Chapter 65 I’ll Help You Her palms seemed to be on fire, and wherever she rubbed them…
In fact, at the beginning, Jiang Tong had no intention of helping Su Guanqing.
She told Su Guanqing the location of various items and was about to close the door and go out. As soon as she opened the door, she suddenly remembered that Su Guanqing's prescription was in her room. She planned to ask someone to get a prescription first, so she closed the door again and turned around to look for the prescription.
Unexpectedly, when she closed the door, Su Guanqing thought that there was no one in the room.
Su Guanqing breathed a sigh of relief. Even though he couldn't see, he knew how dirty and smelly he was.
In the past six months, he had never combed his hair, let alone showered or changed his clothes. His originally black, shiny and smooth hair had long since become a mess. He couldn't even imagine how sloppy he had become.
If he had a choice, he would not want to meet Jiang Tong again in this state.
He took two steps in the direction he remembered, and touched forward with his hand. He touched a large wooden barrel. He knew it was a bathtub, so he leaned against the tub and began to take off his clothes.
Jiang Tong closed the door and turned around to see Su Guanqing struggling with his belt with his head down.
The laces should have been able to be untied with a gentle pull, but he tried hard for a long time but couldn't get them untied!
Jiang Tong found it a little funny, thinking that Su Guanqing hadn't been able to find the end of the rope. She walked over to help him, but when she saw the situation clearly, her expression suddenly froze.
She saw that the rope end was clearly in Su Guanqing's hand, but his fingertips seemed unable to hold it firmly. With just a little force, the rope slipped from his hand.
His hands...
Jiang Tong's gaze fell on Su Guanqing's hands. The originally fair hands were now pitch black, and even the original color could not be seen. The originally slender and beautiful ten fingers were twisted and deformed, looking a little scary.
It was as if a basin of cold water was poured over Jiang Tong's head, and her heart went cold. However, she immediately understood that after she left that day, Su Guanqing had no one to take care of him, and had to forcibly use his broken hands, so that the bones eventually healed out of place. The ugliness was not the only thing, the key was that they seemed to have lost even the basic functions.
...No wonder, no wonder he just said his hands were dirty and refused to give them to me.
Su Guanqing didn't know that there was a pair of eyes watching him. He had become accustomed to these ten disabled fingers. So when he suffered setbacks repeatedly, he was not impatient, but just patiently tried again and again.
Suddenly he paused and seemed to hear a sob in his ears.
Su Guanqing was startled and listened carefully with suspicion, but he heard nothing, so he started to fight with the thin belt again.
Finally, just when Su Guanqing thought that the thin strap was about to slip from his fingertips again, he felt a slight friction between the fabrics and the strap was pulled open.
...a bit strange.
Su Guanqing didn't have time to think about it, so he took off his shirt and tried to untie his belt in the same way. This time it was much smoother and he untied it with just one pull.
He didn't suspect anything, put his clothes together, and groped his way up the wooden ladder into the bathtub.
The hot water soaked his chest. Su Guanqing leaned against the wall of the tub, squinting his eyes comfortably.
Jiang Tong finally adjusted her mood. She walked behind Su Guanqing and gently played with his hair.
Since Su Guanqing's hands were disabled, he would not be able to wash himself clean. She planned to help him.
Su Guanqing was startled and sat up suddenly, making a splashing sound. "Who?!"
"It's me, I'll help you wash your hair."
Su Guanqing's expression suddenly changed. His cheeks, already red from the heat, turned even redder. He frantically covered his chest with his hands: "Tongtong? Why didn't you go out?!"
"Your hand is not healed, why didn't you tell me just now?" Jiang Tong's voice no longer revealed the turbulent emotions in her voice, but her eyes were still fixed on Su Guanqing's deformed hands.
Su Guanqing hid his hand in the water, trying to hide the truth. "It's... not a big deal. I think it won't be too late to talk about it in a couple of days."
Jiang Tong didn't say anything. She dragged the round table next to the bathtub, placed an empty basin on the round table, and poured hot water into it.
Su Guanqing didn't know what she was going to do. He only heard the ping-pong sounds and was nervous for a long time before he heard her say calmly, "Come here, I'll wash your hair."
She patted the wooden basin, which made a muffled "dong dong" sound. The height of the basin was just the same as the bathtub, just enough for Su Guanqing's hair to fit in.
"Tongtong, I'll wash myself. You...or wait for me outside." Su Guanqing said timidly.
"Don't dawdle, the water will get cold soon." The water wasn't cold yet, but Jiang Tong's tone was already cold.
Su Guanqing was most afraid of her getting angry. From childhood to adulthood, he had no way to deal with her whenever she was angry. When he heard Jiang Tong's tone, he immediately leaned over as he was told.
Jiang Tong held his head and soaked his hair in warm water until it was completely wet. Then, from a porcelain bowl nearby, she scooped out a shampoo mixed with pre-cooked soap beans and hair-nourishing Chinese medicine, poured it on his hair, and rubbed it gently.
Su Guanqing no longer had the comfortable and relaxed feeling he had when he first came in to soak in the water. When he thought of himself soaking naked in the water with Jiang Tong standing beside him, he stuck in the bathtub like a wooden stake, not daring to move.
Jiang Tong didn't look at him. She was busy washing herself as she asked, "How did you get out? Wasn't there a general amnesty yet? And the prison is so far from home. You don't even have a bamboo stick. How did you find your way?"
Su Guanqing managed to calm himself down and regain some composure, explaining, "It must have been the Emperor Zhengtong's intention to release me. It was the Jinyiwei who sent me home."
