Changing Swords and Fighting Ruixueliang (Part 3)
At first glance, Meng Shizhuang did not recognize Bian Hongqiu as the "Pink Butterfly" whom he had met several times in Daohai City.
There was no other reason. The "Pink Butterfly" was wearing pink and green at that time. Her beautiful face was stained with shy clouds. She spoke in a soft voice. Apart from being a little stingy, she was like a lady from a noble family in Beijing, making people unforgettable.
The woman before him now had a slightly determined expression, her fading plumpness accentuated by her brows and eyes. Her slightly sunken eye sockets bore the fatigue of days of travel, and her lower face was covered in pits and scars, with unpleasant-smelling plasters plastered on both sides. But even if Bian Hongqiu's demeanor had changed drastically, it wouldn't last long. So Meng Shizhuang couldn't immediately determine whether this was a woman disguised as a man, or a man masquerading as a woman.
Bian Hongqiu's eyes lit up just like yesterday, "Ah, you're awake!"
Meng Shizhuang's entire body ached. He couldn't feel his right hand, nor any part of his body below the waist. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of an ugly pig's trotter beside him. He stared at it again and again before realizing what was happening.
Oh, this is his right hand.
If he had known that his right hand would be lost sooner or later, he would have gone through the unnecessary pain of breaking the metacarpal bone and reattaching it.
When he came back to his senses, the stranger in front of him was still looking at him with that surprised expression. Meng Shizhuang suppressed his discomfort and cheered up: "Who are you? Where is Lao Ju?" As he spoke, he reached into the bed with his left hand and touched the Mulan sword that he was becoming increasingly familiar with. He naturally breathed a sigh of relief.
Lao Ju stood with this person yesterday.
This person also blurted out "Ah Shi" twice, and no one called him that except Lao Ju.
The other woman didn't rush to answer. She noticed him reaching for his sword, but without saying anything, she leaned over to support his back and half-lift him. Even at this distance, which made Meng Shizhuang extremely uncomfortable but still manageable, she cast her piercing gaze at him as usual and said, "Bian Hongqiu, I'm Bian Hongqiu."
Meng Shizhuang chewed these three words over and over for a long time. The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt. His eyelids drooped heavily and he struggled to stay awake.
"Princess...Your Highness..." As he spoke, he suddenly got stuck, and the dizziness in his head was instantly frightened away along with his soul - this gentle and affectionate prince, as Song Jingyan said, grasped his waist with one hand, fitting almost perfectly, and then pressed up to press his waist.
Meng Shizhuang's skin was covered in goosebumps, itchy and painful. He flapped his arms and legs like a fish, but his waist was still firmly held. The pig's hoof on his right side severely restricted his movements. He turned his head to the side, and the hand holding the Mulan Sword tugged at a small corner of Bian Hongqiu's clothes. He tried to sit up, and nearly bit his tongue while speaking: "You! Wait... Don't touch me."
He spoke in a cold tone, with a subtle embarrassment.
When he raised his upper body, he met Bian Hongqiu's equally puzzled eyes. Only then did he realize that he had overreacted, but he still insisted: "Don't touch me."
Bian Hongqiu couldn't understand what was causing Meng Shizhuang's discomfort, so he explained, "Mr. Zhou said there's no bone injury on your waist, but the bruises need rubbing. Uncle Ju has gone to rest, and you..." He pondered for a moment, thinking that the hard training he'd received in the past few months in Beijing wasn't enough. He felt he had found the problem and suggested, "Am I making you uncomfortable? Let me get someone else to come in and help you."
Meng Shizhuang didn't want to discuss the issue of comfort with him at all.
They were strangers to begin with. In Song Jingyan's words, the princess sounded like a precious and pampered princess. No matter what, she shouldn't have condescended to this level, right?
Meng Shizhuang dragged his numb right and lower body, eyes closed as he painfully adjusted, and then pulled himself out of Bian Hongqiu's arms. He suddenly regained consciousness, his headache intensifying, but he understood what he was about to do. His expression changed, and not a trace of pain or vulnerability remained. He calmly looked at Bian Hongqiu, "Your Highness, now that you're back, it's time for me, the cuckoo in your nest, to give up my position. However..."
He choked again briefly.
Because he thought that the tone of his words was cold and powerful, but the magpie in front of him, which had traveled through mountains and rivers and gone through untold hardships to fly back, and should have been arrogant, actually began to smile with its eyes curved when it heard what he said!
The embarrassment of being touched just now grew along with the nameless anger in his heart. He opened his mouth, but half of his energy was taken away by the constant pain in his body. He felt that this "negotiation" was likely to fail, so he simply wanted to lie down and recover some energy to fight again.
Bian Hongqiu ignored his refusal, supported his shoulders and helped him lie down smoothly, and advised: "Ah, do you really not need me to massage you? Your waist will hurt more tomorrow, and you might not be able to get out of bed."
