Chapter 87: A Trap These two guys set a trap for me!
Ji Caibing came to Jisuyuan to find Congying and said to her, "The business of selling spices, medicines, and porcelain to Western Tartar is probably going to fail. The Tea and Horse Bureau says that the northwest will soon be in turmoil, so they will no longer issue new trade permits."
She lamented her bad luck and wondered, "The war hasn't even started yet. Even when the General of the Cavalry was at war with the Western Tartars, they didn't enforce the rules this strictly. I offered the Tea and Horse Bureau a banknote in secret, but they refused to accept it. When did all these oil-scraping offices become incorruptible?"
Cong Ying, who was embroidering with her head down, said calmly, "Sister Cai Bing, you're being targeted."
Ji Caibing was surprised: "Who? I just cleaned up the Chamber of Commerce at the beginning of the year. Who else dares to mess with me?"
Cong Ying sneered softly, "I'm afraid it's the King of Jin."
The King of Jin did not allow her to go into business, fearing that words would not be enough to persuade her, so he contacted the Tea and Horse Bureau and refused to issue her and Ji Caibing the trade permits to go to the northwest to do business. This was something he could do.
Ji Caibing was speechless. He wanted to curse a few times, but he was afraid that he would accidentally curse the sickly person to death.
Seeing Cong Ying calmly and at ease, concentrating on stitch after stitch, she came closer to take a look out of curiosity. "Why are you embroidering flowers? What is this? It looks like a lotus flower."
Cong Ying nodded: "Yes, Twin Lotuses."
When she had finished embroidering the entire petal, she put down her embroidery frame, rubbed her neck, and said to Ji Caibing, "I want to go to my sister's shop and pick out two pieces of red satin, and then ask my sister to lend me a few embroiderers."
Red satin, embroiderer.
Ji Caibing's eyelids twitched: "Aying, what big thing are you plotting?"
＊
Xie Xuanlan drank during the day and practiced swordsmanship at night. Only by being unconscious all the time and tiring himself to the point of falling asleep could he restrain himself from going to Ji Suyuan to find her.
It had been five or six days, and she had not come to see him even though he was only an incense stick away.
I guess this also means that I have tacitly accepted the end of this relationship.
All the wine in Dulanju was drunk, and the wine cellar in the mansion was locked up by Madam Xie. Xie Xuanlan felt empty inside, and after pacing back and forth for a long time, he decided to go to his mother's room and steal the key to the wine cellar.
As a result, he accidentally bumped into Cong Ying at the pavilion at the corner of the corridor.
At that moment, Xie Xuanlan's head buzzed and he stood there for a long time, not knowing how to react.
I can't greet him joyfully and speak to him as intimately as before, but I can't bear to turn around and leave, ignoring him.
His heart felt like it had been struck by a sharp weapon, aching and aching, and an uncontrollable longing, wrapped in the blood and flesh of the wound, flowed out. The barriers he had built in his heart these days, enduring the pain like a knife being cut and a hammer being smashed, collapsed like mud at the first sight of her. He felt like he was standing in the ruins he had torn down, sinking inch by inch.
But Cong Ying's reaction was much more natural than his. She took a step back and saluted him gracefully, a smile on her face. "Greetings, Third Young Master."
Xie Xuanlan stared at her and spoke slowly: "What are you doing here?"
Cong Ying said, "I came to borrow some things from Madam Xie."
It turns out I wasn't looking for him.
Xie Xuanlan's eyes dimmed for a moment.
He was still hesitant about whether to say something that would neither be disrespectful nor overstep the bounds, but he listened to Yingxian and said, "Third Young Master, if you have nothing to do, please allow me to pass."
Xie Xuanlan had no choice but to move aside to make way for her.
She had a light fragrance of osmanthus flowers on her body, and the goose yellow gauze shawl fluttered lightly across the back of his hand. His body made a choice before his mind did - he reached out and grabbed her shawl.
Cong Ying frowned slightly and looked at him as if displeased.
Xie Xuanlan hesitated and said, "You..."
He was struggling between the two sentences "There are bugs on your clothes" and "Do you miss me?", when Cong Ying called him, "Brother."
Xie Xuanlan raised his eyes in shock, staring at her in disbelief, with bloodshot eyes.
Cong Ying slowly pulled the shawl out of his palm and smiled: "My stepmother is still waiting for me, I won't accompany you anymore."
After saying that, he left without looking back.
The sky was bright and the cicadas were chirping. It was clearly the height of summer, but Xie Xuanlan felt cold all over. The surroundings were eerily quiet, and only those two words echoed in his ears.
Brother-in-law.
