Chapter 87 You are dark enough! (fourth update)
"Help me with what?"
"What do you need most right now?"
What do you need? Money, of course.
Zhuang Wan was wary: "How do you know about me?"
"That's not difficult. You can find out if you ask carefully. Tell me how much you need."
Liang Jinxian snatched the fish food from her hand and slowly sprinkled it into the water to feed the fish.
Zhuang Wan: "I do need money, but I won't take it from you."
"I'm not taking it, I'm lending it to you."
"Why are you helping me?"
"Didn't I tell you that we had physical contact... Hey, hey, I was wrong, I was wrong..."
Liang Jinxian was a talkative person, so Zhuang Wan grabbed a handful of fish food from the jar and pretended to throw it at him, but he quickly begged for mercy.
"You consider me a friend, so I want to help you." He said, "Of course, it's not just for this reason. I'm happy to do anything that can make things difficult for Pei Xingju."
"...You are really not tactful." Zhuang Wan said with a forced smile.
Liang Jinxian: "You want to say that I'm not a gentleman? I, Liang Jinxian, never said I wanted to be a gentleman."
Zhuang Wan put down the fish food and clapped his hands. "You're lending me money, aren't you afraid I won't be able to pay it back? After all, it's not a small amount."
"For me, this is just a small amount of money," Liang Jinxian leaned back lazily against the pillar. "Besides, I'm more afraid of having nothing to do with you than you not being able to afford it."
Zhuang Wan was confused by this: "What do you mean?"
Liang Jinxian smiled and didn't explain.
Zhuang Wan added, "But I don't necessarily have to borrow money from you. I can borrow from my friends."
"Who can I borrow from?"
"For example, Sister Jiang from Xiayang Marquis Mansion."
"If you can't pay me back, how can you possibly pay Miss Jiang back?" Liang Jinxian tutted, "You clearly can't pay me back, but you still borrow money from your best friend. Isn't that... a bit too selfish?"
“.........”
Zhuang Wan asked, "But why should I trust you? You clearly knew I couldn't pay it back, yet you still lent it to me. Don't you have other motives?"
She had just had that dream yesterday. If she guessed correctly, the man in the dream must be related to this Liang Shizi. She was determined not to repeat her original path, so how could she let herself fall into Liang Jinxian's trap?
But Liang Jinxian's eyes were a little hurt.
The smile on his face gradually faded. "I do have some ulterior motives, but I didn't lie to you. Besides wanting to cause trouble for Pei Xingju, I also... don't want to have nothing to do with you."
Zhuang Wan was stunned. She found it hard to understand what kind of feelings Liang Jinxian had towards his original self.
But she didn't want to understand either.
Soon, Lixia ran back from the bridge: "Girl, are you okay?"
Zhuang Wan shook her head: "Let's go."
She stood up, bowed to Liang Jinxian, and left.
.
racecourse.
Pei Xingju stood by and watched the emperor run a lap with great interest. He praised him, "Your Majesty's riding skills are superb. I believe that the champion of this polo match must be the emperor."
The young emperor always pretended to be mature in front of his former tutor. He smiled reservedly and said, "My dear Minister Pei, your praise is too much. I hope the children of the noble families can show their full potential so that we can have a good polo match."
As he spoke, the emperor pulled out a root ball from a wooden barrel beside him and threw it to Pei Xingju: "Come, Pei Aiqing, practice with me."
Pei Xingju nodded and turned to the stable to select a horse. He glanced at the herd and chose a deep brown, reddish-brown, fine horse. In reality, all the horses kept here belonged to the emperor, so naturally, there was no shortage of them; any one of them was a true steed.
He jumped on his horse, said "Excuse me," and rushed out first. The emperor saw him, shouted "Good," and immediately clamped his horse's belly to give chase.
However, not long after, a frantic neighing was heard. Pei Xingju's horse raised its front hooves and kicked wildly. Pei Xingju was unable to control the horse and fell heavily.
.
Zhuang Wan came back from Bihu Palace and sat on the edge of the bed with a sullen look on her face. She thought of Liang Jinxian's words and felt that they made a lot of sense.
How could she borrow money from Jiang Baohe when she knew she couldn't pay it back? Jiang Baohe wasn't a fool.
