Chapter 68 Chapter 68 Five-day period.
Zhang Jingxuan came out of the imperial study, returned to the Zhang Mansion, and went to the main courtyard to meet his father.
At that time, he was snuggling with Mrs. Zhang, talking in low voices about something.
Seeing Zhang Jingxuan, they stopped talking.
Mrs. Zhang was only thirty-eight years old, elegant and well-maintained. She raised her eyebrows and said with a smile, "What a rare guest."
He reached out and picked up a hawthorn from the table and handed it to him, saying nonsense: "The hawthorn is a tribute from foreign countries. It's not sour, but very sweet. Try it."
Zhang Jingxuan shook his head and said, "I'm here to look for my father."
Zhang Chengli made a gesture to Madam Zhang, and went to the study with Zhang Jingxuan and closed the door.
He turned to look at his son, who had already reached adulthood. He was gentle, steady, handsome, and tall. He was no longer the free and unrestrained boy he once was.
The two people in the room looked at each other, no one spoke, and the silence was too long.
After a while, Zhang Chengli said, "I'm sure you've heard the rumors in the capital recently."
He paused, sighed softly, and perhaps because of the repeated torment and entanglement in his heart, he finally asked this question, his tone inevitably carrying a certain seriousness and heaviness:
"What do you think?"
Zhang Jingxuan lowered his eyes and said slowly, "There will always be a way out."
Zhang Chengli said, "Zhang Qu, you weren't always like this. This burden is indeed heavy, and you might not even be able to return. Your grandfather and I don't want you to go with the army. But you've always been opinionated and have never hesitated like this. What's holding you back from making a decision? Are you afraid of dying on the frontier?"
Zhang Jingxuan was silent for a moment, then said calmly:
"Everyone is afraid of death, and I am just an ordinary person, no exception. If something happens, your parents will be left without a child. How will your son provide for you in your old age? Who will the Zhang family find to take over?"
Zhang Chengli looked at him with calm eyes and said, "Zhang Qu, you are lying."
Zhang Jingxuan pursed his lips slightly and fell silent.
The study was silent for a while, and he said, "Father, you worry too much."
Zhang Chengli sighed, "I hope I'm overthinking it. If you really don't want to, your mother, your grandfather, and I will do our best to find a solution. But you must know that sometimes fate cannot be changed, and justice cannot be sought. Things that are destined to happen are useless even if you are beaten to a pulp. I don't care what you want to do, but please don't let your selfish desires ruin the Zhang family's century-old reputation. I hope you haven't forgotten the Zhang family's ancestral teachings."
After a pause, he finally uttered a sincere word:
"Even though your mother, your grandfather, and I understand you and want to support you in doing what you want, there are still so many members of the Zhang family's side branches who rely on the Zhang family's reputation for survival. They cannot allow you to gamble with the Zhang family's reputation. We all have our own difficulties in living in this world."
This time, Zhang Jingxuan was unable to utter the words "My son knows" from his throat. He stood there for a long time without saying anything.
Zhang Chengli finally said, "Whatever decision you make, when you have truly thought it through and will not regret it, come find me again."
…
Zhang Jingxuan left the main courtyard and returned to the study in Zhanyun Courtyard. He spread out the maps and classics on the desk, and then opened the war reports borrowed from the Ministry of War. He found the records related to Ashlie and read through them at a glance.
It was not much different from what he knew. Asile was the first general under the Western Qiang Khan and also the most difficult one to deal with. He was not a brutal and reckless man, but a man of both strategy and martial arts. Therefore, only famous veterans of the Zhou Dynasty dared to face him, and the winning rate was 50-50.
The most important thing is that Ashlie is extremely vengeful. Anyone who has offended him will eventually die at his hands. The key to the victory of the Great Zhou Dynasty was to take advantage of this character trait of his, sacrifice his own deputy generals or military advisors, set traps, and lure the enemy into the trap.
That was why Ashlie was injured a few years ago and did not continue fighting on the border.
Now he is leading the troops to invade again and mentioning his name, so his injuries must have healed.
Zhang Jingxuan pressed hard on the table with his fingertips to suppress the churning emotions in his heart, and calmly opened the map and battle report of Sanhe Pass.
Sanhe Pass is located further inland and south along the border. It is not as dangerous as Qintang Pass, but it was still harassed by foreign enemies during the war years.
However, for generals with less experience, it is a good place to accumulate experience and even gild their resumes. Those stationed here are all veterans who are enjoying their retirement.
Therefore, in previous years, the legitimate sons of noble families were sent to Sanhe Pass, which was very suitable for training and a good place to make meritorious deeds.
Similarly, this is also a shortcut from a minor general to a major general.
but……
Zhang Jingxuan closed his eyes.
How could the prince give the Xue family military power? No matter who he sent to reinforce Sanhe Pass, he would never let anyone with the surname Xue go.
The dinner placed outside the door had already gone cold, and he was unaware of the dusk that had fallen for a long time. After flipping through all the books and battle reports, he clenched the papers tightly, and suddenly flicked his sleeves in a state of somewhat uncontrollable confusion, dropping them all to the ground.
