Chapter 51 Chapter 51 The taste of Lin Zhen.
The farm was well stocked with medicines, and Bai Ce was a very skilled doctor. In just ten days, Ji Sui's whipping had healed completely.
That night, Ji Sui lay on the bed with his shirt half-undressed. Warm fingertips wrapped in cool ointment slowly moved across his back. Occasionally, there was a slight stinging sensation, but he accepted it happily. He closed his eyes and dozed with his arms as a pillow, the corners of his lips unconsciously raised slightly.
The densely packed new wounds on her back made it impossible to discern the previous burn marks, but those winding marks were as clear as if engraved in Lin Zhen's mind. Her fingertips couldn't help but tremble slightly, and she stopped moving her hands.
The sudden pause made Ji Sui, who was immersed in it, feel lost. He frowned slightly and turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"
Lin Zhen lowered her head to avoid his gaze, took a silk handkerchief from the tray beside her, washed her hands, slowly pulled his shirt up, and pursed her lips: "The medicine is ready."
After a quick tidy up, Lin Zhen helped him turn around and laid him down on his side. He said in a gentle voice, "Call me if you need anything."
Ji Sui snorted and laughed: "I'm not that——"
He swallowed the word "cripple" back. He knew that Lin Zhen would not easily forget that man, but he believed that as long as that man disappeared from her life for a long time, and no one mentioned him from her sight, he would die one day and die forever in Lin Zhen's heart.
A gloomy look flashed across his face, and he continued with a smile: "I'm not such a vulnerable person." After he finished speaking, he forced himself to stand up, but the new scab on his back was pulled, and he fell back onto the couch with a groan.
Lin Zhen's movement of reaching out to support him paused, but he couldn't stop smiling.
She just smiled at Ji Sui. After an unknown amount of time, the latter's eyes gradually became darker. When she realized that the atmosphere was wrong and wanted to turn around, it was too late.
Ji Sui held her face and looked into her eyes.
The face held by his rough fingertips gradually became hot, and the scorching candlelight was showing all her expressions to Ji Sui's eyes.
Lin Zhen wanted to escape, but he couldn't move.
She held the thin blanket tightly in her hand, the tighter she held it, and in a moment of desperation, she suddenly pulled the blanket over her head.
Lin Zhen originally wanted to cover herself so that she wouldn't have to respond to his burning gaze, but she forgot the close distance between them.
She accidentally pulled him into the darkness with her.
The breathing of the two people, which had been deliberately suppressed, became clearly audible in this narrow and stuffy space, and could not be hidden. It even became more rapid and intertwined wantonly.
Ji Wei only felt that the hands holding her were shaking uncontrollably, and even his breathing was trembling.
If he could still bear it just now, now he was almost going crazy with excitement.
He wanted to kiss her madly, to feel Lin Zhen's warmth and Lin Zhen's scent...
His greed for her almost drove him crazy in an instant, but his only remaining rationality still told him: he couldn't do this, she had not completely forgotten that man.
He could never force her or even hurt her like he did before.
In the end, he just held her tightly in his arms, lowered his head and buried his face in the crook of her neck, greedily absorbing the faint fragrance from her body.
*
The sweltering dog days of summer finally brought a heavy rain. The farmland was especially cool and refreshing after the rain, and even the straw stacks gave off a sweet fragrance.
Lin Yue looked up at the clear blue sky, opened her arms and took a deep breath. She said happily, "Sister, it's such a rare day with such good weather. Why don't we go horseback riding?"
Unlike her sister Lin Zhen, Lin Yue has been a cheerful person since childhood. Although she can't sit in the study for a long time, she prefers riding and shooting. The freedom of galloping in the wilderness outside the city is incomparable to the horse farm in the city.
While Lin Zhen was hesitating, Lin Yue gently took her arm and said slowly, "His injury should be almost healed, right?"
