Chapter 49 Xie Jing "You look a lot like an old friend of mine."...
"...Thank you all for coming all the way from the capital... I have been waiting here for a long time..."
The other party spoke politely.
However, every word passed by like wind in the ears, and Yu Qing did not hear a single word.
Her mind was in a mess, and there was only this face in her heart and eyes. Everything around her became blurry and dim, to the point that all her rationality came to a standstill.
It was not until the deputy tilted his head and glanced at her hesitantly that she realized she was a beat too late. She coughed lightly and walked forward.
"You're welcome. We've been ordered to escort you back to the capital. It's our duty," Yu Qing said. "...May I ask your name?"
The young man paused and said, "My last name is Xie."
It was already a tacit understanding, and once these words were spoken, everyone understood.
Several people entered the hall and sat down. Yu Qing felt light-footed and still thought he was dreaming.
She could hardly control herself from looking at Mr. Xie, wanting to examine every inch of his face, eyebrows, cheeks, lips and teeth.
Until the eunuch came forward and took out a bright yellow silk from his bosom, which was the royal edict.
He said softly, "Sir, please let us identify the items you brought with you when you entered the temple twenty-two years ago."
Young Master Xie had a tray presented, which contained something wrapped in brocade. The eunuch carefully opened it and examined the gold lock, jade plaque, and silk handkerchief embroidered with light and dark patterns one by one, then gently put them back.
"And this." said Master Xie.
He lifted the sleeve of his left robe a little higher, revealing a small, dark crescent-shaped mark on the skin below his wrist bone.
"Yes, it is a birthmark right here..." said the eunuch, then he leaned forward and bowed deeply. "I pay my respects to you, sir. I am following your orders. Please forgive me."
Mr. Xie nodded and smiled.
At present, everything has been confirmed to be correct according to the procedures. The next step is to bring the person to the emperor for further arrangements. After returning to the capital, of course, we will have to investigate him in detail.
For such a big prince who has been exiled, whether the royal family will recognize him or not, whether to make him a king or establish a palace for him, all depends on the emperor. They just need to bring him back safely.
Yu Qing's guards took over the guards of the palace and were responsible for looking after the safety of the young man.
All the civil officials and eunuchs also took their leave and temporarily stayed in the rooms of the palace.
Only Yu Qing remained where he was, hesitating to leave.
How could there be two people in the world who looked so alike? Her face remained calm, yet her heart was filled with doubt.
Mr. Xie and...her, if you ignore their bodies and only look at their appearance, they are more than 90% similar.
"Sir, you have been looking at me since just now, but I am not dressed properly?" Master Xie said suddenly.
His voice was clear, with a rising ending, as if it carried a hint of the soft Wu dialect from the Jiangnan area, like rippling spring water.
Yu Qing glanced at his throat and shoulders again to confirm that it was a man.
The other person had a slender figure, and Yu Qing had to tilt his head slightly to be able to look him in the eye.
"No..." Yu Qing said slowly, "I just think you look familiar."
"Really?" Young Master Xie smiled. "To be honest, I saw that you were a man of great appearance and bearing, and I felt you looked very familiar. It seems we are destined to be together."
Yu Qing: “…”
Did the other party think she was trying to get close to him?
Just as Master Xie was about to leave, Yu Qing's mind moved and she subconsciously called out to him, "Wait!"
The man turned his head, and the curve of his eyes and the puzzled look made Yu Qing stunned again.
"You..." Yu Qing asked, "Have you ever been to the capital before?"
Master Xie said, "I grew up in Jiangnan and have never left this place since I can remember. Why do you ask this, sir?"
Yu Qing wanted to determine whether his expression was genuine or not, but her thoughts were in a mess and she couldn't make sense of it for a while.
After a long while, she said frankly, "Young Master looks a lot like an old friend of mine."
Master Xie said, "Oh? I see. Is he an old friend of yours?"
Yu Qing didn't mention her late wife. She shook her head and said, "It's been a long time."
"Meeting and separation are unpredictable, like the movement of the stars. We cannot force it. Although we go our separate ways today, who knows if we will meet again in the future?" Master Xie said sincerely, "Don't worry, my lord."