Zhang Jingxuan rested his arm on the desk and covered his heart with his other palm, unable to hide the ugliness on his face any longer.
He never thought that he would one day fall into such a situation.
He... couldn't find any way to have the best of both worlds.
-
Xue Yuanyin stayed in the dark prison for several days and finally made all the wings of the bamboo dragonfly and began to make the dragonfly's belly.
The bamboo strips were too thin to carve out the belly, so she picked up the bamboo strips and looked at them for a moment. She decided to imitate the mortise and tenon structure, carving out teeth in the broken bamboo strips and piecing them together to form a dragonfly belly.
Of course, time was too tight, and a perfect mortise and tenon structure could not be made with such simple tools. She followed the format and made a simple assembly, as long as it would not collapse.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard in the corridor outside the cell. The sound was a bit heavy, causing the candlelight in front of her iron door to flicker.
Xue Yuanyin collected the dragonfly and the scraps of bamboo, pressed them under the cattails, and looked up.
A completely stranger stopped at the door of the cell. He was about fifty or sixty years old and looked like a senior official of the imperial court. He wore an official hat and a scarlet robe. Xue Yuanyin did not recognize him, but he recognized the official robe. It was the robe of a high-ranking official, not some small official of the fourth or fifth rank.
Is this a big shot coming? I'm afraid there must be a new way to pry her open.
The man in the official robe stood outside the gate with his hands behind his back, glancing at her and saying:
"The Crown Prince has issued an oral order. The daughter of the Xue family has violated multiple laws, and the evidence is irrefutable. Your Highness will give you five more days to reveal the names of Prince Yu's spies and their men. If you refuse to cooperate, you will be caned and tortured in the square in front of the Meridian Gate after five days. If you still refuse to cooperate, you will be executed."
His eyes fell on the figure of the woman inside the door, and he thought to himself, His Highness is a kind person after all. Caning is the easiest punishment to bear. He didn't give her a severe punishment to interrogate her, and it seemed that he didn't intend to make things difficult for her.
Since she refused to speak, she was beaten and killed, which was considered too easy for her.
If it were the old emperor's temper, no matter whether you are a man or a woman, how could he let you go so easily?
He finished speaking in a condescending tone. When Xue Yuanyin heard the last "to be beheaded", his face turned pale and his body shook uncontrollably.
It took her a while to adjust her mood. She raised her calm face, slowly knelt on the ground, kowtowed and thanked him, and said:
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. Thank you for your forgiveness."
Xue Yuanyin knew in her heart that caning and torture were much easier to endure than those cruel punishments. The current prince was a kind person and did not make things too difficult for her. Granting her death was already a blessing.
However, she couldn't reveal the list of secret agents for both moral and logical reasons. She could almost foresee her own fate in advance.
Even though she had prepared herself mentally for several days, she still felt panic and fear when the moment finally came.
The man in official robes saw that the woman in the cell had no intention of telling the truth, so he left without staying for long.
Xue Yuanyin sat on the cold ground for a long time, finally got up and returned to the cattail bed, took out the bamboo strips, and continued to carve the bamboo dragonfly at a snail's pace.
These days, apart from Ah Zhen who could chat with her, this was the only pleasure she had to pass the time.
…
In a blink of an eye, four days passed.
Tomorrow was the deadline the Crown Prince had given her. After tomorrow, Xue Yuanyin would be dragged to the Meridian Gate the following evening for caning.
Xue Yuanyin seemed unaware of the urgency of time and concentrated on making the bamboo dragonfly for four days. He finally finished it before the end of the fifth day.
She looked up at the jailers, who were guarding the door diligently. Then she looked at Ah Zhen, who was dozing off outside and not paying attention to what was happening inside.
She walked over, knocked on the iron gate outside, and said, "Ah Zhen, I've been so dirty these past few days that I stink. I want to take a bath. Can you get me some water and hand me a small screen?"
She had asked for a bath a few days ago, but she didn't expect Ah Zhen to actually satisfy her and even get her a small screen.
Today she mentioned taking a bath again. Ah Zhen woke up from her nap, agreed, and turned to leave the prison.
After a while, Ah Zhen came back from outside, opened the iron gate and let her in, and handed her a small screen that could provide some cover.
Xue Yuanyin reached out and felt the water temperature. She didn't know where Ah Zhen got the hot water, but it was still a little hot in such a cold winter weather.
She even had a vague suspicion that there was a fully equipped palace or residence nearby, otherwise how could one have everything they wanted.
There is a small screen in front of the bathtub. The conditions here are not so good, so it’s nice to have a little shelter.
Xue Yuanyin took off her clothes. The scabs on her wounds were about to fall off, so there was no problem taking a bath. However, the prison was as cold as an ice cellar. After taking off her clothes, she shivered with cold. She hurried into the bathtub. The chain made a sound when it was pulled, and after she sank into the water, the sound was absorbed into the water, creating shallow ripples.
The hot air curled up, making the air a little hazy.
