Chapter 80 Why are Judge Gu's hands so cold after falling into the water?
The carriage swayed leisurely along the road.
Yu Nie sat sideways on the right side of the carriage, her delicate hand gently waving a round fan. Her peripheral vision inadvertently caught a glimpse of a figure outside the curtain. Outside, Gu Xiangzhi stood tall and straight as a pine tree, seated upright on horseback.
She had given up all hope, but she never expected that he would actually put aside his busy affairs and come with her all the way.
After all, as the Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Horse Administration, the only person he could escort on a daily basis was the Emperor himself; no one else received this privilege.
Inside the carriage, Hua Ruo spoke of the star-gazing banquet to be held in the palace in a few days, and Yu Nie nodded in listening.
Hua Ruoyan said that this was the first banquet held in the palace since the emperor ascended the throne, and noble ladies and princes from various families would attend. She would also introduce a few of her sisters and brothers to her.
Yu Nie responded to Hua Ruo's words, and glanced at Hua Shu opposite him without making a sound.
Hua Shu, preoccupied with something on her mind, twirled the embroidered handkerchief in her hand, her gaze frequently drifting outside. Most of the time, she remained silent, lost in thought.
Hua Ruo seemed to notice Hua Shu's unusual quietness, so she coughed lightly to draw Hua Shu's attention back.
Hua Shu came to her senses and realized that her expression just now might have given her away. When she looked up at Yu Nie, her face showed a little awkwardness and her lips twitched slightly.
“Hua Ruo is right.” She continued, “Although my sister will be leaving Jian’an soon, she may make more friends, which is a good thing.”
After a pause, she added, "Speaking of which, we are brothers and sisters, so we should visit each other more often and keep in touch."
Hua Shu always felt guilty when she heard that Yu Nie was about to leave Jian'an.
She asked Yu Nie, "Has my sister seen the portrait of the Great Khan?"
Speaking of the portrait, Yu Nie couldn't help but recall that Song Ai had shown her that portrait the first day when she taught her etiquette.
The person in the painting is old enough to be her grandfather.
"I've seen it...I've seen it..." She lowered her eyes, smiled faintly, and tried to gloss over the matter with a vague sentence.
Just as Hua Shu was about to ask a few more questions, a commotion broke out outside the car.
Curiosity arose in Yu Nie's heart. He hooked his finger on the carriage curtain and lifted it open a crack, peering out through the gap.
A troop of soldiers clad in gleaming silver armor ran past in formation, their steps resounding.
At the very front of the procession sat a man who looked like a general, his figure tall and imposing.
Even just looking at their backs, they exuded a chilling aura.
"Who are those people?" she asked, turning her head to look at Gu Xiangzhi outside the carriage.
Gu Xiangzhi's gaze did not follow the group of people. He only glanced at the half of her face that was peeking out, and his tone was still cold: "Xu Cai, General of the Martial Guard Battalion."
“Xu Cai?!” Upon hearing the familiar name, Yu Nie’s heart skipped a beat. Wasn’t this the younger brother of Xu Jingyang that Lang Xi had mentioned to her?
Thinking this, she simply peeked out again, following the backs of the group of people, wanting to see the passing figures more clearly.
Gu Xiangzhi sensed something was wrong from her tone.
When she called out Xu Cai's name, the familiarity in her tone was obvious to anyone.
But now that she is a princess and only knows Jian'an, how could she possibly know the Imperial Guards of the palace? This is clearly illogical.
He looked up at her, his voice neither loud nor soft: "Princess Shunhe, do you perhaps recognize this person?"
Sometimes, directly addressing the issue can achieve the desired effect.
He deliberately made his voice carry through the carriage, so Hua Ruo and Hua Shu, who were sitting inside, could hear it clearly.
His words were like a wake-up call, and Yu Nie froze, the excitement he had felt upon hearing the name of a familiar person instantly freezing in his mind.
She instantly realized that her overjoyed reaction was completely inappropriate. She shouldn't have so easily uttered the name "Xu Cai" at this time and place.
It's easy to arouse suspicion.
Yu Nie glanced at Gu Xiangzhi outside the car and saw that his deep eyes were staring at her intently. She then turned back to look at Hua Ruo and Hua Shu.
Two questioning gazes fell on her face at the same time, making her feel guilty.
This was not something that could be easily fooled. Her mind raced as she searched for a plausible explanation.
