Jade and silk
Ever since Liu Xu's outburst in his study, everything seems to have returned to normal, but only he knows the true nature of his feelings—
Xie Lingxi felt that the deep affection between her husband and his wife seemed to have turned into a mirage, exquisite and clear, but ultimately elusive.
If Liu Xu were to side with her or treat her coldly, that would be one thing; after the heartbreak, she could then teach him to leave without hesitation.
But this young man kept her hanging on, answering her questions but never overstepping the bounds or getting too close.
She grew increasingly annoyed, and simply pressed him down onto the low stool used for cutting flowers and combing grass, pressing her cheek against his, instantly filling him with the cool fragrance of her clothes:
"Have you made yourself clear—is this peach gum cake delicious or not... do you like it or not?"
When she leaned closer, Liu Xu's breath hitched.
He resisted the urge to kiss her lips passionately, and tried to tilt his head back, but his domineering wife held him down firmly.
His wife's two forearms loosely embraced him.
Today, Xie Lingxi wore a ginger-yellow embroidered gold floral dress. As she moved, a few inches of her slender arms were exposed. Liu Xu, with his sharp eyes, noticed a large patch of skin with mixed blue and purple bruises.
He was startled: "What's going on?"
He then abruptly grabbed Xie Lingxi's wrist, pulling the "flawed white jade" forearm from his sleeve, as if trying to scoop the moon's reflection from water. The icy touch sent a chill down his spine.
Even the frost flowers in the snow are not this cold!
It was already late afternoon, and the day was drawing to a close.
The surrounding shadows gradually enveloped the plants and trees in the courtyard, and the corridors were lit up with layers of deep and elegant candlelight.
The soft light reflected off the rosy cheeks of the two people facing each other.
Liu Xu suddenly stood up, taking the initiative and lifting Xie Lingxi up by grabbing her slender waist with one hand and supporting her beautiful jade-like neck with the other.
Xie Lingxi never expected that simply asking a question would lead to her being carried back to her bedroom. Recalling everything that had happened before, she struggled and shouted in distress—
"Stop! Stop!"
Liu Xu ignored it.
The fire in the bedroom was burning brightly, filling one with warmth, as if one were in a spring stream filled with sleeping mandarin ducks. The clivia on the desk had already sprouted, graceful and charming.
Meanwhile, Xie Lingxi was "forced" to sit on the bed, her whole body tense.
The man's lips formed a cold, hard line, his face as hard as stone. Liu Xu rolled up her sleeve into a bud shape and carefully touched the mark: "Are you injured? How did you get hurt?"
He gestured a few times, and then covered it with a palm strike.
This frostbite occurred a month ago...
While talking to Yan Ji in the wintersweet grove, I was so weak and breathless that I unconsciously leaned against a plum tree and propped myself up with my hand.
The snowmelt soaked my sleeves.
I didn't pay much attention to it at the time, but when I looked at it the next day, I found that my forearm was painful and itchy an inch above the skin, with faint red and purple oozing out.
Xie Lingxi was always patient, and with her father and brother imprisoned and the war in the northern frontier, she neglected even applying medicine every day.
——
Therefore, it is not better yet today.
Upon hearing this, Liu Xu immediately found some pear gum ointment, dabbed a small amount on his fingertip, and gently spread it evenly on her hand.
Seeing that the ointment had dried completely, he rolled up Xie Lingxi's sleeve to cover his arm, which was covered in snow, and suddenly asked, "Do you really love him that much?"
"Even in the freezing cold, you still want to meet him in secret?"
"?"
Xie Lingxi abruptly withdrew her hand.
What nonsense is this person spouting...? As if a long-awaited rain had fallen after a drought, she suddenly understood—!
Could it be that Liu Xu witnessed Yan Ji embracing her that day? And so, in his mind, he imagined a steamy, passionate encounter...
Then a sudden inspiration struck him: "A secret meeting? That's impossible."
She looked up and saw that the face of the man before her was bathed in soft light, his eyes and brows lowered, revealing a hint of grievance and sorrow...
fraud.
