39 Divorce
◎Why did he kiss her?◎
The crying stopped abruptly.
Time seems to have stopped at this moment.
The two people pressed their soft lips together, one's eyes flickered at first, then lowered their gaze to stare; the other looked up with tears in her eyes, opened her eyelids, and gradually widened her eyes...
Their eyes met, and something seemed to be surging in silence.
Wei Ziyan hurriedly stepped back, covered her mouth with her hands, and looked at Yan Qizhen in surprise as he suddenly kissed her.
Why did he kiss her?
"You keep crying..." Seeing what she was thinking, Yan Qizheng pursed his lips and explained calmly, "It really gave me a headache."
“…”
Do you want to block her noise with your mouth? Wei Ziyan muttered: "Then you can cover it with your hands..."
"Oh..." Yan Qizheng pursed his lips again, "...I didn't expect that."
“…”
Before she could say anything else, a voice suddenly came from the forest: "They are over there -"
Wei Ziyan's expression suddenly changed, and Yan Qizheng immediately reassured her, "Don't be afraid, they're one of us."
The men running towards him with torches in hand were none other than Yu Sugong and his men, who had come to help. However, upon closer inspection, he saw that all the thieves were already dead. How could he still need his help?
"Are you okay?" Yu Sugong looked at the two of them.
In the firelight, Wei Ziyan's hair was disheveled, and her face, covered in bruises, looked utterly disheveled. Yan Qizheng's face and light-colored clothes were also stained with blood.
"I'm fine." Yan Qizheng said, "Can we go?"
The second half of the question was directed at Wei Ziyan. She wasn't sure if she'd hurt her feet after falling from such a height. Wei Ziyan, eager to get out of this damn place immediately, nodded without hesitation.
Yu Sugong asked them to go up first and leave this place to him.
Knowing he was going to check on the assassins, Yan Qizheng said no more. He drew his long knife from behind the man called Fifth Brother and walked forward with Wei Ziyan. After taking only two steps, he noticed her limping and stopped.
"Why don't you tell me it hurts?"
"It's not that I can't bear it..."
"Do you really need to show off?" Yan Qi squatted down in front of her and ordered without hesitation, "Come up."
“…”
"Don't be embarrassed if you want to go back." Seeing her hesitation, Yan Qizhen added another sentence.
Wei Ziyan wasn't trying to be brave, nor was she concerned about gender differences—she'd already been hugged several times before, so she wouldn't be embarrassed to carry him on her back. It was just that she suddenly felt...
He seems...
Be good to yourself…
Wei Ziyan slowly crouched on Yan Qizheng's back, wrapping her arms around his neck. It was still pitch black, but she no longer felt any fear. She felt secure and safe against him...
"Miss——" As soon as they returned to Guanyun Villa, Qiu Luo ran towards her crying.
"Qiu Luo..."
Wei Ziyan was surprised and delighted, and thankfully grabbed her hand. Just as she was about to say, "I'm glad you're okay," another person quickly walked over.
"Zi Yan——"
It’s Liu Yuer.
"Sister Liu!" Wei Ziyan finally felt relieved.
On the way back with her on his back, Yan Qizhen had already told her the general situation.
He and Wu Guanyi rode up the mountain first, just as they encountered the men in black chasing them. Wu Guanyi rescued Liu Yu'er, but heard that she had fallen down the valley. Fortunately, Yu Sugong had also arrived with his troops, so he immediately left and went to the valley to look for her.
The three women who had survived the ordeal hugged each other and cried. Yan Qizheng reminded Wei Ziyan to go inside first, "Let me take a look at your injuries."
Hearing that she was injured, Qiu Luo hurried in, and Yan Qizhen asked her to get a basin of hot water.
However, when it comes to checking injuries, we can only roughly check whether there is a hit on the head, broken bones, and whether the visible abrasions are serious.
The rest of the body would have to wait until we got back down the mountain and found a female doctor to examine it in detail. After all, falling from such a height would inevitably cause internal injuries.
In short, Wei Ziyan was very grateful that she was not injured and survived.
Yan Qizhen left the room after finishing the inspection. Qiu Luo washed a towel and used it to wipe her hands and face, then took out clean clothes from the box for her to change into.
Just as she was done, Yan Qizheng knocked on the door and came in, telling her that they were going down the mountain. It was at this moment that Wei Ziyan discovered that his right arm was injured.
