Chapter 55 Chapter 55 "It's not clean yet, I want to see it..."
Less than twenty days after the marriage was consummated, she went to war with the emperor. The couple had been separated for a full five months. At this moment when they were finally reunited, Ji Yanlang only wanted to have a few private words with Fang Ying and reminisce about how they had felt since they last met. He was not prepared to talk about irrelevant royal matters.
But having said this, he swallowed it back and didn't talk about it anymore, as if he was deliberately teasing her and keeping her in suspense.
"It's a long story..." Ji Yanlang began to tell the story from the beginning while scrubbing his body. "Back then, after a long siege on Youzhou, reinforcements from the Hu people arrived. The emperor ordered our cavalry to stop them. His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin volunteered to join the battle..."
Having said this, he paused, frowned unconsciously, and finally showed a trace of unwillingness and resentment on his face.
Fang Ying didn't say anything. She walked around behind him, raised her hand to help him spread his hair, and picked up the comb to comb it out bit by bit.
Ji Yanlang sighed and asked, "You should have heard about how we lost, right?"
"Yes, they say the Hu people have two reinforcements, and they are attacking from three sides together with the defending army."
"Yes, at that time, our army was defeated, and I, along with a few brothers, protected the King of Qin as we retreated south. On the way, I saw the Emperor's horse struck by an arrow, and hurriedly rushed over to protect him..."
No news of this incident came back. Fang Ying was shocked: "The official's mount was also hit by an arrow? Is it not injured?"
Ji Yanlang shook his head. "Your Excellency was agile and unharmed. After we charged past, the King of Qin gave his horse to Your Excellency. We retreated southwards. Although the route was tortuous and delayed, we finally reached Zhuozhou safely."
"What about King Yan? Why did he lose the emperor's favor?"
"Prince of Yan," Ji Yanlang said with a sneer on his face, "The emperor entered Zhuozhou, and the lost generals and their troops all arrived one after another, but the prince of Yan, Li Hansheng, Qiao Weiming and others were missing. The emperor was a little anxious at the time, but in the evening, someone reported that the prince of Yan and others had fled to Jintai, dozens of miles southwest of Zhuozhou, and spread rumors that the emperor had been shot by an arrow, plotting to support the prince of Yan."
"..." If this matter wasn't too serious to be joked about, Fang Ying would have really thought that Ji Yanlang had made this up to trick her. "Don't they know that the imperial carriage has arrived safely in Zhuozhou?"
Ji Yanlang couldn't help but laugh at the incredulity in her tone, then turned around and said, "The Prince of Yan probably really didn't know. The Emperor later learned that after the defeat, the Prince of Yan ran very fast and didn't see the Emperor fall off his horse. It was only when he met Li Hansheng, Qiao Weiming and others that he heard about it. Li and Qiao were blaming each other, each claiming that they heard from the other's generals that the Emperor had been shot by an arrow and was in danger of death."
The Prince of Yan ran away first and got no news. Later, he was caught up by Li Qiao and his two companions. They said with certainty that the prince had been shot by an arrow and fell off his horse, and his life or death was unknown. He was terrified. When he heard the two companions say that if anything happened, the morale of the army might be unstable and Zhuozhou could not be defended, he immediately followed their advice, bypassed Zhuozhou city, and headed straight for Jintai.
"So, you arrived after them. Didn't they know to send people to Zhuozhou to wait for news?" Fang Ying thought this statement was too absurd and couldn't help but doubt it. "How many of them went to Jintai? Don't they really want to..."
"There are only five or six thousand people. I don't think Prince Yan has the courage, and Li Qiao and the others..." Ji Yanlang felt the water in the bathtub starting to cool down, so he turned around and continued scrubbing.
Fang Ying hadn't noticed it just now, but now he turned around and stirred the water in the bathtub. The water surface swayed and revealed his left shoulder. A dark red scar could be faintly seen extending from the left shoulder blade downwards and diagonally submerged in the water.
She was still holding a lock of Ji Yanlang's hair in her hand. Seeing this, she quickly put it on the edge of the bucket, reached out and pressed his shoulder and asked, "What's going on on your back? Move up a little, let me see."
Upon hearing this, Ji Yanlang not only did not obey, but also quickly leaned against the wall of the tub to block his back, and said with a smile: "It's not clean yet. If you want to see it, I'll show it to you tonight."
Fang Ying was so angry that she wanted to pinch him, but his shoulders were too firm, without any soft flesh, and they were wet and slippery, so she couldn't exert any strength, and pinching him was almost like touching him.
"It's itchy, itchy. You'd better wash my hair and I'll rub it myself." Ji Yanlang teased deliberately.
Fang Ying leaned on the edge of the bucket, looked at him and threatened: "If you don't show me, I'll tell Mom."
"..." Ji Yanlang didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore and begged for mercy, "It's all fine, why tell mother? If we scare her for no reason, wouldn't we be unfilial?"
"It's all done, why don't you let me see it?"
"I was afraid the wound would scare you." Ji Yanlang said, moving his body and showing his back. "It's really healed now, it's scabbed over. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to soak it like this."
When Fang Ying heard him say this, she thought he was treating her like an ordinary girl and looking down on her. But when he stood up, she saw that the dark red scar extended from the end of her left shoulder blade to her waist, like a hideous and ugly big flesh worm. She couldn't help but gasp.
Ji Yanlang heard her gasp and was about to sink back into the water. Fang Ying came to her senses, grabbed his arm and said, "Don't move, I'm not scared." She lowered her head to carefully examine the wound and asked, "How did you get hurt? How long ago? Why does it look a little swollen?"
