Chapter 14: The engraving is done! It’s all over! This is too social…
That day, Cui Jinzhong led Zhao Yan into the palace.
Zhao Yan was about to report the matter to the Prince of Yumen when he caught a glimpse of Shu Yao sitting at the desk.
The words came to his lips, but he swallowed them back.
Xiao Chengjing, the leader, looked at him and said after a moment's hesitation, "Jiang Qing, please withdraw first."
Shu Yao followed his instructions and left the hall.
The palace door closed slightly, and Zhao Yan stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty! Yuwen Bo took advantage of your Majesty's favor towards Jiang to spread rumors and mislead the people..."
Zhao Yan's Adam's apple rolled as he recalled the rumor about lust blinding one's mind. He slumped down, slamming his knees hard onto the ground. He said, "The soldiers' blood stained the yellow sand. It wasn't their fault, but because..." Thinking of the soldiers who had died in vain because of rumors, veins bulged on his forehead. He used all his strength to squeeze out a sentence, "The Jiang family's status is sensitive. I beg your Majesty to make a judgment to silence the gossip and comfort the souls of the soldiers!"
"Yuwen Bo..." This name was ground out from between Xiao Chengjing's teeth, full of coldness.
After a long pause, he stood up and looked down at Zhao Yan, his eyes a bottomless pool of ink. "Zhao Yan, you are one of my brave generals, yet instead of seeking revenge for your comrades, you are thrown into disarray by rumors. How can I judge a woman?"
Zhao Yan bowed his head.
His head hit the ground with a dull thud, and when he raised it again, a red mark appeared on his forehead.
Pain burned in his eyes, and his voice cracked. "Your Majesty is right! I... feel ashamed of my comrades!" Each word seemed to be forced out of his throat. "I only beg Your Majesty... to grant a clear decree for the soldiers who died in vain, to stabilize the morale of the army!"
"You want me to kill a woman to establish my authority?" Xiao Chengjing slammed his right palm down on the imperial desk, causing the pens, inkstones, and paper to jump up in shock. "Yumen is already trapped. Cut off their medicine and food supplies, and then starve them to death! Why resort to such despicable means!"
"As for the morale of the army." He reached out to straighten the tilted pen, "I will use the treasury to provide relief to the families of the fallen soldiers."
Outside the palace gate, Shu Yao heard a loud bang from inside the palace.
The next moment, the palace door was opened.
Zhao Yan came out of the hall with a sullen face. Without even looking at Shu Yao, he swept past like a gust of wind and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Shu Yao saw that Zhao Yan was in a hurry, and Xiao Chengjing sent her out, which was unusual for him.
After the two of them had considered it, she understood everything clearly.
What the two of them talked about was most likely the rebellion caused by the remnants of the Jin State, and this disaster was quite serious.
It seems that Xiao Chengjing's control over Jin is not as stable as she thought...
Shu Yao vaguely felt that this might be an opportunity.
My thoughts were in a mess when I suddenly heard a voice beside my ear: "Madam Jiang."
Shu Yao suddenly came to her senses and looked up.
Cui Jinzhong had stood before her without her noticing, his usual smile plastered on his face. He bowed and said, "Please come in and serve, my lady. His Majesty has just issued an order to depart for the camp early tomorrow morning. I must go and arrange for the carriages, horses, ceremonial guards, and other matters, and cannot delay for a moment."
Shu Yao had no hope that Cui Jinzhong would let her escape easily, so she obediently entered the palace.
The only thing she regretted was that Zhao Yan came out too quickly, and she didn't see clearly how many guards there were outside the palace, what formation they were standing in, and what swords and spears they were holding.
Shu Yao stood silently beside the desk, picked up the ink stick with an expressionless face, and swirled it in the inkstone pool.
On the other side, Xiao Chengjing picked up the red brush and smoothed the tip of the brush at the edge of the inkstone.
His eyes swept across her hand grinding ink, and then looked away for a moment.
His Adam's apple moved slightly, and he sighed softly, "Although the palace is nice, it's not a place to live for long..."