She had been careless before, and seeing the red stains on his white clothes, she thought his arm was also stained with the assassin's blood. It was not until he came in with his arm bandaged that Wei Ziyan realized it.
Thinking that he didn't say a word and still carried her for such a long distance, Wei Ziyan felt a lump in her throat and her eyes turned red involuntarily.
"It's just a superficial wound, much less serious than the knife you received."
Wei Ziyan pouted and looked at him, a little disbelieving. Afraid she would cry for another long time, Yan Qizheng quickly changed the subject: "Go say goodbye to your sister Liu."
Aside from two servants, no one else at Guanyun Villa, like Qiu Luo, was threatened by the men in black. The steward, fearing another attack, prepared to take the servants and soldiers down the mountain to escape.
Two of the men in black had been captured alive, but unfortunately, they had both committed suicide by biting themselves. After Yu Sugong and his men had examined all the bodies, he wanted to return as soon as possible to report.
After experiencing this incident, Wu Guanyi did not dare to act on his own anymore and agreed to take Liu Yuer with him to go back with Yu Sugong for questioning.
After Wei Ziyan said goodbye to Liu Yu'er, she was about to join the main group down the mountain. They had only one carriage when they arrived, and Qiu Luo couldn't ride. Wu Kun and the other three guards were seriously injured and needed a carriage even more than she did.
Yan Qizhen was worried about her riding alone, so he rode with her.
But his arm was injured, and Wei Ziyan was afraid of pulling the wound, so after she sat on the horse, she grabbed the reins without saying a word and let her drive the horse slowly down.
When we set out, the sky was slightly brighter. By the time we reached the bottom of the mountain, the distant sky was already tinged with the glow of sunrise.
The road was smooth and not as bumpy as before. Wei Ziyan, exhausted from a night of tossing and turning, gradually dozed off. Seeing her head swaying, Yan Qizheng took the reins from her hand and whispered softly in her ear, "Get some sleep. I'll call you when we get home."
"Hmm..."
She responded subconsciously and leaned back into his arms...
Earlier, Xu Ji returned home to report that the eldest son had found the whereabouts of the young lady and would bring her back later. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Thinking that they might have to wait very late, Yan Sunwei persuaded the two relatives to return home, and everyone in the Yan family dispersed and went back to their rooms to rest.
However, the servants had received instructions from the master to report immediately whenever the eldest son and the young mistress returned. Therefore, not long after Yan Qizheng and the others returned to Fuxi Hall, Master Yan and his wife hurried over.
Wei Ziyan realized she had gotten herself into trouble and immediately knelt down to admit her fault before the two elders. However, seeing how haggard she looked and hearing that she was being hunted by thugs, Madam Yan had no time to listen to her daughter-in-law's apology and quickly sent for a doctor.
Thinking that the three maids in her son's room were still recovering from their injuries, she sent two trusted maids and four old women to serve them.
Mr. Yan thought of his in-laws and sent a servant to the Wei Mansion to report his safety.
Upon hearing that the eldest son had brought the young lady back with injuries, the two concubines were alarmed and ran to Fuxi Hall.
Runiang and Huiniang were unable to help for the time being, so they each went back to the courtyard to find some valuable supplements and sent them over. Yan Qizhu volunteered and walked away quickly with the things.
Fuxi Hall was abuzz with activity, and no one had time to attend to the eldest daughter. Yan Qizhu put down his things and ran to the main house. Coincidentally, Xu Ji was escorting a female doctor out. Yan Qizhu quickly turned away. After they left, he quickly entered the house.
"Brother..."
Yan Qi had just turned around to go inside when Qi Zhu came in and called him.
"Is your injury... serious?" The little girl looked at his arm worriedly, her brows furrowed, and there was a thin layer of sweat on the tip of her nose.
"It's just a minor injury, nothing serious." Yan Qizheng didn't bother to talk to her at this moment, "Don't worry, go back first."
“Brother…”
Qizhu called him again, her voice low: "Is she... seriously injured?"
The female doctor had just examined him carefully and found many large bruises on his body. After taking his pulse, the doctor also said that his internal organs were damaged and his qi and blood were greatly depleted. It would probably take two months of conditioning to recover.
