68 Chapter 68
◎Brother Wei.◎
That night, Xu Qinghe seemed to have returned to the time when they first met, with a cold and distant look.
Wei Che sat in the chair without saying a word, and did not do much. He just watched in silence as the girl asked Nanzhi to get up and go with her to take a shower and change clothes. Half an hour later, she changed into pajamas and came out of the bathroom with wet black hair. Then she walked straight to the inner room and sat in front of the dressing table, letting Nanzhi braid her hair.
She never looked at him again during the whole process, as if, apart from the urgent call of "Wei Che" just now, she just ignored him as if he was not in the room.
Wei Che lowered his head and looked at the donkey meat hotpot on the table.
The crispy skin softened slightly, and a few pieces of tender donkey meat fell out of the bulging pancake, but it no longer had the same fragrance as when it was just out of the pan.
He drooped his eyelashes and casually threw the firewood to the maid guarding the door. He wisely did not compete with her beloved maid for the job of drying her hair, but went to the bathroom to take a bath.
When he finally came out, the girl had already gone to bed and left a dim light on for him.
At least I didn't want to kick him out to sleep.
Wei Che's mouth curled up, but he felt a little bitter in his heart. After getting on the bed, he found that the girl was lying on the inside with her back to her. Judging from her breathing, she was not asleep at all.
Since she was awake, Wei Che had no intention of letting himself be swept away by sleepiness.
Over the past few days, he had gotten used to waiting for her to fall asleep first, and then he would sketch her eyebrows and eyes several times in the darkness where the dim candlelight could barely shine through, and would not fall asleep until he was satisfied. It was the same today.
He kept his eyes open in the darkness, not knowing how much time had passed, only that time seemed very long, until he heard the sound of night watchmen beating on the street, one slow and four fast.
Wei Che's heart trembled.
It was already five o'clock in the morning, but the girl still hadn't slept.
He just stared and continued to wait, and finally caught the sound of the girl's steady breathing amid the intermittent crowing of roosters.
But it was time for him to get up and take up his post.
Wei Che sat up gently, rubbed his face which had become a little stiff in the dark, and looked inside the bed in the faint morning light.
Xu Qinghe's black hair covered the entire pillow, like a ball of black ink cloud, making her fair and delicate cheeks look even smaller, perhaps even smaller than his palm.
Her facial features were naturally beautiful, and even when she was young, she had the grace of an immortal just standing there. Now that her eyebrows, eyes, nose and lips were all open, she was even more unforgettable.
And now, on this unforgettable face, there is a crystal tear hanging under the slightly trembling eyelashes.
Wei Che frowned slightly and subconsciously stretched out his finger, but stopped suddenly when it was about to touch her.
——Because Xu Qinghe, who was in her sleep, had already gone to bed before him, curled up in bed.
She parted her red lips slightly and mumbled a few words. Wei Che immediately leaned over to listen.
"Wei...Brother..."
My heart, which was already aching, suddenly felt like it was being pounded by a huge stone.
There have been some rumors in the capital these days, saying that the eldest son of Wei married the third daughter of the Minister of Works under the pressure of Empress Dowager Wei, but he has always been thinking about the married princess in his heart. After the marriage, he has been sleeping in separate rooms with the third daughter of Cen, and the couple has been estranged for a long time.
Until recently, Wei Ming even wanted to divorce Miss Cen San.
So, she heard the news yesterday and then thought of the past and old friends, so she was in a bad mood and was thinking about her cousin from the Wei family?
No wonder Nanzhi kept silent when he interrogated her yesterday, and Xu Qinghe rushed out to save her. It must be related to this matter.
Wei Che closed his eyes tightly and raised one corner of his mouth in self-mockery.
It turned out that no matter what he did, no matter how well or how much he did, she was still unwilling to forget her old friend and accept him.
She simply didn't want to.
Just like when she first came to Beijing from the southern border, she never wanted to stay with him for a moment longer.
**
Xu Qinghe got up at noon.
