Chapter 47 There's a family that doesn't want to be with me.
Inside the Washing Flower Hall, the doors and windows were tightly closed. The heater made Zhu Qing feel warm and cozy. She lay on the warm couch, leisurely reading a book.
Perhaps out of consideration for the other people in the house, Feng Huaihe hasn't bothered her at Xihuatang recently, and she's quite content living here alone.
'Knock knock—'
A knock came at the door. Zhu Qing looked up from her book and saw the door of Xihua Hall being pushed open. Feng Huaihe, covered in snow, entered the room.
Zhu Qing immediately straightened her back and looked at him warily.
Feng Huaihe folded his umbrella, leaned against the wall, glanced at her, then walked to the heated couch she was leaning against, sat down by the stove, and asked casually, "Zhang Yin came today?"
Zhu Qing hummed in response, "What?"
"Nothing's wrong, why are you so nervous?" Feng Huaihe glanced over with a probing look.
Zhu Qing shook his head. "Did Zhu Wen send a letter today to try and win me over?"
As he spoke, he looked at Feng Huaihe, whose profile was bathed in the warm red light of the burning charcoal in the stove, making him appear as warm as a dream.
Feng Huaihe nodded softly, "Li Keyong will soon be going on an expedition with Zhu Wen to annihilate Huang Chao. Zhu Wen will be coming to the Jin Prince's Palace tomorrow for a banquet, which I will attend."
"And what about me? Didn't you say you'd let me..."
He interrupted, saying, "I wanted to take you with me, but this journey is dangerous. You will stay and assist Li Cunxu."
Zhu Qing nodded. "You've already told him?"
"Of course, in public we are husband and wife, so please don't forget that. Speaking of which, when will you marry me?"
Zhu Qing lowered his eyes and remained silent.
Feng Huaihe stared at the crackling red-hot coals in the stove, understanding her silent answer. He didn't press further, and instead casually asked, "What did Zhang Yin say today?"
Zhu Qing told the truth: "I sent some Chang'an dishes."
Did he cook for you in your past life?
Zhu Qing didn't understand why he asked this, but she still shook her head. Then she heard Feng Huaihe sneer, looking at her with cold eyes: "In my past life, I had you, but I didn't cook. In this life, I don't have you, but you've come to me all over."
After saying that, he suddenly stood up, and Zhu Qing warily shrank back. "What do you want to do?"
Feng Huaihe sat down on the warm couch next to her, reached out and lifted her collar, seeing her bamboo-leaf shaped collarbone, and stroked it with his fingers that had been warmed by the stove.
May your skin be as smooth as a chestnut.
She discovered that Feng Huaihe really liked the birthmark on her collarbone.
Every time he touches her, his eyes are calm and intense, filled with a silent cry of desire, as if he could kiss her at any moment.
Feng Huaihe's dark eyes deepened: "If I were to go to the battlefield with Li Keyong, would you worry about me?"
Zhu Qing turned her head away unhappily, "You clearly know the answer, why are you asking?"
The fingers that were stroking her collarbone paused, remaining on her skin for a long while without moving.
Zhu Qing looked over in confusion, and was about to slap him away when she suddenly saw Feng Huaihe's serious expression. She quickly stepped back, took the willow branch from the wall, kicked open the window, and jumped out into the snow-covered courtyard.
Zhu Qing sensed something was wrong. There were quite a few assassination attempts during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. She hurriedly jumped off the warm couch and ran to the window. Snowflakes were swept up by the cold wind and slapped against her face, making her cheeks stiff with cold.
She wiped her face casually and looked down at the courtyard where snow was falling in disarray. Feng Huaihe was fighting a masked man with a slingshot.
In close combat, without long-range shooting, Feng Huaihe used the piercing spear as a weapon, engaging the masked man in a fierce battle with flashing blades and clanging sounds.
Suddenly, the masked man slashed at Feng Huaihe's shoulder blade. Feng Huaihe groaned in pain, raised his slingshot high, and smashed it down on the man's head with a thud. Taking advantage of the man's dizziness, he quickly slid the slingshot down and firmly looped it around the man's neck.
As if a knife were held to his throat, the masked man froze instantly, and said with great courage, "Kill me or torture me, it's up to you!"
Feng Huaihe kicked him in the back of the knee, then grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him into the Washing Flower Hall: "That's really strange. With so many people guarding outside, how did you get in?"
Upon seeing the person enter, Zhu Qing hurriedly found ropes and tied him up tightly.
