Chapter 43 Chapter 43 From now on, Ah Si must take care of herself...
Nie Xiangyi looked at him cautiously, "Know...what?"
"The person of the Lantern Festival is not me."
"I recognized the wrong person..." Nie Xiangyi touched the tip of his nose with an embarrassed look, feeling awkward.
She had once complained about his poor memory and his indifference towards her, even though they had already hit it off at first sight. It turned out to be because the mask hadn't been delivered to him back then.
Thinking about how I had foolishly been clinging to Xie Zhi for so long, but in Xie Zhi's eyes, I was just an unrelated stranger.
She pursed her lips and grumbled softly, "Your Highness must have known about this a long time ago... Why didn't he expose it..."
Leaving her alone and embarrassed.
Xie Zhi's tone paused.
How should I expose this? Tell her that I am not the one who gave her the lanterns, let her set things right, let her escape easily after provoking me.
His selfish motives would not allow it.
When the careful pretense was exposed, everything seemed to be in vain.
It seemed as if everyone was destined to be entangled with her, childhood sweethearts, and they felt like old friends at first sight, but he had nothing.
Nie Xiangyi didn't know that he had actually seen her earlier.
At the age of twelve, he left the palace due to a horoscope and journeyed to the northwest. To conceal his identity, he donned a bronze ghost mask and joined the Zhong family in guarding the border.
At the General's Mansion, he first saw Nie Xiangyi behind the screen. The small figure hid behind the screen and peeked out timidly, thinking it was perfectly hidden, but its shadow was cast on the glass screen.
She was like a very frightened cat. When she saw the grimacing look on his face, her eyes widened in fear and she quickly shrank back behind the screen.
As soon as she heard footsteps, she ran away in panic, lifting her skirt.
From behind the screen, a pink and white handkerchief fluttered down, stained with the faint fragrance of gardenia.
Xie Zhi knew clearly that it was not gentlemanly to secretly keep a girl's personal belongings, but he still did it.
He picked up the handkerchief and put it into his sleeve, thinking that maybe one day he could return it to her when they met again.
From then on, he could always catch a glimpse of the thin figure behind him, hiding quietly, thinking that he had concealed himself very well, and only cautiously sticking out his furry head to look around.
Whenever Xie Zhi turned around and wanted to return the handkerchief to her, she would run away faster than a cat, stumbling while holding up her skirt and not daring to look back.
Later, he always carried the handkerchief with him until he returned to Beijing, and sealed it in the palace along with the bronze ghost mask.
When he saw her again, Xie Zhi couldn't explain how he felt. She was much braver than before, but she still loved to follow him as before.
In the early spring of Ikegami Seiji, she stood in the sunlight with a bright smile on her face, "Your Highness, do you still remember me?"
Xie Zhixiang, how could he not remember? He still had a handkerchief to return.
But before he could open his mouth, the girl added hurriedly, "The Lantern Festival in the seventeenth year of Jinggan! We met there!"
Xie Zhi's face suddenly turned cold.
He knew that she had mistaken him for someone else. He had always spent the Lantern Festival with the Divine Strategy Guards.
What made Xie Zhixin even more resentful was that she had never remembered him at all. All her affection was just a result of Nie Xiangyi's misunderstanding.
Now that she knew the truth, what could she do? She even blamed him for not exposing it earlier.
Xie Zhi's silence was like the stillness of the night, shrouded in gloomy darkness. Nie Xiangyi hesitated and then timidly spoke, "Your Highness."
Xie Zhi seemed to hear her sentence pronounced on him, "Can I... go see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince tomorrow?"
At least we need to get the mask back and return the lantern. That mask was not originally meant for the prince.
Are you so impatient to find him?
The grip on his wrist suddenly intensified. Xie Zhi turned to look at her, his lowered eyes shrouded in darkness like the night. "Ah Si, don't forget, you and I are the legitimate couple."
No matter how they felt in the past, he was the one by her side now.
Nie Xiangyi felt as if his wrist bones were nearly shattered, and the pain made her subconsciously struggle to break free. His words left Nie Xiangyi somewhat bewildered, "I know... but..."
Xie Zhi just said coldly: "You are not allowed to go."
"But..." Nie Xiangyi was about to say something when she was interrupted by Xie Zhi's resolute voice.
"Don't see him again."
Nie Xiangyi pouted. She wanted to return the lantern! She had carefully kept it for so many years as a return gift from Xie Zhi, only to find out that it wasn't a gift from him!
But Xie Zhi didn't seem to be in a good mood, so she could only give up in silence, "Oh... I understand..."
He looked very reluctant.
Xie Zhi hated his own meanness, hated that he had to resort to force to keep her by his side. He hated even more that she never cared about him, hated that she could so easily pull away and run to someone else.
Almost no sleep all night.
The next day is the anniversary of the late queen's death. According to the rules, all royal relatives will attend the ceremony and burn the copied scriptures for the deceased queen's soul.
Nie Xiangyi walked with Xie Zhi, and as the monk chanted in a deep and rich voice, the blazing fire burning high above made her face red.
She felt uneasy today, her eyelids twitching constantly, as if something big was about to happen.
She could feel the prince's gaze drifting towards her, and so did Xie Zhi.
Occasionally, their eyes met in the air, and the prince raised his eyebrows at her with a smile, which made her confused and bewildered.
But Xie Zhi beside her silently pinched her wrist.