By then, the sunlight outside the window had already made the tent dimly lit, and the bed beside her had long since lost its warmth. She called Nanzhi to help her wash up, and after lunch, she went back into the studio.
She was bored in the studio for a whole day, but no one in the courtyard took it seriously. They all knew that the princess liked painting, and even Princess Jing'an often came here to ask for paintings.
What really made everyone in the courtyard feel uneasy was that the prince had not returned home until after half past the hour of Xu today.
Half an hour later, Wei Che's usual servant hurriedly returned with a message: "The Crown Prince was busy with official duties today, so he went straight to sleep in the office. Please don't wait for him, my Lady, and go to bed immediately."
But Wei Che now only holds a nominal position in the imperial guards, without even a proper job, so where would the official duties come from to keep him busy?
Xu Qinghe saw through it but didn't say anything. He actually put down the book in his hand and went straight to take a bath.
There was incense burning in the bathroom, and the air was filled with hot steam while the sound of running water could be heard from time to time.
"Why did the princess get her hair wet again?" Nanzhi suddenly spoke.
Xu Qinghe came back to her senses and realized that she had untied her hair that was tied up on top of her head without knowing when. Her black hair fell from her shoulders and was floating in the bathtub water with flower petals floating on it.
She had clearly washed her hair yesterday.
She was stunned for a moment, then pretended to be calm and continued to wet her hair: "It's hot, it's better to wash your hair once a day."
Nanzhi silently scooped up a bucket of hot water and poured it on her shoulders, lowering her eyes and saying nothing.
She had served the princess for so many years, and even in the height of summer, she had never seen the princess be so clean as to wash her hair every day. At most, she would wash her hair once every two days.
The princess was obviously absent-minded today. Although she stayed in the studio for the whole day, she didn't finish a single painting in the end, leaving only a pile of waste drafts on the floor.
Ever since Prince Wei had not returned tonight, the princess had become even more distracted. She would either stare blankly at the scroll of poetry in her hand, or gaze at the flower stand with only a few withered flowers left outside the window, or, like now, stare blankly at the bronze mirror while she was braiding her hair.
Her abnormal behavior made Nanzhi a little absent-minded. When she was distracted, she suddenly forgot the strength in her hands and twisted the towel a little harder, which made Xu Qinghe couldn't help but let out a "hiss" and gasp.
She subconsciously frowned and looked up, but what she met was not the familiar pair of eyes filled with smiles and a hint of guilt, but Nanzhi's equally dazed pair of hazy almond eyes.
Xu Qinghe's heart sank, but he pretended nothing had happened and touched his hair: "... Your hair is dry now, you can go down and rest."
Nanzhi looked at her worriedly and wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't.
She knew that it was what she said to the princess yesterday that had affected her.
For several days thereafter, Wei Che stayed in the government office and never showed up. It was said that he had returned to the mansion several times, but he only hurriedly met the Duke and the Duchess, but never set foot in Fenghe Courtyard.
If her husband had not returned home for a few days, an ordinary lady would have been anxious and asked around, but the princess of Fengheyuan still stayed in the studio every day, and did not even bother to pay her respects in the main house. She just focused on her paintings every day.
The servants of Fengheyuan all had their indentures held by Xu Qinghe, so naturally they didn't dare to say much about it, not even to communicate in private.
But it was not the case inside the Duke's Mansion and outside Fenghe Courtyard.
There is a large lotus field in the small pond in the backyard of the Prince of Fuguo's Mansion. Now there are many flower buds, and lotus leaves of all sizes are jostling each other, with a few flower buds that are about to bloom standing in the middle.
Wei Fu was sitting in the pavilion, leaning against the wall to admire the flowers, holding a round fan in her hand, but her eyes were looking towards Fenghe Courtyard.
"How many days has that person in the courtyard not come out?"
"My lady, it's been about four or five days now. I heard that the prince hasn't entered the courtyard once in these few days. Apart from sending someone to deliver a message to the princess at the beginning, he hasn't sent any news since then."
