Chapter 48 Chapter 48 Come with me to welcome your husband’s clothes…
The polo field was filled with noise, but Wu Jingxun now felt that his five senses were overly sensitive.
The sounds of people in the stands laughing and cheering, the sound of the wind brushing past her ears, the sound of horses' hooves stepping on the meadow, and the malicious laughter of the girl opposite her, all reached her ears.
And there was the sound of her own heartbeat, dull and rapid as a drum.
It was common for two girls to get close to each other to fight for the ball on the polo field, but Wu Jingxun and Princess Changyi were so close that their faces were almost touching each other and they were cursing at each other. Before they separated, everyone's eyes passed over several nimble figures and fell on them.
Princess Changyi stared at the beautiful face so close to her with great anticipation. She hoped to see the shock, despair, sadness and other pains that she had endured in recent days.
All those sufferings should be reflected on her face that is so beautiful that it makes people feel disgusted.
But she was disappointed.
Wu Jingxun just pulled the reins expressionlessly. Bai Zhenzhu whinnied loudly, and her arrogant big eyes glared fiercely at the shiny black horse opposite.
Bah! He's even more annoying than the horse Xuan Guang Cheng that lived across the street from him!
There was some distance between the two of them.
Wu Jingxun held the bat tightly in one hand and touched the hairpin with the other.
Before coming to the polo field, she looked in the mirror and put on the hairpin that Pei Huaiguang had given her on her birthday.
Each of the three small lily of the valley beads contains a small hidden weapon, which is left for her to protect herself.
The situation is not so critical now, but Wu Jingxun took one of the lilies of the valley very calmly, recalling the acupuncture point that Pei Huaiguang pointed at on Bai Zhenzhu that day, and smiled slightly at Princess Changyi.
Princess Changyi was a little surprised to see that she was laughing instead of crying. Could it be that she had gone crazy due to the great stimulation?
While she was hesitating, the girl opposite her, who was wearing a dark brown green narrow-sleeved gown, suddenly moved.
Princess Changyi watched Wu Jingxun join the polo competition again. Her bright and lively face, stained with red under the scorching sunlight, became even more eye-catching.
She gripped the reins angrily, and suddenly felt that it was not worth it for Pei Jinguang.
He could have saved his life, but for the sake of a woman like this, a woman who did not shed tears or feel heartbroken after hearing the news of his death, and even continued to play polo as usual. The world will never see that tall figure again.
I wonder if Pei Jinguang would regret rejecting her so heartlessly and insisting on fulfilling the engagement if he saw this scene in the afterlife?
While Princess Changyi was slightly distracted, her horse sensed the danger faster than she did.
The horse raised its hooves uneasily. Princess Changyi absentmindedly tightened the reins, but the next moment she suddenly heard a painful whine from the horse under her.
Before she could react, she fell heavily to the ground. The red horse almost trampled on her in pain and anxiety. Princess Changyi was so frightened by the sudden change that she could only subconsciously dodge. But as soon as she moved, she felt a sharp pain in her body, and even the strong smell of blood spread to her throat.
The originally bustling polo field fell silent for a moment because of this sudden accident.
Screams were heard from the stands, and soon someone called a halt to the game. Wu Jingxun watched indifferently as the maids carefully carried Princess Changyi, whose face was pale and there was a trace of blood at the corner of her mouth, onto a stretcher. The back of her hand was stretched so tightly that the purple veins were clearly visible.
Huang Meizhu was in high spirits when she was suddenly stopped. She felt a little unhappy, but seeing Princess Changyi's pale face, she felt a little pity for her. She rode her horse to Wu Jingxun and sighed, "Thank goodness you're lucky, Jingxun. You're doing well even on your first try at polo. Princess Changyi is so unlucky."
She wasn't unlucky. She deserved it.
It didn't matter how they targeted her; Wu Jingxun wouldn't foolishly wait for harm. Her hairpins, cuffs, and waist belt were all equipped with self-defense weapons. She had already figured out that if Princess Changyi was going to pull any other tricks today, she would be able to carefully avoid them.
But they just walked past her and reached out to Pei Jinguang.
It is true that Wu Jingxun's love for Pei Jinguang was not a lingering love, and even the little affection between them was too shallow, but Pei Jinguang was a general who fought for peace and tranquility for the people in the north, and a hero who defended the territory of the Jin Dynasty and restored the national prestige!
