Seeing that she still didn't speak, Fu Xingkai stopped talking, turned his head to the side, and looked indifferently at the crabapple flowers in full bloom outside the pavilion.
After a while, Fu Yueli brought people pushing a wheelchair over, and Concubine Cen also came back.
After the flower viewing was over, Shi Mingyue and Fu Yueli took a carriage back together. Both of them were extremely silent in the carriage.
In reality, Fu Yueli had overheard Shi Mingyue's conversation with the Emperor. Standing behind a bush, he was somewhat distant, but because he had been blind since childhood, his hearing was far superior to others, allowing him to hear their conversation clearly. He then realized that his father harbored such feelings for Mingyue. It seemed Mingyue had indeed caused his hand injury. His leg injury was also related to Mingyue. No wonder Mingyue remained silent, Qin Zheng was missing, and Xie Rutao's unexplained death was also due to him.
Fu Yueli's heart was in turmoil. He wanted to ask Mingyue, but how could he start? Even if he did, what would he say? Fu Yueli didn't know, so he hid all his emotions in his heart.
The next day he accompanied Mingyue home. Although the Mid-Autumn Festival had passed, the festive atmosphere remained.
When Mrs. Shi was talking to Shi Mingyue in private, she inevitably mentioned Shi Mingji's marriage again, and she kept sighing while talking, because Shi Mingji's ex-fiancée Jin Xiaowan had recently married, but Shi Mingji seemed to have no intention of getting married and starting a family.
Shi Mingyue thought that she should have a good talk with her brother at the beginning of the year, so today would be the day.
After lunch, Shi Mingyue followed Shi Mingji to his room.
Shi Mingji's room was still as tidy as ever. This tidiness was not the work of the servants, but because Shi Mingji had been strict with himself since he was a child and did not allow any mess in the house. Therefore, his room was very tidy. The servants came in to clean it up, but after seeing the situation, they had no idea where to start.
"What do you want to tell me?" Shi Mingji sat down and poured a cup of tea for himself and his sister.
Shi Mingyue sorted out her thoughts and said, "Father and Mother are very worried about your marriage. Miss Jin's incident happened a long time ago. You don't need to keep taking it to heart and embarrass yourself."
"She got married recently, and I'm happy for her. I don't take it to heart now," said Shi Mingji.
Shi Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he had let things go. A smile appeared on her face as she said, "Then if you have a girl you like, I can help you propose marriage."
"No, don't worry about it. I know whether my mother has complained to you again." Shi Mingji rejected her coldly.
Although Shi Mingyue and Shi Mingji were siblings, their relationship wasn't particularly close. Shi Mingji had a calm personality and had often been immersed in her study since childhood, so there wasn't much for her to do. Consequently, their relationship wasn't one of heartfelt openness, maintaining only the superficial courtesy of siblings. Shi Mingyue didn't know what to say, so she didn't sit for long, leaving his room untouched without even a sip of her tea.
When she returned to her room, she sat by the window with a gloomy look on her face. Suddenly, it struck her as a bit ridiculous that her relationship with Shi Mingji wasn't as strong as her friendship with Huo Qiuwen. Although they shared similar blood, their feelings for each other were rather weak.
Fu Yueli came in from outside and saw her depressed mood. She walked up to her and asked, "What happened? Weren't you talking to your brother?"
"Yeah, he told me not to bother with him." Shi Mingyue still felt a little uncomfortable.
Fu Yueli was naturally aware of Shi Mingji's affairs, so she said, "He has already passed the age of twenty. It is natural for him to decide and be responsible for his future affairs. You should not interfere."
Shi Mingyue thought about it and realized that this was the truth. So she just ignored it and nodded: "I understand."
Time quickly reached the end of the year, and an important node in the previous life was about to arrive.
Wu Tan launched an attack on the border of Xinzhou. Cen Jian, as the General of Zhenxi, led his troops to fight back, but suffered a crushing defeat in the first battle and lost a county.
When the news came, the whole court was shocked, and the emperor ordered Fu Yueli and Fu Baiheng to lead troops to Xinzhou.
Shi Mingyue was listing all the details in the study according to her memory.
The lamp on the table flickered slightly. Fu Yueli came back and walked into the study.
"You're back now, you can use these." Shi Mingyue had just finished writing.
Fu Yueli took the paper from her hand, glanced at it, and put it down. "You won't need this. Come with me to Xinzhou."
Shi Mingyue was extremely surprised. Although the army had female generals, there were also strict regulations. From the top down, no one was allowed to bring female relatives. How could Fu Yueli take the lead in violating this rule?
"You?" Shi Mingyue was puzzled.
Fu Yueli walked up to her, put his hand on her shoulder, and said softly, "Because I can't bear to leave you. Or, like last time, you dress up as a man so that others won't recognize you."
When Shi Mingyue heard him say that he couldn't bear to leave her, her heart softened, but she couldn't help but worry: "Isn't Fu Baiheng going too? And the last time I went to Yunzhou, it wasn't that others couldn't tell that I was a woman disguised as a man, but they didn't dare to say it."
Fu Yueli smiled and said, "It's okay, don't worry, come with me." Shi Mingyue couldn't stay in the capital, otherwise he was not sure whether his father would do anything again, so Mingyue had to follow him, and he had to be able to see her at all times.
A few days later, the army set out for Xinzhou.
When passing by Jinsha River, Shi Mingyue couldn't help but remember the dream she had, in which the bandits in Jinsha River were from Wutan, so she told Fu Yueli about it.
Fu Yueli had heard of these bandits, but because they were only after money and rarely took lives, the imperial court had not taken drastic measures to eliminate them. But now that he knew their true background, he could no longer keep them, otherwise they would become a threat sooner or later.
When passing by the tea shop, Shi Mingyue saw the same scene as in his dream. The bandits were indeed stationed in the tea shop, probably to observe passers-by and make it easier for them to rob property.
Shi Mingyue secretly told Fu Yueli about this. Not long after the army passed the tea shop, they immediately counterattacked and subdued all the bandits in the tea shop.
That night, Fu Yueli and Fu Baiheng somehow managed to get the bandits to reveal the location of their lair. At dawn, a portion of the army advanced deep into the Jinsha River and annihilated the bandits in one fell swoop.
The army initially wiped out the bandits who had been entrenched in the Jinsha River for many years. With morale high, they marched towards Xinzhou City in high spirits.
When they arrived in the city that night, Cen Jianshe hosted a banquet while Shi Mingyue stayed in her room. She thought it would be best if she did not show up everywhere, otherwise it would be bad for Fu Yueli. When Fu Baiheng saw her following them as they set out, he looked a little strange. Shi Mingyue was still worried that Fu Baiheng would take this opportunity to exploit Fu Yueli's weakness, which would violate military regulations and would be difficult to deal with.
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