139 Chapter 139
◎At that time, she also wondered if this prince had some special hobby.◎
Xu Qinghe patted Jing'an's back gently and listened quietly to her chattering.
Finally, she looked at the gradually darkening sky and Qi Sheng who was waiting beside her, and said softly: "I remember everything you said. You have to take care of yourself too, understand?"
She deliberately raised her voice to ensure Qi Sheng could hear clearly: "You have always been in poor health. You are afraid of heat in summer and cold in winter, and you are afraid of dryness in spring and autumn. You need to ask a doctor to take good care of you. As for offspring, everyone has their own destiny. You have to recover your health before you can think about it. Don't worry, understand?"
Princess Jing'an couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Okay, you don't have to tell him on purpose. He knows everything. I understand it too."
When the two faced each other, Xu Qinghe concealed his emotions very well.
But when she saw Jing'an and Qi Sheng leaving hand in hand in the carriage, she couldn't help but moisten her eyes.
Nanzhi hesitated for a moment and did not get on the car. She just walked beside the car, giving the princess enough space.
Later, the sun had already set in the west, the sky was orange and red, and the clouds of various colors intertwined together, weaving a gorgeous scene.
"Nanzhi, let's go to Migu Town."
After a while, only Xu Qinghe's slightly hoarse voice was heard from the car.
Nanzhi understood and instructed the attendants, "It's getting late. The princess ordered us to find an inn in the town ahead to rest for the night."
This time she was traveling by imperial decree, and Emperor Yongshun not only sent her a carriage and entourage, but also naturally arranged a number of spies among the entourage to ensure that they would arrive in the southern border as scheduled.
The princess naturally wanted to find the best inn in the town, and the one she finally decided on was the one Xie Qi had brought her to.
At that time, he was still the prince of Fuguo, hiding everything from her. When he brought her to Migu Town to do some business, he joked and ordered a table full of her favorite dishes. In the end, he took her bowl and chopsticks without any disgust before she finished the meal.
At that time, she also wondered if this prince had any special hobbies.
Now that I think about it, if he was Xie Qi, then everything would make sense.
Looking at the familiar dishes on the table, Xu Qinghe quickly lost his appetite and took Nanzhi back to the room to rest.
"Has Yang Langjun arrived?"
She was talking about Yang Ye, the young man she had someone rescue in front of Nianxiangju after her divorce.
She had asked him if he was married in preparation for today.
Nanzhi was holding her hand as they strolled around the room. Upon hearing this, she replied, "They arrived two days ago. Besides Young Master Yang, all of our trusted associates from Nianxiangju have also arrived here in advance. According to the princess's wishes, half will follow me back to the southern border, and the other half will follow the princess. Wherever the princess goes, they'll be there."
Xu Qinghe nodded. Nanzhi always made her feel at ease with what he did.
"I'll stay in town for a few more days under the pretext of feeling unwell. I'll just say you've been to the clinic getting medicine all the time. And then you've developed feelings for Mr. Yang, who's disguised as a doctor, and you've asked me to let you stay here for him."
Nanzhi understood: "Then we'll just say that the princess was reluctant to let me go at first, but finally relented after our repeated pleas."
Everyone knows that Nanzhi is her most trusted right-hand man, so Xu Qinghe must find a suitable reason to make "her" leave "him".
She raised her hand and stroked Nanzhi's hair. In the past few years with her, Nanzhi had changed a lot. She became more stable and had lost the joy of her youth.
"Sometimes I wonder if it was the right decision to bring you to Kyoto. If I had let you stay in the Southern Territory, you might have found someone you loved, or perhaps even achieved something successful, instead of working so hard for me."
Nanzhi held back her tears and took the princess's hand. As soon as the corners of her mouth curled up, tears began to fall uncontrollably.
"Nanzhi's life was saved by the Nan'an Palace. Even a drop of kindness should be repaid with a spring, let alone the grace of saving her life. These are what Nanzhi should do, and they are what Nanzhi is willing to do. Nanzhi is very happy to contribute to the truth of the past and the princess's future plans. But... Nanzhi just can't bear to leave you..."
From childhood to adulthood, she has never been separated from the princess.
Xu Qinghe hugged her and let her lean on him. She felt that her eyes, which had just cried, seemed to be filled with tears again.
"Why are you crying? It's not like we'll never see each other again. I'll be back in a year at most, and we'll be able to meet again then. By then, I'll still need you to take care of the child for me."
