Chapter 84: You two should go your separate ways, life or death...
That day, after Su Guanqing finished his lecture, the little emperor suddenly told him mysteriously that he had an imperial decree for him and asked him to go back and wait for news.
Su Guanqing was supposed to take a day off the next day and had originally planned to go to Jiang's house for dinner in the evening, but now he didn't dare to go anywhere and just waited in the inn.
A little later, the eunuch from the palace came to convey the imperial edict, and as soon as he arrived, he congratulated him with a smile on his face.
Su Guanqing then realized that the young emperor wanted to return all the houses and lands that had been confiscated from the Su family to him.
"Minister Su will be on leave tomorrow, so it's a good time to go and hand over all the land deeds and properties." The eunuch said to Su Guanqing with a smile as he left.
After thanking him, Su Guanqing sent the eunuch out. Upon hearing this, he wasn't as overjoyed as the eunuch had thought. He was supposed to stay at the Jiang residence tomorrow! If he was delayed in the inspection, wouldn't he not be able to see Tongtong for another ten days?
However, on second thought, Tongtong came to the Su residence often when she was a child, and she grew up in the Su residence. She might be interested in revisiting the old place. Tomorrow, he could go to the Jiang residence to find Tongtong and ask her to accompany him to the inspection.
Once he made up his mind, Su Guanqing was in a good mood. Seeing that it was too late, he did not go to the Jiang family for dinner. He ate something in the inn and went to bed quickly.
Early the next morning, he went to find Jiang Tong excitedly.
However, when he arrived at the gate of Jiang's house, he was surprised to find that the gate was locked from the outside.
Su Guanqing grabbed the big lock outside and looked at it, feeling a little confused.
Did the entire Jiang family go out? Did they leave no servants to guard the house?
Su Guanqing walked down the stairs, still confused in his mind. He took two steps and suddenly looked back, but his heart was shocked -
The plaque with the words "Jiang's House" hanging above the house was gone!
Tongtong is moving?!
Su Guanqing panicked on the spot and circled around Jiang's house like a headless fly. He just met two middle-aged men who walked up to open the door of Jiang's house.
Su Guanqing was shocked, thinking there was a thief, and rushed forward to demand, "How dare you sneak into someone else's house in broad daylight?"
The man holding the key was wrongly accused of being a thief and was about to get angry. However, when he saw Su Guanqing's attire, he knew that he was no ordinary citizen. He immediately said cautiously, "I'm not a thief, I'm Fang Ya. This family left the capital and asked me to help sell this house."
"Leave the whole family from the capital?" Su Guanqing was struck by lightning. At that moment, he even hoped that he had heard it wrong.
However, the tooth shattered his empty hope:
"Of course, he said he doesn't plan to come back in the future. This house is empty anyway, so it's better to sell it and save trouble."
Su Guanqing staggered two steps, looked back at the empty door lintel, and thought in despair: Tongtong really doesn't want me anymore.
The next moment, an idea flashed through his mind. He grabbed the man by the shoulder and said urgently, "Since the house hasn't been sold yet, is the owner still in the capital? Otherwise, how will we collect the money when the time comes?"
"Well..." Fang Ya was held by him, too embarrassed to break free immediately, and said in a somewhat awkward manner, "Actually, the person who came to see us wasn't the owner of the house. It was Commander Qiao of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. She was the one who gave us the key, and all the handover procedures will be handled by Commander Qiao..."
Before Fang Ya could finish his words, Su Guanqing had already left him and ran away in a hurry.
…
Su Guanqing searched the Jinyiwei's government office, looked for Aqiao's house, and finally found Aqiao in the palace who was listening to the imperial announcement.
After Su Guanqing handed over the sign outside the palace, he waited anxiously for the call. When he was allowed to enter, he rushed in without stopping.
After being reminded several times by the young eunuch who led the way, he finally managed to steady his steps. However, when he entered the hall and saw A Qiao talking to the emperor, he ignored everything and rushed up to ask Jiang Tong whether he had really left the capital.
The little emperor who was left aside: "..."
