Chapter 45
◎Husband and wife are one.◎
The days passed like this. Ci Ying would have dinner with Xie Huaijin every day, and occasionally she would order the meal she wanted to eat the next day in advance. Apart from that, the two of them did not have much interaction.
Most of the affairs of the Xie Mansion were handed over to Ci Ying, much more than before. Some areas that she had never been involved in before were also handed over to her during this period.
She was always afraid of making a mistake, so after thinking it over, she occasionally knocked on the door of Xie Huaijin's study.
The young man always warmed up to her and said, "It doesn't matter if you make mistakes. Even if you cause a huge mess, I'm still here for you."
When Ci Ying heard this for the first time, she was silent for a long time. When Xie Huaijin raised his hand to touch her head, she whispered, "It does matter, Xie Huaijin."
"Hmm?" Xie Huaijin looked at Ci Ying.
Although only a few months had passed, Xie Huaijin felt that Ciying had grown up a lot. Behind her occasional willfulness was an unspeakable silence.
She raised her eyes and took the account book back from the table. "The shop on East Street has closed down. The manager will be held accountable, and the waiters will lose their livelihood. The palace can indeed directly fill the hole with silver, but there will always be some areas that cannot be filled."
Xie Huaijin chuckled, then said calmly, "Ciying, handing these things over to you doesn't mean you have to bear the entire fate of these people."
Ci Ying looked at Xie Huaijin for a long moment, then shook her head. "It's not that I want to shoulder anyone else's fate, but I can't accept it if someone else is held accountable because of my mistakes. I just don't understand this part. Please find someone who understands and teach me."
"Aren't you here to ask me for advice?" Xie Huaijin looked at Ci Ying, who was obviously sulking, and gently rubbed his fingertips.
Ci Ying hugged the account book tightly: "I don't want to ask you anymore."
So she was "forced" to ask Xie Huaijin for advice.
The young man pressed her down on a stool, opened the account book, and started talking from the first tiny mistake.
Ci Ying listened carefully, occasionally asking a few questions. When she listened to Xie Huaijin's brief explanations and asked further questions that were answered immediately by the young man, Ci Ying felt that putting everything aside, Xie Huaijin was actually a pretty good teacher.
Before the young lady passed away, Ciying had read Xie Huaijin's poems and essays.
Four words to describe it: calm - talented, anyone who is good at poetry and prose can understand at a glance the crazy pursuit of Xie Huaijin by all the students in Lishan Academy at that time.
Compared with his talent, power and status are secondary.
Ci Ying could not deny that even now, she was amazed by the one-sided soul that Xie Huaijin revealed in his poems and essays. Even if she came into contact with this person and realized that everything was just an illusion, she would still be in a trance for a moment.
She often heard the regrets of outsiders. Xie Huaijin had not picked up a pen since he won the third place in the imperial examination a few years ago. She had doubts about this in the past, but she had no right to ask about it, either before or now.
Ci Ying began to become truly busy. Before her illness had completely dissipated, she was overwhelmed by the pile of affairs. Another half month passed like this. When Ci Ying could no longer hold on, a man she had met a few times in her youth was sent to her room by Zhu Er.
Chunhua knelt down. A few years had passed, and she was actually old enough to leave the mansion. The old lady who had made the promise to them had long since died on some unknown morning, and Chuntao had married the third young lady and followed her there. She had stayed in the mansion to endure her old age.
Ciying obviously recognized Chunhua. She always remembered the kindness Chunhua had shown her when she was in humble circumstances. When she saw Chunhua kneeling, she immediately helped her up.
"The master sent me to take care of the details in the mansion for the lady." Chunhua looked at the lady in front of him carefully. Although she was old, the woman in front of him didn't seem to have changed much.
Ci Ying asked, "When the old lady was still alive, what matters in the mansion were you responsible for?"
Chunhua explained everything one by one. Ciying thought for a moment, called over another maid, and instructed her, "You have been following me all this time. Now take Chunhua to familiarize herself with the procedures."
As she spoke, Ci Ying took out a jade pendant from her bosom and handed it to Chun Hua: "If you need anything, take this jade pendant to find the housekeeper. If you need anything else, bring the housekeeper to find me."
Even though Chunhua is here, Ciying still has a lot to deal with.