Life and death, how can we meet each other, unless...
Yu Qing pursed her lips and clenched her hands unconsciously.
"I was just about to go to the tea room," said Master Xie. "If you have nothing to do, why not come and sit for a while?"
Yu Qing had a rather aloof disposition and didn't take the initiative to interact with others. It was usually others who approached her, and she didn't always agree. However, when someone invited her, Yu Qing accepted without hesitation.
Qingjia had rarely been seen in public before, and had spent her early years in the palace secluded. Thinking about it, few outsiders had ever seen her true appearance. Therefore, among the people present, no one except herself realized how much Master Xie looked like the Seventh Princess.
She was the only one whose heart was pounding. Facing that face, she couldn't help but be cautious.
"Okay." Mr. Xie said happily.
Yu Qing observed the other person's posture and skeleton, and found that he was indeed a real adult man.
From behind, one can vaguely see that he has broad shoulders and a narrow waist, and is very straight, without any flaws.
·
The tea room in the □□ courtyard was very quiet. The guards were on duty not far away. The servants brought tea and the faint fragrance of tea filled the air.
"This is the best Biluochun, boiled with early spring dew." said Mr. Xie.
Yu Qing has no interest in tea. Snow water, dew water, or spring water are all the same.
She asked, "I know your surname, but I don't know your name."
"I haven't had a full name yet, and I haven't had any elders around me since I was a child," Master Xie said. "I only have a nickname, 'Jing'."
"Jing? Which word?" Yu Qing asked.
Xie Jing said: "Jing, this is what Jin Yu meant."
Yu Qing said, "What a nice name. How did you end up here, young master?"
Xie Jing smiled and said, "Are you asking these questions because you're afraid that I might be impersonating you and make things difficult for you?"
Yu Qing tried to find any sign of guilt or concealment in the other person's expression, but his eyes were bright and he didn't dodge or evade. She couldn't look into those eyes for too long, so she coughed lightly and looked away.
"I was just joking. There's nothing to hide. I'll have to tell the world about it someday anyway," Xie Jing sighed. "Actually, I didn't know this until I was over ten years old..."
He took a sip of tea and then began to tell the story.
Once upon a time, there was a woman who was a musician in the palace. She was summoned by the emperor by chance and was later named a palace concubine.
Despite her humble origins, she was beautiful and gentle, and for a time she was favored by the emperor. Soon after, she became pregnant and gave birth to a little prince, who was naturally Xie Jing.
However, before Xie Jing was born, the imperial teacher had advised the emperor that the signs from heaven were not good and that it was unlikely that a prince would be born this year. If one did, he would surely suffer a disaster.
Xie Jing was born prematurely and was indeed very weak, and even the imperial physicians could not save him. The emperor consulted the imperial preceptor, who, after careful calculation, concluded that the young prince was destined not to remain in this world. Unless he practiced Taoism or Buddhism and distanced himself from the world, there was only a glimmer of hope.
When the emperor heard this, he discussed it with the empress and sent the child to the National Temple first.
The national temple is presided over by high-ranking monks and has close ties with the royal family. Naturally, they can take good care of the little prince.
The queen was kind-hearted and often sent palace maids to visit.
As a result, the little prince's condition worsened day by day just after he got better.
The Imperial Master said that the Imperial Temple was still too close to the palace, and that the little prince was not far away from the world here. He had to truly leave the world and practice cultivation, without being burdened by his flesh and blood relatives, before it would be feasible.
Since he was destined not to be a father and son with this child, the emperor had no choice but to let the Golden Feather Guards send the prince far away. Being alive is better than being dead.
The Liantai Temple in Jiangnan is an ancient temple in the mountains, isolated from the hustle and bustle of the world. The abbot is a junior brother of the high monk of the national temple. Xie Jing came here when he was only two months old.
Even so, the little prince died. The obituary was sent back to the capital, and not long after, his biological mother also died of depression.
The royal family did not send anyone to retrieve his body. Instead, they buried him in the imperial mausoleum with his clothes and hat, and erected a monument for him together with other children who died young.
