Chapter 128: Just one step away and you can move...
They moved as soon as they said they would. After Zhao's father gave the go-ahead, the whole family immediately took action, and Zhao Mingsheng also rolled up his sleeves to help pack.
Actually, they didn't have much in the way of possessions. The most they had were the various books owned by the father and son, which filled an entire carriage. Then there were the bottles and jars that belonged to Zhao's father, which contained some sort of pill he was researching. These were all packed up and taken away.
Mrs. Meng was busy transplanting the flowers in the yard into pots. This was a delicate job. She needed to loosen the soil near the roots with a shovel first. The roots of the flowers were extremely delicate, so she had to be extremely careful with every shovel. If she was not careful, the roots could easily be broken. Others were unable to help even if they wanted to.
Zhao Mingsheng carried a packed box into the courtyard. She looked up and saw Yan Zhuo standing outside the open gate. Though not in military uniform, he stood straight. Then she remembered that she and Yan Zhuo had made an appointment to go to the medicinal fields today.
She said a little embarrassedly: "Sorry, I may be late today."
"No problem, there's no rush anyway." Yan Zhuo walked forward and took the box from her hand naturally. "What are you moving these for?"
His hand suddenly felt lighter, and Zhao Mingsheng had no time to refuse. He could only rub the dust off his hand uncomfortably. "My family is planning to move to the capital. The new house is not far from the Marquis' Mansion. We plan to pack up everything in the next few days and move in before the New Year."
Move to Beijing?
Yan Zhuo nodded without asking any more questions. He just raised the box in his hand and asked, "Where should I put this?"
Zhao Mingsheng raised his hand and pointed to the place where the boxes and cages had been packed in the yard. "Just stack them on top of those."
Yan Zhuo carried the box and walked away, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up where Zhao Mingsheng couldn't see. After putting it away, he turned back to look at Zhao Mingsheng and said cheerfully, "Is there anything else you want to move?"
How could Zhao Mingsheng have the nerve to ask the dignified Prince Heng to come and help her family move the gifts? Although he seemed to be in a good mood today, she quickly waved her hand, "No need to bother..."
Before she could finish her words, Zhao Mingsheng watched Yan Zhuo spontaneously carry the gifts. Well, why hadn't she noticed that Prince Heng loved helping others so much before?
Zhao Mingsheng knew that he couldn't persuade him, so he just let him be and went to the kitchen to make tea.
Jing Liu waited outside the Zhao family residence for a long time but saw no sign of the two people coming out, so he went to look for them. As soon as he entered the gate, he saw Yan Zhuo with his sleeves rolled up, moving boxes. His jaw dropped in shock, and he immediately reached out to take them.
"Just tell your subordinates to do this kind of rough work, what are you doing..."
Yan Zhuo shook his head, indicating no need. After putting down the last box in his hand, he called Jing Liu over and said, "The Zhao family may be moving in a few days. Go and arrange the carriages and manpower."
Jingliu agreed, but he felt something was amiss. Why would they help the Zhao family move? Someone who didn't know would think they were going to be live-in sons-in-law.
He glanced at the slightly raised corners of Yan Zhuo's mouth and was immediately shocked. The master was actually smiling. Was there some big happy event today? Every year when the palace celebrated his birthday, he had never seen him so happy.
"Is there any problem?" Seeing that he was staring at him, Yan Zhuo suppressed the smile on his lips and spoke coldly.
How could someone change their expression so quickly!
"No, nothing. I'll do it right away!" Jing Liu was startled and turned around and left in a hurry.
Zhao Mingsheng made some tea and came out, just in time to see Yan Zhuo talking to Jing Liu. When she put down the teacup in her hand and looked up, Jing Liu had disappeared, leaving only Yan Zhuo.
Seeing her looking at him, Yan Zhuo told her about the arrangements he had just made for Jing Liu.
These belongings did need to be transported to the capital by carriage. Since this had already been arranged, it would save a lot of trouble, so Zhao Mingsheng had no reason to refuse. "Thank you very much, Your Highness Prince Heng. After the move is complete, I will definitely invite you to visit the new house."
Yan Zhuo nodded seriously: "Okay, it's a deal then."
Zhao Mingsheng led him to the stone table in the courtyard and sat him down. He handed him a wet handkerchief and said, "Take a rest and have some tea."
Yan Zhuo took the wet handkerchief handed to him by Zhao Mingsheng, sat on the stone bench in the pavilion, and wiped his hands clean.
"Here too." Zhao Mingsheng nodded to him.
Seeing that Yan Zhuo had been wiping the wrong spot for a long time and the stain still remained stubbornly there, Zhao Mingsheng felt both amused and helpless, and spread his hands and said, "Give it to me."
Yan Zhuo held out the handkerchief in his hand in a daze.
A gentle breeze, wrapped in the refreshing autumn air, caressed his face. The girl's scent drew closer. A damp handkerchief, slightly cool, gently touched his face, sliding across his full forehead and winding down his tall nose. Besides the silky smoothness of the handkerchief, he could also feel the girl's soft, warm fingertips.
Yan Zhuo pursed his lips, suddenly becoming a little attached to the wind at this moment.
Because he had just moved something heavy, the man was steaming all over, with a thin layer of sweat on his full forehead, and the originally faint cold pine scent was even more aroused. Zhao Mingsheng leaned in a little closer, and their breaths intertwined, and he could not help but smell the pleasant cold pine scent on Yan Zhuo's body.