She was so busy until late at night every day that she had no time to arrange things in Jiangnan.
Ci Ying knew that this was not going to work. While she was still dealing with affairs in the mansion in the middle of the night, she couldn't help but suspect that Xie Huaijin did it on purpose. After gritting her teeth for a while, she saw the booklet handed in by Chunhua and paused with the pen in her hand.
After thinking about it, she picked up her pen and wrote a letter to Lingyue and Lingshuang.
After she returned to Chang'an, she reconnected with the two people. They kept saying that they wanted to come back to her. She had been a little hesitant before, but now she felt that she really needed someone by her side.
Chunhua took on part of the responsibility, Lingyue and Lingshuang also had their own responsibilities, and she would handle the rest.
In April in Chang'an, the spring breeze is gentle.
Lingyue and Lingshuang returned to Ciying and spent half a month getting familiar with some of the affairs of the Xie Mansion. When Ciying had time to redeploy things in Jiangnan, Xie Huaijin suddenly told her that they were going out.
It’s not very far, but it’s still a day’s walk away.
Ci Ying had no choice but to put down the matters at hand, thinking of dealing with them together when she came back, but she was afraid of trouble, so she simply stayed up all night to deal with the matters for the next few days.
The next day, the two of them sat on each side of the carriage.
Xie Huaijin was flipping through a book, and when he looked up again, he found that Ci Ying had fallen asleep against the wall of the car. After a while, her whole body tilted down, and the dark circles under her eyes could not be hidden even with powder.
Are you so tired?
As the carriage was shaking, seeing that Ci Ying's head was about to hit the wall, Xie Huaijin stood up and supported the girl's slender body. She seemed to have not grown up much, and her appearance had not changed much over the years.
Xie Huaijin searched his memory and unexpectedly discovered that he also remembered Ci Ying's previous appearance.
He remembered his second sister, who had always been aloof, holding a red fruit and secretly showing off in front of him, saying "very sweet". He knew then that it was the maid named Ciying who picked it for Suwei.
He saw the girl dressed in maid's uniform climbing up a tall tree. She had already reached the height where she could pick the fruits, but she climbed up stubbornly, saying that she wanted to pick the sweetest ones for her mistress.
The sweetest ones are at the top, so he could see her even outside the wall.
Xie Huaijin couldn't help but touch the head of the person in his arms. Ci Ying seemed to sense something, but because she was sleepy, she didn't open her eyes. She just shrank towards the warm place.
The young man lowered his eyes and looked at the person in his arms. Clearly, many years had passed...
But he suddenly wanted to know what the fruit Su Wei held that day tasted like.
When the carriage was halfway there, Ci Ying was almost awake. She raised her eyes and found a piece of white in front of her. She realized that she had rolled to Xie Huaijin's side while she was asleep. She stood up by holding the corner of the table without saying a word.
For a moment, the carriage was almost silent, with only the sound of a few pages turning gently.
Ciying was still sleepy, but she was not ready to sleep anymore.
She might not be fully conscious, and when the carriage was shaking, she subconsciously looked at the young man beside her.
Perhaps because they were too close, her nostrils were filled with the scent of incense on the young man's clothes.
The light and faint fragrance smelled very pleasant, and Ciying's thoughts became a little hazy again.
The curtains were blown open by the wind, and when the cold air rushed in, that hint of charm disappeared. After a while, Ci Ying leaned against the inner wall of the car. The soft layer made Ci Ying's ears a little itchy, but she did not turn around, just half-closed her eyes and looked out the window.
The sound of wind whistling in my ears gradually grew louder.
It was late at night when the carriage stopped.
The maid lifted the curtain of the carriage, and when Ci Ying looked up and saw the forest, she almost thought that Xie Huaijin was going to kill her to silence her.
But he denied it the next moment.
The young man held her hand, moonlight shone down, and Ci Ying asked, "Where is this?"
Xie Huaijin said gently, "The mountains near Chang'an."
Ci Ying obviously didn't want to ask this, but since Xie Huaijin didn't want to say it, she didn't continue asking.
The two people's hands were only tenuously connected, their fingers entwined and so fragile that it seemed as if a brighter moonlight would break them in an instant. But even after walking around the mountain and their fingers were covered with sticky sweat, no one let go of their hands.
