Chapter 144 Chapter 144 "Have you decided to break up, Madam?
The weather in June is always changeable. Just one moment the sun was shining brightly, then gray clouds gathered in the blink of an eye, and the sky was a leaden purple, pressing against the bright yellow glazed tiles.
Seeing the dark clouds in the west approaching the red walls, Wu Shun picked up a ginger oil-paper umbrella and followed her out of the Daming Palace to see her off.
She told the Regent that she had recently become fond of the pipa and had heard that Miss Qu Huan from Prince Ding's mansion was an exquisite pipa player, so she wanted to invite her to the palace to teach her a few lessons.
Qu Huan is Gongsun Hong.
Li Xuanbai didn't ask any more questions, perhaps because he knew he shouldn't ask any more questions. He grabbed the teacup, took a sip of tea, and agreed.
He agreed and drove her out. He had just left the court, and a group of officials were waiting to see him, leaving no time for her to gossip.
As they left the Daming Palace courtyard, a torrential downpour began, splattering against the umbrella. Wu Shun held the umbrella for her, escorting her around the rain-soaked rockery in the Imperial Gardens. He asked in a shrill voice, "Your Majesty, where are we going?"
She walked slowly, avoiding the small puddles on the steps, and thought for a moment.
If I go back to Handan Palace, I don’t know when I will be caught by Gu Huaijin.
Go to the Purple Palace. Emperor Jiaqing was frightened to the point of being a little mad in the Laughter Garden a few days ago. If she went there, she would have to work hard and serve him humbly. Who knows, she might even have to patiently listen to his crying.
She really wanted his affection, but she would not go near him when he was crying and sighing and complaining.
Thinking of this, she suddenly asked, "I heard that the Imperial Concubine became ill from fright that day? How is she now?"
Wu Shun had a centipede-like scar on his forehead and nose, but his voice had a servile tone as he spoke, and he smiled flatteringly:
"Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine... is frightened to death. I heard that she's been unkempt in Jingren Palace these past few days, howling at the mere mention of our Prince Regent, day and night. The Emperor visited Jingren Palace a few days ago, and was frightened by the Imperial Concubine's madness. This time, I'm afraid she's going to fall out of favor again."
"What about the Regent? Is he still angry?"
"You are well aware of the Regent's temper. After what happened in Laughter Garden, the Imperial Concubine will never have a peaceful life again."
She listened and smiled slightly.
Wu Shun followed up, "These days, it's Mr. Gu who's been consulting with her and prescribing medicine every day to keep her spirits up."
She paused, "Does Mr. Gu go there every day?"
Wu Shun lowered his eyes and smiled apologetically, "I can't not go every day. The Queen is almost terrified and can't leave without someone. Who in the palace dares to go against our Regent? This is the fate of going against the Regent!"
Can't live without people.
She chewed these words over in her mind again.
Could it be that he not only sees her once a day, but also goes to Jingren Palace to accompany her every day?
She took a deep breath for a moment and said nothing.
The path twisted and turned, and the scenery ahead changed. It was a person. He was walking alone in the pouring rain, without an umbrella. From a distance, the white rain curtain turned his dark clothes gray. His sleeves clung to his arms, soaking wet from head to toe.
His clothes were dark and his face was snow-white. The colors of his whole body were too extreme, like a solemn chess game.
She paused in her tracks and took a half-inch step back.
Why is he here?
Why don’t you hold an umbrella?
The two of them were separated by a heavy curtain of rain, and for a moment, neither of them exchanged greetings. The leaves beside them rustled and swayed in the rain. Gu Huaijin stood in the rain, his eyes closed, facing her quietly.
For a long time, the two still did not greet each other.
Wu Shun didn't know what this strange silence meant. He was apprehensive and nervous. He observed her expression and said cautiously, "Mr. Gu, please don't walk in the rain. Come under the umbrella. Oh, look, why did you only bring one umbrella today?"
Nan Qiongshuang's eyelashes fluttered in panic and she avoided her eyes.
Amid the sound of rain, the person in front of me walked slowly towards me.
"Where are you going, Madam?"
Before she could answer, a slender and elegant hand, dripping with clear water, reached under the umbrella and took the handle.
Nan Qiong Shuang glanced uneasily and saw that the edge of the umbrella had been raised a little.
"If it's on your way, I wonder if I could share an umbrella with Gu."
Not wanting to let her do it, but still asking.
