Chapter 135

Jiang Yanyi took a long time to find his voice: "How is it possible..."

The Prince Mu is said to be a dragon among men, good at literature and martial arts, and a gentleman. He is the ideal husband that all girls in the world dream of marrying.

Although Jiang Yanyi has not had much contact with Chi Qing, with Chi Qing's sloppy appearance, how can he be related to a gentleman?

Xie Chuji's eyes were red, but he pretended to smile indifferently, poured another glass of wine, and drank it all in one gulp: "I met him once in the Bodhi Temple before I got engaged to him."

"At that time, the Fan family was in a high position. Fan Shengnian learned that I was burning incense in the temple that day, so he led his troops to surround the Bodhi Temple, attempting to destroy my reputation and force me to marry into the Fan family. Fortunately, the prince passed by, taught Fan Shengnian a lesson, and sent troops to escort me back to the Xie family, so I escaped."

"He has a scar under his ribs. When he saved me, I had a dagger in my hand, and I mistakenly thought he was Fan Shengnian's man, so I stabbed him in panic."

Xie Chuji blinked, and the tears that he had been holding back for a long time finally burst out.

She still remembers that when he was stabbed, the two-finger-wide wound under his ribs was bleeding. She was so scared that she burst into tears, but Mu Xuanqing just frowned. His elegant and handsome face with a bit of heroic spirit was very calm.

He even smiled like nothing happened and comforted her: "I didn't cry even though you stabbed a hole in my body. Why are you crying?"

His tone was lazy but not frivolous. The slanting light of the setting sun shone on his handsome profile, making him look like he walked out of the light.

From then on, she remembered that smile and that person.

Her father told her that when the Mu family came to propose marriage for Prince Mu, Xie Chuji was happy.

Unfortunately, this joy did not last long, as something bad happened to the Mu family.

Mu Xuanqing broke off the engagement with her immediately. She begged her father to bribe the jailers and plead for the Mu family in the Golden Palace. Finally, when the letter of Mu Wuhou's treasonous collusion was found, no one in the court dared to speak for the Mu family.

When the Mu family was executed, she almost cried to death in the carriage outside the execution ground.

The emperor ordered that the bodies of the Mu family should not be collected. Xie Chuji spent a lot of effort to hire a courier to secretly transport the bodies of the Mu family from the mass grave.

When she was digging graves and setting up monuments for the Mu family in the deep mountains and forests, she went to see them off in person and found that the young man who was beheaded had no scars on his ribs. It happened that Duke Chen resigned and returned home, so she thought that Mu Xuanqing and his brother might still be alive.

Relying on the Xie family's network of contacts, Xie Chuji found out where Duke Chen was. After sending letters to him several times, she finally pried open Duke Chen's mouth and learned that Mu Xuanqing and his brother were still alive.

"I know he has drawn a clear line with me everywhere because he doesn't want to drag me down, but why doesn't he ask me if I am afraid of being dragged down?" Xie Chuji choked up.

If Chi Qing was really Mu Xuanqing, Jiang Yanyi could understand why he didn't want to have any contact with Xie Chuji anymore.

Xie Chuji is pure-hearted and would risk her life for him, but Mu Xuanqing cannot selfishly drag Xie Chuji into the fire with him.

Before the Mu family was rehabilitated, he was a traitor who was despised by everyone, and with enemies hiding in the dark, he dared not take such a risk.

If the matter is exposed, Xie Chuji will be guilty of a capital crime, and the entire Xie family will be implicated.

As for the fact that the Mu family has been rehabilitated, Mu Xuanqing still refuses to recognize Xie Chuji, and Jiang Yanyi can't understand it.

However, the fact that Chi Qing is Mu Xuanqing is just their guess, and there is no evidence yet.

Jiang Yanyi asked: "How can you be sure that Chi Qing is Prince Mu?"

Xie Chuji's cheeks were red as if she was drunk, but her eyes were clear as ever. She looked at Jiang Yanyi with a half-smile: "Can you not even recognize your own sweetheart?"

This question successfully stumped Jiang Yanyi.

No matter how similar the twins are, there will be differences in the details.

Xie Chuji sighed, with a look of resignation on his face: "You can say that I am stubborn or stubborn, as long as I confirm whether he has scars, I will know whether I have recognized the wrong person."

Jiang Yanyi felt that with the relationship between Feng Shuo and Chi Qing, he should know whether Chi Qing is Mu Xuanqing.

After Xie Chuji left that night, Jiang Yanyi wrote a letter and took it to the Feng Mansion next door the next day, asking someone to bring it to Feng Shuo.

Due to the war in Yuzhou, the post station no longer delivers letters to Yuzhou, but Feng Mansion must have a way to contact Yuzhou.

