Chapter 70: Shuang Qiyuan left Tongtong in his house late at night...
Jiang Tong said confidently: "Yes, I bullied you!"
Zhao Quesheng held back his laughter and didn't dare to say anything.
Su Guanqing was extremely angry, but he could do nothing and could only be dragged out by Jiang Tong.
When they reached the alley entrance, Jiang Tong said, "It's inconvenient for me to pull you along while I'm holding the painting. You can hold my arm."
Su Guanqing couldn't hold the bamboo stick, and she was afraid he would bump into it.
"No." Su Guanqing was very tough. He relied on his sharp hearing and used the sound of Jiang Tong's footsteps to determine the direction.
Jiang Tong simply decided not to leave.
Su Guanqing suddenly lost his direction and stopped in confusion.
The two of them were in a stalemate for a while, and suddenly Jiang Tong said, "Take it!" She stuffed the scroll into Su Guanqing's hand.
Su Guanqing knew that she wanted to free up her hands to hold him, so he naturally refused to take over.
Jiang Tong leaned close to his ear and said mischievously, "This is an authentic Mi Fu painting. The old paper is brittle and can't withstand being dropped. If it falls to the ground..."
Su Guanqing was a person who loved calligraphy and painting. When he heard this, he hurriedly hugged the scroll tightly with both arms.
Jiang Tong's eyes were curved like foxes, and she reached out and held Su Guanqing's arm.
Su Guanqing struggled a bit, and Jiang Tong said, "Don't move! Pulling and tugging is inappropriate!"
So Su Guanqing didn't dare to move and obediently let Jiang Tong hold his arm and walk with him.
After the calligraphy and painting were handed over, Jiang Tong took his arm and walked back with him.
"Tongtong, I heard from the doorman that the family just now was surnamed Cao?" Su Guanqing was waiting for Jiang Tong at the door before he even entered.
"Yes," Jiang Tong was in a good mood when he saw him speak first. "The house of Cao Jixiang, the eunuch of the Imperial Household Department."
She patted Su Guanqing's chest, where she had just stuffed the banknote Cao Jixiang had given her, and said in a low voice, "That eunuch is very generous."
Cao Jixiang was one of the great contributors to the Zhengtong Emperor's coup d'état. He had long been extremely powerful and was another powerful eunuch after Wang Zhen. Su Guanqing naturally knew him.
He asked with some doubt, "But I remember that this Eunuch Cao wasn't very well-versed in literature. How could he have an authentic Mi Fu painting and ask you to restore it? Are you... using the restoration of calligraphy and painting as a cover for something else?"
His words hit the nail on the head. Jiang Tong's eyelids twitched, but she didn't want to discuss this with Su Guanqing. She quickly came up with an explanation: "So what if I'm not good at writing? Am I not allowed to pretend to be cultured? After all, he can afford the reward, and the painting is genuine. I'm just a craftsman. Do I have to be picky about my customers?"
Su Guanqing hesitated for a moment and asked, "Tongtong, you are not involved in those things anymore, right?"
"That's all. Don't think about it anymore." Jiang Tong pulled his hand and scratched his palm, trying to divert his attention. "You've come back to me, how could I have any other thoughts?"
Su Guanqing didn't expect Jiang Tong to act like a hooligan on the street. His ears turned red and he subconsciously clenched his fist, but just happened to wrap Jiang Tong's fingers in it, and then he quickly let go.
Jiang Tong found it very interesting and was about to continue teasing him when he suddenly heard someone calling out from a distance:
"Guan Qing!"
Jiang Tong heard the voice sound familiar, but before she could react, Su Guanqing had already stopped in his tracks and was looking towards the source of the voice, hurriedly responding, "Fu Liu? Is that Fu Liu?"
Jiang Tong turned his head and saw a tall and handsome young man standing in the shadow of the street corner, looking at them intently with a complicated expression.
The wind is blowing the willows.