How could they, how could they—
Huang Meizhu seemed to sense something was wrong with Wu Jingxun. Tears welled up beneath her long, dark eyelashes, and her breathing became heavier. She reached out from her horse to pull her arm, saying with concern, "Jingxun, are you scared? Don't worry, not everyone who plays polo will be as unlucky as Princess Changyi!"
She was trying to comfort him with good intentions, but Wu Jingxun couldn't tell her about the grievance and confusion he was feeling at the moment.
In the few moments after hearing the news, she had suspected that Princess Changyi had deliberately deceived her about Prince Pei's death in battle to make her uneasy, so that she could embarrass herself on the polo field.
But on second thought, Princess Changyi's secretive and gloomy attitude every time she mentioned Prince Pei, the affection and hatred hidden underneath were about to burst out.
Wu Jingxun had no way of deceiving herself. A woman who had both affection and hatred for a man would casually joke about his life and death.
Prince Pei, Pei Jinguang.
The name that originally only existed on the marriage certificate was suddenly spoken out word by word from the young man's lips one day.
Wu Jingxun was in a trance and returned to Biyou Manor in April.
In the spring shadows of apricot blossoms, under the new green willow trees, he smiled and told her his name, and then asked her in a gentle voice if she remembered him, Pei Jinguang, Pei Jingzhi.
I am ashamed of my honesty and sincerity, and I keep myself in seclusion to prepare for it.
When she was copying books, she had written this poem containing his courtesy name thousands of times.
But she never told him.
Something fell into Bai Zhenzhu's fluffy and beautiful mane, making a small hole.
·
Wu Jingxun returned to the Marquis of Pingning's Mansion in a daze. Cuiping, who went with her, originally wanted to happily share with her the feeling of watching a polo match for the first time. It was her first time, and it was also her wife's first time, but the feeling of playing on the field and watching from the sidelines is always different!
But my wife is in a bad mood.
Cui Ping felt something was amiss, but seeing Wu Jingxun huddled in a corner of the carriage, silent, she became a little worried and started to talk: "Madam, why did one of the lilies of the valley fall off your hairpin?"
The hairpin that Pei Huaiguang made for her was a little strange. If you pressed the fifth petal of the lily of the valley, the poison needle hidden inside would be shot out. After the poison needle entered the skin, the needle would gradually dissolve into the skin as the poison dissipated, causing the injured person to suffer more pain, but the source of the pain could not be found.
So Wu Jingxun was willing to take a gamble, betting that Princess Changyi knew very well that it was her who did it, but she could not find any evidence and could not openly convict a minister without authorization.
A widow whose deceased husband had made great contributions in the war and who remained faithful to him at home.
She spread out her palm, holding the empty lily of the valley tightly. The silver lily of the valley had already scratched a deep blood-red mark on her once tender palm. Cuiping was heartbroken at the sight, but Wu Jingxun just shook his head: "Put it on the hairpin for me."
Cuiping did as she was told. When the carriage stopped, she prepared to open the door as usual. She got out first so that she could help her wife get out of the carriage.
"Why doesn't my lady ride White Pearl back home? It must be very glorious to ride on such a majestic horse!" People say that beautiful women are accompanied by beautiful carriages. Cuiping thought happily that if her lady sat on the tall horse, all the sisters-in-law and girls on the road would surely stare at her. It would be much more magnificent than riding in a carriage!
Cuiping was chattering away, but Wu Jingxun was distracted and didn't hear a word she said. When she got off the carriage and saw the white lanterns hanging in front of the Marquis Pingning's Mansion, her legs went weak.
The steward received the order and waited for the Crown Prince's wife at the door. He remembered that the old lady was grieving and gave him detailed instructions, asking him to speak slowly and gently, so as not to let the fragile Crown Prince's wife faint from grief. But the steward felt sad too, and he was uncomfortable too!
When he saw Wu Jingxun's pale and colorless face, the steward's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the Crown Prince's wife heard some people gossiping on her way back?
He couldn't care less about that now. He wiped his tears, his small eyes already swollen from crying: "Madam, urgent news from the front line eight hundred miles away, our prince has gone!"