Before Lin Zhen could respond, a clear male voice came from behind him: "In such weather, it would be a shame if we didn't ride our horses."
The two turned to see Ji Sui striding towards them. His dark green suit outlined his tall figure, and the bamboo leaf pattern embroidered in gold and black on the lapels shimmered with light as he walked. The black leather belt around his waist was inlaid with black jade, which complemented the turquoise on his wristband, making his exposed wrist look even whiter.
The sickly look of the past has completely disappeared. Now his eyebrows and eyes are as beautiful as a painting, his lips are as red as if painted, and he looks full of vigor and vitality again.
Lin Yue couldn't help but tighten her arm around her elder sister, her cheeks flushed. She quickly turned back and let go of her hand, "Then it's settled!"
She walked briskly to find Shizhu. Lin Zhen looked at his sister's figure and couldn't help but chuckle.
Because she was worried that something might happen to Ji Sui, Shi Zhu specially brought Bai Ce along.
The four horses walked slowly, not too close or too far away, and before they knew it, they had separated into two groups.
Lin Yue looked at the two people walking side by side from afar. The pace of the two horses was particularly precise. Ji Sui's riding posture was exactly the same as her elder sister's, and even his mounting habits were exactly the same as her elder sister's.
She suddenly remembered that she and she had learned horse riding together from her elder sister.
At that time, she was confident of her extraordinary talent, and she disliked Ji Sui, who was still a lowly servant Lin Chu at the time. She always dealt with her elder sister in a perfunctory manner and turned to practice alone.
She was surprised that Ji Sui had a secret crush on her elder sister. Now thinking about it, it turned out that these feelings had already taken root in those fragmented moments that she had neglected.
The figures sitting opposite each other in the flickering candlelight in the study late at night, and the footsteps walking together when entering and leaving the mansion, all became the rain and dew that nourished the seedlings of the heart, allowing it to grow silently and wildly. By the time someone discovered it, it had already grown into an unshakable towering tree.
Lin Yue felt mixed emotions. She wanted to drive away the inexplicable boredom, so she squeezed her feet against the horse's belly and galloped forward. However, she hadn't ridden a horse for a long time, and the horse's temperament was not familiar to her. She accidentally frightened the horse and fell heavily from its back not long after.
"Miss Lin!" Shizhu shouted urgently, and his clothes at the waist were suddenly grabbed tightly. He hurriedly said, "Mr. Bai, hold on tight!" Before he finished speaking, he raised his whip and galloped forward.
Shizhu helped Bai Ce off the horse and went back to get the medicine box.
Bai Ce always walked calmly. Although he couldn't see, his other senses were sharp, so he walked like an ordinary person. But today, he was obviously flustered. After a while, he sat down next to Lin Yue. Not knowing where she was injured, he didn't dare to touch her. He just asked, "Yu'er, where are you hurt?"
Lin Yue felt a burning pain all over her body, but the sharpest pain came from her right foot. She frowned and said, "My foot... I can't seem to move my foot."
Bai Ce immediately reached out his hand and after a moment, he breathed a sigh of relief: "It's just a sprain, just bear with it."
Unlike his gentle nature, Bai Ce's technique was extremely fast and steady. He had already cured Lin Yue's foot while he was speaking, and she didn't even have time to feel the pain.
But she cried.
Tears rolled down silently.
A tear burned Bai Ce's hand, which had not yet been withdrawn. His relaxed nerves tensed up again, "Yu'er, you're crying. Did I still hurt you?"
"Or are there other injuries on your body? Yue'er, tell me——"
As if she had been discovered, Lin Yue couldn't help crying, hugging her knees and crying. At first she tried to suppress her tears, but gradually it turned into uncontrollable sobbing, and finally into loud crying.
Bai Ce's anxious expression slowly calmed amid his sad cries. He just sat quietly side by side with Lin Yue. The sound of horse hooves could be heard faintly in the front, which was the direction from which he had just separated from Ji Bai and Lin Zhen.