When Jiang Yanyi handed the letter to Fuxi, Fuxi showed a relieved smile, and Jiang Yanyi was extremely embarrassed.

She did not send the letter to express her love for Feng Shuo, but just wanted to ask Feng Shuo about Chi Qing.

Yuzhou has been fighting hard for days, and the imperial cavalry is unstoppable. For the next few days, the city of Yuzhou has hung up a sign of no war.

The imperial cavalry attacked several times, but were suppressed by the artillery fire on the city wall. Unable to break the city, the imperial army started from the grain route. The grain ships and medicinal materials transported from the south to Yuzhou by water were intercepted halfway, and Yuzhou was in danger again.

The lights in the commander's tent were on all night, and the staff and generals sat on each side of the tent to discuss countermeasures.

"... I think it's time to announce to the world that the new emperor's favorite concubine is a princess of the previous dynasty. This will inevitably arouse the anger of the court officials, and can be used to restrain the new emperor."

"Not appropriate! The old subordinates of the previous dynasty want to reverse the Xuan and restore Qi, they are lurking in the capital, and Concubine Xi is the new emperor's bedmate. This is a sword hidden in the dark. If the sword is brought out into the light, this sharp weapon will be useless!"

"That's quite true. If the identity of the new emperor's favorite concubine is revealed as a princess of the previous dynasty, the new emperor will have only two options. One is to acknowledge her identity and then perform a ceremony to confer her a title to show his benevolence. The other is to execute the remnants of the previous dynasty, and the new emperor can still say that he had no prior knowledge of the incident, just like he did with the Gao family, thus clearing himself of the crime. Therefore, revealing the identity of the new emperor's favorite concubine is not a good idea, really not a good idea!"

said an elderly conspirator, shaking his head.

"This... The new emperor expropriated the Gao family to vindicate the Mu family, and has accumulated a lot of reputation among the people. Although the reason for our expedition is unified with Fan Wei and others, and the reason is that the new emperor gave concessions to foreign countries and murdered loyal people, the Fan family is a scorned and despised family in the Great Xuan Dynasty. It is hard to convince people. Now that the food supply has been cut off, it is difficult to collect food in the Central Plains." Another conspirator couldn't help sighing.

Xiao Han stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to go to western Sichuan to collect food!"

He was very popular in western Sichuan. If he went to western Sichuan to collect food, the people would give him half a bowl even if they only had one bowl of rice. Feng Shuo, who

was sitting in the main seat, said, "Wait a little longer."

The people in the tent didn't understand what he meant.

After a while, a messenger hurried in from outside the tent, half-knelt down, and raised a square box above his head with both hands: "Prince, the items sent from the capital have arrived."

Xing Yao took it and presented it to Feng Shuo.

Feng Shuo opened the box, took out a pile of letter paper as thick as a finger, looked at the people in the tent and said: "The Mu family is full of tragic cases, and the new emperor cannot escape responsibility!"

Everyone passed the letter paper around, and they were all shocked. Several hot-tempered generals even spit and cursed.

How glamorous can the factional struggle for the throne be?

When the Gao family failed to capture the Mu family on behalf of the king, and the wife of Mu Wuhou was the sister-in-law of King Cheng, it would be better to seize the military power of the Mu family than to let the Mu family become King Cheng's helper in the end.

The Gao family dared to act in this way, and they must have discussed it with the Empress Dowager Gao. Those letters were left when the Gao family communicated with the Eastern Palace.

The Gao family kept the letters because they wanted to wait until the new emperor weakened the foreign relatives one day and they were desperate to take advantage of the new emperor. However, they did not expect that the Mu family's affairs would be exposed and they would be completely hopeless.

The Empress Gao finally chose to give the evidence to Feng Shuo, and she also had the intention of revenge.

After the staff and generals scolded the court, an staff member immediately said: "It has been raining heavily since spring, and several villages have had landslides over the years. Why not engrave a stone tablet to express the grievances of the loyal and good and place it at the landslide site. When the local people find it, they will say it is a warning from heaven!"

The ancients feared ghosts and gods. After the story of the stone tablet spread, it was not difficult for the unjust case of the Mu family, which had just been settled, to be brought up again.

When public opinion ferments to a certain extent, the ironclad evidence will be released. By then, the royal family framing loyal officials will be a scandal known to the world.

Feng Shuo said, "Okay."

After the meeting, the staff and generals left the tent one after another. Xing Yao handed the letter sent from Xizhou to Feng Shuo: "Master, Miss Chu wrote to you."

Feng Shuo had a lazy look on his face, but when he heard that it was a letter from Jiang Yanyi, he instantly became alert.

Even if he deliberately suppressed the corners of his mouth, he could still see the slight upward curve.

Feng Shuo opened the wax and read the first line of the letter, and the joy on his face subsided.

