Chapter 70 Chapter 70 Tears fell between his fingers.
It was late at night, the winter air was bleak, and the eaves were slightly chilly.
In the empty cell, Zhang Jingxuan had been gone for a long time, and Xue Yuanyin had not yet recovered from her shock.
She hadn't thought about how things turned out like this.
She had the most serious quarrel with him in their history. Zhang Jingxuan's face was frosted and his expression was uglier than ever before. He stared at her intently, and there seemed to be some emotion in his eyes, but it was hard to understand.
He had mocked her first, and she had said something that was tantamount to humiliation to him. Xue Yuanyin thought that neither of them had gained anything from this exchange, but Zhang Jingxuan's expression was even worse than she had imagined.
As if she was suppressing something deeply, the bowstring was taut and almost broken by her.
But in the end, Zhang Jingxuan did not continue to argue with her. He just said that the prince would choose a day to hold the coronation ceremony, left a word "goodbye" and left the prison.
The two parted on bad terms.
Xue Yuanyin wondered if Zhang Jingxuan was implying that he was too busy with court affairs to say goodbye to her. He clearly knew she was going to be executed, yet he never mentioned it. It seemed like their relationship had finally come to an end.
This fierce quarrel was like an unpleasant farewell. In five days, she would be dragged away for execution, and this might be the last time the two of them would see each other.
The many unspoken words on her lips were finally swallowed back into her stomach, leaving her unable to recover for a long time.
Xue Yuanyin forced herself to stop thinking about him.
It's late, time to go to bed.
She lay back on the bed, but couldn't fall asleep.
Winter nights were too cold, and a thin quilt was no match for the cold. In her boudoir, she could light a charcoal fire and warm her hands, but this was a prison; there was no way she could light charcoal or warm the stove.
Even though she had internal strength and a good foundation, after so many days, she had been preoccupied with things and had eaten less during the day, and now she could no longer bear the cold.
She wrapped the quilt tightly and slowly curled up her cold hands and feet.
-
The five-day deadline has come to the last day, and Xue Yuanyin will be dragged to the Meridian Gate to be caned and tortured tomorrow.
Her days in the cell were indeed routine, but too smooth. She knew clearly that this was the calm before the storm.
It seemed like she had been in prison for a long time, but only half a month had passed outside, and she had no idea what had happened. She only knew that Prince Yu and Xue Chang had not been caught yet, so her execution and torture was inevitable.
It was probably the last meal before the execution. The meal the jailer sent her was very rich, but Xue Yuanyin's appetite had become smaller and smaller in recent days. She could only eat a few chopsticks while eating, and in the end, all the food was left over.
Xue Yuanyin swallowed a mouthful of rice with difficulty, and for no reason she recalled Zhang Jingxuan's sarcastic remarks to her yesterday.
Suddenly, a strange feeling, almost uneasy, rose in my heart.
She suddenly put down her chopsticks, ran to the iron gate, grabbed the railing and slammed it hard, saying almost violently:
"Master Jailer! I want to see Zhang Jingxuan! I have something important to ask him!"
This was the first time she had taken the initiative to look for him. It was on the last day of the five-day period when one of the jailers left the prison and came back a while later and said to her:
"I've sent someone to deliver the message. Please wait."
Upon hearing this, Xue Yuanyin returned to the bed and waited.
The worst that could happen was that her suspicion was wrong. She took the initiative to lower her head and confirm that he was safe. It was not a loss.
One stick of incense, two sticks of incense...
The cell was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Xue Yuanyin watched the lunch box getting colder by the minute, a look of confusion in his eyes.
An hour had already passed and the message had already been delivered, which was enough time to run two laps from the south to the north of the city.
But she didn't wait for Zhang Jingxuan to come over.
…
Another urgent report came from the border, saying that Ashlie was reorganizing his troops and was about to go to war.
The food and fodder had already been sent ahead, and the army was about to complete its inventory. They would set out at dawn the next day, and would not even wait until the New Year a month later.
In just a few days, the rumors in the capital changed their tone. The people fell into panic, and the criticism of the eldest son of the Zhang family for doing nothing became more and more rampant.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had no choice but to issue an edict at the morning court, ordering the eldest son of the Zhang family to serve as the military advisor of the army and go to war with the troops.