"Gone? What do you mean gone?" Cuiping's reaction was more intense than Wu Jingxun's. The ending tone of her broken voice rose comically, but no one present cared about it. They just wiped their tears silently.
Wu Jingxun bit her lower lip. She had originally thought that the sudden burst of bloody smell would allow her to hold on for a while longer, but the smell of rust made her feel nauseous from the bottom of her heart.
When he died, was he covered in blood? Were there any generals or soldiers around him who could protect his body and prevent it from being abducted by the brutal Donghu people and having its head cut off as a sacrifice to the national flag?
Wu Jingxun could no longer hold on. It was as if all the strength in his body was blown away by the howling wind from the north. He fell backwards like a willow branch in late spring.
Cuiping screamed and tried to support her poor wife, but a hand was faster than hers.
The boy had a headband tied on his forehead as usual, but this time he didn't use his favorite black headband. Instead, he changed it to a white headband. The pure white color made the boy's beautiful eyebrows and features even more eye-catching.
But the way he held the girl did not contain a trace of intimacy, and the frosty coldness on his face all year round seemed to be melted by traces of care and guilt.
Cuiping rubbed her eyes.
Pei Huaiguang was already carrying Wu Jingxun horizontally as he walked into the mansion.
·
After the eunuch who reported the news left, Madam Qiong fainted, and the elderly old lady was almost out of breath. The female servants present were so panicked that they wanted to cry but dared not, and were always worried about their masters' conditions.
The Marquis has died in the battlefield, and now even the Crown Prince has followed him. Fortunately, there is still a Second Master in the mansion - but the Second Master is out all day slaughtering bears and catching tigers, and he has no respect for his conduct. Can such a person support the Marquis of Pingning's mansion?
And the wife of the prince who just came in...
A person as beautiful as a peony, at the age of a flower, will have to stay at home and be a widow from now on. When her brother's wife comes into the family, she will even have to give up the title of the Crown Prince's Wife and the future Marquis' Wife.
well--
Everyone also wiped away the bitter tears for Wu Jingxun.
After Wu Jingxun woke up, the first thing that caught his eye was the gauze curtains with jade-scented flowers and waterweed patterns.
He had never even glanced at the bright red pomegranate tent she had embroidered with her own hands.
Although she only wanted to use this marriage to escape from the suffocating quagmire of the Wu family, at least she really wanted to live with him and his wife until old age.
She had no chance to express her feelings, and he could no longer listen to her say them.
The wind whistling across the north was very cold. He fell just like that in a place far away from his homeland. Would his remaining soul be blown away by the wind and lose its way home?
Cuiping and Ziping looked at Wu Jingxun lying on the bed, staring blankly at the tent, tears rolling down her face until they disappeared into her long black hair. They couldn't help crying, "My wife, you must cry out loud." Crying silently like this will cause qi stagnation in the body and harm the body.
Wu Jingxun seemed not to hear anything. He just looked at the ceiling of the tent quietly without saying a word.
The only sound left from the girl's faint breathing, along with the mournful sobs of the maids, reached Pei Huaiguang's ears.
He leaned against the door, his blood seemed to be frozen by the frost, snow and wind. He was very clear that she was sad for her brother.
There is nothing wrong with this, and it can even be said to be very reasonable.
But his heart seemed to be torn apart, both for Pei Jinguang and for the girl who was silently crying in the room.
He still couldn't stand her crying all the time.
"Second Master?"
Seeing the young man rushing in like a whirlwind, Zi Ping and the others stood up in surprise. Seeing him walk straight around the screen and into the inner room, they hurriedly said, "Second Master, Second Master, what are you doing? This is against etiquette!"
"It's already this late, what's the point of being polite?"
Pei Huaiguang looked down at her lying straight on the bed and said without any nonsense: "The team escorting his cenotaph to Jinling is in Shili Village. Do you want to go with me to meet him?"
Cenotaph?
They are only willing to release the news today. It won’t be long before the cenotaphs are about to be brought to Nanjing. What exactly happened on the battlefield?
"Why is there only a cenotaph? Where's his body? Wasn't there anything left?"
The girl, who originally had a dull look on her face, suddenly became excited. Pei Huaiguang lowered his eyes and looked at her hand that was tightly clasping his sleeve.
"Want to know?"
"Then dry your tears, change your clothes, and follow me."
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