Chapter 18 The Letter
The death of Lady Qi should have been accompanied by a grand funeral. However, the farm was only used for summer retreat, and there was nothing left in it. Outside, there was a rebellion and war raging, and even mourning clothes and candles were nowhere to be found.
Qiandeng knelt by the bed, weeping until her hands and feet were numb, her breathing rapid, but she held her mother's hand tightly, refusing to let go.
There seemed to be a layer of dark fog in front of her eyes. She fell into it, unable to tell the way forward and even had no idea where to go.
In a trance, she fell into the nightmare that had haunted her for three years. In the thick fog, her relatives left her one by one because of the ominous wound on her brow.
There was a roar in my ears, and the voices of people in the capital talking behind my back kept ringing out.
"No relatives..."
"As soon as her face was disfigured, her grandfather and father met with tragic deaths, and her grandmother died suddenly of grief..."
Until now, even her only close relative has abandoned her.
She was left alone and helpless in this world, bearing the fate of killing all her relatives. There was no one else in this world who could depend on her.
The prince tried to comfort her carefully, but she was in a trance, her eyes were unfocused, and she could not hear anything others said. She just held her mother's hand tightly and refused to let go.
The prince could only sigh and ordered everyone in the village, "You must guard the county lady well and serve her wholeheartedly. If she makes any mistakes, I will hold you in the village responsible!"
"Yes!" Everyone kowtowed in agreement.
King Linhuai left a group of guards at the farm to protect the elderly and weak from the invasion of the rebel army, including the seriously injured Cui Fufeng.
After examining Cui Fufeng, Doctor Liao thought that although the chest wound had luckily avoided a vital part, he had lost too much blood from soaking in water, and was afraid that his vitality was severely damaged, and he would suffer from chronic illness in the future.
Now that Cui Fufeng was unable to get up, he naturally could not go to the military camp with the prince, so he was placed in the manor to recuperate.
The Shuofang Army was a formidable force, and defending the village was no problem. The Crown Prince looked at the elderly, weak, women, and children in the village, and left two guards from the Eastern Palace behind, instructing them to take good care of the Princess of Lingling.
There was a commotion at the door; the Shuofang soldiers on guard had stopped several women. The prince took a look and saw that they were all wearing coarse cloth, their faces painted black, and their hair dishevelled.
Daimao recognized them immediately and rushed over crying, "Aunt Xuanji, Liuli, Meigui... did you escape?"
Liuli pulled her aside and sobbed, "The rebel army entered the capital, brazenly looting every house. Aunt Yingluo packed up her important belongings and hid in the cellar with Pearl, Amber, and the others. We're healthy and can run fast, so we drew the rebels' attention away... Now we're the only ones who've found the farm. I wonder how Madam and the County Lady are doing now?"
Daimao burst into tears: "Madam...Madam met with an accident last night...The county lady went to find Aunt Liao, the doctor, but she couldn't save her..."
Xuanji and the others had been restless all night, and when they heard the bad news, they all fell to the ground crying.
There was another burst of crying in the manor. The prince, standing in the corridor, looked at them, and then thought of Qian Deng's heartbroken look. He stood there for a while with a depressed expression, then went into the house to say goodbye to Cui Fufeng, and told him to rest and recuperate without worrying too much.
"Although Lingling has lost her mother, most of the old servants in the manor are loyal, and with the Shuofang Army as her guard, she should be safe. When your injuries have healed, I hope you can comfort her and cheer her up."
Cui Fufeng leaned against the pillow, listening silently. He replied in a hoarse voice, "Don't worry, Your Highness. We will take good care of ourselves and wait for Your Highness and Prince Linhuai to recapture Chang'an and welcome you back to the court."
Prince Linhuai had been proficient in deploying troops since childhood. After daybreak, he walked around the farm and gave instructions in just a few words, and the patrol arrangements for the small farm were completed.
When he arrived at the backyard, he walked along the corridor to examine the terrain and then looked into the pavilion.
The doors of the inner and outer halls were wide open. Qiandeng was kneeling in front of the bed, still holding his mother's hand and refusing to let go.
Just a few hours ago, her mother was leaning on the pillow with her, listening to the gentle wind, watching the fireflies coming and going, and falling asleep together in the quiet night.
"Mother doesn't ask for anything, she only asks you to find a good man and spend your whole life with him in love. Do you understand?"
The words were still fresh in my mind, how could they all become illusions in an instant, and fall into the other side of life and death that can never be retrieved.