The people's expectations are high, and the imperial edict is pressing, so there is no time to delay.
Zhang Jingxuan stood in the Golden Palace with a handsome face and took the written order with both hands.
As soon as the two were combined with General Xun's military order, the army set out for Qintang Pass on the border.
The decree spread throughout the capital and the people cheered.
After the court session, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince summoned Zhang Jingxuan to the Imperial Study, but he didn't know what to say. His heart was filled with instructions that were stuck in his throat. Finally, he sighed:
"Go back to the Zhang Mansion. Don't come to the palace for the next few days. Say goodbye to your family."
When they set out on this trip and faced A Shilie, everyone knew what would become of Zhang Jingxuan.
Ashlie never lets go of anyone who offends him.
Even if he lost the war, he would kill his enemies and take revenge.
The prince sighed again when he thought of this.
Zhang Jingxuan's face showed no emotion. He responded calmly and bowed to say goodbye.
…
Zhang Mansion.
Zhang Jingxuan stood in front of the mansion. The Zhang Mansion was undoubtedly elegant and graceful, with pavilions and terraces, red pillars and carved rafters. The servants were all in order, walking silently. He looked for a while, then walked to the main courtyard. He saw his father and mother sitting in the hall playing chess, two cups of hot tea on the table, stealing a half day of leisure from their busy lives.
He paced to the back of the house and looked at his grandfather from afar. Although his grandfather was old, he was in good spirits. He was usually a little strict with him, but he actually respected him very much and had raised him to be the gentle and modest enlightenment teacher he is today.
Zhang Jingxuan returned to the study, waved Huaizhou away, and closed the door.
After standing quietly in the house for a while, he rummaged through the boxes and found the tortoise shell and divination chips. Suddenly, he saw a wooden carving of a fox underneath. He stared at it for a moment, then looked away, closed the boxes, and sat down at the table with the things he had found.
Zhang Jingxuan picked up his pen and drew a picture of the military confrontation, with hundreds of deduction methods flashing through his mind.
She had once challenged him on a sand table and told him he didn't like using military strategies, but he hadn't taken it seriously at the time. Unexpectedly, time had passed, and now he was recalling the military tactics he had learned and calculating every possible battle scenario.
He couldn't place his hopes on General Xun.
Asili came for him. General Xun might win in the end, but his ending might not be satisfactory.
Zhang Jingxuan put down his pen and slowly shook the chip. Listening to the muffled ding-dong sound, he stared at the confrontation diagram on the table, paused, repeated it six times, placed the wooden chip, and looked down.
Kan on top and Kun on bottom is an ominous hexagram.
He paused slightly, calmly put away the wooden chips, and thought of other ways of deduction. He slowly shook the chip A again. After six times, the hexagram came out.
Xun on top and Kan on bottom, the Huan hexagram.
…
After trying five or six times, Zhang Jingxuan changed the tortoise shell and tried to predict the battle situation again. After countless times of divination, the result he got this time was still similar to the previous one.
Kan on top and Gen on bottom, the Jian hexagram.
He threw away the wooden chips again, and the floor of his study was filled with useless divinations he had made.
Zhang Jingxuan stared at the mess on the ground. All the hexagrams pointed to a difficult situation, as if there was no way out.
He looked at his palm, where the soft, warm touch of her body still lingered. His fingertips had once touched her most intimate part, touched by the crystalline fluid that flowed from her when she was aroused. He had also tasted it with his lips and tongue, and it was a slightly salty sweetness.
Whenever this happened, she would always turn her face away, with a thin layer of crimson spreading over her earlobes due to the rain. For fear of revealing any strange sounds, she would bite her lips tightly, and a bit of shyness, like a little fish that had never seen the world, would quietly crawl into her lively eyes.
Zhang Jingxuan felt a slight stagnation in his heart and suddenly bent down.
A sharp pain rose from the tip of his heart, twisting his flesh and blood, making him tense his back. He tried to force it back, but suddenly felt a surge of blood rushing up his throat. His effort to restrain it caused his meridians to flow backwards.
