Of course, Zhong Wenjin was just all talk. He did not dare to leave Xie Mansion at all without Xie Zhaoxue.
He returned to his room and locked the door easily. He then took off his □□, washed his face, threw off his boots angrily, and lay on the bed to sleep.
It was a bit awkward to go to bed at this time. It could neither be considered an afternoon nap nor an evening nap. If Zhong Wenjin goes to bed at this hour, he will definitely be refreshed until midnight.
But in the beginning he didn’t think about these, and he fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.
He was angry for a while and really fell asleep.
In his dream, he went back to seven years ago.
At that time, he was only eleven years old. He secretly took his servant boy, who served in his studies, and ran out to play. When they passed by the Donghu Bridge, he asked the servant boy to buy snacks while he waited by the river.
Bored of doing nothing, Zhong Wenjin jumped up to pick the leaves hanging down from the branches, and as he held his hands high, his sleeves slid down, revealing his fair and clear arm with a thin red silk tied around the wrist.
The silk was very narrow. It was wrapped around the wrist in several layers, and one could vaguely see the interlaced gold and silver embroidered on it.
While he was absorbed in doing it, a pair of hands suddenly grasped his wrists and pulled the red silk. Zhong Wenjin was startled and turned his head to look.
But it turned out to be a lovely, fair-skinned little girl with a vermillion hairpin and jade ornaments. There were many maidservants following behind her, and it was obvious at one glance that she was not an ordinary person.
When Zhong Wenjin saw her pull hard, he stretched out his hand to stop it and asked in confusion, “Who are you? Why are you tugging at my hand?”
“This ribbon belongs to my tangge1older male patrilineal cousin. I want to take it back!” The little girl said fiercely.
This was simply baffling.
Zhong Wenjin began to resist, but because it was a little girl, he still didn’t really exert his strength, and he yelled at her, “Get lost! This is my stuff!”
An older nanny who followed the little girl hurried forward, bent down to the little girl’s ear, put her hand on her arm, and begged, “Shan Jie’er, this is someone else’s stuff. We can’t take it!”
Is this taking? This is daylight robbery, okay!
But the little girl was still unwilling to let go. Her hands were small, but her strength was not small. She really pulled the ribbon till it became loose, and Zhong Wenjin pushed her hard in desperation.
This boosted her strength, causing her to completely pull the ribbon off, and at the same time, she was also pushed back. The terrible thing was that there was a sloping downhill behind her, and she rolled down several times and fell into the river.
This frightened everyone, and they hurriedly piled up by the river and shouted for help. The old woman’s eyes turned red, “Shan Jie’er! Shan Jie’er! Someone help!”
Zhong Wenjin didn’t expect his push to be so hard. He went down the slope in a panic, stepped on the edge of the shallow water with both his feet, and stretched out his hand to the little girl, “Give me your hand!”
The little girl choked on the water and was already crying out in fright. She struggled in panic, but instead went deeper into the river. Zhong Wenjin saw that her head was coming up and going down from time to time. He was so scared that he didn’t care about much and hurried to the river to rescue the girl.
Just when he took a few steps, when the river water wasn’t over his waist, and just as he was about to move forward, his arm was suddenly pulled back by a strong force. When he looked back, it turned out to be Xie Zhaoxue!
“Do you want to die?!” With an angry expression on his face, he pulled Zhong Wenjin out of the river in an instant, pushed him to the shore, and then jumped into the river to save the girl.
At this time, Zhong Wenjin’s fear overwhelmed his panic, and he watched Xie Zhaoxue rescue the girl to the shore very quickly.
Fortunately, the girl had just choked on a few mouthfuls of water, and it was no big deal. She hugged Xie Zhaoxue and cried loudly, “Tangge2Wait! If he is her cousin, then isn’t she Zhong Wenjin’s aunt?!, I thought I was going to die!”
Xie Zhaoxue said to her softly, while patting her back soothingly, “Shan’er, don’t be afraid. It’s okay.”
