Chapter 53 Jealousy "If I hadn't been fed the medicine, why would I have resorted to stealing kisses? ...
When Song Lang was a child, he traveled to many countries with his father. It was also at this time that the hometown that he was proud of was completely shattered.
The other states were prosperous, with vast territories and large populations. Although they faced foreign invasions and wars from enemy states, the people's livelihood and national economy were far superior to those in Huaicheng. Huaicheng was only a small area, and due to the threat of falling stars, a lot of land was difficult to cultivate. As the population of Huaicheng grew, the houses became increasingly crowded, resulting in a shortage of good land. For this reason, my father did not hesitate to demolish the Huai Palace, where successive city lords had lived, leaving only the annex, Songheju, for the whole family to live in.
Song Lang once pinched his father's sleeve and asked him, "Why do they have the protection of a country, while we have none? Why do they have such vast empires, while we are confined to a city?"
Song Ling smiled and stroked his head. "In that case, when Lang'er grows up, we'll create a kingdom for the Huai people, so they can have both a home and a country."
His father was born for this city. Song Ling devoted his entire life, traveling to various countries to open up fields for this city, promote trade, and do business with merchants from various countries. When this city became increasingly prosperous, he became ill and died suddenly.
The neighboring countries that originally disdained this city began to covet this piece of fat meat.
The young man packed his bags and left his hometown, just to carry out his father's unfinished wish and to put the final chapter on his childhood ambition.
Song Lang was unstoppable and passed the imperial examination. He was appreciated by Emperor Ying and promoted to the Prince's Tutor. He was just seventeen years old that year.
The crown prince was not Emperor Ying's eldest son Jiang Ji, but his twelfth son Jiang Zhi, who was sent to Daqing as a hostage five years ago.
One day in the fifty-third year of Luoyuan, it rained continuously in Yingdu. All the officials stood on the white jade steps holding umbrellas, just to welcome the prince back to the court.
There was a thunderous sound of worship, and Song Lang looked up, his eyes meeting those of Chu Jun who was sitting high on the jade chariot.
Jiang Zhinian was fourteen at that time. He was frail and his face was unusually pale. The ten fingers he used to play with the jade pendant had been gnawed beyond recognition.
The Imperial Tutor's uniform was different from that of the other officials. Song Lang stood out in the crowd. Jiang Zhi, escorted by eunuchs, walked towards him under a canopy. The young Chu Jun smiled at Song Lang and bowed respectfully, "Teacher."
Suddenly, thunder struck the sky, plunging Yingdu into darkness.
Jiang Zhi is studious, intelligent, and obedient to his teacher. Although Song Lang is caught in the political turmoil in the court, whether headed by the eldest prince Jiang Ji or the other princes, no matter how exhausted he is physically and mentally, as long as he faces Jiang Zhi, he will devote himself to giving him the best education.
In the fifty-fourth year of Luoyuan, Princess Suiping was trapped in the temporary palace. She was disfigured by a fire and her voice was choked by the smoke. From then on, the little princess, who was regarded as the apple of the emperor's eye, could no longer speak.
In the 55th year of Luoyuan, the two countries of Ying and Qing were in a stalemate. Ying was defeated, and the 50,000 retreating Ying troops were intercepted by Dara and buried alive.
In the fifty-sixth year of Luoyuan, the eldest prince Jiang Ji personally led an expedition to attack Qing. He disappeared when the war was about to begin, causing a sensation throughout the country. Some said he died on the battlefield, while others said he fled out of fear of fighting.
In the same year, Emperor Ying was seriously ill and ordered Song Lang to go to the palace alone to meet him.
The vast palace held only the emperor and himself. Emperor Ying's withered skin clung to his bony bones. His eyes shone with supreme authority, and he asked in a hoarse voice, "Grandmaster, who do you think is worthy of the throne among my sons?"
Emperor Ying had long since appointed Jiang Zhi as heir, so this question was tantamount to pre-setting the answer for him. If he said the other way, how would he be any different from a traitor? Song Lang knelt down, considered it, and said frankly, "If His Highness were still alive, it would belong to His Highness." He paused, then added, "His Highness has been too concerned about his brothers, which is a pity."
