39 Night Visit to the Boudoir
◎He slapped him.◎
Queen Mother Wei was so angry that she threw a teacup on the ground.
The tea mixed with broken porcelain pieces shattered everywhere, and finally a few drops splashed onto Xu Qinghe's dress.
Queen Mother Wei was waiting for her explanation, but she just raised her head, her eyes red as she silently shed tears.
The candlelight in the warm room was bright, allowing her to see the terrifying red rash that had reappeared on the fair little face.
"What's going on?" she asked the maid who was kneeling beside her.
Nanzhi immediately bowed her head and replied, "Her Majesty, the princess accidentally ate longevity fruit, also known as peanuts, at the Qi residence. She was fine when she returned to the palace just now, but when she returned to her bedroom, her condition worsened again, and she broke out in a rash again. She can't even speak."
Tears were still streaming down Xu Qinghe's face as she looked up at Queen Mother Wei, her eyes filled with tears and her appearance of weakness and pity.
She was speechless, so Nanzhi could only speak for her:
"But Your Majesty, please allow me to report that our princess has absolutely no connection with that Prince of the Fuguo Duke! They only met once during the outing outside the capital during the Shangsi Festival. The eldest son of Wei was present at the time, and it was only after he introduced her to the prince that the princess realized he was the prince. She has never seen him again since then!"
Having said this, Xu Qinghe also bowed again, and Nanzhi said:
"The princess truly has no idea when that prince started to plot. Today, I accidentally heard that he and the eldest son of Wei had a fight over the princess. From beginning to end, the princess knew nothing and has always served the empress dowager. I hope the empress dowager will understand!"
The master and servant were deeply in love and shed tears, not to mention that Xu Qinghe was kneeling there with a sick body and a pale face.
The results will be announced in a dozen days, and Ming'er will be given a marriage then. We can't let anything happen to this girl at this time.
She has always been under my close supervision, and even when she goes out, there is always someone accompanying her. She must have never had any relationship with Wei Che.
Maybe it was really just that on the Shangsi Festival, the boy from the Fuguogong family fell in love with her at first sight?
The image of Wei Che gradually emerged in Queen Dowager Wei's mind, and she recalled the discussions about him in the capital, and sneered in her heart.
Such a playboy with only a good appearance actually wanted to snatch her Ming'er's hand in marriage?
"Okay, since you are sick again, go back and rest quickly." Queen Mother Wei finally lowered her eyes and said lightly.
After the master and servant left, Queen Mother Wei looked at the nanny beside her and asked, "What do you think?"
The nanny bowed and replied, "I have noticed that the princess has not shown any unusual expression along the way, so it must be true."
Empress Dowager Wei nodded and instructed her trusted confidant, Madam Zhang, "Call Ming'er to the palace tomorrow."
His face immediately looked a little bad.
How could she, a good nephew, fight with others in public for a woman!
**
Xu Qinghe returned to his bedroom and washed off the rash on his face that was caused by vermilion paint.
Judging from the attitude of the Queen Mother Wei today, Wei Ming must not have told her about not getting married, and she still regards herself as the future wife of the Wei family and advises her.
Now she can only compromise.
But since Queen Mother Wei had always wanted to please Wei Ming, she naturally didn't want anything to happen to her at this time, so as not to lose face for her nephew.
That's why Xu Qinghe thought of continuing to pretend to be sick to avoid punishment.
After learning about this today, Queen Mother Wei will certainly summon Wei Ming to the palace to admonish him. She only hopes that he can explain the matter clearly then.
"Nanzhi, bring me the paintings I've drawn these days."
Although she was sick these days, she was not idle. After hearing Lin Xiao say that she was the most popular landscape painter in the capital before she entered the palace, she casually painted a few pictures.
But when she looked at those paintings herself, she always felt that they were somewhat artificial. When she thought about it carefully, it was simply because she had not seen real mountains and rivers for a long time.
The beautiful scenery of the southern part of her hometown had long been blurred in her memory, and she had never seen anything in Kyoto.
Nanzhi found the painting and placed it neatly on the small table.
"What does the princess want this painting for?" Then, lowering his voice, he asked, "Are you going to give it to the prince to sell tonight?"
Xu Qinghe shook his head: "Just looking."
She didn't know whether Wei Che would come tonight, after all, he hadn't shown up for some time.
Since he didn't leave any promise, Xu Qinghe didn't go to wait for him at night. After taking a shower, he went straight to bed to rest, but he didn't leave Nanzhi to guard outside.
Later, when she was half asleep and half awake, she seemed to have her nose pinched.
When she had difficulty breathing, she subconsciously slapped her hands, but she hit something and made a loud "pop" sound.
She was suddenly awakened by the sound and opened her eyes suddenly, just in time to see Wei Che covering half of his face and looking at her resentfully.
"The swelling on my face just subsided, and you slapped me like that, Princess, you really have a bad temper."
Xu Qinghe sat up from the bed, stepped back, and hugged the quilt tightly.
Wei Che still covered his face and laughed: "Don't hide, I'm not looking. Besides, you're so tightly covered, I can't see anything."
He seemed to be in a very good mood, and the smile in his eyes was deeper than usual.
Xu Qinghe was slightly annoyed and kicked him right in the waist.
The flesh on that man's waist was also hard, and he was fine. However, she kicked him so hard that her feet hurt and tears welled up in her eyes.
Seeing this, Wei Che was about to lift her blanket: "Let me see, is it hurt?"
Xu Qinghe didn't move, just staring at him straight, and he didn't think he would really do anything.
