Chapter 71
Xie Yunchu's eyelashes twitched slightly, and he lowered his eyes and said,
"No need."
The tone was flat and the expression was flat.
A sharp pain flashed through Wang Shuhuai's heart.
Xie Yunchu glanced at the slender arm that stretched across his eyes and said in a wooden voice, "Second Master, I'm tired. Let me go and rest."
Wang Shuhuai looked at his tenacious wife, and felt as if his heart was stuffed with cotton. He endured for a moment, and finally slowly withdrew his hand. Xie Yunchu turned sideways through the gap and returned to the bed.
The glass lamp was blown out and the room fell into darkness.
Wang Shuhuai looked at his silent wife, then finally sighed and went to bed.
In the middle of the night, Xie Yunchu heard the crying of her son next door. She opened her eyes immediately. She was still weak and had just woken up from her sleep. She looked a little tired. Wang Shuhuai had already stood up before her. "You take a rest. I'll go check on you."
He came out with his shirt on.
The tall figure of the man flashed by in the dark night. Xie Yunchu sat silently for a while and then lay down again.
Soon, the crying stopped and Wang Shuhuai came back. Xie Yunchu turned around and asked, "What's wrong with the child?"
Wang Shuhuai said calmly, "He got wet, and the nurse changed him into a clean diaper, and he stopped crying."
Xie Yunchu felt relieved and continued to sleep.
The next morning, the morning sun shone through the window lattice. Xie Yunchu's eyes were stung and he woke up rubbing his eyes.
A man was lying beside her, his pale blue robe swaying in the morning breeze. He knelt down and looked at her, her rosy and soft face reflected in his clear eyes. His brows were dyed by the spring sunshine, and at this moment he had the demeanor of a bright moon and a cool breeze.
This was probably the first time Xie Yunchu saw her husband when she woke up in the morning.
She was a little stunned, "Second Master is not going to court?"
"No bathing today."
"oh……"
Didn’t Wang Shuhuai have a day off before? Of course he did. Xie Yunchu knew exactly what her husband was planning. She turned a blind eye, slowly stood up, and walked around him and went downstairs.
Wang Shuhuai did not stop her. The couple washed up separately. Xie Yunchu spent some time dressing up. When she came out of the room, Wang Shuhuai was already playing with Ke Jie'er.
After breakfast, Xie Yunchu went to the east room first and found Wang Shuhuai holding the child and looking around at the bead curtain at the door of the east room.
Xie Yunchu asked in confusion, "What are you looking for, Master?"
Wang Shuhuai pointed in the direction of the study with regret. "The study smells of incense oil. I may need to set up a place in Chunjing Hall to handle paperwork."
Xie Yunchu looked at him quietly.
Wang Shuhuai looked at her calmly, without any fluctuation in his eyes.
Xie Yunchu was silent for a moment, then called over Nanny Lin, "Clean up the west room and make room for a desk for the Second Master."
The west room was originally filled with the children's clothes and toys. A quarter of an hour later, the room was cleaned up and Minggui brought all the documents from Wang Shuhuai. Wang Shuhuai sat behind the desk and reviewed them. It was the first time that Ke Jie saw her father busy. She was very curious and simply climbed onto Wang Shuhuai's knees. Wang Shuhuai held his daughter in his arms.
Xie Yunchu had just changed into traveling clothes and came out. He glanced inside through the beaded curtain, hummed softly a few times, and quietly took Dong Ning and Xia An out the door.
She hadn't been to Linglong Embroidery for two months, and took the opportunity of her confinement to check on the shop.
Wang Shuhuai looked through the window and saw her wearing a scarlet cape and a peacock feather-patterned kingfisher hairpin in her hair, and she walked out of the door calmly and brightly.
Xie Yunchu checked the accounts at Linglong Embroidery in the morning, and in the afternoon he rushed to the warehouse inside Guangqumen. It had only been two months since he last saw them, but all kinds of houses had sprung up on both sides of the Hezhou River, which used to be covered with lush grass. There were huge circular three-story warehouses, as well as shops of varying heights, all of which were suspended on the water like stilt houses, stacked up and crowded, creating a spectacular scene.
Boats came and went on the river, and countless river workers dug canals and built passes at the water gate inside Guangqumen.
A small three-story inn was built in front of the circular warehouse. There was a private room near the window on the top floor, which was Xie Yunchu's account office. She first looked over the account books, and Uncle Lin reported the progress of various places to her.
"The warehouse was built quickly, but the river bank of the Ministry of Industry has been delayed in repairing, so the shops next to us on the water gate side can't dig foundations. There are 30 shops here, all of which have been sold out. Merchants from all over the country come to ask us to finish it so that we can open for business as soon as possible."
"This is secondary. Half a month ago, a spring was dug out at the concave slope where the riverbank on the south side was interrupted. This should have been our land, but unfortunately an official from the Ministry of Works saw it and did not allow us to build a house. You were in confinement at the time, so I didn't dare to make it public. Now I'm afraid I have to ask you to intervene in this matter."
Xie Yunchu frowned as she listened. "They blocked it because they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to blackmail someone, or the court has other plans for this spring. Go and find out which master released it and why they blocked it. Find out the truth. If you need our cooperation in doing something, come back and tell me."
After checking the accounts, the sky was already dark and the rays of light were all over the sky. The sparkling water looked like a pool of gold. For a moment, Xie Yunchu fixed his gaze on one place and saw a man and a boatman who seemed to be crossing from the sun. He stood at the bow in a white shirt, his face blurred by the rays of light, his clothes fluttering, and he looked handsome and graceful.