Meng Shizhuang turned a deaf ear, hooked her pig's hoof with the Mulan sword and turned her back.
Seeing him covered in wounds, Bian Hongqiu didn't want to disturb his rest. He felt he should postpone his request for a few days, so he left the couch and lowered the light-blocking gauze curtain. He had no intention of offending Meng Shizhuang, but he realized he might have been in the wrong position to interact with her—a feeling he couldn't quite articulate. Even at this moment, he still felt as if he'd been spending months with her.
The thoughts that Lao Ju inadvertently expressed, the look in his eyes when he looked at another child through himself, the puzzled and disappointed look in his eyes when he looked at Bian Hongqiu when he was weak... He rarely spoke, but he was always telling Bian Hongqiu that Ah Shi was always with him.
It was difficult for Bian Hongqiu to treat Meng Shizhuang with a completely unfamiliar attitude.
But Meng Shizhuang was clearly not suitable for his inexplicable familiarity.
Bian Hongqiu stood beside the couch, quietly staring at Meng Shizhuang's shadow through the gauze curtain.
In fact, he had a question that he didn't want to wait a moment to ask, but it seemed that there was no opportunity to say it.
He swallowed the sigh that was about to come out of his chest and was about to turn and leave. Behind him, Song Jingyan was standing under the magnolia tree in the courtyard. Seeing him turn around, she saluted him politely.
In addition to the main hall, the main courtyard was divided into east and west wings. The old man was placed in the east wing, while the two grandmothers took Miss Zheng's ashes and tablet to the side courtyard. Seeing Li Minghe's desperate demise, Liu Lang wept for days and even stopped attending morning classes. Upon hearing that His Highness had returned, Mr. Liu came to pay his respects. Upon seeing Bian Hongqiu's now unbearable face, he immediately suspended all morning classes.
Bian Hongqiu walked in front, passing through a corridor that was neither long nor short, and made a full circle during the process, and went to the east wing to take a look at the old residence.
Lao Ju has gone to bed.
Finally, he pushed open the door of the west wing, which was where he lived now.
After returning home, he gave all these orders personally, and Song Jingyan never got a word in.
He entered the room and first asked Song Jingyan to sit down. Then he pulled a stick of incense from the dresser under the window—a type of agarwood Song Jingyan often used. He half-opened the small window, lit the incense with expert ease, and placed it on the windowsill. Song Jingyan remained silent, and there was no one else in the room to serve her.
Bian Hongqiu carried the medicine box prepared by Mr. Zhou and knelt down opposite Song Jingyan.
He took out a bottle of medicine and applied it to Song Jingyan's arm. The injury came at an absurd moment. When Bian Hongqiu returned home and saw Song Jingyan for the first time, Song Jingyan came to hug him as if she had found her lost friend again. She was so excited that she rolled up half of her sleeves, which scratched the coarse linen cloth on Bian Hongqiu's body.
Song Jingyan was injured herself, but she cried while looking at Bian Hongqiu.
Bian Hongqiu recalled it roughly and felt more and more that he had let Song Jingyan down over the years.
He carefully treated Song Jingyan's wound, then quickly applied ointment on his nails that were almost grown back, wrapped them with clean gauze, and began to make tea for Song Jingyan.
Song Jingyan knelt with him and asked, "Has Ah Shi woken up yet? Has His Highness told him about his injury?"
Bian Hongqiu pushed the tea over. "He's awake, but I didn't tell him. Ah Shi is well aware of the situation, and he doesn't seem to be losing heart." His words were indeed too close to Meng Shizhuang's. Song Jingyan endured it again and again, still unable to let go of the decades of scheming against outsiders. Finally, she got to the point, "Your Highness is back now. What do you plan to do with Ah Shi and the others?"
If it were a few months ago, Bian Hongqiu would have been angry at the complacency in her words, but now he calmly finished his tea and asked slowly, "What's the punishment?"
Thousands of thoughts flooded into Song Jingyan's mind, but before she could even begin to sort them out, Bian Hongqiu blocked her thoughts with just one word.
She suppressed all her worries for a short while. Looking from this direction, the light from the windowsill could illuminate Bian Hongqiu's clear and bright eyes. He put down his teacup and looked up at her. There was no blame, no fear, no hesitation or timidity in his eyes... There was no trace of negative emotion at all. He even had the same trust and admiration for her as usual.
But Song Jingyan suddenly couldn't say anything.
Bian Hongqiu didn't ask any further. "Uncle Ju and Ah have done me such a favor that it's hard to just brush it off. Sister, I've been with Uncle Ju for months, and he asks for nothing. He's a worldly-wise yet honest man. I can't think of how to repay him. Ah has been in the mansion these days. Do you know what he wants?"
Song Jingyan looked straight into his eyes and knew that Bian Hongqiu was asking sincerely.
She shook her head. "He doesn't ask for much. Money doesn't really matter to him. I can tell his request isn't for himself."
