Chapter 69 Chapter 69 “But what if he lied to me…
Xu Qing'an's hand suddenly stopped.
Shangguan Xu still had her eyes closed, seemingly still reveling in the soft feeling of his touch. "When I used to draw my eyebrows myself, I always thought it was just another step in my makeup routine. But after experiencing it myself, I realized that having someone else draw my eyebrows feels completely different than drawing them myself."
Xu Qing'an sensed the underlying meaning of her words, but something as subtle as drawing eyebrows was the easiest thing for people to notice.
He said, "Your Majesty has beautiful eyebrows. They are soft and thick. Even without drawing, they look beautiful."
"You can distinguish so finely. It seems that you are not completely ignorant about drawing eyebrows." Shangguan Xu opened his eyes and looked up at him with a smile.
Xu Qingan retracted his fingers again.
His fingertips brushed against the skin on his forehead, and Shangguan Xu smiled at him, "What's wrong? Did I hit the nail on the head?"
Xu Qing'an smiled nonchalantly, "Your Majesty is right. I did have some understanding of this, but I didn't expect you to see through my thoughts with just one sentence." He caressed her eyebrows again and added, "I too once admired her, so I've paid some attention to girls' makeup."
Rather than denying it outright and arousing her suspicion, it would be better to admit it half-truthfully so that the matter can be put to rest as soon as possible.
Xu Qing waited quietly for her reaction.
Shangguan Xu smiled, closed his eyes again, and said without further hesitation, "Indeed, the eyes and eyebrows are the easiest to express emotions, so of course they are more eye-catching."
Hearing this, Xu Qingan smiled with relief.
It's not that he doesn't want to recognize her, nor does he want to deliberately hide his identity, he just feels that the timing is not right.
It is certainly pleasantly surprising to regain what you have lost, but if you lose it again afterwards, it will be another heavy blow to your body and mind. In particular, the sharp drop from great joy to great sorrow will make the pain even more severe.
Xu Qing'an couldn't figure out what was happening to his body. If the poison in his body could never be completely eliminated in this lifetime, if he died in the process of removing the poison...
He really couldn't bear to see her suffer such a cruel and painful experience again.
It would be better if only he could bear that kind of pain.
Besides this, he didn't know how he should appear when he met her. Should he appear as the humble gentleman she had imagined him to be? Or should he appear as the sinister and cruel person she now looked like?
He always felt that he had destroyed the person in her heart.
Then let's wait for a while. It won't be too late to tell her at least until he can ensure that he can accompany her for a long time. Now it's also good to just stay by her side silently.
As he thought of this, Xu Qing'an had already moved his hand to her fluffy hair, brushing his fingers through it, soothing her while also feeling the soft and itchy feeling brought by her hair passing through his fingertips.
"How is Mr. Zhang doing?" the person lying on his legs asked with her eyes closed. She looked calm and it was obvious that she was indeed very comfortable.
Xu Qing'an paused and muttered, "The collision injured my brain, and even my legs... now I can't move them."
Shangguan Xu opened his eyes and looked at him: "What did Doctor Xun say?"
Xu Qing'an said, "He can only take things one step at a time."
Shangguan Xu sat up.
After looking at him thoughtfully, Shangguan Xu lowered his eyes and said, "Mr. Zhang is seriously injured. It seems that it will be difficult for him to participate in the Secretariat. However, there must be someone in the Secretariat to restrain Su Wang."
"Let your teacher act as a guarantor, and you can become the Minister of the Secretariat." Shangguan Xu said after a moment's silence.
However, after saying that, there was no response for a long time.
Shangguan Xu thought he was lost in thought, but when she turned to look for him, she saw him facing her with a warm and gentle gaze, taking in her entire figure.
Shangguan Xu was surprised for a moment.
Xu Qing'an quickly looked away.
He lowered his eyes and said, "Your Majesty, now that I know I have considerable influence outside the court, are you still confident in entrusting me with such an important position?"
"Didn't you ask me to believe you?" Shangguan Xu replied without thinking much.
Xu Qing'an was speechless for a moment, then burst out laughing: "Yes, I did say that. I didn't expect that while I forgot, Your Majesty still remembers it clearly."
It was just a topic to divert attention, and Xu Qing'an didn't spend much time discussing it in depth.
He replied to Shangguan Xu's words, "It would be great to be the Minister of the Central Secretariat, but I'm afraid Prime Minister Su won't let me take that position so easily."
Shangguan Xu pondered, "If I let you join right away, he'll definitely try to stop me. If..." She looked up at him, "If your teacher stepped down and you were the next in line, things would probably be easier for him."
After all, exchanging a prime minister for a secretary of the imperial court doesn't seem to be a good deal.
So Shangguan Xu stopped talking after saying that and just looked at him deeply.
Xu Qing'an understood her concerns and gave a positive answer with a slight hum, "Don't worry, Madam. I'll talk to the teacher."
Shangguan Xu nodded. "Then I'll have to put him in a difficult position for now." He added, "Now that I think about it, the reason you were able to be appointed Zhongshu Sheren so easily was because Su Wang had been preparing this all along. He was just going to use it to attack you at the Shuo Dynasty, claiming that 'Zhongshu Sheren has the responsibility to draft documents.'"
