Chapter 91: Past Xie Xuanlan, what makes you think you can?
The King of Jin said to Xie Xuanlan, "I have an old friend whose past I would like to tell you about."
"His wife, courtesy name Luoxi, was about the same age as Congying when she married him. As a young couple, married by their parents' orders, they weren't always in love, but they treated each other with respect. It was only many years later that he realized he might have fallen deeply in love with Luoxi the moment they first met. Unfortunately, he lacked this awareness when they first got married and wasn't sufficiently attentive to her."
The King of Jin spoke in a calm and gentle tone, as if he was really just telling someone else's story.
Xie Xuanlan interrupted and asked, "Luoxi?"
The Prince of Jin smiled and said, "Yes, the 'fallen osmanthus' in 'fallen osmanthus transforms into fireflies, illuminating the whole hall' is also a girl as cold and frosty as the osmanthus in the courtyard, elegant and resilient. Speaking of which, she looks a bit like Ah Ying."
Xie Xuanlan scoffed coldly, "So you're using Ah Ying as a pawn to show off your outdated affection. Do you dare let Ah Ying know about this?"
The word "outdated" was really hurtful. King Jin looked up at him and wanted to slap him again.
But he finally swallowed it and continued, "Luo Xi came from a humble background. After marrying into her husband's family, she behaved cautiously. Although she didn't say it, she always considered her husband. However, her husband, relying on his aristocratic background, was accustomed to indulgence and didn't understand her earnest advice. He even misunderstood her constant melancholy and coldness as a result of falling in love with someone else. After three years of sleeping together, he didn't understand Luo Xi's true feelings, nor did he appreciate the affection she concealed."
Xie Xuanlan became suspicious: coming from a noble family and being unrestrained and unruly, this doesn't sound like the King of Jin.
It seems more like him.
He listened calmly as Prince Jin continued his story, commenting with relish, "He's such a piece of shit. How could a man like him deserve a wife?"
This time, Prince Jin didn't get angry. Instead, he smiled self-deprecatingly: "You're right, he doesn't deserve it."
He continued, "But Luo Xi just happens to like this bastard. After spending time together, the bastard will inevitably be tempted and want to treat his wife better."
For example, when he accompanied her to a banquet for a wealthy family, he heard someone jealous of her climbing the social ladder and making up stories about their marital discord. He ignored the host's face and punished the talkative servant in public. He then squatted in front of her and wiped the mud off her shoes with his sleeves to let everyone know that the third young lady of the Xie family had someone to support her and loved her.
For example, during his ten-day break, he stopped fooling around and instead played chess with her using the bizarre chess manuals he had scavenged. He also took advantage of her shyness and shamelessly bet on their boudoir pleasures. This forced Cong Ying, a person with such a strong sense of chess ethics, to secretly regret her moves. In the end, she couldn't stand his teasing and fled in disgrace, her face red.
…
That was the time when the couple's relationship was most tender, and it was also the rare time when Ying smiled in her previous life.
Prince Jin looked at the osmanthus trees in full bloom outside the door, and a look of nostalgia and melancholy appeared on his sick face, which was as cold as mountain snow.
"Unfortunately, the good times didn't last. Luo Xi's husband, my old friend, soon led his troops to fight in the northwest. His skills were no less than yours, and his circumstances were better. He wasn't exiled to the army as a criminal, but rather a general who had been honored with a command. He was confident that with his skills, he would be able to break through Yumen Pass and return with a victory at Yanran within three years. But he was naive. After he left, everything took a turn for the worst. He had to face not only the ferocious Western Tatar cavalry who were in cahoots with the previous northwestern general, but also the swords and spears from behind."
"His political enemies want him dead, his clan wants to replace him, and even the emperor doesn't want his family to achieve any more success. No one wants him to win, except his wife, Luo Xi."
Hearing this, Xie Xuanlan frowned deeply.
The metaphor of this story is very obvious. Apart from the Xie family, which other family is so powerful that it threatens the ruler and makes so many enemies?
But he really didn't like the ominous tone of the King of Jin, which seemed to reveal a dark and sad irony. But he still couldn't help asking, "And then, did he win this battle?"
The King of Jin nodded and said, "We have won. This is a great victory never seen since the founding of the country. It has resolved a situation that has remained unsolved for seventy years."
