Chapter 91: Feigning illness to gain her sympathy.
"Xie Qingyu is injured?" Yue Yining was taken aback.
Qiu Yuebai nodded: "Yes! It is said that they encountered a group of bandits on the way back. Although the guards subdued them, Xie Qingyu was still stabbed."
As they spoke, the three were resting in Wei Yihua's side hall. They had just finished a meeting and were chatting casually with some tea and snacks when Qiu Yuebai suddenly mentioned Xie Qingyu. She was the most well-informed; no news in Yanjing could escape her ears.
Xie Qingyu recently went to Luoshui, supposedly to do business for the Seventh Prince. Yue Yining hadn't seen him for some time, and unexpectedly, the reason she heard people around her mention Xie Qingyu again was because he had suffered some misfortune.
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Even if ordinary bandits outnumbered and outgunned, how could they possibly defeat the Xie family’s elite troops? And how could it be such a coincidence that they attacked Xie Qingyu and actually injured him? Everyone says it was an accident, but I think it’s more like a premeditated assassination, aimed at that young master of the Xie family.”
Regarding Qiu Yuebai's conspiracy theory, Shen Liude had a different perspective: "Recently, the Seventh Prince has been gaining momentum, so it's not surprising that someone has their eye on Xie Qingyu. Perhaps it was the intention of that arrogant Fourth Prince, and someone under him wanted to curry favor with him, which led to this whole affair."
"Now that Xie Zhi, a pillar of the Xie family, has fallen, everyone thought the Emperor would promote Xie Qingyu, a son who had died, as a gesture of appeasement. Who would have thought that the Emperor would actually take a liking to Rong Xuan, who was previously unknown, and would groom him as a close advisor? The old ministers who had previously favored Xie Qingyu have recently fallen silent. After court, they no longer bother to exchange pleasantries with the eldest son of the Xie family, but instead eagerly try to curry favor with Rong Xuan."
Qiu Yuebai said, "The world's fortunes always change, which is normal. But the way the people in the court change their allegiance to the wind is still uncomfortable to me. It's disgusting."
The two exchanged only a few words before changing the subject and no longer mentioned Xie Qingyu.
Yue Yining held the book, but after a long time, she was still on the same page and hadn't turned it.
She was somewhat lost in thought, unable to stop worrying about him ever since she heard the news of his injury.
The last time I saw him, he was perfectly fine. How could he suddenly encounter something like this?
After much hesitation, Yue Yining decided to pay a visit.
He sounded very badly injured, and she couldn't rest easy without going to see him.
She had been busy with political affairs in recent months and hadn't spoken to Xie Qingyu for a long time. As the struggle for the throne among the three princes in the court intensified, she also consciously avoided private meetings with Xie Qingyu.
The last time Xie Qingyu sent a visiting card was in early June, which she remembered vividly. The day before, the Princess had just sent her a favored servant, keeping her up all night. The next day, she explained the whole story to the Princess and finally cleared up the misunderstanding.
She was discussing matters with the princess when Fu Yao happened to arrive with Xie Qingyu's visiting card.
Yue Yining was surprised at the time. Judging from the handwriting on the invitation, it was hastily drafted, which was not in line with Xie Qingyu's usual style. She wanted to accept, but Wei Yihua was watching from the side, her face clearly showing her displeasure, and she felt a little embarrassed. After all, she had just refused Wei Yihua's kindness, yet she was about to accept someone else's invitation in front of her.
After careful consideration, Yue Yining still wrote a reply and had Fu Yao send it back to her, as a polite way of declining. She had originally planned to reject Wei Yihua in front of him first, and then find an opportunity to invite Xie Qingyu out later, which would be a way of making amends.
But who would have thought that a whole host of official business would come knocking on her door, and she would forget about this matter in her busy schedule. By the time she remembered it, Xie Qingyu had already set off from the capital for Luoshui.
After seeing Qiu Yuebai and Shen Liude off, Yue Yining returned to her bedroom and took out a warrant from under her desk.
In early summer, the locust trees bloom, their thousand-foot-long branches sweeping against the red walls. Outside, a rustling sound comes from the wheels of a cart, crushing the clumps of willow catkins swept by the wind.
The first cicada songs pierced the green paulownia trees, and the carriage had already turned the corner of the long street, where the double eaves of the Prime Minister's mansion could be seen piercing through the flowing clouds in the distance.