Although this was his idea, he didn't expect Jiang Congying to accept it so quickly, so quickly that he could use it to stab him with ease.
Brother... can you still be considered a sworn relative if you have never worshipped heaven and earth and sworn an oath?
Xie Xuanlan looked at the direction where Ying left for a long time, and suddenly took a step forward to catch up. He wanted to see if she really came to see his mother, or if she was just making up an excuse. In fact, just like him, she couldn't let go.
Huanhua Hall where Mrs. Xie lived was very lively at this time.
Maids came in one after another holding pearl crowns and jewels, and bursts of joyful and clear laughter floated out.
Xie Xuanlan slowly pushed open the window of the small side hall and climbed in. Because he had drunk too much in the past two days, his hands and feet were a little unsteady and he almost knocked over the porcelain vase on the flower table. Fortunately, he was quick-witted and slid to his knees to catch it in his arms.
He carefully put the porcelain vase away and heard Madam Xie's voice from the other side of the partition: "Try this kingfisher feather and pearl crown. The color and style suit you very well."
Through the gap in the partition, he could see the opposite side clearly. Cong Ying was sitting opposite him in the rose chair. She had taken off the hairpins and rings she had worn when she came, and combed her hair into a simple bun. She lowered her head slightly and let Madam Xie put the pearl crown on her head.
Suddenly there was a burst of surprised exclamations.
Madam Xie was surrounded by several maids who praised her profusely. Cong Ying felt a little embarrassed by the praise and carefully held the pearl crown on her head and said, "Isn't it too gorgeous, too exaggerated?"
She never wore such complicated hair accessories on a daily basis.
But she truly looked beautiful in it. The large pearls on the crown were like lotus seeds, radiating a warm glow, while the smaller beads rang like broken ice, rustling and shimmering. The kingfisher feathers, shimmering with a shimmering sapphire blue, reflected between her eyebrows like a snowflake trembling with her steps, further accentuating her fair skin, delicate eyebrows, and dark eyes, illuminating the room with their radiance.
Xie Xuanlan stared at her in a trance, the corners of his mouth rising unconsciously.
Madam Xie said, "You can handle any gorgeous crown you choose. Besides, marriage is a major event in a woman's life. You're marrying someone who's not just any ordinary person, so the more grand the better. Show off your power and let's see if he dares to bully you in the future."
"I'll put pearl cheeks on you later. I have some pink pearls from the East China Sea..."
Xie Xuanlan didn't hear the rest of the words clearly, he only understood the word "marriage".
Get married...get married?
Who wants to get married, Jiang Congying?
He couldn't believe it for a moment, suspecting he had misheard. He saw Madam Xie take a carved lacquer round fan with a hollow handle and a colorful phoenix and hand it to Cong Ying. "This is the round fan I used when I got married. I asked the master of the Imperial Treasures Department to repair it these past two days. You can use it to cover your face at the wedding. What do you think?"
Cong Ying couldn't let go and stroked it: "It is so lifelike and so exquisitely crafted."
Behind the partition, Xie Xuanlan heard it clearly with both ears this time, and for a moment he felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave.
She actually wants to get married.
With whom, King Jin?
He suddenly thought of what he had seen in the alley that day: she snuggled in Prince Jin's arms and actively responded to his kiss; he also remembered how she stood in front of Prince Jin without making a sound, fearing that he would get hurt.
No wonder she hasn't been seen for the past few days, and she doesn't seem familiar when we bump into each other. What a "Third Young Master" and what a "brother-in-law". It turns out that she has really changed her mind and is going to marry someone else after just a few days of not seeing him!
I couldn't even wait for him to leave Beijing.
Panic and anger overwhelmed him in an instant. Xie Xuanlan gritted his teeth until they were about to break, his knuckles clenched until they turned white, and he almost kicked the door out, questioning whether Jiang Congying had ever been sincere to him.
A soft laugh came over, scraping against bones like a knife.
But... he didn't dare.
This was exactly the result he had hoped for.
Xie Xuanlan couldn't quite remember how he managed to get out of the side hall. A porcelain vase fell to the ground behind him, startling him for a moment, and he quickly turned sideways to hide behind a pillar.
The maid opened the door and looked in: "Ah! The cat broke the porcelain vase and ran out of the window again."
No one cared about the porcelain vase or the cat. They continued to gather together to discuss how to dress Congying up as the most beautiful bride in Yunjing.
Xie Xuanlan walked back to Dulanju unconsciously, picked up his sword silently and was about to go to the yard to practice martial arts. Suddenly, he felt an unbearable congestion in his chest and spit out a mouthful of blood.
