threaten
As the weather grew colder in early November, Jiang Jin, carrying a bamboo basket, arrived at the grave of Sanfeng in the suburbs.
"Sanfeng, I'm going back to the capital. Take good care of yourself in Bianzhou. I'll make you sweet cakes for your birthday." Jiang Jin raised her hand to touch the tombstone, glanced at Sanfeng's grave, then mounted her horse.
The officials who had taken over as the prefect of Beizhou had already arrived, so Jiang Jin and his entourage naturally did not wish to linger. They took Sanfeng's coffin back to Bianzhou, and only after Sanfeng was buried did Jiang Jin feel at ease embark on his journey back to the capital.
"You've rendered a great service this time; I wonder how His Majesty will reward you!" Wei Shu rode alongside Jiang Jin, watching the sun slowly setting in the distance. Jiang Jin smiled.
"Then we'll see where the court needs me!" Jiang Jin spurred his horse, increasing its speed and leaving Wei Shu behind.
"Ah Jin, wait for me!" As the sun set, the group returned to Songzhou. The soldiers guarding the city were about to close the gates when they saw the armor of the Imperial Guards and quickly stopped what they were doing.
"Gentlemen, please provide the passageway." The leader looked at Wei Shu with some fear.
Wei Shu had no intention of making things difficult for these people, and promptly handed over the document.
"General Wei, please!" The leader hurriedly ordered the city gates to be opened wide to welcome Wei Shu and his entourage.
"Your status is quite useful sometimes!" Riding on horseback, Jiang Jin experienced the thrill of power for the first time. No wonder some people are corrupted by power to the point of being unrecognizable.
"It's just fear of His Majesty." Wei Shu knew his own limitations; if His Majesty disliked him, those people would swarm him like snakes and worms, devouring him clean.
"What you're saying is ridiculous. Aside from those powerful and wealthy families, who doesn't depend on His Majesty's whims for their livelihood?" Jiang Jin never felt that depending on His Majesty's whims was a shameful thing.
"I thought you'd consider me His Majesty's dog. What kind of person am I in your heart?" Wei Shu didn't wait for Jiang Jin's answer. An inn appeared ahead, and Jiang Jin quickly sent someone to inquire if there were any rooms available.
Wei Shu watched as Jiang Jin dismounted, and Zhou Cong silently followed. Since Zi Yuan's disappearance, he had become taciturn; although Jiang Jin hadn't blamed him, he himself was unwilling to forgive himself.
"How many rooms are left?" Jiang Jin asked the shopkeeper, pulling a gold ingot from his pocket.
"You've come at a good time today. There are plenty of rooms available. You could book the entire inn without any problem." The innkeeper readily accepted the gold coins Jiang Jin offered, as if afraid she might change her mind.
After Zhou Liao and the other man carefully checked the house and confirmed that everything was alright, they allowed Jiang Jin to go upstairs. Wei Shu watched Jiang Jin's disappearing figure and smiled helplessly.
"Ah Jin, open the door." Wei Shu knocked on the door with a gold ingot. Jiang Jin, who had just removed the hairpin from her hair and was letting her black hair fall loose, opened the door for Wei Shu.
"Your gold coin." Wei Shu placed the gold coin in Jiang Jin's palm.
"It really is mine!" Jiang Jin touched the bottom of the gold ingot and found a dent, which was caused when she accidentally dropped it on the ground.
“With me here, why would I let you use your dowry?” Wei Shu picked up a comb and combed Jiang Jin’s hair. “The Jiang family is not wealthy to begin with. Your mother’s dowry is all left to her children, so she must not have much money to spare.”
"Although my mother was a second wife, she still used 20% of her dowry to help my older sister and me. My sister and I also split the dowry left by my mother, so I'm not as strapped for cash as you think," Jiang Jin comforted Wei Shu, looking at his expression.
"Although my mother did not come from a wealthy family, my maternal grandfather still had some savings in the north and Sangzhou. My father also owned shops, and His Majesty often bestowed gifts upon him, so we were not at the point where we could not afford to marry off our daughters. It's just that I was afraid I would not have enough money to rely on if I married you, so I gave you a generous amount of money."
Jiang Jin didn't mention that some of the money came from subsidies from Lou Xuan and the clothing store, but she wasn't worried that Wei Shu would try to take advantage of her dowry.
"The Wei family owns a considerable amount of land, shops, and courtyards, as well as rare treasures and tributes from various regions, all of which will be yours in the future." Wei Shu gently combed Jiang Jin's hair, the soft black strands brushing against his fingertips, as if he were seeing Jiang Jin getting ready on their wedding day.
“Tell me about your maternal grandfather, and I’ll send people to search for him. Perhaps there are still relatives alive.” Jiang Jin looked at Wei Shu’s serious expression through the bronze mirror and nodded. “Wei Shu, thank you.”
“Your maternal grandfather is my maternal grandfather, there’s nothing to thank me for.” Wei Shu combed Jiang Jin’s hair and looked at her earnestly. “People in the capital always say that someone’s daughter is as beautiful as a fairy, but I think A Jin is more like a fairy from heaven.”
"That's why Mother won't let my sister and me go out." Jiang Jin picked up a handkerchief, dampened it, and wiped her face.
“Father has no connections in the capital. If he were to be taken as a wife by a spoiled brat, he would be in dire straits.” Jiang Jin understood her parents’ worries, so she never insisted on going out for a spring outing.
