Chapter 33 If you don’t like me, then how can I like you...
Before daybreak, the eunuch guarding the Shenwu Gate rubbed his sleepy eyes and ordered the soldiers to open the gate. The Jingnan Army's entry into the city was a major event, and no delay was possible. At midnight, everyone in the palace was already busy.
Li Dehai was the emperor's close companion and the undisputed top official of the Imperial Household Department. After serving the emperor and coughing up a few mouthfuls of phlegm early in the morning, he also joined in the work.
The saint's pursuit of immortality over the past few years had worn down his health and blurred his vision. Lately, he'd been having recurring dreams. He dreamed of a young man in a scarlet robe, a silver knife hanging from his waist, who was trying to kill him. He woke with a start, grasped Li Dehai's hand, and murmured, "Who is that young man, and why is he trying to kill me?"
Those who grew up with the sage have now grown old and died, leaving only Prince Jing and his wife.
But neither of these two people liked to wear red. It was the saint himself who loved to wear red when he was young, and he loved to ride on a horse with a silver sword and wander around. Occasionally, if he got something new, he would be the first to send it to the Li Emperor.
Whenever he thought of this, Li Dehai was filled with emotion.
Every time the saint had a dream, he would be confused for a while. When he was confused, he would forget that he had been sitting on the throne of the emperor for more than 20 years. He still thought that he was the child who was not well fed and clothed in the cold palace but was protected by his brother.
"His Majesty's hysteria has resurfaced. You two must be careful when you go in. His Majesty hasn't had many people around him these days. He'll be happy to see you."
Outside Ganlu Hall, Li Dehai bowed and spoke respectfully to Prince Jing and his wife, who had just returned from the battlefields of the Western Rong. Upon hearing this, Princess Yin Yuzhen exchanged a glance with her husband. The two had rushed back exhausted, not stopping along the way, to prevent the Sage from thinking they had any intention of disloyalty.
Along the way, the couple even thought of various responses to the saint, but they never expected that the saint would have a hysterical attack at this time.
"Thank you, eunuch. We will go in now." Yin Yuzhen said.
Li Dehai: "Princess, you are too kind." As he said this, he bowed and made way for them.
Inside the Ganlu Hall, the air was thick with the incense of ambergris. Yin Yuzhen glanced at her husband, then through the thin screen at the saint, who was sprawled on the ground, fiddling with something.
"What is he going to do now?" Yin Yuzhen glanced at the man who looked like he was teasing crickets and was speechless.
Prince Jing made a hushed gesture, reminding his wife to be careful with her words and actions. Then he walked over the screen and headed towards the saint.
The bright yellow dragon robe covered the ground. The man who should have been majestic was now hunched over in the robe, twisting like a worm.
Prince Jing frowned and called out "Your Majesty" in a low voice.
The man who had been sitting unmoved in the dragon robe finally raised his head. The dragon robe was opened a little, and Prince Jing could see clearly that what he was playing with in his hand was not a cricket, but a jade seal.
"Wei Xiao, you're here. Where's Yu Zhen? I got a cool toy today and wanted to give it to my brother, but he's mad at me and hasn't seen me in a while."
The saint was old, and his inch-long beard had turned gray due to years of illness. When he held the jade seal, his expression was like that of a child.
"You are confused. His Royal Highness Prince Lin'an went to Huzhou the day before yesterday. There was a serious epidemic there. Have you forgotten?" Prince Jing sighed softly, coaxing his best friend from his youth as if he were coaxing a child.
"Yes, my brother went to Huzhou. What about Zhier? Why didn't Zhier come to see me, his uncle?"
"My child is still young and was sick a while ago, so it's not convenient for him to go out. I'll come to see you when the weather warms up and he recovers."
The sage nodded at this. He held the jade seal in his arms and looked at Prince Jing, who was in a very bad state. Prince Jing had no choice but to coax him back onto the dragon bed and gently pat his back. Only after he fell asleep did he retreat with Yin Yuzhen.
Li Dehai was waiting outside. When he saw Prince Jing leave, he said, "Your Majesty's hysteria has been intermittent. I don't know if he can attend the palace banquet tonight. I'd like to trouble you and the princess to wait for news at the post station."
Yin Yuzhen exchanged glances with her husband, but Prince Jing pretended not to notice and simply bowed to Li Dequan, "Then I'll trouble you to take the seal."
After leaving Ganlu Palace, Yin Yuzhen mounted his horse, and Prince Jing followed closely behind.
