Chapter 109 [VIP] Shadow Guard (23)
Ye Qiuchen kept watching Zhao Shiqi leave. Seeing that he didn't stop at all, he turned around and hugged Nan Yan even tighter. The person in his arms was probably too tired from crying. She stared blankly in the direction where the man disappeared, and for a moment she even forgot to struggle.
What happened tonight was too unexpected. Ye Qiuchen didn't want to go on any more, especially when he saw the person in his arms looking so badly bullied. Ye Qiuchen simply picked the person up and prepared to go back and talk about it later.
It was only later that he heard people around him talking about the man who looked exactly like Ying Shiqi, who was the prince of the Pingnan Palace. He had been living in the Big Buddha Temple for many years due to illness and was only brought back to the palace in recent years. He rarely went out on weekdays, so it was normal that others did not recognize him...
Ye Qiuchen sneered in his heart and lowered his eyes slightly. In fact, no matter who he was, no matter whether he was the real Ying Seventeen or the most noble prince in the Pingnan Palace, as long as he didn't show up in front of them, didn't disturb their peaceful life, and didn't snatch Nan Yan away from him, he could ignore everything.
Ye Qiuchen carried Nan Yan back to the small courtyard where they had lived. The empty courtyard before had now become a very warm and lively home. There were several orchids that she loved planted in the yard, right in front of her window. When the orchids bloomed, the fragrance of the orchids could spread through the gaps into her room, and he planted a row of white cabbage in the open space next to it.
She used to laugh at him for being unromantic. Why was he planting cabbages next to orchids? How ugly it looked! But he just thought it looked good, and that they were a good match. Her precious and exquisite orchid matched his worthless cabbage. It was clearly she who was unromantic.
Ye Qiuchen put Nan Yan down and sat her on the stool. She seemed to have lost her soul since she came back. Tears were flowing silently and her eyes were slightly red and swollen from crying. Ye Qiuchen felt really distressed when he saw her. He quickly went to the house to get a basin of cold water, soaked a cotton cloth in it, and then carefully wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Stop crying..."
He spoke in a low voice, distressed but helpless. His hands moved more and more slowly, fearing that if he used a little more force, he would break her. He sighed softly, "Do you know what you look like now?"
Nan Yan's eyes turned red, and her nose felt sore again when she heard his words. Only then did she react a little. Her gaze slowly fell on him, and there seemed to be some confusion in her eyes.
It's good that I responded, and fortunately I didn't ignore him.
Ye Qiuchen pursed his lips, gently pressed the tear marks on both sides of her cheeks with a wet cloth, and continued, "Very ugly! Your eyes are swollen like two walnuts, so ugly."
Nan Yan: “…”
"Now, other people will think that you are even less worthy of my handsome and intelligent husband, especially the romantic and passionate young widow next door. I'm afraid she will ask me to be her bedfellow again. What do you think we should do now?"
Nan Yan was originally brewing a sad mood, and she almost couldn't hold back her expression after hearing these words. If she was amused by this, her character would be ruined.
She pinched her fingertips hard to calm herself down. Her eyelashes trembled slightly and tears fell.
She knew he said that on purpose to divert her attention and make her happy.
But she really couldn't be happy at the moment, so the corners of her mouth twitched stiffly, and an expression on her face that was uglier than crying appeared.
Ye Qiuchen sighed softly, pressed her head against his chest, and coaxed her patiently, "Stop laughing, laughing is uglier than crying. Do you want to give me nightmares at night?"
Ye Qiuchen talked to her for a long time, and the atmosphere in the air gradually eased.
Nan Yan's expression relaxed a lot, but when she thought about how close they were now, her body stiffened a little. She reached out and slowly pushed the man away, then said softly, "Shiqi is not dead... He is back."
Ye Qiu calmed down and retorted, "That's not Ying Seventeen."
When Nan Yan heard this, her eyes immediately became moist, and even her voice became a little nervous. She repeated several times, "No, he is Seventeen, I know, I can feel it, he is Seventeen, I won't mistake him..."