After reading the letter, he could be said to be expressionless.

Xing Yao didn't know what was written in the letter that made Feng Shuo's emotions fluctuate so obviously, so he asked carefully: "Did something happen in Xizhou?"

"No." Feng Shuo's voice was cold and hard.

He had been away for several months, and this was the first time she remembered to write to him, but the whole letter was asking about other men. The

more Feng Shuo thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt.

He wanted to crumple up the letter and throw it away to avoid being upset, but when he thought that this was the first letter Jiang Yanyi wrote to him after he went south, he couldn't bear to do it.

In the end, Feng Shuo put the letter in a small box, and still picked up the pen to write back to Jiang Yanyi.

I don't know what strange remarks she heard, why did she ask him if Chi Qing was Mu Xuanqing?

Although Chi Qing and Mu Xuanqing were twin brothers, he was not unable to tell them apart.

After Mu Xuanqing's death, there will be no more gentlemen in the world.

It was already mid-May when the letter was delivered to Jiang Yanyi.

Yang Xiu brought a caravan back from outside the Great Wall, carrying several carts of dried chili peppers. Jiang Yanyi was not in a hurry to use the chili peppers for cooking, but instead raised the price of chili peppers, hoping to use chili peppers to replace pepper. When

Yang Xiu brought a caravan to transport porcelain out of the Great Wall again, Jiang Yanyi asked them to purchase a large number of medicinal materials for treating external injuries from other countries.

Jiang Yanyi read the letter with great anticipation, and found that Feng Shuo replied in a firm tone that Chi Qing was not Mu Xuanqing. Thinking about the expression on Chi Qing's face when he told him that his brother died in battle, he felt more and more that Chi Qing could not be Mu Xuanqing.

But why does the tone of the second half of the letter sound more and more sour?

Why did she try every means to find out about other men?

Jiang Yanyi found it funny, and when she saw the three words "甚念你" at the end of the letter, her eyes softened again.

Jiang Yanyi had seen him write, and could even imagine his expression when he wrote these three words at the desk.

She traced those words carefully with her fingers, and said slowly: "I miss you too..."

That day, Xie Chuji came to Jiang Yanyi to play chess again. After Jiang Yanyi told her about the letter he wrote to Feng Shuo, Xie Chuji was stunned at first, and then smiled faintly: "I know that his current status is embarrassing, and he doesn't want to mislead me, so he let the people around him play along." She

pinched the ink-colored chess piece with such force that her knuckles turned white.

Xie Chuji is an excellent chess player. In the past, when she played against Jiang Yanyi, Jiang Yanyi always lost more than he won. But today, Xie Chuji was obviously not in good condition, and Jiang Yanyi won several times.

Jiang Yanyi was afraid that she was stimulated, and asked worriedly: "Are you okay?"

Xie Chuji held her forehead and looked a little weak: "I feel dizzy, maybe I caught a cold last night."

She was not feeling well, and Jiang Yanyi offered to call a doctor for her, but Xie Chuji declined. Jiang Yanyi did not keep her for long, and let her go home and rest early.

The dusk of May came a little later. Xie Chuji walked into the drizzle holding an oil-paper umbrella painted with winter plums, but she did not return home, but went to Feng Mansion.

"Excuse me, is Military Advisor Chi at home?" Xie Chuji's face was a little pale, and his eyebrows and eyes were even colder.

Chi Qing had no place to stay in Xizhou. He was either in the military camp or temporarily staying in Feng Shuo's mansion.

Since Chi Qing returned to Xizhou, Xie Chuji has come to ask three or five times, and the concierge still replied to her with the

same words as before: "Miss, Chi Junshi is in the military camp, not at home." This time, Xie Chuji did not walk away like the previous times, but asked: "When will he come back?"

The concierge was a little embarrassed, "This... I don't know the itinerary of Chi Junshi."

Xie Chuji bowed and said: "Thank you, I will wait for him here."

She walked down the stone steps step by step in the slanting wind and drizzle, holding an oil-paper umbrella, like a jade sculpture standing quietly by the road. Because of her outstanding appearance and demeanor, passers-by would almost look at her twice.

The concierge looked at Xie Chuji standing at the stone steps, a little reluctant, and closed the door and went to report.

"Military Advisor Chi, that girl is very stubborn and has been standing at the door refusing to leave. What should we do?"

Chi Qing held a bamboo scroll in his hand, glanced at the dusk outside the window, and said, "Persuade her to go home before dark."

The doorman withdrew in response. When Chi Qing looked at the bamboo scroll in his hand again, he couldn't bear to look at it anymore. He threw the bamboo scroll aside in annoyance and gently pressed his hand under his ribs.

There was an old scar about two fingers wide.

He lowered his eyes to hide the surging emotions in his eyes: "How could I be him?"