Chapter 81: The Dilemma?
Chapter 81
His words were moving, which was typical of He Hansheng's style.
Unlike the other men, he never considered himself superior because of his noble birth, nor did he think that the women around him should stick close to him.
On the contrary, he only felt that he hadn't given enough, that his love was too shallow, and that it had become a constraint for her. Moreover, now that his martial arts skills were gone, he could no longer be her refuge, by her side, or protect her.
So, while he was reluctant to let her go, he struggled to hand over the initiative to her. He was so conflicted and torn, yet he still had to pretend to be nonchalant and tell her that he loved her, and that she would remain forever free.
Shen Suining laughed angrily. She withdrew her hand without hesitation, took a step back, and said, “A gentleman’s word is as good as his bond. He Hansheng,” she said, emphasizing each word, “we are separated by mountains and roads, take care of yourselves.”
He Hansheng closed his eyes and said "okay." Then he took off his shoes, knelt down in the snow, and silently put them on for her.
He did not get up, but after a long silence, he slowly raised his head and said softly, "The roads are slippery in the snow, madam... watch your step."
Shen Suining left without looking back.
In the vast land, only He Hansheng's figure, who had not stood for a long time, and the resolute footprints in front of him.
Shen Fengyu looked at Shen Suining's retreating figure, then at He Hansheng, unsure whether to chase after him or not.
She gritted her teeth, her eyes red, and knelt on the ground. "This subordinate has failed in her duties. Young Master... she was just acting out of spite. Why must you, Lord Marquis—"
Shen Fengyu's voice stopped abruptly. She looked at He Hansheng, who seemed to have lost his soul, sighed heavily, and stood up. "I'll go and coax the young master back."
"No need," He Hansheng said in a hoarse voice. After a long while, he stood up and gently shook off the snow from his body.
"Young Master!" Shen Fengyu was truly exasperated. She changed her form of address and said angrily, "The Young Master never abandoned you even when you were facing death. How could she be so heartless when you have lost all your inner strength? She has always been stubborn and concerned about her reputation. Couldn't you have... couldn't you have given her a way out? Did you have to make things like this?"
Seeing this, Shen Yan, who had followed, sighed, "Feng Yu, go find Ning Ning. Your Uncle Xun and Yu Chu are here."
Sensing Shen Fengyu's guilt, Shen Yan stepped forward and patted her shoulder. "Good girl, don't take it to heart. I think Yun Chu has already explained everything. It's just that Ningning has her own ideas. Go and keep her company. The roads are difficult to travel in this heavy snow. If she wants to go back to Yangzhou, let her have some time to prepare."
Shen Fengyu remained motionless, seemingly very concerned about the current situation caused by her own negligence.
As Shen Yan navigated among these children, he felt utterly exhausted. He exhaled a puff of white breath, paced back and forth a few steps, then turned around and earnestly advised, "No matter which one of you was trying to save Ningning's life, this outcome was inevitable. You grew up with her, inseparable from her every day; don't you understand her personality?"
"What Master means is..." Shen Fengyu moved her lips, and it took her a long time to seem to realize, "Young Master is angry, not because she saw the letter of divorce left by Young Master, but because she is angry that Young Master crippled his martial arts for her?"
Shen Yan glanced at He Hansheng and gave a soft "hmm".
Seeing that Shen Fengyu finally seemed to be feeling better, he urged, "Alright, alright, now that you know the reason, you know what to do. Go on."
"Yes," Shen Fengyu replied, and quickly followed the footprints to catch up with Shen Suining.
Shen Yan breathed a sigh of relief, looked at He Hansheng who was standing there dumbfounded, clicked his tongue, and punched him on the shoulder. "What kind of expression is that? If your parents saw that, they would think that our Shen family's daughter had bullied you, her son-in-law!"
He grabbed He Hansheng and pulled him over as easily as pulling a scarecrow.
