The trouble at the Zhu family's gate (Part 2) A voice whispered from the newcomer: "You two..."
Chu Yening laughed silently.
“Cai Yuan, Cai Yuan, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices…” she asked again, her voice choked with emotion.
The cold and the warmth seemed to merge into one at this moment. Chu Yening chuckled softly, then tried his best to restrain himself again, separating the two of them once more, and then gazing into her bright eyes.
"Seventh Sister, Cai Yuan was actually a member of Liang Shuwen's faction back then."
"What?" Qin Weixi's pupils contracted sharply. Suddenly, she remembered his words in the palace that day: "I never harm the innocent." She smiled bitterly.
"That day, His Majesty urgently summoned me to the palace. Before entering, I saw the women of his household, including Qian Shi, his trusted maid. She hurriedly left the Zhu family and headed straight for the Cai residence. Old Zhong immediately sensed something was amiss. At that time, Zhu Ruo was frightened and her pregnancy was in turmoil, and she didn't know whether she was carrying a boy or a girl. I thought that the Liang father and son were probably afraid that if Zhu Ruo's child was a boy, the Qin family would rise again in the future. So I decided to play along. I went to the palace with my sword, and wounded Cai Yuan, who was pleading for the Qin clan!"
"Later!" he sighed, "The Chengyi Earl's mansion was in chaos. The old Chengyi Earl fell seriously ill, and the palace frequently sent people to visit him. Only then did I learn that old Tao had gone to Jiangnan to find you, hiding in Ding Wei's carriage."
"And the eight hundred elite troops I sent out that day, while hiding in various places, also brought back the news that you had perished in the river." He gave a bitter smile as he said this.
Tears welled up in Qin Weixi's eyes, and she instinctively reached out and grabbed his arm: "Fourth Brother, it's very cold there in winter, isn't it?"
He smiled slightly, looking up at the crescent moon overhead, but the smile didn't reach his eyes: "Back then, everyone said you were dead. Aunt Xiao was dead, Uncle Qin was dead, Brother Ashu was dead, and my father was dead too. And I witnessed the tragic state of General Zhao Xian with my own eyes. I thought it would be better to find a quiet place where no one is around."
He then casually added, "Furthermore, as Old Zhong said, in the third year of Kang Le, the Qin and Chu clans collapsed. Everyone in the world thought that our two clans had become enemies, so let the enemy be in the open while I am in the dark, and let them continue to misunderstand."
Chu Yening suddenly turned around and carefully examined the girl in front of him: "Seventh Sister, I am waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to clear the Qin family's name."
He abruptly changed the subject, asking with a smile, "By the way, do you still remember Bitan, who's always with me?" He paused, then continued, "Back then, I left him in the capital when I went to war with my father. It was only later that I learned he had feelings for Xia Zhi, the maidservant by your side. He sensed that something might happen in the capital, and since my father and I were away fighting, he immediately went to find your father. Then he rushed to Jiangnan to reunite with Ashu. But he and Ashu ultimately missed each other, and later he found the seriously injured Xia Zhi downstream."
Qin Weixi's fair face turned deathly pale. She suddenly tightened her grip on his arm and hissed, "A-Xia, A-Xia is still alive?"
Chu Yening said, "Bi Tan came to see me and said that no one survived on the Qin family's boat, but you and Xia Zhi were missing. He searched along the river but only found her. Later, he rescued Xia Zhi, who said that you two jumped in together. After Bi Tan settled Xia Zhi, he met up with the eight hundred soldiers I sent. They went to that river together but could not find you no matter what they did."
"He said that some time before the incident, he noticed that the Liang family suddenly had a lot of guards, all of whom were unfamiliar faces. Many soldiers also left the city. He found this strange, but found nothing else unusual. That day, he asked the soldiers guarding the city to inquire, but the soldier kept his mouth shut. In the end, he only said that he had overheard Liang Bai talking to someone that nowadays, whoever is the most powerful in the capital will suffer."
“Bi Tan remembered the rumors circulating in the capital. Then he took my name card to see Zheng Shi, an old acquaintance of his father and the Left Censor-in-Chief. Zheng Shi only said that he had noticed something was wrong lately. The Emperor often kept Liang Shuwen and Li Yuanda in the palace. He told him to send an urgent letter to the border, asking the Chu family to send someone back to the capital as soon as possible, as this might be the only way to break the formation. He also told him to inform the Qin family immediately.”
Chu Yening looked at her, his expression suddenly hardening: "Bi Tan immediately went to see your father, but he said he knew what was going on. He said Cheng Ji was fighting at the border and shouldn't be bothered, as that would only cause him more trouble. Bi Tan couldn't keep Song Yang in the capital, so he went south to find Ashu..."
Qin Weixi's face was ashen, her body trembling uncontrollably. She looked up at Chu Yening: "So Father must have sensed something, yet he still resolutely entered the palace. Fourth Brother, why? Was it so that his death could save over a hundred lives in the Qin family? Or was it because the Emperor killed Father so that he could supposedly give the world an explanation...?"
"Perhaps it was a long time ago, when my mother learned that my uncle's family had a son and immediately wanted to take me to Jiangnan to offer congratulations, but a last-minute change of plans forced us to stay in the capital. I asked my mother about it back then, but she only said it was inappropriate. Over the years, I've always wondered, inappropriate? Just how inappropriate was it?"
She choked up as she said, "My brother and I didn't even realize it. We were wrong, we were all wrong."
"So, Fourth Brother, if I hadn't gone to Jiangnan that day, would I have stopped Father from entering the palace? Perhaps Father would still be alive and well?"
The branches and leaves swayed gently, rustling softly. The person before her had tears in their eyes, yet they smiled and said, "It's alright, it's alright. Xia is still alive. At least someone is still alive. As long as someone is alive, that's all that matters."
