Chapter 56 Jealousy
"The county lady...she has her own difficulties. You shouldn't be so impatient and harsh."
After Qiandeng left, Cui Fufeng finally spoke to Ling Tianshui.
"Wrong is wrong. What good will it do her if you defend her so stubbornly?" Ling Tianshui said coldly. "I know she wants to escape the fate of marrying into a foreign alliance, but there are a thousand ways to do it. She shouldn't have chosen this one without considering the consequences."
"What if this wasn't her choice, but the court's?"
Ling Tianshui frowned and stared at him with sharp eyes, obviously suspicious.
"Otherwise, why did the Crown Prince come personally to bring the good news to the County Lady? Why did the court finally decide not to replace or disband the former subordinates of Prince Changhua, who had been in suspense for so long, and maintain their original status?"
Ling Tianshui immediately understood the whole story and asked, "Don't you think the Crown Prince knows this is tantamount to cutting off the County Princess's future? From now on, she will be trapped in Chang'an and live as a noblewoman, with no chance of reviving the glory of her father and grandfather!"
"Perhaps..." Cui Fufeng pondered and said slowly, "This is exactly what the prince wants."
Silence stretched between them for a moment, and finally Ling Tianshui turned abruptly and strode out.
Cui Fufeng quickly caught up with him. "In fact, the county lady is in such a predicament now. She has been able to hold on to her original intention and protect her father and grandfather's old subordinates at all costs. This is already extremely difficult. No matter what choice she makes, we should understand her."
"I know." Ling Tianshui walked briskly without hesitation, "Perhaps I was too impatient just now and shouldn't have..."
He paused, and the rest of his words got stuck in his throat.
Among the flowers outside the Rose Pavilion, Qiandeng was leaning against the crabapple blossoms.
The rouge-colored brocade flowers fell without wind. Xue Xiyang, who was beside her, was holding her hand gently, comforting her tenderly.
They were so close to each other, full of tenderness and affection in the beautiful and lingering spring day.
Ling Tianshui stood outside the crabapple blossoms, looking at her surrounded by the flowers and Xue Xiyang. For a moment, he felt that his hurried steps just now were really ridiculous.
She didn't care about him at all, didn't care about his scolding or his anger.
Because as long as she turns around, she can be intimate with other people and hold hands eagerly.
Anyway, in this world, there are many men who coax her, pamper her, hold her in the palm of their hands, and do their best to please her.
And he was just a stranger she temporarily asked for help. Perhaps in her heart, she had never considered him as a real candidate for husband. What qualifications did he have to interfere with her actions?
"It seems I was overthinking it." Looking at the figure clinging to him in the shadows of the flowers, his voice became even colder. "A spoiler like me shouldn't be around the county lady, only to upset her."
Perhaps, it was because he cared about someone for the first time in his life, but found that the other person didn't care about his rare guilt at all and forgot about him.
Perhaps, he had only seen her cold and dignified appearance, but he found that she was gentle and graceful around others, revealing a side of her that he had never seen before.
Perhaps, it was she who had stood in front of him, fearlessly declaring her willingness to protect him; it was she who asked "Why not you" through the veil and misty white fog, disturbing the calm ancient well.
Without waiting for Cui Fufeng's answer, Ling Tianshui strode away, strangling everything he wanted to say to her in his throat, never wanting to speak it out again.
Cui Fufeng glanced at his back and turned his gaze back to the crabapple blossoms.
Suppressing the emotions surging in his heart, he coughed lightly outside the shadows of the lush flowers.
Although it was just a low sound, Qian Deng suddenly came to his senses and pulled his hand back from Xue Xiyang's palm.
Through the branches, Cui Fufeng saw Qiandeng's eyes regain clarity, still filled with mist, but no longer in a trance.
Cui Fufeng stared at Xue Xiyang with a slightly cold gaze, but his heart seemed to be burning with a faint fire. He saw Xue Xiyang's charming eyes slightly raised with affection, and he looked at the county lady inquiringly, like a spring breeze.
In the county lady's backyard, everyone, openly or covertly, softly or hard, tried to use their own means to take her for themselves.
This naturally includes himself.
The fire burning in his heart made him inexplicably irritated. He turned away quickly and turned to look for Ling Tianshui.
Just as he reached the door, he heard the sound of horse hooves. Ling Tianshui had already ridden away and headed straight for the Northern Yamen Forbidden Army.
He left so quickly that the dust raised by his horse lingered for a long time.
The guards waiting at the door asked in surprise, "Shaoqing Cui, what happened to Ling Sijie? We've never seen him change his expression in such a long time."