Wu Shun carefully observed the cold expressions of the two men, tactfully stepped back from under the umbrella, and followed them in the rain.
Nan Qiong Shuang said in a cold voice, "I will go to the Purple Palace."
"Gu, I'm with you."
"No need. Ask Wu Shun to get you an umbrella. Sir, this isn't the way to the Purple Palace." She moved aside a little, letting some raindrops brush against her shoulder. "Sir, you're going to Jingren Palace. I don't want to delay your business."
He didn't know why she was so sarcastic.
Yesterday, he thought he could finally ask what he wanted to ask, and finally see the person he hadn't seen for a long time. He waited for her anxiously and expectantly for a whole day.
He couldn't sleep until she came, and he was afraid that she would suddenly come late at night, so he stayed up all night.
Right now, my eyes hurt and I feel dizzy.
If anyone was going to be sarcastic, he thought, it should be him.
"Your Majesty, don't worry about the Jingren Palace. May I ask, Your Majesty, do you remember what you promised Gu?"
She looked straight ahead at the road and pretended not to hear.
"In the past, Your Majesty promised to choose me and not give up on me. You promised that everything would be normal after returning to the palace. You promised not to meet him or have secret meetings with him. You promised to meet him at my mansion." His tone was so calm that it seemed like idle talk. "Did Your Majesty take any of these words seriously?"
She just didn't answer.
"Even though you broke the appointment first, you still came looking for me. And now you're trying to avoid me." He said calmly, "What do you want, Your Majesty?"
Her shoulder bumped into his arm for a moment, and she immediately leaned a little further to the side.
"I want to make a clean break."
The rain was dripping, and he didn't speak for a long time. His hand holding the umbrella handle clenched so tightly that the handle hurt his bones.
She was being too unreasonable. In all these years, he had never wronged her. Between them, who was wronging whom?
"Your Majesty, you think that I used to have a good temper, and that I wouldn't be dissatisfied with you treating me like this several times."
She didn't answer, but took a step forward.
Without saying anything, he felt that she was absent-minded.
"Break it all off, fine." He himself had never thought that he would be able to say such words calmly one day. "But Your Majesty, do you know that I asked you to meet me at your residence because I wanted to ask you something?"
Do you still need to guess?
She didn't want to act anymore. If he asked about her past, she would tell him everything.
However, even if she was willing to be frank, she would still be embarrassed by those things.
She didn't want to hear her secrets come out of his mouth, especially from him.
Gu Huaijin didn't know that she was running away, he just hated her fickleness and coldness.
"If Her Majesty won't even let me ask a single question, and all she has to say is to end things completely, then I won't say anything." He didn't look at her. The beads under her hairpin kept hitting his arm. He had never thought that her things would bother him so much. "Originally, even though there were mountains between us, I shouldn't have bothered Her Majesty anymore."
She took a breath and smiled, "You're right."
Gu Huaijin didn't say anything.
She smiled and pressed, "I don't know what Mr. Gu is arguing about."
Gu Huaijin breathed softly, and his jade-white fingers were rubbed red by the umbrella handle.
She stayed out of the matter, watching from the sidelines, as if he were a fool who had been cheated, sold, and killed, and still didn't realize it, chasing after people with a lecherous face.
After a long while, he only said briefly: "Have you decided to break up, Madam?"
She twisted the handkerchief around her and held her breath unconsciously.
She didn't know what she was thinking, but her mind had already come up with an undeniable correct answer, and her words had already been spoken.
"If your Majesty truly wishes to end things, I, Gu, will not pursue you any further." He saved some face by telling a lie he wasn't sure was true or false. "If your Majesty had been at the Four Symbols Pagoda and explained everything, I, Gu, would have let you go long ago."
He lowered his eyes to look at her, knowing that he shouldn't care and that it would be embarrassing to expect any more, but he still looked forward to her expression.
She had a blank expression on her face.
What a heartless person he was. He was belatedly enlightened and despaired. They were not on the same path. They were too far apart. No matter how much he loved her, he could not move her or keep her. If he continued like this, he would only be a laughing stock.
"Your Majesty, please go to the Purple Palace and give the Emperor good wishes for me." He tilted the umbrella over her head and stepped out into the rain alone. "Gu has just returned from the Purple Palace. I won't go back to bother you anymore."
She raised her eyes in panic. As soon as he left, it was as if a whirlpool-like hole had appeared beside her. Not only was it empty, but it was also sucking everything around it in and draining it dry.
