75 Chapter 75
◎Evidence of exposure +1◎
After bathing, Xu Qinghe changed into a wide-sleeved aqua blue dress. The material was smooth and bright. The wide sleeves slid down slightly as she took the initiative to hold Wei Che's arm, revealing the red jade bracelet inside.
Wei Che stared at the dazzling bracelet and couldn't help but be stunned.
The jade material for this bracelet was found by Xie Qi's second brother by chance.
"The little princess' birthday is coming up in a few days. As the future princess, why don't you hurry up and prepare a gift for her? This red jade is a rare treasure. I'll lend it to you for a while."
"—Pfft, my princess has her own thoughts and concerns, why would she need you? I've already prepared the birthday gift, so second brother, you should leave it to Sister Yueying. You haven't even found a wife yet, and you're already teaching me."
—Hey, you little bastard, you're taking my kindness for granted, and you're so shameless, aren't you? I'll beat you up!
——Hey, second brother, you have to be able to beat me first.
In fact, he was attracted by the jade the first time he saw it.
She immediately thought to herself that if she could make that thing into a bracelet and wear it on the little princess's hand, she would be so happy.
So in the end, Xie Qi "reluctantly" accepted the jade material, and found the best jewelry master in the southern region to make this rare red jade bracelet for Xu Qinghe.
He stared at the bracelet in a daze for a long time.
Following his gaze, Xu Qinghe naturally saw the bracelet.
This is the only thing Xie Qi left her. From the time she came to Beijing until now, she has been wearing it close to her body and has never taken it off.
But now, beside Wei Che, in front of his eyes, she suddenly felt as if the bracelet was cast under a spell, and suddenly tightened invisibly, becoming a hot thin rope that bound her and emitted a scorching heat.
"I'm going to the studio to paint."
She quickly pulled her hand back and almost ran away.
My mind, already a mess, seemed even more confused now, like the intertwined weeds on the courtyard wall, making it difficult to make sense of it.
Xu Qinghe hid in the studio for the entire afternoon, and even asked Nanzhi to bring dinner to the studio.
Wei Che didn't think too much about it. He just thought that the girl finally took the initiative but was shy, so he just stared at the table full of food, smiled secretly and shook his head.
As dusk fell, a few bright stars appeared on the horizon, a long silver river stretched across the dome, and the entire courtyard became quiet.
The rustling sound of the wind blowing through the grass was mixed with the incessant chirping of insects. Xu Qinghe sat by the window, watching the view, his cheeks brushed by the gentle night breeze. He knew he could no longer hide.
You can't really spend the night in the studio.
She reached out and stroked her wide sleeves, covering the bracelet tightly, then went back into the house, only to run into Wei Che changing clothes.
He was wrapped in a dark nightgown, a look she had never seen him in before.
The clothes almost clung to his body, outlining his slightly broad shoulders and narrow waist. The hem of the top barely covered his hips, and below was his straight and slender pair of legs, with his trouser legs tucked into his soap boots. He looked clean and neat no matter how you looked at him.
Even her black hair, which was usually tied up with a jade crown, was now tied on top of her head with a black cloth strip, with the ends of her hair hanging down, as if a piece of black hair had been spilled.
He looked like he was going out to do something at night.
"What are you going to do?"
Wei Che was still tightening his belt as he lowered his head and replied, "Go check what those five Wei family members you drew are doing in secret."
Today, Xu Zhuangyuan came to visit in a hurry, but like them, he only knew that a relative of the Wei family might have committed a crime, but he did not know the inside story.
His mention of this reminded Xu Qinghe of a question he had previously put aside: "What kind of organization is that 'Yufeng Pavilion' in the Jianghu?"
Wei Che lowered his head to adjust his wristband as he replied, "It's an organization that specializes in gathering information. They only work with a large sum of money. But I heard they've long since stopped getting involved in court affairs and are solely focused on the martial arts world."
The slender fingers, white and with distinct joints, look like a butterfly spreading its wings to fly when it moves the wristband.
Xu Qinghe recalled that it was these hands that had once held her hands, supported her shoulders, and touched her...
I can't think about it anymore.
She quickly stopped her wandering thoughts and continued to ask, following his lead, "Xu Zhuangyuan has a humble background and has only just taken up his position. Where did he get the money to hire the Yufeng Pavilion to do his bidding?"
It even caused the underworld organizations that have always focused on the martial arts world to secretly investigate the affairs of the court.
Wei Che was still straightening his clothes, completely oblivious to Xu Qinghe's flustered thoughts. "I don't know about that either. Perhaps he once did a favor for Yufeng Pavilion, or perhaps their ancestors had some kind of friendship."
In fact, the person in power behind the Yufeng Pavilion is none other than Fu Zongying's parents, the two benefactors who once saved Xie Qi from danger.
At that time, Yufeng Pavilion had no involvement in court affairs, but because Xie Huaiyuan had done a favor to the Fu couple when he was young, the two of them took the risk to rescue Xie Qi and helped him replace the real Wei Che.
However, the Yufeng Pavilion has its own rules, and the affairs of the pavilion cannot be controlled by the pavilion master alone. This is all they can do for Xie Qi, and they cannot further use the power of the pavilion to help him find out the truth.
However, these were enough for Xie Qi, who had escaped alone from the heavy troops in the capital.
What's more, the Fu couple kept their son Fu Zongying with him, calling it training, but in fact they were planning to help him deal with emergencies at critical moments.
A month ago, he sent Fu Zongying to the southern border to secretly eliminate the military power of the southern border army. Since then, many things in the capital have fallen on him and the Chen brothers, and manpower has become short of manpower.
