Chapter 179: Sleepless Tonight
Jiang Xun followed Old Lin back to the Lin Mansion. The carriage was moving slowly on the road and Jiang Xun spoke very little as usual.
Elder Lin hissed, his face full of confusion, "Xiuzhi, is it also like this when you and Sui Sui are together?"
"Sui Sui is such a lively girl. It's really unfair to ask her to marry you."
Jiang Xun: “…”
"Teacher, you didn't say that before."
Elder Lin raised his chin and told the truth: "Hasn't this old man never gotten along with Sui Sui before? I've gotten to know Sui Sui well these past few days, and I feel like you're really marrying above your station."
Jiang Xun: “…”
"So the teacher is dissatisfied with Xiu Zhi for not asking what happened in the imperial study?"
After being pointed out, Mr. Lin said: "Ahem, who told you to look like you don't care?"
Jiang Xun's eyebrows darkened when he heard this, and he turned the tables, "Teacher was able to escape unscathed and calmly, which shows that he had been prepared for it. He just didn't inform the other party in advance in order to correct the mistake."
"I also want to thank the teacher for always considering Xiuzhi."
After hearing this, Mr. Lin suddenly felt "itchy all over" and shouted, "Look, he's angry again, and his words are so sarcastic!"
"You are narrow-minded! You don't know how to appreciate kindness! You——"
Jiang Xun: “…”
Hold.
The old man will soon admit his mistake.
"Isn't it okay that I'm wrong?"
Old Lin muttered something, and his voice suddenly became weaker. He lowered his head and fiddled with his sleeves with a wronged look on his face.
Jiang Xun: “…”
Under Lin Lao's usual pitiful attack, Jiang Xun finally softened his expression and said in a calm voice: "Then teacher, tell me what you have to say."
Elder Lin suddenly raised his head, smiled again, and said smugly: "I knew you would fall for this trick!"
Jiang Xun: “…”
There is as much silence tonight as usual.
Mr. Lin talked about all sorts of things, and finally got to the point, talking about past events.
"It's nothing, actually. I just focused on reading the books of sages and refused my family's kindness in finding a date for me, and went to take the provincial examination."
"I ended up winning the first prize, and my family held a banquet for me, and I met a good girl."
"I was tempted by the idea at the time. After asking around, I found out that it was the girl my family had mentioned."
"But before I could mention it to my family, the news of the talent show in the capital came through first, and the girl was on the list."
"That was all left unresolved. Who would have thought that later, when she entered the imperial court as an official, at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet in the palace, she... that girl... no, the empress, encountered difficulties and had nowhere to turn, so she spoke to me for a few words."
As Mr. Lin spoke, his speech became slower and slower, his eyes were filled with trance, and he seemed to be slowly sinking into his memories.
"She... looked radiant, though a little thinner. We met at the corner of the palace wall. We were about to pass by each other, but she suddenly called my name."
"She was choking with sobs and begging me to help her. I thought that for a person as polite as her, she must have been desperate, so she waited for me here. After all, that was not a place for a concubine to go."
"I stopped and turned my back to her, but the advice I gave really touched her heart. I said that the third princess could only marry a foreign princess."
"Her sobs sounded and were blown away by the wind..."
Mr. Lin's voice trembled slightly, and he suddenly came back to his senses at this moment.
He hurried to see Jiang Xun, and when he saw that Jiang Xun didn't even look at him, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He lost his composure.
"Well, that's what happened, and Choi Do-won managed to dig it out."
At this point, Mr. Lin's brows darkened and a stern look appeared on his face.
Cui Daoyuan has so many ways, but he chose this one and chose to disturb her!
Jiang Xun remained silent, but his heart was filled with turbulent waves.
He didn't want to make the teacher uncomfortable, so he looked away in time, but just now, he clearly saw tears in the teacher's eyes.
Perhaps the simple sentence "I was tempted by worldly desire and met a good girl at the banquet" is actually an unforgettable encounter.
