Chapter 48 This Person Song Jie
Xie Yushu left, but she accepted a deposit of five thousand taels of silver and promised to come back the next evening.
Song Jie guessed that she probably needed money recently. He heard that she was looking at big houses everywhere and visiting massage doctors every day. How could she not need money?
He didn't mention the massage doctor because he knew that if he did, Xie Yushu would say, "What's it to you?"
It was better not to mention it. Since they had finally met, he didn't want things to end badly. He prepared a carriage to take her back to the Meng residence, and she was in a good mood so she didn't refuse.
She felt a little sleepy in the carriage.
Song Jie moved closer to her and let her lean against him to sleep for a while, which she did not refuse.
In the dim light, Song Jie gently smoothed her black hair, carefully examining her face, her nose, her lips, and her slightly reddened earlobes with earrings hanging from them. Just looking at her stirred a deep emotion within him.
For a moment, he wished there were no hatred, so he could openly ask her for marriage and live like this with her forever...
But the coldness and pain in his body reminded him every moment of who was to blame for all of this.
He couldn't just let it go after Yu Ping's death right before his eyes.
His fingers gently kneaded her earring. Besides... she might not like him or be willing to marry him.
The carriage stopped at the back gate of the Meng residence.
Xie Yushu helped Jin Ye into the mansion before realizing that one of her earrings was missing. She guessed it had fallen into the carriage, but she was too lazy to look for it. She simply threw the other one away and went back to sleep.
The rain stopped after daybreak, but the roads were still wet, and the racecourse in Xishan was indeed too slippery for horses to run.
Meng Jinyue, holding her chestnut horse, was very annoyed, feeling that this awful weather was deliberately going against her.
"Forget it." Xie Yushu hugged her arms. The autumn morning was chilly, and she was dressed in thin clothes and hadn't eaten breakfast. She felt hungry and cold. She persuaded Meng Jinyue, "Can't I just admit defeat? If we go to Fanlou now, we can still have a hot breakfast. Maybe the mutton soup will be ready."
Meng Jinyue glared at her: "If I'm going to win, I have to really win. You're not allowed to admit defeat."
"Alright." Xie Yushu moved closer to coax her, "Then let's compete another day. How about I treat you to a bowl of hot mutton soup?"
As soon as she got close to Meng Jinyue, she smelled the sweet scent of honey, like the first piece of candied fruit she tasted when her grandfather held her as a child, with a sweet honey aroma.
How annoying.
Every time Meng Jinyue smelled that honeyed fragrance on her, he found it hard to really dislike her: "Why do you love to eat so much?"
Seeing her hesitant and timid manner, I found it rather cute, so I could only say, "Alright then."
Just as the two were about to leave the horse farm, a huge mastiff barked and rushed over.
"Your Highness, be careful!"
"Watch out!" Meng Tingchun, who was outside the horse farm, was startled and immediately rushed over to pull up the fence to stop the mastiff from running into the horse farm.
The mastiff, however, leaped straight in.
"Watch out!" Meng Jinyue, pale-faced, instinctively stepped in front of Xie Yushu, raising his whip to lash the mastiff, but Xie Yushu held his arm tightly.
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, it won't hurt anyone." Xie Yushu immediately stepped in front of Meng Jinyue and shouted, "Sit down!"
The mastiff darted in front of her and actually sat down, though its tail swished so hard that water splashed everywhere, and it whimpered and tried to burrow its head under Xie Yushu's hand.
Meng Jinyue looked at Xie Yushu in surprise as he rubbed the mastiff's head. "Your dog?"
Xie Yushu looked up and saw Song Jie and Cang Shu walking not far away. Aren't they her dogs?
"Cousin, Jin Yue, are you alright?" Meng Tingchun was too frightened to come over, so she asked loudly from afar.
Song Jie sneered when he heard the word "cousin." Meng Tingchun was quite attentive these days.
He stopped Cangshu outside the carriage fence, called Panpan over, and then politely said to Xie Yushu and Meng Jinyue, "My dog frightened Miss Yushu and Princess Meng. I didn't expect you two to come for a ride in such cold weather."
His gaze fell on Xie Yushu's thin clothes, and he said, "Have you two had breakfast? I just made a reservation for morning tea at the Horse Ranch Tea House. If you don't mind, please have a cup of hot tea."
"No need, thank you for your kindness, Prime Minister Song, but we have an appointment." Meng Jinyue refused decisively, and left the racecourse with Xie Yushu's arm in hers.
Panpan excitedly chased after Xie Yushu again, circling around him.
Xie Yushu waved for it to go back, then looked up at Song Jie, signaling him to call Panpan back.
