Chapter 95: Rewards and punishments gave her a familiar feeling.
It was almost noon when Song Baoyuan saw her son who had been missing since early morning.
Before she could speak, Jiang Suisui rushed over and asked, "Where did Daddy take you to play?"
"Palace!"
Jiang Chengyou answered very loudly, obviously trying to show off.
Jiang Suisui didn't know where that was, but from her brother's expression she could guess that it was a very interesting place.
She suddenly felt wronged, turned around and threw herself into her mother's arms, "Yeah!"
She looked up and asked, "Why doesn't Daddy take me?"
Song Baoyuan herself didn't understand, but she still explained, "Don't make noise during the New Year's harvest. The palace is not a place for fun."
Jiang Suisui didn't understand and was still unhappy, burying his head in her chest.
It was Liu'an who brought the child back. After he entered the house, he stood aside in silence. When Song Baoyuan looked over, he avoided her gaze.
"Where's your husband?"
Liu'an lowered his head. "My dear husband is still in the palace discussing important matters with His Majesty. I asked you to send the young master back first."
"Why did he bring Chengcheng into the palace?"
"I can't get in, so I naturally don't know."
Song Baoyuan was skeptical. She looked at her son who had come to her side and asked softly, "What did Daddy take you to do?"
Jiang Chengyou looked up and answered honestly, "Daddy asked me to meet someone called His Majesty the Emperor! Then His Majesty the Emperor took me to meet a quiet brother and asked if I wanted to play with him."
A quiet brother?
Song Baoyuan thought for a moment, "So what did you say?"
"I agree!" Jiang Chengyou smiled brightly.
Song Baoyuan was amused by his innocent look of shaking his head.
"Ahem." Liu'an cleared his throat and spoke in a conflicted tone, "Miss, my husband gave me a few more instructions."
Song Baoyuan looked over and waited for what would happen next, feeling like a dog would be unable to spit out ivory.
"My dear husband said he won't come today, and of course he won't come in the future, never again..." Liu'an's voice became softer and softer, feeling very uncomfortable, "He's bothering the young lady."
Song Baoyuan was not surprised at all, and didn't know whether to be angry or amused.
"He said that if he doesn't come to the old house, the young lady shouldn't go back either." Liu'an spoke very quickly, trying to quickly explain it. "Also, the young master has something to do at the moment, so I'll ask the young lady to take care of the young master and the young lady. He will send someone to pick them up in a while."
"What's going on?" Song Baoyuan was already suppressing her anger, and hearing these familiar words made her even more frustrated. "Did he encounter another assassination attempt and get seriously injured?"
Liu'an seemed to be hesitant to speak, as if he was left speechless by the question.
"What on earth is he doing?"
Liu'an couldn't help but tremble in his heart. After all, he had never heard such obvious anger in his young lady's tone.
"No." He said with a little timidity, "It's just, it's just because of the matter of Marquis Pingyuan, my lord needs to make amends, so, that's why I received a small reward from His Majesty."
Song Baoyuan was still angry, but she didn't know what to say.
Until Qiao Yue came running over, "Miss, there's a guest. He said he's from the palace and wants to deliver an imperial decree!"
Song Baoyuan was still angry and was slow to react.
"Miss?"
Song Baoyuan woke up in shock, "Help me up quickly."
There were four or five people standing in front of the gate of the old house. The one in the middle was the eunuch who was close to His Majesty, and whom Song Baoyuan had met.
The eunuch was kind and said as soon as he saw the people: "Madam Song, take the young master to receive the imperial edict."
Jiang Chengyou was a nervous boy and didn't understand what her mother meant, but when he saw his mother kneeling down, he followed her example.
"Your Majesty has decreed that Jiang Chengyou, the son of Jiang Keyu, Junior Justice of the Dali Temple, is intelligent, kind-hearted, and eager to learn. Therefore, he has been summoned to the Eastern Palace to serve as the Crown Prince's companion!"
There was no warning, it happened too suddenly. Song Baoyuan was frightened and couldn't tell whether it was good or bad, and didn't know whether to be happy or sad.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."
The father-in-law bent down deliberately to deliver the decree. Song Baoyuan glanced sideways and motioned her son beside her to take it.
Jiang Chengyou reached out to take it and immediately looked at his mother, as if asking if it was right to do so.
"Thank you for your hard work, father-in-law." Song Baoyuan stood up and said politely.
The eunuch sighed, "It's probably about time. Madam Song should hurry to the palace."
Song Baoyuan was bewildered for a moment, and after a while she suddenly realized, "Yes, I will go to the palace to thank you."
"That's not it. Your Majesty said there's no need to express your gratitude."
Song Baoyuan was confused. Apart from this, what else did she need to enter the palace for?
Unable to guess, he just bit the bullet and asked, "Then why do you want me to enter the palace?"
The father-in-law seemed to be surprised that she would ask this, and he was visibly stunned for a moment.
Song Baoyuan began to feel suspicious.
"Oh!" The eunuch patted his head. "It's about thanking the emperor. I just remembered that His Majesty has excused her, so Madam Song doesn't have to go. Since the decree has been delivered, we will return first."
"Then take care, sir."
Although she was not able to move, Song Baoyuan still escorted them out the door. After they left, she looked back at the imperial edict in Jiang Chengyou's hand, her eyes filled with confusion.
The prince's study companion?
The incident of Marquis Pingyuan just happened, so why is there such an order coming down? It seems like reward instead of punishment.
To say that Your Majesty trusts your subjects is too much. How can the subjects accept this?
No matter how you think about it, it doesn't make sense. Chengcheng has a naughty temper, and his father knows it very well, so how could he dare to let him into the palace?
He is beside the crown prince, and any slight offense could be a crime.
The more Song Baoyuan thought about it, the more worried she became.