"Nanzhi is very happy." She burst into laughter.
Their plan went smoothly.
Ten days later, Princess Zhaoning, having recovered from her illness, could not resist the pleas of her loyal servant and, for the sake of her maid's happiness, she decided to keep her in this small town forever. As she was under an imperial order, she could not delay easily and did not have the chance to see her maid marry her lover. Instead, she gave her a large sum of money and allowed her to choose a place to settle down.
That morning, there were birds singing and a gentle breeze blowing. Witnessed by a group of attendants, the two finally bid farewell to each other.
From then on, everyone's eyes were fixed on the princess's carriage, and no one paid attention to the maid who abandoned her master and hometown for love.
Returning to the inn at night, Xu Qinghe lay alone in the empty bed tent, listening to the hustle and bustle downstairs and the chirping of birds and insects outside the window, and suddenly felt a little lonely.
She seldom slept alone like this.
In the past there was Xie Qi, then there were Jing'an and Nanzhi, and now she is the only one left.
Boom, boom, boom.
In the quiet night, someone suddenly knocked on the door.
Xu Qinghe subconsciously tensed his body.
The first person she thought of was Yang Ye.
Although she had ordered people to find out his character and promised to give him a large sum of money after the task was completed, everyone has desires and there are always unexpected events.
Fortunately, the people they brought from Nianxiangju lived next door, and there were many brave men among them.
She had helped these people, and at the same time she held their indentures, and gave them generous rewards, which ultimately enabled her to truly use these people for her own benefit.
Now, when they heard the unusual noise, the men immediately came out in droves.
But in the end, nothing happened.
Instead, a girl's voice soon rang out from outside the door: "It's me, please open the door and look, it's me."
The person outside the door seemed afraid of exposing her identity, so he deliberately did not use any title.
It was Lin Xiao's voice.
Xu Qinghe opened the door and saw Lin Xiao outside, dressed in men's clothes and carrying a bag.
Without her instructions, even if someone recognized that this was the former shopkeeper, they would still be on high alert.
Xu Qinghe asked everyone to go and rest and let Lin Xiao into the room.
"Didn't I tell you to follow the team back to the southern border so you could have someone to look after you on the way? Why are you back again?"
According to the original plan, Lin Xiao would take his brother Meng Chen's relics and sneak into the convoy that was seeing off the princess, and return to his hometown in the south with Nanzhi.
Meng Chen was poisoned in prison, his body thrown into a mass grave. Although he revealed to everyone that he had perjured himself under duress, his body was nowhere to be found. Xie Qi, through some means, retrieved his belongings from the government office and ultimately handed them over to Lin Xiao.
Lin Xiao stood in front of her, clutching the corner of his clothes, with his head lowered, like a child who had done something wrong.
"I... Lin Xiao has thought about this for a long time. Ultimately, it's all because of me that General Xie's family suffered injustice. If it weren't for me, my brother wouldn't have been blackmailed. If he hadn't been blackmailed, he naturally wouldn't have given false testimony to that thief Wei Yiqun. Admittedly, Lin Xiao really wants to go home, but... I can't be ungrateful. Right now, you're in need of someone by your side, so how can I just run away without caring about anything?"
She plopped down on her knees and said, "Madam, Lin Xiao has come back to atone for his sins."
Xu Qinghe sat on a round stool in the inn. Because she was becoming more and more pregnant, she had to support herself on the table with her elbows to keep her seat steady.
But she couldn't help but follow Lin Xiao's thoughts and think, if the Xie family had not been wronged, what would their lives be like?
But there are no ifs in this world, and Lin Xiao doesn't need to blame himself.
"Even if Lin Xiao wasn't there, there would still be Li Xiao and Liu Xiao. As long as Wei Yiqun persists in his desire to harm others, he will always find a way to frame them."
Xu Qinghe paused and thought seriously about her current situation. She really lacked a capable person by her side, and Lin Xiao was indeed the best choice.
So she didn't hesitate: "Well, since you can come back, I guess you've thought it through. I'll give you triple your wages, and there will be another reward when we return to the southern border. All of this will be considered as compensation for your trip. How about it?"
Lin Xiao immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed: "Thank you, Madam, for letting bygones be bygones. Lin Xiao will serve you well!"
There are always separations in life, but there are also always reunions.
When he heard Lin Xiao's steady breathing from the soft couch beside him, Xu Qinghe actually found himself relieved.