After saying that, his gaze drifted out the window, nowhere to rest.
Shu Yao responded respectfully: "I understand."
In fact, she was already very happy in her heart. Finally, she didn’t have to face Xiao Chengjing every day!
She quickly pursed her lips to prevent the secret joy from spreading to the corners of her mouth.
Xiao Chengjing saw the cunning light gleaming from beneath her long eyelashes. He was reluctant to expose her, yet unwilling to distance himself from her. He added, "Now that the remnants of evil have been eliminated from the capital of Jin, I will not restrain you. From now on, at noon, I will allow you to walk out of the Wenyuan Academy for half an incense stick."
Shu Yao knew that this favor was probably not simple, but she couldn't suppress the curve of her lips.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," she replied.
Seeing her so happy, Xiao Chengjing frowned slightly, and said with a hint of loneliness: "Don't you have anything else to say to me?"
"Of course I do. Your Majesty allows me to go out, which shows that Your Majesty trusts me." Shu Yao's eyes moved and her smile was as beautiful as a flower, as if she really believed that Xiao Chengjing trusted her very much.
Finally, she thanked her leader for his recognition of her: "I am deeply grateful and will do my best to organize the documents and live up to your majesty's grace!"
Xiao Chengjing could hear her implicit praise and criticism.
On the one hand, she consoled herself by saying that she had suffered so much in the State of Jin that she developed this kind of defensive character towards everyone.
At the same time, she felt melancholy. If he had come to power sooner, would she be less on guard now?
On the way back, the horseshoes are clattering.
The sounds were monotonous and dull, making people feel upset.
Xiao Chengjing raised his eyelashes slightly, and his gaze slowly moved up from the edge of Shu Yao's skirt. When it was about to touch her face, it suddenly dropped down, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved up.
There were only two people in the carriage. Xiao Chengjing looked over, and how could Shu Yao not know?
Unfortunately, there was no escape in this small space, so she could only complain in secret.
Help! When can I get to the Documentary Academy?
"Jiang Qing." Xiao Chengjing's call broke the dullness in the carriage.
Shu Yao had to raise her eyelashes to meet his gaze.
But he turned his wrist slightly, took out a bronze seal from his sleeve, and held it steadily in his palm.
"This item shall be returned to its original owner." He raised his hand and handed over the warm copper seal, his eyebrows smiling, but the smile did not reach his eyes. "Grandson of Jin's servant, I have ordered Zhao Yan to release him."
Shu Yao didn't dare to take the seal directly, so she held up her hands and waited for him to put the object down.
He pressed the still warm copper seal into his palm, and Shu Yao felt as if a cold wind was blowing through her heart.
He returned the secret seal and let Lu Bo and his grandchildren go. What was Xiao Chengjing planning?
She suppressed her doubts and said respectfully, "Your Majesty is very perceptive and has cleared me of the charge of colluding with the remnants of the evil. I... thank you for your grace."
Having said this, he pretended to bow.
"No need." He chuckled softly, raised his eyebrows, and said slowly, "I remember Jiang Qing said he wanted to be a rich and idle person, indulging in the mountains and rivers, and being free and easy..." He opened the car window a little and looked out. "Look, there are mountains and rivers in front of you. The scenery is quite tranquil..." He looked at her with an unpredictable smile, "Why not... start here?"
Shu Yao really wanted to say, "It's not that I don't want to play, I just don't want to play with you. Sorry."
Unfortunately, fifteen years of living under someone else's roof had already taught her what to say and what not to say.
She could only purse her lips and smile, lowering her eyes, saying, "Your Majesty, you are joking. It was just a few foolish remarks made when I was young and ignorant. Why should your Majesty still care about it? Now that the Liang-Li peace talks are imminent, I dare not delay Your Majesty's return due to my own selfish thoughts."
Xiao Chengjing was unmoved by the expected rejection. He patted the window and said, "Stop the car."
He stood up, and the tassels under the jade pendant on his waist swung and slid across her knees.
He strode to the old tree not far from the car, spread his hands to Cui Jinzhong beside him and said, "Dagger."