Xie Xuanlan was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw King Jin looking at him coldly. His tone was as cold as a knife cutting through snow: "But Luoxi is dead."
Xie Xuanlan's heart suddenly trembled: "Why? Isn't she staying in Yunjing?"
He didn't believe that the so-called Luo Xi was Cong Ying, but when he heard this, Cong Ying's smiling face appeared in his mind, and his heart couldn't help but shrink in pain, as if he had been whipped.
"Why?" King Jin looked at him coldly, "Do you want to know the superficial reasons or the underlying reasons?"
Xie Xuanlan: "The storytellers under the overpass don't dare to show off their mystique like you do. It's up to you to say it or not."
The Prince of Jin didn't bother to dwell on his disobedience and told him, "The apparent reason is that she heard that due to infighting at court, the military pay and rations sent to the northwest had been delayed. If this continued, it would surely cause a mutiny. She was worried about her husband, so she used some means to forge a letter from a political enemy, causing his subordinates to send rations to the northwest to provide emergency assistance."
King Jin will never forget the funny yet sad scene from his previous life.
He ambushed in the canyon with his wounded soldiers, and was ready to die together with the Western Tatar prince. However, the people who came were actually the imperial grain transport team, and the grain escort officer was the governor and transport envoy of Xu, Yan and Zhen states. This person was a high-ranking official under your lord, and he even submitted a memorial last month, saying that Xie Xuanlan should be taken back to Yunjing and beheaded.
The grain escort officer, with his nose and eyes looking utterly incoherent, spoke arrogantly to a group of starving soldiers, "You bandits harbor evil intentions and have always been disrespectful to your lord. You should all be dragged out and beheaded. However, your lord, mindful of the importance of the government and the greater good, has ordered me to quickly gather grain and fodder for emergency relief. In recognition of your righteousness, you all should kneel down and kowtow in the direction of Yunjing to express your gratitude for your great kindness!"
The soldiers were all busy eating and no one paid any attention to him.
Xie Xuanlan munched on his rations while reaching out to the grain escort officer: "Let me see your lord's letter."
He felt that this matter was too strange. According to the letter seized by the grain escort officer, the letter was indeed written in the tone and handwriting of the noble master, and even the private seal matched. The grain escort officer had checked it carefully, otherwise he would not have dared to do such a shocking thing as sending grain to Xie San.
But Xie Xuanlan still saw some clues.
Once upon a time, Ah Ying played a hidden word game with him. It required him to rearrange and shuffle the radicals of the characters in a coherent text according to certain rules to obtain another hidden sentence:
"How are you, Sanlang? The food and supplies have arrived. May you be victorious in battle and return triumphantly."
At that moment, the dry food was stuck in Xie Xuanlan's throat and he couldn't swallow it for a long time.
The harsh hardships of the past few months had failed to crush his spirit, but after receiving the news from Cong Ying, his eyes suddenly became red and sad. The longing and care were like the moonlight shining on the desert, slowly immersing his body and mind.
He couldn't imagine how a lady in the harem who didn't like to socialize could have such extraordinary ability to deliver food and letters of greeting to the northwest where there were wolves everywhere.
…
"So how did this Miss Luoxi do it?" Xie Xuanlan couldn't figure it out and asked King Jin.
Prince Jin came back to his senses from his past recollections, his tone as deep as flowing water. "Luo Xi had an old acquaintance with her husband's political enemy. Before Luo Xi married her husband, they had exchanged letters and written messages, becoming close friends. The enemy had always wanted to recruit Luo Xi, but after Luo Xi learned of her true identity, she didn't dare reveal her own and cut off contact. This time, to arrange for food and fodder for her husband, she reclaimed her confidant's role. Taking advantage of her enemy's eagerness and vulnerability, she obtained his private seal and copied his handwriting. Only then did she forge a letter so convincing that it was indistinguishable from the real thing. Then, she asked her husband's father to find a way to get the letter through the post station to the grain transport officer."
Hearing this, Xie Xuanlan's tone also sank: "So Luo Xi's identity was exposed, and her political enemies killed her in anger?"
Prince Jin nodded slowly: "Probably so."
