quarrel
Tears fell like pearls, each one landing on the man's dark robe, spreading out in a watery hue.
Feeling the warm, moist sensation on his neck, Zhou Yanzhi opened his lips as if to say something, but after sensing the trembling body of the girl in his arms, he closed his mouth.
If you don't want to talk about it, then don't.
He then raised his hand and gently patted her back, offering silent comfort.
After a while, Xie Xiangsi gently nuzzled his shoulder, took a deep breath, and stepped back to create some distance between them. Without a trace of emotion, she said, "I'm sorry, cousin. I was rude just now."
Looking into her calm and composed eyes, Zhou Yanzhi couldn't help but feel a little strange. He felt like he was... well, you know.
She summons them at will, and dismisses them at will.
After a moment of silence, Zhou Yanzhi smiled faintly, "It's alright."
He got up and helped Xie Xiangsi up, then stuffed a piece of sugar cake wrapped in oil paper into her hand. "I noticed that the food in your room hasn't been touched. Why don't you eat a piece of sugar cake first, and I'll take you to a restaurant later?"
"Hmm... okay."
Jie Xiangsi peeled back the oil paper and took a bite of the sweet cake inside. The sweet cake was soft and glutinous, and the light rice fragrance slowly spread on her tongue. She swallowed and looked up at Zhou Yanzhi, "Perfect timing... I also have something I want to say to my cousin."
...
Inside the best restaurant in Danzhou, Xie Xiangsi took a sip of the fragrant chicken soup. Across from her, Zhou Yanzhi had already put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth. He turned to look at the scenery outside the window, pondering to himself.
Why did my cousin look like that just now?
His gaze couldn't help but sweep towards the person opposite him, but unfortunately, it met Xie Xiangsi's gaze directly. "Cousin, is there something you want to say to Xiangsi?"
Zhou Yanzhi: "..."
Caught red-handed peeping at others, Zhou Yanzhi coughed lightly and frankly admitted, "Apart from that day in Yangqu, I've never seen my cousin show her emotions, but I don't know why, so I'm a little puzzled."
Setting down her spoon, Jie Xiangsi picked up a handkerchief to wipe her mouth and met Zhou Yanzhi's gaze frankly, saying, "It's just self-punishment."
"Self-punishment?" Zhou Yanzhi frowned, puzzled.
"Hmm." Jie Xiangsi nodded and repeated, "Punish yourself."
Then, she got up and walked over to Zhou Yanzhi. Under his puzzled gaze, she slowly knelt down, kowtowed and begged for forgiveness: "This humble woman, Jie Xiangsi, pays her respects to the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review."
Zhou Yanzhi had already stood up the moment she bent her knees to avoid her kneeling, and now he was even more anxious and confused as he tried to lift her arm, "Cousin, what are you doing? Get up!"
She ignored his words and simply resisted his strength, refusing to get up. She said in a deep voice, "This subject is guilty. The fine imposed on the Xiao family was done by my father."
"What?"
Seeing Xie Xiangsi kneeling on the ground and refusing to get up, Zhou Yanzhi was at his wit's end. Hearing this news now only made his headache worse.
After a moment of silence, he used some force to pull the person up and said helplessly, "Get up first. Even if you want to plead guilty on behalf of your father, you have to let me understand the situation before you judge the person."
He pulled the person to sit on a bench, then grabbed a cup of cold tea from the table to wake himself up.
Seeing Xie Xiangsi lower her eyes and remain silent, Zhou Yanzhi took a deep breath and said, "Tell me, what exactly happened?"
After a moment of silence, Jie Xiangsi moved back a little, looked up and met his eyes, "Cousin, do you still remember the one million taels of silver that Yang Hui sent to Danzhou?"
Zhou Yanzhi nodded.
Jie Xiangsi continued, "Today, I met two old friends, and they told me some things."
Zhou Yanzhi understood and asked, "About the disaster relief funds?"
Jie Xiangsi nodded, seemingly calmly saying, "They said they had encountered guards on their way to the capital and discovered that they were escorting this batch of silver."
Zhou Yanzhi frowned. "Did they say anything else?"
Jie Xiangsi continued, "Shortly after this batch of silver arrived in the capital, news of the Xiao family's treason spread, saying that the Xiao family had robbed disaster relief funds in order to seize power."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanzhi showed no reaction, only saying calmly, "There is indeed something strange about this matter." After saying that, as if thinking of something, he looked at Xie Xiangsi and asked again, "Would you be willing to let me meet those two?"
Loosening her tightly clenched hands, Jie Xiangsi thought of how Zhao Liuyi and Jing Zigui were trying to avoid the matter at this moment, and said with some difficulty, "There are many people involved in this matter, and they don't want to talk about it too much."
Zhou Yanzhi frowned.
That would be a bit tricky.
but……
Thinking of something, his tightly furrowed brows relaxed; it wasn't unsolvable.
He looked up at Xie Xiangsi and said thoughtfully, "Does my cousin still remember the tin mine in Danzhou that I asked you about before?"
"I remember." Jie Xiangsi nodded.
"That makes things simple."
Zhou Yanzhi's tone softened, and a glint of light appeared in his eyes. "Tomorrow we'll go to the Ministry of Finance to take a look. The silver coins minted in the same batch should all be made of the same material. In addition, the amount of silver coins sent by Yang Hui is huge, so they probably haven't been melted down yet."