Song Jie looked at her, and finally called Panpan back, watching Meng Jinyue and Xie Yushu leave.
"Is the Prime Minister not going to keep Miss Yushu?" Cangshu asked in a low voice. "What about the meal that was ordered at the teahouse?"
Song Jie coughed slightly from the cold wind. He wanted to stay, but Xie Yushu hadn't said a word to him from beginning to end, clearly indicating her intention to avoid suspicion. If he stayed any longer, she might get angry and not come again tonight.
Why bother coming all this way?
He asked himself with a self-deprecating smile, knowing full well that she would pretend not to know him, why did he still get up early to order a table full of food...
He brought shame upon himself.
"Let's just throw it away." Song Jie suppressed a cough, reached down and stroked the whimpering Panpan, as if to comfort it, and said, "Never mind, Panpan."
※
Xie Yushu and Meng Jinyue sat down in a private room at Fanlou Restaurant. Only then did Meng Jinyue ask her mysteriously, "Are you very familiar with Prime Minister Song?"
"Not familiar with her," Xie Yushu shook his head.
"Nonsense, how can his dog listen to you if you don't know him well?" Meng Jinyue felt she was hiding something, but since she didn't want to talk about it, Meng Jinyue didn't press further. She simply told her in a low voice, "Anyway, stay away from him. My mother says he's a bad person."
"Not good?" Xie Yushu asked curiously, "Why not?"
Before Meng Tingchun came up, Meng Jinyue gossiped to her, saying, "Sister Jia Ning was quite close to him before. My mother had a special talk with Sister Jia Ning, which I overheard. She said that he doesn't even know who his biological mother is. He was brought back from outside by Duke Song Xingzhi, the Duke of Protectorate. He has had a strange illness since he was a child, and the imperial physicians all said that he would not live past thirty. Moreover, he may not be the Duke of Protectorate's biological son, because the Duke of Protectorate does not like him."
"Didn't the Duke of Protectorate not remarry or have any more children? You don't even like this one son?" Xie Yushu asked, "How do you not like him? Do you scold him or beat him?"
“It was more than just beatings and scoldings,” Meng Jinyue said. “He was whipped in the dead of winter, right in the palace. My mother saw it with her own eyes. She couldn’t bear to see an eight or nine-year-old child being beaten like that, so she stepped forward to stop it. The Duke of Huguo said as if he were sick: ‘It doesn’t matter if your own mother beats him to death, even if your own mother doesn’t want him.’”
This isn't just disliking him anymore, it's hating him.
Xie Yushu frowned upon hearing this, "But it's not like he's the one who's wrong, is it?"
“But he…” Meng Jinyue glanced outside the private room to make sure no one was there before whispering to Xie Yushu, “He seems to have killed the Duke of Huguo.”
Xie Yushu looked at her in surprise.
“This is what my mother told me,” Meng Jinyue added. “When the Duke of Huguo died, he was at the height of his power. At a young age, he had achieved the highest honors in the imperial examinations and had rendered meritorious service in protecting the emperor. With the support of the Duke of Huguo, he was promoted to the cabinet within a year. Coincidentally, in the first year of his entry into the cabinet, the Duke of Huguo suddenly died of a heart attack. At that time, many people secretly speculated that he deliberately prevented the imperial physicians from treating the Duke of Huguo, thus causing the Duke of Huguo to die.”
"Has no one investigated?" Xie Yushu asked.
"Who would dare?" Meng Jinyue said. "Even the Emperor has acknowledged that the Duke of Protectorate died suddenly from a heart attack. Who would dare to question it?"
Xie Yushu immediately understood that if the Duke of Protectorate was indeed killed by Song Jie, then it was not just for personal revenge, but also to help the current emperor get rid of this Duke of Protectorate who had made great contributions and threatened the emperor's rule. Therefore, no one questioned it.
Meng Jinyue poured a cup of hot tea. "Although there is no real evidence, he is a ruthless man who has killed many people. I have heard that the current Prime Minister's mansion is gloomy and there are no women in it, because after the Duke of Huguo died, he killed all the nannies and maids who had bullied him. Anyway, my mother and aunt do not allow Sister Jianing to get too close to him."
"So, Sister Jia Ning agreed?" Xie Yushu asked again.
“I didn’t agree at the time. Sister Jia Ning didn’t believe me, but she was frightened.” Meng Jinyue sighed softly and said, “Sister Jia Ning is a kind and soft-hearted person. She can’t even bear to punish a servant who has done something wrong. She said she would ask Song Jie herself. I don’t know what happened after that.”
