13 Birthday Gift
◎Xu Qinghe will never see Xie Qi again.◎
Before the banquet ended, Xu Qinghe and several princesses left early and took Nanzhi back to the bedroom.
"The princess has finally had a good rest these past few days. A few days ago, there were always dark circles under her eyes, and she had to use some makeup to cover them up. But today, she doesn't need it anymore."
In front of the huanghuali plum-patterned folding mirror, Nanzhi was removing Xu Qinghe's makeup and hair.
The girl in the mirror had fair skin and beautiful eyebrows and eyes. Even without makeup, she looked much better than the noble ladies who were dressed up today, and much better than the pale and haggard look of the past few days.
As Nanzhi said, Xu Qinghe had indeed rested much better these days than before.
Before that birthday, she had not dreamed about five years ago or the southern border for a long time. However, after the assassination that day, her father, mother, General Xie, aunt, and the three brothers of the Xie family would frequently appear in her dreams, making her either happy or sad. She would fall asleep and wake up again in bed, tossing and turning until the fourth watch of the night and still not be able to fall asleep peacefully.
It has indeed been much better these past few days, and I always have a dreamless night.
After bathing, Nanzhi took out the small drawer from the dressing table and applied the ointment given by the imperial physician to the wound on Xu Qinghe's chest.
A month later, the wounds on her body had healed completely, and now they were itchy and starting to grow new flesh. This ointment was meant to be used at this time, as it could remove scars and restore her complexion.
As for ointment that can remove facial scars, Xu Qinghe had seen it before when he was in the southern border.
Her mother was different from ordinary women. She was a rare female general. She never confined herself to the backyard, but went to the battlefield to kill the enemy and became a comrade-in-arms that her father could trust with his back.
However, once on the battlefield, one must face countless hidden attacks, and no one can return unscathed. Once, Princess Nan'an was accidentally targeted by an enemy soldier in the dark. A sharp arrow streaked through the air, and even though the princess dodged in time, the arrow still grazed her cheek, leaving a scar about two inches long.
Even though the princess was no longer an ordinary woman, she was still a girl who loved beauty. If the wound had been anywhere else, it would have been fine, but it had to be on her face. The princess was so angry that she pulled out the enemy soldier who shot the arrow on the battlefield and stabbed him through with her spear.
Later, when they returned to the palace, the princess was in a bad mood all day long, and Xu Qinghe didn't dare to act coquettishly in front of her during those days.
Naturally, Prince Nan'an couldn't stand it any longer, so he searched for famous doctors in the southern border. Finally, he really prescribed an ointment for the princess to remove scars. After only one month of using the ointment, the princess's face became smooth as before and her appearance was restored to its original state.
But Nanzhi naturally could not mention this matter in front of Xu Qinghe, so as not to make the princess remember the past and feel sad.
I just don't know if the ointment given by the imperial physician can be as effective as the one in the Nan'an Palace. The princess has skin as white as jade, but there is a thumb-sized scar on her body. Every time she sees it when taking a bath, she always feels uncomfortable and awkward.
"This scar isn't visible, so even if it can't be removed, it's not a big deal."
Xu Qinghe could see Nanzhi's face through the mirror. As soon as she saw the wrinkled expression on her face, she knew what she was thinking.
"How are your injuries?"
Nanzhi calmed down a bit and replied, "The injury only looked scary at first, but it's almost healed recently."
But I thought to myself, the scar is indeed not visible on a normal day, and the princess may not care about it, but the princess will get married sooner or later, so how can her future husband not care about it?
She concealed her expression well this time, and Xu Qinghe really didn't notice anything.
After applying the medicine, she closed her clothes and said to her, "We have to get up early tomorrow, so you should go down and rest early."
On the first day of the lunar year, officials of the Daying Dynasty would attend a grand court meeting, and concubines and princesses in the harem and princes who had not yet established their own houses would also go to pay their respects to the empress dowager and the queen.
Nanzhi said yes and turned to pick up the old clothes that the princess had taken off before taking a bath. When he gathered the clothes together, he found that they were heavy. He searched the sleeve pocket and took out an exquisite sandalwood box carved with plum blossom patterns.
Tonight, the man's dark eyes appeared in front of her again in the rockery. Xu Qinghe then remembered that this was the birthday gift Wei Che had given her before she left.
Her birthday had already passed a month ago, yet he still wanted to give her a birthday gift.
Xu Qinghe picked up the horn comb on the table and combed her hair. She was not willing to accept the gift, nor was she willing to open it.
She thought of the helpless kiss tonight, and then thought of Xie Qi when he was young, and she always felt uncomfortable in her heart.
"Just find a place to put it." She lowered her head and said in a muffled voice.
"Yes." Nanzhi retreated with the clothes in her arms. She could guess what the princess meant, so she planned to put the box at the bottom of the box containing clothes, in the most inconspicuous place, so that no one would ever remember it.
Xu Qinghe started to sleep poorly again that night.
The young Xie Qi appeared in her dream, held her hand and talked to her about the past, and finally cruelly let her go, asking her why he was so close to another man.
She cried silently on the pillow. In her dream, she opened her lips to explain, "I didn't," but she couldn't get back Xie Qi who turned and left.