Like a banished immortal from a painting.
The boat docked at the river mouth, and the white figure walked into the inn. Soon, footsteps were heard from the stairwell, and Uncle Lin went to meet him. When Xie Yunchu turned around, Wang Shuhuai had already arrived at the door.
He had his hands behind his back, Mingyi's face was very calm, with no smile on the corners of his lips, but for some reason it felt like he was smiling.
"Why is the Second Master here?"
Wang Shuhuai gave a very reasonable reason, "It was my idea to change the route to Guangqumen. I came to take a look during my day off. I heard that you were here, so I brought you a document."
Wang Shuhuai handed the document on his back to Uncle Lin beside him.
Uncle Lin took a look and looked surprised.
Not long ago, the Ministry of Works prevented the masons from casting the wall, so he wrote a document begging the Ministry of Works to allow the continuation of construction. The Ministry of Works did not respond, and today Wang Shuhuai sent the approval document directly to him.
Xie Yunchu had already guessed what it was, and his gaze fell on the man with a little more complexity.
"Thank you, Second Master."
She was not reluctant to ask Wang Shuhuai for help. Isn't this one of the reasons why she maintained this marriage?
But she never thought that Wang Shuhuai would take the initiative to help her solve the problem.
Wang Shu walked to the window and stood beside her, looking down at the water with her, seeing the bright rays of light and the shadows of people.
"The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works have assigned several officials to supervise the construction of the canal. This temporary government office is located at the mouth of the Cao River east of the water gate. I have a confidant named Huang Qing, who is the steward here. He is in charge of all matters, big or small. If you have any difficulties, just tell Uncle Lin to pass on a message to him."
Xie Yunchu couldn't help but feel a little upset. With this powerful husband, she could do anything without any obstacles. "Does this mean she has someone in the court to help her get things done?"
Wang Shuhuai looked at him seriously.
"Yun Chu, I have indeed neglected many things in the past. Sometimes I didn't think about it, and sometimes I didn't know it, but it's not because I was unwilling. Do you understand?"
Xie Yunchu still had a smile in his eyes. After hearing this, he paused very lightly, and then said in a calm tone,
"I understand all that."
Wang Shuhuai glanced at her and continued, "No husband wants to see his wife struggling in the quagmire. Whenever I look back, you were always so good and so complete, so I got used to it. If you need anything in the future, or if you have any pain in your heart, or if I can't take care of it, you can tell me."
The two people stood side by side, and from a distance they looked like a perfect couple.
After hearing this, Xie Yunchu gently touched his lips with the tip of his tongue, and raised a lazy smile at the corner of his lips.
"If there is any need, I will tell Second Master directly. As for the suffering... I am fine now, without any suffering." She shifted her gaze to the water, calm and composed.
A beam of sunset glow was refracted in by the huge glazed window of the distant warehouse, and just stood between the two of them.
The light blurred her eyebrows and eyes, and her delicate face was dyed in the rosy glow, like an illusory dream.
These words were exactly the same as what she said that night when she told him that he was already good and she was very satisfied with him.
Although these words sound nice, they make people feel extremely upset.
He hoped that she would smile sincerely, and be angry with vivid features. Even if she scolded and blamed him with tears in her eyes, at least she would be sincere and a living person, not the one in front of him, who was shrouded in a layer of alienation, like a perfect sculpture.
The bitterness in Wang Shuhuai's heart slowly surfaced.
"Yun Chu, maybe you won't believe it. I hope you can give me a little chance?"
Xie Yunchu's expression faded, he turned his eyes and asked him clearly,
"What opportunity do you want, Second Master? Is there something I haven't done well? I have given birth to children with you, helped you make friends with officials and noble ladies, and I am also well-known outside. I am in charge of so many businesses, and I will give them to the two children in the future. What else is Second Master dissatisfied with?"
This was exactly the most impeccable aspect of Xie Yunchu. He could not find any fault in her, so naturally he could not make any demands on her openly.
She didn't even refuse to sleep with him.
She did everything a wife could do, and only possibly better than anyone else.
The glow of the sunset gradually faded, leaving the room cool.
Wang Shuhuai felt like a thorn in his throat.
There is nothing to be done.
His sharp Adam's apple rolled back and forth. Wang Shuhuai turned sideways and casually touched a cup of tea on the table. It was the one that Xie Yunchu had drunk. The tea was cold, so he drank it all in one gulp.
His wife was still standing in the corner behind him, quiet, gentle and impeccable.
He frowned gloomily, leaning against the table with his back to her. His slender figure was lonely and upright, and he said self-deprecatingly,
"I don't know what I want, but I don't want to see you treat me like this."
His eyebrows were twisted up like a scabbard, quietly meeting the sunset glow that was gradually retreating to the west in the distance. The afterglow stung his pupils. He squinted his eyes, and there was no trace of the bright moonlight in the past. Only a bleak and gloomy look remained in his eyes.
"I hope you're angry with me, I hope you're annoyed that I ignored you, I hope you'll ask me to do something, at least in the endless night, in the wind and rain, on the road, I have a little hope in my heart..."
When he first entered the officialdom with high spirits and had the power of life and death at a young age, it was because there was a pair of admiring eyes behind him, which always gave him endless support whenever he looked back.
He wanted to become stronger and unshakable so that he could keep the gentleness in her smile.
"Xie Yunchu, I was thinking that I, Wang Shuhuai... should be attracted to you..."
He said this dejectedly.
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