The emperor sneered, "Of all the ministers in the court, you are the only one who gives me honest advice, but some of your words, Grand Tutor, have caused me great pain in my stomach and heart... I cherish your talent, but I also feel resentment towards you."
Song Lang bowed his hands and lowered his brows, "Your Majesty, I have failed to fulfill my moral principles and cannot be worthy of being the Crown Prince's teacher. I have failed Your Majesty's important responsibility."
The emperor was not angry when he heard this, but laughed heartily. "In your opinion, why is the prince unfit for the job?"
"Although the Crown Prince is intelligent, he is trapped in the shadows and cannot be used as a ruler." Song Lang raised his dull eyes. "Although the Crown Prince has an iron fist, he cannot take care of the people's livelihood and good ministers. He favors eunuchs. Moreover, in the current situation of Daying, we should implement benevolent policies."
The emperor was silent for a moment, then waved at him, "Langqing, come forward."
There are ten steps between the dragon throne and the place where the court officials stand, and no one can cross it easily.
Song Lang lowered his eyes, straightened his back, and walked up the stairs with grace and elegance, finally stopping at the steps.
The emperor personally handed him two secret decrees. One was that Huaicheng would be returned to the country and governed as his own city. Daying would not be allowed to interfere in government affairs for twenty years, and taxes would be reduced within ten years. If a neighboring country invaded Huai, Daying would have to fight the enemy with all its might.
The other one ordered Song Lang to open it when he died. Although Song Lang had not seen it, he had already fully understood the meaning of this order.
"Langqing, you haven't returned home for three years, right? Go back and tell your family you're safe, and comfort the people of Huai." The aged emperor gazed at the evening light streaming into the palace. The setting sun shone across one side. A young and energetic minister tapped the emperor's trembling knuckles, and his eyes suddenly became old and empty. "Go, Langqing."
When Song Lang left the imperial palace, he could only hear the withered emperor sitting on the dragon throne sighing, "It's a pity that A-Lin is a girl, it's a pity that she can't speak, it's a pity for my A-Zhi and Ji-er..."
A Lin was actually the Princess Suiping. On the eve of Song Lang's departure from Yingdu, he secretly handed over the unopened secret decree to Jiang Lin in case of any emergency.
When he arrived safely in Huaicheng, it was a rainy night. Just as four fine horses were passing the city gate, an imperial edict came from Yingdu, saying that the emperor was in critical condition and ordering the Taifu to return home immediately.
After all, he never got to see his mother in person, and the birthday celebration that had been delayed for three years was forgotten again and again.
In the third year of Jiang Zhi's reign, the eldest prince Jiang Ji, who had been missing for several years, appeared in Ying Palace and launched a palace coup together with Mei Lianqing, who was known as a "flatterer".
The white jade steps that had been polished by palace slaves to a shine under the moonlight turned into a channel of blood with corpses lying on them. Jiang Ji died, Mei Lianqing was imprisoned, and his sister Mei Lianjun was buried in Xiayang Pass. His grandmother, Princess Wanyi, dragged herself into the palace despite her illness to protect the Mei family. She died of exhaustion when she reached the 44th step. Mei Lianqing committed suicide upon hearing the news. Li Qingrang, Marquis of Cangping, died after sacrificing his life to protect the emperor. Princess Suiping also died in the palace coup, and the secret decree was lost. After an autopsy by the coroner, it was found that the princess had committed suicide by taking poison. When the palace maids found Jiang Jin, they saw that the princess's gorgeous clothes were stained with blood, her golden hairpin was crooked, and her only eyes were fixed on the koi carp flapping in the water jade jar, although she died with her eyes open.
Song Lang found Jiang Lin earlier than the palace maids. He was standing outside the window. The afterglow was like a crimson silk woven from the sky. A koi fish jumped out of the jade jar and struggled on the windowsill, its tail sweeping. The slanting sunlight poured on Jiang Lin's crooked gold hairpin and broken jade. She was unwilling to be humiliated and unwilling to become a shackle for her brother, so she decided to die.
