Light red goes away
"What does Master Zhang want from me?"
"I'm looking for you."
Gongsun Lin saw a woman walking out from behind the screen, looking straight at him with a smile on her face.
"Who are you?"
"Cousin, how could you forget? We met on our wedding day. I am Changqing's wife."
Gongsun Lin frowned slightly. It was the woman from the Western Regions. "What are you doing here? What do you want from me?"
Cheng Jiao glanced around and saw no servants around. She closed the door and asked sternly, "Did my cousin pay back the 10 million he embezzled earlier?"
Gongsun Lin's originally disdainful look suddenly became focused, and his sharp eyes stared at her without blinking.
Gillian said, "I heard it from the general. Don't worry, my uncle and the others don't know about this. I'm not here today to threaten my cousin, but to ask you to help me."
Gongsun Lin looked at her coldly, "What are you doing?"
"His Majesty wants to summon me to the palace."
"I'll enter the palace if I want to. What's the matter with that..."
"He wants me to stay with him in the palace for a long time."
Gongsun Lin paused, a little surprised, and then his expression grew serious. The emperor had taken a fancy to her, Huo Changqing's wife...
"I want to ask you to help me. I don't want to go to the palace."
Gongsun Lin didn't agree immediately, but hesitated for a moment. There were many ways to hide her, but the problem was that the emperor had taken a fancy to her. Would he be furious about his hiding her and implicate the Gongsun family?
He secretly glanced at the woman. In fact, there were benefits to her entering the palace. Even if she was ruthless to Chang Qing in the future, if they offered her up on their own initiative, the emperor would feel that he owed Chang Qing and the Wei family a debt.
"This is not a trivial matter. I know that Master Gongsun cannot make the decision. If you are in trouble, I will go to your mother. She will probably agree."
The thought that had just lingered in his mind was suddenly shattered by her. How dare this woman threaten him? His mother had repeatedly warned him to act cautiously and low-key, not to lose the emperor's favor. The Wei family's success and failure were shared by all, and he must never do anything that would harm his own family. If his mother knew that he had embezzled military funds from the Northern Army led by his uncle, she would definitely punish him severely, and might even send him back to his remote hometown for several years.
He gritted his teeth and said nothing. "I promise to help you. Tomorrow night I'll prepare a carriage to take you out of the city. My people will take you to a secret place. My friend is there. He's a martial arts expert and very skilled. You can wait there until Changqing returns. I estimate it will only take a month or so."
Gillian's face was filled with joy. "Thank you, cousin Gongsun. Actually, I have an idea for the ten thousand yuan you asked for."
Gongsun Lin looked up at her. Ah Jiao said, "Doesn't my uncle's fiefdom have a copper mine? If you're short of money, go mint some. A mountain this size seems unnecessary."
"You dare ask me to mint copper coins privately? Do you know that this is a capital crime?"
Gillian seemed frightened by him and said weakly, "Don't be angry, cousin. I just want to help you out of kindness. I'm a woman in the boudoir and don't understand these things. I see other people in the capital doing the same thing. As long as no one finds out, it will be fine..."
Gongsun Lin didn't respond, but seemed lost in thought. After a long pause, he said, "Don't tell anyone else about this, and especially don't mention it to my mother."
Gillian nodded obediently, "Don't worry, cousin, since you are helping me so much, I will never harm you or the Wei family."
As Gongsun Lin left, Zhang Yannian approached. He frowned and looked at her, "Madam, you knew that His Majesty would not let you go, but you still asked Master Gongsun to take you out of the city. What do you want to do?"
"What can I do..." She suddenly raised her hand and stroked his brow. "The general is away, and I, a weak woman, am just trying to protect myself. Lord Zhang and I have no relationship, so the fact that he has protected me for the past two days is enough. I dare not implicate Lord Zhang any further and bring disaster upon myself."
A cool finger touched his brow, and he shuddered, hastily avoiding her. The legs of the table made a dull, scraping sound, and his leg, which had been hit, felt a dull pain.
Seeing this, Gillian couldn't help but laugh. This made him seem a little angry, and he straightened his face even more. "Do you really think Gongsun Lin will help you? He is cunning and frivolous. You think you can control him by holding a handle on him. If you really leave the capital, I'm afraid you will be dead before Huo Changqing returns."
"So am I supposed to wait here for Liu Che to abduct me into the palace? Am I really going to watch Master Zhang die here one day, while your family members weep in bewilderment?"
"You can't help me, I'm alone..."