He didn't know how long it had been since he had changed his clothes, and his clothes looked really dirty and messy.
Su Guanqing got no response and anxiously tugged at Jiang Tong's sleeve: "Tongtong, did you see that? Is that Fu Liu? I heard his voice."
"It's Mr. Feng." Jiang Tong gently patted the back of Su Guanqing's hand.
Feng Fuliu finally moved. He slowly walked over to Jiang Tong and the others and bowed to her. "Miss, I have nowhere else to go. Could you please give me a meal?"
…
After bringing Feng Fuliu back to Jiang's house, Jiang Tong asked him to help Su Guanqing go back, and she went to his original ear room to take a bath and change clothes, and she returned to the side room by herself.
Unexpectedly, not long after Jiang Tong sat down in her room, Su Guanqing came over alone. After finding that she was not in the study, he came to knock on her door again.
Jiang Tong opened the door, raised his eyebrows, and said with a half-smile, "This is rare, you actually took the initiative to come to me. You won't avoid suspicion this time?"
Su Guanqing showed a somewhat embarrassed look on his face.
Jiang Tong walked into the house: "Come in and talk."
Su Guanqing hesitated at the door. He certainly wanted to avoid suspicion, but he also knew Jiang Tong's temper. If he went against her wishes at this time, there would be no room for negotiation.
He walked in and closed the door.
"Tongtong, what are your plans regarding Fuliu?"
Jiang Tong sat in the armchair, glanced at Su Guanqing, and deliberately said, "What are my plans? He ran away when I was in trouble before, and now that I'm about to become a princess, he comes to burn me. What do you think I should do?"
Su Guanqing understood Feng Fuliu's personality and knew that he was always proud. He must be desperate to come and ask for help. When he heard Jiang Tong's words, he became anxious. He took two quick steps forward and was about to speak when he kicked a low stool and almost fell. Jiang Tong was so frightened that she jumped up and flew over to support him.
"Why are you so nervous? Just take your time and talk." Jiang Tong said unhappily.
"Hey," Su Guanqing tugged at Jiang Tong's sleeve and said anxiously, "Tongtong, Fu Liu didn't leave because he saw the Jiang family in trouble. He asked me about it, and I thought at the time that I didn't need his care anymore, so why bother dragging him down any longer, so I let him go. He didn't sneak away."
"I didn't say I blame him. Anyway, I returned the indenture to him a long time ago. The sky is high and the birds fly freely. He can go wherever he wants." Jiang Tong shook off Su Guanqing's hand and walked back to the armchair to sit down.
"Tongtong, Fu Liu has nowhere to go now. Can you let him come back? Look, my hand is like this. He can take care of me." Su Guanqing carefully walked around the low couch, came up to her, and pleaded softly.
Seeing Su Guanqing's anxious face, Jiang Tong couldn't help but have evil intentions. She leaned back in her chair, hugged her chest, and said calmly, "I can, but I have a condition."
"you say."
"From now on, I want you to stay by my side forever. As long as I don't say I don't want you, you can't leave me, and you're not allowed to tell me that we're breaking up. Even if my parents ask you to, you can't change your mind. What do you think? Do you agree?"
"Tongtong, do you really want to do this? If you ask me, I am of course one hundred percent willing. I have been looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you since before we got engaged. But... but now I really am not worthy of you." Su Guanqing said this and turned his face away in pain, but Jiang Tong had already seen the crystal light flashing in the corner of his eyes.
She sat up, pulled his arm, and made him bend down. "That's what I said. You are not allowed to mention the terms worthy or unworthy anymore."
"But this is the fact. Even if I don't mention it, others will think so, and my uncle and aunt will not agree." Su Guanqing's voice was very soft, but every word seemed very heavy, like a huge rock pressing on his heart.
"We don't need anyone else's approval for our relationship," she held his face, forcing him to face her. She gently wiped away the tears from his eyes with her thumb, her voice even gentler. "Guan Qing, you even dared to enter the imperial prison for me. You're not afraid of death, so how could you be afraid of other people's opinions?"