Suddenly, the subtle charm at the beginning turned into a rivalry.
It seems that whoever lets go first is the one who compromises.
After walking around, the young man asked, "Do you remember it?"
Ci Ying: “?”
She didn't even speak. Her physical strength wasn't great, and her face had turned pale after the lap. The young man looked at her gently, "When I was a child, my father took me across this mountain, right here. He jokingly told me there was a treasure in the mountain."
Ci Ying whispered, "You're lying to the kids."
After saying that, Ci Ying let go of her hand, sat on the ground, and touched a small mushroom that had just grown nearby.
The young man would not sit on the ground. He just stood there and looked at the girl: "Would you like some mushroom soup when you get home?"
Ci Ying shook her head.
She had slept enough in the carriage and now she was not sleepy at all.
She lay on the grass and looked at Xie Huaijin above her, but she only glanced at him for a moment before looking up at the starry sky.
"Do you want to find the treasure that the patriarch mentioned?" After saying this, Ci Ying paused for a moment, and suddenly remembered that she should call the patriarch father, but it seemed that she had not done so once in all these years.
"I want to give it to you." The young man said warmly.
Ci Ying stared at the stars in her eyes, stunned for a moment. After a long moment, a young girl's gentle voice could be heard from the forest: "It's a very good gift."
——A vague legend.
She looked at Xie Huaijin again and met his eyes.
At that moment, Ci Ying did not see any false smile on the young man's face. In her eyes, Xie Huaijin was gentle and calm, like the moon in the sky. It was so beautiful that even though Ci Ying knew it was fake, she still smiled lightly.
The wind in the mountains and forests became a little cold in the second half of the night. When Ci Ying wrapped herself in a cloak and held Xie Huaijin's hand, she found that the young man's hand was ice-cold. Her hand also turned cold almost instantly when it touched her, but she did not let go. She just held it stubbornly, just like when she came.
"If there really is one, where do you think it is?" Xie Huaijin looked at Ci Ying, who had regained some popularity.
Ci Ying simply treated this as a test question. She looked around, picked up a branch, and began to paint on the dirt. Recalling the path she had just walked, she roughly marked a few points: "These are the places."
If there really is one.
Ci Ying didn't say the rest of the sentence.
The young man said softly, "The one in the southwest shouldn't be right. The mountains there have collapsed."
Ci Ying crossed out the southwest spot and reconsidered: "If this isn't it, we might need to chisel the stone in this direction."
"Well, maybe."
During the conversation, a clean handkerchief was handed to Ci Ying. Ci Ying took it and asked, "What's in the treasure?"
"Gold, silver, jewelry, and maybe some books from the previous dynasty, but probably nothing else." The young man smiled faintly.
Ci Ying whispered, "Yes, treasures are not all these things."
"Are you tired?" Xie Huaijin asked.
Ciying was very tired, but she shook her head lightly.
She looked at the rolling mountains and suddenly had an idea: "I want to raise ducklings in my mansion."
No one spoke in the mountains for a long time.
Ci Ying turned around and saw the young man's lips slightly pursed. She suddenly wanted to laugh, and then she laughed.
"There are many empty houses in Chang'an, so we can raise more."
Ci Ying seemed to have discovered something interesting. She pretended to hesitate and said, "But I want to raise them in my own yard. I can raise fewer, twelve, ten? Eight would be fine too."
Xie Huaijin: "...There are ducks in the mansion."
"I don't want to eat." Ci Ying walked in front with a faint smile on her lips. When she turned around and looked behind her, she suddenly felt dazed for a moment.
The young man was still worried about the duck: "One, two at most."
Ci Ying turned around and her tears fell into the ground. She actually didn't know why she was crying, but at this moment she actually felt a sense of happiness.
Sometimes she wished she were a fool.
If you can't see anything, maybe you will feel more happiness like this.
She tilted her head in front: "I want to raise a yard."
Her lips were suddenly covered by the young man from behind. Ci Ying burst into laughter. Xie Huaijin felt helpless: "Why do you raise ducks in the yard?"
Ci Ying glared at Xie Huaijin, meaning "What can I say if you cover my mouth?"
But the wise and intelligent Master Xie chose not to understand at this time, and said in a gentle voice: "Madam, you must want to raise more ducks outside. I have asked someone to prepare the house and ducks for you."