Wei Fu raised the corners of her mouth, and the smug look in her eyes became even more apparent.
You see, times have changed. Xu Qinghe is no longer the noble princess of the Southern Territory, and he no longer needs to please her in everything like before.
At the beginning, he must have been just thinking about the old relationship and only regarded those humble acts as memories of the past. Now that the novelty has worn off, he naturally stopped serving.
She wanted to see how this princess, who had always looked down on Wei Che and now had suffered a major setback, would end up.
In fact, not only did Wei Che not return to the yard for several days, but even Mr. Jiang had not contacted Xu Qinghe for a long time. The longer the time went, the more worried Xu Qinghe became about their progress.
According to her guess, Mr. Jiang should be one of the leaders of an organization or institution, who is specifically responsible for drawing portraits of people in the organization, and the organization he belongs to should use the drawn portraits to find people.
Judging from the drawings of Wei Si, Xun Fang and the little beggar that he had asked her to draw before, they might be looking for Xu Zhuangyuan's brother Xu Ji, just like her and Wei Che. However, she and Wei Che always acted after Mr. Jiang and the others, and it seemed that they were just following the clues they had obtained.
And until today, Mr. Jiang finally made her an invitation again.
Xu Qinghe received the news from Lin Xiao and was about to go to the main house to say hello to the wife of the Duke of Fuguo.
She has been avoiding that place these days, but she must report to the Duke's wife before leaving the house.
Unexpectedly, when he walked to the front of the main courtyard, he ran into Wei Fu and the Duke of Fuguo's favorite concubine, Aunt Jin.
"Princess, are you here to look for your mother?" Wei Fu held a handkerchief in her hand, her face looking a little haggard. Even Aunt Jin beside her looked as if she had not slept well for several days.
Xu Qinghe felt something was strange. Not only was there a strange gleam in Wei Fu's eyes, but also Aunt Jin, who kept her eyes down and didn't dare to look her in the eye, all exuded a sense of weirdness.
She nodded and made up a story, "Princess Jing'an has acquired a famous painting and asked me to come and appreciate it. I came here specifically to tell my mother about it."
Wei Fu smiled and said, "It just so happens that Mother is meeting someone in the hall. It's not a big deal. Since it's Princess Jing'an who invited you, then you can just go and attend the appointment. When Mother's business is over, I'll tell her on your behalf."
Xu Qinghe pondered for a moment. She was anxious to get the latest clues from Mr. Jiang, so this was the only way.
An hour later, she arrived at Zhuming Pavilion as promised. Mr. Jiang was obviously getting impatient and urged her to start writing quickly.
Xu Qinghe did as she was told, and listened to Mr. Jiang's incessant description of the appearance of one person after another. In the end, he forced her to draw five portraits in a row. She didn't even eat a bite during the whole process, and stayed up from midday to the end of the evening hour.
As dusk fell, Xu Qinghe first returned to Princess Jing'an's mansion with Lin Xiao, and then took Nanzhi back to the Duke of Fuguo's mansion.
But as soon as she entered Fenghe Courtyard, she realized that the atmosphere in the entire courtyard was not right. All the maids stood in the courtyard with their heads bowed, not daring to breathe, and trembling with fear.
Seeing Xu Qinghe come in, a round-faced maid looked at her for help: "Princess..."
"Shut up! You have no right to speak here!" A majestic voice suddenly interrupted the little maid. The maid immediately shrank her neck and stopped talking.
Xu Qinghe looked up and met the gaze of a dark-faced nanny standing in front of the door. The nanny was dressed solemnly, her face was gloomy, and even her voice was chilling:
"Madam has been waiting in the main courtyard for a long time. Please go and see her as soon as possible."
【Author’s words】
No matter how hard you try, you are still a lot late
Happy National Day everyone
I found a little angel who gave me nutrient solution and caught bugs for me qwq
Thank you so much! ! !
——
A little repair
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