She would never see him again.
Xu Qinghe would never see Xie Qi again.
**
Wei Che didn't sleep well that night, or even didn't sleep at all.
Not long after the servant helped him back to his bedroom at night, Fu Zongying climbed in through the window.
At that time, Emperor Yongshun hastily convicted his father Xie Huaiyuan of treason and sent the imperial guards to kill all the members of the Xie family without leaving any alive. Xie Qi was in a bad mood because of Xu Qinghe's departure, and he often went out to race horses, so he happened to escape the disaster.
But Emperor Yongshun was determined to wipe out the entire Xie family. Even though Xie Qi tried to hide, he was still targeted in the end. Even though he was a young talent, he was no match for the enemy and was at a disadvantage in the pursuit and encirclement.
Xie Qi was unwilling to give up, so he simply set fire to the inn where no one was staying. He wanted to either break out of the fire or die together with the imperial guards.
Xie Qi was still fighting hard in the fire scene, but finally lost consciousness due to the smoke and dust.
He thought he was going to die and felt ashamed to face his parents and brothers, but when he woke up, he was rescued by a couple from the martial arts world.
Those two people were Fu Zongying's parents. Because they knew a little about official affairs and knew General Xie's character, they rarely intervened in the court affairs and rescued Xie Qi.
"Don't worry. That fire burned everyone to ashes. When we found you, you had two jade pendants on you. We left them in the fire. If any soldiers came after you and found you, they would think you were dead."
The two jade pendants were the tokens of engagement between the Xie family and the Nan'an Palace. Xu Qinghe returned them to him when he left, and both jade pendants remained with him.
So that day, Xie Qi died in the fire at the inn along with the past. The one who survived was an old member of the Southern Border Army who was determined to take revenge, clear the Xie family's grievances, and find out the truth about the deaths of the Southern Border Army. Later, with the help of this couple, he successfully became the prince of the Fuguo Mansion.
From then on, he used someone else's identity and name to secretly find out the truth.
The Jianghu couple who saved Wei Che's life had long admired the Southern Border Army, so they decided to help them to the end and secretly provide assistance to Wei Che.
Now that Wei Che has returned to Beijing, they want to train their son, so they let Fu Zongying become the main force of support.
The young man is only fifteen years old now, at the age of being a reckless young man. His martial arts skills are already top-notch in the world. Because he has been staying with Wei Che in Zhangzhou all these years, he treats him as a half-brother. He always likes to argue with him, but he is also very wholeheartedly dedicated to doing things for him.
Now that he had entered the Duke's bedroom, although he felt a little reluctant to stay, he still waited patiently for Wei Che to sober up.
Only when the sound of the night watchman's drum, first slow and then fast, came from outside did Wei Che finally suppress the drunkenness in his body.
He poured another cup of sobering tea from the table and then asked, "How's the person I asked you to help investigate?"
Fu Zongying also followed his example and poured herself a cup of tea, but she didn't expect it to be so bitter that she stuck out her tongue.
Wei Che glanced at him. His eyes always seemed to be smiling even when he was not smiling. Now that he was teased by Fu Zongying's funny look, the smile in his eyes became even more obvious.
He suddenly remembered that when he was young, his two brothers might have been as affectionate as this when they saw him making a fool of himself.
It’s a pity that I never asked before, and now I don’t have the chance to ask.
Fu Zongying poured herself a glass of water and gulped it down several times before finally getting rid of the bitter taste. She then said, "There's been no progress. We know she went to Huajing, and then she seemed to have evaporated. There's no news at all about her. How could a teenage girl be so hidden?"
Fortunately, he had just woken up and was discussing serious matters with him. Wei Che keenly grasped the loophole in his words and asked, "Did you only look for the new girl who appeared in the city?"
Fu Zongying blinked: "What else? Should I go find an old lady in her seventies or eighties?"
Wei Che felt helpless: "Have you even forgotten what your parents are best at?"
Fu Zongying's parents are best at disguise.
"But the person you want me to find doesn't have this ability."
"They don't have superb disguise skills, but they should be able to do a simple change of clothes."
An old lady in her seventies or eighties may not be able to turn herself into a girl of seventeen or eighteen, but a girl of seventeen or eighteen can dress herself up as an old lady in her seventies or eighties.
Fu Zongying suddenly realized, "So that's why! I must have let her get away because my goal was so clear. If this girl really managed to change her age so she wouldn't be found, I'd be so embarrassed! Ruan Ling will definitely laugh at me again when she finds out."
A young boy of this age could not accept being looked down upon by the girl he liked. Fu Zongying didn't even want to drink the tea. He stood up and left through the window, vowing to find the girl within three days.
After he left, Wei Che remembered that he had not yet handed over to him the task of Xu Qinghe finding someone.
Thinking of this and recalling what happened just now, Wei Che paused slightly in stroking the porcelain cup.
Xu Qinghe was looking for a woman, while he was looking for a girl of seventeen or eighteen years old.
Just as he said just now, if a girl of seventeen or eighteen can dress herself up as an old lady, then she can also dress herself up as a woman.
Could it be that... the woman she was looking for was the surviving member of the Southern Border Army in disguise?
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