Chapter 9 Find out what he is up to.
After three rounds of tea, the city wall came into view.
Prince Jin's eyes were always fixed on the butterfly embroidery on the table screen. As the carriage rose and fell and the figures swayed, he saw the butterfly sometimes landing on Cong Ying's temples and sometimes perching on the back of her head.
On this day in his previous life, he went out of the city to capture a fugitive, but he met the Prince of Huai on the Firefly Road. His carriage got stuck and he was trapped in the rain until nightfall.
But later I heard that she had a serious illness and caught a cold. After she got married, she sought treatment from many doctors, but her condition did not improve.
It was because he was too careless towards her that she suffered so much.
After sighing, the King of Jin asked her, "I heard that the Jiang and Xie families are planning to marry Qin and Jin. Is Miss Jiang Si satisfied with Mr. Xie San as her husband?"
Congying was stunned by his sudden question, wondering what evil had happened today that why everyone came to ask about this matter.
She thought for a moment and then spoke frankly, "This is just a rumor based on hearsay. The Jiang family is of humble origin, so I wouldn't dare to even think of attaching myself to them. Besides, we're still in mourning for our grandfather, so how can our children talk about marriage?"
King Jin thought that the thing he was most worried about had finally happened.
In a previous life, the Tiger Guards raided the Jiang family and imprisoned their relatives. Cong Ying had no choice but to invite Princess Xiaocheng to officiate the wedding, and then she arrived at the Xie family's door with the marriage certificate in hand. As for the Third Master Xie, he reluctantly accepted the marriage under the pretext of fulfilling his contract, thus concluding the marriage.
In this life, the Jiang family has not fallen into such an urgent crisis. Cong Ying still has a hope and wants to lead the Jiang family to a safe and secluded place. Therefore, this marriage has one less trigger to add fuel to the fire.
After some thought, the Prince of Jin said, "Since the marriage was arranged by the parents of both families, the status of the family is not an issue. Is it that the Fourth Lady is dissatisfied with her choice of husband, or did Xie San tell you something?"
Cong Ying finally understood why Prince Jin took her with him.
The original intention was to ask about Xie's marriage in a roundabout way.
She said, "The elders have their own say on matters of marriage. My thoughts are unimportant. As for Third Young Master Xie, I dare not make any rash comments. It would be better for Your Highness the Prince of Jin to ask him personally. I am not familiar with him and have nothing to say. I am only ashamed to have made Your Highness come here in vain."
King Jin heard that she seemed to have misunderstood him, and subconsciously wanted to explain: "I didn't do it for him—"
"Your Highness, we have arrived at the city gate." The maid reminded from outside.
The King of Jin fell silent, cursing in his heart, "What a bastard!"
He knew what kind of person he was when he was young. He looked at everyone with a cold eye and would not even pay attention to others even if they greeted him warmly. Moreover, if someone like Congying calmly avoided him, he would not rush to do the same.
When I got anxious, I felt the blood surging in my chest and I coughed non-stop while holding the table.
Listening to his suppressed cough, Cong Ying remembered that His Highness was weak and couldn't help but regret her impulsive words.
Then she said, "In any case, I thank Your Highness for giving me a ride today. I will pray for Your Highness's well-being from now on... There are many people in the city, so I will rent a car after entering the city to avoid causing Your Highness any trouble."
The carriage stopped under the brackets of the city wall. Before getting off the carriage, Ying thanked King Jin again through the screen.
Seeing her push the door open and leave, Prince Jin couldn't help but say, "Don't forget the osmanthus flowers."
Cong Ying responded and took the oil-paper umbrella handed to her by the maid. After landing, she turned around and saw a man standing on the other side of the bracket of the city wall, riding a horse and looking at her quietly.
The bright red cloak, washed by the mist, looked cold and elegant, like the blood-curdling cuckoo. He wore gleaming golden armor, and his retinue flowed like a stream behind him, as if absorbing all the autumn sunshine from the gloomy world.
The sky is full of ups and downs, and the intensity is dazzling.
The moment she looked into his eyes, Cong Ying tightened her grip on the ribs of her umbrella, thinking: It's true that people talk behind people's backs but encounter ghosts in front of them.
*
Xie Xuanlan went out of the city today to arrest a fugitive and had planned to interrogate him on the spot overnight. The rack had just been set up and before he could heat the iron, the guards guarding the city gate came to report that the King of Jin had left the city.