Yin Yi had received advance notice from the princess's residence and was already waiting in front of the gate early in the morning.
Yue Yining got off the carriage and, upon seeing him, immediately asked, "I heard that your eldest son encountered bandits on his way back to the capital and was injured. How is he now?"
Yin Yi respectfully welcomed her into the door. "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the physician has just been here, and the eldest son's injuries are not serious. He is resting in his room now, and I will take you there now."
When Yue Yining saw Xie Qingyu again after many days, she noticed that he seemed to have lost some weight.
He lay on the bed, having removed his outer robe, revealing a snow-white inner garment. His slender frame and jade-like face remained unchanged, though there was a hint of weariness in his clothes, like a withered lotus with a broken neck.
Upon seeing her, he struggled to get up and try to bow, but Yue Yining quickly stepped forward and pressed him down, saying, "You're still injured, don't move around."
Xie Qingyu's eyes reflected her image, and he stared at her without blinking. He said softly, "It's just a cut on the abdomen, a minor superficial wound, nothing serious."
Yue Yining frowned: "This isn't serious? Then what would be serious? Would it be serious if someone stabbed you through with a knife?"
When she scolded him, he smiled with his eyes crinkling. Yue Yining couldn't understand what he was thinking at all, and she couldn't lash out at his smiling face, so she had to suppress the anger that was rising in her heart.
Her gaze fell on his collar, which must have just been bandaged. The collar was slightly open, revealing a pair of prominent collarbones, like plum branches buried in the snow.
"Won't you be cold?" Yue Yining remembered that when she first came in, the windows outside seemed to be slightly ajar, so she got up to close them properly, but then she heard the sound of a porcelain bowl falling to the ground behind her.
She turned around and saw Xie Qingyu leaning over the bed, seemingly trying to pull her back, but accidentally knocking over the tea on the table. The movement was too forceful, aggravating his wound; his brow furrowed slightly, and he wore an expression of enduring pain.
Yue Yining didn't care about the window anymore and rushed over to help him up. She couldn't help but say to him, "Be careful! Just tell me what you need. Just stay here and don't hurt yourself again."
“…I thought Miss was about to leave after seeing that I was alright,” he said in a low voice.
The fingers that were tucking him in paused. Yue Yining looked up and saw his slightly lowered eyelashes, his pupils clear and bright, sparkling.
Yue Yining stopped what she was doing and said softly, "How could that be? I'm already here, I can't just take one look at you and leave."
Xie Qingyu continued, "I wanted to see you before, but you replied and said another day. I wondered if I was bothering you."
“I understand that saying ‘another day’ is always a polite excuse to refuse. But I still held onto a sliver of hope that I hadn’t annoyed you, that maybe you were just really busy and would come to see me again when you had some free time.” Xie Qingyu’s voice carried a hint of undisguised disappointment. “But I didn’t see you when I went to Luoshui.”
Yue Yining quickly replied, "At that time... it was because Her Highness the Princess was with me, and I couldn't accept the invitation in front of her. I really intended to ask you out another day, it wasn't an excuse."
Xie Qingyu looked at her: "Then why did you forget later?"
"Because, because I'm too busy..."
Yue Yining felt somewhat embarrassed. She knew that her explanation was rather weak.
But Xie Qingyu seemed to believe her, and her brows relaxed a little. "That's good. It's good that you're not angry with me."
“Because these days, when I try to talk to you after court, I always seem to miss the opportunity. It was never like this before. So, I can’t help but wonder,” Xie Qingyu looked down at her and said softly, “Did I do something wrong that annoyed you?”
Yue Yining was taken aback. She hadn't expected him to be so perceptive, able to notice something she herself hadn't even figured out.
She was indeed intentionally avoiding him. She didn't often encounter people who admired her, so she didn't know any clever ways to handle things and only knew how to give him the cold shoulder and run away.
Although she wasn't sure if Xie Qingyu truly loved her, she had no reason to meet him alone anyway, so distancing herself and creating distance was a good thing.
After a moment of silence, she opened her mouth and said, "...I'm not annoyed with you."
"Xie Qingyu, you did nothing wrong."
She hasn't figured out what to do with him yet.
Yue Yining lowered her eyelids and inadvertently saw Xie Qingyu's palm, which was wrapped in gauze. It had been splashed with tea when she knocked over the porcelain bowl, and now the original white gauze was almost soaked into a bluish-yellow color.