It turns out that there are some pains that he cannot cure.
*
It had been a long time since she had galloped like this. The cool breeze rustled her sleeves, and the long-lost pleasure made Lin Zhen completely forget herself. It took her a while to realize that Ji Bai had been left far behind by her.
Seeing his horse stopped in the distance, Lin Zhen quickly pulled the reins and turned back.
Lin Zhen was wearing a clean white dress with a silver belt tied around her wrist. Her clothes fluttered and her long black hair flew as she galloped.
Ji Sui stared at her gravely. He had looked at her like this countless times in the mornings and evenings at the Lin Mansion.
She seems like a night-blooming cereus blooming quietly in the dark night. Even though I have witnessed its fleeting beauty more than once, I will still lose my mind when it blooms again.
"…Are you okay?"
Lin Zhen had stopped in front of him, and Ji Sui had just come back to his senses. He frowned skillfully and said slowly: "Not very good, the wound is a little... a little painful."
Lin Zhen originally wanted Shi Zhu to go back and drive the carriage, but after looking around, he realized that they had separated at some point, so he extended his hand to him and said, "Come ride with me."
Ji Bai nodded in agreement, helped himself onto the horse's back, and sat behind Lin Zhen. She rode slowly, and Ji Bai gently held her waist from behind, his body swaying with the horse's steps. He closed his eyes, deeply immersed in the delicate fragrance of the "Epiphyllum".
The days at the farm were as beautiful as a dream, and he kept indulging in them.
Lin Zhen was hiding something in his heart and hadn't paid attention to his feelings. He only asked slowly, "The Third Prince's conspiracy is now known to everyone. Why would Meng Liangyu so easily kill his own brother for the sake of justice?"
She didn't think he was really a loyal and patriotic minister.
"Were the soldiers at the Andushan execution ground targeting him?"
Lin Zhen had seen the list of officials watching the execution on the execution notice, and Meng Liangyu's name was on it. It was also on that day that Meng Liangyu was ordered to detain the rebellious third prince.
It was obvious that he had planned it in advance.
Ji Sui didn't answer, only immersed in the tingling sensation of her hair brushing against the side of his face, and asked with a smile: "Anything else?"
"Even if the Third Prince had ulterior motives towards Meng Liangyu, he wouldn't act so recklessly and drastically. Could it be that he already knew—"
Ji Sui rested his chin lightly on Lin Zhen's shoulder and replied lazily, "Well, I let him know."
The doubts in Lin Zhen's heart have not completely dissipated. She always feels that she seems to have missed something, but this information is enough.
She had an idea in mind and asked, "Is the imperial concubine in Dajueshan Temple now?"
Ji Sui asked, "What?"
Lin Zhen said: "I want to see the imperial concubine, no, I want to ask someone to see the imperial concubine."
Ji Sui stood up straight, frowned and replied: "She is now just a concubine in name only, imprisoned in Dajueshan Temple. It is not difficult to see her, but I heard that she has gone crazy."
Lin Zhen's hand holding the reins paused slightly, then continued, "It's okay."
Sometimes, the words of those who cannot speak are more convincing.
*
There had been no news of Marquis Yong'an for a long time in the court. Considering his hard work and great contributions, he was allowed to be buried with the ceremony of a first-rank military official. However, it was also his dereliction of duty to underestimate the enemy and advance rashly. His merits and demerits offset each other, and his title of Marquis Yong'an was stripped away. His status as Lin's imperial edict was retained, and the people in Ning Mansion were not implicated.
Lin came to fulfill his vow, and as soon as he left the temple, he was "invited" by a group of people to a remote Zen room.
When he came out again, his face was pale and his steps were unsteady. He was supported by two old women and staggered out.
She wanted to leave quickly, but was stopped by someone who suddenly appeared. Anger dispelled her fear, and she pointed at the person and said, "It's you!"
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