"I believe he has hysteria, but this hysteria just happened to break out when you and I returned triumphantly. If you want to take away the military power again, just say so directly. It's not the first time you've used people forward and not used people backward. You don't want to say it directly, so you pretend to be crazy and stupid, waiting for us to return the military power ourselves. Why do you always use this trick? Believe it or not, our emperor must not have fully recovered from his illness at today's palace banquet." Yin Yuzhen sneered coldly.
Prince Jing was not surprised. "This isn't the first time. He wants to test us, but he doesn't want to hurt our initial feelings. Wait a minute. If the palace banquet doesn't go ahead today, I'll take the initiative to hand over the military power tomorrow morning. Then you and I will go straight back to Furong Mountain."
Yin Yuzhen still felt unfair: "This is a rotten palace, this is a rotten emperor. It's been over twenty years. He didn't say he felt guilty when he forced the emperor to abdicate. Now he's been turned to ashes for who knows how long, and here he's calling me brother."
She despised people like the Saint who acted so hypocritically. "If I were him, and truly felt guilty, I would treat my brother's old ministers and their families kindly instead of forcing them to Furong Mountain and allowing his men to call them remnants of the previous dynasty."
"Okay, okay, let's talk about it when we get back."
The palace path was long and winding, and while it looked deserted, there were still ears. Yin Yuzhen was used to speaking quickly, and hearing this made Prince Jing uneasy. However, knowing it was pointless to stop her, she simply said, "Save some energy and stop cursing. When you see Ah Heng and Shi Chu later, how can you be a Master's Wife with all this cursing?"
Yin Yuzhen said, "It's not the first day Ah Heng and Shi Chu have known me. Seeing injustice is always a good thing, and I've never failed to curse. I wonder how Ah Heng is doing after not seeing her for so long. Every time I ask her, she says she's fine, never once saying anything bad, but I still feel a pang in my stomach."
"For the past two years, every time I came to the capital, I could only watch her secretly, watching her get on and off the carriage at the gate of the Chai Mansion. She seemed very obedient, getting on and off the carriage, unlike when she was in our mountain."
Yin Yuzhen didn't know how Mrs. Chai raised the child. In any case, the child she had raised for fourteen years should not be in this state when she returned him to the Chai family.
"When she was at the Chai family before, you didn't dare to see her openly, for fear that her biological mother would be unhappy and make things difficult for her if she knew. Now that she is married, you don't have to worry about the consequences. You can see her today as long as you want." Prince Jing comforted slowly.
Yin Yuzhen nodded. "That's true. Unfortunately, if the palace banquet today doesn't go ahead as planned, we'll have to leave tomorrow morning, and our time here will be too short."
*
At the post station, Chai Heng had packed up everything early. Her master's wife and mistress liked the buckwheat pillows, so she had bought new ones earlier. She also replaced the incense sticks in the incense burner with ones they liked. Once everything was ready, she sprawled out on the table and took a nap.
Before returning to the post station, Yin Yuzhen said that after leaving her things at the post station, she would go to the Marquis' Mansion to see Chai Heng. Unexpectedly, the girl was already sleeping there obediently.
When Yin Yuzhen raised Chai Heng, she was still a young girl in her early twenties. Although she had never been a mother, she raised the child with a spoonful of rice soup and a spoonful of goat's milk, which was no different from being a mother.
"Be gentle."
"Let her sleep."
Yin Yuzhen tiptoed in to put the things down, and then tiptoed out with her husband.
When Chai Heng woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. As noon approached, she almost shuddered, then remembered that she had come to greet him.
"Awake? You must be hungry."
"Your master and I have already ordered the food, so eat something first."
Yin Yuzhen walked in and looked at Chai Heng with his chin in his hand.
Before this, Chai Heng hadn't seen Yin Yuzhen for many years. In her previous life, before she died, her master and mistress had been dead for several years. She often dreamed of Yin Yuzhen's face, smiling as always, always kind.
Chai Heng didn't know what was going on, but for a moment she wanted to cry. In fact, she really threw herself into Yin Yuzhen's arms and shed a lot of tears.
"What's going on, my dear!"
Yin Yuzhen was at a loss for words and kept winking at her husband, asking him to get a basin of water and a wet towel to wipe Chai Heng's face later.
Chai Heng cried for a while, then felt that her tears were too hypocritical, so she stopped and took the towel from her master to wipe her face.
"You're already married, why are you still crying like this?"
"You're crying like this, and your mistress wants to cry too."
