22 Chapter 22
◎Xu Qinghe, do you want to marry him?◎
This area of land outside Beijing has winding streams, grasslands and wilderness, as well as several dense forests.
The carriage parking place is one place, the destination of Xu Qinghe and Cen Mengxia's horse racing is one place, and the forest where she is talking with Wei Ming is another place.
It was already afternoon, and the warm spring sun was shining through the west side of the woods, leaving mottled spots of light among the layers of leaves.
Wei Ming stood facing east and watched the warm sunlight cast a halo around the girl in front of him.
She has a tall and slender figure, and the riding clothes she wears today show off her exquisite curves.
Now that they were the only two here, Wei Ming could finally look at her without restraint.
But he was surprised to find that Xu Qinghe was no longer the childish thirteen-year-old girl who had just entered the palace. Now she had grown into a graceful and charming young lady.
He was moved, and before the other party could speak, he took the initiative to speak: "Qinghe, the imperial examination will be held in a dozen days, and the results will be announced in a month. After the results are announced, I will ask my great aunt to marry you, okay?"
Xu Qinghe looked up at him. The boy's eyes were full of expectation, as if he was waiting for her to nod and say "OK".
Unexpectedly, she shook her head, her eyes filled with alienation, and even took a step back to separate herself from him, saying, "Master Wei, I—"
Young Master Wei, I have no interest in you. Perhaps you can find someone who truly loves you and stop wasting your time on me.
Xu Qinghe originally wanted to tell him directly, but when he was about to speak, he suddenly remembered that the imperial examination was held once every three years. If he told Wei Ming about this at this time, it would disturb his mind and might be disadvantageous to him in the exam.
Even though many of her restrictions in the palace were caused by him, she really couldn't break through his mental defenses at this time and prevent him from preparing for the exam.
After all, she was just riding her horse in the wind in a moment of impulsiveness and was not thinking carefully.
So the rest of the words could only be swallowed.
But Wei Ming was not someone who couldn't read people's expressions. She was obviously trying to distance herself from him, and her expression was so cold.
Could it be that she didn't like him and didn't want to marry him?
But when I asked my great aunt if Qinghe was interested in me, her answer was clearly yes.
"Our Ming'er is a young talent, how could Qinghe not be willing? If you hadn't insisted, my great aunt would have chosen a girl from a better family for you."
Before he could think clearly, he heard Xu Qinghe say, "Young Master Wei, you should focus on the imperial examination now. I was rash today. We should discuss the rest in detail after the examination."
The word "Young Master" widened the distance between the two.
Wei Ming's mind was full of complicated thoughts, which he couldn't sort out for a moment, but he knew that the examination was the most important thing for him now, so he forced himself to suppress those thoughts, said goodbye to Xu Qinghe first, and quickly walked out of the woods.
The scholars outside were still drinking and writing poetry. When they saw him coming, they were about to tease him, but Wei Ming took the initiative to talk about poetry with them.
There was no change in his expression, as if what had just happened had never happened.
Inside the woods, Xu Qinghe looked up.
The forest is full of towering trees, most of whose branches and leaves have grown in late spring. Because the distance between trees is not large, the leaves appear particularly dense, almost covering the blue sky with only a few stars.
As she looked at it like this, she felt more and more suffocated in her chest. The experience of riding a horse in the wind just now seemed like a dream, and the long-lost comfort and freedom seemed like an illusion.
She sighed softly and was about to turn around and leave when she suddenly heard the sound of a horse snorting in the woods.
"Who's there?"
Between the disordered tree trunks, Wei Che, dressed in red and leading a red horse, walked out from the darkness.
Xu Qinghe frowned, "Why are you here?"
"It seems that the princess doesn't want to see me here." Wei Che raised his eyebrows slightly, with a smile on his lips, but there was no joy in his eyes.
Xu Qinghe said coldly, "I've already told the prince not to have such a blatant meeting."
"Why should I brag about this? Princess, please don't wrongly accuse me." He tugged at the reins, pointed at the red horse beside him, and said casually, "My horse got scared and ran away. I came here specifically to look for my horse, but I didn't expect to run into the princess and the eldest son of Wei."
