Return to Fengcheng
Chapter 109
Pei Qing was lying next to the two of them. After a while, he heard a few "dong dong" sounds in his ears. He couldn't sleep, so he opened his eyes and listened to the conversation between the two. Finally, he understood what was going on.
Cui Dayan was deceived by a little girl and succeeded.
A once-in-a-century wonder.
I pulled the corner of my mouth and listened to a joke. The noise from next door slowly calmed down, as if everyone had fallen asleep, but I couldn't close my eyes.
The smile on the corner of his mouth, which was infected by the outside world, completely faded. He turned his head to look out the window. The night sky in the second half of the night was dark without the moonlight. The dampness of the river hit his face, and the river breeze made him feel a little cool and stuffy.
I have experienced too much in these years, and it is too familiar. Every time this happens, I will quickly fall into the brink of drowning.
Although he hadn't had an attack for a while, he still took out a dagger from under his pillow out of habit. After waiting for a while, he didn't feel any suffocation from "drowning", but Pei Yuanqiu's face suddenly appeared in front of him.
It was in South City that I saw him for the last time. Veins popped out of his face, filled with anxiety and panic. He shouted at him with all his strength, "Go!"
"I feel ashamed of you, but I don't regret it."
"As a descendant of the Pei family, I have completed my mission and paved the way for the future generations of the Pei family. Even if I die a miserable death in the future, the name of the Dali Temple Minister in the history books will also have my Pei family's surname."
He was not surprised to hear those words coming from Pei Yuanqie's mouth. The moment he abandoned his wife and children, he had been blinded by power.
In the end, what he saved was not Pei Qing, but the hope he had fought for his entire life for the Pei family.
What he hated most in his life was power, but in the end he became a prince of prominent status.
Prince Jing adopted him as his adopted son, not after he saved him, but after he was injured and lying on the sickbed, and had a high fever and then "drowned".
After leaving South City, he never thought about living. He saw his mother in his nightmare and returned to the night before his mother hanged herself.
She cooked a sumptuous dinner, held him in her arms, pulled up his sleeves, counted the marks on his arms where she had hit him, and apologized to him again and again: "I'm sorry."
After Pei Yuanqiu left, what he feared most was his mother's tears, rather than the pain. He hugged his mother and comforted her, "Mother, you hit me because I was disobedient. I don't feel any pain at all."
The mother didn't say anything. She hugged him tightly for a while, then took out a small box beside her and said, "I've made some money at the dock over the years, and I've saved it all here. Take it, keep it well, and be frugal in the future."
He didn't understand what was going on. Seeing the old and creased banknotes, he asked in astonishment, "Mother, are we rich now?"
"Well, now you have money, eat more." Mother put all the meat into his bowl. He had the most enjoyable meal because he saw his mother smile for the first time in a long time.
His mother stayed by his side until he went to sleep. She sat on the edge of the bed, patted his back gently, and asked him, "Do you hate your father?"
He looked up at his mother's face, which was not yet thirty, but already had gray hair on the temples, and answered with gritted teeth: "Hate."
The mother shook her head, "I should hate him, but you shouldn't. He is your father and he has the obligation to raise you. If he comes back to find you one day, you must remember to follow him. Wait until you are no longer hungry, and then you can make a name for yourself."
He was afraid of upsetting his mother, so he didn't argue with her.
The mother touched the scars on his arms again and whispered, "Don't blame me. I love you. I'm just sick."
"I don't blame my mother." He shook his head vigorously, looked at her and asked with concern: "Then can my mother be okay?"
His mother smiled at him, nodded and replied, "It will be fine."
What she meant by getting better was to end her own life.
She had planned it all out long ago. She carried sacks at the dock, did embroidery, and did odd jobs. She did all the hard labor she could to save enough money for him to survive. Then she took away the only person who was a threat to him, leaving behind only a few words on a piece of white paper.
——My son: Your mother is gone. No one in this world can hurt you anymore. Live well.
The dream came to an end, and the familiar suffocating sea water instantly surrounded him. He was sweating all over, lying on the couch, calling out softly, "Mother, Mother..."
"Pei Qing..."
When he woke up, Prince Jing was sitting next to him. He didn't ask him what he dreamed about, but said gently: "It's good to sweat. Once the fever goes down, you will be fine."
He had a fever for two days, and then he had nightmares for two days. Every time he woke up, Prince Jing was by his side.
On the day of moving the house, Prince Jing helped him up and insisted on carrying him on his back, saying with a smile: "Although I am old, it is no problem for me to carry a junior like you."
The warm and unfamiliar feeling he felt on Prince Jing's back was something he had never experienced on Pei Yuanqiu in his life.
