Chapter 58 Could it be that Qin Xiao also has feelings for her sister-in-law...?
Biezhi felt that she was not running away, but rather that she was reasonably scouting ahead.
"I'm sorry." She glanced at the still-stunned woman and said, then nimbly jumped off the wall and ran towards the empty street.
"No!" Fu Shuning's eyes widened suddenly. He subconsciously raised his hand but failed to grab the girl's clothes. His expression grew increasingly anxious as he anxiously said to the accompanying guards, "Quickly go and bring her back. We can't let her get away!"
A clear, urgent, and anxious voice pierced the sky and reached Fu Zhunqing's ears as he rushed over. His dark, deep eyes suddenly lowered a few degrees.
The noisy courtyard suddenly fell silent. The sun was blazing overhead, yet a chill permeated the air, as if all the air had been drawn away, making it hard to breathe.
Jiang Yue and Cheng Jin, who had come with them, exchanged a glance. Cheng Jin immediately turned around, waved to signal the guards at the main gate of Qinghe Courtyard to follow, and led everyone away from the Prince's Mansion in a hurry.
Hearing the sound, Fu Shuning turned her head slightly and saw her brother's cold and dark face. His deep eyes were like a cold pool, staring straight at the direction the girl had left, without his gaze falling on her face even an inch.
Her gaze passed over Fu Huaiqing and landed on Jiang Yue. The moment their eyes met, Jiang Yue, whose expression wasn't exactly pleasant, shook his head, and Fu Shuning's heart skipped a beat.
Clearly, the girl's importance to her brother was self-evident, and now, due to her own carelessness, she had found an opportunity to leave...
Fu Shuning glanced at her brother's face again. Beneath his stern expression was a barely perceptible irritation, as if the situation would spiral out of control once the girl left.
She had seen Fu Huaiqing act decisively in front of court officials, ruthlessly deal with relatives of the emperor, and be gentle and kind like a clear spring in front of her, but she had never seen him so agitated, even with a hint of unease.
For many years, Fu Shuning always felt that his elder brother was omnipotent and that everything was under his control. He would not allow things to deviate from the established course, nor would he allow others to act recklessly in front of him.
And that girl just now...
Fu Shuning pondered for a moment and then understood the current situation.
Her brother had feelings for the girl who had already run away, but the girl didn't seem to feel the same way, otherwise her brother wouldn't have kept her confined in Qinghe Courtyard.
Qinghe Courtyard is the main courtyard of Prince Su's residence.
Moreover, most of the guards on duty outside were his secret agents who had followed him for many years. If he hadn't been the one to do this today, there would have been a bloodbath.
After a moment's thought, Fu Shuning just wanted to shrink into a corner.
She quietly climbed the ladder set up by the guards, silently descended the wall, and moved to the side step by step, desperately hoping that his heart and eyes would be filled with the desire to bring back the departed girl.
"stop."
The man's clear, indifferent voice rang out, and Fu Shuning froze on the spot, her heart pounding wildly.
She slowly turned her gaze to her brother, whose expression was gradually becoming stern, forced an awkward smile, and very skillfully raised her hand to swear to the heavens: "I really didn't mean to this time!"
Fu Huaiqing lowered his gaze, looked past her figure, and said calmly, "Half an hour ago, the guards reported that Princess Duanhui would arrive in the capital in two days. I didn't even know that two days was now only half an hour."
"I was just thinking of giving my brother a surprise." Fu Shuning realized that he didn't intend to pursue the matter, so she turned around and glanced at the empty wall, giving a slightly ingratiating laugh. "I just didn't expect it to turn into a fright."
Fu Huaiqing remained silent, his eyes swirling with unspoken emotions.
His palm, hidden beneath his sleeve, clenched tighter and tighter, the veins on the back of his long, fair hand bulging. His gaze was fixed intently on the wall where the branches had vanished into thin air, a lump of air stuck in his throat that lingered for a long time.
Fu Shuning sighed when she received no reply. She glanced at Su Ci and Qin Xiao who were following behind her. When she met Qin Xiao's slightly smiling gaze, she was stunned. She didn't understand why he was happy when the girl left.
She looked away and asked timidly, "Who is she?"
Upon hearing this, Fu Huaiqing gave her a rather stingy look before returning his gaze to his original position, saying, "Biezhi."