Once she was sure the man couldn't resist any longer, Zhu Qingcai ripped off his mask, revealing an unfamiliar face. She turned to Feng Huaihe in confusion, asking, "Is he someone we know?"
Feng Huaihe clutched the wound on his shoulder blade, sat by the stove, and shook his head as he looked at the unfamiliar face.
He asked in a cold voice, "Who sent you?"
The man said in a high-pitched voice, "It's Zhang Yin."
Zhu Qing: "..."
He has backbone.
Just now in the courtyard, he was so proud, saying that he would do whatever he wanted to her, and she thought he would say something like, "Even if you kill me, I won't say anything." She didn't expect him to blurt it out directly.
Upon hearing Zhang Yin's name, Feng Huaihe clenched his fists and sneered, "I thought he was something special, but it turns out he only knows how to send a lackey like you to do this kind of shady business."
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door, followed by the door being pushed open. Bao Fu, hunched over, stood in the doorway: "I just heard the sound of swords and spears, but when I came out to check, there was nothing there..."
Upon seeing that the person on the ground was dressed in night clothes, his tone suddenly turned sharp: "Ah, an assassin!" Bao Fu's heart pounded rapidly.
Feng Huaihe glanced at him: "You're already tied up. What's your name?"
"...
"Perfect timing, take them away."
Bao Fu grabbed the man's shoulder and dragged him away, then closed the door to keep out the cold wind and snow.
On the floor inside the house, there was a puddle of melted snow from the assassin's body.
In the silence, Zhu Qing looked at Feng Huaihe's shoulder blade. He was clutching it, and blood was seeping from between his fingers. Zhu Qing frowned and asked, "How serious is it?"
"serious."
Feng Huaihe's eyebrows drooped, his face was deathly pale, and he looked as if he could faint at any moment. "It hurts a lot."
Fearing Zhu Qing might not believe him, he added, "The assassin's knife was very sharp."
Zhu Qing asked, "Where is the medicine box?"
"The second shelf on the left." His voice was weak, almost as if he were barely breathing.
As Zhu Qing went to get the medicine box, she recalled how Feng Huaihe hadn't uttered a sound when Jing Wan punished him before, unlike now.
She returned with the medicine box and looked at Feng Huaihe strangely. She saw that his brows were furrowed and his forehead was covered in sweat, which did not seem like he was faking it.
Zhu Qing felt even more puzzled. "Is it really that serious? Should I go and call my second brother to come and take a look?"
“No need,” Feng Huaihe quickly refused. “It’s getting late, and Second Brother hasn’t woken up from all that commotion. Let’s not disturb him.”
Zhu Qing thought about it and agreed: "Then you should bandage it yourself. I don't know how."
As Zhu Qing spoke, he sat down by the stove, propped his chin up with his hands, and looked at the red-hot coals inside, saying, "I don't think he was sent by Zhang Yin."
Feng Huaihe paused as he opened the medicine box: "Why?"
"First, he implicated Zhang Yin without hesitation, which is not right; it seems like he's trying to shift the blame. Second, in your previous life, when Zhang Yin was this age, he greatly admired you and would never have hired someone to kill you."
As Feng Huaihe listened, he suddenly sneered and stared intently at Zhu Qing's face: "You seem to know him very well?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Zhu Qing rolled her eyes at him. "We've been husband and wife for years. If I don't even understand him this much, what kind of strategist am I?"
Feng Huaihe's cold smile froze on his face.
He couldn't even manage a cold laugh anymore.
He frowned. "Who else could it be but him? Now that I've come to Jinyang and challenged his position by Li Cunxu's side, it's not impossible that the competition would breed jealousy."
“Zhang Yin wouldn’t be jealous of you,” Zhu Qing thought carefully and said very bluntly, “You have nothing that would make him jealous, but he does admire you, which is why I think it couldn’t be him.”
"..."
Feng Huaihe laughed in anger, gripping the medicine bottle tightly, and said through gritted teeth, "You yourself said that things are unpredictable. Now that you and I are back, Zhang Yin will definitely change. The assassin has already confessed, and you're still covering for him? You're too kind."
"You're just too jealous and hateful of Zhang Yin, so you believe whatever the assassin says. That's a misjudgment."
How can you be so sure I made a wrong judgment?
“Every time you involve Zhang Yin, you make the wrong decision.”
Feng Huaihe fell silent, his face grim as he stared at Zhu Qing without uttering a single word.
Zhu Qing realized she had misspoke, but it was impossible for her to apologize to him. She changed her words and said, "Anyway, I don't think it's Zhang Yin. We need to investigate further."
"It's him." Feng Huaihe gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead.