"I will walk on the moon tonight and will not come back early. Maybe I will go directly to the palace to report for duty tomorrow. You don't have to wait for me, just rest." Wei Che walked to the table, picked up a cup of tea and drank it all.
Xu Qinghe responded with a "hmm", but remained silent for a moment.
He was just going to gather information, so there shouldn't be any danger. However, this person had been busy all day, and he still needed to conduct secret investigations at night, and he had to go to the palace to be on duty early tomorrow morning.
She looked up at him and saw that he used to look like an ordinary rich kid, but now his nightgown revealed his muscular body.
His body can really handle it.
Wei Che actually hadn't intended to hear any words of concern from her.
He was very self-aware of their current relationship. Not to mention "be careful", he thought it was good enough that the girl could look at him when he left.
Xu Qinghe watched him leave. One of his feet had already stepped out of the door, but then he suddenly turned back, as if he remembered something.
"You..." Before she could react, he held her hand in his palm.
She originally thought Wei Che was going to massage her wrist, and was about to explain to him that she had just sat in the studio all afternoon without painting, so her wrist didn't hurt.
But then she suddenly realized that the person was grabbing her left hand. He said he was massaging her wrist, but in fact he was just putting two long fingers on her wrist, and then left quickly after holding it for two breaths, which was a bit like a doctor taking her pulse.
Then, she saw that the man seemed to be relieved, and even touched his chest, muttering softly: "It's okay, it's okay, I don't have to change the headband, it's okay."
Then he strode away.
baffling.
Xu Qinghe glanced at him, suspicious and helpless.
She sat alone on the table for a while, and soon went to the bathroom to take a shower.
Xu Qinghe's face was burning in the steam of hot water. Thinking of how he had been in the studio for nearly two hours today but had not finished a single painting, he couldn't help feeling annoyed.
To her now, those paintings are not just paintings, but pure silver.
Although "Mr. Nian Nan" had no reputation in Beijing before, this little-known painter gradually became famous after several of his paintings of southern landscapes were praised by several young men from wealthy families in Beijing who loved calligraphy and painting.
Although this person has never appeared in public, it does not affect the rising prices of his paintings. A single painting of his can earn an ordinary person half a year's food.
In addition, a few days ago, Mr. Jiang asked her to paint five portraits on an expedited basis and paid her double the remuneration.
She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall of the tub, letting Nanzhi massage her scalp. She thought about the small treasury she had saved up in the past month, and a slight curve appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Now they have already caught hold of the Wei and Cen families. On the one hand, they can deal a heavy blow to Queen Mother Wei and at least give her some vent for the torture she has endured in the palace for the past five years. On the other hand, they can also put the Cen family in jail.
By then, Cen Liangping would already be in prison, and it would be much easier to force him to reveal what he had said about the Nanyi people entering and leaving the southern border military camp.
But no one knew who had communicated with the enemy army in the first place, luring her father, mother and 50,000 southern border troops to Mengyuan Valley, and then attacking them from both sides, causing their entire army to be destroyed.
In fact, at the beginning, she suspected the Duke of Fuguo Wei Yiqun.
After all, after the death of his father and mother, it was General Xie Huaiyuan who temporarily took over the military power of the Southern Border Army. A year later, the Xie family was falsely accused of treason and the military power was firmly handed over to the Duke of Fuguo.
But after all, the Duke of Fuguo had spoken up for the Xie family and even guaranteed them with his own wealth.
In addition, she had lived in the Prince of Fuguo's mansion for more than a month, and during her interactions with the Prince of Fuguo, she felt that although he was a bit majestic, he was also upright. He gave a lot of guidance to his son Wei Che, and was eager to protect him personally. He also took the disaster victims in Yuzhou to heart and sought justice for the people.
Such a person doesn't look like a traitor who would collaborate with the enemy.
After taking a bath, she lay alone on the soft and comfortable bed, but couldn't fall asleep.
She looked to her side, empty.
What would Wei Che be doing at this time?
Flying over eaves and walls? Intimidating and bribing the Wei clan members?
He must have covered half of his face and used some dirty tricks on those clan members.
Thinking about this, she fell asleep unknowingly.
Wei Che really did not come back that night. It was not until dawn the next day that he came in through the window, carrying a strong warm breeze.
He lowered his voice and fortunately did not wake the girl.
So when Xu Qinghe finally opened his eyes, there was no one beside him. Only a nightgown hanging on the shelf indicated that this person had come back.
She stared at the clothes, remembering how he looked wearing them yesterday.
It was widely rumored in the capital that the Prince of Wei was a playboy, ignorant of state, a fool and incompetent, a man with a bad reputation. People mostly paid attention to his deeds, but forgot his appearance which was no less than that of the First Young Master.
Thinking of him like this, she suddenly felt her face getting hot.
"This guy doesn't even know how to keep the 'evidence' safe. Is he afraid that others won't know that it was him who was climbing walls and jumping over rooftops in the capital last night?" Xu Qinghe coughed lightly, interrupting the winding thoughts in his mind.
She got out of bed wearing a pair of soft-soled embroidered shoes, walked slowly to the shelf, and took down his nightgown.
The moment the clothes fell from the rack, two "clang" sounds were heard, as if a hard object was dropped to the ground and then split into two halves after touching the ground.
Xu Qinghe lowered his head to see what that thing was, and was stunned when he saw it clearly.
She will never forget that thing in her life.
It was the engagement token between the Xu and Xie families.
The two jade pendants are one big and one small, one in the shape of a jade ring and the other in the shape of a round cake. When put together, they form a heavy-ring jade pendant with the same patterns. Now that they have fallen to the ground, the two jade pendants are scattered across the ground.
She stared at the engagement jade pendant that should have been burned with Xie Qi but now appeared in Xie Qi's clothes, and was unable to recover for a long time.
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