Fortunately, her only advantage is that she is quick-witted and has a sharp mind.
After a moment, she turned around and sat up straight, forcing a silly smile on her face: "Um... I knew someone named Xu Cai when I was in Shuoyang. When I heard the name just now, I thought it was him... Hehe..."
She laughed awkwardly, deliberately lowered her eyes, and twisted her sleeve with her fingers, pretending to be annoyed that she had mistaken someone for someone else, trying to cover up the flaw she shouldn't have revealed.
Fortunately, Hua Ruo and the others didn't think too much about it.
Hua Shu said, "It's common to mistake one person for another, but just now Hua Ruozhen and I thought that my sister knew the Wuwei Camp."
After she finished speaking, a guard's respectful announcement came from outside the carriage: "Your Highnesses, we have arrived at the Water Station."
Upon hearing where they were coming from, Hua Ruo and the others no longer cared about her calling the wrong person earlier, and even put that doubt behind them.
Hua Ruokai said to her, "Sister Shunhe, we've arrived. Let's get off the bus quickly."
Yu Nie responded with an "okay".
The three of them, one by one, with the help of those around them, bent down and walked out of the carriage.
As soon as Yu Nie's feet touched the ground, he felt a wave of dampness hit him.
Today was originally a cloudy day, with low-hanging clouds pressing down on the horizon, shrouding the entire river surface in a hazy light.
Thanks to the continuous dark clouds, most of the summer heat has dissipated today, and the willows sway gently, with a refreshing coolness in the breeze.
She subconsciously looked at the rippling blue river, where several painted boats and covered boats were drifting leisurely on the water.
Inside the boat, figures were scattered about, and several young women could be vaguely seen. Each of them was beautiful and graceful, with smiling faces and wearing a ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress). They were chatting and laughing together. There were also families traveling together, with the three of them sitting around in the cabin, enjoying a leisurely trip.
On the arched bridge in the distance, people came and went. There were peddlers carrying loads and shaking rattles as they crossed the bridge, and couples standing on the bridge admiring the vast and beautiful scenery. There were also acrobatic performers under the bridge railing, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers.
The postmaster who came to greet them led them toward the painted boat on the shore.
This water post station was no ordinary post station; it was originally a recreational place exclusively for princes, ministers of the fourth rank and above, and members of the imperial family, and was of extremely high status. Inside, there was a postmaster leading servants to look after the horses and guard the carriages, and all miscellaneous matters were handled by the inner staff, without any outside interference.
Hua Ruo was clearly familiar with the place. She happily ran ahead of the postmaster and went straight into the luxurious painted boat with its glittering exterior.
Yu Nie and Hua Shu walked behind, with Gu Xiangzhi, who had been almost silent the whole way, following behind them.
Hua Shu walked alongside her, clearly wanting to say something to her.
Yu Nie was so engrossed in admiring the scenery that she didn't notice the hesitant look on the person next to her's face.
Looking at the scenery on the shore, she finally understood why people returning to Huaiyuan from here called this place "a celestial palace in the heavens".
"Hua Yan..." Zhao Huashu finally couldn't suppress her guilt and called her softly.
Hearing this, Yu Nie turned to look at her: "Hmm?"
Zhao Huashu stared into the other person's eyes, her own reflection in them. The words that were about to slip out were ultimately pulled back by timidity and stuck in her throat.
Following behind the two, Gu Xiangzhi's gaze fell on Zhao Huashu's tense back, but he did not utter a word to stop her. Just like before, when he listened to her tell Consort Cui about his deeply buried past, word by word, through a thin layer of paper.
Let it be.
If she were to confess to Zhao Huayan that she never expected that her attempt to escape a marriage alliance would lead to her imprisonment, it would be fine for her to reveal that he was the one manipulating everything behind the scenes.
He can be the bad guy.
"Why isn't your sister saying anything?" Yu Nie looked at her, puzzled.
Zhao Huashu ultimately didn't apologize. She smiled and said, "It's alright. Hua Ruo is waiting for us. Let's hurry over there."
"Okay, sure." Yu Nie didn't notice anything else and cheerfully quickened her pace.
The pleasure boat was still about ten feet from the shore, with only a narrow wooden plank forming a passage between the boat and the shore.
As the highest-ranking person among them, Gu Xiangzhi stepped onto the wooden plank first, standing firmly in the middle, and reached out to help the two of them board the ship one by one.
