Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Too much love is stupid
The candlelight reflected on the window, and when the wind blew, it twisted like rippling water. Xiao Feng stood beside Pei Zhiji with a sword in his hand.
"Sir, Miss Lu has been sewing clothes for the second young master these past few days. Her hands are covered in bloody holes. It's really scary to look at."
"You saw it with your own eyes?"
"No, it was someone below who said that."
Xiao Feng touched his nose and felt a little guilty, and his voice was not as confident as before. His parents always knew how to tell the truth in one sentence.
"But sir, this girl is really a stay-at-home girl. She has never left the mansion, let alone the courtyard. She spends the whole day making clothes. She is really devoted to it."
Xiao Feng was a little moved when he said this, and was still immersed in the emotion when he heard his master's cold laugh.
"When a woman is too infatuated, she becomes foolish."
It was rare for Pei Zhiji to continue talking along with Xiao Feng's words. At this moment, his face was a little pale. He had been working at the desk for a whole day and his body was a little exhausted. He almost couldn't hold the pen just now.
A woman's infatuation is the beginning of trouble, just like his mother who died young. She devoted her whole life to her lover, wasted her youth, and ended up with a beautiful face and withered bones.
These words made Xiao Feng feel a chill down his spine. The Lord's words were too harsh. He took a quick look and saw Pei Zhiji had his eyes closed with his hands on the table. He looked not to be in a good mood. He tactfully shut up and retreated.
There was a letter placed next to the candlestick. It was sent from my hometown in Jiangnan. There were spots of mud and water stains on the envelope. It seemed that it had been sent by express train and had gone through many rounds.
The light from several dim oil lamps clustered together and shone on Pei Zhiji's profile. His already angular bones now looked even thinner. He pursed his thin lips slightly, and his eyes lingered on the letter for a long time.
Wax dripped onto the envelope. Pei Zhiji reached out to catch it. Veins appeared on the back of his hand due to the force. The wax dripped onto the pale joints, burning out a few strange and eerie flowers.
It is obvious that His Majesty wants to suppress the aristocratic families now. The Pei family has stood firm for many years in this weathered dynasty and is too prominent.
Beneath the calm surface of the imperial power and the aristocratic families, there are surging undercurrents. Waves thousands of feet high can easily occur, and masts and oars can be destroyed in just a moment.
These things were like a tangled mess in Pei Zhiji's mind. He opened the envelope. It was clearly just a thin layer of paper, but he had to use a lot of strength to pull it out of the envelope.
When he saw the content, his expression immediately darkened, the muscles on his cheeks tensed a little, and his jaw became sharper. There were only two short lines of words in the letter.
"Masters Pei Wuyou and Pei Wuji were imprisoned for embezzling disaster relief funds."
He has been in poor health since childhood. When he was recuperating in the mountains, he was no different from an ordinary person. But since he returned to Beijing, his condition has worsened and he has trouble sleeping every night.
After reading the letter, he felt his blood boiling, his lungs seemed to be torn apart, and his body was cold. He couldn't suppress the cough no matter what, and the blood rushed up, staining his pale cheeks red.
Lu Suizhu took off her hair bun and prepared to go to sleep when she heard a noise from the other side of the wall, as if someone was coughing out his lungs.
She thought of Pei Zhiji's indifferent attitude during the day and forced herself to close her eyes and ignore him. But somehow the bed seemed to be extra hard today. Lu Suizhu tossed and turned and had to force herself to sleep.
But I was disturbed by the noise coming from next door.
He hurriedly put on his coat and walked next door.
The water in the courtyard is clear, the bamboos and water chestnuts are swaying and intertwining, and the flickering candlelight can be seen, like the ripples on rice paper, the shadows are shining.
"Put it down—"
Lu Suizhu took two or three steps forward and snatched the water cup from Xiao Feng's hand. "Are you trying to choke your master to death?"
She touched the rim of the cup with the back of her hand and smiled helplessly when she withdrew her hand: "Just drink such cold water directly. Put it down quickly or let me do it."
Unable to bear what Lu Suizhu said, Xiao Feng also felt really ashamed, so he took the initiative to go out to find a doctor. He sighed in the place where no one was around. If only Suo Ye was here, he would be the more attentive one.
The sound of boiling water gurgling could be heard from the room. Lu Suizhu would fan it from time to time, and the heat would dissipate slightly, and the upper beams seemed to be filled with mist.
The hand that was tightly gripping his chest loosened, causing a few wrinkles in the fabric. A thin layer of sweat seemed to be seeping from his forehead. Seeing that Pei Zhiji's condition had stabilized a little, Lu Suizhu brought a cup of warm water to him. "Master Pei, please have some water."
This time Pei Zhiji did not refuse. His throat was really itchy, and there was a burning fire in his chest that was about to be extinguished, and the burning feeling was hard to dissipate.
He glanced at the woman next to him. Lu Suizhu came out in a hurry and only wore a coat over her undershirt. It was not fastened tightly and stuck to her body loosely, revealing a part of her collarbone.
In just a moment, Pei Zhiji turned his eyes away.
He took a handkerchief and wiped the water stains on his lips. When he looked again, there was a little blood on the white handkerchief. Pei Zhiji folded it casually and threw it aside. His movements were so skillful as if he had done it thousands of times. Lu Suizhu was frightened and the words were a little unsettled.
"Master Pei... is this really okay?"
This person is too calm, as if this body is not his own.
Pei Zhiji finally reacted after hearing this. He raised his head. Although there wasn't much blood on his lips, it looked a little strange in the candlelight. He looked at Lu Suizhu and spoke slowly, his voice a little hoarse: "You don't want me to die?"
What are you talking about?
