Chapter 76: If you go out with me, you won’t have to work in the government office, Yinzhen…
Even when he was not on duty at the yamen, Yinzhen still maintained his strict style. He would leave the construction site when the yamen closed.
The time of leaving the yamen was not too late, only around 3:00 PM. However, because the imperial mausoleum was built outside the city, the journey back home would be a little later.
Even so, he stepped into the house at the end of the afternoon.
Lin Changqing was waiting for him at the gate with an uneasy look on his face, which was rare.
Yinzhen frowned: "What happened?"
Lin Changqing, bending low, walked beside Yinzhen and answered carefully, "Fu Jin went to the palace to pay her respects today and didn't return until almost noon. As soon as she returned, she sent for a doctor from the backyard."
"The eunuch who went to fetch the doctor said that Xie Hanshan had suffered from heatstroke."
This statement was outrageous. Didn't Lin Changqing know what kind of person Xie Hanshan was? This doctor was definitely invited for the concubine.
Lin Changqing guessed it, but he didn't dare to ask, let alone tell his grandfather directly.
Why? Because Fu Jin had just returned from the palace to pay her respects. Is there any need to ask or explain what happened during that time?
Yinzhen paused, obviously he understood what was happening.
His heart sank, not knowing what had happened to his wife in the palace, let alone what kind of harm she had suffered. Thinking of the silent torture methods used in the palace, Yinzhen felt a chill in his heart.
Mother, I hope you...
Yinzhen walked towards the main courtyard at a brisk pace, almost running. He ignored the servants who were paying their respects to the other courtyards, and without waiting for anyone to report, he rushed into the side room where Qi Buchen was.
Qi Buchen was taking medicine and was startled by his sudden intrusion. The medicine went down his throat and he choked: "Cough cough cough cough."
Yinzhen didn't realize that he had frightened his wife, and thought that the servants were not serving him attentively. Suddenly, a rage that came from nowhere burst out: "If you can't serve me, get out of here and go back to the Imperial Household Department!"
He even turned the tables!
Baozhu and the others in the room didn't dare to argue, and they knelt on the ground: "Master, calm down."
Yinzhen was even more furious: "You tactless thing, why don't you calm down Fu Jin first!"
Baozhu and others hurriedly stood up, wanting to pat Fu Jin's back and bring her some water.
However, Yinzhen had already stepped forward and did what they were supposed to do. Baozhu and the others had no choice but to stand there awkwardly, not knowing whether to stand or kneel.
Yinzhen patted Qi Buchen's back gently, and said with a feeling of heartache, guilt, and pity, "Slow down."
Qi Buchen had no intention of paying attention to what Yinzhen was doing. This time was much more serious than the last time she choked on her saliva. She felt like her lungs were about to be coughed out, and her face was covered with physiological tears.
After coughing for a long time, he finally recovered his breath. Qi Buchen leaned back exhausted, not caring about the embarrassment on his face. He just wanted to rest for a while.
Yinzhen was patting her back again, and when he saw that she seemed to be about to fall backwards due to exhaustion, he quickly exerted force with his arms, half-embracing her in his arms, and asked softly, "Are you feeling better?"
Then he looked at Qi Buchen's tear-stained face, turned around and said to Baozhu and the others with a cold face, "Bring the handkerchief."
Baozhu was well prepared and immediately stepped forward to hand it to Yinzhen.
Yinzhen turned around and faced Qi Buchen with a gentle expression: "Don't move, I'll wipe it for you."
Qi Buchen felt that this scene was strange and awkward. He quickly got up from Yinzhen's arms, snatched the handkerchief from his hand, and wiped his face twice: "I can do it myself."
Yinzhen's hands hovered in the air for a moment before slowly retracting them.
Watching Qi Buchen wipe his face, Yinzhen's lips moved, but he finally said only one sentence: "The sun is particularly high today, do you... feel unwell?"
I really want to ask Qi Buchen how she is doing, what the doctor said, what she experienced in the palace? I really want to ask what my mother said and did to her? I really want to comfort her and tell her that it was not her fault.
But, that was his mother, his biological mother. As his wife, everything his mother did to her was a lesson to the younger generation. Whether from the perspective of a mother-in-law to her daughter-in-law, or from the perspective of Consort De to the prince's wife, it was all correct and legally justified.
Filial piety is the way of heaven, and filial piety comes first among all virtues. Even the emperor's father is very filial to the empress dowager. How could he secretly question his mother's behavior?
Even just having such thoughts is extremely unfilial.
As for Fu Jin, she fell ill upon returning from the palace. Others saw this as a sign of resentment towards her mother's teachings, a sign of unfilial piety. This only brought harm to Fu Jin, with no benefit.
Fu Jin must have understood this point, otherwise, without her instructions, the servants would have gone to ask the imperial physician first, and would not have thought of asking a folk doctor under other names.
Therefore, he could only pretend that he didn't know that Fu Jin was ill and find other lame excuses to show his concern.
Qi Buchen had no idea of the complicated thoughts in his mind. Before she returned home, she had instructed him not to tell anyone. After waking up from drinking the medicine, she even scolded the servants, asking them to shut up and not even tell Yinzhen.
They are mother and son, so what if they tell each other about it? Qi Buchen didn't want to test anything. She and Yinzhen didn't have such a deep relationship. If she tried to test it rashly, she would only make herself a joke.
Therefore, at this moment, he just thought that Yinzhen was just making small talk and replied, "It's okay. It's a little hot, but I feel much better after coming back and taking a shower."