"Imperial Censor Jiang is indeed a loving father." Wei Shu knew that with the Jiang sisters' looks, they would be more than capable of marrying into a prominent family. Although they might not be able to enter the main branch, they would be more than capable of marrying into a collateral branch.
"Although my father has some shortcomings, he wouldn't actually do something to kill us." Jiang Jin's expression softened as she recalled her elder sister's engagement.
"Actually, the fourth son of the Bo family in Dongshan County was also being considered for marriage back then. With my sister's temperament, she would have been qualified to marry into that family, and they were honest and didn't easily take sides. Unfortunately, the fourth son's family was a womanizer, and I don't know how many confidants he had in Pingkang Lane. My father directly chose another poor scholar, who is now my brother-in-law." Jiang Jin knew that at least in this respect, her father did a good job.
"Then why would Imperial Censor Jiang be willing to marry you to me?" Wei Shu squatted down and took Jiang Jin's hand, which was resting on her lap.
"What can we do? We can't drag the entire Jiang family to their deaths, can we? Besides, with the imperial decree here, you wouldn't really order me to die on my wedding night." Jiang Jin pinched Wei Shu's cheek. "When I returned to my parents' home, you deliberately gave my father a hard time. I wonder what he's thinking about you!"
"I was just afraid your father would try to curry favor with me. A man who would so readily abandon his own daughter to marry me isn't necessarily a noble person." Wei Shu admitted that he had some prejudice against Jiang's father and even the entire Jiang family at the time.
"No wonder you were so gentle and attentive to me, yet left the Jiang family without a second thought. At least we got to have a family reunion dinner." Jiang Jin hugged Wei Shu and rested her head on his shoulder.
“I begged Your Highness to stop the marriage agreement with the Liu family. If I leave the capital, I will also leave Your Highness. Besides, it would be bad if my actions implicated the Liu family. But you are different; you are His Majesty's confidant. Even if I am sentenced to death, His Majesty will not harm you in the slightest.” Jiang Jin had just finished speaking when Wei Shu pinched her ear.
"What do you mean by 'granting death'? Unless you're plotting treason, why would His Majesty want to kill you for no reason?" Wei Shu couldn't stand hearing such unpleasant words from Jiang Jin.
"How could I possibly know His Majesty's plans at the time? Naturally, I was prepared for the worst and prepared to die!" Jiang Jin pitifully touched her earlobe.
"Alright, I won't tease you anymore. Go to sleep; we have a long journey ahead tomorrow." Wei Shu pulled Jiang Jin up by the waist, and she nestled into his arms.
"If I let you sleep by yourself, I don't know how long you would have dawdled!" Wei Shu squatted down to take off Jiang Jin's shoes and socks, then lay down next to her.
"Wei Shu, I still have my outer robe on!" Jiang Jin snuggled into Wei Shu's arms and tapped his nose.
“It’s cold at night, you can sleep in it.” Wei Shu pulled the blanket up to cover Jiang Jin’s shoulders and patted her back comfortingly. “Go to sleep, there are Imperial Guards guarding outside and I’ll be inside.”
"Okay." Jiang Jin nestled into Wei Shu's arms and fell into a deep sleep.
The moon was bright, the stars were few, and the sky was cloudless. Moonlight streamed through the window and fell into Zi Yuan's eyes. Ever since she was kidnapped, she had been confined to this house in the mansion. Three meals a day were brought to her through her mouth, and someone would take them away when it was time to eat. Every day at 7 PM sharp, the chamber pot in the room would be taken away. Apart from the birds outside, she had never seen a single living person who could speak.
"What are you going to do with me here? And the note said you'd release Ajin, what does that have to do with Ajin?!" Ziyuan rattled the chains outside the door, but only the birds outside responded.
"Kill me or torture me, it's up to you, but what does it mean to keep me trapped here? Or are you hiding something and too afraid to see me?!" Zi Yuan would shout at the door every day, hoping that the person behind it would release her in a fit of anger.
She also tried to damage the wooden doors and windows, but for some reason the windows seemed completely unharmed and remained motionless.
"Is anyone there?!" Zi Yuan shouted in despair towards the outside, "Hey food delivery guy, tell your master that if he doesn't come to see me, I'll kill myself!"
Ziyuan smashed the wooden cup and held the splinter to her throat. "I know he doesn't want me to die, otherwise he wouldn't have left this house without a single sharp object, and even replaced the porcelain cup with a wooden one. But I'm not one to be trifled with. If he doesn't come to see me today, I'll make him come and collect my body tomorrow!"
Zi Yuan spoke with certainty; the person outside, hearing this, had no choice but to quickly put down the wooden bowl and leave the courtyard.
After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the sound of chains came from outside. Zi Yuan's attention was drawn to it, and she didn't see the plume of white smoke spreading into the room.
"What have you done!" Zi Yuan leaned on the table, watching the door slowly open, but she had no strength to resist in the slightest.
A masked man entered. He first looked around to make sure there were no traps before picking up Ziyuan and placing her on the couch.
"This time it was just a sleeping potion, but next time I won't hold back." The man lifted Zi Yuan's chin and examined her face closely.
“If you don’t behave, I’ll chain you to the bed. There are people coming and going outside, and I don’t know what they’ll think of you or what they’ll do to you.”
The man chuckled and patted Zi Yuan's cheek before closing the door. Only a few wooden objects were missing from the room.
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