Chapter 74 Osmanthus.
Daiyu rubbed her temples in annoyance, and was about to get up and return to her main room when she heard the voices of the maids and nannies outside: "Your Highness."
Chu Heng is back? Did he run into Jia Baoyu?
Daiyu felt a moment of panic. Although it was all in the past, and she no longer felt any affection for the past, but...
Love gives rise to sorrow.
Daiyu sighed softly as she thought of this line.
"What's wrong?" A concerned voice came from beside her. Daiyu watched as Chu Heng quickened his pace to approach her.
"Did the person who just left upset you?" Chu Heng asked, a hint of bitterness inevitably rising in his voice.
After all, he was someone Daiyu had once cared about. Although he cared more about Daiyu's feelings at the moment, he still couldn't completely ignore Jia Baoyu.
When he walked up to her side, Daiyu slowly said, "I'm just... a little annoyed."
"Hmm?" Chu Heng was taken aback, then sat down beside her and said softly, "What's bothering you? Can you tell me?"
Daiyu did not answer immediately. After a moment, she took his hand and asked first, "If I had ever..." She hesitated and did not continue for a long time.
Chu Heng understood Daiyu's hesitation. The bitterness was covered by Daiyu's careful attention to him. He used his free hand to stroke Daiyu's cheek: "Master Pingyi once told me that I owed you a debt of gratitude in my past life, and I want to repay that debt in this life."
"What?" Daiyu exclaimed in surprise.
Chu Heng continued, "He also said that you were a fairy in heaven in your past life, and you descended to the mortal world to repay a debt of gratitude, but you and that person could not be together." At this point, he chuckled, "Back then, I asked Master Pingyi, 'Is breaking up a loving couple a way for me to repay a debt of gratitude or seek revenge?'"
It took Daiyu a long time to react before she said, "So you already knew."
Daiyu suddenly understood her previous question. She had never understood why Chu Heng didn't express his feelings to his fiancée, his new wife. It turned out that it was because he knew... she had once loved someone else.
Daiyu was not the only one whose sorrow arose from love.
Chu Heng pinched Daiyu's agate earring: "Actually, I didn't care about this at all back then."
The events of last year were still vivid in her mind, and Daiyu smiled: "Back then, you didn't care about me either."
Chu Heng nodded honestly: "Yes, back then I thought it would be good to die, but now..." He looked intently at Daiyu, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
Looking back at him, Daiyu's eyes welled up with tears: "We will."
Although their future remains uncertain.
"Oh, right." Chu Heng gently touched Daiyu's slightly red eyes, "Master Pingyi also said that we were destined to be together in our past lives."
Daiyu's eyes curved into a smile as she gently said, "Are you trying to coax me?"
Chu Heng chuckled softly and kissed the corner of her eye: "I don't know about the past, but in the next life, I still want you to be my wife again."
Following the force of his arm, Daiyu leaned against him and said, "So domineering."
"Hmm," Chu Heng said in a deep voice, "Are you willing?"
Daiyu nodded, listening to his heartbeat: "Okay."
When Zijuan returned, Chuheng and Daiyu had already gone back to the main room. Daiyu knew the most about the old things in the Jia family. Seeing that the prince was also there, she did not want to report, but Daiyu said, "Speak."
Zijuan glanced at Chu Heng before carefully saying, "Your Highness, I relayed your words to the old lady. She said to rest assured that such a thing will never happen again."
Daiyu said, "Alright, go and rest for a while."
Chu Heng poured a cup of tea that Daiyu had recently been enjoying and handed it to her, saying, "The old lady is sensible, and with her watching over things, you won't have to worry about it anymore."
Daiyu pressed her forehead: "I just don't understand, Baoyu is not a child anymore, how can he still only see the small space in front of him?"
Chu Heng got up and went to Daiyu's side to massage her forehead: "The old lady dotes on him and has pampered him in the inner palace for so many years. It's inevitable that he hasn't grown up. Now that there's nothing for him to worry about, he will naturally treat even the smallest things as if they were the biggest things in the world."
Daiyu thought about it and said, "That's true. No matter what the Jia family is like, there are still many people ahead of them. He won't even be in the position of manager."
If the old lady can protect him for the rest of his life, that would be Jia Baoyu's good fortune; however, if there are any setbacks, that would be Jia Baoyu's misfortune.
Chu Heng said gently, "Let alone a noble family like the Jia family, no aristocratic family, imperial relatives or members of the royal family is completely clean. If the water is too clear, there will be no fish. As long as they don't offend the Emperor, the Jia family can maintain their facade."
Although this frame only has the rank of a first-class general, it's better to have something than nothing.
Daiyu said, "The blessings of a virtuous person last only five generations. It's good that we can continue like this."
Even though Daiyu no longer has any good feelings towards the Jia family, she doesn't wish for their family to fall apart and their members to die.
Chu Heng said in a low voice, "You're just too soft-hearted. If we were in each other's shoes, I wouldn't be so magnanimous."
“It’s not that I’m soft-hearted.” Daiyu held Chu Heng’s hand. “After all these years in the Jia family, I know what kind of people they are, so I’m not surprised or concerned about what they do.”
The Jia family was Daiyu's maternal grandparents' family, to which she was related by blood. She had expectations of many people in this family, but year after year, they proved that they were not worthy of Daiyu's expectations. Therefore, she had long since lost heart towards them.
Now, Daiyu sees the future she and Chuheng are heading towards together; the road ahead is just that—the road ahead—let them be.
Chu Heng gently kissed Daiyu's fingers: "Okay, I'll do whatever you say."