"Biezhi." Fu Shuning murmured, then glanced at Fu Mingzhan, who was frantically gesturing to him. Fu Shuning, who had already secretly passed messages to him under Fu Huaiqing's nose many times, immediately understood and knew how to appease his brother's displeasure. He deliberately asked, "My sister-in-law?"
The moment the words left his mouth, the atmosphere around him changed several times.
Fu Huaiqing's furrowed brows relaxed slightly as he glanced at her.
Neither admitted nor denied it.
The chill that had been lingering around her dissipated noticeably, and Fu Shuning secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, she had the pass document; otherwise, she would have had to think carefully about how to deal with what happened today.
but……
Upon noticing Qin Xiao's expression, Fu Shuning's upturned lips paused for a moment; his mood seemed to have changed, and he no longer felt as cheerful as before.
Could it be that Qin Xiao also has feelings for her sister-in-law?
Fu Shuning: "..."
It's a complete mess.
If all Fu Shuning had wanted to know was the girl's name, she suddenly longed to meet her in person. But then she was also relieved that she had returned to the capital, otherwise she would never have witnessed such a wonderful show.
"Escort the princess back to her residence."
Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted, and Fu Shuning blinked.
She paused for a moment, still thinking of staying and waiting, and then said, "Mingzhan and I are going back to the palace."
The princess's residence is so boring; I'd rather ask Fu Mingzhan what interesting things have happened to me during my time away from the capital.
Fu Huaiqing was preoccupied with his own thoughts and did not stop her.
Fu Shuning looked back at his back every few steps. His tall figure carried a hint of loneliness, but this loneliness was quickly replaced by other auras and dissipated into the world.
She pursed her lips slightly.
Fu Shuning had not seen him like this for a very long time. The last time was on the day of her mother's burial, which was nearly seven years ago.
Leaving Qinghe Courtyard, she lowered her head and asked, "Will she come back?"
Hearing his older sister's question, Fu Mingzhan sighed with a maturity beyond his years.
He didn't know either.
However, "we will find her."
Fu Shuning hummed in agreement. She knew that if Fu Huaiqing wanted to find someone, he would find her sooner or later. But once he found her, would that Miss Biezhi be willing to stay?
Footsteps sounded behind her, and Fu Shuning turned around to meet Qin Xiao's gaze.
His steps were noticeably less steady than usual, even carrying a hint of urgency, as if he were rushing to do something.
Qin Xiao was indeed anxious.
They were anxious to find the whereabouts of the other branches.
After leaving the Prince's Mansion, Biezhi did not head to her usual destination. Instead, she followed the quiet bamboo path, dodging the pursuing guards, and strode to the unfamiliar eastern market. There, she bought a veiled hat and put it on, finally feeling relieved.
She took deep breaths of the air outside the palace, and for a moment she felt that the air outside was much fresher than that inside the palace. In a way, she felt that running out of the palace was no different from being reborn. The joy in her heart rose little by little and gradually spread to the surroundings. Even Biezhi's steps became lighter.
At the first stop, she retraced her steps and went to the Beiding Gate, located behind the palace.
As the place where the Six Ministries were on duty, Beidingmen was relatively close to the palace. They certainly did not expect that they would risk coming to Beidingmen.
Outside Beiding Gate, all was quiet and boundless, with only a few figures passing by. At the two ends of the street were the offices of the officials of the Six Ministries. The few high-walled courtyards were heavily guarded, so much so that not even a fly could get away.
That is why there are so many guards stationed at Beiding Gate, making it not an easy place to leave the city.
Even with Zhang Yan's protection, Jing Qing still couldn't leave this place.
Her gaze fell on the large characters 'Ministry of Works' on the plaque above the gate of the high-class courtyard. Bie Zhi's eyes darkened. She really couldn't understand why Zhang Yan was chasing her. Was it because he suspected that she was a secret guard following Xu Wenche?
There seems to be no other reason.
She walked southeast along Beidingmen Gate, and the further south she went, the more people came and went.
Biezhi followed the flow of people out without leaving a trace, and walked to the Suqing Gate on the east side of the palace. She had been to the Suqing Gate many times before and had entered and exited through it many times.
Glancing at the guards on duty inside and outside the Suqing Gate, she frowned and covered her veiled hat, which was occasionally fluttering in the wind, with her palm.