Lu Suizhu looked at Pei Zhiji and thought he was crazy, but his expression was serious, not joking. Lu Suizhu silently took a half step back and listened to Pei Zhiji calmly say: "If I die, Huai Shen will be the next head of the Pei family, and you are his. My death will only benefit Miss Lu."
Lu Suizhu looked at him in shock, blinking more frequently. She didn't understand why this man had so many complicated thoughts.
But on second thought, I felt a little sorry for him. People with poor health have different thoughts and behaviors than ordinary people.
She once knew a groom who became moody and unpredictable after breaking his leg while riding a horse. Although his wife loved him deeply and took good care of him, he was suspicious all day long and thought that his wife wanted to kill him and remarry.
In her panic, Lu Suizhu suddenly caught sight of the paper on the desk. The ink on it was still dry, with one corner pressed by the inkstone. She swallowed and stared at it.
This is Pei Zhiji's study. Could the paper on the table be related to the imperial examination questions?
Taking advantage of Pei Zhiji's weak body, this is such a good opportunity.
"What's wrong?" Pei Zhiji looked at Lu Suizhu who was a little dazed.
"Nothing, just felt the wind."
"Master Pei's windows are old, so it's better to have them repaired. Also, no matter how close Master Xiao Feng is to you, he's still a man after all, so he's bound to be careless. He should still have a maid to look after him."
Lu Suizhu went to close the window on her own, her eyes scanning the whole room, and finally saw the discarded half-block of ink placed by the window. She guessed that the servant had left it there when cleaning and forgot to throw it away.
She turned her back to Pei Zhiji, grabbed a handful of snow from the window and held it in her palm. She endured the biting cold and rubbed the piece of waste ink quickly with her wet palm.
"Sir Pei, here is a piece of ink!" Lu Suizhu picked up the ink and walked towards Pei Zhiji, and put it on the table casually.
Sure enough, the ink slowly spread and stained the paper on the table.
"Oh, what's going on?"
Lu Suizhu hurriedly went to get the ink, but the ink only made the paper even dirtier. She sighed repeatedly but her hands kept moving as she quickly took the stained paper away.
"It's okay, I'll have the servants clean it up later."
"No, no, it's already dirty. Don't let it stain the master's desk. I'll take it out and throw it away for you."
Walking back to the room at night, the furtive figure was elongated, and the round moon lay on the treetops, seemingly fatter, causing the branches to tremble with weight.
The breeze brought the sound of light footsteps. Lu Suizhu closed the door carefully, fearing that any noise would wake up Qiu Zhu next door.
She lit a candle and used the dim light to carefully identify the handwriting. The strokes were vigorous and neat, revealing the strength of the writing.
Fortunately, she collected it in time and only the edges were dirty. She could not understand the content on the paper. She read it superficially and it seemed to be related to writing an article. She copied it word for word in the dim light: The rules in the inner court said: When a prince is born, "choose the mothers who are suitable, and seek those who are generous and kind, gentle and respectful, frugal, cautious and taciturn. Make them the child's teacher, the next best is the loving mother, and the next best is the guardian mother." Taishi, Taifu, and Taibao are equivalent to the three mothers of teacher, loving mother, and guardian mother. How can this view be argued? [1]
After reading it for a long time, I felt that it was inappropriate, so I made a few changes.
Tomorrow is the day she will go to the palace to play the piano for the Queen Mother. Xiao Mao will be waiting for her in the East Palace. She only needs to hand this piece of paper to him to solve her urgent problem.
After coming out of Shoukang Palace, the young eunuch escorted Lu Suizhu to the palace gate. When they were about to reach the East Palace, Lu Suizhu saw a dark shadow flash by. She understood what was going on, so she stopped and gave some silver to the young eunuch who was leading the way.
"You don't have to see me off, sir. I know the way."
The young eunuch nodded and left.
Seeing that there was no one around except for the occasional guard passing by, Lu Suizhu took a breath and continued to move forward. Sure enough, the shadow appeared again. He was Xiao Mao's secret guard. If she guessed correctly, he was also the one who knocked her unconscious last time.
The two men walked in silence as they escorted Lu Suizhu into the house. With a creaky sound, the door was closed from the outside by the secret guard. In the same room, the poisoned wine was still placed in the same position by the window.
"How's it going?"
Lu Suizhu handed him the copied paper. Xiao Mao carefully studied it for a long time, a hint of sarcasm on his face: "Grandmaster Ci, this is really a joke."
After reading it, he placed the paper on the lit candle and watched it turn into ashes with his own eyes. A hint of burnt smell spread in the air above. Looking at Lu Suizhu's puzzled expression, a sneer appeared at the corner of his lips.
"The Spring Examination is still a long way off, where did the exam questions come from? Pei Zhiji is not a fool."
Listening to his careless words, Lu Suizhu's face flashed with a trace of anger, and then calmed down in an instant. Even if Xiao Mao was deliberately teasing her, what could she do to him?
"What does your Highness mean?"
"Being able to sneak into the Pei Mansion at least proves that you are not a useless person. By the way, I would like to remind you that the old lady and others from the Pei Mansion will be back in two days. Don't come to the East Palace during this period because there are too many people around. Try to gain Pei Zhiji's trust. I will send someone to pass on a message to you if there is anything."
Lu Suizhu nodded in agreement.
"Qin Wuniang is mercenary, Yuanyuan is simple, and Lu Qinshi seems gentle but is scheming. I wonder if what I said is true?"
Clenching her hands in her sleeves, Lu Suizhu forced a smile on her face, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is extremely intelligent. I will stay in the Pei Mansion with peace of mind and live up to His Highness's high expectations."
【1】History of Chinese Culture
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