"The tin mine?"
“The people who came to discuss matters today told me that weapons are usually made from tin ore and wouldn’t cost this much silver.” As he spoke, he seemed to remember something and looked at Xie Xiangsi. “So, I also considered the possibility that you just mentioned.”
After all, the timing of her arrival in the capital was too opportune; it was more like she was seeking refuge than coming to seek help.
However, because she had previously mentioned that she was sick and had amnesia, he was afraid of reopening her wounds and was unwilling to start with her. He just didn't expect that she would explain this to him first.
"I see."
Jie Xiangsi nodded, lowered her eyes to think for a while, then raised her eyes again, saying without a trace of emotion, "If this is true, how should you deal with me, sir?"
grown ups……
Zhou Yanzhi repeated those two words to himself, met her eyes, and asked, "Why do you ask this?"
He didn't think she was trying to get him to be lenient with her.
Sure enough, in the next second, Jie Xiangsi slowly opened her mouth.
"Your Majesty, I hope you will handle this matter seriously. According to the laws of the Great Zhao Dynasty, if a frame-up results in a court official being convicted of treason or other serious crimes, his or her children will be executed."
She spoke calmly, as if she weren't talking about her own fate.
Zhou Yanzhi's composure crumbled inch by inch as he stared unblinkingly at Xie Xiangsi. "You want me... to sentence you to death?"
His tone was extremely cold, as if it were covered with a layer of ice, and anyone could hear his displeasure.
He was oblivious to the fact that he was missing his lover, and simply nodded and said, "Your Excellency is the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, so you naturally know the importance of strict law enforcement."
"Oh--"
A cold laugh escaped his lips.
"My cousin is really something..."
He paused for a moment, then spoke again with a barely perceptible hint of anger in his voice: "Know the law and abide by the law."
Jie Xiangsi remained silent, only raising her eyes to look at him.
Seeing her like this, Zhou Yanzhi felt as if he had punched a cotton ball, and his heart felt inexplicably heavy.
How could she...?
To say such things.
After a long silence, he spoke again, his tone filled with deep helplessness: "Cousin, you know how I feel about you, so why do you speak to me like this?"
"grown ups……"
"Don't call me 'Sir'!"
Seemingly unable to bear hearing the word "adult" come out of her mouth, almost as soon as Jie Xiangsi opened her mouth, Zhou Yanzhi suddenly interrupted her, looking at her with some grievance, "You used to call me 'cousin'."
Jie Xiangsi raised her eyes and said calmly, "This subject is currently guilty of a crime."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanzhi said helplessly, "Cousin, do you know that if you can prove that Uncle Jie's actions were due to coercion by a villain, you won't have to suffer this punishment for being implicated?"
Her fingertips trembled slightly, and Jie Xiangsi lowered her eyes again; of course she knew.
Whether it was intentional or forced by others, Xie's father's actions led to the current state of the Marquis of Jin'an's mansion, which she could not accept and did not want to accept.
She only cares about the results.
Zhou Yanzhi noticed her evasive behavior and smiled, saying softly, "It seems you already know."
Therefore, relieving lovesickness is a deliberate attempt to die.
"Why?" he asked very softly.
Jie Xiangsi's long eyelashes trembled slightly. After a moment of silence, she raised her eyes and said, "I don't want to talk about it."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanzhi closed his eyes, but quickly opened them again, looking at her earnestly and saying, "Cousin, you know I can't do it. As long as you're still within my sight, I will never let this happen, unless I die."
This sentence can be seen as a veiled advice to give up on unrequited love.
Jie Xiangsi naturally understood. After arguing for so long, she was tired, so she stopped arguing and just nodded vaguely, "I understand."
Zhou Yanzhi stared at her for a long while before finally saying, "It's getting late, let's go back."
"good."
So, the two, who had arrived in a good mood, left in silence, walking side by side.
Each had their own thoughts.
...
Rainwater cascaded down the eaves, disrupting Zhou Yanzhi and his party's original plans.
Four or five people huddled under the narrow eaves, pushing and shoving each other, afraid that their clothes would get soaked by the cold rain.
In the midst of the shoving, someone said, "Why don't you go hide over with the adults?"
In an instant, the people who were huddled together fell silent. They silently met Zhou Yanzhi's gaze and gave him a well-behaved smile, as if nothing had happened.
As Zhou Yanzhi turned his head, one of them couldn't help but whisper, "Hey, what do you think is going on between our master and Miss Zhou?"
After saying that, she even gestured slightly to the other side with her lips.
Looking in the direction he pointed, another person whispered, "Do you even need to ask? They had a fight!"
after all……
When people seek shelter from the rain under one eave, most would choose to stand in the middle, a little further in to avoid getting splashed. But these two people are different; they each occupy one end and look to the other, leaving a gap in the middle that could fit three people!
They look like they've been arguing!
"It's been several days, why haven't they made up yet?" someone suddenly said.
Upon hearing this, the remaining people were also filled with curiosity. They couldn't help but poke Ji Feng, who was squeezed in the middle, and rubbed their hands together, whispering, "Lord Ji, do you know why?"
Ji Feng raised an eyebrow, turned his head to look at the two people on the other side through the rain and mist, and said with feigned vicissitude, "My lord, he has suffered heartbreak."
The remaining people: "Huh?!"
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