Ye Qiuchen took a deep breath, and suddenly felt helpless. He stretched out his hand to twist her shoulders and looked into her eyes seriously. "Yanyan, listen to me. He is not Seventeen. He is just a person who looks like Seventeen. He is the prince of Pingnan Palace. Do you understand what a prince is? He is high above and has a noble status. He is definitely not the obedient little shadow guard Seventeen beside you. Can you face the reality?"
"You lied to me! You lied to me again." Hearing this, Nan Yan's emotions were obviously out of control again. She trembled and struggled. She slapped his palm away and cried at him loudly, "I won't believe you, liar, you liar! He is Seventeen, my Seventeen. Don't touch me, and don't even think about deceiving me again."
"Okay, okay, I won't touch you. Just calm down and listen to me, okay?" After noticing Nan Yan's body trembling, Ye Qiu consciously let go of her hand, fearing that she would get too excited and hurt herself. He slowed down his voice and continued to comfort her, "Listen to me, if he is really seventeen, why doesn't he come back to find you? If he is really seventeen, how could he watch you being taken away by me and remain indifferent?"
"Don't you remember? Once in the ruined temple, I accidentally touched your waist, and he chased me and fought with me for half the night. He liked you so much, it was impossible for him to ignore you, and it was even more impossible for him to push you away. Have you forgotten all this?"
Ye Qiuchen told her everything about the past bit by bit, revealing all the most obvious truths. If that person was really Seventeen, he would never hurt her.
Nan Yan finally couldn't hold back her tears and shed them.
She didn't know how to explain this, especially when she thought of the scene on the street. He was so caring towards another girl in front of her, and he even said that he would marry her in the future. How could she possibly accept this?
But...but how could she give up?
She waited for him with great difficulty.
Nan Yan wiped away her tears vigorously. Her mind was still a little confused for a moment, her eyes were wandering, and she racked her brains to find all kinds of suitable explanations and excuses for his abnormal behavior.
"These... maybe it's all because he was injured. Yes, that must be the case."
She explained incoherently, a reason that she herself probably didn't even believe, "You know, that cliff is so high, how could an ordinary person not get hurt if he fell down?"
"He must have been hurt very badly, so he forgot about me for a while. As long as I stay with him and tell him everything about our past, he will definitely remember it. He obviously likes me so much..."
She nodded hard, trying to convince herself, and then as if she remembered something, she took out the jade pendant from her arms. It was the one he had worn since he was a child, and it was a token of their love. With it, he would definitely remember it again.
She really can't give up this time.
As Nan Yan spoke, she held the jade pendant in the palm of her hand, trying to hold it close to her heart. Tears rolled down her face, and she clenched her fingers tightly, as if she had grasped the most important thing in her life.
Ye Qiuchen looked at her like this and suddenly asked in a low voice, "What about me?"
When Nan Yan heard this, her body stiffened slightly.
Her eyelashes trembled, and her eyes fell on Ye Qiuchen in front of her. His expression was somewhat complicated and embarrassed, with a hint of sadness and pleading. He stared at her without blinking.
"You promised me that you would give me a chance. Are you going to give up on me now? Yanyan, please don't be like this. Can't we live this ordinary life together just like before? I will take care of you for the rest of your life. Can you forget about him?"
He walked in front of her without knowing when, and grabbed her shoulders with both hands, with increasing force.
Nan Yan was silent for a moment. After a long time, she moved her lips and said softly, "I'm sorry, the only person I like from beginning to end is Seventeen."
"Except for him... no one else can do it?"
Nan Yan's eyes showed a trace of guilt. She bit her lip and finally nodded, "I'm sorry, Seventeen is Seventeen. No one can replace him. No one else can replace him."
Her tone was so firm.
Ye Qiuchen loosened his hand and took a step back.
Especially after hearing her affirmative answer, I felt cold all over, as if someone had drenched me from head to toe with ice water, and my heart was completely chilled.
He didn't know how to describe his feelings at the moment?
I just felt a stuffiness and pain in my chest. It was a very uncomfortable feeling, as if someone was squeezing my heart heavily. If I breathed a little harder, it felt like I was being pricked by countless needles. The dense pain kept spreading in my chest.