She quickly turned around and called the maid outside the door to bring in new ointment and gauze. When she turned back, her eyes held a hint of reproach, "Can't you speak properly? If you're not feeling well, you should say so!"
"You're soaking wet. If the wound gets wet, it'll leave a scar. You really don't care about yourself at all..."
Xie Qingyu felt extremely happy when he saw her carefully holding his hand and scolding him.
This heart seems to be ailing. It's only willing to open up to her, only beats and comes alive for her alone. But when it can't see her, its heart is constantly tormented and in pain. A hazy warmth and loneliness, a mature hope and despair.
It seems that as long as she looks at him, flowers will bloom again in the snow, and winter will always lead to spring; if she no longer looks at him, all that remains in her heart is the bitter cold that covers the mountains and fields.
Yue Yining hadn't heard that he had an injury on his hand before she came. She touched the relatively clean edge of the gauze and asked, "When did you get injured like this?"
Xie Qingyu pursed her lips: "...The carriage window was pierced by a stray arrow from the bandits, and I accidentally grazed my hand."
Yue Yining's heart clenched just listening to this: "So dangerous? Were all those assassins captured afterward?"
"Some were killed, some escaped, and some were not caught."
Yue Yining: "Then what should we do? This doesn't seem like an ordinary bandit, but rather a premeditated assassination. If we don't catch the person behind it, what if you get injured again because of this?"
“It’s alright,” he said gently. “I will be more careful when I travel in the future, and I will also send more people to accompany me. Something like this will not happen again.”
As the two were talking, someone came to the door, but it wasn't the maid who came to deliver the medicine; it was Yin Yi.
Hearing footsteps, Yue Yining turned around. Yin Yi bowed his head and approached the door, saying through the screen, "Lord Yue, a servant from the Princess's residence has come to deliver a message, saying that a man named Wang Zhou has come to the residence looking for you, asking when you will return."
Xie Qingyu's hand, which was placed in the quilt, suddenly clenched.
Yue Yining was taken aback. Wang Zhou?
He wouldn't come looking for her for no reason; it's most likely that the matter she asked him to investigate has yielded some results. But... it seems she can't get back immediately right now.
Seeing Yue Yining's troubled expression, Xie Qingyu almost scratched himself until his other hand bled. He smiled nonchalantly and said gently, "It seems there's something urgent. Miss, why don't you go back first? My injuries have been treated and are mostly healed, but they still hurt a little, which is why I wanted someone to stay with me."
"But if you have important business to attend to, Miss, there's no need to waste your time on me. I'll get used to being alone, and it won't matter."
Yue Yining felt that he looked very forlorn as he said this, as if he was very reluctant to part with her, but he was forcing a smile and pretending to be magnanimous.
She hesitated for a moment, then turned around and said, "Please tell Wang Zhou that he needs to come see me tomorrow. I can't go back right now."
Looking at Xie Qingyu again, his eyes were brighter than before, and he gently reassured her, "Are you really alright? It seems to be an urgent matter. Miss, you don't need to worry about me..."
Yue Yining didn't want to listen anymore. She slid her hand down from his palm and pinched his wrist threateningly. Sure enough, he immediately quieted down.
Yin Yi acknowledged and stepped back, while a maid in a pink dress entered the room carrying a wooden tray. Yue Yining took the gauze and ointment from the maid and began to remove the soiled white cloth from his clothes: "Don't say that, didn't I already say I was going to stay?"
Xie Qingyu's heart started pounding again. It felt like a warm spring breeze was flowing over her, making her feel all over.
Yue Yining removed the gauze and paused, stunned when she saw the shape of the wound. But her hesitation was only for a moment. She quickly picked up the ointment, applied it evenly to his wound little by little, and then carefully wrapped it with gauze again.
While she did these things, Xie Qingyu would sit against the headboard and quietly watch her with her eyes lowered.
"I heard that Miss recently took in a new pet servant," Xie Qingyu said. He noticed that Yue Yining, who was wrapping bandages, paused upon hearing this, and continued, "Was it a gift from His Highness to Miss?"
Yue Yining was uncharacteristically a little embarrassed: "This news spread really fast, haha..."
Xie Qingyu looked at her, "So, Miss, have you really accepted him?"
"Of course not. I live in the princess's residence. Where would I find a place to keep a pet slave?" Yue Yining explained. "Your Highness just wants someone to keep me company for one night."
But that ungrateful thing pestered you for a whole night.