She let out a long breath, stood up, opened the wardrobe, and took out a cloth bag from it. From the bag, she took out a pendant with a jade Guanyin hanging on it. This was the gift from Madam Zhuang when she first came to the Pei Mansion.
She stroked the warm and translucent jade for a while, feeling heavy-hearted.
At this time, Qiu Tan rushed in: "Miss, please go and see Master Pei, Master Pei is injured."
Zhuang Wan was surprised: "Why are you injured?"
"I heard that he was practicing polo with the Emperor, and the horse suddenly went crazy for some reason, and Lord Pei fell off the horse and broke his leg."
When Zhuang Wan heard this, she felt something was amiss. Pei Xingju was the male protagonist, though others didn't know it, but she knew the strength hidden beneath his surface. He wouldn't break a bone just by falling off his horse.
But since she had already fallen, she might as well go and take a look.
.
Over here, the imperial physician had just finished bandaging Pei Xingju, and when he went out, he met Shen Yi, dressed in an official robe, rushing out of the government office.
The two men met each other and saluted.
After Chen Yi entered the room, he didn't ask about the injuries or what happened. Instead, he angrily asked, "What are you planning? How come I don't know anything about it?"
Pei Xingju glanced at him and continued reading.
Chen Yi leaned over and said, "I know you fell on purpose. How could a horse be so difficult for you? But you've invested too much..."
He looked at Pei Xingju's thighs, which were wrapped like dumplings. "Is it necessary? Aren't you afraid that your lower body will become paralyzed?"
“…”
Pei Xingju put down the book and picked up the teacup: "Is this the reason you came here to talk about this?"
"I'm saying this? I'm angry. What on earth do you want to do? You didn't even tell me beforehand, so I wasn't prepared at all."
Pei Xingju opened his mouth to speak, but was immediately stopped by Chen Yi.
"Oh oh oh..." An idea suddenly occurred to him: "I see, you are not trying to use a self-torture trick to keep Miss Zhuang here, right?"
Pei Xingju choked on his tea.
"Look!" Chen Yi had a look on his face that said, "I don't know you yet," with a hint of disdain. "I guess I was right."
"What nonsense are you talking about!" Pei Xingju scolded expressionlessly.
"Why is that?"
Pei Xingju glanced at Guard Lu, who understood and immediately stepped out and closed the door.
"This is a temporary tactic I devised," he explained. "The Emperor has already agreed to loaning grain and fodder from various provinces to fight the Japanese pirates. But Duke Xin will certainly not let this go, and I'm sure there will be other moves. If nothing else, at least the selection of military supervisors cannot be from the Empress's faction."
Chen Yi slowly understood what he was saying: "I understand. You want to cause trouble for Duke Xin and prevent them from interfering in the war in Minzhou."
He analyzed it carefully: "The problem with the Emperor's horse is closely related to Duan Hongyuan, the commander of the Imperial Guards, and the Ministry of Rites. And it just so happens that Lord Feng, the person in charge of this palace, is a member of Duke Xin's staff. If the Emperor investigates this matter, he will definitely find Duan Hongyuan and Duke Xin. The shady relationship between the two over the years will probably attract the Emperor's attention. I suspect that once he has won the Emperor's favor, the choice of military supervisor will naturally not be from the Empress's party."
"And you, Pei Xingju, are the victim. You set up the trap and were able to escape unscathed." Chen Yi smiled cunningly: "Great! Yuzhi, you are quite cunning! Killing three birds with one stone!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the door opened and Guard Lu reported, "Sir, Miss Zhuang is here."
Pei Xingju paused and said, "Ask her what's the matter. If it's about the account book, just say I'm busy right now."
Zhuang Wan, who was standing at the door: "......"
Chen Yi sensed something sour in the tone, and as his mind raced, he walked over and said, "Miss Zhuang, you're here for good! Master Pei is seriously injured. The imperial physician said several of his leg bones are broken, making it difficult for him to move around. Now that Miss Zhuang is taking care of him, I'm relieved."
"You go in." He stepped out of the door and took the initiative to make way for Zhuang Wan.
Zhuang Wan: “…”
Pei Xingju: “…”
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