Therefore, when Prince Jing asked him, "Pei Qing, are you willing to be my son?" He did not think much and knelt down in front of him without hesitation. "I, Pei Qing, am a lonely person, like a floating duckweed without anyone to rely on. How could I be so worthy of your love, Your Highness?"
Prince Jing said, "Who said you are a lonely person? Although I don't agree with your father Pei Yuanqiu's actions, his talents are obvious to everyone in the court. At the last moment, he destroyed his life's efforts to protect you. Your mother worked hard all her life to raise you, and her final choice was to let you live in this world without being hurt. They all love you, but that love is forced by life to be a little thin and extreme. Pei Qing, love in this world is not necessarily perfect, and the same goes for hate. There is no absolute right or wrong in life, not to mention that people's hearts are complicated and unpredictable. Who can tell love and hate clearly? So, no matter what you think, I can understand."
"You and Zhou Kuang are brothers, and I have few children. Everything is fate. I hope I can protect you for a while."
"Do you have any small print?"
He answered hoarsely, "Yes, Yan Zhuo."
"Outstanding and excellent, what a good name. Your biological parents have given you the wish that you will become a successful person, so I will give you the character 'An'. From now on, you will be called Zhou An, which means peace and health."
"Everyone has right and wrong. Take me for example. I protected the people of Dafeng, but those Liao people who died tragically under my sword also had wives and children. How could they not hate me? Love and hate are just different choices and positions. I am not saying this to ask you to kneel down and forgive him, but to ask you to learn to let go of yourself."
The stuffiness in my chest slowly subsided.
Prince Jing's words gave him a persuasive reason to justify the hatred in his heart which was no longer as strong as it was at the beginning.
He hates?
Who should he hate?
He eventually had Pei Yuanqiu's body dug out, taken to Fengcheng, and buried in the Pei family so that his soul could return to his roots.
The feeling of drowning was gone, but my head still hurt, exploding. I stood up, took a few gulps of cold water, lay back on the bed, and slowly closed my eyes.
Let go of myself, when will I be able to completely do it...
The night slowly faded away, and the next day the sun shone on the deck. Pei Qing was awakened by a voice from next door, "What, why should I buy clothes for you?"
Pei Qing got up and washed his face. When he went out, Cui Nian was still arguing, "Tell me, what else do you need? Tell me all at once. I have always had a bad heart. If you want money, you are asking for my life..."
In the past, Cui Dayan was very stingy, but this time he met his match. He found a quiet place outside the deck and continued to sleep.
Ah Fu searched for a long time before he found him. He came forward and reported: "We have received letters from several places in Dongdu. No one has seen the girl that the prince mentioned."
That day, the mute girl didn't say a word and suddenly ran away. Pei Qing has been asking people to look for her, but there has been no news for such a long time, so she must be no longer in Dongdu.
They met by chance, but they felt a sense of sympathy. Seeing how scared she was, Pei Qing probably guessed what she had experienced.
I didn't expect she would have such courage.
"Keep looking, don't scare her."
"yes."
"There is one more thing." Ah Fu took out a booklet from his sleeve, looked around for a while, and handed it to Pei Qing mysteriously, "Last time the prince asked the prince for it, but found out that the prince didn't have it either. So when he left yesterday, he secretly gave me one." Then he took out the second book, "This one was given by Min Zhang, who said Commander Xie bought it specifically for the prince..."
Pei Qing knew what it was without even looking at it. His face darkened and he was about to throw it into the river, but Ah Fu stopped him in time and added, "It's a collector's edition. There's a long way to go. The prince might be able to use it. He can't just go around asking for help like the prince did..."
The official ship sailed on the river, its majesty and grandeur attracted the attention of people within a radius of ten miles. Along the way, every state capital it passed had ships approaching to invite them to stay, but Pei Qing refused them all: "No need to stop, just go straight back to Fengcheng."
Five days later, the ship arrived at Fengcheng, Zhongzhou Prefecture. Fengcheng County Magistrate Xie Heng brought people from the government office and went to the city gate to greet them in person.
In the past, Pei Qing was a constable under Xie Heng, but now his status has changed and he has become a member of the royal family and a noble prince. When Xie Heng sees him, he has to kneel down and salute.
Pei Qing knew Xie Heng's difficulties. The man who once stood on the clouds suddenly fell into the dust. Every time he bent down, he broke his dignity. In front of everyone, Pei Qing helped him up and said, "Master Xie, please stand up."
Xie Heng stood up straight and raised his head. His expression was unexpectedly calm and indifferent. Although his face was still that of the young county magistrate, it was much more mature than before. He smiled and said generously: "Welcome back to Fengcheng, Your Majesty."
