midnight
"I can't go with you." Qi Qinghe was silent for a long time, and finally did not agree to return to Beijing.
She chose her words carefully and explained to His Royal Highness, "Your Highness is the Crown Prince, a noble person, but I am different. I am just an ordinary citizen. There is always an inequality between you and me."
"That life of luxury doesn't belong to me. If I force it, I will be the one who suffers. So, Your Highness, I don't want to return to the capital, to the palace."
She spoke frankly and softly, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest. She looked up to meet His Highness's dark and indecipherable gaze, swallowed, and grabbed her clothes with her fingers hanging at her sides.
Qi Qinghe said so much, but Xiao Junbai didn't hear a word of it. He only remembered that she would not go with him.
Cracks appeared on the calm and indifferent mask.
He gripped the wrist of the person in front of him tightly, so hard that it left finger marks. He slowly leaned over and raised his hand to arrest her. He lowered his eyes and suddenly saw that her eyes were filled with tears and fear, and her body was shaking uncontrollably.
Seeing him like this, Qi Qinghe vaguely recalled the day of the autumn hunt, when the prince was also like this, with a hint of madness in his dark eyes, which made people shrink back in fear.
She was really scared. The prince had been practicing martial arts for many years and had extraordinary strength. That night, his terrifying palm pinched her neck, making it difficult for her to breathe. She didn't want to experience that suffocating feeling again.
Tears as big as beans rolled down her cheeks one after another. Qi Qinghe leaned against the door frame and slid down, then fell to the ground. She spoke again with a weak voice: "What exactly does Your Highness want to hear from me?"
"Marrying in a stead and deceiving the emperor? Marrying in a stead was not my original intention. Qi Lin forced me to do it. I had no choice." She hugged her knees and lowered her head, her voice becoming increasingly soft. "Your Highness, what exactly do you want me to do to let me go? Are you trying to punish me? Then, Your Highness, just arrest me. I plead guilty. Why torture me like this?"
Her voice, as thin as a mosquito's, mixed with sobs, fell into Xiao Junbai's ears, but it meant that she would rather die than be with him.
He is the crown prince, but he cannot win her favor?
Thinking of this, Xiao Junbai's face instantly turned dark, and surging anger roamed around in his body, with no way to vent it.
He looked coldly at the person who was huddled together in a ball and said, "If you think I'll let you go, you'd better dream on." After saying this, he walked past the person, opened the door, and strode away.
Qi Qinghe listened to the footsteps gradually fading away, breathed a sigh of relief, hugged her shoulders and sobbed softly. It was clearly a warm spring day, but she was shivering with cold.
As soon as the prince left, the shop assistants swarmed up and knocked on the door, asking in a flurry what had happened.
Qi Qinghe wiped her tears hastily and opened the door. "Nothing, just checking the accounts. Let's get back to work."
The guys had been working in the cloth shop for several months and knew their boss's temper very well. When they saw his eyes were red, who could not guess that something was wrong?
"Don't be afraid, girl. If someone bullied you, just tell us. No matter who it is, we will definitely seek justice for you."
Unlike the smooth-talking Zhao Nian, Xia Wan, who works outside with him, is straightforward and heroic by nature. He is tall and strong, so how could he bear to see this little girl suffer any injustice?
As soon as these words were spoken, most of the guys responded.
The two shop assistants in the outer room, three dyers and three embroiderers were usually taken care of by the boss. Today, when the boss was wronged, how could they just stand by and watch? They all gathered around the boss and offered comfort.
Qi Qinghe glanced around and saw that these people really cared about her. The tears that had been held back suddenly burst out. She turned around and looked at her little sister who was holding her hand tightly, her face full of worry. Her heart warmed up, and the coldness in her body was driven away.
"Don't worry, everyone. I'm fine." She explained with a chuckle, and then said a few words to comfort everyone. "Thank you all very much. I will always remember this kindness."
Seeing that the man was really fine, everyone laughed and changed the subject, then went back to work.
Qi Qinghe held the account book in his hand, carefully questioned several items, and asked several more times about the moving matters. After confirming that most of the things had been packed, he returned home with his sister.
This cloth shop is a bit small, so she wants to move to a bigger house and set it up as a cloth shop.
"This prince is too cruel. How could he make someone like this?" Qi Qingyu muttered, secretly cursing the prince for his harsh words.
On Qi Qinghe's snow-white wrist, the dark blue fingerprints of her five fingers were particularly obvious.
She hissed and took a deep breath, "Let's not talk about him anymore. I'll go see my mother later. You should also go to bed early. Don't stay up all night reading the storybook."
"I understand." Qi Qingyu moved gently, applied the ointment for her sister, responded obediently, and said goodbye.
Qi Qinghe put away his sleeves and went to A Niang with the food box.
Qi Xu was not sleepy at all at this moment. She was sighing over her late husband's letter. When she heard the footsteps approaching, she hurriedly put the letter away and forced a smile on her face, "Ah He is here."
Qi Xu was not in good health, and every day at this time, Qi Qinghe would come and watch her take medicine.
"What did the prince say when you saw him today?" Qi Xu drank the bitter medicine in one gulp, glanced at her daughter's face, and asked carefully.
Qi Qinghe smiled sweetly and was about to say something when she noticed out of the corner of her eye that the compartment under her mother's desk was not closed properly, revealing a corner of white paper with her name written in black.