Ciying doesn't want to raise ducks.
She just thought of Wuxiang.
I wasn't thinking about Wuxiang, I was just thinking about the life described in Xie Ran's letter.
Of course, it was just an occasional thought. After a brief pause, the girl naturally took the young man's hand. Xie Huaijin was stunned for a moment, then returned the hand as usual.
Under the moonlight, the figures of the two people were getting farther and farther away.
......
After leaving the mountains, Ci Ying began to feel that if she put everything aside, she and Xie Huaijin could actually be an ordinary couple.
She has never been married to anyone else and has no idea what normal married life is like.
It’s okay now that the days have calmed down.
If it keeps on like this.
No one wants anything to happen again.
It was dinner time again, and Xie Huaijin talked to her about her birthday.
Ci Ying sipped her after-dinner tea and whispered, "Do you need to use my birthday as a celebration party?"
The girl's eyes were full of seriousness, and she even analyzed: "It's not convenient to invite people for your birthday, but it's very convenient for mine. The wives of those officials have been sending me visiting cards. If I invite them... This should be the first time I send out invitations as Madam Xie. Probably everyone in Chang'an will have to come. What do you want to do..."
"No need." The young man rarely spoke and interrupted Ci Ying, and the smile between his eyebrows faded.
Ci Ying let out a soft "Oh", and the fish soup that was delicious just now suddenly lost its flavor.
The girl didn’t quite understand her emotions, but the person opposite her was Xie Huaijin.
Almost instantly, he realized that Ciying had probably misunderstood. He looked at Ciying for a moment and sighed softly, "I didn't mean what you thought."
Ci Ying stopped talking, put down the fish soup, and turned to leave.
In fact, she also realized that she had misunderstood.
She just habitually thought about Xie Huaijin's purpose after every word he said. Just now, Xie Huaijin suddenly mentioned her birthday and had turned down many banquets recently. She subconsciously thought that this was what Xie Huaijin meant.
You can't blame her for this.
It’s Xie Huaijin’s fault.
"It's my fault." The young man leaned over and said softly.
Ci Ying was stunned for a moment and almost thought that she had heard it wrong, but no, Xie Huaijin did say that he was wrong.
"I didn't explain it clearly. It's my fault." Xie Huaijin said again.
Ci Ying looked up at Xie Huaijin, then picked up the fish soup and started drinking it, hiding the next words in her mouth.
"......It doesn't matter."
Zhu Guang heard it from outside and looked inside through the window. She saw Ci Ying starting to drink fish soup again, while Xie Huaijin sat beside her and drank tea.
The two of them seemed to be living a peaceful and tranquil life.
Zhu Guang was more carefree, so she was more sensitive to some things. After observing for these days, she actually felt that there was love between Ciying and the young master.
How can it not be love?
Zhu Guang then thought of Mo Yu again. She hadn't seen Mo Yu for some time. She went to the Dark Guard Camp to inquire but couldn't find any trace of Mo Yu.
Zhu Guang was actually a little worried.
The wound she had inflicted on Mo Yu last time had not healed yet, and she was afraid that something might happen to Mo Yu if he went on a mission.
But she went to find the master and begged him for a long time, but he refused to reveal a single word and told her, "You'll have to get used to it."
Zhu Guang was so angry that his teeth were itching, but he couldn't do anything to Xie Huaijin.
She knew better than anyone that the Young Master was Mo Yu's only bottom line.
When she was a child, Mo Yu brought the young master to see her, led her out of the cave, half-knelt down to wipe the blood off her face, and asked her to swear that she would be loyal to the young master for the rest of her life.
Zhu Guang didn't believe these things, if Mo Yu hadn't asked her to swear on his life.
It was dark outside. Zhu Guang leaned against the wall, looking down at the sword in her hand. She still didn't know how the sword had pierced Mo Yu's arm. She recalled the moves she had made that day, and then re-enacted them in the courtyard.
When she stopped, Ci Ying was already standing under the eaves looking at her.
"What a beautiful sword technique." Ci Ying clapped her hands and imitated Zhu Guang's dance. Zhu Guang put aside his complicated thoughts and stepped forward to correct him: "It's like this, over here, use some strength with your hands."