Xie Yushu had mixed feelings. These plot points weren't in the original drama. She guessed that Xie Jianing would later distance herself from Song Jie because she discovered that Song Jie was really tormenting the male lead, Xiao Zhen.
Someone as kind and soft-hearted as Xie Jianing would find it hard to accept that Song Jie is a cruel person.
But if she were Song Jie… she would only feel that the Duke of Protectorate died too easily.
Was Song Xingzhi, the Duke of Protector of the Nation, a good person? He was nothing more than a despicable man who forcibly took Wan Susu as his own. He dared not rebel and vented all his hatred on his son. He was cowardly and sick.
The sick Song Xingzhi abused Song Jie, who then became sick as well.
As soon as Meng Tingchun entered, Xie Yushu and Meng Jinyue stopped whispering to each other.
※
The autumn rain drizzled for several days. Meng Min stayed at the Meng residence for half a month. During this time, Xie Zhi'an came to pick her up, but her sister Meng Jing told Xie Zhi'an directly that Meng Min was not in good health and should stay at the Meng family for a while to recover before returning to the Yong'an Marquis's residence.
Xie Zhian was rebuffed and never came to pick up Meng Min again. He no longer needed the support of Meng Min's family and was even more disgusted with Meng Min. He was glad that she didn't return to the mansion.
Meng Min's confidante in the Yong'an Marquis's mansion secretly told her that since she left the mansion, Xie Zhi'an has hardly returned home every night.
Surprisingly, Meng Min wasn't angry at all after hearing this. For more than half a month, she had been in a good mood. Not only had her headaches stopped, but her cheeks had also become fuller, and her complexion had visibly improved.
Although Xie Yushu did not stay at the Meng residence for very long, she often went to see her. Meng Jinyue also frequently invited her to play polo. Every time she saw Meng Min, she was always smiling. Once, she even spontaneously decided to play polo with them for a while.
It was then that she learned that all the daughters of the Meng family were skilled in riding and archery, and that Meng Min only stopped playing polo after marrying Xie Zhi'an.
In late autumn, Qiao Bao'er made a cloak with peacock feather thread for Xie Yushu. The material was made of peacock feather branches and was extremely luxurious. It was a gift from the Emperor to Yu Su Nu Guan, and Yu Su Nu Guan gave Qiao Bao'er a piece of it.
How could Qiao Bao'er bear to use such fine material herself? She spent several days making a cloak for her daughter.
Xie Yushu had visited Qiao Bao'er very few times in the past month or so, trying his best to avoid running into the old emperor. Now, touching such a fine cloak, he felt a bittersweet sense of happiness.
Even if she doesn't have time to visit Qiao Bao'er, Qiao Bao'er will always think of her and will think of her first when she has something good.
"Try it on." Qiao Bao'er excitedly urged her to try it on, draped it over her shoulders, her eyes full of pride: "Our Yushu should wear the finest things, how beautiful! Even the princesses and county princesses can't compare."
Xie Yushu hugged her with a tender feeling, her voice unconsciously sounding like she was being affectionate: "How have you been lately, Mother? Is your stomach still hurting? Are you taking your medicine to help you recover?"
"Yes, Mother is very well." Qiao Bao'er was very satisfied with her life now. The nun Yu Su was a very kind person, and everyone in Yuqing Temple was very friendly. She could also go to the study every day to learn to read and write with the children.
As if remembering something, she turned around, picked up something, and handed it to Xie Yushu with bright eyes: "Look, this is my new household registration certificate. I am no longer a slave."
Xie Yushu took the document and opened it, seeing that Qiao Bao'er had already become a Taoist priest, and that Qiao Miao'er, also under her name, was also a Taoist priest.
"Mother and Miao'er want to thank you, Yu Shu." Qiao Bao'er held Xie Yu Shu's wrist, feeling a little like crying again. She never dared to dream of living like this.
"The good days are just beginning," Xie Yushu said, taking her arm.
Outside the door, Qiao Miao'er excitedly brought in freshly cooked noodles, intending to give them to Xie Yushu.
Xie Yushu sat at the table, with Qiao Bao'er and Qiao Miao'er sitting on either side of her, resting their chins on their hands and watching her eat, as if just watching her was enough to make them happy.
"Host, your main quest for the female supporting character is 30% complete." The system suddenly appeared.
Xie Yushu was startled. So many?
She stayed at Yuqing Temple for a long time and made an appointment to go to Song Jie's place tonight.
She only goes there occasionally these days, just to have dinner with him and then leave. She went yesterday and didn't plan to go tonight, but Song Jie sent her a message saying that he had found out where Xiao Dao was.
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Author's Note: Little Knife will be back soon [shy]
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