34 Chapter 34
◎Visit the boudoir again and accept the proposal.◎
What was Xie Qi doing in the ancestral hall?
Xu Qinghe had a bad feeling in his heart and struggled to get out of bed.
Because the King and Queen of Nan'an were not at home, Xie Qi was worried, so he took her directly to the Xie family after leaving the clinic.
Correspondingly, the ancestral hall that Nanzhi was referring to was naturally the Xie family's ancestral hall.
As they approached the courtyard where the ancestral hall was located, they heard the sound of whipping with rattan sticks and the angry scolding of Aunt Xie.
"Your father asked you to come back and recuperate, but you took the princess out for a drink. Not only did you get drunk, but you also caused the princess to accidentally eat the longevity fruit. If anything happens to the princess, how are you going to explain this to the prince and princess?!"
Aunt Xie, who was so gentle, actually got angry and whipped Xie Qi on the back with a rattan stick.
Xie Qi's upper body was naked, with his back facing her, which was already covered in blood.
Xu Qinghe was startled and tears welled up in her eyes. She rushed over to block the cane for him and looked at Aunt Xie with tears in her eyes.
She wanted to speak, but nothing came out, so she could only cry.
It was she who insisted on going out with Xie Qi. Xie Qi was originally unwilling to take her with him, but she insisted on following him and that's why something bad happened. How could she let him suffer such an unexpected disaster?
Xie Qi was afraid of scaring her, so he quickly pulled up his clothes to cover the scars.
The pain of beating a child is felt by the mother. Madam Xie Liang Zhen's eyes were red. She threw down the cane and helped Xu Qinghe up again, saying apologetically, "Now that the prince and princess are not at home, it is your aunt who failed to take good care of the princess, causing her to suffer from illness."
Such a lovely girl, still a child, but she has rashes all over her face and body. What if she gets scars?
Xu Qinghe cried and shook her head.
She would never go to a restaurant to drink again, and would never force Xie Qi to do anything he didn't want to do.
She held Liang Zhen's hand and wrote on her palm stroke by stroke: I forced Xie Qi to take me there. It was my own fault. Don't blame him.
Liang Zhen shook her head. "Princess, please don't say that. He took you out to play but didn't protect you properly. That's his fault. He's so reckless and ignorant. How can he take good care of you in the future?"
Xu Qinghe cried and shook her head, writing over and over on her palm: Don't blame him, don't blame him.
Liang Zhen sighed and finally asked Xie Qi to get up. Xu Qinghe hurried over to help him and sent him back to his room.
The matter ended there. Later, my father and mother found time to come back. Aunt Xie immediately came to apologize and took all the blame on Xie Qi.
The King of Nannan smiled heartily and did not blame him. Instead, he comforted Liang Zhen and praised Xie Qi for his good response.
After this incident, whenever she wanted to eat food from other places, Xie Qi would ask if there was any longevity fruit in it.
Later, whenever Xu Qinghe thought of this incident, he felt not only guilty but also a little regretful.
Her face was covered in rashes, so why did she go out without a veil or a hat? How could Xie Qi see such an embarrassing face?
However, all the past events have eventually become a thing of the past.
Now Xu Qinghe no longer regrets not showing her best side to him. She just seals these trivial matters as the most beautiful memories in her heart, and takes them out to look at them whenever she thinks of them.
Only in these memories can her father and mother live vividly, call her "Qinghe" and scold her "Hu Nao".
The two of them were silent, with only the slight sound of the silk thread rubbing against each other in Xu Qinghe's hands, and the whistling of the wind and the colliding of branches and leaves outside the house.
Just when Nanzhi couldn't stand the strange silence anymore and was about to speak out, there was a sudden "bang" sound from the rear window.
Nanzhi looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the window was blown by the wind and hit the wall of the house.
"The wind is too strong today. I'm afraid it will disturb the princess's sleep. Let me help her close the window." She turned around and tried to leave, but was stopped.
Xu Qinghe shook his head at her and wrote on the paper: Leave the window open, turn off the lights, and go back to your room to rest.
She stared at the princess with wide eyes.
What's going on? Is she leaving too?
"But someone is coming back tonight? ...Is it Prince Wei?"
Xu Qinghe nodded, picked up the lampshade above the candle, lit the paper in his hand, and watched it turn into ash and fall on the table.
Letting Nanzhi leave was not because she didn't trust her, but because Wei Che was a reckless person. She was afraid that he would do something to upset Nanzhi, which would affect their subsequent cooperation.
Nanzhi obeyed all the princess' orders. She cleaned up the ashes and said goodbye to Xu Qinghe before leaving.
After she left, Xu Qinghe got up and bolted the door, and closed the clanging windows in front, but he did not go to bed. He just sat on the couch neatly dressed and waited.
She waited for nearly two hours, until midnight, when she was drowsy with her hands on the small table, when she finally heard movement from the window.
Xu Qinghe was awakened by the sound and suddenly came back to his senses.
She had seen Wei Che's kung fu during the day. He could easily climb in through the window without making any noise. But no matter last time or this time, he seemed to be deliberately making some noise to let her know that he was coming.
After a few breaths, Xu Qinghe had already straightened his clothes, and Wei Che finally walked out from the darkness.
As soon as he raised his eyes, he saw that under the hazy moonlight, Xu Qinghe's palm-sized fair face was covered with red rashes.
Wei Che was startled. He took a few steps and walked over to Xu Qinghe. He pinched her jaw and looked at her carefully. "Did you eat the longevity fruit?!"
Wei Che lowered his voice, but shock and frustration were still evident in his tone. The eyes he looked at her with were no longer full of affection, but rather disbelief, as if he was repeatedly asking her: Are you crazy?!