He has always been a calm person who can make decisions with the least loss in any situation. Jiang Lin's chest was no longer heaving. He threw the koi back into the water jade tank neatly, and the koi was reborn. Song Lang turned and left without looking back. There were still people alive in Ying Palace, and he could not stop, even for a moment.
He didn't know that the moment he turned around, Jiang Lin's rapid breathing kicked up the dust on the tiles.
Song Lang pretended to pay homage to Emperor Mingci Jiang Zhi and wanted to offer Huaicheng to Daying. As he expected, the people of Huai rose up and resisted to the death. For this reason, Emperor Mingci did not accept this great gift, which made Song Lang more convinced that the people of Huai had been living in peace in a corner for a long time. If he wanted to teach the people to understand the current situation and get out of their small place, it would not be a one-day job.
He sealed the secret decree from the previous emperor ordering Huaicheng to return to the country. Song Lang resigned from the position of imperial teacher and returned to his hometown. He joined forces with Huanzhen, the military advisor of Daqing. He became a villain who was pointed at by everyone and was criticized. He tried to defend himself, but he could not withstand the criticism.
His mother and younger brother were also bullied because of him. His mother pretended to drown herself in the river, but in fact she fell because of the bullying of the people.
He witnessed his loved ones leaving one by one. The poison in his body gnawed at Song Lang's internal organs, making him live a life worse than death. In a trance, he once again dreamed of his mother's swollen and rotten corpse from being soaked in water for a long time, and his brother buried under his sword. Song Lang was on the verge of collapse and roared at the top of his lungs.
As generations pass, how many people care about the truth about this old dynasty? Everything that drifts in the torrent of history will only be distorted again and again by future generations.
"Song Lang truly deserved to die! When the Daqing army was at the gates of the city, he abandoned the people and submitted a letter of surrender to the Qi army! Those who refused to submit were beheaded by Song Lang! It is said that his brothers were killed by Song Lang because they spoke out against the Qing army entering the city... Wen Minyu is his half brother!"
"Isn't it? Tell me, how could Song Ling, with his eternal reputation, give birth to a heartless and ruthless person like Song Lang?"
"Oh, rumor has it his mother died in the war... He really did bring disaster upon himself!"
The endless abuse of the world is enough to imprison him in hell forever, and he will not die a good death.
"Song Xieqing!"
With just one sound, all the evil spirits in his nightmare were driven away.
Song Xieqing suddenly opened his eyes and saw a light-colored gardenia bed curtain hanging on the side. The woman in front of the bed had a frown on her face, and her hands were wrapped in a hand that was bleeding from being pierced by his own nails. In Zhu Hao's eyes, there was more worry than fear.
He curled up on the couch, his quilt filled with the soft fragrance of a girl's home, and his pillow was already wet with tears.
Song Xieqing was shocked to find that he no longer felt any pain, and the curse thread on his neck was gone. He subconsciously looked at the woman's lip that was lightly bitten, "How... did I get better?"
"Isn't this simple?" Zhu Hao still held his hand tightly, and touched his lips with the other hand, "Wouldn't it be better to just kiss you?"
Blood formed into beads and dripped from the gaps between their clasped fingers. Song Xieqing tried to break free from her hand, but Zhu Hao wouldn't let him. Instead, she took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood off his palm. "Song Xieqing, what did you dream about?"
He didn't answer, but only asked in confusion: "...How did you kiss?"
The room suddenly fell silent. Zhu Hao leaned over and glanced at him strangely. "It's just like when you secretly kissed me, but... for some reason, the curse this time is much harder to break. I kissed you for so long that my lips almost blistered."
Zhu Hao paid close attention to Song Xieqing's every move, only to see that the person on the couch was always staring at her lips. Song Xieqing's expression was dazed for a moment. Although the curse thread on his neck disappeared, a blush inexplicably appeared on his neck, and the red mole on his Adam's apple became more and more obvious.
