Chapter 15
The hunting grounds are always fenced off and guarded by soldiers, so why would the young lady be scratched? Xie Qinghong considered it for a moment but couldn't think of any possibility, so he could only look at Pei Du with an inquiring gaze.
Pei Du remained silent and even moved to sit by the railing on the other side, a little further away from her.
Xie Qinghong hadn't really believed the rumors of Prince Pei's unpredictable moods and capricious nature, but now it seemed they were true. The Prince of the South, radiating an air of melancholy, had an indifferent expression, drooping eyelids, and tightly pursed lips. One elbow was resting on the railing, as if he were practically saying, "Don't bother me."
Xie Qinghong secretly glanced at his waist. He wasn't carrying his longsword today, so he shouldn't be so quick to draw it in a fit of anger. As for why he suddenly looked so dejected, she put herself in his shoes and figured it was probably because Qin Yu had likened her marriage to him to something worthless.
Such a matter of dignity was difficult for her to comfort as an outsider, so she could only silently watch the scene in the garden. What she saw shocked her, and she hurriedly peeked out to see more clearly. Behind the light purple flower wall, two figures, barely visible, were nestled together.
Xie Qinghong gripped the railing tightly, her heart churning with turmoil. If she wasn't mistaken, she probably knew why she had been betrothed.
It's raining.
Xie Qinghong raised her head blankly. The spring rain was fine and gentle, and the breeze slanted and patted her face, blurring her vision with wet eyelashes. Suddenly, a folding fan blocked the slanting rain from above. She looked up and saw that the fan read "A laurel tree on Nanshan Mountain".
Strange, my brother's folding fan has the inscription "Promoting the red flowers and green leaves, spreading fragrance to the ends of the earth", which is the osmanthus tree. The osmanthus tree is also called the sweet osmanthus. How come there are two folding fans with the inscription of sweet osmanthus flowers?
Pei Du remained silent, but held the folding fan steadily in his hand. After a while, seeing that the person still hadn't moved, he finally spoke: "Looking at your cousin?"
"You found out?" Xie Qinghong's eyes widened, then she drooped her eyelids listlessly, exuding the same dejected and depressed air as him. "That's right, otherwise you wouldn't be like this..."
Pei Du glanced down at her: "What do you mean?"
"...So melancholy." Xie Qinghong leaned against the railing and murmured to himself, "I never imagined that Qin Yu was related to my cousin."
Her cousin, Xie Qingke, was her uncle's only son. He was two months older than her and had a mild temperament. He only liked reading and painting. If nothing unexpected happened, her uncle would ask for him to be named heir apparent when he came of age, so that he could naturally inherit the title of Marquis of Pingning.
The eaves of the pavilion were not wide, and even a folding fan could not shield Xie Qinghong from the slanting raindrops. The rain quickly soaked half of Xie Qinghong's shoulder. Pei Du noticed that the osmanthus hairpin she was wearing was slightly crooked, and gently brushed it with his fingertip to straighten it, reminding her, "Your clothes are wet."
Xie Qinghong sighed. Seeing that he was still holding the folding fan and looked embarrassed, he quickly got up and sat on the stone bench in the center of the pavilion, leaning against the stone table and continuing to sigh.
Pei Du found it somewhat amusing: "Why are you sighing? Even if I am feeling melancholy, it's not for the reason you mentioned."
Xie Qinghong thought about it and realized it made sense, but his sigh was genuinely for that reason. If his cousin and Qin Yu were in love, the marriage that His Majesty had arranged for the Prince of the South would be in vain. The Minister of the Imperial Clan was a confidant of the Emperor, and no matter how dissatisfied His Majesty was, he wouldn't cut off his own arm. But looking at the Xie family, his father had submitted a memorial last year advising His Majesty not to negotiate with the Hu people and firmly opposed sending the princess to marry into the Xiongnu.
His Majesty is not very magnanimous to begin with. He might use this opportunity to reprimand his father for abusing his power, and then arbitrarily arrange a marriage for himself with a barbarian, intending to teach the Xie family a lesson.
The rain intensified, and palace servants distributed umbrellas everywhere. By the time they reached the pavilion, only two remained. Xie Qinghong held the umbrella in one hand and lifted her skirt with the other, carefully descending the steep steps. Pei Du followed behind her, reaching out to help her but then silently withdrawing his hand, merely tilting the umbrella slightly forward to shield her from the slanting raindrops.
After descending the steps, the palace servants said that a stove and clothes had been prepared in the side hall, and invited them to rest there for a while. Xie Qinghong walked for a while, then looked back and saw that Pei Du was still standing in the same place, raindrops falling like beads from the edge of his green umbrella, as if a water curtain had been cast over him.
Pei Du didn't follow her into the side hall to seek shelter from the rain. A banquet had been prepared inside, along with several rooms for changing shoes and clothes to prevent everyone from getting into a sorry state. However, the sudden downpour had inevitably spoiled today's flower-viewing banquet.
After changing her clothes, Xie Qinghong leaned against the window, listening to the rain outside while also hearing the whispers inside the hall. Two young women, separated by a pillar, thought they were being discreet, but their voices were actually right next to Xie Qinghong's ears.
"...Really? Zhao Xing'er's face is ruined. Even if she doesn't marry into the Hu region, she won't be able to marry into any other family of equal social standing."
"Of course it's true. She's really ruthless to herself, isn't she afraid of that person taking their anger out on her family..."
"Shh! Keep your voice down. Who doesn't know about the Zhao family? If you ask me, even if Zhao Xing'er becomes a nun, it's better than that wolf's den."
The two sighed softly in unison. Xie Qinghong, however, pondered deeply. Zhao Xing'er was the second daughter of the Marquis of Lushan. The Marquis of Lushan's ancestor had a Princess of Lushan, who was greatly favored by the emperor at the time. The princess married into the Zhao family, and to prevent her from being mistreated, the emperor bestowed upon the Zhao family the title of Marquis of Lushan. Thus, the direct line of the Marquis of Lushan did indeed have royal blood.
Unexpectedly, Emperor Xingde even thought of this distant cousin. Upon hearing that Zhao Xing'er's face was damaged, Xie Qinghong thought of the incident of the wild fox attacking people.
A chill ran down her spine. Zhao Xing'er's desperate move had truly extricated her from the marriage alliance. As the daughter of the Marquis of Lushan's first wife, she was not favored by her family, and for her, her situation could not possibly be worse than marrying a barbarian.
This put Xie Qinghong in an extremely dangerous situation.
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