However… Chu Heng thought to himself, if the Jia family ever really fell into his hands, he would definitely not show any mercy.
Daiyu may not care about the grievances she has suffered over the years, but Chu Heng does.
...
At the end of July, the Zhen family's property was confiscated, and they were escorted back to the capital for punishment. However, the Zhen family members were not honest and sent several boxes of gold, silver, and valuables to the capital in advance, intending to hide them in the Jia family's property for future plans.
Now, in the inner quarters of the Jia family, it is Grandmother Jia who is in charge. Ever since the Zhen family was convicted, she has been living in fear, lest she be implicated. Of course, she is unwilling to take the risk for the Zhen family again. As soon as the Zhen family delivered the gifts, she immediately sent someone to inform Chu Heng.
Grandmother Jia also intended to curry favor with Chu Heng. After all, the Jia family was in dire straits, and there were very few people who could help them. Even though she knew that because of Daiyu, the Jia family had already offended Chu Heng badly, Grandmother Jia still had to offer this favor.
Unfortunately, Chu Heng did not accept this favor. The Zhen family was not his private matter, and he chose to handle it officially.
Grandmother Jia was extremely disappointed.
The Zhen family's case was still to be tried by the three judicial departments. After Chu Heng ordered someone to bring the items back, he asked someone to invite the heads of the three judicial departments to come.
When the three arrived and saw what was happening, the Zhen family immediately had one more crime added to their list.
By August, the Zhen family's crimes had been established, so Chu Heng took leave and planned to go home to rest for half a month.
The area under the osmanthus tree had already been arranged. Chu Heng lay on the couch, listening to Daiyu play the zither. The melodious music was soothing and refreshing, and he felt all the fatigue of the past few days disappear.
As the song ended, a petal landed on Daiyu's hair. Chu Heng looked at it and smiled, "It complements her perfectly."
Petals fell into the teacup. Daiyu was lost in thought for a moment, then said, "I just remembered something from a few years ago. Why don't we gather these fallen petals together..."
Chu Heng interjected, "Tell the kitchen to make some osmanthus cake and osmanthus sugar."
Daiyu remained silent.
Chu Heng hooked her finger around his: "Isn't that what you think?"
Daiyu shook her head and smiled: "How about adding a dish of sweet osmanthus lotus root?"
"It's good," Chu Heng said, looking at her, "but I always feel like you want to say something else."
Daiyu blinked and smiled, "Osmanthus flowers can be used to make flower tea and wine. Since we have nothing to do, Your Highness, why don't you pick some osmanthus flowers? When it snows in winter, we can enjoy tea and wine, and the fragrance of autumn osmanthus will fill the air. How about that?"
“Miss Lin, I think you’re changing the subject.” Chu Heng pinched her cheek. “However, I’ll listen to you. We can make tea and wine, and enjoy the snow with the fragrance of osmanthus. It sounds nice.”
Tea and wine were not Chu Heng's favorites, but with osmanthus flowers as company and Daiyu by his side, he spoke of them with great interest.
When their master asked for osmanthus flowers, it wasn't just the two of them who took action; the maids were also happy to play and all vied to come over and shake the osmanthus tree to smell the fragrance.
The nannies reminded them, "Young ladies, please watch your step and don't trample on the flowers!"
Daiyu laughed and said, "Let's make sure the osmanthus tree isn't completely bare. It would be ridiculous if our osmanthus tree were completely bare before Mid-Autumn Festival!"
There are dozens of osmanthus trees in this area of the Prince Duan's mansion. They were transplanted from elsewhere when the mansion was built. They are all three to five meters tall, and the maids are too strong to shake them. So they took bamboo poles to knock them down, and soon they filled several baskets.
Chu Heng stopped what he was doing and stood aside with Daiyu, watching the osmanthus blossoms flutter in the breeze throughout the garden.
"Since we're going to make osmanthus tea and osmanthus wine, shouldn't we prepare the tea leaves and wine first?" Chu Heng suddenly asked. "Which tea and wine do you prefer?"
Although Chu Heng neither drinks tea nor wine, the Prince Duan's residence has never lacked fine tea and wine.
Daiyu thought about what she had read in the book: "The next step is... to preserve the osmanthus flowers in sugar first. After the osmanthus flowers are prepared, we will use tea and wine."
Chu Heng then thought of something else: "Candied...is candied fruit made by preserving in sugar?"
Daiyu looked at him with a wistful expression: "Now that we've had osmanthus sugar and osmanthus lotus root, you still want to eat candied fruit? Your Highness, there's no such thing as a free lunch."
Chu Heng said, "Miss Lin, you are so cruel."
Daiyu rubbed his cheek: "Aren't you afraid of toothache?"
Chu Heng straightened his chest and raised his head: "I never have toothaches!"
However, one should not speak too definitively. Having spoken so much that day, Chu Heng covered his face and refused to eat the next morning.
"toothache……"
Daiyu ordered someone to summon the imperial physician, and also asked someone to serve her a bowl of porridge: "If you won't eat anything else, just eat some porridge. You can't go hungry."
Chu Heng vaguely defended himself: "I really have never had a toothache before."
Daiyu chuckled: "You almost ate all the osmanthus flowers on the table yesterday. I told you to eat something else, but you wouldn't. Come here... let me see where you hurt."
Chu Heng refused to open his mouth, only shook his head, and after a moment said, "You eat first, I'm not hungry."
Having no other choice, Daiyu could only send someone to the front to see when the imperial physician would arrive.
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