Chapter 19 Cannon Fodder White Moonlight 18 Don’t Get Addicted
Early the next morning after receiving the letter, Xu Lingjia knocked on the He family's door.
What was written in the letter was too shocking. She had many questions in her mind and had to ask Ali in person.
Before he even sat down, Xu Lingjia told him everything A-li had entrusted him with: "My brother went to the palace to visit the Queen Mother this morning. I believe things will turn around soon. Don't worry too much."
Ah Li's fever had subsided last night, and he looked much better. "Thank you," he said with gratitude in his eyes.
"There's also some news about the young man you asked me to investigate."
Xu Lingjia returned to the capital a day earlier than her. With the portrait drawn by Ali, he quickly found out the whereabouts of the young man in the capital.
The young man arrived in Beijing five months ago. He did not stay in an inn, but lived in a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the city. He did not seem to have much money, and even his clothes were tattered.
During the day, he would always hang out in front of the Jingzhao Yin Mansion and stay there for most of the day.
Several beggars nearby remembered clearly that he was always staring at the drum in front of the door but not going in. They didn't know what he was trying to do.
When he first arrived in Beijing, the young man was often accompanied by a little girl, but one day the little girl disappeared.
The last time the two appeared was in the streets near the residence of the Minister of Justice.
Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.
Ali recalled the man who was at the Prime Minister's Mansion at the birthday party for Prime Minister Pei that day. He seemed to be Liang Zizhuo, the son of the Minister, who had a very good relationship with Pei Miao.
"No one has seen them since then, and no one knows their identities?" Ali asked thoughtfully.
Xu Lingjia shook his head. "My father and brother gave me some people, and I sent them out, but that's all I found."
She moved closer to Ali and whispered, "Is everything you wrote in the letter true?"
In Ali's letter to Xu Lingjia, besides asking her to persuade the Duke of Fuguo to enter the palace, there was one more thing.
That day, after she came out of Pei Miao's Lianyunxuan, she met Nanny Song who was beside Mrs. Pei.
Mrs. Pei did not meet her in Jingyong Hall, but chose a waterside pavilion in Fuyuan. The area was open and even the servants stood far away on the periphery.
When Ali approached the water pavilion, Mrs. Pei, dressed in gorgeous clothes, was feeding the carp in the lake with her back to her.
"Mrs. Pei."
Mrs. Pei didn't turn around and threw some more bait: "You are here, sit down."
Ali didn't move. "I wonder why Madam called Ali here?"
It was midsummer, the lake was covered with lotus leaves, and the breeze brought bursts of fragrance.
"Half a month ago, a little girl was locked up in the dungeon of the mansion. After that, Nanny Song once saw a boy about her age sneaking around the back door."
Pei Xiuyuan told her about the dungeon in the mansion on the second day after they got married. At that time, she thought she had met a husband with whom she could be honest and frank.
That day, when she delivered the lunch box to Pei Xiuyuan's study, she happened to see a group of people heading towards the dungeon. As far as she knew, no one had been imprisoned in the dungeon in the mansion for a long time, so she took a closer look and saw an unconscious little girl among the people.
Mrs. Pei's calm voice came into Ali's ears with the breeze. Ali instantly thought of the young man in Puji Temple and the several hairbands in his bag.
Ah Li suppressed his pounding heart and said, "Madam, do you know who that girl is?"
Mrs. Pei's elegant and noble figure seemed to pause for a moment, and then Ali heard her voice.
"A few days ago, I saw them carrying some things out through the back door. After that, the kitchen stopped sending food to the dungeon."
Her tone was calm, as if she was saying something like, "The weather is great today, where is dinner?"
Ali was so shocked that he couldn't move for a long time. Although it was summer, he broke out in a cold sweat.
"Madam, you mean—"
"I've been out for a long time, and I'm tired," Madam Pei suddenly turned around, interrupting A-Li's unfinished words. She leaned against the railing, her posture lazy, "Let's stop here for today, and just pretend that nothing happened today. We don't need to see each other again in the future."
Seeing that Ali was still silent, Xu Lingjia asked again impatiently, "Is what's in the letter true?"
Ali nodded slowly, then she took out a bundle and handed it to Xu Lingjia: "This is the young man's personal belongings. It's useless for me to keep it. I would like Miss Xu to give it to the Duke. Maybe it can be of use to him."
Xu Lingjia looked at the bundle, his eyes changing several times: "If all this is true, then this thing can be of great help to my brother."
*
After sending Xu Lingjia out, Ali discovered that He Zhiyan's door was closed, and through the window sill he saw that he had a light on even during the day.
She forced herself not to pay attention and walked back, but her pace unconsciously slowed down.
After hesitating for a long time in front of his door, Ali turned around and walked towards He Zhiyan's room.
It was a short distance, but Ali felt like he had walked a very long way.
She stood in front of the door, raising and lowering her hand several times. After what she had experienced, she didn't know how to face this "brother".
Ali suddenly felt a little regretful, quickly withdrew her hand, and moved back, but before she turned around, a muffled groan came from the room, as if she was extremely hurt.
Ali suddenly opened the door and rushed in: "Brother!"
But there was no familiar response from the room.
On the bed, He Zhiyan lay there lifeless with his face as pale as gold paper. Blood once again dyed his face and body red, and even the mattress was soaked with blood, as if all the blood in his body had been drained.
Ali no longer cared about anything else and ran towards He Zhiyan.
She rushed to the bed, but her hands trembled and stopped in mid-air, not knowing what to do.
He Zhiyan was covered in wounds, his clothes were torn to pieces, revealing several shocking scars. There was not a single intact part on his body, and the aura of death lingered around him.