Everything should have ended here.
But Xie Jing said that when his master had just brought the news back to the capital, before the burial, he heard crying from inside the coffin. When he opened it, he found that the little prince had come back to life.
The master quickly figured out the reason: as long as the little prince was alive, there were always people in the palace who were concerned about him. Only when everyone thought he was dead would their family ties be truly severed.
The monk was compassionate and did not reveal the matter in order to let the child survive. Naturally, the royal family did not know that Xie Jing was still alive.
It was not until the abbot passed away that he called Xie Jing and returned all the tokens to him, and only then did Xie Jing know his life story.
"Master said that my calamity has dissipated with my practice. After living for twenty years, my fate will change, and I will eventually return to the mortal world."
Therefore, after growing up, Xie Jing contacted the National Temple according to the method left by his master. After Prince Rui learned the news, he reported it to the emperor.
The emperor was also very surprised at first that his child who had been dead for twenty years was still alive. However, he was suffering from a stroke and could not take care of him for the time being, so he asked someone to take Xie Jing to the palace.
Xie Jing lived in the temporary palace for two months, and it was not until the New Year that the emperor remembered him again.
Because during the palace sacrifice, the chief envoy of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory told him that a hidden star in the south was about to return to its right position.
This boy has practiced for many years and has great blessings. He can turn misfortune into good fortune and avoid disasters. Perhaps he can bring a turning point for the emperor.
The prince then decided to welcome the heir back to the palace, but this was a serious matter and could not be handled rashly, so he sent a secret decree to let Prince Rui make arrangements to escort the person back to the capital.
The story is clear enough, but Yu Qing reserves his opinion for now as to whether it is true or false.
She had a hunch that the matter was not that simple.
But she didn't care about other hidden secrets, she just wanted to know whether everything was related to Qingjia.
Calculating this, Xie Jing's birthday was only three months older than Qing Jia's. This was not much different from being born at the same time, so there was definitely room for fraud.
Yu Qing couldn't help but start thinking about the secrets of the royal family.
Even if they are related by blood, they wouldn't be so similar. Xie Jing and Qing Jia are even more alike than Xie Tingzhao and Qing Jia.
The main reason was that she knew the emperor's appearance. Although she was old, she could still tell that when he was young, he was definitely not a pretty girl or a handsome man. It would be difficult for Qingjia and Xie Jing to look like that based on his bloodline alone.
So, there must be something else going on with my mother.
She almost wanted to ask more, but she held herself back. Xie Jing had explained everything so thoroughly that it would seem strange to ask him any more. And if he was telling the truth, he had barely even met his biological mother, so he probably didn't know the hidden truth.
Xie Jing changed the subject and said, "I have told you everything I know. May I ask you a question as well?"
Yu Qing: "What?"
"Although you are young, everyone else follows you as their leader. I guess you must be in a high position," Xie Jing smiled. "I don't know your name, but would you mind getting to know me?"
Yu Qing said simply: "Yu Qing."
Xie Jing raised his eyebrows in surprise and said, "...it's you! So you are the Marquis of Xuanbei. I am so sorry."
"It's the prince." Yu Qing corrected.
Xie Jing blinked: "Oh."
Hearing him mistakenly call himself "Marquis of Xuanbei", it seemed as if he had only heard of him but didn't know him well. But Yu Qing asked again: "You are secluded and practicing cultivation, do you still know me?"
"I've heard of your great name, General, for a long time. It's like thunder in my ears," Xie Jing said with a smile. "You are unparalleled in your bravery and invincible in battle. Everyone in the world knows you."
Yu Qing had heard so much flattery like this that he was no longer surprised.
She just nodded and drank a sip of tea. Feeling that there was nothing more to ask for the time being, she stood up and said goodbye.
·
Xie Jing watched her back until she disappeared in the shadow of the magnolia flowers outside the tea room.
His relaxed smile disappeared, and he took a deep breath, feeling his back stiffen.
Even though he was prepared, he still found it difficult to calm the clamor in his heart when he saw Yu Qing.
Two years.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