Only then did Zhong Wenjin become aware that this little girl was Xie Zhaoxue’s tangmei3younger female patrilineal cousin.
He got up hurriedly and tried to pull the girl’s arm, “Where is my stuff? Give it back to me!”
But halfway through, he was pushed away by a little boy, “What else do you want to do to my sister?!”
Zhong Wenjin staggered from being pushed and said angrily, “Your sister took my stuff!”
“Do you think she has anything in her hand? If you want to slander, you have to find a better reason!” The little boy’s voice was louder than his, and the expression on his face was a little terrifying as if he was about to beat him up in the next moment.
Zhong Wenjin took a look, and sure enough, he saw that the little girl had nothing in her hand. He hurriedly looked into the river again, but there was nothing except the aftermath left just now.
It was lost.
Xie Zhaoxue glanced down at his tangmei, who was still crying in his arms, and suddenly said, “Nanny Wu, what the h*** is going on?”
The nanny was also very scared originally. When she heard Xie Zhaoxue’s question, she opened her mouth and said, “This little boy came from nowhere and suddenly came out to rob Shan Jie’er’s things. He then pushed her into the river when he could not rob it from her. But this old slave and others had no time to stop it.”
After hearing this, Zhong Wenjin’s mind suddenly went blank, and he said stiffly, “What are you talking about?”
“Obviously it’s her……” He wanted to explain, but when he met Xie Zhaoxue’s eyes, the eyes that were as cold as ice shards, pierced his body and made him feel more uncomfortable than the coldness of the river water made him feel. He shivered, “It’s not like that……”
“You bastard!” The little boy on the side rushed up with his fist raised. Zhong Wenjin stood there woodenly, not knowing how to dodge.
That punch didn’t hit him in the end, and he was stopped by the servant boy who had hurried back, “Our Young Master is not that kind of a person!”
“Not that kind of a person? Do you think we don’t know what kind of a person Zhong Wenjin is? It is already spread all over the capital. What else is there to say!” The little boy struggled, “How dare you attack my sister. I will beat you to death today!”
Zhong Wenjin looked at the little girl, then at the young man, and then at the surrounding maidservants. Finally, his gaze stopped on Xie Zhaoxue’s face, and he suddenly understood.
These people were all surnamed Xie; only he was surnamed Zhong. No one would listen to his explanation, and no one would believe him, because they were all a family.
He looked at Xie Zhaoxue with resentment and anger, but he felt very powerless, and finally, he could only say to the servant boy, “Let’s go.”
Zhong Wenjin woke up from his dream all of a sudden, turned over, and sat up. The sadness had clearly passed over from the dream and filled his whole heart.
It’s just that he was not an eleven-year-old child at this time, and he was strong enough. He rubbed his face and sighed.
After sleeping for a long time, it was dark outside, and there was a faint candlelight burning in the room. The heater was burning vigorously, and the whole room was warm.
Candlelight? Heater?
Zhong Wenjin was very confused; he didn’t light these things when he went to sleep!
Turning his head, he saw a person sitting at the table in the room. The light of the fire on the table outlined the man’s handsome side face in a soft outline. He was holding his chin and looking at Zhong Wenjin, and it was unknown how long he had been sitting there.
At this time, Zhong Wenjin’s hair was a little messy from sleeping, and his eyes were bleary after waking up. He stretched out his hand and rubbed his eyes. He said, his beautiful eyebrows wrinkled, “Why are you here? Why didn’t you say anything?” The voice was very raspy.
Seeing him talk, Xie Zhaoxue moved, reaching out, and poured him a cup of cold tea. He walked to his bed and handed it to him, “Had a nightmare?”
Zhong Wenjin took a look, then hummed and drank half a cup of the cold tea in one gulp. After the cold water went down his throat, he was completely awake.
Xie Zhaoxue lowered his eyes and watched quietly as he finished drinking the glass of cold drink and then said, “I transferred Ding Ziyun to your room to serve you.”
Zhong Wenjin looked up at him in surprise, and before he could ask anything, he heard him continue to say, “If you really like her, get along well with her. Don’t use any tough methods.”