Su Guanqing's lips trembled, and he was about to say something when Jiang Tong pressed a finger against his mouth. "Guanqing, just ask your heart. Everything else is just insignificant dust. Why bother yourself with troubles?"
Su Guanqing's heart was torn between his conscience and his desires. His chest rose and fell violently, and his breathing became rapid. He hunched over, burdened by his blindness, his crippled hand, his lowly status, the tears of Jiang's parents, the covetous gaze of the Zhengtong Emperor, and even his guilt, his inferiority, and his uneasiness...
The dust in her mouth was as light as a speck of dust, but it weighed a thousand pounds on his body.
For a moment, he wanted to stand up and run away, but Jiang Tong held his arm tightly, not allowing him to leave at all.
He could not break free from the shackles of worldly views, but he was even more unwilling to break free from the cage she had built for him.
Both sides were pulling at him like two ends in a tug-of-war, trying to tear him in two.
At this moment, Jiang Tong's gentle voice rang in his ears: "Guan Qing, tell me, are you willing to spend the rest of your life with me?"
In an instant, the outcome was no longer in doubt. Su Guanqing instinctively pounced on Jiang Tong, letting the dust behind him roar and bury him.
He bent his knees and knelt in front of her. He hugged her waist tightly as if he was holding on to a life-saving straw, and his voice was trembling: "I do."
Jiang Tong's eyes warmed up, and she reached out her hand, holding his head tightly in her arms. In the quiet room, the two of them sat and knelt, hugging each other tightly.
…
Jiang Tong and Su Guanqing were united in their concern, but the most anxious ones were Zhong Wanci and Jiang Huaishan.
On that rainy night, Jiang Tong stayed in Su Guanqing's room all night to take care of him. Jiang Tong naturally ordered no one to tell the two elders, but the truth could not be hidden, and they soon found out what had happened.
Zhong Wanci was so angry that she burst into tears: "If this gets out, how will Tongtong get married in the future?"
She was so angry that she pounded on Jiang Huaishan's chest. "Didn't you say you had an agreement with Guan Qing? Didn't you say that the child was sensible? Leaving Tongtong in his room late at night, what does he want to do? Even if he makes it a fait accompli, can Tongtong really marry him?"
Jiang Huaishan was so shocked by her blow that he almost fainted. After a while, he stared at her with red eyes and gritted his teeth, saying, "Su Guanqing! I misjudged him! I didn't expect him to be so shameless!"
He struggled to sit up and slapped the bed fiercely: "Call him! Call him! I want to see how he is going to explain to me!"
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The author has something to say: "Ming History·Biographies 192·Eunuchs 1": When Emperor Yingzong returned to the throne, he still cared about Zhen. Following the advice of eunuch Liu Heng, he granted Zhen a sacrifice, summoned his soul, and buried it at Zhihua Temple, where it was enshrined and named Jingzhong. Cao Jixiang, a member of Zhen's household, was again favored by Emperor Zhuanzheng for his contribution in seizing the imperial palace.
Cao Jixiang, a native of Luanzhou, had always been a loyal follower of Wang Zhen. At the beginning of the Zhengtong era, he served as a military supervisor during the expedition to Luchuan. During the campaign against the Uriankhai, he split up with Duke Chengguo Zhu Yong and eunuch Liu Yongcheng. He also joined forces with Chen Mao, Marquis of Ningyang, to campaign against Deng Maoqi in Fujian. Whenever Jixiang went out, he would select high-ranking officials and skilled soldiers to serve under his command, and when the troops returned, he would keep them at home, resulting in a large cache of armor.
During the Jingtai reign, he was in charge of the Beijing Camp. Later, he allied with Shi Heng and led the troops to welcome Emperor Yingzong back to the throne. He was promoted to the position of eunuch in charge of ceremonies and was made the governor of the three major camps.
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