Xie Xuanlan was quite interested in this: "Isn't he currently confined to his residence to discipline his servants? What's the point of this?"
The messenger said, "From a distance, we can see that the guards around the King of Jin are not ordinary people. Brothers dare not take the initiative to follow them."
"It doesn't matter. He has to go back to the city."
Xie Xuanlan ordered his men to pack up the fugitive along with the torture instruments: "Let's go back to the city and wait for him."
After returning to the city and settling the fugitive, it was raining heavily. Xie Xuanlan was standing on the city wall drinking tea in the shelter from the rain. He looked down and saw a middle-aged male servant holding two oil-paper umbrellas, hurriedly trying to leave the city.
This was the Jiang family's groom. Xie Xuanlan had caught a glimpse of him on the day he went to the Jiang residence to rescue them.
He gestured to the guard beside him and said, "Go and ask who he is delivering the umbrella to."
The guard took his orders and left. Half an incense stick later, he returned with a report: "The groom said that his fourth daughter went up the mountain to worship at the temple, and her carriage broke down on the mountain road. The owner refused to let him take a new horse, so he had no choice but to go to meet her with two umbrellas."
After hearing this, Xie Xuanlan said, "It seems that after the death of Old Censor Jiang, the situation of this Fourth Miss Jiang is worrying."
He waved his hand and let the groom leave the city, then suddenly asked, "Which temple do you want to worship?"
The guard replied, "Xuandu Temple on Qinglu Mountain is where young ladies like to go to seek marriage."
Qinglu Mountain is the direction in which the King of Jin's carriage left.
In his memorial before his death, the old censor Jiang denounced Prince Jin as useless. It is conceivable that he would not have a good attitude towards the Jiang family. If they met on a narrow road, he would inevitably make things difficult for them.
Xie Xuanlan put down his teacup and was about to pick up the Yanzhi sword and go down the city wall, but he remembered Congying's attitude towards Xie.
Do not eat Zhou grain and keep your distance from it.
Then he turned back and continued to drink the tea that was soaked in rainwater.
The guard was puzzled when he heard him whisper, "Why should I act according to her expression? She wants to hide, but I'll just go and watch her flatter her. It's inevitable that I'll have to do something and owe her a favor before we can even talk about breaking off the engagement."
Thinking of this, he ordered the messenger: "Form the troops, let's go for a walk on the mountain path."
The messenger looked at the rain in the sky several times, but finally did not dare to question it, and ordered the Fengchen Guards to gather under the brackets on the city wall.
Xie Xuanlan, sword drawn and armor-clad, had just mounted his horse when he saw a canopied carriage approaching the city gate and stopping at the other end of the brackets. Amidst the crisp, light chimes of golden bells, a simple hand reached out from the gauze door and took the fragrant yellow oil-paper umbrella offered by the maid.
Outside the umbrella, the rain washes the branches; under the umbrella, the lotus face blooms as if blown open by the spring breeze.
He looked at her quietly before turning around to say goodbye to Prince Jin. He thanked the maid with a smile, but when he landed and bumped into him, the smile on his face gradually faded.
It was like seeing a ghost.
Who saw the ghost?
Xie Xuanlan rode closer with a sullen look on his face, and Cong Ying had no choice but to greet him politely, "Third Young Master, patrolling the city in such heavy rain is truly exhausting."
"I'm not out here to patrol the city."
Xie Xuanlan regretted his words the moment they came out of his mouth. He frowned slightly and explained, "Your groom said you lost your horse and got stuck in your carriage on the mountain road, and begged me to bring people to pick you up. I didn't expect that Fourth Miss Jiang had her own way, and I was superfluous."
Cong Ying was only surprised: "I think the servants are too concerned. The Third Master is busy with official duties, why would he bother with such a trivial matter?"
Xie Xuanlan smiled faintly, "It's not necessarily a small matter to be able to trouble His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin."
The Prince of Jin sat in the carriage, not wanting to interrupt, but he couldn't stand the sarcasm any longer. He pushed open the side window and said to Xie Xuanlan, "If you want to know something, just come and ask me. Why bother with a girl like her? Let her go home."
Then he called out, "Zi Su, give Miss Jiang a ride."
Zi Su responded and took the umbrella from Ying's hand, holding it to shield her and Ah He from the rain. However, Xie Xuanlan was displeased and blocked the way of the three of them.