Wei Ziyan was afraid that her parents would be too worried if they knew the truth, so she insisted on telling him the same story. She didn't mention the incident of falling off the cliff or the internal injuries, but only said that she was frightened and needed to rest for a while.
At this time, Yan Qi was holding her back and had no choice but to agree to cooperate.
So, he told his sister: "It's not serious, but the doctor said I need to take good care of myself."
Qizhu breathed a sigh of relief and stopped getting in the way. As soon as she left, Yan Qizheng instructed several servants to put things back in place. Not long after, Wei Ziyan emerged from her washroom to find the pillows and bedding on the chaise longue back in their original places.
"Give it to me." Yan Qizhen took the handkerchief used to twist her wet hair from her hand.
There was no one around, and Yan Qizheng gestured for her to sit in front of the dressing table. While twisting her hair, he lowered his voice and said, "Everyone in the house is my mother's people now, so we have to pretend. You sleep on the bed and I'll sleep on the floor."
Surprised, Wei Ziyan couldn't help but secretly admire his thoughtfulness. However, he saved her and still got injured, so how could she have the nerve to let him sleep on the floor?
"No need to go to all that trouble. The bed is wide anyway, so you...can sleep on it too?"
In the bronze mirror, four eyes met.
Yan Qizheng then looked away and put down the scarf: "I'll ask Xing'er to come over and serve."
She had only used clean water to roughly wash away the dust on her hair, and quickly wrung her hair dry. Wei Ziyan then lay down on the bed, closed her eyes, and fell asleep in a short while.
But he only slept for more than half an hour before being abruptly woken up again.
"Don't disturb me while I'm sleeping..." She was too tired and really didn't want to open her eyes.
The next moment, Yan Qizheng's voice sounded softly above his head: "Wake up first, let Qiu Luo apply medicine on you."
It turned out that Xu Ji had taken the medicine back from the doctor, which included not only medicinal herbs for internal use but also ointments for external use.
Qiu Luo had just lowered the bed curtains when Xing'er came in to report that Master Wei and his wife had arrived. Wei Ziyan's scalp suddenly tightened when she heard this, and she leaned out to look at Yan Qizheng.
"Don't panic, I'll go talk to them first. Come out after you get the medicine."
"oh."
Knowing she was going to get a scolding from her parents, Wei Ziyan felt a wave of anxiety. After she put on her clothes, Qiu Luo wanted to do a simple bun for her hair, but she thought better of it and decided not to let it go. Letting her hair down would help hide the bump on her forehead.
Just like before, Wei Ziyan knelt on the floor as soon as she went out.
"Dad, Mom, I was wrong."
Master Wei and his wife rushed over without delay after receiving a tip from a servant. They had originally intended to give their daughter a good scolding for running away from home so often that it was truly outrageous! But then, upon hearing their son-in-law mention the assassination he had encountered the previous night, they were so distressed that they had forgotten any words of reprimand.
"Hurry up and let me take a look." Madam Wei quickly helped her daughter up and asked with concern, "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No, I was smart enough to escape, and I accidentally fell..." Before Wei Ziyan finished speaking, her mother's hand brushed the hair away from her face, revealing a conspicuous bump on her forehead.
Madam Wei was horrified: "How did you fall like this?"
Master Wei couldn't sit still any longer, so he came forward and looked at his daughter's shocked face with great pain. This was the first time he had seen his daughter come out with such a big bump in her entire life!
How hard did it fall?
Master Wei was extremely distressed: "How did it happen? Does it hurt?"
"How can it not hurt with such a big lump?" Mrs. Wei retorted before her daughter could speak.
Yes, Master Wei asked again: "Have you applied the medicine?"
"Yeah." Wei Ziyan nodded.
Yan Qizheng added, "The doctor has examined me and prescribed medicine."
"Yeah," Wei Ziyan grinned, "The doctor said it's nothing, just a few days of rest."
"You're still laughing?" Mrs. Wei was anxious and angry, and slapped her on the back. "Why are you so troublesome!"
Her mother's expression changed so quickly that the slap caught her off guard. Wei Ziyan screamed in pain and her body swayed forward. Yan Qizhen was quick to support her.
Madam Wei was startled: "What's wrong?"
"No..." Wei Ziyan opened her mouth wide, took a deep breath, and lied. "I... just drank a large bowl of medicine... and I almost vomited it all out because of you..."
"I……"
Mrs. Wei thought that she didn't put in much effort, but Mr. Wei was already feeling distressed.