Shen Yan carried He Hansheng into the house and saw Shen Sui'an sitting cross-legged by the stove, calmly drinking tea. Two cushions and a small table were already neatly placed in front of him, with tea and snacks all prepared and arranged on the two tables in an almost identical manner, as if he had known he would come.
Seeing Shen Yan enter, Shen Sui'an didn't even look up, and expressionlessly gestured for him to enter.
"..." Shen Yan was instantly enraged and cursed, "You little brat!"
...
The snow lasted for two whole days before the sun came out.
As soon as the snow stopped, every household took a broom and swept the snow in front of their doors, clearing the streets. The city defense army also received orders to do its best to clear all the main roads of Huadu to ensure that the lives of the people were not affected.
He Hansheng had been back in Huadu for over a month, claiming to be ill and recuperating at home. He only went to the morning court these past two days.
The Yong'an Marquis's mansion has always been a target of controversy, and He Hansheng, being young and impetuous, has always been easy to target. After Zhou Fu was executed, the civil and military officials argued for several days over the issue of who should control the city's garrison. Although Li Bo ultimately gave the command to He Hansheng, there has been considerable discontent in the court. Now, seeing that He Hansheng is unwell and does not seem as powerful as before, some people are using this as an excuse to demand that the control of the city's garrison be taken back and returned to the Ministry of War.
Fortunately, He Hansheng argued his case reasonably, and with the help of Shen Yan, Lin Ling, and others, the matter was temporarily resolved.
After the court session ended, He Hansheng had just stepped out of the Golden Palace when Lin Ling called out to him. He caught up with her, and the two walked down the steps side by side.
Lin Ling looked him over for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "Young Marquis, you've always been so radiant. Why do you look so haggard since winter started?"
He Hansheng seemed lost in thought, ignoring Lin Ling as if he hadn't noticed him at all.
It wasn't until he had walked a good ten feet away that He Hansheng suddenly came to his senses, turned around and tugged at the corner of his mouth, "Excuse me, what did Brother Lin just say?"
He's been doing this a lot lately, and Lin Ling has gotten used to it, so she didn't take it to heart. She just whispered a reminder: "As the saying goes, as long as the green hills remain, there's no fear of running out of firewood. Now that you're besieged on all sides, you should take good care of your health."
He Hansheng paused for a moment, said "thank you," and then hurriedly took his leave, leaving Lin Ling alone to sigh incessantly.
As soon as they stepped out of the imperial city gate, Jiang Yuchu rushed up to them, her expression anxious: "My lord, Her Highness the Princess, she..."
He Hansheng's pupils contracted, and before Jiang Yuchu could finish speaking, he immediately mounted his horse and hurried towards the Marquis's residence.
This year's heavy snowfall in Huadu destroyed many shacks, and also froze many crops and livestock to death. Many poor people couldn't get a hot meal and just huddled together in the cattle sheds and stables for warmth, thinking that they should survive first and then think about how to make a living after the snow melted.
The eldest princess has always been charitable. Knowing that the people were having a hard time because of the sudden snowfall, she ordered people to start distributing porridge early on, hoping to do her part to help them get through this cold winter.
But good intentions don't always bring good rewards. Some people overturned the porridge distribution shed in the street, cursing the princess for being hypocritical and the imperial family for being inactive.
Such things happen every year, and the eldest princess didn't think much of it at first. However, misfortune never comes singly. She heard from somewhere that He Hansheng had written a letter of divorce and wanted to divorce Shen Suining. Immediately, she was so anxious that she vomited a mouthful of blood and lost consciousness.
When He Hansheng rushed back to the manor, he found that Shen Suining had arrived even earlier than him.
She stood guard by the sickbed, her lips pressed together, saying nothing. When she saw him arrive, she nodded slightly, devoid of her usual warmth, behaving as normally as she always had, except that her eyes held a hint of worry for the princess.