There were noticeably more guards on duty at Suqing Gate than usual.
As she continued down the path, Biezhi avoided Ding'an Gate, where Baiding Tower was located. If she went to Ding'an Gate, not only would the guards of the Prince's Mansion recognize her, but even the senior brothers and sisters in Baiding Tower would recognize her even if she turned to ashes, let alone through the veil.
However, from a distance, she could see that there were clearly more guards patrolling Ding'an Gate.
In this way, the remaining five city gates must have also received the news.
Biezhi didn't want to waste any more effort investigating, so she casually found a stall where she could sit down and rest for a while.
Before she could even take a sip of water, a somewhat familiar figure caught her eye out of the corner of her eye. She frowned, calmly steadied the porcelain bowl in her hand, and avoided his gaze.
Qin Xiao, riding up on horseback, quickly scanned his surroundings but didn't see the girl. He frowned slightly, then paused, his gaze returning to a figure in front of the dessert stall. The girl's figure was hidden under a veil, her face obscured, but...
His gaze fell on the girl's clean, slender fingers resting on the porcelain bowl, and his furrowed brows gradually relaxed.
Qin Xiao dismounted and walked up to her. "Would you mind sharing a table, young lady?"
Biezhi minded it very much, minded it terribly.
However, she was unable to speak, and all eyes were gradually gathering around her. She frowned and nodded, hoping that everyone's attention would quickly shift elsewhere.
Sensing the girl's surrounding resistance, Qin Xiao's eyes narrowed for a moment before he sat down.
His gaze, seemingly casual, occasionally fell upon the veiled hat. Though the view was obscured by the veil, he remained silent for a moment before saying, "If you accept, I can help you leave."
Upon hearing this, Biezhi paused, her raised fingertips pausing for a moment.
She glanced at the man's handsome profile; his sharply defined jawline was slightly tense, making him appear much more stern than usual.
Even though she had followed him for more than half a month, Biezhi still couldn't see through Qin Xiao.
It was as if she couldn't understand why he was focusing his attention on her. Before she disguised herself as the second daughter of the Qin family, they had only met two or three times.
"Why?" Biezhi, who had been silent, parted her lips slightly and asked him, "You risked offending Prince Su and helped me leave, what do you want from me in return?"
She didn't believe that his eyes were empty and that he had no other desires.
Upon hearing this, Qin Xiao smiled.
Just as he had expected, the girl appeared to be a pure white, harmless mountain camellia, but in reality, her branches were covered with thorns, and one could easily cut their fingertips if they were not careful. He did not answer her question, but instead said, "It's very interesting."
Biezhi didn't understand what he meant: "Huh?"
"You're quite interesting." Qin Xiao took the sweet soup from the stall owner and slipped him a copper coin. "When I first met you, everyone else either stepped forward to dissuade you or retreated to avoid being hurt. They closed one window after another on the other buildings. Only you watched with great interest. At first, you seemed dissatisfied with their fighting skills, frowning slightly and muttering to yourself."
Following his words, Biezhi recalled the day he had mentioned.
It was the fourth to last day since she started following him. By then, she had already figured out the assassins who were tracking him and was just waiting for the right moment to lure them out and deal with them together. She appeared in front of Qin Xiao that day, thinking that she would take advantage of the fighting under the building to see if they would take advantage of the chaos to make a move. Unexpectedly, they were also very calm and did not make any moves.
"You need to be more energetic than you are now."
A slightly deep voice interrupted Biezhi's thoughts. She lifted her eyelids and looked at the man with a burning gaze through her veil. After a long while, she denied his words: "You're wrong."
Qin Xiao was taken aback.
“I am more energetic now than you first saw me.” Biezhi felt that they weren’t familiar enough to understand each other’s thoughts with just a glance. She shook her head and said, “No one likes to work every day.”
Even if you get a lot of money.
Seeing that his expression flickered, and that he seemed quite interested in the topic, Biezhi paused for a moment, then changed the subject: "How did you recognize me, sir?"
“The calluses on your knuckles.” Qin Xiao lowered his eyes and glanced at the fingertips of her fingers as she picked up the spoon. “You use a sword all year round, and thin calluses have formed on your knuckles, making them easy to recognize.”
Biezhi lowered her gaze, not noticing anything different about the calluses on her knuckles compared to others.
She blinked and looked at him: "Will it really be different?"