In his previous life, he only knew that Cong Ying died at the hands of the noble master. After returning to Yunjing, he took revenge on the noble master like crazy, forcing her to have no way out and retreat to the fiefdom of Xuzhou to avoid the limelight.
Xie Xuanlan personally intercepted her on the way. At that time, the noble lady was almost mad, her eyes red and full of hatred. She refused to reveal the whole story to him, and only sneered and repeated: "Jiang Congying deserves to die! I have no regrets killing her!"
He was filled with hatred and cut off the noble master's head with a knife, but he didn't know where to pay tribute to his deceased wife.
It was not until a few days ago, when the celestial maiden Qu Qingtan appeared on the debate forum wearing a veil, that King Jin learned of the existence of the "Luoxishan Man" and figured out how Congying had deceived the noble lord into giving him the seal in his previous life.
...She must have been in a dilemma at that time and felt very uncomfortable, right?
Seeing that Prince Jin looked gloomy and didn't seem to be faking it, Xie Xuanlan felt a sudden shock in his heart and began to feel cautious and awed by the story he told.
Xie Xuanlan pondered for a moment and said, "If this is a prophecy, then as long as we prepare for a rainy day and prepare food and fodder in advance, we can avoid Ah Ying—no, Luo Xi—avoid her tragedy."
The King of Jin mocked him, saying, "I didn't expect you to be such a fool who only treats the symptoms."
He slowly walked up to the bound and kneeling Xie Xuanlan and looked down at him condescendingly: "I told you, this is only the superficial reason. The real reason that led to Luo Xi's fate is that she married the wrong person."
Xie Xuanlan said coldly: "You are talking nonsense!"
The King of Jin said, "Even if there's no food or fodder, there will be other disasters. As long as her husband is still on the edge of the court, and as long as she still loves her husband deeply, then at the first sign of trouble, she will spare no effort to rush into the fire and try to stop the chariot."
Xie Xuanlan's face gradually turned pale, and a crimson flush welled up in his eyes. His voice trembled faintly, "I don't believe it... Everything depends on human effort. I don't believe there's no way out!"
The King of Jin looked sympathetic. "I was once just as unwilling to accept this as you are, thinking I could change my fate by avoiding chance. However, I tried for you, and in the end, I found that all my efforts were in vain."
"From the beginning, I sincerely tried to bring you together, urging you to treat her with all your heart, hoping she would get her wish and marry you, with less suffering. But what have you brought upon her? Cheating in the Spring Examination nearly cost her her entire family, she risked her life to inform you of the news at Guikuzhang, and she was nearly eliminated by the Ying Palace during the Xunling Hunt... You've made her afraid to reveal her true feelings, unwilling to turn from evil to good. It wasn't enough for her to suffer in the Xie family's harem and that hypocritical Congshan Academy, but now she's dared to secretly marry you and follow you to the northwest..."
The King of Jin spoke slowly and steadily, but his hatred grew stronger and stronger, as if these words had been turned over and over in his mind many times and had become as sharp as a knife.
He grabbed Xie Xuanlan by the collar and questioned him word by word, as if he were also questioning his past self:
"Xie Xuanlan, what gives you the right?"
Xie Xuanlan didn't speak for a long time. Like an empty shell, he stared at Prince Jin with confused eyes.
Every word that King Jin said just now exploded in his ears, shocking him so much that his ears were ringing and his soul was trembling.
He stared at Prince Jin, at his sickly pale face like painted skin, at his strange eyes that revealed a vague sense of familiarity, and slowly, slowly frowned.
"Are you really the King of Jin?"
Xie Xuanlan recalled the moment when Prince Jin climbed out of the coffin. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. He stared at Prince Jin and asked, "Who are you? What is your relationship with Ah Ying, or rather, you and me?"
Prince Jin raised his lips slightly and said, "You don't want to know who I am."
He tightened his grip on Xie Xuanlan's collar slowly, his joints gradually turning blue and white, with faint creaking sounds, as if he wanted to strangle him to death, forcing him to raise his head and look up at him.
He spoke in a soft and clear voice:
"You just need to understand that no one in this world knows what you want and what you should do better than me, including yourself. I will pave the way for what you truly desire. If you have made mistakes in the past, I will correct them and compensate you. And you... just need to realize Lan Yin's mistake sooner, repent for your past mistakes, and let her go."
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