He said, "Since Fourth Miss Jiang wants to stay out of this matter, it would be bad if someone saw her traveling with the female officials of Prince Jin's Palace. I have sent someone to fetch the carriage from the Xie Mansion. Please wait for a moment, Fourth Miss."
Cong Ying thought that perhaps the carriage from the Xie Mansion was more eye-catching.
However, the tower's brackets were surrounded by Fengchen guards in golden armor. Xie Xuanlan was so arrogant that he didn't care about the identity of King Jin, so Cong Ying couldn't say anything.
She tactfully retreated to the edge of the bracket eaves and watched the confrontation between Xie Xuanlan and Prince Jin from afar.
One, clad in crimson and golden armor, stood aloft on his horse, his figure radiant and majestic; the other, clad in black fox fur, leaned against a chariot, a heater in hand. Clearly two very different figures, yet after looking at each other for a long time, an uncanny resemblance emerged.
He secretly laughed at his own inexplicable thoughts, turned his gaze away from the firefly, and looked at the cold rain outside the bracket.
This was Xie Xuanlan's first contact with the King of Jin. In the past, he had heard that the King was frail and sickly, and indifferent to worldly affairs. Now it seemed that although he was indeed frail, he was not necessarily aloof from the world.
He asked first, "Why did His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin leave the city in such heavy rain?"
The King of Jin said, "Going up the mountain to worship the gods, even though the rain is heavy, it proves your piety, doesn't it?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Xie Xuanlan scoff, knowing that he didn't believe it. He didn't believe in God, nor did he believe that this trip was just to worship God.
——When I was young, I was a little too arrogant.
Therefore, he added, "Xie San Gongsun is young and has not experienced the taste of sorrow. It is a good thing that he does not seek the gods and Buddhas. However, he should always leave himself a way out so that he will not be left with no one to turn to in the future."
Xie Xuanlan turned a deaf ear and asked him, "Could it be that on the way down the mountain from worshipping the gods, he encountered Miss Jiang Si, whose carriage had been lost?"
King Jin nodded: "Yes."
Xie Xuanlan: "His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin is kind-hearted, and the Jiang family is willing to lend a hand."
Prince Jin: "The court dispute has nothing to do with her. Besides, saving someone in need has nothing to do with status. Even if it is Third Young Master Xie, I will not stand by and watch... If Third Young Master still has questions, why not ask me to sit in the Xie Mansion for a while and invite Prime Minister Xie to interrogate me together."
Xie Xuanlan chuckled, "That's not necessary. However, as a prince, Your Highness must remember to report to the Yanqi Guards the next time you leave the city."
The Yanqi Guard was the imperial guard responsible for controlling the entry and exit of Yunjing City Gate, and was one of the twenty-four guards of Yunjing.
In theory, the Yanqi Guard was on par with the Fengchen Guard, commanded by Xie Xuanlan. However, due to Xie Xuanlan's superior family background and exceptional skills, half of the twenty-four guards were commanded by him, making him the uncrowned leader of the twenty-four. If he gave the order, he could seize control of the entire Yunjing within half a day.
Others respected the Xie family, seven parts because of Prime Minister Xie and three parts because of the third son Xie.
The King of Jin was too lazy to argue with his former self. He lowered his head and smiled, then said, "Please tell me, Third Young Master. I understand."
The Xie Mansion's carriage has arrived. Although it is not as tall and spacious as the Prince of Jin's carriage, it is intricately carved and warm and comfortable. As soon as the wooden door is opened, the fragrance of agarwood hits you in the face.
Seeing Congying hesitate and unwilling to get on the carriage, Xie Xuanlan said from behind her: "If Miss Jiang doesn't want to ride, I can also ride a horse to take you back."
Cong Ying sighed silently, and finally took her younger sister on the Xie family's carriage. Under the escort of Fengchen Guards, they headed towards the Jiang family.
After she left, Xie Xuanlan was about to leave as well. When he passed by the carriage of Prince Jin, he was suddenly stopped.
"I almost forgot to remind the Third Young Master."
The King of Jin put down the cooled teacup, and since the person he was worried about had left, he spoke less politely.
"The fourth Miss Jiang's carriage was lost because of your cousin, the Prince of Huai. The third young master is trying to be a good guy after the incident, but perhaps he should think more about how to prevent it from happening again."
Hearing this, Xie Xuanlan suddenly tightened his grip on the reins.
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