A slightly raised, cheerful voice reached Qin Xiao's ears, crisp and melodious, like a gentle spring breeze.
His thin lips gradually curved upwards as he spread out his dominant hand, gesturing for her to see the calluses on his fingertips. "Whether it's the direction of the calluses or the marks on the fingertips, they're all different."
The branch looked down in confusion.
Firstly, she couldn't see clearly through the veil, and secondly, she couldn't really see anything wrong. She glanced sideways, her confusion deepening: "What's different?"
The veil was slightly lifted, revealing the girl's bright almond-shaped eyes. Like a fawn in the forest, she blinked her clear pupils and looked over. A faint aura lingered in the air, and Qin Xiao clearly felt his breathing slow down.
He stared intently into her large, almond-shaped eyes for a moment, then subtly looked away. "Look here."
Qin Xiao raised his other hand, his fingertip pointing to the knuckles of his fingers spread out on the table. "My calluses run horizontally, while yours—" He paused, glancing at the intently focused Biezhi, and said, "Yours run upwards. You subconsciously press against this spot when you hold your sword."
"You can tell that?" Biezhi looked at him in surprise, finding it amazing. She did subconsciously press her knuckles together in her daily life, and suddenly she had an accurate understanding of the detective he spoke of. She asked curiously, "Can you tell everyone's?"
"I wouldn't say all of them, but I can tell most of them." Qin Xiao's gaze swept over everyone present and landed on a man at the table opposite them. "He should be a cook at a nearby restaurant, someone who's in charge of cooking all year round."
He spoke to her one by one, and in a short while, he identified the guests around him.
The more Biezhi listened, the more curious she became, wondering how he had managed it. "Lord Qin truly is the detective everyone talks about."
"He's not some kind of detective." Qin Xiao took a sip of the sweet soup, the sweetness easing the bitterness in his throat, leaving a faint sweetness. "If you watch more, you'll be able to tell."
Biezhi disagreed.
She was engaged in fighting and killing, and she also had to observe the people coming and going on a daily basis. "If I ask myself honestly, I have seen all kinds of men, women, young and old, and I really haven't been able to see such subtle things as an adult."
"So, I can transform you into someone else's appearance and send you out of the capital without anyone noticing." Qin Xiao calmly steered the conversation back on track. "Are you leaving?"
Suddenly, the curiosity in Bie Zhi's eyes subsided slightly.
She looked hesitantly at the man with a slight smile on his lips, as if if she nodded slightly, he would send her out of the capital in less than half a day.
After a brief silence, he spoke again: "If you want to leave, I will not hesitate to offend Prince Su."
Hidden in the shadows, Cheng Jin gasped upon hearing this. He subconsciously glanced at his master's expression, closed his eyes, and swallowed hard, thinking that Lord Qin's courage was indeed extraordinary.
When Biezhi arrived at Suqing Gate, Fu Huaiqing had already found her.
The moment his gaze fixed on her figure, he thought of stepping forward to stop her, taking her back to the Prince Su's residence, or even taking her into the palace. She could escape from the small Prince Su's residence, but with the huge palace walls, she would hardly be able to move an inch.
However, when he saw her suddenly jog towards the roadside stall with delight, Fu Huaiqing paused slightly, staring at her joyful back for a long time without moving forward.
He followed her from Suqingmen to Ding'anmen, and then to the market.
Until Qin Xiao appeared.
Fu Huaiqing stood at the end of the market street with a cold expression, his gaze fixed on Biezhi, who was filled with vigilance and resistance. He watched as she slowly lowered her guard and watched the corners of their mouths turn up more and more as their conversation deepened.
Hearing Qin Xiao's audacious promise, he twitched the corners of his mouth and smiled coldly.
A chill crept in from all around, and Cheng Jin's tightly pursed lips trembled. Even if he lived like a monk and knew nothing about love between men and women, he could still sense that something was amiss in the atmosphere.
He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Your Highness, shall we go forward and take Miss Biezhi back to the manor?"
Fu Huaiqing kept his gaze fixed on the distance without shifting an inch. He gave a faint "hmm" and glanced at Qin Xiao, who was still waiting for Biezhi's reply, before saying, "Send an order to the Dali Temple, giving them half a month to investigate the Hezhou family massacre case. If they fail to uncover the truth, they will be brought to me with their heads."
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