"Then don't stand, go back and lie down..."
The two elders had apparently forgotten about teaching their daughter a lesson and were about to leave so as not to disturb her rest. After a night of tossing and turning and being frightened, shouldn't they take good care of their son now?
Yan Qi was sending the two elders out, while Wei Ziyan was supported by Qiu Luo and returned to the inner room.
Qiu Luo felt that the young lady was very thoughtful.
"Master and Madam are so upset by a single wound. If they knew about the injuries on the young lady, they would probably be unable to sleep or eat."
well……
Wei Ziyan sighed lightly and wanted to say something but gave up.
Just as he was about to lie down and continue to catch up on his sleep, he heard Xing'er's low voice coming from outside: "But the young lady has gone to bed, why don't you wait for the eldest master to come back later..."
"What are you going to ask?" Wei Ziyan instructed Qiu Luo.
"yes."
Qiu Luo turned and went out, but quickly returned: "The servant came to ask for instructions. He said he heard Bai Er barking non-stop in the study and wanted to ask the young lady to go and take a look."
Leng Xiang and the other two were beaten with sticks because of her, and were unable to take care of Bai Er. Entering Yan Qizheng's study was forbidden, so the servant came to ask her for instructions.
Thinking of the poor little thing, Wei Ziyan stood up decisively.
"Let's go and take a look."
So Qiu Luo helped the young lady to the study.
I did hear the cat meow twice outside the door, but when I pushed the door open it stopped meowing and disappeared. It must have sensed someone coming in and was frightened and hid.
"Xiaobai——" Wei Ziyan called her by her nickname as she walked in.
After calling twice, a cry came from the other side of the bed. It turned out that the person was hiding under the bed.
"I'll go find it." Qiu Luo walked over.
Wei Ziyan leaned her hands on the edge of the desk and glanced at it casually, and found a piece of letter paper with words written on it.
She had never known what Yan Qi was doing in his study, so out of curiosity, she leaned over to see what he was writing...
On the other side, Yan Qizheng had just sent his father-in-law and mother-in-law back to the bedroom, but there was no one on the bed.
"Where is the young lady?" he asked Xing'er.
"I heard that Bai Er was calling in the study. The young lady went to the study."
“…”
Yan Qi was silent for a moment.
He couldn't even handle himself, and yet he was bothering with that little thing. Bai Er had always been quiet in the study, but after she got married, she'd often brought him in to play, and that's when he developed bad habits. He didn't like being locked up in the study and always wanted to be noticed. If he wasn't, he'd bark or get into trouble. Yesterday, just as he'd finished writing the "divorce letter," Bai Er stepped on a hole in it...
broken!
Yan Qizhen suddenly remembered.
Xu Ji came in in a panic to report that the young lady had disappeared and that he had probably forgotten to put it away. That thing, must still be lying there...
On the desk?
"Got it!"
Qiu Luo meowed at Bai Er a few times before coaxing it out from under the bed. He happily carried Bai Er over, but saw Wei Zi Yan standing there in a daze.
"Miss, what's wrong with you?"
Wei Ziyan came back to her senses and hurriedly shook her head to deny: "No, nothing..."
She glanced at Bai Er, who was in Qiu Luo's arms, and said, "Let's go once we find it."
The master and servant walked one in front and one behind. Wei Ziyan lowered her head and walked hurriedly. She almost bumped head-on into Yan Qi who was also rushing over at the door.
Both of them stopped in time, their eyes met, and there was a look of surprise and confusion on their faces.
"you……"
Yan Qi was about to ask, "Did you see that thing?" but was afraid that asking would make things awkward. In a hurry, he changed the subject and said, "What are you doing here?"
"I……"
At this moment, Wei Ziyan's mind was filled with the words written on the letter paper. Her heart was in a mess and she was speechless for a moment.
Qiu Luo thought the eldest master blamed them for entering the study without permission, so she quickly explained, "The eldest master went out just now, and Bai Er was crying pitifully in the study. The young lady couldn't bear it, so she came in to check."
“…”
Yan Qizhen couldn't help but feel annoyed. Why did he speak so carelessly?
Before she could even explain, Wei Ziyan's chaotic thoughts had calmed down a bit: "Xiaobai is really pitiful, locked up here all alone. I want to take him back to the house... Is that okay?"