Just thinking about what Yin Yi said to him that day made Xie Qingyu burn with jealousy, and she could hardly breathe.
The darkness and malice in his eyes surged and boiled, almost overflowing. He struggled to control his trembling hands, pressing them deeply into the soft bedding.
No, he wasn't jealous; he simply couldn't stand those muddy people defiling his moon.
After that day, Xie Qingyu had Yin Yi thoroughly investigate the servant that Wei Yihua had given to Yue Yining.
"Reporting to the eldest young master, everything has been investigated. The male slave's name is Wang Zhou, and he is a member of the Wang family. His family has fallen on hard times, and it was through Sun Yang's introduction that he was able to get in touch with the eldest princess," Yin Yi said.
Xie Qingyu didn't care about any of this. He closed his eyes slightly, his chest heaving as if he wanted to expel all the pent-up frustration and coldness in his chest.
He stared at the rafters, his voice hoarse: "So, why didn't you kill them?"
"The Yue people arranged for guards to stay by his side."
Seeing that Xie Qingyu remained motionless, Yin Yi continued, "It seems that the Yue people value him highly. If we act rashly, we might easily expose our actions."
The slight fluctuation that had remained had completely disappeared.
Xie Qingyu covered his face and leaned back in his chair. Suddenly, a sound that sounded like both sobbing and fear came from his throat. Even Yin Yi, who already knew about his crazy side, was startled.
“Very good…very good.” Xie Qingyu repeated, her voice returning to its initial calmness, but her tone was even colder, like a curse from a demon, sending chills down one’s spine. “I will kill him one day.”
Under immense pressure, Yin Yi stiffened his neck and said, "Young Master, we are setting off for Luoshui tomorrow. The carriages and horses for the outward journey have all been arranged, and only the return journey is pending. Would you like to decide whether to travel by water or land..."
Xie Qingyu interrupted him softly: "Let's take the land route."
Yin Yi had just breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he had finally returned to normal, when he heard Xie Qingyu say, "Find some people to help me put on a show."
When Yin Yi learned what Xie Qingyu was planning, he truly thought Xie Qingyu had gone mad. He even began to seriously consider whether to switch jobs, since his boss was insane and his livelihood was truly insecure.
But when I saw the salaries offered by other companies in the market...
Oh well, fortune favors the bold.
As the sun was setting, Yue Yining finally left the Xie residence. Xie Qingyu was unable to get up, so Yin Yi had to escort her to the gate.
Yin Yi helped the person onto the carriage, thinking that this tumultuous day was finally over and he was about to breathe a sigh of relief when Yue Yining suddenly lifted the curtain from the inside, and he saw that clean and gentle face again.
Yue Yining said, "Yinyi, come here for a moment."
Yin Yi paused for a moment, then slowly approached: "Does Your Majesty have any further orders?"
Yue Yining looked at him: "Was your young master's hand also injured on the way back to the capital?"
hand?
The day Xie Qingyu erupted flashed through my mind: his blood-soaked palms, the shards of blue and white porcelain scattered on the ground, and the piercing screams of the maids outside.
Yin Yi paused for a moment, then immediately replied, "Yes."
Yue Yining nodded and said, "I hadn't heard that his hand was also injured, which is why I wanted to ask you about it."
"Also, during my visit today, it seems that the turquoise lotus-patterned vase with tubular handles in Lord Xie's room is also gone. I used to really like that vase and even praised it, so I vaguely remember it," Yue Yining said. "However, upon closer inspection, it seems that many things in the room have been replaced; almost everything is new."
Because he smashed everything he could in the house that day.
Yin Yi broke out in a cold sweat, but his face remained expressionless: "The eldest young master said that the furnishings in the room were a bit old and dull, so he had someone change the patterns and styles of all the decorations in the room a while ago, saying that it would be more comfortable to look at on weekdays."
Yue Yining seemed not to doubt it, and nodded upon hearing this: "I see."
"Okay, then I'll be going now."
Yin Yi bowed deeply and said, "Respectfully seeing off Lord Yue."
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Author's note: Bandit: Please request a recitation of "The Injustice to Dou E". Thank you.
Ah, Ningning is so smart, of course she noticed something was wrong! [rainbow fart] Right now, in her heart, Xie Qingyu is still a gentle and kind guy, but after that... [eared bunny head]
Only by showing our true selves can we truly love each other without reservation. [Let me see]
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