Ali felt as if his heart was being tightly gripped, and tears immediately fell like rain. Suddenly he seemed to remember something and checked the breath of the person on the bed.
Fortunately, fortunately there is no...
Ali fell to the ground unable to hold on, and it was impossible to tell whether there was sweat or tears on his face.
On this day, the bitter smell of herbs wafted through the He family's yard again.
As the sun set, He Zhiyan's chest finally began to rise and fall slightly.
He opened his eyes from a long coma, his scattered and weak vision gradually focused, and the first thing he saw was Ali sleeping on the side of the bed.
He Zhiyan was in a trance for a moment. Was it a dream?
He looked at it longingly for a long time, unwilling to speak out and break the dream.
Until the person in front of him moved.
Ali slept very lightly and felt as if someone was watching her, so she woke up suddenly and met He Zhiyan's quiet gaze, which was focused and affectionate, with a slightly moist luster.
Ali said in disbelief: "You...you woke up?"
He Zhiyan was stunned for a moment, his voice weak, even speaking seemed extremely labored: "I'm fine, don't worry about father's affairs, I..."
"Stop talking." Ali's eyes were filled with tears, which dripped onto the back of He Zhiyan's hand.
He Zhiyan's eyes were slightly red, and he felt a heart-wrenching pain for the first time.
He was the one who harmed his father and Ali.
He sat up with difficulty, and the wound that had just been bandaged broke open again, and blood gushed out. However, he seemed not to notice, and slowly and firmly embraced the sobbing Ali into his arms filled with the smell of blood.
A-li finally hugged him, a broken sob escaping from his throat: "I thought you would never wake up again."
He Zhiyan hugged her tightly, the pain in his body not even a fraction of the pain in his heart: "I said I would always be with A-Li, why would you leave first?"
Ali nodded heavily, hugged him tighter, and let his tears flow silently.
It started raining heavily outside the window again, the sky became gloomy, and dark clouds rolled in, but all this noise was isolated outside the house lit with candles, and only each other's warmth and heartbeat remained between heaven and earth.
An unknown amount of time passed before Ali pushed He Zhiyan, but he didn't move at all, his cold face pressed against Ali's warm neck.
Ali's heartbeat quickened again, and he said helplessly, "Your wound is open. I'll bandage it again for you."
He Zhiyan couldn't help but rub it, his tone was a headache-inducing indifference: "Let it crack, so be it."
"How can I do that?" Ali wanted to pat He Zhiyan's back, but seeing the crisscrossing bloodstains on it, he couldn't bring himself to do it. "If you keep bleeding like this, are you going to die?"
He Zhiyan sighed and finally let her go.
Ali escaped as if he had been pardoned.
He Zhiyan's eyes followed her figure until she disappeared through the back door.
He withdrew his hand, closed his eyes and leaned against the headboard.
The methods of the Yexing Pavilion were as cruel as ever. Naturally, they would show no mercy to a man who had defected and then surrendered. Fortunately, everything was still within his expectations. However, with such a broken body, it was already the limit for him to be able to drag it until he returned home before collapsing.
Ali came back soon, bringing medicine and bandages.
The room was silent. A-Li cut off the last piece of cloth and carefully put down He Zhiyan's clothes: "Alright."
Ali lowered his head to pack his things, but he could not ignore the burning gaze above his head no matter what.
She simply reached out and covered He Zhiyan's eyes with her hands: "Don't look, take a rest."
He Zhiyan chuckled softly, and her eyelashes slid across her palm, making it tingle and numb. Ali felt the temperature under his hand was scorching, but he still insisted on not withdrawing his hand.
After packing up the medicine box, Ali sat up straight and looked in the direction of He Zhiyan's eyes: "Brother, did you go to a dangerous place again last night?"
She couldn't see He Zhiyan's eyes and didn't know what his expression was at the moment.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Ali continued, "Ali knows that my brother has many things that he doesn't want me and father to know, but..."
She took a deep breath, and her voice trembled as she listened carefully. "Can you please tell Ali before you do anything dangerous? Don't let Ali be like a fool, knowing nothing."
"Also, no matter what, you have to come back."
Ali was afraid that the people around him would leave, afraid that they would leave home and never come back.
She was scared, very scared.
He Zhiyan was silent for a long time, so long that Ali's arm ached. He held Ali's hand and said, "What happened that night..."
He didn't finish, but Ali understood what he meant. She shook her head, realizing that He Zhiyan couldn't see at the moment: "That night, brother was trying to save Ali, but Ali found it difficult to accept it for a while."
"Whether it's my brother who hurts others or someone else who hurts my brother, Ali will be heartbroken, so before that happens, let Ali know, okay?"
She could vaguely feel that her brother was a different person from her and her father. She and her father could live an ordinary and comfortable life, but her brother could not. The things she didn't know about were like a bottomless whirlpool that dragged her brother in without any explanation and hurt him all over.
"As long as my brother says it, Ali will believe it."
After saying these words that had been hidden in his heart for a long time, the huge rock pressing on Ali's heart seemed to be moved away a little.
He Zhiyan's throat seemed to be choked by something and he couldn't utter a word.
He slowly pulled down Ali's hand, took the wet handkerchief beside him, and wiped the unwashed blood stains on it persistently. These were a pair of hands that healed illnesses and saved lives, and they shouldn't, shouldn't... be entangled with someone like him.
Ah Li grabbed his sleeve and said, "Brother, don't you have anything you want to tell me about what happened that night?"
He Zhiyan raised his eyes again, having sorted out his chaotic emotions. A soothing smile appeared on the corner of his lips: "Okay, I will tell you everything that happened that night."
Ali nodded, his eyes showing unconcealable joy.
But just a few days later, news came from the prison that He's father had suddenly fallen ill and passed away this morning.
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