Chapter 152: Make Her Happy
She just lowered her eyes and remained silent for a long time, finally whispering: "Ning'er doesn't know, mother never taught me..."
Xie Jinglan's hand holding the pen paused slightly. He naturally knew who the "he" she was referring to was.
He immediately put down the wolf hair brush, turned sideways, and with just a little effort, he easily lifted her up from the rocking chair and placed her on his firm and warm thighs.
He put one arm around her waist and stroked her slightly furrowed brow with the fingertips of his other hand. He said gently, "Ning'er's mother is so kind and peaceful. She never told Ning'er about her past, perhaps because she didn't want Ning'er to harbor any hatred."
He lowered his head and looked into her eyes. "But Ning'er, if you feel you can't let it go, then just follow your heart and don't force yourself."
Seeing her eyelashes trembling, he changed the subject and said in a serious and stern face:
"But in my humble opinion, if my mother-in-law were to see you so worried about something that happened in the past, she would be heartbroken.
Maybe tonight she will appear in my dream and pull my husband's ears——
"'Xie Jinglan! How can you be such a good husband? You've made my daughter so unhappy over these past matters! Hurry up and think of some way to cheer her up!"
He instantly adopted an aggrieved tone, as if he had actually been scolded. "Look, my mother-in-law has issued an order. How dare I, as a husband, disobey?"
Wen Ning was amused by his pretending to be aggrieved look and burst out laughing, and the gloom in her heart immediately dissipated.
Yes, love if you want to love, hate if you want to hate. Love and hate should be as you feel, so why imprison yourself?
Her eyes flickered slightly, suddenly becoming playful, and she raised an eyebrow and asked, "As for Ning'er's pregnancy before marriage... did Mother ever scold the Marquis harshly for it in her dream?"
Xie Jinglan chuckled, lightly tapping her delicate nose with his fingertips. He said confidently, "My mother-in-law never blamed me for this. Not only did she not scold me, she personally agreed with my mother years ago to marry you off to me. At most, I'm a little ahead of schedule."
"You're just talking nonsense!" Wen Ning hit him with a light scolding.
Xie Jinglan took her wrist and said confidently, "Ning'er, if you don't believe me, go ask Concubine Hui in person. She is the witness of this engagement."
Looking at the half-believing and half-doubting look of the person in his arms, Xie Jinglan chuckled softly, bent down and grabbed those slightly opened red lips, sealing her ability to think with a lingering kiss.
His Ning'er was in his arms at this moment, warm and soft, their scents blending together. How could he still concentrate on reviewing those boring official documents?
He immediately made a decision in his heart that he must cultivate and promote several capable people who can stand on their own as quickly as possible so that he can gradually retreat behind the scenes.
Only then will he be able to spend every day and night with his Ning'er and make up for the lost time.
…
The next day, in the quiet courtyard, in the cold prison cell.
Xie Jinglan stood outside the prison door, looking at the haggard Xiao Jinhuan inside.
"Where on earth did you bury Yin'er?"
He needed to give Cai Huichun an explanation, which was what he had promised Ning'er.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Jinhuan turned his head sharply and stared at Xie Jinglan, "You know what? In my life, I've only ever met two people with the cleanest eyes. One is Yin'er, and the other... is your Ning'er!"
But what he hated most was this innocent clarity! It seemed to reveal all his filth and ugliness!
His voice suddenly became sharp and sarcastic.
"What a shame! I have ambitions for the world, how can I be trapped by the lingering love of a girl?! Yin'er! She is just a little chess piece, so naive and foolish."
He sneered, "I just didn't expect that you, the dignified Marquis of Anyuan, who holds great power in the government, would actually go to such lengths to stir up trouble just for a woman. Is it worth it?!"
Xie Jinglan met his gaze and said firmly, "Of course! Cleaning up the government, eradicating corrupt officials, and restoring a clean government and a stable border are the duties of a minister.
Protecting one person and protecting the world are never mutually exclusive choices. Precisely because I want to protect her, I want the world to be peaceful and prosperous, so that she can enjoy eternal peace."
"But I don't quite understand. Your Highness is the legitimate son of the Empress, and you hold a high position. You could have conquered this vast land openly and squarely. Why did you choose such shady means, the path of demons and devils?"
Xiao Jinhuan seemed to be deeply hurt by these words. He suddenly rushed to the front of the fence, his voice broken and hoarse due to extreme excitement, "What do you know?! What do you know?!"
His eyeballs bulged and were bloodshot, as if he wanted to pour out all the resentment accumulated in his life, "My mother! She forced me to read the books of sages every day! Read about benevolence, virtue, filial piety and righteousness!
But she turned around, pinched my chin, and told me, "That's all fake! It's a play for fools! The true art of ruling is about exploitation! It's about balancing power! It's about turning everyone into pawns on your chessboard!"
He pounded the ground frantically, veins popping out of his skinny hands.
"She said that even her closest relatives could be discarded when necessary! Mother has fought for half her life! She stained the blood of countless people to sit on this throne in the harem! How could she have a son who is kind and soft-hearted, who doesn't play political games!"
Xie Jinglan closed his eyes, no longer looking at the crazy look, and turned to leave.
Suddenly, Xiao Jinhuan's voice, like a dream, came.
"Qimei Garden...under the most blooming old plum tree in the southeast corner...is where Yin'er is buried."
He stared at the mottled wall with empty eyes, and in a trance, he seemed to see again those eyes that had been bullied and humiliated in the palace, but were still clear and untainted by dust...
"She loved picking plum branches... and asked me to teach her how to write..."
Xie Jinglan didn't stop and walked straight out.
Behind him, Xiao Jinhuan's desperate and shrill cries and laughter, like a trapped beast, echoed for a long time between the cold walls of the Youting.
…
The snow in Qimei Garden was still frozen to the soil. When Cai Huichun dug up the wooden coffin, his hands were shaking so much that he couldn't hold the shovel.
Xie Jinglan had already ordered people to take the remains of Cai Huichun's wife out of the illegal corner of the imperial mausoleum, re-embalm her, and properly bury her on this quiet piece of land next to the western suburbs military camp.
Cai Huichun's lame leg made it impossible for him to stand steadily. He almost half crawled and half knelt to clear a piece of space next to his wife's grave, and then pushed his daughter's coffin into the grave.
The wind and snow blew up his gray hair, and his hunched and crawling figure looked extremely small and desolate in the vast sky and earth.
His life was like a chess piece, manipulated by fate, and the price of this chess piece was too heavy, so heavy that it broke his spine and cost him half a lifetime of peace and the lives of his loved ones.
Now we can only seek a desolate reunion in this way, on this cold and barren field.
Xie Jinglan conveyed the emperor's wish to summon him.
Upon hearing this, Cai Huichun just shook his head slowly.
The Queen and the Crown Prince have already been brought to justice, and he is extremely grateful to the Marquis.
But he knew the temperament of the emperor very well. He might make up for his debt by posthumously honoring him, but he would never admit his mistake in person.
He doesn't need those false fame and profit, so why should he drag his broken leg to kneel down to someone who will never admit his mistakes?
So, under the lamp in the medical tent, he wrote down the trivial past and silent suffering that were buried by time until the ink ran out.
He handed the sealed letter to Xie Jinglan, "My Lord, everything your Majesty wants to know and what I can say is all here."
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