He Hansheng was slightly taken aback, then lowered his eyes and gave a self-deprecating smile. He stepped forward and knelt down beside her. He hadn't had time to take off his official robes, which were crimson, making his face look particularly pale.
After he sat down, he hesitated for a moment, "You..."
"Father sent me." Shen Suining guessed what he was going to ask and interrupted him directly.
Shen Yan and He Changxin were like brothers, so they naturally took good care of each other's wives and children. However, Shen Yan was an outsider and it was inconvenient for him to visit them, so it was reasonable for him to ask Shen Suining to come and show concern.
He Hansheng didn't ask any more questions. He had been at Shen Yan's residence for the past few days and hadn't seen Shen Suining at all.
“Ningning…”
Su Xiyao administered acupuncture to the princess, and she regained consciousness. Before she even opened her eyes, her first words were to call out to Shen Suining.
Shen Suining held her hand, and the princess felt relieved for a moment. She slowly opened her eyes and saw that Shen Suining and He Hansheng were both there. A few words of relief finally appeared on her pale face. She squeezed Shen Suining's hand back and said weakly, "Ningning, don't hold it against Asheng. He is like his father. He has never understood women's feelings and always acts according to his own ideas, but he has you in his heart."
Shen Suining was stunned for a moment, never expecting the princess to say this first. She didn't know how to respond for a while, and after a moment of silence, she said, "Those who spilled the porridge were probably not real commoners. You don't need to take their words to heart, and just focus on taking care of yourself."
Upon hearing her words, the eldest princess instantly understood her meaning. She closed her eyes, seemingly in deep sorrow, but could only say "okay."
After a long while, she released Shen Suining with trembling hands and repeated, "Okay."
Shen Suining pursed her lips, gave Su Xiyao a wink, and then got up and left.
He Hansheng's gaze followed her as she left. After struggling for a long time, he dismissed everyone else in the room, leaving only Ming Le and Ming Xi to serve him closely. He knelt by the princess's bedside and softly called out, "Mother."
A tear rolled down the corner of the princess's eye. She slowly raised her hand to wipe it away, exhaled softly, and asked, "Your Majesty... still has no intention of punishing He Bufan?"
While in Yunzhou, He Hansheng used some surviving documents and letters from Liu Chunying's time in office to trace clues that Liu Chunying and He Bufan had indeed had private dealings. In particular, around the time He Changxin's incident three years ago, He Bufan's advisor Cui Rong secretly went to Yunzhou several times and subtly sent a lot of money to Liu Chunying. After Liu Chunying's unexpected death, his family took all his belongings, and all traces of their dealings were burned. Therefore, for the past three years, He Hansheng has been unable to find any clues no matter how hard he tries.
It is certain that He Bufan colluded with Liu Chunying to falsely report military intelligence and frame He Changxin, but due to the long time that has passed and the lack of evidence, it is not advisable to expose it in public. Furthermore, He Bufan was previously involved in the case of embezzlement of funds by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue, and he also had Zhou Hao's life on his hands. According to the laws of Dacheng, these two things should have been enough to punish He Bufan with the death penalty.
Lin Ling told him that the officials in charge of the case at the Court of Judicial Review, including himself, had submitted several petitions to His Majesty requesting a decision, but Li Bo had not shown any intention of dealing with him, and the matter had been dragged on from late autumn into winter.
So to this day, the verdict in He Bufan's case remains undecided. But what He Hansheng can be certain of is that, at least for now, Li Bo does not want to kill He Bufan. Otherwise, given his initial attitude toward He Bufan's involvement in the case, he would not have spared him until now.
So when the princess asked, He Hansheng remained silent for a long time before saying softly, "His Majesty has his reasons."
"His predicament?" The eldest princess laughed coldly, forcing herself to lie on her side on the couch. Her sickly eyes were bloodshot. She clenched her fists and pounded the bed, completely unlike her usual dignified self. She almost roared, "His predicament is probably that he didn't execute Jingchuan and my own sister ten years earlier!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com