"Your Majesty! Something bad has happened, Your Majesty!" Just as the ceremony was about to end, the eunuch's sharp voice suddenly broke in, and he kowtowed in panic.
The emperor always attached great importance to the memorial ceremony for the late empress. When he was suddenly interrupted, he immediately showed displeasure on his face. Before he could open his mouth to reprimand, he heard the eunuch kowtow and apologize repeatedly.
"Report from the Northwest! General Anxi heard rumors of collusion with the rebels and committed suicide to prove his innocence!"
"What!"
Nie Xiangyi barely cared about etiquette as he hurried forward and grabbed the eunuch by the collar, "What nonsense are you talking about!"
How is that possible!
She had clearly just received a letter from her grandfather! She had honestly declared that everything was fine, and that her grandfather had even comforted her about this matter! How could she have committed suicide over this?
It must be a rumor!
The silver hairpins on her temples jingled with anxiety, her face pale and almost transparent, and she only muttered to herself, "Impossible! It must be impossible!"
Zhong Lingyu was also shaky, eyes full of disbelief, "Eunuch! Where did this news come from? Could it be a misunderstanding?"
"Shanzhou is 800 miles away, how could there be any mistakes?"
Nie Xiangyi felt dizzy and everything around her seemed to lose its reality. Her soul seemed to be pulled away from everything, and she was as numb as an outsider.
She stared blankly at the raging flames in front of her. All she could hear was the sound of the burning flames. Other people's mouths opened and closed, but only sharp whistling sounds could be heard.
"Asi!" "Xiangyi!"
Exclamations rang out simultaneously in several places, the ceremony became a mess, and Nie Xiangyi fell softly into Xie Zhi's arms.
Nie Xiangyi had a long and complicated dream.
In the dream, she was still a child, when she first arrived in Shanzhou. At that time, she was very timid and did not dare to do anything, for fear that others would say she broke the rules.
But grandpa always patted her head and said, "Go ahead, Ah Si! Grandpa will take care of everything."
Nie Xiangyi didn't understand what this sentence meant at first.
But even when she broke her grandfather's favorite antique vase, he would just smile and praise her for the loud sound.
She thought her grandfather would always be behind her.
The old man who always smiled in the dream had white hair and more wrinkles, and gradually turned into a big shadow in front of her.
There was a huge gash on his neck, blood gushing out, staining his dream bright red. He still smiled and rubbed Nie Xiangyi's head.
"From now on, Ah Si has to take good care of himself!"
His voice gradually became vague and ethereal in the dream, "Grandfather is leaving soon..."
"Grandpa, please don't go! Grandpa... please don't go..." Nie Xiangyi cried and shook her head. She couldn't cry a single tear, she just stretched out her hand and tried to grasp the illusory bubble, but she couldn't grasp it.
"Grandfather!"
She suddenly opened her eyes and her cheeks were cold.
Xie Zhi stood beside the couch, her arm tightly grasped by her, never letting go.
"Your Highness! Where's my grandfather? It must be a nightmare, right?" She looked at Xie Zhi almost pleadingly, begging him to give her an answer, "I must have just had a nightmare!"
Xie Zhi sighed silently, avoiding her gaze with reluctance, his voice was obscure and difficult, "General Anxi... has indeed..."
Nie Xiangyi was struck by lightning.
She rolled over and got out of bed, almost recklessly running outside. Her bare feet touched the floor, not noticing the slightest bit of the winter chill.
Xie Zhi held her back, "Ah Si, calm down."
"Your Highness! I want to go back to Shanzhou! I don't believe it! I really don't believe it!" Nie Xiangyi couldn't break free from his hand. She just looked at Xie Zhi with red eyes and tears in her eyes.
"I don't believe my grandfather will leave me like this! I want to see him off for the last time! I want to go back... let me go back..."
Xie Zhi pulled her into his arms, running his fingertips through her hair, his movements gentle and slow, as if he was afraid of startling her again.
The embrace with a familiar scent wrapped around her, and she finally couldn't bear it anymore and burst into tears.
"I didn't even see him for the last time! How can I believe you... Your Highness, I want to go back and see my grandfather for the last time..."
The last time they parted in the capital was actually the last time the grandfather and grandson met.
The cool tears on his chest soaked most of his clothes, and even his heart seemed to taste the sorrow. Xie Zhi pursed his lips and said, "A Si, you can't go back."
Nie Xiangyi suddenly pushed him away.
Facing her sad and resentful gaze, Xie Zhi seemed to be hesitant to speak.
He couldn't tell her that General Anxi's death was not suicide. If she left the city, she might be the next to die.
In the struggle for power, no one will hold back.
"Your Highness, why won't you let me go back?" Nie Xiangyi looked at Xie Zhi with a hollow gaze, his tone vague and powerless, "You also know that my grandfather's death was definitely not suicide."
Xie Zhi's pupils suddenly constricted.
She didn't fully understand the current situation or the government, but she knew her grandfather well enough. That old man, who had experienced countless battles on the battlefield, would never commit suicide lightly.
The Zhong family is not at the end of their rope.
What's more, the handwriting in the letter he handed to me that day was so free and easy that it was so powerful that it could be seen through the paper. It was definitely not a last will and testament from his heart.
He must have been murdered.
Nie Xiangyi looked at Xie Zhi's face in front of her with some bewilderment. It turned out that ever since she married Xie Zhi, she had been unable to escape this power struggle.
Is it the emperor? Or the prince?
Or maybe, Xie Zhi in front of him.
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