Zhao Shuhan lowered her eyes, clutching her clothes in one hand...
The moonlit night was deep, and it wasn't until Qin Weixi approached that he noticed a tear in Zhao Shuhan's dress at the right elbow, and some abrasions on her palms. He thought of the Zhao family's situation over the years, and that it was already late at night in the city.
Qin Weixi exclaimed in surprise, "Xiao Shu? You escaped?"
Zhao Shu smiled with her lips pursed: "I heard yesterday that Ye Ning was assassinated in the manor. I imagine you must have been in a lot of trouble. My father wouldn't let me go out and ordered the servants to lock me up for a whole day. I had no choice but to jump out the window and run away."
Ping An suddenly frowned, her face showing a hint of anger, and said, "Father, drink wine, hit me."
Upon hearing this, Qin Weixi looked at Zhao Shuhan again, only to find that she had lowered her eyes and a bitter smile on her lips. Qin Weixi's face immediately turned angry, and she gritted her teeth and said, "How can you do whatever you want just because you are an elder?" As she spoke, she was about to instruct Luo Yuan to hitch up the carriage again and head to the Zhao family.
Zhao Shuhan grabbed her arm, shook her head, and said softly, "Sister, I can't go home tonight." Then, feigning a tentative tone, she asked, "Why don't you let me stay for the night?"
Qin Weixi turned to look at her and smiled helplessly. Then she looked down at Zhao Shuhan's hands, which were tightly clasped around hers, and said, "Shuhan, I told you, you can come anytime." She then opened Zhao Shuhan's palms to look at them and said, "Come in with me quickly, I'll have Pu Niang find some ointment to apply to your wound."
Inside Tingyu Pavilion, Pu Niang and Feng Hua were overjoyed to learn that the young lady from the Zhao family had come to the mansion, and they busied themselves preparing many pastries and hot tea to entertain her.
Qin Weixi dismissed everyone and asked Pu Niang to find some ointment to stop the bleeding. Luo Yuan then took Ping An to the outer courtyard room to rest.
Upon learning from Gu Han that someone from the Ministry of Justice had come and asked her brother to leave the mansion and that he wouldn't be returning anytime soon, she suddenly remembered that she was supposed to have dinner with her brothers at the Marquis's mansion that evening. She hurriedly asked, "Brother, have you had dinner yet?"
Gu Han smiled and nodded, saying kindly, "This old servant watched over it and used a whole bowl, Miss, please rest assured."
Qin Weixi nodded with a smile, then went back into the room and found a clean handkerchief to clean Zhao Shuhan's dust-covered wounds.
Upon seeing this, Pu Niang and Feng Hua exchanged glances.
The old lady who no longer concern herself with the affairs of the inner palace and resides on the summit of Xiaguang Peak—the current Empress Dowager—is this Miss Zhao's great-aunt. Pu Niang has witnessed the affection between these children and the Empress Dowager in the past, but she did not see this little girl from the Zhao family often at that time.
Now that they have recently returned to the capital, they have gradually started to contact each other again. Pu Niang saw this and felt as if she were seeing her young mistress playing with her mistress. She was very happy.
On the bed, Qin Weixi held Zhao Shuhan's hand and patiently and carefully applied ointment to her. Zhao Shuhan just smiled slightly at her.
Qin Weixi asked Feng Hua, who was quietly attending him, "Did you go to the outer courtyard today?"
Feng Hua smiled as she recalled what she had seen that day, and couldn't help but be moved by it: "This servant said that tomorrow morning, Sister Zijin's beautiful eyes will be swollen like little walnuts! Pu Niang was very worried and even went out of her way to find ice."
Qin Weixi nodded: "Then let's not bother Zijin. It's truly not easy for the two of them to be reunited."
Feng Hua nodded, raised her eyes to look at Zhao Shuhan in front of her, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
Qin Weixi continued applying ointment to those snow-white hands without looking up, but as if knowing what she was thinking, she said, "Xiaoshu is not an outsider." Then she turned to Pu Niang and said, "It's getting late. You've had a long day, Pu Niang, you should go and rest too."
