Chapter 46
When Qi Yu left, she abandoned her elaborate dresses and put on a neat riding outfit.
Pei Jiu tied her hair up with a hair crown, ensuring that not a single strand of hair fell down, making it much more secure. However, even in this way, it was still easy to tell that she was a woman at a glance.
People often leave and return during southern tours, so their departure wasn't unusual.
When Wu Shiyan settled in the imperial palace, Qi Yu also arrived at the estate that Wu Shiyan had mentioned.
This is a very large house.
The house was nestled against the mountain and beside the water, in a secluded place, but it was very close to the nearby city. There was also a Taoist temple on the mountain. When Qi Yu arrived, she met several Taoist nuns who were practicing, and they made way for her to reach the house.
Pei Jiu stepped forward and knocked on the door, taking out her token. Upon seeing the token, the steward of the house opened the door wide and led them inside.
The steward received the news two days in advance and received several carriages full of boxes and trunks. He naturally knew that someone would be staying at the house, so he cleaned the courtyard in advance.
Even though there was an old tree in the yard, and it was autumn, there wasn't a single withered leaf on the ground.
It was unclear when Wu Shiyan had purchased the house. There weren't many servants inside. Qi Yu had her things put away and then arranged the people she had brought in an orderly manner.
The secret guards and bodyguards had their own rules, and Qi Yu didn't interfere much.
Interestingly, the fourth guard in the secret service was also there.
Wei Si is skilled in martial arts, but his ability to conceal himself is far inferior to Lin Qi's.
Autumn has arrived, and the mountain winds are chilly. Qi Yu then had someone go to the nearby city to buy more warm clothes.
She had enough clothes, but Pei Jiu and the others didn't bring much.
However, as long as you have enough money, even ready-made clothes are exceptionally exquisite, no less so than those hastily made in the palace.
After they settled in temporarily, two more autumn rains fell in two days. After the rain, the cold wind chilled them to the bone, and Pei Jiu finally realized the Empress's intention.
After staying at the house for a few days, not only Pei Jiu, but even Qi Yu felt that she was smiling more.
The sky was clear and blue today. The rain had stopped for two days, and the ground was dry, so it was unlikely to rain again.
Hearing the commotion, Qi Yu said, "Pei Jiu, let's go to the city."
The most famous wine in this place is peach blossom wine, and there are also many fruits that cannot be found in the capital.
Pei Jiu put down the plate and smiled, "Great! I've been wanting to go out for a stroll for a while now."
What happened last time really frightened her, but now that His Majesty is not here, it shouldn't be a big problem.
Qi Yu tidied herself up, put on a sky-blue dress, and went out in a carriage with Pei Jiu.
The trip went very smoothly. Qi Yu sat in the teahouse, listening to the storyteller's eloquent narration with great interest. In the afternoon, she went shopping. Pei Jiu led a group of people to buy snacks, wine, fruits, tea, and so on before returning. The other palace servants also went to buy some things. Finally, they met up and returned home with their bags full.
After returning home, Qi Yu looked at the peach blossom wine she had bought and immediately had it poured into a wine glass. She then took a sip.
It has a mellow and sweet taste, offering a unique flavor.
A palace maid stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, the hot spring in the backyard has been prepared. Would Your Highness like to take a bath there tonight?"
Qi Yu nodded: "Tonight."
The house is quite large, part of which is connected to the mountain. In the backyard, there is a hot spring pool formed naturally. There are no roof beams, and you can see a sky full of stars when you look up.
It rained a few days ago, and rainwater fell into the pond, so she didn't eat it right away.
As night fell, Qi Yu's residence was located in the backyard. She passed through two winding corridors and saw the hot spring bath.
Steam rose from the hot spring, which was surrounded by layers of dreamlike pale purple and light pink gauze curtains. Soft carpets were laid on the ground, and her clothes and bathing supplies were placed on a tray next to the pool.
Beside Qi Yu was an incense burner from which wisps of smoke rose. She noticed a wine pot and wine cups on a golden plate floating in the pool and guessed that it was peach blossom wine.
Of course, fruits and snacks are all available.
Before the palace maids could enter, Qi Yu dipped her hand into the warm water to feel the strength of the current, then picked up the wine pot and smelled it; it was indeed peach blossom wine.