Zhu Jiancheng blinked, then looked at Aqiao innocently again. His tutor had always been gentle and well-behaved, so why had he lost his mind today? He was being disrespectful in front of the emperor!
Ah Qiao ignored the little emperor and turned to Su Guanqing: "Ah Tong has indeed left the capital."
"Why did she leave the capital? Where did she go?" Su Guanqing asked anxiously.
He felt despair, thinking that Tongtong had left the capital to avoid him. He couldn't understand why Tongtong was so cruel, even though she had already moved away, and couldn't even let him see her once every ten days?
Just as A Qiao was about to speak, he noticed a gossipy look from the side and said, "Your Majesty, you must be tired of reading. Let's go for a walk in the Imperial Garden."
"Okay!" Zhu Jiancheng was a child at heart. He was so excited when he heard that that he jumped up from the dragon throne and rushed out.
Ah Qiao then turned to Su Guanqing. Facing Su Guanqing's bloodshot eyes, Ah Qiao sighed, "Guanqing, I know you have hatred in your heart. She owed you in your past life. But she has tried her best to make it up to you in this life. Aren't you still angry?"
Su Guanqing didn't understand what she was saying and widened his eyes slightly: "What do you mean? What's the point of not getting rid of your anger?"
"Don't you blame Atong for killing you in your previous life?" Aqiao asked.
"When have I ever blamed Tongtong?! What killed me in my previous life was the eighty lashes with the sticks by the government. It was Jiang Tong who deliberately made trouble. What does it have to do with Tongtong? Tongtong is the most innocent person in the whole thing!" Su Guanqing's voice even rose a little.
"Then why do you deliberately distance yourself from A-Tong?" A-Qiao was surprised to see that his expression did not seem fake.
Su Guanqing revealed a hint of bitterness: "I distanced myself from Tongtong because I knew she was only being kind to me out of gratitude, and I couldn't bear to see her suffer so much."
"Do you think Ah Tong is the kind of person who would give herself to someone just to repay a favor?" Ah Qiao stared at Su Guanqing in disbelief. However, his expression told her that he really thought so.
Ah Qiao yelled, "Oh my God! Su Guanqing! Is this the first day you've met Ah Tong? When has she ever been the kind of person who would sacrifice herself for someone else? Even if you were her benefactor, it's impossible, right? There are so many ways to repay a favor, why would you have to sacrifice yourself?"
Su Guanqing was stunned by her words. He stared at Aqiao with his mouth open, feeling that his heart, which had been as dead as ashes, had come back to life and was beating violently, about to break his chest.
"It's true that Atong wants to repay you, but she also really likes you." Aqiao couldn't believe that these two people would have such a misunderstanding.
"Are you serious?" Su Guanqing's voice trembled.
"Of course it's true. Ah Tong told me that herself. When she rescued you, she really just wanted to support you for the rest of your life. She never thought of having anything else with you. But when feelings come, who can control it..." Ah Qiao looked at Su Guanqing dissatisfiedly, "You actually thought she was with you to repay a favor!"
Su Guanqing's heart was filled with emotion. He was excited and regretful at the same time. He didn't know what to say.
When Qiao saw his expression, she sighed heavily: "You have no idea how sad she is that you have been deliberately distancing yourself from her these days."
"It's my fault, my fault," Su Guanqing felt a pang of pain in his heart when he heard her say that. He hurriedly asked, "Where did she go?"
"I'm sorry, Ah Tong won't let me tell you," Ah Qiao spread her hands, "She said, since you've made up your mind, then from now on, you two will go your separate ways, and never see each other again, whether dead or alive..."
Ah Qiao's voice suddenly stopped, because she saw Su Guanqing kneeling directly in front of her: "Guanqing, what are you doing?"
"Miss Aqiao, please tell me where Tongtong went?" Su Guanqing kowtowed to Aqiao after saying this.
"Hey, hey, hey, why are you like this? Get up first," Ah Qiao said helplessly, "Even if you hit my head, I can't tell you. I promised Ah Tong."