Prince Jing teased Chai Heng with a smile. Yin Yuzhen was still able to smile at first, but later, seeing her crying like this, he could not hold it back anymore. He turned his face away with red eyes.
"Master and Madam, Yang Yan and I have already divorced."
"I don't know where to go. Can I go back to Furong Mountain?"
Yin Yuzhen had finally managed to hold back her tears, but those two words brought them back. She knew her child better than anyone else, and if she hadn't suffered a grievous injustice, she would never divorce him. As for not knowing where to go, if the Chai family treated her well, if her biological mother treated her well, why would Chai Heng say that?
"Who wronged you?"
"Tell me, Master's wife, have you not had a good time in the past two years?"
Yin Yuzhen lowered his head and asked Chai Heng.
Chai Heng didn't want them to worry, so he smiled and said, "It's not that bad, I just don't want to stay in this place anymore."
In fact, she hadn't been having a bad time just in the past one or two years. She hadn't had a good time here for more than ten years in her previous life.
Yin Yuzhen took a deep breath. If she wasn't leaving tomorrow, she would have to find out how Chai Heng had been spending the past two years in the capital. But before that, she still had to comfort her:
"When Master and Madam are done with their work these past two days, I'll take you back to Furong Mountain. Don't be sad. Have you packed your things in the Marquis' Mansion? If you have, come and live here today. We can leave tomorrow morning at the earliest. I'll live next door to Madam and see who dares to bully you."
With Yin Yuzhen's words, Chai Heng felt reassured. She had been worried that her master and mistress would not take her away.
I didn't expect that the thing that had troubled me for a long time was not that difficult when I really had to do it.
"I have already taken away everything from the Marquis' Mansion. There are still a few important things in the villa outside the capital. I will go back to get them now."
Yin Yuzhen said, "Don't worry about it now. Eat something before you go. With Master and his wife here, no one can hold you back."
"good."
*
Yang Yan copied fifty articles all night yesterday. This morning, he ordered someone to send the copied articles to his villa in the suburbs of Beijing, but was told that there was no one in the villa.
He knew Chai Heng would go to the post station, but according to the custom in her previous life, she would only stay for half a day each time she returned, for fear of disturbing Prince Jing and his wife's rest. So after noon, he dressed and prepared to go to the other garden to find her.
As per her request, he had chosen not to wear white today, but instead wore Cui Miao's favorite color, black. Unfortunately, even though he had copied the painting yesterday, there were some things he really didn't know how to imitate, so he wanted to hear her advice today.
I thought I would see Chai Heng again after arriving at the villa, but it was just a coincidence that after leaving the mansion, I saw a limping person after walking a few steps.
"What happened to your legs?"
The two met each other, and Yang Yan stared at her slightly lame leg.
Of course, Chai Heng would not tell him that her leg was like that because she had persuaded her master's wife so smoothly, she was too happy and did not look at the road when she came down the stairs of the post station. She rolled down a few steps and fell like that.
"I didn't look at the road and fell down." Chai Heng simply stated the consequence without explaining the cause.
Yang Yan squatted down and checked her leg bones. He found that they were not broken and felt relieved.
"You always don't look where you're going. Haven't you suffered enough?"
"If I had been paying attention to the road, it would not have been so easy for you to teach me a lesson in my previous life?" Chai Heng said casually.
Yang Yan paused for a moment, turned around, and pretended not to hear what she had just said, "Are you going back to the villa outside the capital? Come on up, I'll carry you."
Chai Heng didn't need him to carry her at all, but thinking that she would leave tomorrow and that she couldn't walk that far with her lame leg, she didn't bother to be polite with him and just pressed on him regardless of the injury on his back.
"Don't you want me to wear the same color clothes as Cui Miao? Why don't you say anything after seeing it?"
Yang Yan carried her steadily on his back and then spoke.
He didn't know why, even though he knew that Chai Heng was deliberately making trouble for him and using the "stand-in" point to humiliate him, he actually really wanted to know, in her eyes, who looked better in black, him or Cui Miao?
"Do you prefer me wearing this kind of clothes, or Cui Miao?" he suddenly asked.
Chai Heng said without hesitation: "Cui Miao."
"I don't even like you as a person, so how can I like the clothes you wear?"
The three words "I don't like" were like a heavy hammer hitting Yang Yan's heart. Yang Yan couldn't remember how many times Chai Heng had said "I don't like" to him after his rebirth.
A long time ago, it was an extremely simple thing for him to hear her say that she loved him, but now, it is harder than climbing to the sky.
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