Chapter 116 Going to see Lin Chengfeng
On the way out, Fangzhou looked around and asked, "Miss, shouldn't we just go back?"
"Let's not go back yet, let's go find Chief Lin."
Fangzhou was taken aback, but didn't ask any further questions.
The young woman's visit to Chief Lin was clearly not about trivial matters; any unnecessary words would only put her in a difficult position.
As the two walked, a furtive voice suddenly came from the side: "Sixth Miss Qiu—"
Qiu Heng paused, looking towards the direction of the sound, and saw a face peeking out from behind a tree by the roadside.
"Sixth Miss Qiu, over here."
Qiu Heng gestured for Fang Zhou to wait, then walked over.
"Master Cui."
Cui Er forced a smile: "What a coincidence to run into Miss Qiu Liu."
Qiu Heng paused for a moment, then nodded: "It is quite a coincidence. Is there something you need, Young Master Cui?"
"It's alright..."
"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."
"Hey—" Seeing that Qiu Heng was about to leave, Cui Er quickly abandoned his reserve and said, "I have something to do."
Qiu Heng waited for Cui Er to continue.
"Um... did Miss Qiu hear what I said in front of the Emperor yesterday?"
Qiu Heng: "..."
"I heard you."
Cui Er blushed and said with a death-defying air, "It's true, I like you very much! I liked you after I kicked the ball at you on the Dragon Boat Festival. I asked a matchmaker to propose to the Yongqing Marquis's mansion because I sincerely wanted to marry you, not for any other reason..."
Behind the bushes not far away, Xue Han listened expressionlessly as Cui Er confessed his feelings to Qiu Heng.
He noticed their furtive behavior and followed them, only to overhear these events.
How would Aheng answer?
Through Cui Er, Xue Han could only see Qiu Heng's profile and the hem of her lilac-colored skirt.
After listening to Cui Er's words, Qiu Heng said earnestly, "Thank you for your kindness, Young Master Cui, but I already have someone I love, so I can only disappoint you."
"You really like that Lin Chengfeng?" Cui Er asked, unconvinced. "What's so great about him? He's an old man who's so much older than you!"
Qiu Heng almost couldn't help but laugh, then quickly suppressed her laughter: "Although Chief Lin is a few years older than me, he is in the prime of his life, and love is a matter of no logic... Young Master Cui is intelligent and insightful, he should understand. Qiu Liu wishes Young Master Cui a smooth marriage and that he will find his perfect match soon."
After Qiu Heng finished speaking, she curtsied to Cui Er and turned to walk towards Fang Zhou, who was waiting in the same spot.
Cui Er watched the girl's departing figure and chuckled, "Intelligent and insightful, Qiu Liu said I'm intelligent and insightful..."
Even his mother, who loved him the most, never said that to him!
As for the father—
"You little beast, you bastard, you son of a bitch, you spendthrift..." A string of tired words flashed through Cui Er's mind. He sighed, carefully took a step, but cried out in pain when he pulled on a sore spot.
What kind of father does that? He's so old, and he still spanks him!
"Thank goodness I didn't get slapped in the face..." Cui Er muttered to himself with relief, and started walking away.
Standing alone among the flowers and trees, Qiu Heng's words echoed in Xue Han's ears: "My heart already belongs to another..."
When Qiu Heng arrived at the place where the guards of the cavalry were gathered, she bowed to the guard in front of her in a generous manner and said, "I am looking for Commander Lin. Please call him for me."
The guard recognized Qiu Heng at a glance: "You are Miss Qiu Liu!"
Before Qiu Heng could say anything more, the young guard, unable to contain his excitement, shouted, "Chief Lin, Miss Qiu is here to see you!"
The voice was quite loud, and the guards who heard it started to jeer and pushed Lin Chengfeng out.
Lin Chengfeng is capable and popular. He is over 20 years old but has never married. His fellow soldiers have been jokingly urging him to get married. Now that he knows about Miss Qiu Liu, he is naturally happy to see her get married.
"Sixth Miss Qiu." Standing in front of Qiu Heng, Lin Chengfeng's cheeks flushed.
This was not because I was embarrassed by my comrades' teasing, but because I felt ashamed.
Compared to Lin Chengfeng's unease, Qiu Heng was much more at ease: "I've come to have a chat with Chief Lin."
"Oh, okay."
The two walked slowly forward, with Fangzhou following silently behind.
At a grassy spot with an open view, Qiu Heng stopped: "Chief Lin, let's sit here for a while."
Lin Chengfeng hesitated for a moment before sitting down next to Qiu Heng.
The grassy field, like a green carpet, was interspersed with colorful wildflowers. The two people sitting next to each other looked like a perfect couple to onlookers.
In reality, Lin Chengfeng only felt awkward.
"Miss Qiu, I am deeply grateful for your help yesterday... I was implicated." After a moment of silence, Lin Chengfeng spoke.
Qiu Heng cut to the chase and asked, "Was this wooden doll carved by Chief Lin?"
Lin Chengfeng glanced at the wooden doll in Qiu Heng's hand, as if his eyes had been burned by a spark.
Qiu Heng waited a while before receiving Lin Chengfeng's reply: "No."
This answer matched her guess.
"I think this wooden doll is newly made. If it wasn't carved by Chief Lin, where did it come from?"
Lin Chengfeng frowned and remained silent.
"I went to the palace to see my sister today." Qiu Heng looked at Lin Chengfeng and said slowly, "My sister said that this wooden doll was not a gift from her."
"What?" Lin Chengfeng's expression changed drastically.
He looked at the wooden doll again, no longer avoiding the question, and took a deep breath: "Sixth Miss Qiu, you're not lying to me?"
Qiu Heng chuckled: "Since I stood up yesterday, what's the point of coaxing Chief Lin now?"
"I'm sorry, I was taken aback when I heard about this."
"None of that matters. What matters is finding out who gave this wooden doll to Chief Lin."
Amidst the green grass, the girl's voice, clear and cool as a spring, calmed Lin Chengfeng down.
"It must have been Consort Yu's doing!" Lin Chengfeng clenched his fists.
"Director Lin, please explain in detail. This matter is clearly related to Consort Yu, but whether this wooden doll was given by someone close to her or someone close to my sister makes a difference."
If this person is someone close to Qiu Meiren, we must find them. Otherwise, with such a person around, it's impossible to guard against them.
Lin Chengfeng had clearly realized the crux of the matter, his face turning ashen: "On the first day of the autumn hunt, I unexpectedly encountered He—the Beauty Qiu. That evening, a palace maid secretly came to see me, saying that the Beauty Qiu had given me a wooden doll. I… I accepted it out of greed, but afterwards I realized that hiding it anywhere wouldn't be safe enough, so I could only keep it close to my body…"
He was the youngest son in his family, and after missing out on He'er, he refused to get married, though his parents didn't force him. To him, He'er was his wife; after years of longing, how could he refuse her wooden doll after that one glance?
"You truly have a profound understanding of human nature." Qiu Heng sighed. "In that case, another question I had was also answered."
"What?"
Qiu Heng pointed to the wooden doll's head: "I was wondering why, since it's a wooden doll carved based on my sister, it has a girl's hairstyle. Now that I think about it, if this wooden doll had a cloud-like hairstyle and palace attire, Chief Lin probably wouldn't have accepted it."
The beauty of this wooden doll lies in its depiction of Qiu Meiren as a young girl, which struck at Lin Chengfeng's weak spot, preventing his reason from prevailing.
Fortunately, every cloud has a silver lining, and it was precisely because of this that she was given the opportunity to break the deadlock.
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