Chu Yening gently stroked her head and sighed softly, "Seventh Sister, we are like fish on a chopping board, how can we easily turn the tables?"
He then hid his gaze in the shadows where the moonlight couldn't reach, his smile cold and indifferent, and said hoarsely, "But one day I will turn this capital city upside down!"
He lowered his eyes to look at her again and said softly, "Bi Tan can't return to the capital for the time being. I have settled him and your maid A Xia in a village in Jiangnan. Perhaps it is very close to the Luo family."
"And that Yao Zizhu, hand him over to me, and I will put him in a safer place."
Their eyes met, and Qin Weixi looked at his face, no longer as youthful as it had been in her youth. During the ten years she had eked out a living in this world, there had also been a boy in his early teens, alone facing the desolate borderlands, gazing at the sun, moon, and stars night after night for ten years.
She said, "Fourth Brother, I dare not say, I do not want to say, I disdain to say. I disdain to tell the world that there are still people in my Qin family alive, so that they will think that I am like a rat crossing the street, living in the shadows every day, despised by everyone."
Her three unspeakable sentences struck his heart, and undoubtedly represented her three states of mind over the past ten years.
Her gaze was resolute: "I want the Qin family to be exonerated, to stand before them with dignity once more, and to tell them that during these ten years of my lurking, they were in the open while I remained in the shadows, watching them scramble like clowns in desperation. Then I will remove their claws one by one, catching them completely off guard!"
He chuckled, his gaze softening as he gradually emerged from the gloom. Then he said, "Seventh Sister, at least we've both been trying to live these past ten years, working towards the same goal."
"So what happened back then when rumors circulated in the capital that you were killed by river bandits, and that Old Tao also nearly lost his life there?"
Qin Weixi choked up again upon hearing this, but she wiped away her tears completely. Her voice was cold and calm as she said, "Back then, that group of people wanted to kill me. The guards my brother left me and my maid all died protecting me. In the end, only A-Xia and I were left. She was seriously injured, and I jumped into the river with her." She smiled slightly as she said this, "Later, my third brother came and risked his life to save me. She hid me in the forest. Later, I developed a high fever, and it was my third brother who snatched me back from the jaws of death. Finally, the people my elder brother sent found us by following the marks left by my third brother and sent me to Jiangnan."
"So Third Brother is an absolutely wonderful person." She looked up at the clear, cold moon hanging in the night sky and said with some emotion.
Chu Yening looked at the faint smile on her lips and nodded slightly. But a thought suddenly came to mind: a wild deer he had hunted in the borderlands one day. The deer seemed to possess some kind of intelligence; even knowing it had fallen into his trap, it still struggled and looked at him with its dark, bright, misty eyes. In the end, he released it back into the forest.
Qin Weixi suddenly grasped his hand and asked, "Fourth Brother, are you cold?" The icy chill made her eyelashes flutter, then she abruptly released it. They were no longer children; ten years had passed. She was eighteen, and he was in his early twenties.
He seemed to sense something and chuckled softly, "Luo Luo, there's more than just wind, frost, rain, and snow there; there are also many fun places, at least it's not as noisy as the capital." Then she listened as he slowly continued, "Do you still remember that square-faced man you saw when we went to Jingyun Temple that day?"
She answered irrelevantly: "Prince Jing."
Chu Yening smiled with satisfaction.
"Speaking of which, he is the grandson of Prince Jing. Twenty-three years ago, he was born from the misdeeds of Prince Jing's concubine, who was raising him on the estate. This man is named Sun Zheng, and he has close ties with the Liang family."
"The Liang family? The Liang traitors, father and son?" Qin Weixi asked.
She continued, "Prince Jing and Liang Shuwen and his son, they..."
Chu Yening nodded: "This matter is not yet accurate and needs further investigation."
"So, on that day at Xiaguang Peak, at the dinner table, Fourth Brother, you did it on purpose?" she asked, recalling how Tao Qingyun had been so furious that day.
Chu Yening's smile widened as he took her hand and placed it against his chest: "It's getting windy, aren't you cold?"
Qin Weixi trembled and was about to release him from his sudden action, but the hands in front of her held her even tighter. She glanced at his palms out of the corner of her eye and saw the knife scar she had seen by Haizi Lake that day, and her heart trembled again. She slowly slid her hands out of his palms: "Not cold."
Chu Yening said, "There is one more thing, about Grand Tutor Sun."
Qin Weixi's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Six months ago, he was dumped in the outhouse of my Jingning Marquis's residence by someone I don't know. He was seriously injured, his voice was poisoned and he lost one eye. Later, after I returned to the capital, I learned that he had seen the Qin family members. From his words, I could tell that he had seen the waist tokens held by the Qin family guards. I think that must have been due to something that happened after he left the Qin family that year, or perhaps he was frightened by something, but he was still trying his best to hide something."
He chuckled softly, recalling the scene at the ancient temple that day: "And I think that person must be the wooden boy who later appeared at Jingyun Temple."
Qin Weixi's eyes lit up again, because the last person his mother saw before striking the drum was the current emperor's former chief advisor, Sun Shaopu.
His mother once blinded one of his eyes with a sword.
The person's disappearance was also extremely suspicious.
She asked with great excitement, "Really?"
"Fourth Brother, how many things do you still not know?" She immediately thought of the day he and Tao Qingyun were assassinated outside Woxue Pavilion.
In the deep of night, a gentle breeze stirred, causing the branches and leaves to sway slightly. Suddenly, footsteps sounded outside the courtyard. Chu Yening immediately stood up and led her behind him, then reached for the short dagger at his waist.
The newcomer said in a low voice, "Have you two opened your hearts yet? I'm doomed."
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