her father had brought back from so far away were naturally especially precious!
She can brag to her friends tomorrow that none of them have this.
Qingzhou was not their original home after all, and they still missed Buxian very much.
Before Wei Li returned, Zhao Xiheng had already packed her belongings. She had originally planned to go back to Pingzhou to wait for him, but she didn't expect him to return so quickly.
It's a bit of a pity that Wei Li didn't get to see the first batch of osmanthus flowers planted in the yard.
However, Zhao Xiheng specially picked some osmanthus flowers to make osmanthus honey and dried osmanthus flowers, so that he could barely experience the fragrance of last year's osmanthus flowers.
After resting in Qingzhou for a few days, Wei Li finally felt the "popularity" that Zhao Xiheng had mentioned in her letter regarding Zhizhi.
A densely packed group of children, around ten years old, cried and shouted as they bid farewell to their young master. Holding hands, they looked at each other with tearful eyes, each one sobbing uncontrollably.
"Young Master, please come back to visit us often. We'll miss you, waaaaah~"
"Don't forget about us just because you've taken on new followers!"
Wei Li sat in the carriage, slightly lifting the curtain to peek out. After watching for a while, he silently lowered the curtain, looking at Zhao Xiheng with an indescribable expression. "Let's just leave and leave her here..."
“No, Zhizhi has already told her friends in Pingzhou that she’s going back.” Zhao Xiheng smiled secretly.
Wei Li's expression became even more indescribable, and he said sarcastically, "She's quite popular, isn't she?"
“I’m not as popular as you,” Zhao Xiheng comforted him.
Although it was obviously a lie, Wei Li was comforted and leaned on her lap. "Of course." He added, "You're quite popular too. The soldiers said they haven't seen you in years and would like to invite you to the victory celebration banquet again."
“I’m fine with anything.” Zhao Xiheng ruffled his hair. The hair he had cut two years ago had grown back, but it wasn’t very long yet. It hung unevenly at the ends, looking like it had been chewed by a dog.
She then thought of Xie Qingyu's precarious situation and frowned, saying, "I sent some tonics to my brother, hoping he will be alright."
Wei Li tugged at her sleeve, beckoning her closer, and whispered something in her ear. Finally, he patted her shoulder and said, "Don't worry, he'll be fine."
Because Wei Li was not a good person, Xie Qingyu had to endure a long and arduous journey back to Yongzhou. Her stitched wound reopened and bled, and she had a high fever for three days and three nights, truly looking like she was on the verge of death.
A lie that is three parts truth contains seven parts truth.
Xie Yulin cried until his eyes were red and swollen. He knelt in front of his father's bed, sobbing and his crystal-like tears fell in torrents. Anyone who saw him would feel sorry for him.
Xie Qingyu couldn't bear it either, so she held his little hand and said, "It's okay, don't cry."
Xie Yulin was startled, then suddenly his eyes widened, and he jumped out like a rabbit, shouting, "Mother! Mother!"
Several doctors came and said that Xie Qingyu's injuries were not optimistic. Although she was pleasantly surprised by his awakening, Qi Yan couldn't think too highly of things. She gently pulled the blanket up for him and said, "You should rest well. I'll take care of everything at home."
Xie Qingyu struggled to grab her sleeve, "I still have something to tell you..."
He tried to sound faint, but his acting wasn't very good, so he simply closed his eyes and said, "You received my letter from back then, didn't you..."
Qi Yan hadn't expected him to still be so fixated on that incident from years ago, so she could only advise, "Let's talk about it again when you're better."
“But I’m afraid if I don’t say it now, I’ll never have the chance again.” Xie Qingyu paused and gripped her sleeve tightly.
This injury will heal in a while, so pretending to be sick and weak again won't go too smoothly.
A slight blush rose on his pale cheeks. "I think you should know that I like you, the kind of liking where I want to be with you for a lifetime."
Qi Yan was speechless. Xie Qingyu was a very indecisive and methodical person. If he said "forever," then it really meant "forever."
"But what do you like about me?"
Of all the love stories between men and women in the world, she had only ever seen those that ended as tragically as her parents'.
Xie Qingyu thought for a moment and said truthfully, "You are perfect in every way, I like you in every way, and if it were someone else, they would like you too."
"So, you only talk about liking someone if you know what I'm really like? Maybe it's not what you see."
Xie Qingyu hurriedly replied, "I know everything. I know about your approach to me, about your father..."
"I don't think you're a bad person, I still like you a lot."
Qi Yan didn't expect that Xie Qingyu knew all these things. Since he knew all these things, he should have known that her approach to him was not for pure purposes. How could this person be so stupid as to say that he liked her?
"Because the most important thing for a person is to live, and you are just doing this to live, so there is nothing wrong with that."
He was now lying weakly on his sickbed, and even though Qi Yan was in a vulnerable position at this moment, he did not give her a sense of aggressive pressure.
"Oh." Qi Yan tugged at her sleeve, feeling embarrassed at being exposed, and also a little heartbroken.
Xie Qingyu is a really nice person.
In his early years, Wei Li was busy fighting battles in the south and north. Now that he has some free time, some people secretly advised him to have a son to inherit the family business as soon as possible.
Although Wei Li himself doesn't admit it, he is indeed in his late twenties, approaching thirty, and in everyone's eyes, he has reached the age where he must cultivate an heir.
Pingzhou developed girls' schools, and women were also able to become officials.
However, old ideas that have been around for many years are hard to change in a short time. Some people still believe that men still inherit their fathers' jobs. Although Wei Li dotes on his daughter and everyone calls Zhao Tu Lin "Young Master," they don't take it seriously. They think it's just a trick to make a child happy and still think that Wei Li will not pass the position to his daughter.
Moreover, his daughter doesn't take Wei Li's surname. If the foundation he built with so much hard work is given to his daughter, wouldn't it just return to the Zhao family's hands? He'd worked for nothing his whole life.
Wei Li was furious about this and deliberately held the victory celebration banquet and Zhao Tulin's conferment ceremony together to show his attitude.
He didn't want to have a second child.
He had said long ago that he and Zhao Xiheng might not be able to give another child the same amount of love. If they were to divide the love they gave to Zhizhi in half and give it to another child, both children would feel wronged, as they would only receive half the love.
Zhizhi was especially aggrieved. She was the most beloved child, but her younger siblings had to take away half of her attention.
Wei Li was used to making decisions arbitrarily, and since he had made the decision, no one dared to disobey him. They simply offered toasts and congratulated their young master.
After several rounds of drinks, Wei Li had downed half a jar of strong liquor. He was already a light drinker, and his eyes gradually became blurry. He could see the people below as just radishes and cabbages, except for Zhao Xiheng, whose vision remained clear.
He tugged at Zhao Xiheng's sleeve as if no one else was around and quietly asked her, "The price of cabbage down the mountain has gone up. Can my monthly allowance be increased a little too?"
Zhao Xiheng pressed his hand down, "Let's talk about it when we get back."
Wei Li raised his voice and shouted, "You..."
The words were barely out of his mouth when they were covered.
Seeing that he was about to lose face if he didn't leave soon, Zhao Xiheng helped him up, nodded to the crowd below with a polite smile, and said, "My lord has had too much to drink. I'll take him to sober up."
Yang Zeli, sitting close by, overheard their whispered conversation and then asked Chen Ruojiang, "Does the lord have absolute authority at home? Does the lord spend money at home at will? Does the lady listen to the lord in everything? When the two of them quarrel, does the lady really sleep in the study?"
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