Gu Huaijin walked away silently.
She stood under the umbrella, her eyes full of tears.
"Madam, why did Mr. Gu leave?" Wu Shun bent over to hold the umbrella for her, looking so embarrassed that rain was dripping down his nose.
She said coldly: "If it's not on your way, leave him alone."
"It's raining so hard, and you don't even hold an umbrella. Won't you get soaked when you get home?"
"He loves to drink it." Her eyes were red, but she held her chin high. "He's sick."
*
Within the Forbidden City, Li Xuanbai's orders were the fastest.
She had just gone to ask Li Xuanbai for Gongsun Hong that morning, and by the beginning of the afternoon, Gongsun Hong had already entered the palace.
Gongsun Hong's appearance had changed. In the past, within the Wangsheng Gate, she was known for her bright and eye-catching attire. It wasn't just her unusual clothing; she loved the fact that people could spot her, Gongsun Hong, even from a distance of eight hundred miles.
When she entered the palace today, she was dressed properly as a musician. Even the few strands of hair that always remained on her temples were combed into a bun, looking neat and solemn.
"Your servant Qu Huan pays homage to the Empress Zhen Fei."
Nan Qiongshuang leaned on the fragrant wooden chaise longue in the Handan Palace, glanced down lazily, and saw Gongsun Hong looking cautious, which she found quite amusing, so she waved her hand to dismiss the others.
"Wake up. Qinglian, Yuanxiang, serve tea."
"Get some osmanthus cake." Gongsun Hong called Yuanxiang.
Nan Qiong Shuang propped up her cheek and sneered: "You think this is your place."
Gongsun Hong naturally did not answer. She took two or three steps forward, squeezed to the edge of the chaise longue, and sat down.
"You don't have much time left to learn the pipa, so study hard," she said, blowing away the tea foam. "Also, cover your face. There are so many women in the mansion, I'm fed up with them."
"I do play the pipa a little." Normally, this was her time for a nap. She forced herself to stay awake and talk, eyes closed. "But I'm not very good. How well do you need me to play?"
"You must surpass me." Gongsun Hong's bright red nails made the porcelain cup look dazzlingly white.
Nan Qiong Shuang closed her eyes peacefully on the couch: "Then don't think about it."
"Get up and get to work." Gongsun Hong didn't even raise her eyes. She was a gorgeous and charming woman. When she pinched the tea lid, she had the habit of curling her fingers like an orchid, and her whole body was like a gorgeous peony. "I'll tell you what happened over there first."
"That day, Chang Da had a few drinks and, feeling a bit frisky, he summoned six musicians from outside the mansion, including me, seven in total, to his room to dance and play the pipa. Unexpectedly, he got drunk as he drank. I had already discovered his secret letter, which had always been kept in an iron box in his room, so I took advantage of the dance to secretly move the box."
"When the seven of us finished playing, Chang Da was still drunk, so we quietly retreated - that pig-headed man would go crazy and kill people when he was drunk. I quietly took the iron box out and took the letter, but turned around and ran into an old man who was kept by Chang Da's family."
Nan Qiong Shuang opened her eyes: "Old man?"
"Old man," Gongsun Hong nodded. "The Changda family has many talented people, each with their own unique talents. This old man is blind, but because of his blindness, his ears are extremely sensitive. He can even distinguish the sound of two flies flying."
"That day, there were seven of us, and our clothes were decorated with gold chains and gold pieces. He must have heard the jingling sound, and later he told the Changping official who was investigating the matter that the person who took the secret letter was one of the seven."
"That's only one-seventh." Nan Qiong Shuang leaned on her temples, "How can you say it's you?"
"I thought so too. But who knew that old man, I don't know what he heard, said that if I could play the pipa, I would be the best in Luojing with my skills in picking locks and opening iron boxes!" Gongsun Hong stamped her foot in anger. "This is totally incomprehensible!"
Nan Qiong Shuang listened with a frown.
"If that's the case, Chang Da could just summon these musicians, including you, and give them a good beating. That would be the end of it. Why bother?"
"What?" Gongsun Hong took the silk fan she had placed on the couch and fanned it leisurely and proudly. "Miss, I've been in your house for so many days. Even if Prince Ding wants to make a move on me, he has to ask his own heart whether he agrees."
Nan Qiongshuang turned over in disgust, too lazy to talk to her anymore.