As soon as she raised her eyes, she saw the man's angular and handsome face slightly raised in response to her, but his dark and deep eyes were staring at her without blinking, and emotions that she could not understand were surging in his eyes.
The girl subconsciously wanted to escape, her hand holding the handkerchief trembling slightly. She concealed her inner panic, stood up and said, "Okay, it's all clean."
Feeling the girl pull away from him, Yan Zhuo subconsciously grasped her wrist. He had never dreamed of possessing anything; he couldn't save the lives of those who died on the battlefield, nor could he catch the wind. But the person before him was real. After all those days together, he had long since misjudged her as the most important person in his life, and this rekindled a glimmer of hope in his heart.
But when he met the girl's bright eyes, he felt uneasy again.
He took a deep breath and mustered up the courage to ask, "Can you..."
"What?"
Zhao Mingsheng looked at him in confusion. The man's black crow-like eyelashes trembled slightly, and he seemed to be very conflicted.
At this moment, Zhao's father also came out of the study with a box of medical books. He saw his daughter being grabbed by a strange man from a distance and shouted, "You bold lunatic!"
Yan Zhuo was startled by the voice and subconsciously let go of his hand.
Father Zhao didn't even bother with his most precious medical skills. He dropped the box in his hand and rushed to the pavilion. When he got there, he found that the bold lunatic he was talking about was actually King Heng.
He was stunned for a moment, and spoke with a hint of hesitation: "Why is the prince here? You just..."
Yan Zhuo: "I was abrupt just now..."
"I almost slipped just now, and it was Prince Heng who pulled me up." Zhao Mingsheng rushed to explain for him, and winked at Yan Zhuo, signaling him with his eyes not to speak.
"So that's how it is." Father Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, then he remembered that he hadn't saluted yet, so he quickly put down the things in his hands and prepared to salute him.
Yan Zhuo stopped Zhao's father and said, "You saved my life before, so there's no need to be so polite."
Seeing his attitude, Father Zhao stopped insisting and asked, "Why is the prince here? Has Wu Nian's poison taken effect again?"
No thoughts?
While Zhao Mingsheng was still wondering what this was, he saw Yan Zhuo seemed to be frozen in place by these two words, even his eyes were a little dazed.
"What's wrong?" Zhao Mingsheng asked.
Yan Zhuo came back to his senses and shook his head stiffly.
"I said, there is still a year and a half before the three-year deadline, the antidote should not be ineffective." Zhao's father sighed, just tired from moving, so he sat down with him to have a cup of tea.
Zhao Mingsheng, who was standing by, couldn't help but ask, "What kind of antidote is this? Are you poisoned?"
"It's okay now." Yan Zhuo clenched his hand holding the cup slightly, but his face remained calm and there was no sign of any clue.
"Really?" Zhao Mingsheng looked at him suspiciously.
"Yeah." Yan Zhuo responded softly.
Zhao's father thought Prince Heng didn't want too many people to know about his poison, so he chimed in, "Girl, why are you asking so many questions? Prince Heng said it's fine."
It would have been fine if Zhao's father didn't say anything, but as soon as he opened his mouth, Zhao Mingsheng knew there must be something fishy about this matter.
Zhao Mingsheng looked at Yan Zhuo, then at her father, until his forehead was sweating. Only then did she relent, "Okay, Prince Heng came to look for me today. We agreed to go to the medicinal fields. We've almost finished packing up at home, so I'll take him there."
Father Zhao breathed a sigh of relief and quickly waved at the two of them, "Go ahead, go ahead. The sooner you go, the sooner you can return. If His Royal Highness Prince Heng is free at noon, you can have lunch at my humble abode."
Yan Zhuo nodded and agreed.
After leaving the courtyard, the two walked side by side on the country road. Zhao Mingsheng always felt that the atmosphere between them was a little dull. She secretly glanced at Yan Zhuo, who had stopped talking after leaving the Zhao family, and asked casually, "What did you want to say just now?"
Yan Zhuo paused and looked at her: "What?"
The girl quickly lowered her head to look at the pebbles on the ground and whispered softly, "When you grabbed my wrist, what did you want to tell me?"
Zhao Mingsheng's heart beat faster unconsciously in the atmosphere just now. Before Yan Zhuo even opened his mouth, she had already guessed several answers.
Yan Zhuo was silent for a rare moment, then said: "I forgot..."
Forgot?
Zhao Mingsheng's breathing stagnated and he felt uncomfortable holding his breath.
Just now, she clearly felt that Yan Zhuo had something to say to her, so how could she have forgotten it? Could it be that she had misunderstood...
Thinking of this, Zhao Mingsheng's face suddenly turned red.
"Oh, it's getting late, we have to walk faster." After saying that, Zhao Mingsheng blushed and walked forward first with an anxious look.
Yan Zhuo looked up and saw the girl right in front of him. Her clothes swayed beautifully in the autumn breeze as she walked.
There was only one step between them. If Yan Zhuo took a bigger step, as long as he took that step, he would be able to catch up with her, hold her in his arms, and tell her all the words that he had not yet said...
But Yan Zhuo didn't.
He always stayed one step behind the girl, walking silently.
The autumn sun poured down from above. Yan Zhuo, who was one step behind, lowered his head and stared at the red line on his wrist with a somewhat dim and unclear look in his eyes.
That was the mark left when the body was free of thoughts. The thing that he had gradually forgotten suddenly appeared in his life again, reminding him that he should not have those delusions.
"Oh, what qualifications do you have..."
It seems like he is talking to himself, or making fun of himself.
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