Seeing that she had guessed correctly, Qi Yu smiled slightly.
However, before she could get into the water, something seemed to roll down from the mountain. Just as Qi Yu was about to retreat, she heard a splashing sound, and the hot spring water was splashed out, revealing a person floating in the pool.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
However, to make matters worse, the hot spring water was subsequently stained red.
Qi Yu immediately called Lin Qi out, handed the man over to her to deal with, and then turned and left.
Even though she had witnessed Wu Shiyan committing murder, she still found it difficult to cope when actually facing a dead person.
The man floating in the hot spring did not die. After he slowed his fall by following the cliff wall, the warm water provided him with a final layer of protection.
The warm water enveloped him, making him unwilling to move and only wanting to sink to the bottom.
As his consciousness slowly faded, he suddenly heard a familiar voice and frantically struggled to lift his head out of the water.
Lin Qi had already appeared in front of him.
Lin Qi said uncertainly, "Your Majesty, this seems to be Lord Pei."
It's no wonder she didn't recognize him; Pei Jin looked truly disheveled. His eyes were covered in dark circles as if they had been painted on, there was a layer of stubble on his chin, and he had abrasions on his face. He must have been injured on his body as well.
Pei Jin realized what he looked like and put his index finger to his lips.
But Qi Yu stopped when she heard Lin Qi's words and quickly walked back.
Pei Jin had no choice but to submerge his head in the water again.
Qi Yu looked surprised. She quickly ordered, "Have the accompanying imperial physicians wait in the room. Lin Qi, go and call Wei Si. Have him take Lord Pei to the room for treatment."
Qi Yu stepped forward, cupped Pei Jin's face, and pulled him out of the water.
Pei Jin slowly opened his closed eyes, feeling extremely embarrassed, and his voice involuntarily lowered: "Madam."
He was so embarrassed that he forgot about his injuries when he showed his most shameful side to the woman he remembered most vividly.
His wife cupped his cheeks in her hands, and he obediently raised his face, not daring to trouble her.
Qi Yu's eyes widened, and she asked in confusion, "What?"
Pei Jin's cheeks were abnormally hot, and his eyes were gentle yet resolute, seemingly without any impurities.
Upon hearing this, Pei Jin repeated it firmly: "Madam."
Qi Yu looked at him, her mind in turmoil: Could it be that Pei Jin recognized her back at the Pei residence? Otherwise, why would he call her "Madam" now?
"What's my name?" Qi Yu asked, frowning.
Pei Jin remained silent.
He felt that once he uttered the name Qi Yu, something bad would happen, something even more unbearable than being chased.
At this moment, Wei Si came over. Qi Yu let go of his hand, handed the person over to Wei Si, and then went to the room where Pei Jin was being housed.
The imperial physician was treating Pei Jin and bandaging his wounds.
He had a wound in his abdomen, which went deeper and his intestines came out. It was torn several times, making it a gruesome sight and severely damaging his health.
Pei Jin's gaze drifted towards Qi Yu, seemingly casually.
Wei Si said to Qi Yu, "Your Majesty, we must report Lord Pei's presence here to His Majesty as soon as possible, as this matter may affect the court."
Qi Yu readily agreed: "Okay."
Wei Si accepted the order and sent a secret guard skilled in light-footed martial arts to deliver the message to His Majesty day and night.
They could send messages by carrier pigeon, but if something went wrong in such an important matter, it would have irreparable consequences.
Wei Si was so proactive for two reasons: firstly, he was loyal to His Majesty, and secondly, he noticed that Lord Pei seemed to have lost his memory and had mistaken the Empress for the lady he remembered.
He was one of the few who knew what happened after the Qixi Festival, and Wei Si felt it would be best to tell His Majesty about it as soon as possible.
Let His Majesty trouble himself.
Half an hour later, the imperial physician wiped the sweat from his forehead and stepped back from the bedside, saying, "Your Majesty, Lord Pei's wounds have been treated. In addition to the abdominal wound, Lord Pei also suffered a head injury. It seems that Lord Pei has a blockage in his brain, which has caused some memory loss. I am not skilled in treating intracranial injuries and have no way to help him."
"Your Majesty may send someone to ask Lord Pei if he remembers anything."