Wei Che was just talking. His hand only touched the quilt before he retreated, and he even covered the quilt that was messed up by her kicking.
"You broke your promise."
Xu Qinghe glanced at him and whispered the first sentence.
He had previously told her that he would tell her the truth about Jing'an's miscarriage within three days, and now six days have passed before he came.
Fortunately, I have managed to leave the palace in two ways and learned the whole story from Jing'an in person. Otherwise, I don't know when it will end.
She originally intended to condemn him for breaking his promise, but Wei Che came closer with a smile, almost getting close to her face, and insisted on looking into her eyes when speaking.
"Why, you missed me because you haven't seen me for a long time?"
The distance was too close, the words were too ambiguous, and the heat from his body was blowing towards her.
Xu Qinghe felt uncomfortable and immediately turned his head away.
“…” Wei Che quickly stepped back.
"The man who rode his horse in the street and injured Princess Jing'an was Cen Chuan, the only son of Minister of Works Cen Liangping." He finally got down to business.
Xu Qinghe said, "I already know about this."
Wei Che: "You know? ...You left the palace to look for Princess Jing'an?"
Xu Qinghe nodded. If he had not left the palace, the news of his fight with Wei Ming would not have spread to the palace.
"Why are you fighting with Wei Ming for no reason?"
When the fight between the two broke out, the Prince of Fuguo's Mansion didn't care much about it. Wei Che had a lot of bad deeds on his record anyway, so one more wouldn't make a difference.
However, Wei Ming, the number one young master in Kyoto, actually got into a fight with someone over a matter between men and women, which greatly lost face for the Wei family.
The Wei family decided to keep the matter secret and it was not reported to the palace for the time being, but people in the streets and alleys outside had already talked about it as a topic of conversation after dinner.
If she knew about this, then Queen Mother Wei must have known about it too?
Wei Che's heart trembled, his expression suddenly tense, and he asked hurriedly: "Did the Queen Mother punish you again?"
That kind of caring and affection doesn't seem fake.
Xu Qinghe shifted his gaze and said, "No, I fooled you. But don't be so reckless in the future."
She still lives in the Empress Dowager's palace and is still restricted in everything. She cannot lose face or make the relationship awkward.
Wei Che felt a little aggrieved: "Why are you saying this to me? Go tell your eldest son Wei. He was the one who started it, not me."
In order not to reveal his strength, he took several punches. Otherwise, with his scholarly physique, he would not be able to defeat three more punches.
But Xu Qinghe knew Wei Ming well. As a humble gentleman, he would not have taken action unless Wei Che had said something to provoke him.
She thought that Wei Che had come tonight only to tell her the truth. She had already fallen asleep just now, and after he finished telling her the truth, she became sleepy again.
Xu Qinghe was about to say goodbye when Wei Che asked, "Do you know why the Cen family sent assassins to kill you on your birthday last year?"
Did he have to tell her when she was already half asleep?
In the chaos and fatigue, Xu Qinghe barely managed to pull out a trace of consciousness.
Her birthday last year seemed like a long time ago to her, but it was the assassination attempt on her birthday that allowed her to meet Wei Che.
"Hasn't this been mentioned before? Miss Cen San wants to marry Wei Ming and replace me. Perhaps there are some factors at court behind this. I guess the Cen family wants to form an alliance with the Wei family through marriage?"
As her eyes gradually became clearer, Wei Che smiled and nodded, then told her the truth that was deliberately concealed by the girl's jealousy.
Last August, Yuzhou was hit by a flood. Due to its remote and barren location, no officials in the court were willing to control the flood and supervise the construction of the river.
Only the Minister of Works, Cen Liangping, recommended his only son, Cen Chuan, who had already passed the imperial examination, to take charge of the matter and promised to complete it successfully.
Unexpectedly, after Cen Chuan left, he not only embezzled the disaster relief money and food, but also cut corners when building the flood control dam, causing it to collapse at the first blow when the flood came again, and hundreds of lives were lost.
It was already October when this incident happened. Cen Chuan was the first to seek help from his father who was an official in Beijing. Cen Liangping immediately sent people to Yuzhou to suppress the matter, so that it did not spread to Kyoto.
But it is said that the people of Yuzhou who were affected by the disaster were outraged when they learned about this and were determined to go to Beijing to seek justice.
Yuzhou is far away and the victims have no vehicles, so it will take at least three months to reach the capital.
Because Cen Liangping had already promised the emperor that he would ensure that his only son successfully completed the disaster relief work, this matter must not be made known to the emperor.
However, he did not have enough manpower to stop the large number of victims, so he could only seek help from Queen Dowager Wei.
"So that's why the Cen family sent people to kill me so that Wei Ming could marry Miss Cen San, and use this opportunity to seek refuge with Queen Mother Wei, and let the Wei family help cover up for them?" Xu Qinghe said.
Wei Che smiled and praised: "The princess is smart."
Xu Qinghe glanced at him.
This person is really praising with his eyes closed. Such a simple thing can be seen by anyone. Is this worthy of being praised as "smart"?
"It's already April, so the disaster victims should have arrived by now, but where are they?"
Wei Che folded his hands and smiled, leaning on the bed frame behind him, "Princess, why don't you take a guess."
Xu Qinghe then realized that he had actually sat on her bed without her knowing when!
The face that was filled with doubt immediately turned cold. Xu Qinghe pointed at the place under Wei Che and ordered, "Get up."
Wei Che blinked, raised his eyebrows and asked curiously, "Princess, we are discussing serious matters now. Are you going to chase me away?"
【Author’s words】
Bug fixing, plot modification
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