"A stealth kiss?" Song Xieqing scoffed. "Don't you think your illness has healed? No more coughing up blood? If I hadn't been feeding you medicine, why would I resort to stealing kisses? If I really wanted to..."
He suddenly shut up and looked away with a thieving look.
Zhu Hao snorted coldly, "You're so tough! You've been unconscious for five days, making me watch over you every night. You even soaked my quilt with your tears. You..."
"Cry? What a joke! When have I ever cried?" He suddenly inserted his five fingers into hers. Song Xieqing pulled Zhu Hao forward, and her hair brushed against his chin. "Besides, didn't I take care of you when you were bedridden?"
Zhu Hao couldn't help but smile at him, his eyes curved, and the woman's shoulders trembled, just like the red pomegranate flowers swaying gracefully in the sun in the courtyard. He couldn't take his eyes off her. When Zhu Hao had finished laughing, he said to him solemnly, "Song Xieqing, thank you."
…
A lot of things happened during the five days that Song Xieqing was comatose. First, Zhu Qi's concubine Duan Meiyin was robbed. The government chased the thief all the way to Xigao. Although they did not catch the thief, they found more than 20 boxes of goods in an extremely secluded cave on the upper waist of Xigao, including silver ingots, cloth, and millet. A few steps away, there was a man tied to a broken rock with hemp ropes. After interrogation by the government, it was found that this man was the sailor A Zhang who covered up for the lady of the Xie family and Chu Zhijian. The government learned from him that the boxes in the cave were all transported by Zhu Qi's orders.
Ah Zhang couldn't resist the money given by Xie Shangqing, so he covered up for her and her lover. Zhu Qi suspected that Ah Zhang knew the truth about what happened on the merchant ship that night, so he tied him up here temporarily, so that he could kill him to silence him when the critical moment came. Who knew that the government would confiscate the evidence first?
When the bailiffs rushed to Zhu Qi's residence, he had already left. The officials found the owner of the brocade they seized in the cave, Zhu Hao, and were also looking for the owners of the other goods one by one. The government followed the clues and found out that the goods in the cave were all looted by Zhu Qi and the bandits in collusion. It was probably because Zhu Qi and the bandits knew that this plan should not cause any loss of life, and the scholar Chu Zhijian, who died on the merchant ship and fell into Cangze, was able to rest in peace.
This matter has to start with Xie Shangqing, the young lady of the Xie family. A few days before her great-grandfather Xie Ju passed away, she actually got engaged to Zhu Qi again. Little did she know that the marriage was just a delaying tactic of Xie Shangqing. She used it to bring herself closer to Zhu Qi and thus reduce his suspicion. Seeing that the opportunity had come, Xie Shangqing reported Zhu Qi to the government office with red and swollen eyes. Xie Shangqing tearfully explained that the reason Chu Zhijian died was because he discovered the conspiracy between Zhu Qi and the water bandits. In addition to her confession, she also brought witnesses that stunned all the officials.
The next day, Zhu Qi's concubine Duan Meiyin also came to the government office crying, saying that Chu Zhijian was her long-lost cousin. Duan Meiyin was heartbroken to hear that her husband was the real murderer of her cousin. She was completely disappointed with Zhu Qi and revealed to the government office that there was a servant in the family who was tall and strong, with broad shoulders and a big waist. Compared with other servants, he was very strange. Duan Meiyin suspected that this man was a pirate who hid in the house as a servant and worked for Zhu Qi.
The person Duan Meiyin was referring to was the strong man who had stood outside her house a while ago and shouted at a boy who was explaining the soil of Xigao and Huailing to her.
The government used both soft and hard tactics on this man and indeed captured a large number of river bandits entrenched in the Huaicheng River basin.
Before one wave subsides, another wave arises.
The government searched Zhu Qi's residence and discovered from all the account books and his private property that the reason Zhu Qi had the money to buy Yuequan Wharf a year ago was because he had a concubine named Chang Le in his early years. He took her in just because of her looks and poor family background so that he could let him bully her. Unexpectedly, a medical master from Kyoto came to him last year and found out that the concubine he kept for himself was actually a daughter of the Zhou family, a medical master who had been missing for several years.