"It's swollen, right? This was caused by a surprise attack by the barbarians not long after arriving in Youzhou. The wound has already scabbed over, so it shouldn't be swollen." Ji Yanlang tilted his neck to take a look, but the wound was too low and was blocked by his shoulder. Unless he looked in the mirror, he couldn't see it.
Fang Ying tentatively stretched out her fingers and gently touched the wound area, asking, "Does it hurt? The wound is so long, how could you still ride a horse into battle later? Wouldn't it burst open?"
"When I was first injured, I rested for a few days. The injury actually looked scary, but I was wearing armor, so the wound wasn't deep and healed quickly. It didn't hurt anymore." Ji Yanlang shuddered as he spoke, pretending to be pitiful. "My lady, can I go back in the bath? It's cold."
Fang Ying glared at him: "Who told you not to tell me clearly earlier and hide it? Hurry up and wash it."
Ji Yanlang turned around and sat back in the bathtub with a smile - he didn't expect that this injury not only did not scare his wife, but instead aroused her concern and distress, and the strangeness of meeting again after a long separation was completely gone. If he had known this, he should have shown it to her from the beginning.
Fang Ying had no idea what he was thinking about, so she reached out and wet his long hair in the water, then washed his hair.
The two then continued to talk about the Prince of Yan. "What do the two Li and Qiao want? The credit for supporting him to the throne?" Fang Ying asked.
"That's probably right. These people have been ignored by the emperor since they urged him to appoint a successor last year. Whether it was during the campaign against Northern Zhao or Youzhou, they were not given important positions. So it's not surprising that they have evil intentions."
"The government must be furious, right? The capital hasn't heard any news, so why haven't they held anyone responsible?"
"The emperor was indeed furious at the time, but the Prince of Yan and his men hurried to Zhuozhou, trembling with fear and refusing to obey. At that time, there were still Hu cavalry outside Zhuozhou, and the emperor was busy deploying defenses in various provinces, so he simply reprimanded them and let them go for the time being."
Fang Ying recalled what he had just said, "But the emperor kept it in mind and later carefully investigated the cause and effect."
"Indeed. And since then, the Emperor has even replaced the guards around the Prince of Yan, and hasn't summoned him on the way back to the capital. Think about that time, when the Emperor was determined to conquer Youzhou, the Prince of Qin and Uncle Zhou both angered the Emperor with their advice, but the Prince of Yan was the only one who fawned over his superiors. During that time, he was stepping on the Prince of Qin, enjoying a glorious life."
Ji Yanlang chuckled with schadenfreude. "It's just karma, retribution. Oh, by the way, your sister Zhou is probably going to be the consort of the Prince of Qin."
After Fang Ying finished washing his hair, she remembered the wound on his back. She took a piece of fine cloth and was carefully wiping his back, avoiding the wound. When she heard this, she paused, "Did the King of Qin tell you?"
"No, I guessed. In the chaos of the army, one fled without looking back, and was almost made king by someone with ulterior motives. The other rushed to his side to protect him, loyal and devoted, never leaving his side. One gained strength while the other lost..."
Ji Yanlang turned around and smiled at Fang Ying, "On the way back to the capital, the emperor kept the Prince of Qin by his side the entire time. He also praised the Prince of Qin for his loyalty, filial piety, courage and perseverance in front of important officials many times. I heard he even asked Uncle Zhou if the Prince of Qin resembled the emperor when he was young."
"Has Uncle Zhou returned to Beijing as well?"
"Yeah, I'm back." Ji Yanlang took the wet cloth from Fang Ying's hand, "Okay, go out and wash your hands. I'll rinse myself and make sure it doesn't splash on you."
"Well, the dry cloth and clothes are in the warm room..." Fang Ying was halfway through her words when she thought of his injury. "Does your wound really not hurt? Can you dress yourself?"
The words "it doesn't hurt" were on the tip of Ji Yanlang's tongue, but he swallowed them back and replied, "It won't be a problem when getting dressed, but it might be a little inconvenient when wiping..."
Fang Ying had no doubts: "Then call me when you're done."
Ji Yanlang agreed happily.
Fang Ying turned around and went out, asking Lichun to get a basin of water. She washed her hands and felt thirsty, so she drank a glass of warm water. She remembered that Ji Yanlang had been talking for a long time and was taking a bath, so she was probably thirsty too. When he called her, she went in with a kettle and cup on a tray.
Inside, Ji Yanlang had already put on his pants and was sitting on the kang in the warm room, wiping his chest with wet hair. Fang Ying breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Are you thirsty? Drink some water first."
She walked to the table, put down the tray, poured a glass of water and handed it to Ji Yanlang, then took a dry cloth, wrapped his still dripping long hair, took the fine cloth in his hand, wiped his back, and carefully checked the wound.
"You said the wound wasn't deep, but from what I see, it's likely to leave a scar."
Ji Yanlang gulped down a glass of water and said with a smile, "It's on my back anyway, it doesn't matter."
The two of them were getting very close at this moment. The faint fragrance on her body mixed with the scent of the bath beans he had just used for bathing, making it intoxicating. Ji Yanlang could not help but put down the cup, stretched his arm back and put his arms around her slender waist.
Fang Ying froze for a moment and whispered, "Stop making trouble. Put on your clothes first. Be careful not to catch a cold."
"Will you let me hug you after you put on your clothes?" Ji Yanlang leaned close to her ear and asked in a low voice.
Fang Ying didn't answer, but turned sideways to take the white undershirt. Seeing this, Ji Yanlang had no choice but to reach out and put on the undershirt.
"Put on the robe later, your hair still needs to be dried..." Fang Ying lowered her head to tie his belt. Before she finished speaking, she asked Ji Yanlang to hug her and kissed her on the lips.
Fang Ying stretched out her hand halfway to push him away, but then she remembered the injury on his back and finally just gently held his waist, letting him go wild for once.
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