Chapter 47
Yue Zhizheng was almost frightened by these violent thoughts and lost his voice. He coughed for a long time before he regained his voice.
"Don't talk nonsense! In my Great Sheng, even if a servant makes a mistake, we cannot punish him or take his life. Our great country has its own laws. How can we imitate the actions of barbarians?"
His words were much more powerful than before, which induced Yue Qingning to turn around and look at him.
It was clearly him who wanted to kick someone out of the house for a trivial matter just now, but now he thinks her behavior is cruel.
She stared at her father closely, her eyes wide open like a confused child, and her words became more and more outrageous.
"Queming can't leave. I picked him up, and he can never leave my side unless he dies."
The person lying on the ground had not moved at all, but because of the words "You can't leave me", he silently raised his head a little. The wound on his shoulder was still causing pain in his shoulder and arm. He carefully reached out and grabbed the corner of the skirt in front of him, his voice so light that it seemed to have no weight.
"Please, Master, let me explain this to the young lady alone."
Yue Zhizheng understood what he wanted to do and paused slightly, but he understood his daughter's temperament even more. Finally, he sighed and walked out of the hall, leaving space for the two to talk.
Que Ming was silent for a long time before he finally looked up at the loneliness on her face. The most excessive action his trembling fingers took was to touch the soft hem of her skirt. He really didn't dare and couldn't ask for anything more.
"Aren't you going to explain it to me? What's the point of this act between you and Dad? Where are you going?"
In fact, Yue Qingning had guessed from the beginning that all this was more or less related to her father, but she still couldn't figure out why her father wanted to help him.
"Speak! Where are you going?"
"Go to Luoyang." He answered so quickly that Yue Qingning was a little caught off guard.
"What are you going to Luoyang for?"
Shouldn't we go find the prince?
Que Ming seemed to understand her worries and quickly replied, "I will go to Luoyang and become a disciple of Governor Xu Weiming. I will take the imperial examination as his student and will take the examination in the spring of the following year and enter the capital."
After hearing this, Yue Qingning felt a shudder on her back. She shrank back twice, as if she had never seen him before, and pulled the soft satin away from his hand.
"You...why are you...not right! Who are you?"
No matter how slow she was, she understood who had been helping him with his studies. However, the person who had taken the trouble of her father to hide him in the mansion and teach him personally could not be the orphan she had taken in out of pity in Xining.
Poor thing, he had kept the secret from four of her five family members, and even her mother was unaware of it. She thought she was very meticulous, but she had no idea that the person she brought with her was such an important person!
Yue Qingning couldn't help but sneer as he got up from the ground, moved to the chair with unsteady steps and sat down. His fingers scratched the edge of the tea bowl for a long time, but he couldn't even lift the cup.
Que Ming understood deeply that he had lied to her for so long and there was no room for redemption. He knelt on the ground with his head lowered submissively, almost becoming humbled into the dust.
"Que Ming has a surname, and it's called Ling."
"What..." Yue Qingning had just asked half a question when he suddenly thought of something. There were very few people with the surname Ling in the entire Dasheng Kingdom. Even if there were people with the surname Ling, they had changed their family names and did not want to be associated with it. And the beginning of all this was an old news eleven years ago.
At that time, the former crown prince and Ling Linggong were carrying out reforms, but they were met with overwhelming opposition, especially from the Gong Heyuan faction, who had not yet become the Marquis of Qingyuan. They took advantage of the pain of the reform and submitted memorials to impeach Linggong three times a day.
However, Ling Gong and the emperor were from the same school, and the influence of the □□ faction at that time was far less than that of the former prince's faction, so it was suppressed for a time to the point where it had no roots and disappeared.
But suddenly, an unexpected piece of bad news came. The former crown prince died suddenly of illness, and the eldest son of the Ling family, Ling Baijie, also died in Shu. Soon after, Ling Gong passed away in great grief after hearing the news. The Ling family disappeared from the capital from then on.
Due to the sudden change in the emperor's attitude towards the Ling family, there is no longer any Ling family member in the capital. If there is any other Ling family member who can afford the effort my father has put in, it is probably the only orphan of the Ling family.
He didn't expect that the person he saved out of kindness was the last bloodline of the Ling family. He didn't know whether it was his misfortune or fortune.
Yue Qingning bit her lip tightly, her eyes flickering for a long time before finally fixing her gaze on his face.
That beautiful face, which did not look like that of a military commander's son, gave her too many wrong impressions. It's not like she had never heard of the word Ling, and she always thought that he could not have any relationship with the Ling Gong who was admired by everyone in the court, but things in the world are unpredictable.
I wonder if he could have anticipated now that he would have to live in humiliation at the feet of the prince in the future.