Jiang Tong paused and glanced at Su Guanqing: "Can he be so magnanimous?"
Su Guanqing sat there feeling extremely uneasy, his hands hidden under the water, as if he was hiding something, yet he tried his best to put on a solemn expression: "He's not being magnanimous at all. He let me out on certain conditions."
"Don't block it. It's not like I haven't seen it before. Just hold out your hand and take it." Jiang Tong stuffed a loofah into Su Guanqing's trembling hand. "Rub it yourself. If it's not clean, I'll help you later."
Su Guanqing didn't dare let her help him scrub his body, so he took the loofah and began to wash vigorously. His fingers were weak, so he could only press the loofah with his palms and rub it back and forth on his chest. Soon, a piece of white skin gradually appeared on his chest.
"Have you met Emperor Zhengtong? What are his conditions?" Jiang Tong asked.
"No," Su Guanqing shook his head, "it was Wu An from the Imperial Guard who told me."
Wu An first ordered his men to reveal to Su Guanqing the news that Jiang Tong was about to marry into the royal family and become a princess. When Su Guanqing was completely desperate, he took him out of the cell and told him in a secret room that if he didn't want to leave his beloved, there was an opportunity right in front of him.
Jiang Tong patted Su Guanqing's hand and said distressedly, "Why don't you rub it somewhere else? It's already red!"
"Oh..." Su Guanqing shrank underwater again and began to rub her right breast.
"And then? What did Wu An ask you to do?"
Su Guanqing said, "He said he's always suspected Zhu Jiancheng and the forces behind him of rebellion. He just couldn't find any clues. He told me to return to you and wait for an opportunity to find evidence. If we can find evidence, Zhu Jiancheng will be sentenced to death. Once he's dead, you won't have to marry him. As a meritorious official who caught the rebels, the Zhengtong Emperor will help me clear my name, grant me a lifetime of wealth and honor, and even betroth you to me."
Jiang Tong snorted, "What a vicious plot to sow discord. Does he really trust you not to defect?"
Su Guanqing hadn't told Jiang Tong that when he first heard the news of the arranged marriage, he couldn't eat for days, and then he had a high fever and was almost unable to recover. Wu An must have observed from the sidelines and knew that without Jiang Tong, he would be living a life worse than death, so he let him go.
However, Wu An underestimated Su Guanqing's feelings for Jiang Tong.
Su Guanqing turned his head and looked at Jiang Tong: "Tongtong, I think that since I'm out now, we should not do those things anymore. We should just live our lives peacefully like before."
"Don't move! The water's all spilled," Jiang Tong turned his head back. "You mean you're not going to look for evidence of Zhu Jiancheng's guilt?"
Su Guanqing moved the loofah to his arm and continued to rub it: "If I hand over the evidence of Zhu Jiancheng's crime, it will inevitably implicate Miss Qiao. Then we can get away with it, but she will be harmed instead. I can't bear it."
"Then have you ever thought that if you don't give the evidence to the Jinyiwei, I will really have to marry that brat Zhu Jiancheng."
Su Guanqing pursed his lips and said, "Perhaps there is a way to have the best of both worlds. Let's think about it. But do you really want to continue with this matter? The Zhengtong Emperor has already set his sights on us. If he gets the evidence first, we will all die."
Jiang Tong sighed, took a comb and tried to straighten out the tangled hair bit by bit: "Guan Qing, I was the one who started the fire, but now that things have developed to this point, it's no longer under my control."
Su Guanqing's expression changed: "You mean..."
"Emperor Zhengtong favored eunuchs, betrayed his country, killed his brother, and executed many loyal ministers. His actions were absurd and had long since angered the public. Many people, including many powerful individuals, wanted him dead. A single tree cannot make a forest. Previously, these people were intimidated by Emperor Zhengtong's pressure and no one dared to speak out. But now, they know they are no longer alone, and they are ready to make a move."
"Then let's..."
"There's actually nothing we can do. The fire has already started," said Jiang Tong.
She lowered her head and saw that Su Guanqing was very nervous. She scooped up a handful of water with her left hand and poured it on Su Guanqing's shoulders. She rubbed it gently with her hands for a few times. After the stains fell off, the white and smooth skin underneath was exposed. It felt so good that Jiang Tong couldn't help but caress it:
"Don't be afraid. I was a bit aggressive in order to rescue you as soon as possible. Now that you're back, I'll try to slowly withdraw from those matters. After all, I'm just helping to pass on the message, and no one will care."
Su Guanqing was feeling upset because the rebellion had gotten out of control, when he suddenly felt Jiang Tong's hand on his shoulder, scrubbing him. It was not like the slightly painful feeling of rubbing a new loofah on the body. Jiang Tong's palms were soft and her technique was very gentle.
However, her palms seemed to be on fire, and wherever she rubbed them, it became hot and burning.
In an instant, something in Su Guanqing’s brain snapped. His hand trembled, and the loofah slipped out of his hand, floating slowly on the water, feeling quite comfortable as if he were “sailing on the five lakes in a small boat”[1].
But its owner did not feel so comfortable. Su Guanqing was tense and dared not move at all. He just buried his head deeply, fearing that if he moved, he would lose control of himself completely.
He couldn't hear a word Jiang Tong said at that moment. He just hoped that Jiang Tong would not notice his abnormality. However, he didn't know that the water in the basin had already turned pitch black, and no one could see what was in the water.
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The author has something to say: [1] Quoted from "Long Song" by Li Bi
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