Bian Hongqiu nodded and said, "Sister, please find a sword for me first."
He poured more tea and said in a steady voice, "Uncle Ju said he likes to hold a sword, no matter what kind. The sword he's holding now was given to me by my sister. I can't give it to him. Please find another sword for me."
Song Jingyan understood what Bian Hongqiu meant.
She was in a state of confusion: "Your Highness, do you want to keep Ah Shi by your side? This is very dangerous. Ah Shi has been to the Taiji Palace and met important dignitaries in the capital, including His Majesty..."
Bian Hongqiu interrupted her, smiling and asking sincerely, "I want him to stay. Sister, will he be willing to stay?"
Song Jingyan's plans to burn the bridge after crossing it were completely shattered by the unadulterated sincerity in his words. She recalled Liu Mengdie's words and took a few deep breaths, trying to break free from her usual role as the sole decision-maker and pretend to be just a counselor trying to please her master. She pondered anxiously for nearly an incense stick of time before speaking frankly, "Your Highness, ah... you probably don't want to stay."
Finally, he said, "He can't stay either."
Bian Hongqiu lowered his eyes, his expression not changing much, and nodded slightly.
Like a gust of white-haired winter wind, Song Jingyan's burning worries melted away by his unhurried demeanor. At that moment, it was as if she were looking in a mirror, seeing another version of herself, so expressionless that no matter how hard she looked, she could only see a flawless mask.
The first thought in her mind was: Who said that His Highness was by her side but didn't look like her at all?
Then another voice of his own was heard: When did Your Highness become so much like her?
Song Jingyan touched the warm tea in her hand, and thought about it from her own perspective. She actually understood why Bian Hongqiu had torn off all his unclear disguises in front of Shao Zheng and others, but still pretended to be peaceful with her in this room while drinking delicious tea.
Her Highness left her, sharpened his edge, but his soft heart remained unchanged.
Song Jingyan's shoulders slumped, finally letting go of her bad feelings towards Meng Shizhuang. She had a premonition that the thread that had connected her to Bian Hongqiu since her birth was slowly unraveling without her noticing. It would never break, but perhaps one day it would become so loose that she would no longer feel it—just like how everyone treats their loved ones.
The role she played in Bian Hongqiu's life, where she refused to let go of every detail, was no longer needed from today on.
Song Jingyan smiled her first relieved smile since Bian Hongqiu returned home. "A good sword is hard to find. I will do my best to find it. Your Highness, you may want to ask Mr. Ju. Ah... someone who is not close to him cannot persuade him."
Bian Hongqiu nodded again, and then talked to her about the future of Prince Liang's Mansion.
"When Ah Shi is able to walk again, I want to invite him into the palace. In the name of Prince Liang's Mansion, he will volunteer to go to the Western Border to fight against the rebels. Just like my father, he will not return until peace is restored in the Western Border, unless he dies in battle."
Song Jingyan: "Ever since I arrived in the capital, I've seen all the arrangements Your Majesty has made, and I've always felt that Your Majesty is unwell. Now in Dayu, Xi Zhongting has taken over most of the prefectures with drastic measures, leaving only the eighteen states of Zuodan under the control of the Western King. Your Highness, have you ever considered that there are only a few generals available now, and with the late king gone, why would Your Majesty use the Liang Palace to stir up trouble on the battlefield?"
Bian Hongqiu stood up and walked around in the light under the window with his hands behind his back.
"Sister, I've never thought about this before. Mr. Liu is very knowledgeable, but he hates the court and His Majesty too much. You can't fail to see this. Why did you ask Mr. Liu to teach me?"
Song Jingyan clenched her hands.
Bian Hongqiu didn't wait for her answer, "Sister, this is not what you want to ask me."
"If His Majesty truly wanted to see the outcome in a clash of armies, he wouldn't have Xi Zhongting unleash his sword in the prefectures that were already harboring the desire to return. Xi Zhongting was his most trusted minister, so why would he leave him alone and choose someone among the court officials, an old marquis who hadn't learned swordsmanship in decades?" He looked at Song Jingyan with a cold moon in his eyes. "Your Majesty still has something very important in the hands of the King of Jingxi, right?"
"He wanted to find a scapegoat who could help him buy time and, after the war, stop the world from gossiping about him."
"Your Majesty is waiting for Prince Liang's Mansion to speak."
Bian Hongqiu stood in front of Song Jingyan, his voice and eyes as calm as ever: "This is also our chance."
Song Jingyan swallowed all her probing words and said, "Then how will the Liang Palace escape unscathed after capturing the Jingxi Queen?"
Bian Hongqiu was silent for a moment. When he looked into her eyes, there was a fire in them that had never burned before. "I don't know now, but staying in the capital is a dead end." He said four words that he had never believed before: "Everything depends on human effort."
He said, "Sister, I will never give up on this matter halfway. I will definitely do it."
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