How could this happen?
Why did it become like this?
Ye Qiuchen really felt that he was powerless.
Obviously... he had worked so hard for so long, he had done so many things, he had spent a happy year with her, they had so many beautiful memories, he thought... she liked him to some extent.
But why? Why did Ying Shiqi only appear once, just that one time!
She regretted and backed down without hesitation, making all his previous efforts go to waste. Why couldn't he get even a little bit of her attention despite trying his best?
Is it true that she has no feelings for him at all?
葉秋沉突然覺得眼眶有些泛酸，他下意識別過臉，不想讓她看清自己臉上的表情，可是餘光瞥到她此刻魂不舍舍的樣子時，心裏真的不知道該怎麽辦才好了？
此時的胸口空落落的好像被什麽挖空了似的，密密麻麻的刺痛逐漸蔓延全身，讓他連大腦都有些混沌痛苦起來了。
他真的沒有想到，自己拼盡了全力去照顧她，在她眼裏，他仍然是比不上影十七的，他永遠也取代不了他。
葉秋沉下意識地往後退了幾步。
他腳步踉跄着，整個人仿佛有些承受不住了似的，轉身就往外走。
他此刻腦海中只剩下一個念頭，那就是想離開這兒，離得遠遠的，再也不回來了，他怕自己再待下去，真的會做出什麽不好的事情。
葉秋沉面色發白，他捏緊手指，幾乎是狼狽似地逃離了這間院子。
而南嫣看着他離開的背影，眼裏露出愧疚的情緒，她嘴唇張了張，但最終什麽挽留的話都沒有說出來，也沒有去追。
她此刻全部的心神都系在了十七身上，已經無暇去顧及旁人的想法是什麽樣的了，她現在想的是怎麽樣才能讓十七記起她來。
南嫣努力回憶着，她想起兩人在村子裏隐居的那段日子，還有兩人準備成親的前一天，那個鐵憨憨抱着她不肯撒手，一邊臉紅一邊在她耳旁認真說着要生小十七的事情，還有他第二天臨出門前還說要吃她做的槐花糕點心，可惜到後來他都沒有吃上，而她的糕點也沒有做完……
他們之間有那麽多回憶，他明明那麽喜歡她的，他只是暫時忘記了而已，只要她告訴他了，他就一定會記起來的。
南嫣輕輕擦了把眼淚，很快就平複了情緒，想到從前的那些事情，心頭又有了些安慰，她現在終于可以做給他吃了。
……
第二天一早，南嫣就起來了，昨晚葉秋沉一直都沒有回來過，她也不知道他去哪兒了，總之她現在真的沒有心思去管他了。
她忙碌了一早上，終于将所有東西都準備完全了，然後就直接去了平南王府。
她昨天聽到他身旁的小厮說了，後來又找人去打聽過了，如今的十七不是從前那個什麽都不懂的小影衛了，他是平南王府的世子趙時栖，可是在她眼裏，不管他是影衛還是世子，她在意的都只是他這個人而已。
南嫣走了好久才終于找到平南王府的府邸，真正的高門大院，門前是兩尊威嚴高大的石獅子，府邸周圍戒備森嚴，南嫣剛走到門口，就被兩個看門的護衛攔下了。
“哪裏來的野丫頭，知道這裏是什麽地方嗎？王府也敢擅闖？不要命了嗎？”
南嫣被兩人推的一個踉跄，往後退了幾步，連忙解釋道，“沒有擅闖，我是來找你們世子的，能麻煩你們幫我通報一下，就說……就說有個叫嫣嫣的姑娘找他有事可以嗎？”
護衛果斷擺了擺手，十分嫌棄地拒絕了，“通報什麽通報？我們幫你通報也沒用，世子這幾天都不在府裏，有事出門去了。”
南嫣臉色有些發白，立馬着急追問道，“你說的是真的嗎？十七他真的不在府裏嗎？那他去哪兒了，什麽時候回來？”
護衛被她追問的不耐煩了，直接擺手讓她滾遠點，“你這女子怎麽事情那麽多，世子的行蹤我們怎麽怎麽敢窺探？反正世子不在府裏就是了，其餘的我們都不知道。”
南嫣又糾纏問了好久，最後那護衛實在是招架不住了這才稍微透露了點風聲，據說是那日花燈節之後，世子的未婚妻就生病了，世子這次出門是特意去請大夫去了，少說也得要個兩三天才能回來。
知道這事之後，南嫣心中有些失望，但此刻也沒辦法了，她只能坐在王府門前苦等着，一直等了三天，每天往返一個來回，有好幾次因為等的太久幹脆就坐在那個石墩前睡過去了。
直到第三天早上，她才終于等到人。
趙時栖才終于回來了。
南嫣遠遠的就瞧見一輛馬車朝着王府正門的方向駛來了，尤其是看到十七從車裏下來時，她幾乎是下意識就沖了上去，臉上帶了一絲歡喜的笑容，然後伸手緊緊拽着他的袖子，“十七，你終于回來了，我等你好久了，我這幾天一直在門口等你。”
趙時栖聽到聲音下意識轉身去看，等他看清來人是誰，又看到對方那蒼白的面色，眉頭不自覺地就皺起來了，“怎麽又是你，你來做什麽，我已經說過了，我不認識你。”
趙時栖看到她只覺得胸口煩悶，他想起了生病的顏顏，大概那天晚上真的被氣着了，顏顏一回府就病了，病得甚至都站不起來，再看到眼前這個活蹦亂跳的罪魁禍首，趙時栖的臉色不自覺地就冷了下來。