She was taken aback.
Who is the liar? Is it true that once men and women enter into marriage, as the years go by, all their affection fades, leaving only heartless suspicion?
Why don't you believe me?
Xie Lingxi stared into his eyes and said, word by word, "Who was the one who said he would share my joys and sorrows and grow old with me?"
"Now, because of this trivial matter, you misunderstand me, distance yourself from me, and neglect me, leaving me living in constant fear. I don't know what's wrong with you..."
As she spoke, tears instantly streamed down her face.
When Liu Xu saw Xie Lingxi injured, he was extremely anxious and spoke without thinking. His wife, who was usually cold and aloof, a beauty as cold as ice, actually shed tears for him one day.
While feeling heartache, he also concealed a hint of secret joy—
Amidst the twists and turns of life, and the darkness of storms, he finally found a place in his wife's heart.
As a lover, as a husband.
He froze for a moment, before he could react, when his wife, as white as frost, suddenly rushed into his arms, her delicate hands squeezing out from his lower abdomen and tightly hugging his waist.
It's like the bright moon entering your arms.
Liu Xu was so intoxicated by the love that suddenly poured over him that he couldn't open his eyes. After a while, he finally came to his senses and gently stroked her back, "It's alright, it's alright."
"It's all my fault."
He was bewitched, preoccupied only with his own insignificant loss and unease. His wife, as fragile as duckweed on the water, simply could not endure such torment.
"Um……"
In their tender embrace, Xie Lingxi buried her face in his chest, her body trembling. She closed her eyes slightly, inhaling the crisp, herbal scent emanating from his clothes, and murmured, "Ah Xu... Ah Xu..."
Above, Liu Xu responded gently, "I'm here."
Will it really... always be there? Xie Lingxi often felt anxious and uncertain.
She is a soul that has lived through two lifetimes, and has witnessed the joys and sorrows of people, as well as the waxing and waning of the moon. She has long since developed an indestructible mind.
I thought that my life was enough to save my parents and brothers and bring glory to the Xie family, and I no longer desired the affectionate love of others.
Even when Liu Xu treated her that way, she was still heartbroken and even cried out in anguish.
The affectionate are always troubled by the heartless.
As she pondered this, Liu Xu also quietly absorbed his sorrow, letting it permeate the warm room. The two nestled together quietly, like a pair of mandarin ducks on a riverbank.
After a long while, Xie Lingxi wiped away her tears, raised her head, and asked, "What exactly happened?"
This coldness of the past ten days and half a month must be explained to Liu Lang.
It was chilly in the early spring morning. The windows weren't closed tightly, letting in a bit of wind. Liu Xu pulled the small blanket over Xie Lingxi's legs and whispered, "It's nothing. I just saw you two hugging under the plum tree."
"Can't I hug you?"
"this……"
He didn't find it absurd. After thinking about it for a while, he said, "No."
Xie Lingxi: "Why?"
"Because you hate him."
"Just because of this?"
Could there be nothing else? For example... Liu Xu's personal motives?
She propped herself up, brushed aside the young man's black hair that fell over his shoulders, and exhaled intermittently, her breath frosty: "Young Master Liu is truly a beautiful woman who is 'unmoved by wealth and honor.' Are you heartbroken to see me associating with Yan Ji?"
What kind of talk is that?
Liu Xu replied, "It's not so much heartache as it is pain, but it is real heartache."
His hands were still on Xie Lingxi's waist, able to trace that alluring, warm curve... reminding him of the peach gum cake he had bitten into earlier that day.
I'm so happy... so very happy.
He gently kneaded Xie Lingxi's fingers, washing away the moisture from her fingertips, and said frankly, "I am not very tolerant, nor am I very broad-minded. When I see Lingxi embracing someone else, I feel very unhappy."