Inside the room, Qin Weixi, her hair half-down and dressed in plain clothes, had just finished applying medicine to Zhao Shuhan. She then busied herself fetching tea from the table, adding a few dried peaches from a small porcelain jar to the tea. In her busyness, she left only Zhao Shuhan with her slender back view.
"The tea that my brother sent a while ago, I was thinking that if you bring Ping An here, we can drink it together."
Feng Hua and Pu Niang quietly slipped out and gently closed the door. At that moment, Qin Weixi turned around with two cups of hot tea in his hand.
“Sister.” A sliver of bright moonlight shone through the window, and Zhao Shuhan stared blankly at Qin Weixi, whose face was now completely bare of makeup.
“That day…that day in the palace I felt it was you, no, that was you.”
Zhao Shuhan stood up, took a few steps forward and took the hot tea from her hand, her voice hoarse: "But in the past, only the frail and sickly Xiaoxing was the thinnest. When she was young, she was much weaker than the rest of us. So when I first met you at the Spring Banquet in the palace, and saw your appearance, I never doubted that you were Luo Luo."
Upon hearing her childhood nickname, Qin Weixi felt a slight unease, but then, with a faint smile, she led Zhao Shuhan to sit down on the rosewood chair by the window: "So you brought mutton dumplings today?"
"You know I loved eating this when I was little. But Xiaoshu, if you find out too quickly, wouldn't that cause a lot of trouble?"
Zhao Shuhan was still looking at her intently: "Luo Luo, why are you so thin now?"
"How can a person stay the same forever?" Qin Weixi pointed to the tea on the table: "Try it and see if it's good. I'll take some more back with you when you leave."
But Zhao Shuhan stared at her intently, her gaze shifting between surprise, confusion, and tenderness.
Qin Weixi suddenly recalled the day she first returned to the capital, when she met Jiang Yuanfu again at Liang Lang's coming-of-age ceremony after many years. She didn't know when, but she and Afu had gradually drifted apart, and could never return to the pure days of their youth.
By the flickering candlelight, the high-hanging moon, and the dappled shadows cast by the trees on the courtyard wall, she recounted the events of the past ten years to Zhao Shuhan, bit by bit.
The two gradually moved from the rose chair by the window to the gauze-draped wardrobe to have a heart-to-heart talk. Just like that year, she and Xiaoxing lay head to head in the gauze-draped wardrobe, listening to the cicadas chirping in the courtyard.
But all that the capital city left her with was that long, snowy night that lingered in her mind.
Upon hearing the news of Xiaoxing's untimely death, Zhao Shuhan cried as if she had returned to the year her grandfather, who had raised her since childhood, passed away.
"Lolo, I'll burn some paper money for Xiaoxing tomorrow. And some lanterns too, she loved lanterns when she was little. Do you remember after Grandpa passed away, my parents wouldn't let me leave the mansion, but you brought my great-aunt's decree and that's how I was allowed to come out?"
“That day, Xiaoxing was sick, so we bought lanterns to visit her. She was lying on the couch, and the window in the room was open. We stood under the eaves, turning the lanterns in our hands. Xiaoxing smiled sweetly at us, her eyes filled with envy and anticipation.” Zhao Shuhan hugged the medicine pillow that Pu Niang had sewn for Qin Weixi, buried her head in it, and said softly.
For a very long time, no one had mentioned Xiaoxing to her. In Jiangnan, she dared not and could not, for she feared it would sadden her loved ones. Back in the capital, seeing her brother, who had been alone there for many years, she couldn't utter a single word.
Because so many people are silently missing Xiaoxing in their hearts.
Qin Weixi nodded with a smile: "Xiao Xing will definitely live to be a hundred years old in the next life. Maybe she has already been reincarnated as a human being and has become a little girl who is cherished and raised in the palm of an ordinary family. She has beautiful clothes to wear, family to love her, and hot and delicious meals to eat. Her family is rich every year."
Seeing that there were still a few pieces of ice in the fruit platter on the table, she took them out and used them to reduce the swelling in Zhao Shuhan, whose eyes were swollen like two small walnuts from crying.
Zhao Shuhan also smiled through her tears: "It's not that serious. By the way, don't you have any clue about those people who harmed you back then?"
"Who could it be?" she pondered.