Since when did she long for someone's company so much?
As sleepiness gradually came over her, Xu Qinghe told herself that this habit was very bad and she needed to correct it.
**
On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the Dragon Boat Festival, Ting'an Town, forty miles away from Kyoto, was bustling with activity.
People were selling Five Poisons Brocade Sails everywhere on the streets to drive away evil spirits. Small flags made of mugwort were placed in front of every window to bring good luck, or banyan branches and paper horses were hung together to pray for safety for the people they cared about.
Families with some wealth even set up a "zongzi banquet" and invited neighbors to their homes. They also ordered people to put various zongzi on the banquet and add realgar wine to it to ward off evil and bring good luck, and pray for good luck and peace in laughter and joy.
The Xu couple who recently moved into the town are one such family.
The Xu couple were in the medicinal herb business. The husband, surnamed Yang, was originally an apprentice at a medical clinic in Migu Town, outside the capital, and later married the daughter of the clinic's owner. They were childless for three years after their marriage. Finally, when Mrs. Xu finally became pregnant, she was advised by a skilled practitioner to travel to the southern border to ensure a healthy pregnancy.
But the road to the southern border was long, and Mrs. Xu, who was five months pregnant, naturally could not make it there, so she had to settle for the next best thing and come to Ting'an Town, which was known as the "Little Southern Border".
The couple was wealthy, but they were kind and low-key. On the Dragon Boat Festival, they opened their house, set out a rice dumpling feast, and invited neighbors to come and have fun together, which was considered a warm home.
Amidst the laughter and cheers, Mrs. Xu came out briefly, but because the sun was too hot, she was quickly helped back into the house by Doctor Xu.
"Don't blame me, my wife is weak. She just moved here a few days ago and she's not feeling well."
Everyone agreed that it was all right. Some praised Young Master Yang for loving his wife, while others jokingly asked, "I just don't know why Madam Xu wears a veil. Could it be that Young Master Yang is afraid of being seen by us because of her beauty?"
After all, although we haven't seen Mrs. Xu's full appearance, just from her slim figure and exposed eyes, we can tell that she is a rare beauty.
Facing the good-natured teasing from the crowd, Yang Ye raised the corner of his lips calmly and told them what he had prepared long ago: "It all comes down to what that great Taoist master said. My wife can't see strangers before she gives birth. She needs to cover her face with a light veil when in public. This is the only way to keep both mother and child healthy."
There were many couples who had worked hard to have children at the banquet today. When they heard the words, they couldn't help but think of their own strange experiences, and for a moment they couldn't help but tell them, making the already noisy front yard even more lively.
Fortunately, Xu Qinghe had someone rent a courtyard with four entrances in advance. Yang Ye entertained the guests in the front courtyard, and Xu Qinghe had some peace and quiet in the back courtyard.
She is not used to such lively and social occasions.
When she was young and still in the southern border, Princess Qinghe was the most noble among all the girls, so naturally other girls would come up to her and say things they liked.
Later, she entered the palace. Firstly, she really didn't have the desire to do so. Secondly, her words and actions were restricted. She had not attended those occasions for a long time. Over time, she became cold and taciturn.
Later, she married Xie Qi, and everything went well...
Xu Qinghe's heart trembled, and he pinched his palm to stop the thought in time.
"Ma'am, what's wrong?"
Lin Xiao was massaging his wife's shoulders when he noticed her body stiffen for a moment.
Xu Qinghe just said "Nothing" and quickly closed his eyes to take a nap.
"How is Yang Langjun's residence prepared?"
Lin Xiao replied, "As Madam instructed, the front yard has been cleared for him to live in. Many of the people we brought back from the capital are skilled in martial arts, and they've also been assigned to the front yard as security. Madam and I will be staying in the back yard, and the other maids who are skilled in martial arts will be stationed in the east and west wings to protect us. Madam is truly clever, even thinking of finding some skilled maids to accompany us. It's much more convenient than having those big, heavyset men."
In fact, it was all thanks to Fu Zongying that Xu Qinghe thought of finding some maids who knew martial arts.
On the second day after Wei Yiqun was executed and she separated from Xie Qi, Fu Zongying suddenly came to the door of the inn.
【Author’s words】
Thanks for the vote [burst crying] To thank the little angel for the vote and to commemorate the first anniversary of this article, there will be two updates today, and the next update will be at 6 pm [rainbow fart]
Increase the collection, my eldest daughter woo woo
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