"Besides, brothels are full of people of all kinds. If you're working as a prostitute here today, you might die tomorrow. We went looking for six prostitutes that day, but we only found four," Gongsun Hong said. "Chang Da already suspected someone with ulterior motives among the six prostitutes, and now his suspicions are even stronger. So, I told him to set up a trap to lure the thief out, and then we can slowly interrogate him."
Nan Qiong Shuang smiled slightly. She finally understood why Gongsun Hong insisted that she learn to play the pipa.
"You wouldn't ask Chang Da to post a notice and hold a piano competition in Prince Ding's Mansion, would you?" she laughed.
Gongsun Hong was very pleased with her quick understanding. She nodded at her for a long moment, fanning herself with her hand. "That's right. I persuaded Chang Da to spread the word that the secret letter was fake. I also asked Chang Da to organize a pipa competition in Prince Ding's mansion to find the pipa master in Luojing. That way, if the thief wants to strike again, he will definitely use this opportunity to enter the mansion. Whoever wins the top prize will be the thief who stole the secret letter."
What a bad idea.
Nan Qiong Shuang sneered and rolled her eyes.
"Then, I'm going to your place purely to take the blame for you." She lazily raised her eyelids. "How can I run away?"
"Don't worry." Gongsun Hong smiled as she picked up her cherished Nine Treasures Pipa and slowly plucked a few notes. "If you run away, I'll have a good plan for you later. Let's learn the Pipa first."
*
Gongsun Hong was a musical instrument fanatic. Once she got the pipa, she held on to it tightly and refused to let go.
Nan Qiong Shuang had always had a rather superficial interest in the zither and music, like Ye Gong's fondness for dragons. She could listen to them, but if she tried to learn them, she'd feel dizzy, tinnitus, and general discomfort after just an hour. Over the years, she'd only learned a few pieces, often while carrying out her duties and killing people.
But to Gongsun Hong, this last-minute piano skill was no different from an iron saw cutting wood or fingernails scratching a door.
Initially, Gongsun Hong cared for her with empathy and tolerance, despite her inability to do so. Later, to protect her reputation and prestige in the Luojing pipa circle, she worked even harder than Nan Qiongshuang herself, forgetting to eat and sleep.
"From now on, whenever you go out and play the pipa, people will ask you who you learned it from." Gongsun Hong smiled and gritted her teeth. "If you put my name on something like this, my reputation will be ruined. Go back and practice!"
Nan Qiong Shuang was unable to do it and could only shed tears.
That day, Gongsun Hong became more and more desperate as she taught, until the palace gate was about to be locked. Qinglian and Yuanxiang persuaded her several times with kind words, and she finally left reluctantly, looking back every few steps.
"Practice tonight! I'll check you tomorrow!" Gongsun Hong took three steps forward and two steps back, her eyes bloodshot. "If you don't improve tomorrow, I'll punish you with a ruler!"
Gongsun Hong finally left.
Nan Qiong Shuang sighed and collapsed on the table.
"Empress..." Yuanxiang brought up dinner with a worried look on her face, along with fruits and snacks.
She was weak and waved her hand to tell her to go down.
After lying on the table for a while, the buzzing in her ears finally subsided. She was so tired that she leaned back in her chair and peeled melon seeds.
The fingernails pried open the gray melon seed shell, and suddenly the fingernails softened and split.
She was stunned.
That person came to mind again.
"Gu won't bother me anymore. With Tianshan Mountain between us, Gu shouldn't have bothered me anymore."
She sighed, resting her head on the back of the chair and shielding her eyes with her wrists.
Maybe she lost something forever, maybe that thing was very important.
Maybe she knew she was wrong, maybe she knew she did something wrong.
But she just didn't dare to choose, nor did she dare to believe it.
Don't dream. It's better to give up everything before losing it all than to be abandoned after being honest.
She put the melon seed kernel into her mouth numbly, and unexpectedly the tip of the seed pierced her tongue.
But suddenly he saw that Yuanxiang had just brought up more than just dinner and fruits.
There was also a neatly folded piece of paper.
She thought about it for a long time, and finally took it with a bit of pretentious impatience, opened it and read it.
When I saw it, my heart skipped a beat.
These are two large characters written in ink, the ink is fully dipped, the strokes are powerful, the writing looks sloppy, hasty, and forced to look decent.
Two deep red dots, as big as sunflowers, were dotted under the two words, spreading out.
It was so big, not tears, but his blood.
Two words: "Be good."
She slumped in her chair in confusion.
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