Zhu Qing glanced at him, deciding not to speak to a man driven by jealousy. She was filled with doubt, unable to understand how an assassin could have gotten in, given that Li Cunxu's men were guarding the area.
There are only two possibilities: either the assassin is one of Li Cunxu's men, or the master behind the assassin lives in the house.
Thinking of the second possibility, Zhu Qing felt a chill run down her spine. Apart from Feng Huaihe, everyone in the house was her closest person. Who would do such a thing?
-
Zhu Qing thought about it carefully all night, but still couldn't come up with a solution.
If the assassin was one of Feng Huaihe's men, then that slash was quite vicious; it didn't seem like it. If it wasn't Feng Huaihe, Zhu Qingzhen really couldn't think of anyone else.
The next day, when she looked at her family members in the house, they all seemed to have seen a ghost. She had been drowned by her family in her past life, so she was truly terrified of even a rope.
Zhu Qing went to find Bao Fu, wanting to interrogate the assassin again, but Bao Fu said that the person had already been dealt with by Feng Huaihe.
Zhu Qing became even more suspicious when she saw how quickly the matter was handled.
Feng Huaihe was such a suspicious person, how could he be so arbitrary in this matter?
Zhu Qing returned to Xihua Hall with a belly full of questions, unable to concentrate on archery practice, and planned to ask Feng Huaihe when he returned.
He went to the Jin Prince's Palace today to participate in a banquet hosted by Zhu Wen, so he should be back a little late.
Zhu Qing waited until late at night, around 9 PM, before Feng Huaihe finally arrived.
He was wearing a black cloak, which was covered with snowflakes. As soon as he entered the room, Zhu Qing could smell a faint scent of alcohol.
Zhu Qing looked up at his slightly flushed cheeks and said with displeasure, "You drank alcohol at the banquet?"
Feng Huaihe sat down next to her. The stove in front of them was warm. He reached out to warm his hands and felt the warm heat in his palms. He said, "Not much, just a little."
Zhu Qing wanted to ask about the assassin, but seeing him like this, she immediately lost interest.
What's the point of discussing something with a drunkard?
Zhu Qing shifted her position, moving further away from him, her face full of disgust: "Go back to sleep, I need to rest too."
Feng Huaihe's clear gaze swept over, his eyes deep and calm, showing no trace of drunkenness.
Zhu Qing was taken aback when she saw his hand reach out, grab her arm, and pull her over to sit on his lap. "The snow is too heavy tonight, I think I'll stay here."
"?"
Feng Huaihe reached out and touched Zhu Qing's eyebrows and eyes. His hands were still cold from the icy snow outside, and when they touched her skin, Zhu Qing felt a chill.
Feng Huaihe's hand slowly moved down, from the end of her eyebrows to her eyes, the bridge of her nose, her lips, and her collarbone. His movements were eerily slow, making Zhu Qing's hair stand on end. Finally, he placed his hand on the sash at her waist.
"Take it off."
Feng Huaihe's words were concise and to the point, a single-word command. What did he take her for?
Zhu Qing clenched her fist and slammed it into his shoulder blade, which had been injured yesterday. "What triggered you this time?"
A dull pain shot through the wound on his shoulder blade, and Feng Huaihe's face paled. But soon, he felt that the pain was insignificant, overwhelmed and covered by the overwhelming jealousy and hatred in his heart.
Feng Huaihe gripped Zhu Qing's fist with one hand and her waist with the other, forcefully flipping her over and pressing her onto the warm couch beneath him.
The charcoal stove was radiating a warm glow, but Zhu Qing felt that Feng Huaihe's breath on her face was even hotter. His gaze was hotter than the charcoal in the stove, and the hand that was stroking her neck was also burning hot.
Zhu Qing turned her head away and pushed his shoulders with both hands, "I don't want to do it today."
"Do you not want to do it, or do you not want to do it with me?"
Feng Huaihe laughed at her, but the movement he had just made reopened the wound on his shoulder blade, and blood gushed out, making his black clothes appear even darker.
Feng Huaihe ignored everything and stared straight into Zhu Qing's eyes, saying, "At tonight's banquet, Li Cunxu bestowed a house upon Zhang Yin. It was the house you and he shared in your past life."
Zhu Qing remained silent.
Feng Huaihe continued, "If you want to marry me, I also want to have a home with you. You have to decorate this home better than the one you had with Zhang Yin in our past life. If you agree to marry me, we won't do it tonight, and we won't do it before the wedding."
Zhu Qing: "How did you know how I arranged it?"
Feng Huaihe said in a low voice, "I went to see it myself."
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