Xu Qinghe didn't want to chat with him. He thought that Lin Xiao had already told him that he was asked to find the layout of the Wei family, so there was nothing else to talk about between them.
She turned around to leave, but when she passed by Wei Che, he grabbed her wrist.
Wei Che looked down at her and said with a smile, "Princess, have you forgotten something?"
Xu Qinghe couldn't break free, so she had to patiently look up at him and asked, "What?"
Wei Che's smile deepened, and there was a hint of teasing in his beautiful eyes, "The princess asked me to do something, why did you forget to give me a reward?"
"I wonder what Prince Wei wants?" Xu Qinghe exerted force to shake off his hand, then took a few steps back.
Wei Che held the red horse in one hand and shook the jade pendant on his waist with the other. "The tassel on my jade pendant is loose. Could you please help me make a new one?"
He wore a jade pendant with a carved auspicious cloud pattern on its waist, and a golden-red tassel underneath. The tassel was neatly tied and clearly in good condition.
Xu Qinghe frowned and shifted her gaze from the ear to his face, feeling puzzled. "Isn't your ear fine?"
Wei Che just laughed, and then pulled the ears of corn casually, and they fell to the ground in pieces.
"It's broken now."
Xu Qinghe: ...
"The princess doesn't respond? If the princess doesn't respond, then the Wei family—"
"I understand." Xu Qinghe said first.
It was just an ear of corn, not a difficult task for her.
Beating the ears of corn was originally the unique skill of Aunt Xie. Compared with my mother who was proficient in martial arts, Aunt Xie was better at needlework, which tested her patience.
When he was young, his father and mother were busy with wars, so Xu Qinghe would always learn some skills from his aunt Xie. Spending time with the elders always helped him ease his longing for his parents.
"Is the prince okay? If not, I'll leave."
"Xu Qinghe."
Wei Che behind her suddenly called her, and Xu Qinghe had to stop.
The name "Xu Qinghe" seemed to have come out from her dusty memories, and always made her feel somewhat familiar.
"Do you really want to marry him?"
Just now, Wei Che was hiding in the dark, while she and Wei Ming were in the light. The "he" he mentioned naturally referred to Wei Ming.
Xu Qinghe turned around and saw Wei Che still looking the same as before, with a smile on his lips, but the smile in his eyes had faded a little, as if it was still mixed with some expectation.
Was he expecting her answer?
She frowned, "Whether I want to marry or not, whether I marry or not, what does it have to do with the prince?"
Wei Che approached with the horse. The chestnut horse was very obedient and followed him without even snorting.
"Have you, the princess, forgotten the deal you made with me? I've done so much for you, but for what? Have you truly forgotten?"
He lowered his head, and his tall figure gradually enveloped her, bringing a little oppression with his height advantage.
With Wei Che's kung fu, there is no need for him to be controlled by her because of the so-called secret. Now she can send him to do things simply because he is willing.
But what will happen if one day he becomes unhappy and loses his patience?
Xu Qinghe didn't know, but he could guess roughly.
At this moment, Wei Che suddenly leaned close to her ear, and his warm breath hit her neck. He spoke in a low voice, almost suppressing it to a whisper.
"Don't forget, Princess. What I want is you."
If he wanted, with his ability, he could get what he wanted here.
But Wei Che didn't. After he finished speaking, he suddenly pulled away, straightening his back to leave her enough space to breathe.
"If the princess marries someone else, what will happen to our deal, huh?"
Xu Qinghe looked up at the man. There was still a smile on his face, but his words contained a threat.
She had no other choice but to delay, "Prince... let's find the layout first."
After saying that, she turned around quickly and strode out of the woods, fearing that the person behind her would catch up with her and drag her into the almost suffocating whirlpool.
When he walked out of the woods and greeted the warm sunshine again, Xu Qinghe was surprised to find a thin layer of cold sweat on his back.
"Qinghe, what's wrong with you?"
Princess Jing'an came over and asked, "Why do you look so unhappy? What did you just say to your cousin? Why do you both look so unhappy?"
