Chapter 71 (Minor Repair)
◎Pour boiling water on you to wake you up.◎
Xu Qinghe painted five portraits in a row during the day. He was concentrating on the painting and didn't feel anything at all. But now that the exertion was taking effect, he felt sore and hot in his wrist, so he simply changed his hand to hold the chopsticks.
When she first started learning to paint as a child, her teacher often trained her hands so hard that she couldn't lift them. Unconsciously, she developed the technique of eating with her left hand. Although it was slower, it was better than her weak and sore right hand.
"You really are..." Wei Che sighed, snatched the chopsticks from her hand, and picked up two steamed buns for her.
Xu Qinghe stepped back, unwilling to answer.
"...You deserve to be hungry." Wei Che curled his lips and stuffed the chopsticks back into her left hand.
"Why don't you ask me why I haven't come back these days?" He was angry and finally couldn't help but ask.
If she dared to say she didn't want to know the reason...
He snatched the bowl of steamed buns away from her!
But when he thought of the girl's light weight in his arms, he killed the idea.
Xu Qinghe lowered his head and took a sip of the sweet noodle soup. He squinted his eyes, his voice softened by the warm soup. "Didn't you send someone to say you were busy with work and were staying at the government office?"
Wei Che gritted his teeth. "You believe everything I say? Don't you think about who would assign tasks to me based on my reputation as an incompetent idiot?"
Xu Qinghe was biting into his steamed bun, swallowing it before he said, "Who told you not to find a suitable excuse for yourself based on the actual situation, but to make up such a lie?"
Wei Che felt that if he continued talking to this girl, he would be so angry that his teeth would be ground to pieces.
"I do have a suitable excuse, but I can't use it for your sake!"
After he finished speaking, he went to the bathroom to take a shower in a huff.
...A suitable excuse?
Xu Qinghe was stunned for a moment, then he understood what he was saying and unconsciously smiled.
But she suddenly remembered the scent of makeup mixed with the aroma of wine on this man's body, and her smile faded a little. Even the few mouthfuls of steamed buns left in the bowl became tasteless.
At night, after taking a shower, they lay side by side on the bed. It was a hot summer day, and the bed was covered with a cool mat, so it was not uncomfortable.
Even though Xu Qinghe was reluctant to show his emotions, he couldn't help but close his eyes comfortably after lying on the mat.
When the two of them first slept together, Xu Qinghe always felt that Wei Che's breathing was too disturbing.
Although the sound was actually light and weak, she still couldn't sleep because of the fact that "there was a man lying next to her".
But later he left the house in a huff, and the sound of his breathing was no longer heard beside her. She suddenly became uncomfortable and often had trouble falling asleep until midnight.
Now he was lying beside her again. Xu Qinghe couldn't tell what was going on in her mind. She just felt her eyelids were heavy and she was about to fall asleep before Wei Che could turn off the light.
She thought, it must be because she was too tired from painting today.
Isn't it the same for Wei Che?
But his situation is even worse than Xu Qinghe's. Xu Qinghe has been lying on this comfortable and soft big bed and can't fall asleep these days, while Wei Che doesn't even have the chance to sleep in bed.
The people he had recently sent to the southern border had completed most of the work, which also indirectly urged him to quickly find evidence to exonerate the Xie family.
He had no choice but to go to the palace to be on duty during the day, and then go to gather information secretly at night. He memorized the two portraits drawn by Xu Qinghe in his mind and conducted secret investigations. He was thankful if he could sleep for two hours a day.
Today he finally lay with the girl again, his nose filled with her cool fragrance, his ears filled with her steady and peaceful breathing. He didn't even have time to tilt his head to picture her eyebrows and eyes before he fell asleep unknowingly.
So no one remembered to blow out the candle beside the bed, and the dim candlelight stayed on all night long before finally burning out.
The next day, Wei Che took a day off and planned to indulge himself and sleep in.
Xu Qinghe got up quite late, and seeing that he was still sleeping, he didn't want to disturb him. However, he didn't expect that he slept until 9 o'clock in the morning and still didn't get up.
She walked back into the bed and pushed his shoulder: "Wei Che, get up."
Wei Che mumbled something, slapped her away with one hand, and rolled into the bed wrapped in the quilt.
Xu Qinghe frowned. "Your mother is ill. Yesterday, you and I made her angry. Today, we should go and pay our respects and apologize. Wei Che, get up and come with me."
Wei Che said drowsily, "Let's go later. I want to sleep a little longer."
Xu Qinghe: "It's already 9 o'clock. If you don't get up, I'll go to the kitchen and get a kettle of water."
Wei Che: "...What are you doing with the water?"
Xu Qinghe raised his chin and uttered three words coldly in the scorching summer heat: "Water, wake, you."
"..." Wei Che shuddered and quickly stood up: "You are too cruel, girl—why did you turn your head away?"
Xu Qinghe's ears blushed slightly: "Put on your clothes first!"
I don't know how this person slept that night. The inner clothes that were worn tightly last night were hanging loosely on his body in the morning. Even the laces were crumpled and the lapels on both sides were wide open, revealing his well-dressed chest, which made people blush.
In order to avoid seeing anything he shouldn't see, Xu Qinghe quickly retreated to the side room to wait for him.
She had originally planned to go with him to the room of the wife of the Duke of Fuguo to apologize before breakfast. After the family talked things out and then had breakfast together, the atmosphere would be much more relaxed.
"But it's already past midnight. It's neither too early nor too late. It's not a good time to go there now."
Wei Che was squinting his eyes as he stirred the spoon in the bowl. Upon hearing this, he curled his lips and said, "It's enough that he can go and apologize. Why worry about whether it's sooner or later?"
