Chapter 56 The timing of the marriage was exactly two months ago, when His Majesty bestowed the marriage upon them…
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Aqing crossed her arms and shook her head, giving a direct negative answer without even thinking.
He even found the question laughable, and it certainly wasn't asked by Shen Yan.
How could a group of assassins, especially one who killed a prince like Qi Jingxuan, possibly leave any special marks on their bodies or weapons? Have they gone mad, afraid others won't recognize them?
Although Aqing had secretly followed those people for a while in order to assassinate Qi Jingxuan, those assassins were well-trained and would never leave such an obvious handle unless they were deliberately trying to frame someone.
Shen Yan had expected this outcome and wasn't disappointed. Qi Jingxuan scoffed, "You're always jumping around like you're so great, but how come you're useless now?"
Aqing glared at him, then raised her hand and gestured wildly up and down.
Although Qi Jingxuan didn't understand what it was saying, he knew it wasn't anything nice, and he retorted, "Speak properly, don't swear!"
Aqing made a "pui" gesture, then ignored Qi Jingxuan. After thinking it over carefully, she looked around, then pulled He Yuan, who was standing next to her, over and gestured at him for a while, but Shen Yan didn't understand.
He thought for a moment, then simply made a big circle around He Yuan, completely enveloping him, and then patted his shoulder and back forcefully, making a gesture of looking at and picking out pork like he was buying pork at a butcher shop.
Shen Yan still didn't understand, but He Yuan vaguely guessed something and tentatively asked, "You mean... those people are very similar to me?"
Aqing immediately nodded and gave a thumbs up to indicate that he was right.
He Yuan stroked his chin and murmured, "Handsome, strong, and exceptionally brave, just like me..."
Before he could finish speaking, Qi Jingxuan and A Qing glared at him in unison.
He Yuan grinned and laughed twice: "Just kidding, just kidding."
He then said seriously, "What Ah Qing means is that those people are well-trained and not ordinary people. They are probably government soldiers, or at the very least, private soldiers kept by someone's household."
Aqing nodded, agreeing with the statement.
However, Shen Yan and Qi Jingxuan had already thought of these things before, so they weren't exactly new clues and weren't of much use to the current situation.
Ah Qing had a good memory and remembered the faces of many of the assassins. However, he couldn't write or draw, and he was mute, so he couldn't even describe their appearances to have someone draw them.
Even so, this was an advantage for him, and one of the reasons he stayed in the capital.
Qi Jingxuan and Shen Yan are already married. Shen Yan seems to be safe now, but she may be in danger again because of Qi Jingxuan.
If those assassins appeared in the capital, near Shen Yan, A Qing would quickly detect them, protect her, and relay the information to her so she could take precautions. Those assassins, however, have not yet committed any assassination attempt and are unaware that they have been exposed, unaware that once they arrive in the capital, they risk being recognized at any moment.
Aqing couldn't voice his thoughts, and Shen Yan had no way of knowing them. For his safety, she tried to persuade him to return to Yingzhou as soon as possible and not stay in this troublesome place. But Aqing just grinned, clearly not intending to listen.
Since he had legs, Chen Yan couldn't stop him from leaving, so she could only let him go. As he left, she asked, "Do you have enough silver on you?"
Aqing nodded and patted her purse, indicating that there was no need to worry.
The purse was tied to a colorful rope. The rope had been hidden by the purse, but now, with his tap, half of it was exposed.
Qi Jingxuan's eyes widened suddenly, and he leaned closer to take a closer look, confirming that he hadn't misread it.
This… isn’t this the longevity thread that Shen Yan wove for the Dragon Boat Festival? He’d seen one on Shen Mingshan too. How… how come A Qing has one too?
When Aqing saw him suddenly approaching, she turned away in disgust, bowed to Shen Yan, and left.
As he turned around, the longevity thread swayed, drawing a colorful arc in the air.
Qi Jingxuan pointed at his retreating figure and mumbled "uh-huh" for a long time without uttering a complete sentence. Shen Yan, puzzled, frowned and asked, "What's wrong, Your Highness?"
Qi Jingxuan flicked his sleeve, dismissing the servants. Once they were alone, he asked, "That longevity thread he was wearing around his waist, was it a gift from you?"
Shen Yan suddenly realized: "Your Highness is talking about this... When I sent A Qing back to Yingzhou earlier, I prepared a travel allowance for him. He didn't want anything, he only took this longevity thread."
Ah Qing came all the way for her. Even though many things in this life didn't happen and he didn't help much, his intentions were good. It was only natural for Shen Yan to prepare a gift for him.
Qi Jingxuan said "Oh," and muttered softly, "I don't have any."
Shen Yan glanced at the exquisite pouch and jade pendant at his waist and casually said, "It's just a longevity thread. They're everywhere on the streets during the Dragon Boat Festival, and they should still be available now. If Your Highness likes it, just buy one."
Buy one, but how can they be the same?
Qi Jingxuan inwardly grumbled, but couldn't resist asking, "Could you make me one?"
When Qi Jingxuan said he didn't have any, Shen Yan already guessed what he wanted to say; his comment about them being everywhere on the street was a subtle rejection. If it were Gao Zheng, he would have understood her meaning and wouldn't have said anything more. Unfortunately, Qi Jingxuan was a bit slow and didn't understand at all.