Cui Jinzhong produced a short blade from somewhere and presented it to him.
Xiao Chengjing held the hilt of the sword with his right hand. Because his left arm was injured, Cui Jinzhong took off the scabbard for him.
He raised his hand and threw the dagger into the air.
The cold light drew a beautiful silver arc in the twilight and then fell steadily back into the palm of my hand.
He carved towards the tree trunk with his backhand and finally carved out a treasure roof.
Shu Yao's heart skipped a beat. It was over, all over!
Could it be that Xiao Chengjing wants to visit Ke Yaoyao?
She raised her hands to cover her face, hoping that everything she saw was just an illusion.
But the sound of carving the wood was extremely crisp, and the crackling sound was pleasing to the ear.
She was forced to admit that this extremely embarrassing scene was real.
After an unknown amount of time, the sound of wood carving finally stopped.
Shu Yao's face felt as hot as a branding iron, and she was unwilling to move her hand away, so she peeked through the gaps between her fingers.
really.
There are six big characters carved on the tree: "Yaoyao was here."
Immediately, her ears started burning and she cried out inwardly.
This is too social...
Xiao Chengjing had already put the dagger into the scabbard, but suddenly pulled it out.
He turned to Cui Jinzhong and whispered, "Go close the car window."
After the window was closed tightly, Xiao Chengjing raised his knife to the tree and carved two new words before "Yaoyao came here".
Finally, a sign clearly appeared on the tree saying "Ajing and Yaoyao visited here".
He used rough strokes to force the word "和" in the middle into the narrow gap between Ajing and Yaoyao. It was very abrupt and overbearing.
He had to use this method to tell everyone that she was his.
When getting on the bus, Xiao Chengjing's brows were relaxed, with a smile on the corners of his lips, and he looked almost childishly happy.
The treasure that he had been longing for but unable to obtain when he was young was now finally in his hands.
Shu Yao just hoped that the carriage could go faster and faster.
When we finally arrived at the Wenshu Villa, it was already dark.
Shu Yao said, "I'm leaving," and hurried into her bedroom.
As soon as the door closed, she leaned over and reached under the bed, groped carefully on the back of the carved wooden board, and suddenly pulled out the saw made of a brush.
He turned around, pushed open the small window beside the bed, and started sawing, becoming more and more excited the more he sawed.
There was only one thought in my mind: Saw it quickly! Run away quickly!
But in the blink of an eye, there were two consecutive clicks.
Two of the wooden lattices were broken.
She raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead and felt a little refreshed.
At this rate, we'll be able to finish sawing everything in five days.
The next day, the person who came to hand over the documents copied by Shu Yao was a young eunuch who was unfamiliar to him.
Seeing that the person coming was not Cui Jinzhong, Shu Yao was slightly surprised and wanted to ask a few questions.
Then I thought, this eunuch is just a low-level worker, how could he know what's going on at the top? It's useless to ask.
On second thought, it was better that Cui Jinzhong didn't come, so that she wouldn't have to see him and think of the embarrassment of being in the palace.
She swallowed her words and handed in the paperwork silently, only to hear the eunuch say with a smile, "The emperor has decreed that you may go out to the streets. Madam, would you like to go out for a walk?"
Shu Yao then remembered that Xiao Chengjing had told her yesterday that she could go out for a walk, and hurriedly said, "Thank you for the advice, eunuch. Please lead the way."
The eunuch led the way with the documents in his arms, and Shu Yao followed closely behind, and they went out of the side door smoothly.
She was about to walk towards the main street at the end of the alley, but then she moved.
One of the four accompanying soldiers stepped out and stopped in front of her.
Shu Yao sighed secretly, turned around and walked towards the end of the alley.
Since I can't go out to the street, I'll turn into the alley and see if the saw seams in the window frames are obvious from the outside.
Just as I was about to turn the corner, a group of children ran past at the alley, laughing and singing songs.
"The canary, delicate in a cage, the tears of the people of Jin, thrown into the ditch, the banquet of the people of Liang, surrounded by music and singing."
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