After all this commotion, there was some movement from Pei Jin's side just now, and Qi Yu, like Wei Si, already had a general idea of what was going on.
But upon hearing the imperial physician's words, she was momentarily lost in thought.
Amnesia?
Qi Yu dismissed everyone, leaving Pei Jiu alone.
She walked to the bedside, looked at Pei Jin, and asked, "Lord Pei, what do you remember?"
Pei Jin looked at Pei Jiu: "I don't remember her, I only remember you."
Pei Jiu glared at Pei Jin, who seemed to think that he already had the Empress in his heart.
Qi Yu blinked in confusion. Pei Jiu was beside her, and Pei Jin was so smart that he couldn't possibly have no memory of her. Right now, he probably didn't remember any of the times when Pei Jiu was by her side.
Pei Jin took Qi Yu's hand and wrote two words on her palm with his finger: Pei Lang.
Seeing that Qi Yu still didn't understand, Pei Jin said, "Hengwu Courtyard."
Pei Jin didn't say it directly because he understood immediately. The sound of everyone calling his wife "Your Majesty" was still ringing in his ears, but he couldn't possibly mistake his wife.
That means that many changes have suddenly occurred between the days he remembered at Hengwu Courtyard and the present.
For example, His Majesty took a fancy to his wife, forcibly brought her back to the palace, and then banished him from the capital.
This also explains why his memories of life were in the capital, but now he is a wanderer, being hunted down, and the things on his body that prove his identity indicate that he is a minor local official.
How hateful and lamentable.
However, due to the presence of the maidservants around his wife, he could only write down the two characters "Pei Lang" to avoid uttering them aloud and bringing disaster upon Qi Yu.
Qi Yu told Pei Jiu to leave, and after the door closed, she said, "I am not your wife. Your wife is a woman who looks very much like me, named Zhao Wanyi."
Pei Jin asked, "Then why doesn't Madam dare to look me in the eye when I speak?"
Qi Yu then looked at him.
Pei Jin let out a laugh: "I wouldn't mistake my wife, and you have a small pink birthmark shaped like a turtle on your right shoulder blade, that can't be wrong."
He discovered it by chance the night before attending the morning court session, and it remained a vivid memory ever since.
Qi Yu touched her right shoulder, unable to make a decision for a moment.
The palace maids used to bathe her and mentioned that her back was smooth and flawless, but after returning to the palace on the Qixi Festival, Wu Shiyan's gaze fell on that spot more than once.
During the southern tour, he became even more outrageous, lightly touching that spot with his fingers and sometimes even saying it was cute. At that time, she was really powerless to resist and naturally did not take it to heart.
Qi Yu replied ambiguously, "Lord Pei, please take good care of your injuries. I will come to see you again tomorrow."
In Pei Jin's eyes, it looked like Qi Yu had fled in panic, and he couldn't help but fall silent.
Was he pushing her too hard?
He couldn't bring himself to disown his wife.
After leaving the room, Qi Yu instructed people to take good care of Pei Jin, and then pulled Pei Jiu back into the room.
Behind the screen, Qi Yu unbuttoned her top: "Pei Jiu, do I have any birthmarks on the right side of my back?"
"Some of the empresses are small pieces, like little turtles."
Pei Jiu lightly swept her fingers across the ground: "It seems that I have a memory of it after Your Highness returned to the palace from the estate."
She couldn't remember if she had it before.
Qi Yu put her clothes back on, and the place Pei Jiu pointed to was indeed the place Pei Jin had described.
She suspected that the medicinal properties of the "Dispelling Misfortune Flower" were what caused her to develop a birthmark.
After she cured Wu Shiyan of the poison, she stayed at the Pei residence for a day and a night. Perhaps it was then that Pei Jin remembered her.
It was pure luck; how did we end up with this weakness?
There's no way to argue it now.
Qi Yu was thinking about how to deal with Pei Jin tomorrow. Pei Jin was an important minister of the court, and he was injured like this and suspected of being hunted down. It was impossible to send him away.
It is still uncertain when Wu Shiyan will arrive.
But it will probably be quite late; he'll only come after he's dealt with the forces he's guarding against, otherwise there'll be no point in leaving her here.
Qi Yu pondered this difficult problem, deciding to check Pei Jin's abdominal injury tomorrow before making any further plans.
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