And the reunion at the palace banquet that year and every time we met from afar afterwards would fill every tiny crevice of my heart with these unspeakable emotions and overflow into every year to come.
Teacher, never married.
In addition to teaching and educating, in addition to passing on knowledge, perhaps it is also for... that person in the palace.
Seeing Jiang Xun was silent, Elder Lin coughed lightly and continued, "I got the news yesterday and immediately informed the princess. Fortunately, no bad consequences were caused."
At that time he told the eldest princess that this time they had to be both true and false and reasonable, so the two of them each admitted part of it.
As for whether His Majesty believes it or not...
Given His Majesty's temperament, now that the suggestion has been made, it is like a thorn in his heart. It doesn't matter whether he believes it or not. He and the princess just need to avoid revealing any flaws and get away with it safely.
I think this is also the plan of the old fox Cui Daoyuan, who is preparing for the future plan.
Thinking of this, Elder Lin tilted his head and asked, "Xiuzhi, has the matter about the Chen Mansion you mentioned been resolved?"
Jiang Xun had obviously figured out all these points. He shook his head and said, "It's under control. There has been no movement yet, but since Minister Cui has taken action, it's clear that it will be soon."
The teacher and the student talked for a while longer, and when they arrived at the gate of Lin's residence, Nanfeng came to greet them.
When Jiang Xun saw him, he immediately asked, "Did Miss Shen get home safely?"
Nanfeng nodded immediately. He was waiting outside the mansion because he was afraid that the young master would worry.
Jiang Xun stayed at Lin's house tonight. Old Lin said he was a little tired, so he washed up and went to bed as soon as he entered the yard.
Jiang Xun knew that Lin was always troubled, so he didn't dare to disturb him and left quietly.
Old Lin lay on the couch, tossing and turning until late at night.
And he is not the only one who can't sleep tonight.
…
The moonlight is like water, sprinkling on the palace walls.
In the Cining Palace, Concubine Rong suddenly stood up and put on her clothes.
The inner hall was dim, and only the candlelight left in the outer hall shone through the gauze, casting dim shadows inside and barely illuminating the small world in front of them.
Concubine Rong walked to the dressing table and took out a wooden hairpin from the bottom of the box filled with treasures.
The originally smooth body of the hairpin has been rubbed to be extremely smooth. The pattern on the hairpin head, which was once delicate and clear, has now become blurred.
The color of the wooden hairpin has changed from light wood to the dark chestnut color it is today. It has accompanied Concubine Rong for more than forty years, carrying many stories as well as love, hate, anger and infatuation.
Concubine Rong looked at the hairpin carefully, stroking it lightly with her fingers. She had already memorized every inch of its texture.
This hairpin is the only thing left from the past.
That year, when she heard in the harem that a famous official had emerged in the previous dynasty, the talented Lin from Yangzhou, she dropped the teacup in her hand and broke it.
And at the corner of the palace during the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, she finally saw him.
He was still as high-spirited as he was at the first prize banquet that year, except... he was a little thinner.
Is it true that he has kept some things in mind? Otherwise, why would he look away in such a panic when their eyes met?
As she turned her back and sobbed, she saw a shadow on the ground.
He walked towards her, raised his hand, but then dropped it again. Although they were so close, there was a lifetime gap between them.
It happened more than 20 years ago, but she still remembers it so clearly.
Concubine Rong smiled at herself and glanced at the blurry bronze mirror. There was no need to look, because her beauty had grown old and they would never see each other again in this life.
Thinking of this, Concubine Rong tightly grasped the hairpin in her hand, then stuffed it back into its place and turned back to the couch.
I don’t know when I fell asleep, and my dream returned to more than 40 years ago.
Amid the sound of stringed instruments, a young man in gorgeous clothes, with flying eyebrows and bright eyes, bowed to her politely:
"I am the host of today's banquet, Lin Wanting, the eldest son of the Lin family."
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