Pei Qing also smiled back: "I'd like to ask County Magistrate Xie for more advice."
Fengcheng had experienced a civil war, resulting in a great loss of manpower and material resources. On the day he arrived in Fengcheng, Pei Qing asked Xie Heng to unload the supplies from the official ship, set up porridge and noodle stalls, and appease the people in the city.
At night, Pei Qing heard from others that County Magistrate Xie had personally gone to the streets to distribute porridge.
"The people didn't buy his story at all. They kept harping on the rebellion of the eldest wife of the Xie family and insulted him secretly. I heard that he was thrown with dirty water on his way back from the street today."
When Xie Heng submitted a memorial to the emperor and returned to Fengcheng, he had already thought of this day. Pei Qing was not surprised. "People only care about the immediate interests. He has to bear this hurdle himself. How is the Xie family?"
"This eldest son Xie is a talented person. On the first day he came back, he went to the restaurant and pulled out the second son, who was in a mess. In front of everyone, he removed his name from the family tree. When the second son woke up, he could not go home. He was accompanied by his wife and children. He slept in the open air for two days. The second grandmother had a high fever, and so did the child. The baby was not even one year old, and the second grandmother was paralyzed and refused to respond. The second son realized how anxious he was. At night, he knelt at the door of the Xie family with the feverish child in his arms, kowtowed and begged for mercy, crying and asking the eldest son to let the child and the second grandmother in for the sake of their former siblings."
"The eldest son agreed to his request, but with a condition that the second son pays child support every month. If he doesn't see the money, the second wife and the child will be thrown out again. The second son had no choice but to do it, and now he is pulling a cart."
Having been with Brother Xie for so many years, he has long known that the members of the Xie family's eldest branch have been corrupted by Xie Pushe's gold and have lost their ability to survive. Now that no one indulges them anymore, they should wake up after experiencing the ups and downs.
Ah Fu continued, "There is no hope for the Madam. When she gets mad, she bites whoever she sees. I heard that he bit the Madam not long ago, and a piece of flesh on her wrist was gone. The Madam cried so hard that she was so angry that she had someone prescribe a strong medicine. After taking the medicine, the Madam lay in bed unable to move. The eldest master came back and called her, but she didn't recognize him. She just opened her eyes wide and didn't know anything. I guess she doesn't have much time left."
"In order to get married before the mourning period, the first and second ladies have been anxious to discuss marriage these days, and the eldest master is the one who came forward."
With such a family as his, the eldest son is destined to suffer a lifetime.
Thinking of the charisma on the face of the eldest son of the Xie family before, Pei Qing was distracted for a moment. Every family has its own problems. Being born as a human being, everyone has a heart. Whose suffering is not suffering?
You still have to fight hard.
Under Yuan Ming'an, Xie Heng had experienced all kinds of humiliation. He had his crotch drilled into, was punched and kicked, and was in so much pain that he couldn't sleep all night... Now this little bit of dirty water was nothing. He returned home, took a shower, changed his clothes, and went to the study to read until midnight.
The next day, he arrived at the yamen and was handling a case when he suddenly heard a drum sound outside.
"Who's beating the drum?"
The eunuch came in slowly and reported: "He is a mute, how can he appeal for justice?" There was a hint of sarcasm in his words.
This world is really ridiculous. Even a mute dares to beat the drum.
Xie Heng raised his head, his eyes solemn, "A mute beating the drum, won't that only bring more resentment?" He ignored the eunuch's contemptuous and arrogant look and ordered, "Go to court."
The chief eunuch followed behind him, looking down upon his deputy. Did he think he was still the same Xie Heng?
The son of a traitor, he still has the nerve to return to Fengcheng. If it weren't for the help of Xie Pushe, the second wife, would he still be able to return to Fengcheng to be an official? It is precisely because of this that although the people below have opinions about him in their hearts, they dare not trip him up openly, and only use some small tricks in secret to make him look bad.
For Yu Xieheng, this was enough. It didn't matter what happened in secret as long as they cooperated openly.
He put on his official hat and walked out. The man beating the drum was already kneeling below him. It was a girl. One of her sleeves was torn in half, revealing her fair skin. She was kneeling on the ground and hugging her arms tightly.
There were many people around, and Xie Heng turned around and said to the servant next to him, "Give her a piece of clothing."
The servant went in and quickly got a cloak and put it on the girl. Xie Heng then asked, "What's wrong with the girl beating the drum?"
The girl raised her head and looked at the constable beside her. The constable took the initiative and said, "She is a murderer. She killed her father."
The treasures are here~ (hundreds of red envelopes~)
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