Xu Qing'an: "This means that Your Majesty's plan had already been leaked before my promotion letter came down. In this case, Your Majesty can first look at which noble families were notified beforehand to prepare for action, and then narrow down the scope to determine which family made the mistake."
Shangguan Xu: "Yes, you reminded me correctly."
After saying that, she closed her eyes, covered her lips with her hands and yawned uncontrollably.
Xu Qing'an smiled helplessly: "Your Majesty, if you are tired, please go to bed early. I will not stay here any longer."
"You're leaving?" Shangguan Xu was surprised.
Xu Qing'an also paused.
Shangguan Xu smiled: "I thought you would want to rest here tonight."
Xu Qing'an simply said, "Your Majesty's health is more important, and the things you want to prepare are more important."
Shangguan Xu understood and asked, "So, will you continue to stay with your teacher?"
Xu Qing'an lowered his eyes and gave Shangguan Xu an answer he had not expected: "Teacher's health is much better now. Everything else can only be treated slowly. There is no need to rush. Tonight... I have asked a few palace maids to stand guard."
Shangguan Xu's brows twitched. He had been worried that Zhang Fan's body couldn't take it when he saw him guarding Zhang Fan's bed day and night. Although he was surprised to hear his arrangements, he also felt that he really needed a good rest.
"Well, that's fine. After all, your body isn't made of iron. You can't endure it for too long. It's time to take a break."
He blinked and smiled: "Well, the queen is right."
"By the way, I have something to ask you." Shangguan Xu stopped Xu Qing'an after he stood up. "Where did you learn how to cast incense seals and renew incense?"
"Why is your Majesty asking this?"
"It just seems familiar."
Xu Qing'an pressed his thumb, but his expression remained unchanged as he said, "There's almost a unified set of rules for making incense seals and renewing incense. I learned about it from others, so Your Majesty will naturally feel familiar with it."
"You're right." However, what Shangguan Xu was thinking in her heart was that she had only seen one person waving the incense in the air above the incense burner after making the incense seal, and she had only seen one person carefully adjust the direction of the incense burner after adding incense and closing the lid.
She raised her eyes and smiled at him: "Okay, it's getting late, you should go back and rest early."
He nodded and said softly: "Well, sweet dreams, my lady."
"How is Azheng doing recently?" she asked for the last time before leaving.
He reassured her, "She's already recovered and has even resumed her martial arts training. Your Majesty, do you miss her and want to see her? How about letting her come and meet you?"
"I'll take care of it," he added.
After a moment of silence in the room, "Okay."
——
It was late at night and the place was quiet. Logically, after the visitors left, the Lizheng Hall should have returned to peace and everyone should have gone to sleep and rested as agreed before. However, the sound of flipping papers could be heard one after another in the hall.
Qing He had been standing by Shangguan Xu's side for a long time. Seeing her flipping through someone's memorial without looking closely at the contents, she couldn't help but ask, "Is your Majesty looking for something?"
Shangguan Xu put the memorial down, her head suddenly dizzy for a moment. She rested her hands on the table, supporting her forehead, muttering to herself, "How could this be? It's clearly not the case at all, but why do I have such absurd thoughts floating around in my mind?"
Qing He moved closer and caught a glimpse of the three characters "Xu Qing'an" written at the end of the memorial. She asked worriedly, "What has the Empress thought of?"
Shangguan Xu said calmly: "You said that the dead... can be resurrected?"
Qinghe suddenly opened her eyes wide.
Shangguan Xu closed her eyes and shook her head, also feeling that her words were absurd, but she could not control such thoughts and the various coincidental scenes that had reappeared in her mind since that night.
She felt like she was having a hysterical fit.
Qing He whispered to comfort her: "Remember that the Queen never believed in ghosts and gods."
Hearing this, Shangguan Xu sobered up a bit: "Yes, there are no ghosts or gods in this world, so how can there be such strange things as resurrection from the dead or resurrection from another body?"
Shangguan Xu calmed down for a while.
The hall was silent for a long time.
Just when Qing He thought it was over, she suddenly heard the person beside her say in a very calm voice, "Tell me, is there any chance of opening the imperial tomb?"
Qing He was shocked again: "Your Majesty wants to...!" She said, "The Emperor's Mausoleum is related to the royal family and the emperor's majesty. There is absolutely no reason to open it for no reason, unless..."
"Unless I die," Shangguan Xu continued, "then send my coffin in and bury him with him."
"But what if the person lying inside is not him?" Shangguan Xu remained calm and turned to look at the person beside him.
Qing He couldn't tell if that was a blank stare or a daze from a bold idea. "Your Majesty, do you think that the Imperial Guards found it downstream back then...? Besides the dragon robe, didn't Your Majesty also find the red rope?"
"Yes." Shangguan Xu lowered his eyes and sighed, "He said he would always wear it."
"But what if he lied to me?"
Suddenly a breeze blew by, rustling the bamboo leaves outside the hall.
Shangguan Xu turned his head and looked outside, and suddenly remembered a line of poetry:
“Below the west window, the wind shakes the green bamboos. I wonder if it’s an old friend coming.”[1]
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