Ci Ying waved the soft sword for a long time, and finally reproduced Zhu Guang's first move.
"Okay, okay, I'm tired." Ci Ying had been handling official business for a whole day and was already exhausted. Even if she got interested, she couldn't resist the soreness in her arms.
Zhu Guang smiled and rubbed Ci Ying: "You'll be fine after a good sleep."
......
When Mo Yu returned to Chang'an, it was early morning and the market was just beginning. There were many small things on the street that you wouldn't normally see. Mo Yu gave orders to the guards behind him and got off the carriage.
After walking around for a while, he bought a piece of iron.
It was bought from a very small stall. The stall owner didn't know the goods and didn't recognize this thing. When he saw Mo Yu gave him a silver ingot, he hurriedly drove the man away as if he was afraid that Mo Yu would regret it.
When going to see Xie Huaijin, Mo Yu changed his clothes first.
There was a knock on the study door, and Xie Huaijin said calmly, "Come in."
Mo Yu pushed the door open and walked in, bowing and saying, "Sir, I have brought Li Sheng and Xie Ran back."
The study was silent for a while. Xie Huaijin, dressed in plain clothes, lit the incense in the incense burner and whispered, "Xie Ran?"
Mo Yu hesitated and said, "Miss Xie Ran saw me talking to Mr. Li, and when she heard that I was back to see Ci Ying, she wanted to come along."
Xie Huaijin picked up his pen and wrote something: "Okay, let's settle them together."
"I have placed him outside the palace, in the house east of the city. Mr. Li is not feeling well, and the imperial physician has already gone."
"Well, go down." The young man whispered.
Mo Yu glanced at Xie Huaijin, who was sitting at his desk, quietly copying something. A faint scent of sandalwood wafted from an incense burner not far away. Mo Yu glanced at the incense burner and said, "It's a bit heavy. I'll change it for you, young master."
"No need." Xie Huaijin said these two words lightly.
Amidst the heavy scent of sandalwood, the young man was copying Buddhist scriptures with a calm and cool expression, as gentlemanly as jade.
And on the bookshelf behind the young man, many Buddhist scriptures had appeared at some point.
Mo Yu turned around and walked out, not daring to say anything.
After closing the door from the outside, Mo Yu slowly raised his eyes and sat down in front of the study with his sword in his arms. The maids passing by on the steps did not dare to make a sound to disturb him.
Zhu Guang got the news within almost half an hour, but when she arrived, Mo Yu was gone.
Zhu Guang grabbed a maid and questioned her, but she just shook her head and said, "She left a quarter of an hour ago."
Zhu Guang asked, "Which direction?"
The maid recalled for a moment and pointed in a direction: "It seems to be to the east, but I can't remember exactly. Miss, you can ask along the way, or go to Lord Mo Yu's residence?"
Zhu Guang, Zhu Guang didn't dare to go.
She had done such a thing last time, so how could she dare to go to the residence to see her master now? She thought about it and knocked on the study door.
There was no sound from inside for a long time. Zhu Guang snorted softly, knowing that the young master must have heard it. After thinking for a moment, he said softly, "Young master, Zhu Guang is coming in."
Zhu Guang walked in and saw the same scene as Mo Yu.
The strong smell of sandalwood made Zhu Guang frown. She walked forward and whispered, "Young Master, help me."
After these days, Zhu Guang finally understood that Mo Yu just didn't want to pay attention to her. She didn't know if it was because of the incense burner incident or for some other reason. She had stabbed Mo Yu a few days ago, and even when she knelt down, Mo Yu didn't show any mercy as before. It seemed that Mo Yu didn't want to pay attention to her from the bottom of his heart, but she really had no way to deal with it.
After much thought, there has always been only one person in this mansion who can deal with Mo Yu, and that is the young man in front of her.
Without even raising his eyelids, Xie Huaijin said calmly, "I can't help."
Zhu Guang lowered his head: "Sir, are you angry with me about Ciying?"
When Ciying was mentioned, the young man paused writing. He raised his eyes and looked at Zhu Guang coldly, saying calmly, "I have never been angry with you because of Ciying."
"I betrayed you, sir. Aren't you angry?" Zhu Guang asked without giving up.
The young man smiled faintly, "Husband and wife are one. How can joining Ciying be considered betrayal?"
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