She was at a loss for words for a moment, and after hesitating for a while, she said, "I'm clumsy. I only learned to weave when I was a child to help support my family. I'm not very good at it. If Your Highness likes it, you can find a skillful maid in the manor to weave it. They will definitely weave better than me."
"No way, you clearly wove it very well. The one my father-in-law is wearing, and the one Ah Qing is wearing, both..."
He stopped mid-sentence: "To supplement your family income, you still have to do this? I thought... you only needed to copy books."
He had heard Shen Yan talk about copying books, and he knew that many poor scholars would copy books to earn money. But why did Shen Yan still have to do these odd jobs? A long-life thread could only sell for a few coins. She worked hard to weave it for half a day, and even if she sold a whole bunch, she wouldn't earn a tael of silver.
“Copying books is hard on the eyes, and it’s not good to keep copying,” Shen Yan said. “Longevity threads are simple and easy to make, and they come in all sorts of colors. It’s not hard to make a few in your spare time, and it’s a good way to pass the time.”
After saying that, he laughed and said, "Your Highness, please don't look at me like that. Although my family is not well-off, we don't live a very hard life. We are considered to be doing quite well among ordinary people."
However, her mother was chronically ill and needed to see doctors and take medicine, and she and her father also had high expenses for studying and writing, so they couldn't save much money.
Shen Yan didn't think it was hard work, but in Qi Jingxuan's eyes, it was a very difficult time.
He realized that his earlier comment, "Just copying books is fine," was somewhat akin to being out of touch with reality, so he dared not ask Shen Yan for the longevity thread again. After stammering for a while, he said, "Tell me more about your family."
Shen Yan did not want to talk too much about herself with him, so she thought for a moment and said, "Let me tell the prince about Yingzhou and the border."
Qi Jingxuan thought about it and agreed. After all, Shen Yan lived in Yingzhou, so talking about Yingzhou was just talking about her own affairs. So he nodded and sat down next to her to listen attentively.
"Yingzhou is sparsely populated and has barren land, but it is rich in iron ore, making it a strategic location that military strategists must contend for..."
"To keep warm, border troops would dig snowdrifts. Although they were made of snow, they were windproof and kept warm..."
…………
The cold wind swirled snowflakes outside the snowdrift, while inside, people sat huddled together, brewing a pot of hot tea on a mud stove and slowly sipping it from their hands.
The snowdrift wasn't big; people could only squat or sit and couldn't stand up straight, but Gao Zheng didn't think it was a bad thing.
He looked at Shen Yan across the smoke and listened to her explain the errors and omissions she found in the Liu family's accounts, which she analyzed in detail and with substance.
The steam from the tea obscured his vision, and finding it in the way, he moved the cup aside. But for some reason, the person opposite him grew increasingly blurry, until finally, he couldn't even hear their voice anymore…
"Ah Zheng, Ah Zheng"
A familiar voice rang in his ears. Gao Zheng struggled to open his heavy eyelids, his blurry vision gradually focusing: "Father."
Gao Pei breathed a deep sigh of relief when he saw him wake up: "You're finally awake. You've been sleeping for almost a whole day. If you hadn't woken up, I would have gone to fetch the imperial physician."
Gao Zheng propped himself up to sit up, but felt a wave of dizziness and almost fell back onto the bed.
His throat was dry and he had difficulty speaking. He took a few sips of tea from the servant and it relieved his discomfort. He then finally remembered what had happened.
Yesterday... Yesterday Aci got married. He drank too much, and then...
Gao Zheng's eyes were dark as he rubbed his forehead and said, "I'm fine, I just... just had a few too many drinks."
Gao Pei sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her disheveled son, and sighed: "Azheng, some things can't be forced. Your grandfather had already agreed to your marriage with Miss Shen, but you still missed the chance. This just means you weren't meant to be. Why bother..."
"promise"
Gao Zheng scoffed, "Dad, I'm a bit drunk and not sober, but I haven't ruined my brain."
"Although my grandfather has lived in Jiangzhou for a long time, he is not completely ignorant of what is happening in the capital. Since he can always know whether there are any suitable vacancies for me in the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review, how could he not know that His Majesty has bestowed a marriage upon my sister Shen and the Prince of Heping?"
"Two months ago... two months ago was the time His Majesty bestowed the marriage upon us, and he agreed to let me come to the capital to propose. He even used the excuse of not waiting for a reply from the Court of Judicial Review to delay letting me leave until May, so I only arrived in the capital recently..."
He laughed again as he spoke, his expression sorrowful: "He sent me to the capital not to propose to the Shen family, but to make me give up."
Gao Zheng had only arrived in the capital a few days ago and was immediately stunned by the news of Shen Yan's upcoming marriage, so he didn't react at first. But after thinking about it carefully these past two days, he quickly understood his grandfather's true intentions.
It's laughable that he had previously thought his grandfather had really agreed, that his resistance had been effective. But it turns out… in his grandfather's eyes, everything he had done was just a joke. He was still just a mischievous little child in his grandfather's eyes, someone he could manipulate at will, someone who could never escape his control.
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