Yinzhen looked at her face carefully and found that it was indeed just an abnormal blush, so he felt relieved.
"That's right." She couldn't talk about the secret torture, but she still had to tell Concubine De about her public punishment. "Today I came to the palace to pay my respects. Because I didn't take good care of you, which led to your weakened body, Mother was a little angry. She punished me by confining me to my room for six months. I have to copy two scrolls of sutras every day and offer them to the Buddha."
Qi Buchen's tone was flat, but Yinzhen felt more and more guilty and distressed. The punishment in public was so severe, so what would the punishment in secret be like?
He didn't dare to think about it.
He felt a little regretful that he shouldn't have rejected the concubine on the grounds of physical weakness. He should have thought of a better way.
He originally wanted to let Fu Jin see his sincerity, but he didn't expect that it would cause Fu Jin to suffer.
It was all because he wasn't thoughtful enough. From now on, he must consider all the consequences before doing anything.
Yinzhen secretly set a rule for himself in his heart, and he couldn't help but apologize to Qi Buchen with guilt: "It's my fault for not thinking carefully and causing trouble for you. I will copy the Buddhist scriptures."
Qi Buchen looked at Yinzhen apologizing and felt a little emotional. To be honest, she felt that today's incident had nothing to do with Yinzhen.
Did Yinzhen want to harm her? No. On the contrary, he gave her his whole heart. If he didn't love her, if he didn't think she rejected him because of the concubine issue, why would Yinzhen use his body as an excuse to challenge the universal rules?
He was actually taking risks, but instead of thinking about himself, he was apologizing to her.
Faced with such feelings, Qi Buchen really felt that she was a bastard. She had been fooling Yinzhen from the beginning to the end and playing with other people's sincerity.
"You...you don't have to be like this..." Qi Buchen said with some difficulty, "This has nothing to do with you, it's not your fault." Such heavy emotions made her feel very stressed and unable to bear it.
How could she be so nice? She didn't blame him or say anything when he was punished, but instead came to comfort him.
Yinzhen's eyes were slightly sore, and he raised his head slightly, not wanting his wife to notice his slight loss of composure.
"Okay, let's not talk about this." I can't let this kindness go to waste. "Are you hungry? Let's eat."
Since Qi Buchen was ill, Yinzhen did not place the meals in the hall as usual, but placed them on the couch where Qi Buchen was resting.
The two men sat cross-legged on the couch, one on either side of the table, looking into each other's eyes.
Qi Buchen avoided his gaze first and picked up the chopsticks: "Eat."
According to the rules, Qi Buchen had to wait for Yinzhen to pick up his chopsticks before he could move, but neither of them cared about this rule at this time, and the servants who were serving them pretended not to see it.
The symptoms of heatstroke had not completely subsided, and Qi Buchen's appetite was not very good. Yinzhen kept picking up food for her. She tried to eat a few bites, but she couldn't swallow it. She put down her chopsticks apologetically and said, "I'm full."
Seeing that she really couldn't eat, Yinzhen didn't want to force her, so he just ordered: "Tell the kitchen to prepare some light and appetizing food, and send it to Fu Jin every half an hour."
"There's no need to do that." Qi Buchen said helplessly.
Qi Buchen always felt a little uncomfortable with his ostentation, but after trying to persuade him several times, Yinzhen just agreed with his words but remained the same afterwards.
The same is true this time.
Yinzhen explained, "It's because the weather is hot these days. Once your appetite improves, it won't be necessary." Anyway, don't try to make me change my mind these days.
After all, Yinzhen is the real master of the Fourth Prince's Mansion. When he does not interfere, the servants will naturally listen to Qi Buchen obediently, but when he shows his firm will, there is no need to say who the servants will listen to.
What's more, this is obviously a good thing for the concubine. The servants will only think that the master is doting on the concubine. The concubine refuses only because she is embarrassed and will not think about who she should listen to and who she should not.
Realizing this, Qi Buchen shut up and stopped expressing his opinion, while Yinzhen returned to the front yard with satisfaction.
This heatstroke wasn't too severe, but Qi Buchen was still forced to stay indoors for three days. The Buddhist scriptures she had copied these days were all copied by Yinzhen after he returned from the yamen, imitating her handwriting.
It has to be said that Yinzhen's ability to imitate is really strong. Qi Buchen's handwriting has been improving, but he can even imitate this improvement to the point that even Qi Buchen, the original author, can't tell the difference.
Three days later, Qi Buchen was unwilling to let Yinzhen copy for her again, as this would only make her feel that she owed Yinzhen more.
Yinzhen refused, and after a dispute, they finally compromised and decided to copy one volume each. Yinzhen also wanted to invite Qi Buchen to copy with him in the study in the front yard, but Qi Buchen refused.
Qi Buchen knew too well how easy it was to foster feelings when the two of them were doing something together in a confined space. After all, it was for this purpose that she had asked Yinzhen to teach her calligraphy.
I was naive at first and thought I could control the extent of this emotion, but now it’s too late to regret it, so how can I dare to make the same mistake again?
Qi Buchen's refusal made Yinzhen regretful, and the two of them copied the same Buddhist scriptures in two different places.
A few days later, it was the Qiqiao Festival. The maids in the mansion gathered in front of the auspicious jar with great interest, throwing needles to test their luck, and Qi Buchen also joined in the fun.
Just when everyone was having fun, Yinzhen came back, called Qi Buchen into the house alone, and handed her a package.
"Put this on and come out with me."
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