Zhu Qi becomes a successful son-in-law overnight, but Chang Le is determined to divorce him. Zhu Qi is an expert at flattery, and Chang Le, despite his repeated nagging, has not yet escaped the cage Zhu Qi has built for her. Officials in Huaicheng and the capital jointly investigate and reveal that the money Zhu Qi used to buy the wharf was secretly obtained by him from exchanging valuable medicinal herbs from the Zhou Clinic at a low price. The Zhou family, a century-old family, is also falsely accused of passing inferior herbs for excellent medicines because of Zhu Qi's actions and suffers imprisonment for nothing.
Afterwards, Zhu Qi patted his butt and left. Before leaving, he took the maid who was responsible for sweeping the clinic away. This person was Zhu Qi's current concubine Duan Meiyin. She returned to her hometown with the stolen money from selling medicine and conspired with the pirates...
This man has a sinister heart and should be severely punished. It's a pity that the government has not yet arrested Zhu Qi.
Zhu Hao was hoping for news about Zhu Qi's arrest while kneading flour on the round table in the courtyard. The courtyard was tidy and clean, and the flowers and plants were well-trimmed, all thanks to the three Zhuoshui people. Miaoli returned to her hometown a few days ago and said that the neighbor who took care of her in her childhood was getting married, and she should go in person to congratulate.
Song Xieqing lazily leaned on a rocking chair shaded by an ancient pomegranate tree. He glanced at the dough growing bigger and bigger in the woman's hands and asked boredly, "There are only you and me in our family, plus the three Zhuoshui monsters, so there are only five of us. What are you going to do with this nearly basin-sized white flour?"
"You've just recovered from a serious illness, so you shouldn't be overworked, right? Why bother cooking anything you want? You can just buy it from the market." An idea suddenly struck him, and he forced himself to utter a few words while pressing his palms against his heels: "I wish you well. I'm not short of money."
Zhu Hao glanced over and brushed away the loose hair that fell on her cheek. "I was seriously ill before and asked everyone to take care of me. I thought of making some cakes for them."
Song Xieqing raised his eyebrows, "What kind of person is that?"
The woman paused, counting off the names. "Xuyin, Shopkeeper Liu, Zhuoshui and the others, as well as the medical family Lu Jue left behind, and Chunsheng. I know he's found a lot of prescriptions for me privately. Not only them, but many others, such as..." She paused her gaze on him, "And you."
Zhu Hao's forehead and nose were stained with flour, which looked a little funny, but in his opinion it was quite cute. However, Song Xieqing could not laugh when he heard the name Shi Chunsheng, and even seemed not to hear the three words "and you".
Song Xieqing's tone, which had just been light and cheerful, suddenly turned cold. "Is Shi Chunsheng really that good? In my opinion, he's nothing special. His family only makes a living from the bookstore. If you were to be with him, would he be willing to give you extra money every month to buy rouge?"
Zhu Hao was taken aback by his incoherent words, but when she came to her senses, she found it amusing. She said deliberately, "Oh, then...how about Young Master Lu Jue from the prefectural governor's family?"
He spared no effort to belittle her, "Hiss... I don't have to worry about the money for rouge, but the young master is too dissolute, that's all."
Zhu Hao glanced at him with a hint of meaning and asked teasingly, "How are you, my husband?"
The branches of flowers in the garden trembled in the wind, and their petals rustled and fell on the shoulders of the two men. Zhuoshui stood quietly under the corridor. She glanced at Zhu Hao, who was about to smile, and then fixed her attention on Song Xieqing. Zhuoshui sneered lightly, thinking that the imperial teacher who was once second only to the emperor had fallen to the point of being jealous of his own descendants.
Song Xieqing savored the word "husband" and suppressed his restlessness, fearing that Zhu Hao would see through his despicable behavior. Song Xieqing looked away and asked, "What do you think?"
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The author has something to say: The writing is also very vivid [sunglasses]
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