Commander Qiao always kept his word. He called two eunuchs and ordered, "Minister Su is supposed to inspect the land and property today. You should accompany him."
The two eunuchs received the order and forcibly pulled Su Guanqing up, one on each side, and dragged him outside.
Su Guanqing was dragged outside the palace. Seeing that he was about to lose sight of Aqiao, he became anxious and struggled, "Commander Qiao! Just tell me! Where did Tongtong go?"
"Minister Su, please don't make any noise. We are in the palace. Be careful not to disturb the palace order, otherwise it will be bad for the court etiquette." The eunuch who was holding Su Guanqing's right hand reminded him.
Su Guanqing was extremely anxious, but he was helpless and was forced into the carriage by two eunuchs.
As soon as he got on the carriage, Su Guanqing seemed to have lost his soul. He didn't speak or move. When he arrived at Su's house, he seemed to have completely ignored the official in charge of the handover. He "floated" into the house like a ghost.
The clerk in charge of the handover was dumbfounded and looked at the two eunuchs: "This..."
The two eunuchs looked at each other, and the one who had warned Su Guanqing in advance spoke up, "Minister Su hasn't been home for a long time, so it's understandable that he's agitated. Commander Qiao asked me to accompany Minister Su to inspect the property. Since Minister Su isn't in the mood to handle this right now, I'll take his place."
"Hey!" The clerk was worried about not being able to complete his mission, and at this moment he was eager to speak. He hurriedly handed over the land deed and the land deed that he had prepared long ago, "Please take a look, sir."
Of the two eunuchs, one stayed at Su's house to help with the inspection, while the other went back to report to Qiao Zhao.
"Zhao" was the name Ah Qiao gave himself after becoming a commander. After all, he was an official appointed by the imperial court; it wouldn't be good for him to remain without a name.
Qiao Zhao was still in the palace. The young emperor, returning from a wandering trip, happened to overhear the eunuch discussing Su Guanqing's recent behavior. As soon as the eunuch left, he asked, "I was wondering why you withheld the imperial decree granting Aunt Jiang the title. So, you were testing Su Guanqing's sincerity towards her?"
Qiao Zhao glanced at him. "Ah Tong is my best friend, so of course I have to help her check things out. Don't underestimate your Aunt Jiang, she's just a lunatic who's completely absorbed in restoring paintings and calligraphy. She doesn't know that men are always flattering the powerful and looking down on the weak. When he's humble, he'll go along with you, but once he's successful, there's no guarantee he won't turn his back on you."
Zhu Jiancheng grinned at A Qiao: "Aunt Qiao, I'm not the kind of person who would just wait to burn the bridge after crossing it. I will always remember all the kindness Aunt Qiao and Aunt Jiang have shown me."
"Who wants to talk nonsense with you? I'm leaving first." Qiao Zhao was worried about Su Guanqing's condition, so he left the palace and went to Su's house.
She found Su Guanqing by the pond in the back garden of Su's house.
There is a water pavilion beside the pond in Su's house. In the pond below the pavilion, there is a pile of Taihu stones protruding from the water surface.
Su Guanqing was standing on the pile of Taihu stones, with the wind blowing through the hem of his clothes, giving him a feeling of being an immortal on the water.
However, Qiao Zhao didn't know how to appreciate the immortal's appearance. She only knew that if Su Guanqing took a step forward, he would fall into the water. For a moment, her heart almost jumped out of her throat.
She used her Qinggong skills and flew to the center of the waterside pavilion like the wind, calling out, "Guan Qing! Don't let your thoughts get you down!"
While she was trying to persuade him, she looked around and saw that the Taihu rocks below were very rugged and there was no extra space at all. If she jumped on, she was afraid that she would push Su Guanqing into the water instead. For a moment, Commander Qiao, who was very knowledgeable, was also at a loss.
Su Guanqing heard Qiao Zhao's voice behind him, but he seemed to be slow to react and it took him a long time to slowly turn his head.
"Guan Qing, don't do anything rash. We can still discuss A Tong's matter." Qiao Zhao said hurriedly when he saw him turn around.
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