"I want to teach you how to break free from him, but my legs feel like they're filled with lead, and I can't take another step. Lingxi, you know, I—"
What Liu Xu had left unsaid, Xie Lingxi understood perfectly:
Liu Chengzhi has always been a refined and gentle person, and she is not lively either. When the two reserved people are together, their lives are like a calm and still river. In the midst of this gentle nurturing, they often doubt whether the other truly loves them and whether their love is boundless.
They might engage in minor skirmishes on ordinary days, but when a real storm hits, they become cowards, making themselves impossible for the other party to find or catch.
Liu Xu hesitated for a moment, then swallowed the words back, saying only, "I was too timid... I'm sorry."
Should he say "I'm sorry"?
Xie Lingxi reflected on herself: During this period, she had indeed been coming and going with Yan Ji, and it was understandable that some people misunderstood.
Thinking of this, she said softly, "I was too hasty. Yan Ji told me that he remembered his past life. I was worried that he would harm me in the back, so I pretended to agree. In the end, I neglected your feelings."
She also said, "Ah Xu, I'm sorry."
Their hearts were perfectly aligned, their minds in perfect harmony, destined to be entangled for this lifetime.
Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, the two secretly observed each other. Xie Lingxi felt that Liu Xu had become even thinner, resembling a tall and upright bamboo.
Just now, when I hugged this person's shoulder blade, it hit her hard and painfully.
She turned Liu Xu's face towards her. "It's one thing for you to torment me, but do you have to treat yourself like this too? You're so worried... you've really lost a lot of weight."
Fortunately, her jade-like face is still full and radiant, and has not yet lost its youthful appearance.
Liu Xu unconsciously touched his face.
Is that so?
He said, "Isn't it beautiful anymore?"
"Let alone whether it looks good or not..." Xie Lingxi didn't know why the conversation had circled back to this topic again.
Even if Liu Xu were as thin as a bamboo pole, his ethereal beauty would still be supported by an otherworldly aura, making it impossible for anyone to say that he was "not good-looking".
But is that the point?
Xie Lingxi bluntly asked, "Don't you government officials feed you?"
Through her outer robe and inner garment, she lightly poked Liu Xu's chest like a dragonfly skimming the water, and his delicate eyebrows furrowed instantly—
"You used to have thin skin here, but it seems to be gone now."
"there is none left……?"
Liu Xu was unusually flustered. Meeting Xie Lingxi's eyes, he saw that her expression didn't seem feigned, and he was already eighty percent convinced, but...
He remembered clearly—
It was midnight, and a gentle breeze drifted into the courtyard. Fine rain cascaded down the scrollwork window lattice, creating countless tender ribbons in this desolate spring night.
Raindrops patter on the flowers, a gentle breeze rustles through the willows.
People also cannot sleep.
Before Xie Lingxi could lean back from the window, Liu Xu clenched his teeth, took off his outer garment, and then unbuttoned his inner garment from top to bottom.
Xie Lingxi turned around—
"!"
Before her stood a few white petals interspersed with just the right amount of shadow, her figure well-proportioned and slender, like a magnolia suddenly blooming in the darkness of night.
Her face was instantly stained with pomegranate juice: "What are you doing?!"
The latter innocently pulled Xie Lingxi's hand, enticing her to touch the magnolia blossoms, her expression pure: "They're still here."
"Touch it and see."
Xie Lingxi naturally felt the softness of his palm, and as he gently pressed down, he could feel Liu Xu's unsteady yet steady heartbeat.
She abruptly withdrew her hand.
"alright!"
Her eyes, clear as a small lake, sparkled in them. "I believe you, Ah Xu. You are still as beautiful and graceful as ever. The candles will burn out tonight, go to sleep."
Liu Xu, however, refused.
He sat up straight and said, "It's true that the yamen hasn't served lunch for a long time."
Xie Lingxi was startled, all sleepiness vanished: "Why?"
When did this happen?
Clearly, through the competition between Cui Wenying, the emperor, and the officials, the problem of "redundant officials" was eliminated and efficiency was greatly increased. Logically speaking, there should have been a large surplus of silver.
If they are not short of money, why would they not provide lunch?
Where did the money go?
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