Yu Nie let Hua Shu go first.
She saw Hua Shu glance at him before she put her hand on his.
Whether Gu Xiangzhi was deliberately avoiding her or not, his eyes remained lowered, and he was very indifferent.
When it was her turn to go up, she didn't hesitate at all. She stretched out her hand and placed it on the back of his hand, using his strength to step onto the wooden plank.
When she touched his skin, she seemed to be chilled and blurted out, "Why are Judge Gu's hands so cold?"
These words came so bluntly and abruptly that everyone around was taken aback. Even Gu Xiangzhi herself seemed to be stunned for a moment, as if she hadn't expected her to say these words so frankly.
After a moment of silence, he calmly bowed, his expression returning to its usual cold and stern demeanor, as if the momentary daze he had just experienced was merely a misinterpretation by others.
He lowered his eyes to avoid her surprised gaze, his fingertips curling quietly inside his sleeve. The place she touched seemed to still retain warmth, forming a strange contrast with his usual coldness.
His tone was as steady as ever, without the slightest hint of emotion: "Please forgive me, Your Highness, but I have always been like this."
Yu Nie listened and simply nodded, without giving it much thought.
Once they, Song Ai, and several servants had entered the painted boat, the mooring ropes on the shore were loosened.
The servants at the bow took up oars and plunged them into the water. With the sound of the oars cutting through the blue waves, the painted boat slowly left the shore, and the lively scene on the shore gradually faded away.
The painted boat they were to ride in was not large, but it had everything they needed. Fruits and other food were laid out on a square table.
Gu Xiangzhi, acting as their guard, kept patrolling the area, and could occasionally hear their laughter and conversation.
When Hua Ruo said that the painted boat was a gift from Xiao Chengyan, she scolded him for the ugly color, but upon closer inspection, her tone was still that of a happy person.
Yu Nie learned that the two of them, as well as Xiao Chengyan, had grown up together.
She couldn't help but think of Langxi and Ahui, who were far away in Huaiyuan. The three of them had grown up together.
But now... she doesn't know when she can go back.
Hua Ruo continued to talk incessantly, recounting past events in the palace and anecdotes about the group of people.
They sat in the painted boat for a while, but felt stuffy in the cabin, so they strolled to the bow and leaned on the railing to admire the surrounding scenery.
Zhao Hua said, "It would be even more enjoyable if we came at night."
Yu Nie replied, "If we have time, we'll come again then."
"Mmm." Zhao Huaruo nodded excitedly.
The pleasure boat continued to sway slowly forward, a gust of wind sweeping past the bow.
Hua Ruo exclaimed softly, "Oh dear, my handkerchief!"
Yu Nie followed her gaze and saw that the handkerchief Hua Ruo had just taken was stuck in a gap in the wood on the outside of the boat.
Seeing that the handkerchief had fallen not far away, she immediately offered, "Let me pick it up for you. My arms are longer, so I can reach it."
After saying that, she bent over, half of her body leaning out of the boat, her fingertips brushing against the smooth edge of the handkerchief several times, deviating by the last inch.
Zhao Huashu watched anxiously from the side and was about to call her maid for help.
Before she could call out, a voice came from behind her.
Yu Nie shouted, "I found it!"
"Sister Shunhe is so amazing." Zhao Huaruo grabbed her wrist: "Get up quickly, watch your step."
Yu Nie gripped the handkerchief tightly and replied, just about to take the opportunity to straighten up.
Unexpectedly, the pleasure boat was suddenly pushed by an underwater current, and the boat rocked violently.
Caught off guard, Zhao Huaruo's hand slipped, causing Yu Nie to lose her balance and fall into the river before she could even cry out.
With a muffled splash, water rose half a foot high.
On another boat not far away, a figure jumped into the water almost at the same time as her.
This sudden turn of events terrified Zhao Huaruo and Zhao Huashu. Their faces turned deathly pale, and they screamed, "Hua Yan! Someone, help! We're dying!"
Yu Nie struggled desperately in the water, the icy river water constantly seeping into her nostrils, choking her until her vision blurred.
Hearing the exclamation, Gu Xiangzhi, who was at the stern, rushed to the bow like the wind.
He caught sight of the struggling figure on the water's surface and, without the slightest hesitation, leaped into the river.
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