He suddenly covered his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood.
This tortoise shell was blessed by the abbot of Nantang Temple. If you try to spy on your own destiny by force, you will exhaust your energy and end up suffering backlash.
A thin layer of crimson blood flowed from the corner of his lips, slowly slid to his chin, and finally dripped onto the waste chips on the study floor, almost blinding.
It was out of tune with its surroundings, as if reminding him to be prepared for death.
Zhang Jingxuan paused for a few seconds, stood up, wiped the blood with a handkerchief, and threw it into the trash can.
He ignored the bloodstains, calmly sat back at the table, took out a blank notebook, and slowly wrote down the names of people and their future arrangements.
He suppressed the itchiness in his throat, swallowed the fishy-sweet taste, and called Huaizhou in a hoarse voice:
"Let everyone come over here, I have something to say."
Huaizhou took the order and left. After an incense stick of time, all the servants in the mansion put down their work and came to Zhanyun Courtyard. Except for those who had work to do, most of the servants in the mansion were standing in the courtyard. It was a very impressive sight at a glance. They all stood side by side with their heads lowered, quietly and orderly, without any noise or disturbance.
Zhang Jingxuan walked out of the study and stood at the door. The biting winter cold penetrated his skin. He covered his lips and coughed. Huaizhou brought him a hand warmer. He waved his hand and said calmly:
"Do you all remember the rules of the Zhang Mansion?"
The servants all answered in unison that they remembered.
Zhang Jingxuan nodded slightly and said, "Okay, recite it to me."
While servants murmured the Zhang family's precepts below, Zhang Jingxuan returned to his study to continue writing the arrangement charter on paper. His calligraphy, learned from Elder Xie, was elegant and graceful, with subtle strokes and sharp edges, undoubtedly a superb handwriting.
He wrote fluently and in one go without any pause.
Finally, he wrote that Caiyilou's wedding dress had not been embroidered yet, and ordered someone to tell the embroiderer to stop it.
Zhang Jingxuan couldn't help but think of that person's name. The tip of his pen paused, and ink dripped onto the paper, smudged a small area of writing.
The low chanting outside hadn't stopped yet, but he couldn't hear a single word. Zhang Jingxuan sat languidly in the rattan chair, lost in thought as he stared at the handwritten instructions for his final wishes.
I allowed myself to fall in love, but I didn't expect the backlash to be so severe.
By the time he realized it, it had already bitten off his spine and torn his flesh, making him bleed profusely and in almost excruciating pain.
Zhang Jingxuan turned his back to the servants in the courtyard, his back tense, his brocade robe highlighting his lean, angular figure. He leaned against the table, his palms slowly covering his eyelids.
Sunlight filtered in through the window frame and shone on the back of the young man's hand. He could vaguely see a hint of crystal clear water between his fingers, as if something was flowing down from behind his palm.
There was no sound in the house, which made people worry for no reason. Huaizhou hesitated outside for a long time, then walked in and whispered:
"Sir, the jailer of the underground prison in Zhuyue Palace wants you over. She says she wants to see you."
After a while, Zhang Jingxuan lowered his hand. His face was pale and clear, as if the radiance just now was just an illusion. Only his eyes were slightly bloodshot, revealing that he was not completely unharmed.
He forced himself to ignore the emotions boiling in his chest. The veins on his arms showed with restraint, and his face remained calm. After a long silence, he slowly spoke:
"Go and refuse it."
Huaizhou's heart trembled, he replied yes, bowed and retreated.
Zhang Jingxuan looked at the handwritten letter, but there was a blank space behind her name.
Even though he was well-versed in knowledge and had made thorough plans, he didn't know how to explain the matter to her.
not to mention……
There is only one day left in the five-day period.
Zhang Jingxuan slowly clenched the letter, feeling a faint pain in his lungs with every breath. His chest felt like it was being squeezed tightly by someone, stretched to the extreme. He couldn't breathe, couldn't relax, as if it was tied up with a rope, and would suddenly explode when it reached the critical point.
What should he do, what should he do... to save her?
-----------------------
The author has something to say: *For divination, please refer to the Book of Changes.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