Qin Weixi stared blankly at the top of the tent, his eyes dim.
Zhao Shuhan walked around the partition and left the gauze-covered cabinet, then returned in an instant to hand the wooden box she had brought to Qin Weixi: "This is for you."
Qin Weixi stood up, took the bag with one hand, and immediately opened it.
She believes that the best way to express gratitude is to open the gift in person.
It was a light green dress with a subtle floral pattern.
Qin Weixi blinked.
Zhao Shuhan smiled, her eyes crinkling: "I made it myself."
"You did this?" Qin Weixi asked in surprise.
Suddenly, I recalled a time when I was a child, on my daughter's birthday, when Grandmother Zhao asked her what she wished for. Other girls either wanted beautiful dresses, jewelry, or, seeing their older sisters who had already reached marriageable age and were engaged, hoped that one day they too would marry a suitable husband.
But Zhao Shuhan lowered her eyes, clutching the hem of her clothes with one hand, and said softly, "I want to go into business."
When they were very young, the adults told them that if they spoke their wishes aloud, the ghosts and monsters outside of the gods in the heavenly palace would know, and then the wishes would no longer be wishes.
But Zhao Shuhan knew back then that it was a wish that could never be fulfilled.
The late emperor emphasized that officials should not engage in business or compete with the people for profit.
Besides, she has the Zhao family name and is a child of the Zhao family, and her parents do not allow her to show her face in public.
This world has limited and imprisoned women.
Qin Weixi's eyes were filled with joy, and she couldn't put the dress down: "This dress is really beautiful. I've never seen this style in a ready-made clothing store before. Xiaoshu, why don't you try opening your own ready-made clothing store? Nothing is set in stone."
Zhao Shuhan was momentarily surprised.
Earlier, she visited her great-aunt at Xiaguangding. Her great-aunt saw what she wanted and immediately said, "Rules are rigid, but people are flexible."
"That rule is for those who do evil, who openly and secretly oppress the poor and struggling common people. It's set up for those who do evil. How could your great-uncle not allow our little Shu to be so kind?"
Zhao Shuhan said, "But my great-uncle is the ruler of our Great Xia."
My great-aunt said, "But before he became a monarch, he was just one of the masses, a commoner of humble origins!"
That day, she seemed to see her great-aunt, who had been taciturn and senile for many years, her face clear and lucid. It was as if she had returned to the time when she was the Empress, radiating majesty and power in the Kunning Palace.
Was my great-aunt really insane?
Zhao Shuhan glanced up and happened to see a fish lantern hanging under the eaves outside the window, its shimmering light filling her with wonder.
Qin Weixi followed her gaze, then turned back and took out a few more dried peaches from the small porcelain bottle and put them into the tea.
"It was a gift from my fourth brother."
Looking at the fish lantern, Zhao Shuhan suddenly recalled the scene in the Imperial Garden that day.
Thinking of this, she turned her gaze back to Qin Weixi, and saw that her face was flushed and she was smiling. She smiled and said, "When my grandfather was alive, he told me, 'Little Shu, you were protected by your grandfather when you were young, but when you grow up, you should be protected by your husband. Or you should protect yourself and grow up strong without relying on anyone.'"
“If the husband who will accompany you through life can protect you, love you, and stay by your side, then this woman’s life in the next life, whether rich or poor, will be fulfilled. Grandfather will surely be gratified.”
Qin Weixi gripped the cup tightly, as if she had returned to the year she met her grandfather in her dream. Her heart was heavy as she sought out her father and mother, their whispered conversations, her father's repeated sighs—every word revealing his favoritism, his satisfaction at having his expectations fulfilled.
It turns out that only when they are all well can the elders be well too, which is very gratifying.
“Sister, thankfully, whether in your childhood or now, many, many people have been protecting you, and Ye Ning has been protecting you just as he did when you were young.”
Qin Weixi's lowered eyelashes trembled slightly. She had last heard similar words from her sister-in-law, Zhu Ruo.
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Author's Note: Thank you all for your support and for reading! It gives me so much motivation every day. [Keep it up!] Because of my passion, I will strive to write every story well. I will work diligently to write and not let down anyone who stops to read my work. [Heart]
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