Then the world became dizzy and his vision blurred. He slowly knelt on the ground and gradually sank into darkness.
*
Xie Xuanlan was awakened by a bitter medicine soup.
Hearing him cough, Mrs. Xie hurried forward, took the medicine bowl from the doctor, and asked with concern: "How do you feel? Do you still want to vomit? Are you dizzy?"
Xie Xuanlan shook his head slightly, feeling a heaviness in his head and a dull pain in his temples.
He asked, "What's wrong with me?"
Mrs. Xie said, "The doctor said you've been drinking too much, causing your liver yang to surge, and your emotions to get angry, causing your qi to reverse and your blood to rush up, rushing up to your lung meridians. From now on, you're not allowed to drink any more of the alcohol in our house."
Xie Xuanlan gave a bitter laugh, threw back the quilt and was about to get out of bed, but Madam Xie stopped him. She said, "You can only lie down and rest for the next few days. You're going to the northwest soon, so you must take care of yourself. Drink tonic medicine every day."
Xie Xuanlan sighed weakly: "You are truly my dear mother."
Madam Xie asked the martial artist in the mansion to guard him and not let him run around. In the past, Xie Xuanlan could fight a whole circle of people alone, but now he is so listless that he doesn't even bother to pick up the stick that hits his instep.
He was afraid of encountering fireflies when he went out, so he would occasionally lie on the osmanthus tree in the yard for a while.
The sweet osmanthus blossoms were blooming, clusters of golden stars, and even with closing his eyes he could recall her fragrance. Xie Xuanlan casually crushed a few seeds, placed them on the tip of his tongue, and sipped them slowly. Half asleep, he had some unspeakable erotic dreams, then woke up full of blood, swinging his legs and sighing.
The Mongolian doctor actually said that his yang was deficient after vomiting blood. Where was the deficiency?
If he continued to take deer blood and ginseng as supplements every day, he would be able to travel 800 miles to the northwest in an emergency.
Under the tree, the two guards were chatting.
"Madam is so concerned about Madam Jiang's marriage that she treats it like her own daughter. She didn't care about the Third Young Master being so ill, and she even brought a group of maids to help over there early this morning."
"She's getting married on August 15th, and today is already the 14th. It's urgent, so it's understandable that she's anxious."
Xie Xuanlan on the tree suddenly opened his eyes and his mind exploded.
Getting married tomorrow?
How could it happen so quickly? Why didn’t anyone tell him?
It would be fine if it happened to others, but why did his mother also hide it from him and even rush to instigate his help? Who is her biological son? Could it be that he was adopted, and the Prince of Jin is her biological son?!
Xie Xuanlan felt a lump in his chest, and he turned over and fell suddenly from the tree.
…
Xie Xuanlan had a severe headache and could not sleep all night. He got up before dawn to sharpen his knife.
At the beginning of the morning hour, he heard some movement from Huanhua Hall. Sure enough, Madam Xie had gone out again early in the morning.
If she were Jiang Congying's mother, she would have gotten up early and worked hard to dress the bride's hair and make-up, but she was just a stepmother, a stepmother! She didn't care about her own son's life or death, and wanted to marry her own son's sweetheart off. This was probably the only case in the world.
While thinking resentfully, Xie Xuanlan sharpened his knife until it was sharp and bright, cutting iron like mud and breaking hair like a whirlwind.
After sharpening the knife, he didn't know what to do. He walked around the yard in a restless manner, rubbing his wrists to stretch his muscles, and kicking around here and there, as if he had endless energy in his body, and if he didn't vent it, ants would bite him everywhere.
There seemed to be movement outside again, like lively laughter coming from far away.
Is the wedding procession arriving? Xie Xuanlan's heart suddenly tightened.
Will that sickly guy come in person? He should. He had finally snatched Jiang Congying away, so he should cherish her and crawl to come and welcome her in person.
Will it...it seems a little uncertain.
The Prince of Jin was frail and sickly, so being his wife was bound to suffer grievances. Princess Xuande was known for her domineering nature, and last year during the funeral of the old censor Jiang, she even wanted to whip Aying... Thinking about it this way, the Prince of Jin's Mansion was simply a den of wolves in dire straits.
Xie Xuanlan's heart was pounding. He knew he shouldn't think like this. He knew that these were all hypocritical excuses made up for his own selfish reasons.
But what if...what if she really gets bullied?
Someone set off a firecracker outside, and Xie Xuanlan's heart exploded.
Then he kicked down the weapon rack, washed his face with cold water, picked up the Yanzhi knife, and walked out with a gloomy face.
He was just worried, so he went to take a look but didn't take any action.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