Zhang Yannian listened to her last, soft sigh, caught a glimpse of her reddened eyes, and clenched his hands in his sleeves. He couldn't argue. Liu Che's secret guards had been lurking around his house. If he truly didn't know what was good for him, and Liu Che lost his patience, he would kill him. His death wouldn't matter, but he still had a mother to support.
Looking at the man in front of her with his head bowed and a solemn expression, Ah Jiao forced a smile and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Master Zhang, you have done enough for me. You are a good official and should not be imprisoned because of me."
Feeling the stiffness in Zhang Yannian's shoulder, she couldn't help but smile. "It's rare that Sir Zhang has managed to stay this way without any problems. No wonder your mother is so anxious to find you a wife. If Sir Zhang has the chance to see your old friend again, please reconcile with her and have children with her as soon as possible."
She moved her hand away and walked out of the house with a smile. She thought Zhang Yannian would not respond to her, but she heard a faint voice from behind, with deep regret.
"I'm afraid I'm too high up to be with Yugui Lanzhi, so how dare I get involved?"
She paused and turned back. "As Lanzhi, I would not look down on you, sir. If I were not Lanzhi, I would not be able to move your heart. You are simply trapped by love. Only when you love someone can you cherish them, and only then will you feel ashamed and afraid to move forward. Why not have more courage and less fear? You should believe in yourself."
She smiled and said, "I hope that Master Zhang gets what he wants. When the general returns, my wife and I will go and thank him in person."
When he heard Huo Changqing's name again, his heart was no longer as calm as before. Something suppressed deep in his heart was surging with the water. Zhang Yannian looked up at her, his eyes slightly moved, and asked a ridiculous question that he himself could not explain.
"During the reign of the Prince of Qi, Madam Jiang, the bride of Prince Zhuang, fell in love with her father-in-law, the Prince of Qi. Upon learning of this, she joyfully went to the palace to offer herself to the Prince of Qi. From then on, she became the Prince of Qi's favorite concubine, earning widespread criticism. What do you think of Madam Jiang, Madam?"
Cheng Jiao's smile gradually faded. "I thought that Madam Jiang's actions were none of your business. You should go to bed early. After tonight, this matter will have nothing to do with you."
She turned to leave, but the man behind her slowly followed, saying loudly, "Young Master Zhuang is also wealthy and powerful, and will be the future master of Qi. Madam Jiang would rather endure her husband's hatred and the scorn of the world to serve the King of Qi, not because she coveted glory. Rather, she feared that her husband would kill her and his son over her, bringing disaster and infamy upon him. She couldn't bear to see Young Master Zhuang harmed, so she submitted."
She didn't want to pay attention to the person behind her and walked out of the room on her own. "If Master Zhang is here to give you a lecture, then please submit a memorial to His Majesty tomorrow to transfer you to the position of Literature."
"Now, Madam has announced the decree for His Majesty, asking me to deliver a letter to the general far away in the northwest. I'm hiding in my house, asking Gongsun to help me escape the city..."
As he followed, she quickened her pace, "Yes, yes, I am not as smart as Madam Jiang. I am just a country woman who only wants to protect..."
"Zhang would like to ask, is your wife marrying the general out of self-protection or out of sincerity?"
Gillian walked along the corridor, the shadows of the albizzia blossoms swaying in the moonlight, illuminating half of her dress. She stood beneath the outstretched branches, the silvery moon like water stirring a flood of water in her eyes.
He stood in the darkness, seemingly intoxicated by the darkness. His usual dignity and restraint were gone, his shoulders relaxed slightly, his sleeves hanging naturally at his sides, and he just stared at her intently.
As if she was penetrated by that look, she turned sideways and snorted.
"Your Excellency is joking."
…
He didn't chase after her, but simply stood behind her, watching the familiar figure walk forward in the moonlight. Her plain skirt fluttered with her steps, like a holy silver butterfly fluttering its wings, but it could only struggle and droop on the muddy ground. Just like that year, she disappeared around the corner of the corridor, her wings broken and feathers shattered, and finally turned to ashes.
The emperor loved beautiful poems, but even the ornate rhetoric of a thousand-dollar chapter failed to move his heart. He claimed to be lustful, but in reality, he was more attracted to the sizzling, tempting benefits beneath the tender, white breasts. He used their flesh and blood to build his empire.
The dazzling markings were rubbed off, and the luster of the scales on the wings disappeared. When the only remaining antennae and the scarred body detected the raging fire beneath them, they realized that they were only a step away from the underworld.
He picked up the fallen petals and rubbed them between his fingers.
Being blown away by the cold wind and chased away by the light red should not be their fate.
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