Hurray, you have given her to me, and now I have to “get along” with her.
He thought for a while, then suddenly laughed, “Okay, I will get along with her well. Thank you, little uncle.”
Xie Zhaoxue was taken aback. The number of times Zhong Wenjin had called him little uncle could really be counted on one’s fingers. Now when he called him that, it caught him off guard and made him a little uncomfortable, and he felt it to be peculiar.
Then Zhong Wenjin stuffed the teacup back into his hands and opened the quilt to get out of bed. Then when he looked down, he saw that the boots he had thrown away before going to bed were neatly placed by the bed. He picked them up and put them on.
“I want to eat. I’m hungry!” He shouted casually.
Xie Zhaoxue followed him and put the teacup back on the table, “You put on your □□ first.”
Zhong Wenjin would have almost forgotten it if he hadn’t said it, and he hurried to find the mask to put on. After sorting it out, he wanted to push the door out but found that he couldn’t push it. He looked down and saw that the lock was still hanging on it.
Zhong Wenjin asked in surprise, “How did you get in before?”
“How else can I get in. Of course, I climbed in through the window.” Xie Zhaoxue said as if it was a matter of course and as if he didn’t feel anything abnormal about climbing in through the window of his own home.
Zhong Wenjin found the key to unlock it again, and the two came out.
As soon as they went out, they sure enough saw Ding Ziyun guarding the door, took a quick look at the two of them, and then lowered her head. Zhong Wenjin saw her and immediately pointed to her and said, “You, go in and clean up.”
Xie Zhaoxue was simply angry about it but also found it laughable and shook his head helplessly.
Then the two left the Xie Mansion and went to eat on the street.
At this time, Liang Yanbei was in front of his house, looking up at the bright moon.
The cool breeze blew, and his figure was inexplicably a little depressed.
He counted on his fingers and found that he hadn’t seen Wen Chan for more than ten days since the sacrifice.
When the news that someone had poisoned him came out before, Liang Yanbei was so anxious that he almost tweaked his ears and scratched his cheeks, but the guards of the Xiyang Palace were too strict and there was no loophole to get in.
The released kite was shot down mercilessly, and there was no other way.
Liang Yanbei made a low sigh.
Suddenly there was a light whistle; Liang Yanbei turned his head and whispered, “Come out.”
A man came down from the tree on the side, and half knelt on the ground, “Master, the information has been found.”
“How is it?” Liang Yanbei asked.
“Well, the Concubine Mei used to have an affair with the eldest son of the Zhong family before entering the palace. For a while, five years ago, Concubine Mei secretly went out of the palace very frequently and she had private meetings with Zhong Wenting at an inn outside the capital. Soon afterward, she became pregnant and gave birth to the eleventh princess.”
“Do you suspect that the eleventh princess is Zhong Wenting’s daughter?” Liang Yanbei raised his eyebrows in surprise. Even though he thought a lot, he didn’t expect this.
“I dare not assert it.” The man said.
Liang Yanbei touched his chin, pondered for a while, and muttered to himself, “I have a good idea.”
When everyone was busy, Wen Chan was the only one lying leisurely on the chaise longue, wearing a quilt and holding a hand warmer.
Ah Fu waited by the side.
“Ah Fu, ask Si Yifang to make me a few more hand warmers.” Wen Chan suddenly said.
He remembered that during last year’s Shangyuan Festival, the hand warmer he took out was snatched away. He would bring a few more when he goes out again this year, as preparedness averts peril.
Ah Fu hurriedly responded, “Your Highness doesn’t need to order. This slave has already asked someone to do it, and it will be delivered in a few days.”
Wen Chan nodded in satisfaction, “Have you done all the things I arranged you to do?”
“Of course, how dare this slave delay.”
“Okay, let’s wait one more day.”
In one more day will be the emperor’s birthday.
Translator’s corner
Thank you so much for reading the chapter. If you liked my translation and wanna support me, you can comment down your thoughts or send me a Kofi.
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