Moreover, what did the eunuch mean by letting her enter the palace just now? It was obviously not what he said.
She looked at Liu'an again, who turned his head away hurriedly.
"Are you guys hiding something from me?"
Liu'an shook his head and bowed, "The young master has been sent back. I will go back to the palace gate to wait for my husband."
Before Song Baoyuan could say anything, he had already left.
"Mother." Jiang Chengyou tugged at the hem of his mother's clothes and held up the imperial edict, asking, "What is this?"
Song Baoyuan frowned slightly. Too many things seemed unreasonable. If she wanted to figure it out, she could only ask that guy.
He couldn't have done it on purpose!
First he said that, then he did that. Because it concerned the child, she had to find out, so she had to go back to the house to find him.
Wouldn't this mean that she would bow her head first?
They even went to so much trouble to drag the child into this, how despicable!
The more Song Baoyuan thought about it, the angrier she became.
"mother?"
Jiang Chengyou was ignored and was confused.
Song Baoyuan looked down at him, was silent for a while, and said firmly: "Go ask Daddy, Mom will take you there."
Liu'an had just left. If she went out now, she would definitely be able to stop them before they returned home.
"Qiao Yue, prepare the carriage."
Qiao Yue was surprised. "Miss, you look like this, are you sure you want to go out?"
"It's okay. I'll just stay in the carriage."
I just don't want to see him, Song Baoyuan thought. It was obviously him who was being unreasonable, but he got angry and acted arrogant first. What's the logic!
Seeing the annoyance on her young lady's face, Qiao Yue couldn't help but marvel in her heart. No matter in the past or now, the only one who could make her young lady so emotional was her husband.
Although the emotions stirred are different.
*
The carriage arrived in front of the palace gate. Seeing Liu'an sitting in the carriage waiting in front, Song Baoyuan asked the coachman to stop at a distance.
She didn't plan to show up, so she asked Qiao Yue to take the child to find out.
She sat alone in the carriage, while Qiao Yue, Jiang Chengyou and Jiang Suisui sat outside, playing with flower ropes to pass the time.
Song Baoyuan leaned against the car wall and yawned.
After all, I hadn't had a good rest for two days. I was sleepy but couldn't sleep. I was really tortured.
"Miss!"
Qiao Yue suddenly shouted, scaring Song Baoyuan.
"What's wrong?" she said slowly, "My dear husband is coming out?"
Qiao Yue suddenly opened the curtain and widened her eyes, "Lang, Lang Jun, he, he, is out."
"Why are you panicking? Bring the young master and young lady over there and ask what I told you." Song Baoyuan thought she was frightened last night. "It's okay. He won't do anything to you in public."
Qiao Yue turned around, her voice trembling, "My dear, he, he... Miss, you should take a look for yourself!"
Song Baoyuan frowned, pulled aside the curtains and looked out.
He froze at the first sight, a chill running down his spine.
Jiang Keyu did emerge from the palace gate, but he didn't walk out; he was carried on someone's back. He was unconscious, his long hair half disheveled and his shirt thin. His back was covered in whip marks, bloody and staining the snow red.
Liu'an took the person over while crying.
Even from such a distance, Song Baoyuan could hear his sobbing.
"Miss..." Qiao Yue called out fearfully.
"Chengcheng Suisui, come in."
To avoid scaring the children to tears, Song Baoyuan quickly pulled them into the carriage before they noticed, "Aqi! Take the young master and the young lady home first."
"yes."
Song Baoyuan got off the carriage in a hurry, not caring about putting it down, and walked staggeringly.
If Qiao Yue hadn't helped him, he would have almost fallen to his knees in the snow.
Liu'an turned around and saw the person coming, crying even more wildly, "Miss, sob."
"What's going on?"
"Because of the incident involving Marquis Pingyuan, His Majesty said our young master disregarded the royal family and gave him fifty lashes."
"Why didn't you tell me you just came back?"
Liu'an felt uncomfortable and wronged, sobbing, "My husband won't let me. He said that you wouldn't feel sorry for him anyway, and maybe you even hope that he will die from these fifty lashes."
"he……"
Song Baoyuan looked at the pale, unconscious person, feeling angry and upset.
"Go home first!"
Liu An freed his hand and wiped his eyes, "Yes."
*
Everyone in the old house was in a state of panic, with maids carrying basins of blood out of the house. They were all very cautious, opening and closing doors without delay, for fear that the cold air would enter the house.
Jiang Keyu was lying on the couch covered with a mattress with her upper body naked, showing no signs of waking up.
The doctor who came in a hurry was frowning as he treated the countless wounds on his back bit by bit.
Song Baoyuan sat on the edge of the couch, her eyes blank, silent, her mind a mess of trivial matters.
After a full hour, the doctor finally straightened up and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I've applied the medicine carefully, and I'm fine for now. I just need to rest for a long time. Especially in the first few days, you need to be very careful. I'll prescribe a few more medicines, and if you take them internally and apply them externally, maybe you'll get better faster."
"Trouble."
"As I should." The doctor packed up his medicine box. "If you need anything else, Madam Song, just send someone to find me."
Song Baoyuan nodded and said, "Thank you, doctor."
Qiao Yue saw the doctor off. After the door opened and closed with a sound, the room fell into a long silence, with only the faint sound of burning charcoal.
Song Baoyuan stared quietly at the pale but still beautiful face beside her.
Jiang Keyu like this lacked a lot of momentum and seriousness, but gave her a familiar feeling from the old days.
It's really strange, Song Baoyuan thought. They had only quarreled for a day, and said with gritted teeth that they would never see each other again, but now they are so close to each other.
Fate is like a strong rope of fixed length, tying them at both ends and pulling them. Once someone has the idea of leaving, he will be pulled back at all costs.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