Although it was only half, she was very sure that it was her name.
"It's not a big deal, just checking the accounts." She smiled and chatted with her mother for a few more words, "Mother, go to bed early, don't worry."
She came out of A Niang's room, secretly wondering what it was. In her memory, most of A Niang's relatives had passed away, so who could be the one to exchange letters with?
Qi Qinghe was lost in thought until she lay down on the bed. Only then did her mind, full of thoughts, stop and she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
She had just closed her eyes when she heard a thudding sound coming from the windowsill.
She shuddered suddenly, stood up and walked over there, asking in a trembling voice who it was.
It was quiet outside the window.
Qi Qinghe patted his chest, thinking he had misheard. He turned around and heard the creaking sound of the window sill opening behind him.
Before she could turn around, his tall body came over and embraced her from behind.
A familiar yet strange breath surrounded her. Her heart, hanging in the air, hadn't even settled back into her chest when it was lifted again. "Why are you here?"
After saying that, she bit her tongue, wishing she could swallow the words back.
She sounded like she was looking forward to coming.
Xiao Junbai curled the corners of his mouth almost inaudibly, picked up the person, strode over and sat on the edge of the bed, threw the person down, and then leaned over.
The room is not big and the bed is so small that even if two people hug each other, it is still a bit crowded.
Qi Qinghe leaned his back against the cold wall and couldn't help shivering.
Xiao Junbai was more than twice her size. His arms were across her waist, tightly holding her so that she couldn't break free. His head rested on her shoulder, his hot breath spraying on her neck. The laces of her moon-white nightgown were loose, revealing a small part of her collarbone.
Xiao Junbai smelled the familiar light floral scent on her body, and his restless heart finally calmed down. He asked in a hoarse voice, "Do you like someone else?"
Qi Qinghe was disturbed by his disturbance. She wanted to push him away but couldn't, and she couldn't break free either. She was immediately furious. She didn't care what the prince asked and replied without thinking: "What do you care what I like?"
Xiao Junbai chuckled softly, with the corners of his mouth curled up. He rarely saw her so angry.
In just a few months of getting along, Qi Qinghe was always respectful to him, rarely showing such lively and petty temper. He tightened his arms around her and said, "Don't move."
Qi Qinghe gnashed his teeth and cursed inwardly, "...We've already left, why are you coming back? You're not really going to take me back, are you? I don't want to go to jail... The prince doesn't keep his word..."
She was just talking and didn't really mean to sleep in a cell.
Xiao Junbai closed his eyes and was about to fall asleep when he was woken by her nagging, "Why don't you keep your word?"
"I'm not going to let you go, is it? If you can't sleep, we can do something else."
The prince's smiling voice pressed against her chest, causing her chest to tremble. He held her hand and gently stroked her waist, the meaning of which was self-evident.
Qi Qinghe vaguely remembered this incident and immediately shut up, not daring to say anything more.
Xiao Junbai closed his eyes and fell asleep contentedly.
A sleepless night.
When Qi Qinghe opened her eyes again, she was the only one on the bed. The prince had disappeared without a trace, as if last night was just a dream of hers.
The sun was shining brightly, and the peach tree in the yard was covered with a layer of golden light. The pink and white petals drifted away in the wind and landed on the table in front of the window.
On the table with rice paper, a piece of peach branch was lying across the table. The peach blossoms that were in full bloom were tender, but now they showed signs of withering.
Next to her name on the rice paper where she casually practiced calligraphy, the three characters "Xiao Junbai" were written in a flamboyant and vigorous handwriting.
What is going on? Qi Qinghe couldn't help but complain in his heart.
"Sister! Sister, are you awake?" Qi Qingyu's excited voice came from afar, and she knocked on the door, shouting, "Sister, get up quickly, the county magistrate is here!"
The county magistrate? Qi Qinghe, who had been daydreaming, suddenly came back to his senses and opened the door. "Didn't the county magistrate come to the cloth shop yesterday? Why is he here again today?"
"I don't know." Qi Qingyu scratched his head. "The county magistrate said he had something important to discuss with my sister."
As she spoke, her eyes fell on her sister's half-undressed shoulder, and she couldn't help but open her mouth, "Sister, you..."
Qi Qinghe followed her gaze downwards and saw a dark red mark on her shoulder socket. It was the size of a finger and not very noticeable. She had to get closer to see it clearly. She wrapped her clothes around her, silently cursing the man in her heart and clearing her throat. "It's just a mosquito. Wait a minute, I'll go change."
Qi Qingyu nodded hurriedly.
Soon, the two sisters went to the hall together.
The county magistrate was sitting off to one side, sipping tea boredly. Seeing someone approach, he took a few steps forward to greet them, saying with a warm smile, "Miss Xu looks well today..."
The county magistrate, who is usually difficult to please, broke with his usual attitude today and showed his courtesy repeatedly.
Qi Qinghe knew that this was due to the Crown Prince's influence, so he avoided him uncomfortably, a smile playing on his lips, "The County Magistrate has come in person, what's the important matter?"
The county magistrate was not annoyed by the rejection and slowly explained the purpose of his trip.
It turned out that it was the prince's order to give the house in the southeast of the county to Qi Qinghe as the new location of the cloth shop.
Qi Qinghe was stunned and stood there in a daze.
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