"Yes, why?" Cui Fufeng looked at his receding traces with a flat voice.
Didn’t you say that you should find a warm place to recuperate and leave when you’re well?
Didn't he try every possible means to help Meng Lanxi get close to the county lord, always saying that he was the most suitable person for the county lord?
It seems that only now he realized that he was not only deceiving others, but also deceiving himself.
The moment he discovered his true inner self, even someone like him could only flee in panic.
The guards looked at Cui Fufeng's expression, looked at each other in confusion, and did not dare to speak.
Cui Fufeng thought that perhaps he was just like Ling Tianshui, and could no longer maintain his previous calmness.
He turned silently, walked through the front porch, returned to the backyard, and walked towards Jinzhu Hall.
It seems that this treacherous backyard is about to stir up even bigger waves.
However, this huge wave was bound to turn the world upside down, so he had to spend some time thinking about how to plan in order to achieve the best result for the county lady and himself.
Back in the front yard, Qiandeng's mood had calmed down.
It was a done deal, and there was no point in regretting it. She told Aunt Xuanji to prepare the offerings. At the very least, it was a good thing that her father's old subordinates didn't need to be replaced. She should go to the mountain mausoleum and tell the afterlife the good news.
Aunt Xuanji was efficient. By the time Qiandeng finished his meal, the guards and coachman were already waiting, and incense, candles, and fruits were all prepared.
The Changhua King's Tomb is located on the mountainside. Going up along the sacred path, her four closest relatives are sleeping quietly in the cemetery.
Qiandeng displayed tributes in the Xian Hall, burned incense, prayed, and talked with his relatives.
After the guards and the old soldiers guarding the mausoleum retreated outside the hall to rest, she walked out of the hall alone, entered the mausoleum, walked to the tombstone on the top of the tomb, stroked the names of her grandparents on it, and looked deeply at her parents' tombstone.
"Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma... Deng Deng has so many things weighing on her mind that she can't breathe..."
No matter how many hardships she had experienced prematurely, she was still only seventeen years old. Without the protection of her family, facing all the swords and blades in this world alone, how could she not feel lost, anxious and helpless?
"Which is more important, the truth or the overall situation? If my selfish choice is truly wrong, how can I make amends?"
It is true that the current situation makes many people satisfied, but she has no way to escape the psychological condemnation, and there is no way to put everything to rest when the murderer of her mother and Uncle Fu is nowhere to be found and there is no news from Shangluo.
She sat for a long time, leaning against her grandparents' tombstone.
As it grew darker, Daimao came into the cemetery to look for her and advised her that it was time to go back, otherwise she would not be able to enter Chang'an City because of the curfew.
Qiandeng put on a veil and left the mountain. When he got on his horse at the end of the sacred road, he noticed several vague human figures outside the forest, approaching them in the dim sky.
The guards naturally noticed it too. Seeing them approaching, they immediately blocked their way and shouted, "How dare you! Who dares to be so presumptuous in the Changhua King's Mausoleum?"
The other party laughed loudly and jumped out of the mountains and forests. They were all wearing black clothes and masks. They didn't say a word and started fighting as soon as they came up.
The guards of the Changhua Palace were all handpicked by the Crown Prince himself, so their skills were naturally extraordinary. However, the enemy was outnumbered and exceptionally fierce. Seeing they could not resist, several guards could only protect Qiandeng and shouted quickly, "County Lady, leave!"
Qiandeng turned his horse's head and immediately rushed down the mountain with Daimao.
The bandits behind were extremely swift, and their horses were even more majestic. She could hear the wind whistling in her ears, and the leader had already caught up on horseback, grabbed the back of her clothes, and pulled her over.
Qiandeng only felt her body lighten. The other party had terrifying strength. With a wave of his hand, he snatched her from the horse and pressed her on his horse's back.
The world spun around her, and her waist hit the saddle hard, causing severe pain in her ribs. Her whole body suddenly collapsed, and she was restrained by him without even the strength to struggle.
The guards were so angry that they abandoned their opponents and rushed over to block the attack without caring about their lives.
But the robber's riding skills were too superb. He pulled the reins of his horse, turned around quickly, and slashed with his sword when the other person stood still.
In the strong wind, the guards who were surrounding them had to lean back to avoid it. In this split second, the enemy rushed forward on their horses, passed over the shoulders of the besiegers, and quickly jumped up and down, rushing into the forest with thousands of lanterns.
This sudden change was over in an instant. All that remained in the forest was Qiandeng's desperate cry to Daimao: "Go find Ling Tianshui!"
The echoes still lingered in the forest, the sound of horse hooves faded away, and the robbers had long since disappeared.
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