一旁的管家趕緊上前來接人，“世子，您回來了，章大夫……這……”
趙時栖這才回過神來，他轉過頭對着管家吩咐，“你先帶章大夫回府，讓他看看顏顏怎麽樣了，這邊的事情等我先處理好再說。”
管家得了吩咐自然是帶着大夫趕緊進了府，而南嫣還在緊緊抓着他的袖子不放，看他冷冰冰地對着衆人吩咐，那樣陌生的氣勢，還有他甚至都不肯看她一眼。
這讓南嫣的面色瞬間變得蒼白了，她抿着唇，整個人顯得有些局促不安，“十七，我是來找你的，你這幾天去哪裏了，為什麽都不告訴我一聲？”
趙時栖簡直覺得莫名其妙，他不覺得自己的行蹤有必要告訴一個陌生人，更何況這人還是氣病顏顏的罪魁禍首。
趙時栖皺了眉，“這就是你要跟我說的事？如果是這樣的話，那你可以離開了。”
他低頭看她一眼，看她眼裏還閃着淚花，但他此刻真的沒心情跟她糾纏。
他說完轉身就要走，卻被南嫣一直拽着袖子不肯放，她臉上明顯有些着急，一路跟着他往前小跑了好一段距離，“不是的，不是的，十七，你等一下，我還有東西要給你的，你先別走，等我一下好嗎？”
趙時栖聽到這話又停了下來。
他扭頭看着南嫣，看她一路小跑到不遠處的臺階上，然後從旁邊拿出了一個用包裹得很幹淨的食盒，又急急忙忙地跑回他面前，然後滿眼期待地把食盒遞給他，“我給你做了很好吃的槐花點心，費了不少心思的，你也知道現在都七月了，槐花早就沒有了，這還是我去年封存起來的花瓣，其實我每年都會提前存一些的，就為了……”
她還在絮絮叨叨地念着，趙時栖卻只覺得麻煩，幹脆打斷了她，“我不喜歡吃甜的，而且我不吃陌生人做的任何東西。”
陌生人？可是她不是陌生人啊。
南嫣表情愣了下，大概是沒想到自己會被拒絕，臉上忽然露出了些許委屈的表情，她把手指翻過來伸到他面前，指頭紅紅腫腫的，看着有些可憐，
“我很辛苦才做出來的，手指都燙紅了，你吃一塊好不好？你真的一點都不記得了嗎？這是我們成親前一天，你說要吃的我才一直記着的……”
趙時栖目光落在那雙柔軟纖細的手指上，指頭有些發紅，他有些不舒服地移開了視線，直接拒絕道，“我說了我不吃外人做的東西，以後沒事別再來煩我了，我真的不記得你說的那些亂七八糟的事情。”
他說着便不再理她，轉身就要離開，倘若不是那天推了她，讓他心存愧疚，他也不至于在門口被她耽誤這麽久。
趙時栖抿緊了唇，他真的得回去看看顏顏的身體怎麽樣了？
南嫣卻還是抓着他不肯松手，她神情越來越焦急，抓着他的力道也越來越緊，“你真的一點都不記得了嗎？”
趙時栖是真的厭煩了，“不記得。”
“那這個呢？” 她說着又從懷裏摸出一塊玉佩遞到他面前，眼裏滿是期盼跟緊張，“這個玉佩你還記得嗎？這是你從小就戴在身上的，是你成婚前送我當定情信物的，你說玉佩是你以前最重要的東西，以後我會是你最重要的，你自己說過的，你怎麽能忘了呢？”
她說着都快急哭了，眼眶通紅，又開始從口袋裏亂翻，然後翻出一枚珠釵遞到他眼前，“還有這個的，這枚珠釵也是你要送我的，就在你失蹤的那一天，你怎麽會不記得呢？你好好想想啊，我才是你的嫣嫣……”
趙時栖目光落到她手上的玉佩和珠釵上，他沒想到她準備的東西還挺齊全，一環套着一環的，要不是一點記憶都沒有的話，或許他真的快要信服了。
Zhao Shiqi looked at the woman in front of him with a cold gaze, "Okay, stop pretending. I have no impression of what you said. You may not know that after returning that night, I asked someone to check your identity. You are the fourth lady of Qixia Villa. If you want to avenge your father through me, it is impossible."
In fact, he had always wondered why she could call out his name so accurately that night. So he sent someone to investigate that night. Not only did he find out her identity, he also knew that she had lived with the man that night for a year, and they usually called each other husband and wife, so how could such a person have such a messy relationship with him?
Later, when he found out her identity, he realized that this woman probably wanted to use him to avenge his father. After all, Qixia Villa was destroyed by the Pingnan Palace.