But how did he know that he had eaten the longevity fruit?
Xu Qinghe was so lost in doubt that she forgot to slap his hand away for a moment.
But Wei Che quickly reacted, let her go, and turned his head away from her.
Xu Qinghe came back to his senses and grabbed his hand.
She had just asked Nanzhi to turn off all the lights in the house, for fear that the candlelight would cast Wei Che's shadow, but she also specially had someone add lanterns under the eaves, which would not cast a shadow but would allow some light to seep into the inner room.
But such light was not enough for her to write with a pen, so she had to open Wei Che's palm, picked up a hairpin she had prepared, and wrote on his palm: Why do you say that I ate the longevity fruit?
If it was because of the rash on her face, that doesn't make sense. There are more than ten reasons why people get rashes. How can we determine that it was because of accidentally eating longan?
Wei Che looked at her, his usual teasing expression gone from his eyes and face. He felt the question she had written on his palm, took a deep breath, and replied:
"I once met a girl who, while the longevity fruit might be a nourishing treat for others, was considered untouchable. She once accidentally ate it and developed a rash that left her speechless and nearly dead. The princess today is no different from her, so I assumed this was my own assumption. It's just a guess."
Xu Qinghe paused and continued to write on his palm: Are you lying to me?
Wei Che finally laughed, regaining some of his usual self. "Why would I lie to the princess? What benefits would I get from successfully deceiving her? For example... accepting my proposal?"
Xu Qinghe lowered her head, the moonlight and candlelight fell on her, half of her side was bright and the other half was in shadow.
She wrote: If you want me to agree, that's fine, but Prince, please answer me a question first.
Wei Che: "I'm all ears."
Xu Qinghe: What is your purpose in stealing the secret letter today?
Wei Che had anticipated this problem a long time ago, or rather, this was the reason why he came here today.
"Whatever purpose the princess has, I have the same purpose."
Xu Qinghe: Prince, I don’t want to beat around the bush with you. If you don’t want to talk, just leave.
"Why are you angry?" Wei Che couldn't help but chuckle when he saw her gloomy face.
Xu Qinghe glared at him, somewhat annoyed.
She is still a patient now. Wei Che sighed and decided not to tease her anymore. He said directly:
"I've admired General Xie since I was young and don't believe he would commit treason, so I've been searching for clues to overturn his conviction. Coincidentally, the princess and I both recently went to Lin Xiao first. I don't need to tell you what happened next; the princess should have guessed it."
Xu Qinghe looked into his eyes. Although there was a smile in her eyes, it was very sincere and she didn't seem to be lying.
What's more, what he said was indeed consistent with what Lin Xiao said.
When she came back in the afternoon, she asked Lin Xiao to identify the authenticity of the secret letter, and then wrote on the paper: Today when I went to steal the letter, I met Prince Wei.
At that time, Nanzhi and Lin Xiao were both shocked, and the latter was under the scrutiny of the princess.
Lin Xiao's legs softened and he told her the truth.
"Princess, please allow me to report. I did inform Prince Wei of the previous incident. Since he didn't realize my identity when he rescued me, I assumed he had good intentions. He also mentioned his admiration for General Xie and his disbelief that he would collude with the enemy and betray the country. He was looking for evidence to overturn the verdict, so I let my guard down and told him everything..."
"You..." Nanzhi slowly widened her eyes, unable to believe that such a simple girl could evade pursuit all the way from the southern border to Kyoto.
"How could you be so gullible? What if Prince Wei was deceiving you? Also, since this happened, why didn't you report it to the princess in time so she could respond?"
Lin Xiao shrank his neck and whispered, "Because I had no relatives at the time, I used Prince Wei as a floating tree to cling to. After entering the palace, I felt it was inappropriate and wanted to tell the princess, but...but the princess was not interested in finding the secret letter at the time, so I...hid it from her and placed my hopes on Prince Wei again."
But she didn't expect that Xu Qinghe would actually steal the letter and happened to meet Wei Che.
What Wei Che said now was indeed the same as what Lin Xiao said.
When Xu Qinghe came out of her memories, she met Wei Che's meaningful gaze.
He looked at her intently and asked with a smile, "How is it? Are you satisfied with this answer? Will the princess agree to my request?"
Xu Qinghe took back the hairpin, let it go from his hand, lowered her eyes and nodded.
Wei Che was very happy.
Regardless of whether he was Wei Che or Xie Qi, in short, she accepted his proposal this time.
In order to avoid any further complications, he had to find a way to get her out of this deep palace as soon as possible.
After dealing with the matters of men and women, it was time to get down to business. Wei Che asked, "Princess, could you please let me see the secret letter?"
That thing was an extremely important piece of evidence, and Xu Qinghe had been keeping it close to her. When she was about to take it out of her arms, she found that he was still looking at her with that same gaze.
She was rarely embarrassed. She picked up the round fan on the small table beside her to cover his eyes, and only put it down after she took out the letter.
Wei Che took the secret letter and this time did not tease him. He just smiled silently with the corners of his lips raised.
After reading the letter, he sighed in agreement with Xu Qinghe: "There are so many scarred men in this world. It's not easy to find one in such a vast sea of people. In comparison, it would be better to capture Minister of Works Cen Liangping first."
Xu Qinghe nodded, thinking the same thing.
However, this matter had to be postponed to a later date; the most urgent task was to find a way to get her out of the palace as soon as possible. Ever since he knew that the royal hospitality was fake and the secret manipulation was real, Wei Che wanted to take her out of the palace immediately.
only……
"Have you told your eldest son, Master Wei, about your plan to marry me?"
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