Xu Qinghe rolled her eyes at him and said, "Why don't you wait until your mother is a hundred years old before burning paper money to apologize to her?"
This statement was somewhat far-fetched, even outrageous, but Xu Qinghe herself was in the exact same situation. Her parents were already dead, and she couldn't find them even if she wanted to apologize.
This Prince Wei is so good that he doesn't know how to appreciate the blessings he has.
Perhaps it was this irrelevant remark that woke Wei Che up. He suddenly rubbed his face and said seriously, "Okay, okay, leave this to me. You don't have to go. There are more important things for you to do."
"What? ...But there's a clue about the person we're looking for?"
Wei Che nodded and said, "I found that little beggar the night before yesterday, but he was too wary and wouldn't speak. You're a woman, so you'll be easier to talk to. Let's see if we can get anything out of him first."
He looked up at the beautiful face in front of him, raised his eyebrows and said, "My princess, remember to smile more when the time comes. If you use the same cold face you use to treat me in the mansion to visit that little beggar, there's no way you can get any information out of him."
Xu Qinghe's expression turned even colder, and he gritted his teeth as he said, "Thank you very much for your reminder, Your Highness."
She found that Wei Che had become more and more sarcastic since he came back, and he would argue with her from time to time. Even when they were already sitting in the carriage heading to the dilapidated temple in the suburbs of Beijing, Xu Qinghe was still angry.
"Princess, don't be angry. Although what the prince said was not very pleasant, it was well-intentioned after all." Nanzhi poured her a cup of kumquat drink and advised slowly.
The cool drink went down her throat, taking away most of her anger. However, Xu Qinghe couldn't help but look at Nanzhi: "When did you actually speak up for him?"
Nanzhi said, "Of course I will speak for whoever treats the princess well."
Xu Qinghe: "According to what you said, you should be the one speaking for me, not Wei Che." After all, she is the one who treats her best.
Nanzhi shook her head. "In my opinion, Prince Wei treats the princess even more attentively than the princess treats herself. For example, when he went to apologize to the Duke's wife today, he would rather go by himself than let the princess suffer with him."
"..." Xu Qinghe pursed her lips and raised her hand to tap Nanzhi's forehead: "I'm really afraid that any kid will deceive you in the future. He did this so that the mother and son can have a better conversation. Why should I, an outsider, get involved?"
Nanzhi rubbed his forehead and muttered softly, "I don't think that Prince Wei treats the princess as an outsider. On the first day the princess returned from the Qi Mansion, didn't he rush to offer her his private property?"
It was indeed the first night after Xu Qinghe returned from Jing'an Mansion. Wei Che suddenly took out a sandalwood box and held it in front of her, explaining, "I've had a lot of land deeds and some shops over the years, but most of them are in Zhangzhou, not the capital. So you don't have to worry about them. You just need to listen to the reports from the managers every month."
However, Xu Qinghe didn't take it: "I don't want it. Keep it as your own private property. Don't even think about using it to bribe me so that I can sleep in the inner room."
Wei Che felt so miserable that he could not even cry, so he had to go back to the room in shame.
Therefore, in Xu Qinghe's eyes, the private property was not so much a proof that Wei Che treated her as his own, but rather a "proof of allegiance" that he wanted to sleep in the inner room.
The villa where the little beggar is now happens to be Wei Che's private property and is not restricted by the Fuguo Mansion.
Wei Che found the little beggar in a dilapidated temple outside Beijing the night before. He did not alert the enemy at that time, but asked two of his men to watch over the man, and then took him to a villa not far away.
However, the little beggar was very alert. No matter what Wei Che and his two subordinates said to him, he didn't say a word. Wei Che had no choice but to let Xu Qinghe give it a try.
As soon as Xu Qinghe got off the carriage, he saw a tall and thin man rush out from the door and kneel down with a thud.
Before she could react, the fat driver who was driving the carriage also knelt down, and the two of them raised a cloud of dust on the ground.
"You guys...what are you doing?"
The two of them bowed down together: "Greetings, Princess!"
Ever since the defeat of the Nan'an Palace, Xu Qinghe had never seen anyone come to see her so solemnly. She was flattered for a moment and quickly helped the two of them up one by one.
Before she could ask, the two men took the initiative to answer: "We are the two confidants of the prince who stayed in the capital. The beggar is in the house. Please come with us, princess."
Apart from that, there is not much to say. He acts cleanly and efficiently, which is somewhat like the style of a military officer.
Xu Qinghe followed them in and saw a dirty little beggar curled up at the head of the bed. When he saw someone coming in, he cast a wary look.
The two subordinates were one tall and one short, one fat and one thin, but they stood in front of Xu Qinghe at the same time.
She asked the two men to step aside, extended her hand to the little beggar, and said gently, "I'll take you to take a hot bath first, okay?"
The little beggar stared blankly at the glowing white hand with almost no flaws, then looked down at his own dirty hands, and then looked up at the fairy-like girl in front of him. In the end, he put his hand over, and it could be said that it was very smooth.
After everything was cleaned up, Xu Qinghe asked Nanzhi and the two subordinates to guard the door, while he was alone with the little beggar.
"Why were you so afraid of us just now?"
Beggars make a living on the streets. If they were all as timid as him, they would never live to this age.
Unless he wasn't like this before and only became like this recently.
The little beggar lowered his head, unable to hold back tears. "Before, someone tried to catch me and beat me, but I ran away. Then someone chased me again, but didn't beat me and let me go. Then... then I met you guys. I'm used to running, so naturally I had to run."
"Why are they chasing you?" Xu Qinghe asked.
The little beggar trembled and replied, "Because... because I saw... murder... murder..."
【Author’s words】
First, I'll learn some metaphysics and then fix it later.
——
Fixed
——
Fixed some settings
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