Xue Yuanyin tilted her head and glanced at the bars from the side of the screen. The jailer had moved slightly to one side to avoid her because she was bathing. Ah Zhen began to feel sleepy again, her head nodding.
She retracted her gaze, took out the bamboo dragonfly, and rolled up the cuff she had torn off last night. On it was a letter written in blood on her bitten fingertip. She stuffed it into the dragonfly's belly, urged her internal energy, and watched it slowly fly towards the narrow window.
This is the only thing she has made these days that can communicate with the outside world. I hope it will be useful.
Perhaps Ah Zhen, the jailer, and even Zhang Jingxuan had never imagined that these little mandarin ducks and grasshoppers she had made actually contained such thoughts.
Xue Yuanyin maintained the stability of his Dantian's internal breath and stared at the bamboo dragonfly nervously. It slowly flew to the narrow window, but when it was about to fly past, it seemed to hit something and was stopped.
She was startled and quickly controlled her internal breath to keep the dragonfly stable in the air. She controlled it again to fly carefully towards the narrow window. This time she clearly saw that the narrow window was covered with extremely thin and transparent gauze, which stopped the dragonfly.
Xue Yuanyin felt discouraged. After trying for a while, it was still useless. Finally, she had to suppress her discouragement and took the dragonfly back.
It turned out that Zhang Jingxuan had been on guard against her from the beginning to the end. No wonder he didn't care that she was a dragonfly.
I'm afraid he had actually guessed it a long time ago, but pretended not to know, hoping that she would give up after trying it one day.
Xue Yuanyin adjusted her mood, walked out of the tub, wiped the water, put on her clothes, walked out from behind the small screen, woke up Ah Zhen, and said with a smile:
"I'm done bathing, thank you."
Ah Zhen quickly said it was okay, carried the bathtub out, moved the small screen away, took away her dirty clothes and towels, closed the iron door and left.
Xue Yuanyin sat back on the rush bed.
She did not encounter any trouble during these five days, but it was more like the calm before the storm.
However, what is more worrying is that Zhang Jingxuan has not visited her for several days.
She felt uneasy for no reason.
Did something uncontrollable happen in the capital?
To be honest, Zhang Jingxuan didn't come very often, usually only once every few days. Xue Yuanyin didn't care about it before, because at that time the prince was confronting Prince Yu and Xue Chang outside and didn't pay all his attention to her.
And now she was under the punishment of caning, and if she refused to confess, she would be beheaded, but he had not been seen for several days.
She can accept the ending, but can Zhang Jingxuan also be so calm?
Didn't he come because he didn't know?
This is unlikely. Zhang Jingxuan has probably already entered the inner court, and his status and identity can only be high, not low.
If he knew, why didn't he come over?
Did he not want to say goodbye to her? Or did he not want to see her tortured and killed, so he simply ended things this way?
Xue Yuanyin thought about this problem and felt pain in her forehead muscles. She had not rested well for a few days, which made her have a splitting headache. Even her heartbeat was accompanied by a dull pain.
She pressed her forehead hard, and it took a while for her to relax.
Tomorrow is the last day of the five-day period.
After Xue Yuanyin finished her dinner, she looked out the narrow window at the darkening sky.
It's past the end of his shift, so if he wants to come, it's time for him to come.
Now that death is imminent, Zhang Jingxuan's figure frequently appears in his mind.
She resented that he always quarreled with her, but she also wanted to see him more often.
Whether or not to say goodbye is not the most important thing...
She was running out of time, and not being able to sleep with him was truly a regret. If she couldn't fulfill her wish before her execution, and experience the exhilarating feeling of "floating in the air" described in the book, she felt that even drinking Meng Po soup after her death would not bring her peace of mind.
Xue Yuanyin turned over on the mattress and thought, it would be great if he could let her sleep with him once before she was tortured.
She had just cleared her mind when a familiar, unhurried sound of footsteps echoed in the cell corridor, as if confirming her guess.
Xue Yuanyin sat up from the rush bed and waited for Zhang Jingxuan to come closer.
However, the footsteps stopped near the iron gate and remained silent for a long time. I don’t know what he was thinking. The footsteps gradually moved away, as if they were about to turn back.
Xue Yuanyin stood up and walked towards the iron gate, calling out in confusion, "Zhang Jingxuan?"
The footsteps outside paused slightly, as if he was struggling internally, and after a while he turned back.
He told the jailer and Ah Zhen to leave, then opened the iron gate, walked in slowly, and stopped a few steps away from her.
Zhang Jingxuan's gentle face no longer had the usual respectful smile, but was low and indifferent, with only a pair of light brown eyes staring straight at her, as if he wanted to see through her.
Xue Yuanyin felt a little strange in his heart, frowned and said:
"What's wrong with you? You look so ugly for no reason."
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhang Jingxuan suddenly grabbed her shoulders hard and pulled her against the cold asphalt-colored wall of the prison, causing her back to hurt.
Before she could react, he lifted her chin and kissed her forcefully and with great force.
As if something was abnormal, he greedily pried open her lips and sucked away her saliva, his movements were fierce and ferocious, almost eager.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