"Okay, whatever you want."
The last cautious inquiry, which required his consent, seemed particularly alien to him. Could it be that she had seen it? Yan Qi was feeling uneasy. Seeing her about to leave, he reached out to help her, but then retracted his hand guiltily.
"Give it to me, and help the young lady back to the house."
Finally, he took Bai Er from Qiu Luo's arms and watched them leave.
After the two of them walked away, he quickly turned back to the study, put down Bai Er, picked up the "divorce letter" spread out on the desk, tore it into several pieces, and then crumpled it into a ball...
At three quarters after noon, Wei Ziyan finished her nap. Her body felt much more relaxed, but her head still felt heavy.
Qiu Luo thought playing with Bai Er for a while would help him relax, but when he returned from a trip to the kitchen, he saw Bai Er playing with a cat ball on the floor by himself, while the young lady was lazily leaning on the chaise longue, staring blankly in a certain direction.
Qiu Luoshun went over to look and saw that the lady was looking at... the orchid on the table?
This pot of flowers was snatched back by Master Wei for the young lady. Later, when the eldest master came to the Wei Mansion to propose marriage, the young lady gave it to the eldest master as a return gift.
Qiu Luo stopped thinking and brought the prepared medicine soup over: "Miss, it's time to take the medicine."
Brought back to her senses by this voice, Wei Ziyan slowly turned her gaze to Qiu Luo's face.
Everyone else calls her "Young Madam," but this girl is the only one who still uses the term "Miss" in private. There's no need to urge her to change now...
Wei Ziyan slowly stood up and drank a bowl of bitter medicine in small sips. Then she took the preserved fruit handed to her by Qiu Luo and stuffed it into her mouth.
"There's pigeon soup heating up in the kitchen. Would you like some, miss?"
Having slept all morning and skipped lunch, Qiu Luo was worried that the young lady would be hungry. However, it was almost dinner time, and seeing the young lady shaking her head, Qiu Luo didn't worry.
"Then let's wait for the eldest master to come back together."
Wei Ziyan felt like something was touching her heart.
The little things that happened on Qixia Mountain made her temporarily misunderstand that she had forgotten how fiercely they had quarreled before.
It turned out that when she ran away from home, he had already written a divorce letter. He finally got tired of arguing with her and was willing to let her go...
"Miss?" Qiu Luo brought her back to her senses again.
"What did you say?"
"Alas," Qiu Luo sighed and repeated, "I wonder if the eldest master has seen the letter the young lady wrote to him?"
"A letter from home?" Wei Ziyan looked puzzled. "What letter from home?"
"It's the letter that the young lady wrote in the study the night the eldest master left home!"
Wei Ziyan was shocked: "Didn't I tell you to throw it away?"
Then he was surprised again: "Where did you put it?"
Qiu Luo pouted slightly: "The young lady said she wanted to go back to her parents' home. I thought that maybe the eldest master would read the letter the young lady wrote and calm down, so he would come to pick her up. So I stuffed it under the pillow when he left."
"Which pillow?"
Qiu Luo pointed at the pillow under Wei Ziyan: "That's the pillow where the young lady slept before."
Wei Ziyan: "..."
No wonder…
This divorce letter...I'm afraid her "family letters" also contributed to it?
Wei Ziyan covered her chest and was about to slow down when Xing'er came in like a gust of wind and bowed slightly to her: "Young Madam, your valuables have been returned!"
She couldn't bring back the boxes of things she took with her when she went down the mountain, so they were temporarily left at Guanyun Villa. Yan Qizhen said he would ask someone to pick them up later.
The box contained her dowry, and Qiu Luo was happier than she was that it came back intact.
"Really? Move in now."
Xing Er said, "Xu Ji is unloading the truck and will be moving in soon."
Sure enough, after a few words, several servants came in carrying boxes. Qiu Luo was busy directing them to put them in different places, and they were moved in no time.
Qiu Luo rolled up his sleeves excitedly: "I'll go clean it up right away and put everything back in its place."
"No rush," Wei Ziyan waved her hand unhappily, "Let's just leave it like this for now."
"But..." Qiu Luo was puzzled, "It's so inconvenient to get things."
It is a bit inconvenient, Wei Ziyan thought silently.
But it’s much easier than having to repack it in two days, right?
【Author’s words】
Haha, cute baby girl [come on]
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