She promised her mother that she would find someone she liked and live a happy and fulfilling life with her mother.
However, she lay on her mother's body, breathing rapidly, and every breath was choked in her throat, making her feel suffocated and painful.
Because of her choice of husband, because of her appearance, and because she had no relatives, she eventually lost all her relatives as the rumors in the capital said.
Her life will never be perfect.
Xuanji and others beside her cried and begged the county lady to let her get up and relax, but no one could make her move.
She clutched her mother's hand tightly and pressed her cheek against her gradually cooling palm. She had stopped crying, but remained silent. The despair in her eyes was particularly frightening.
Prince Linhuai looked at the thousands of lights through the window and saw the deep shadow covering her.
He was very familiar with this kind of dead silence and gloom. Desperate women who had lost their sons and husbands on the battlefield would often choose to follow this atmosphere, abandoning the hopeless life that followed.
He also knew that comfort and persuasion were useless to her at this moment, and she could not hear any words of comfort now.
After a moment of hesitation, he signaled the guards to clear out all the weeping and wailing people. Only when only Qiandeng was left in the room did he step into the outer hall.
"The county lady has a deep bond with her mother, which is truly admirable."
After all, they were a single man and a single woman, so he followed etiquette and did not enter the inner room, but just stood in the outer room behind the hanging curtain.
His eyes fell on her hand, which was tightly grasping her mother's. He saw the whitening of the joints and the bulging of the veins. He said, "But I believe that you still have a lot to do. If you really care about your mother, let go of your useless suffering and do what you should do."
Qiandeng knelt woodenly in front of his mother's body, breathing disorderedly and without any response.
"Madam Qi's death is full of suspicious circumstances. You are now single-handedly supporting the Changhua Palace, yet you are only concerned with grieving and not caring about finding your mother's murderer?"
Qian Deng listened to his words for a long time before gradually understanding what was going on. Her voice was even more hazy: "The murderer who killed my mother... wasn't Nan Yu?"
Prince Linhuai, a veteran of battlefields, had no qualms about the corpses in the hall. He casually sat down on a nearby chair and said, "He does have many suspicious points. At first glance, he's undoubtedly the murderer. But after observing the terrain of your village and listening to everyone's accounts of yesterday's events, I find several questions difficult to explain."
Seeing that her eyes were still unfocused, he slowed down his voice and let his words reach her ears word by word.
"First, you, the County Lady, value your fiancé's skills. Nanyu won first place in archery and cavalry yesterday, and was even assigned to guard you and your daughter closely. With such treatment, he's likely to be the ultimate winner. So, why would he abandon his long-cherished goal and take action?"
The brain numbed by grief and regret seemed to be awakened. Qiandeng seemed to wake up from a dream, and his shoulders finally moved slowly.
"Secondly, after your wife passed away, you rushed into the backyard and saw Nanyu climbing back up the rockery onto the veranda. But it would take time for you to get back to the courtyard. If he were the murderer, he could have simply stayed on the veranda, or even in front of your mother's body, and said he came here after hearing the noise from above. Why would he have fled back to the corridor and wait for you to come up together?"
A chill ran through her mind. Qiandeng's stiff cervical vertebrae turned inch by inch, and one could almost hear a slight "clicking" sound. She slowly turned around to look at him.
But he was outside the curtain, and her eyes, red and swollen from crying, were already blurry and she couldn't see anything, so she couldn't see his appearance clearly.
I could only vaguely see his outline, with flat shoulders and broad back, and an imposing presence.
This arrogant man, he just stood there normally, but seemed to come with blood and fire. He did not understand sadness and mourning, but easily provoked her resentment and hatred, and let the grief and despair that lingered in her heart and almost completely swallowed her be swept away by another huge force, destroyed and washed away.
What can overcome despair and pain is often great hatred.
At the very least, it can support her, giving her enough courage to face the hardships ahead, endure eternal loneliness, and not follow her loved ones.
"Also, there's one thing you mustn't forget." He leaned forward slightly, his piercing gaze like a blade that could pierce through the thin curtain. "Last night, before her death, your mother asked you to find the letter, but you still haven't found it."
Qian Deng was horrified. His words were like a knife that split her head open, and the severe pain also brought her the power to wake her up.
"That letter..."
She murmured, remembering her mother saying that she had already replied to the other party and would discuss it in detail after she had chosen a husband and had time to settle down.
Who is the other party and what is the content of the letter?
But now, she has not yet chosen a husband, and her mother has left forever.
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