Chapter 57 Chapter 57 You are not as good as the Third Prince, Leng Xin...
The Nie family's affairs were settled. From now on, there was no more Yongyi Marquisate, and no more Nie family.
Nie Xiangyi knew that Xie Zhi had instigated the Nie family's downfall and Jiang Yun'e's death. He had promised her an explanation, and it wasn't empty talk.
only……
Xie Zhi seemed to have developed a habit during the days when he locked her up. Even now, when he was sorting out official business in the study, he still held her in his arms.
The person in his arms was soft and docile, curled up like a kitten, so quiet that it struck him as strange. Normally, she would be restless, poking and rubbing here and there, as if sharpening her claws.
He lowered his eyes to glance at her expression and knew that she was worried. "What are you thinking about?"
Nie Xiangyi looked up at Xie Zhi, his expression hesitant and uncertain, "Your Highness...if..."
She thought about it, then bit her lip and didn't speak.
Xie Zhi just raised an eyebrow and looked at her, "Hmm?"
"What if... I still want to seek revenge on the concubine?"
She knew that this would put Xie Zhi in a difficult position, as she was his biological mother after all. However, she could not turn a blind eye to the imperial concubine's murder.
Her words made Xie Zhi suddenly feel confused.
In fact, the mother-son relationship between him and the imperial concubine was weak and complicated.
At that time, he was still young, and the imperial concubine was always strict with him, and was always dissatisfied when he made a mistake. But she was always gentle and considerate to the frail prince.
He just thought that he didn't work hard enough, didn't do things properly enough, and didn't act rigorously enough, so he couldn't get a smile from his mother.
The little boy follows the rules meticulously, looking forward to the care that does not belong to him.
The imperial concubine was indifferent, but she seemed to remember her son and told him helplessly:
"Ruheng, I have no choice. Being virtuous is difficult. He is the Crown Prince after all. He has lost his biological mother. If I treat him badly, it will only make your father unhappy. You have to be considerate of me."
Later he realized that no matter how well he did, it was not as caring as the prince calling her with just a cough.
When the prince was twelve years old, he had a high fever that wouldn't go away. The emperor, as the Si Tiantai said, said that his fate was in conflict with the prince's, so he removed the character "Cheng" from his name and sent him to the border to gain experience.
It was called training, but in reality it was exile. Because the Si Tiantai said that he and the prince should be as far away from each other as possible.
Before leaving, my mother said, as if she was extremely reluctant to let him go, "Ruheng, there's nothing I can do. This is the decision made by your father."
However, when he was reluctant to leave and looked back, he only saw the imperial concubine turning away without any hesitation.
At that moment, he suddenly accepted the fact that his mother did not love him.
The parents' preference was only given to Xie Chengxin.
But now he suddenly learned that the woman who had raised him for more than ten years, named mother, was actually his mother's murderer.
He felt complicated and confused.
Xie Zhi's silence made Nie Xiangyi's heart suddenly clench. One was a blood relative, the other was a deep hatred. She knew that this issue was like a chasm, and she could never reconcile them.
However, Xie Zhi was silent for a moment, and then he kissed her forehead lightly, "I said, I will give you an explanation."
For some reason, Nie Xiangyi suddenly felt relieved by his words.
She seemed to be still confused. She idly twirled her fingertips around Xie Zhi's fallen hair and said sullenly, "But why did the imperial concubine want to kill my mother? We clearly had no grudge against her."
Xie Zhi's mind suddenly flashed, and he remembered the scene when that gentle face handed him the ointment. He was suddenly startled, and all his doubts suddenly connected at this moment, clearing up the fog and seeing the light.
"What if...she knew a terrible secret?"
Nie Xiangyi raised her head and looked at him puzzledly, "What secret?"
Xie Zhi didn't answer. Instead, he asked Lin Qiao a question in a quiet voice.
"Empress Wencheng, are you allergic to sheep's blood?" Lin Qiao was stunned at first, wondering how he knew this. Then she suddenly realized, "You! Are you allergic to sheep's blood too?"
Xie Zhi nodded with a dark look in his eyes and asked her, "Does anyone else know that she is allergic to sheep's blood?"
"Everyone close to her knows this," Lin Qiao said. "Back then, Wanyue washed her hands and cooked soup for the emperor on the battlefield, doing everything herself. Most people in the northwest eat beef and mutton, and it was then that she discovered she was allergic to sheep blood."
It is true.
"God bless you." Lin Qiao suddenly chuckled. "With all the evidence, the emperor will have to believe it even if he doesn't."
Xie Zhi just shook his head calmly, "I can't say that."
He ordered Ling Zhu, "Go and invite Master Pei."
Pei Jue returned to Liuyun Temple. The grass and trees were growing, but the courtyard next door was deserted and silent.
He took a deep look at the courtyard where he used to live, with an unspeakable loss in his eyes, and then silently pushed open the door of the next room.
"grandfather."
The man in the courtyard was playing chess alone, his skinny hand clutching a black piece for a long time without dropping it. He heard the noise, but without looking up, he just gave a faint "hmm".
Pei Jue bowed and said, "Grandfather, do you know that the Third Prince..."
"It seems you know everything." Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by a slow and steady voice.
Pei Ji then raised his head and looked at him, his old eyes particularly sharp.
Pei Jue's eyes were suddenly shaken, "Grandfather actually knew? How did Grandfather get to know such a shocking secret?"
"That woman told me." Pei Ji's eyes fell on the low courtyard wall. "I forgot how many years ago, she came to me and asked for my help."
Pei Jue followed his gaze and looked at the sturdy sycamore tree next door.