This time, Nan Yan couldn't hold back her tears any more. She shook her head and cried helplessly, "It's not like that. It's not like what you said. How could you not remember it at all? This is clearly the token of love you gave me..."
At this moment, the housekeeper came out again. When he saw Zhao Shiqi, he immediately stepped forward and said, "Hey, my prince, why are you still here? Miss Yan just woke up and is anxious to see you. The princess is also urging you to go back. Please go over with me to take a look."
Zhao Shiqi immediately said "hmm" when he heard this.
He easily broke free of Nan Yan's fingers and walked away, but the man behind him kept pestering him, trying to pass the jade pendant to him, crying.
"Look carefully, there's no way you wouldn't remember it..."
Zhao Shiqi was really impatient with being entangled, and subconsciously waved his sleeves to get rid of her approach. He didn't actually use much strength this time.
But the opponent might not have stood steadily, and was thrown by him, staggering and falling backwards uncontrollably in an instant.
But this time no one could catch her in time.
Nan Yan accidentally fell down the stairs, and the jade pendant in her hand hit the ground with a "snap" and broke into two pieces.
She hit her palm on the steps, and she didn't know where she was injured. A trace of blood flowed out from between her fingers.
At that moment, Zhao Shiqi didn't know what happened. He just felt as if something had stung his chest. There was a sudden sharp pain, and he subconsciously reached out to support her.
Nan Yan shrank back unconsciously.
This also made Zhao Shiqi's outstretched fingers freeze.
Nan Yan raised her head, tears still on her cheeks, but the light in her eyes seemed to be completely extinguished at that moment. Her bubble-like dark eyes just stared at him quietly, and as she looked at him, she suddenly felt that the person in front of her was a very strange person.
Zhao Shiqi had not expected things to turn out like this. He pursed his lips. For a moment, he looked just like Shiqi, anxious and nervous.
"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean it this time..."
He didn't know why he felt so anxious at this moment, and his chest felt empty, as if he had really done something that could not be undone.