Touching her hand, Jingan couldn't help but sigh, "Why is it so cold? Even colder than my hand?"
Xu Qinghe took a deep breath, shook his head, and said soothingly, "There's very little sunlight in the forest. Maybe I'm a little cold. It's okay."
She turned around and saw everyone gathered together whispering, so she asked Jing'an what was wrong.
Jing'an replied, "Not long after you and your cousin went to the side to talk, Miss Cen San came out."
When Cen Mengxia came out of the woods, he did not ride a horse, but limped out.
At that time, everyone was still confused. When she came closer, they couldn't help but cover their noses and step away.
It was because Cen Mengxia not only injured his leg, but his body was also dirty and smelled of foul things.
The other girls from the Cen family endured the smell and went forward to ask what had happened. Cen Mengxia just gritted her teeth and said nothing, and was helped by the maid to go to the carriage to deal with it.
So the young men and women of the Cen family left together in shameful manner in their cars early.
No one knew what happened between her and Xu Qinghe in the horse racing forest.
When everyone saw Cen Mengxia leave and Xu Qinghe just happened to show up, they all gathered around him and asked about the situation.
I wanted to learn something from her. After all, it was unbelievable that the usually fierce Miss Cen San would show up in such a humiliating manner.
Unexpectedly, Xu Qinghe said, "I ran ahead of Miss Cen San at the time and left the forest early. I don't know what happened to her in the forest afterwards."
However, the fact is that because the forest was often used by people for horse racing, over time it became a horse racing path, and there was only one path.
When Cen Mengxia woke up in the morning, he learned that Xu Qinghe would also go to the outskirts of Beijing during the Shangsi Festival, so he ordered people to dig a big hole on the road that must be passed.
The pit was more than ten feet wide and was filled with some filthy things. Cen Mengxia had originally wanted to force Xu Qinghe there under the pretext of horse racing, and cause her to fall off her horse and into the pit.
Falling from such a height from a galloping horse, he would surely be crippled if not killed.
Compared to letting her die directly, Cen Mengxia was obviously more pleased with the shame and disability she suffered.
But who knew that Xu Qinghe kept galloping all the way, and was about to leave the forest. Cen Mengxia was surprised, wondering if those servants were lazy and slacking off?
Unexpectedly, the next moment, she accidentally stepped on the straw mat used as camouflage on the top of the pit and fell down.
It turned out that she was so focused on Xu Qinghe that she forgot where she was going and also forgot to identify the marks made by the servants after they disguised the pit entrance. This was why she made a mistake and shot herself in the foot.
She was covered in dirt and her legs were aching like bones breaking.
At this time, Xu Qinghe came back with the horse, stood at the mouth of the pit, and looked down at her condescendingly.
"Cen Mengxia, how does it feel to fall into your own trap?"
Cen Mengxia half-lay at the bottom of the pit, hugging his legs. He looked over angrily and asked, "How did you know?"
Xu Qinghe curled the corners of her lips and said, "Miss Cen San may have forgotten where I grew up."
She grew up in the war-torn southern region, and even though she had never been to a battlefield, she still had the ability to distinguish between new and old soil.
What's more, she was determined to lure herself into the woods. Apart from digging a pit to make her fall, Xu Qinghe couldn't think of any other good ideas that Cen Mengxia could come up with.
"You've repeatedly harmed me simply because you think I have no one to rely on. The so-called royal hospitality is all fake, right?"
"But Miss Cen San seems to have forgotten that it is precisely because I am now alone and have nothing to worry about that I can - without any scruples, break the jar with you."
"You might still be restrained for the sake of the Cen family, but I won't. If you dare to attack me again..."
"Miss Cen San, what I can do is not as simple as digging a hole like you did."
She smiled at the people at the bottom of the pit with a contempt she had never shown in the past five years, and with the arrogance she had only shown five years ago in the southern border.
Then he turned around and rode away.
Only Cen Mengxia was left at the bottom of the pit, wishing he could jump out and cut Xu Qinghe into pieces.
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