The arrival of spring had brought new buds to the sycamore tree, a touch of fresh color, branches slanting out into the yard. He remembered that when he was a child, the sycamore tree had never been this tall, and he and Nie Xiangyi would often climb the tree to admire the distant scenery.
"Grandfather, you mean Madam Wen'an?" Pei Jue was almost incredulous. "Grandfather, if you knew this already, why didn't you report it to the Emperor sooner?"
"The Emperor values military prowess. Although our Pei family has served for three dynasties, we are ultimately inferior to military commanders." Pei Ji's eyes flickered slightly. "If I had told him earlier, the Third Prince would have simply become the Crown Prince and might not have remembered our Pei family. How could it compare to providing timely assistance at this critical moment and earning our Pei family another honor as a follower of the emperor?"
A gleam of light suddenly flashed in his eyes, and the black piece in his hand fell to the ground.
Pei Jue was almost speechless at his words. He had assumed that his grandfather, after years of seclusion here, must have grown weary of the bureaucracy; he had assumed that, as a civil servant, his grandfather was aloof and aloof.
But this time of dormancy can be said to be a case of deep carelessness.
He frowned, his tone carrying a rare urgency, "But grandfather, do this! Isn't this harming Madam Wen An?"
He couldn't explain the feeling in his heart. His grandfather's dormancy might have indirectly caused Madam Wen'an's death.
How should he face her again?
Pei Ji suddenly raised his eyelids and stared at him coldly, his eyes sharp as if piercing through people's hearts. "If she were someone else's mother, would you be so anxious?"
Pei Jue's tone suddenly froze.
"You are not as good as the Third Prince, cold-hearted and self-sufficient."
Pei Jue pursed his lips and thought, that might not be the case.
The day of the Dragon Raising its Head on February 2 is just around the corner. Nie Xiangyi has received a message and is about to enter the palace to attend a palace banquet.
In previous years, on the day of the Dragon Raising its Head, sacrifices were offered to the gods to encourage farming. Nie Xiangyi asked, "I heard that the emperor's old illness has relapsed since the beginning of spring. Can sacrifices be offered to the gods this year?"
Xie Zhi's eyes darkened slightly, and he just shook his head.
Nie Xiangyi seemed to recall something and snorted softly, "Last year on February 2nd, at the Pei family's Chishang Qingji, I first met Your Highness! Do you still remember?"
Xie Zhi suddenly remembered the scene of that day.
He recognized her in the crowd at a glance.
She was wearing a grass-green dress that day, looking particularly lively in the spring. Her face was always smiling, and she was chatting and laughing with this young man from aristocratic family, and then chatting with that young man.
For some reason, he suddenly felt bored.
Seeing her rushing towards him, he thought she remembered him, but she asked him, "Your Highness, is the mask I gave you still there?"
Those eyes were round and bright, staring at him expectantly.
As soon as Xie Zhi heard it, she knew she had recognized the wrong person.
Even in Shanzhou, she and he had never had any intersection, let alone given him any mask.
His heart suddenly sank, and he turned and left with a cold face.
Thinking of this, Xie Zhi just pursed his lips and looked at her, "Remember."
"Your Highness didn't even want to talk to me at that time!" Nie Xiangyi snorted again, pouting her lips high. "I even fell down! My skirt got dirty! And those noble ladies laughed at me for a long time!"
He knew she had fallen. He wanted to look back, but out of the corner of his eye he saw her being helped up, and he felt annoyed.
"It's my fault." He rubbed Nie Xiangyi's head, "I'll give you a skirt as compensation, okay?"
"Your Highness didn't like me anyway! I don't care." She said this, but raised her chin and hummed, "It's just a skirt."
Xie Zhi looked at her chubby cheeks and couldn't help but reach out and gently pinch them. Faced with Nie Xiangyi's disapproving look, he asked Aunt Qiao to bring out a set of gold and gemstone headwear.
"Wow!"
The headpiece was shimmering and colorful, embellished with ivory and tortoise shell, and was exquisitely ornate, extremely beautiful and dazzling. Even though her grandfather had always pampered her, she had never seen such a gorgeous headpiece.
Her eyes widened, "For me?"
"I wanted to give it to you on New Year's Eve." Xie Zhi chuckled for a moment, "but you were not at home, so it was not convenient."
Nie Xiangyi really liked these exquisite and gorgeous things. She smiled with her eyebrows curved, and kissed Xie Zhi's lips hard, "Please come more, Your Highness!"
Xie Zhiyi curled the corners of his lips.
"Quick! Your Highness, please put it on for me to try!" Nie Xiangyi tilted his head towards him, his eyes full of anticipation.
Xie Zhi's eyes were filled with interest, "Don't you think I'm clumsy?"
"Why are you still holding a grudge?" Nie Xiangyi looked at him with a pout, and couldn't help but draw out the last words, "Help me quickly, Your Highness!"
Xie Zhi deliberately frowned, "Think carefully about what to call me."
"What else should I call you if not His Highness?" Nie Xiangyi muttered. "Xie Zhi? Ruheng? Brother Heng?"
She called out every name like a key trying to unlock a door. When she called him Brother Ruheng, Nie Xiangyi could clearly see the slight movement in his throat, but he remained unmoved.
"I understand!" She seemed to have a sudden inspiration, tilting her head and smiling with her eyes curved, "Husband!"
Xie Zhi's kiss landed on his lips.
The gorgeous headpiece was set aside before she could even put it on. As they rubbed their ears, she heard Xie Zhi chuckle softly, "A-Si, don't you want to give me something?"
Nie Xiangyi blushed and snorted, "You hooligan."
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