Thinking of this, Yue Qingning paused for a moment. How should she face him now? Was it his true intention to serve under the prince's wing, or was it a last resort?
And does Que Ming know what he will become in the future?
Even...did he know that he would do anything to climb to a higher position, even to the point of sacrificing his old comrades...
She always thinks too much, because it concerns her life and death, so she has to think more. Sometimes Yue Qingning also reflects that if she thinks less and is more confused, things will not come to her. She also dares to think about what she is thinking about in the occasional two or three free moments.
As if he could see that she was daydreaming, Que Ming tiptoed to her feet and stared at her dark grape-like pupils.
It was filled with him, and when she looked up, he was reflected in her eyes as if he was glowing, with such clear outlines.
The eldest lady also stared at his face and asked him anxiously.
"You told me this, aren't you afraid that I'll spread it and bring you death?"
Que Ming took her wrist and lifted it to his shoulder. Under his palm was the hideous wound that almost took his life. He put his weakest part in her hand, as if he had handed over his life to her, letting her deal with it as she pleased.
Yue Qingning felt the imperceptible warmth under his palm and suddenly smiled.
But this smile was really terrifying. Although his face was smiling, his tone was full of tears.
She had no way of harming him anymore. Knowing that he was the Ling family's last hope, what could she do to him now? But she couldn't trust him either. After all, people are like the sea, unpredictable. He might not be the same heartless, heartless, and treacherous villain he would be in the future.
Her eyes fell on Que Ming's fair face and went all the way down to see the faint blue mark left by the healed wound on the side of his neck, like an invisible line that had disappeared into his body.
Just like the line between them, it suddenly disappeared at the end.
The fear that suddenly rose in her heart urged her to leave more marks on it. She wanted her own Queming, not someone's descendant, not someone's enemy. Just a Queming that belonged to her alone and would listen to her.
So she opened her mouth and uttered a plea that was almost a whisper.
"Can you please not leave?"
Que Ming witnessed with his own eyes the accumulation of mist in those gentle eyes. Every tremor was too heavy to bear, giving the clouds even heavier weight.
He had to open his mouth to breathe just by looking at it, otherwise he would feel like he would be suffocated to death by the heartache accumulated in his chest.
But what can he say...
"Queming, please! As long as you don't leave, I promise... I won't marry anyone else."
This was the first time that Yue Qingning tore off the disguise in her heart in panic. She was cautious and panic-stricken, and even threw away the calmness that a person who had lived two lives should have.
She had once thought of the steadfastness and the understanding she had hoped for, and she had found them all in him. But he insisted on leaving, and these confirmed facts became uncertain as he left.
She cried like a child who couldn't get a candy pill, pulling at his sleeve and begging him not to leave.
Que Ming was shaken by her and his sleeves were wet involuntarily. How could he deserve such a young lady to cry for him? At this moment, the surging fog enveloped his limbs and bones. He leaned over and hugged her shoulders, unable to help but shed tears on her untied black hair.
This time he was gone for two years, and even in March two years later, he might not have the chance to stand in front of her again.
He has really fallen to the dust. How could he be worth making her cry?
"Promise me you won't leave."
He let out a long breath, still unable to make any promises. The powerlessness at this moment finally made him cheer up. In order to prevent the people around him from being forced to separate again, he had to use all means to climb up.
Once he climbs above everyone else, no one will be able to shake him in the slightest. By then, he will definitely make up for everything he owes her today.
He hugged her tighter, not noticing that the young lady he was thinking about had taken off the hairpin from her temples.
"Que Ming, if I tell you that once you step out of this house, we will be enemies from now on, will you still leave?"
He hesitated for a moment, but still thought that these were just harsh words from her. He frowned and uttered three words in sorrow.
"sorry……"
Before the last word fell, Que Ming shook violently, then weakly let go of the woman he was hugging. The sharp pain on the side of his neck left a lingering aftertaste. He touched his neck, and a stream of blood that had soaked his gray shirt had already wet his wrist.
The eldest lady was still holding the other end of the silver hairpin, which was a white jade hairpin in the shape of a magnolia. It looked lifelike in her hand, as if it had really become a branch growing in her flesh and blood, blooming between her slender and tender fingers.
"I told you, if you decide to leave, we will be enemies from now on."
As she spoke, she loosened her hand, and the silver thread wrapped around the magnolia on the hairpin also cut across her palm. As she stood up, bright red blood beads dripped down and landed on the hem of her blue skirt, like red plum blossoms born in the blue sky, blooming in an instant.
Yue Qingning walked out of the main room. The autumn frost had arrived, and the red maple trees in the distant horizon had already bloomed all over the mountains. Every breath he took was filled with coolness that penetrated his lungs.
She finally reached this day.
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