third chapter
The night is already deep.
The jackdaws landed on the branches of the tall sycamore trees, and their black crow feathers were hidden in the night. Occasionally, a few crows could be heard.
It's already March at the foot of the mountain, and even though it's been cold in spring these past few days, it's not that cold. But on the top of the mountain, it was still desolate.
Xie Yu was wearing thin clothes and had a thin figure. He stood at the door and looked up at the lonely moon in the sky. He didn't know what he was thinking. Looking closer, he could see that the knuckles of his fingers, which he was holding on to the door frame, were white and the veins were bulging.
"Master, it's windy at night, why don't you wear a cloak." The boy handed over a cloak.
Xie Yu took it, but put it on his arm and didn't wear it. The bright moonlight splashed down and reflected on his face. Xie Yu's face was a bit pale, but his lips were bright red. His eyebrows were like mountains, and there was a chill in his eyes. But when his eyebrows and eyes came together, they looked as gentle as jade, without any trace of coldness. Aggression.
His whole body was shrouded in moonlight, which made him look noble and noble, and also gave him an indescribable look of melancholy.
"Then let's go back to Jinling tomorrow?" The boy asked again, "If we go back, I have to arrange the carriage first."
Xie Yu shook his head, looked back at him, and said in a hoarse tone, "Don't go back, stay here with brother for a few more days."
"I don't know if my brother will blame me."
The boy stepped aside and said no more, because he really didn't know what to say to comfort him.
The late old Marquis was originally the cousin of His Majesty. He and the late Emperor were both the great-grandsons of Emperor Gaozu and the hereditary and irreplaceable King of Yong'an.
At that time, troubles occurred one after another in the Yong'an Marquis Mansion, and the title was reduced again and again, downgrading two levels in a row. The Marquis was imprisoned, and he did not know whether he was alive or dead. Half of the sky in Yong'an Marquis' Mansion collapsed.
Suddenly, the whole Jinling City was filled with rumors that the Yong'an Marquis Mansion might soon have everyone executed.
It was at that time that Uncle Zhongqin proposed to break off the engagement. Xie Yu could actually understand. How could anyone jump into the fire pit helplessly? Husband and wife are still just birds in the same forest, and they have to fly separately when disaster strikes, not to mention that he and Su Yining have not yet become husband and wife.
She chose to retreat bravely, and he didn't blame her.
But after all, he was still young and did not understand this level. He refused to break off the engagement and went to Su's house to kneel for two days.
But Su Yining was cruel and didn't even open the door, letting him kneel in the rain for two days. In the end, when he was exhausted and unconscious, the figure he saw running towards him hurriedly was his brother.
Thinking of his brother again, Xie Yu couldn't help but hold his forehead. The veins on his forehead were pulsing, and there seemed to be thousands of troops fighting in his head, giving him a splitting headache.
"Your Majesty, do you have a headache again? I'll help you go to the couch to rest."
Xie Yu let go of the cloak in his hand, let the servant support him, and sat on the couch.
"That day when my brother came to the Su Mansion to pick me up, why didn't he bring anyone with him? Why was he ambushed on the way back to the Mansion, and why did the Su family's eldest son show up?" Xie Yu asked the boy, holding his head.
"Why, they were the ones who died in the end, but I was left alone."
The boy couldn't answer. He had been asking this question for three years.
At that time, the case was handed over to the Tingwei Mansion, and the result of the investigation was that a group of criminal thieves wanted to rob the official's carriage at night, and accidentally ran into the Yong'an Marquis Mansion, and the eldest son of the Su family had a good relationship with the eldest son of the Yongan Marquis Mansion. I happened to come to him to tell him about the marriage between Xie and Su's family.
There was a mistake in the patrol camp's change of defense that night, and there was no one on the street, so no one came to help. The eldest son of the Xie family was killed on the spot, and the eldest son of the Su family died of serious injuries and followed him the next day.
Only Xie Yu, who had a high fever in the carriage from the beginning, was let go.
It was precisely because of this high fever that Xie Yu was in a coma for ten days and was unable to even attend his brother's funeral.
Over the years, he had thought countless times that if he had not been obsessed with going to the Su Mansion to ask for his engagement back, and if he had not knelt down and fainted in front of the Su Mansion, his brother would not have come in the rain and would not have lost his life.
The more he thought about the past, the more unable to calm down his heart became, and his headache became more severe. He couldn't remember anything about that night.
However, he couldn't even hate, and could only be trapped in endless self-blame and regret.
"Go find the carriage and go back now." Xie Yu pressed his forehead, his eyes were scarlet and filled with chills.
"Your Majesty, are we going back overnight?" The boy was stunned. Didn't Xie Yu just say that he wanted to stay at Daxiangguo Temple for a few more days?
While speaking, Xie Yu had already stood up and walked to the door. His long fingers picked up the cloak that had just fallen to the ground and put it on his body.
"Yes, go back now."
"Isn't she the same person? Let's go see who she wants to marry."
*
It has been raining in Jinling City for several days. The spring rain is falling, which is annoying.
Ever since Su Yining met Xie Yu at the door of Ruyizhai that day, she would wake up in the middle of the night for several days in a row. It was not a nightmare, but she would dream about some things from the past over and over again, and then she would suddenly wake up from the dream. Saw it.
In the end that day, she did not go to the teahouse to meet Chen Qilang. After returning home, she thought about meeting Xie Yu during the day and stayed up all night. Early the next morning, she and her grandmother came to Daxiangguo Temple.
Burn incense and pray for her brother.
They had no intention of staying at the Daxiangguo Temple. They never expected that the sky would be clear when they arrived, but when they were about to leave, there would suddenly be a storm. The mountain road was difficult to travel, it was raining, and they were all female relatives, so they stayed at the Daxiangguo Temple.
This delay lasted several days.
"Girl Ning, I heard that it is good to ask for marriage in Daxiangguo Temple, and it will be fulfilled. Why don't you go and ask for it too?" The eldest lady, Zheng, pulled her and said with a smile in front of the old lady.
Su Yining supported her grandmother and did not move.
But the old lady listened to what she said and patted her arm: "Go, grandma will accompany you to beg." As she spoke, the old lady coughed a few times.
Neither grandfather nor grandson spoke to Mrs. Zheng anymore, and they supported each other and walked towards the front hall.
As they walked, the old lady sighed: "Hey, if that bastard father of yours hadn't taken it upon himself to break off the engagement with the Yong'an Marquis Mansion, you would have had children."
Now that she is old and feels that her life is short, the only one she can't let go of is Su Yining.
The grandfather and grandson knelt in the main hall and worshiped devoutly towards the Buddha statue.
Su Yining helped her grandmother up, and the two of them stood under the Buddha statue, both looking worried.
"That stepmother of yours is so talkative that she doesn't treat you sincerely. She even thinks that you two sisters are blocking the way of her three girls. Your father is a soft-eared man who listens to her. There's nothing I can do about it forever, old lady. I'm taking care of you, and I just hope that you can find a good son-in-law and someone who can support you." The old lady looked solemn and held Su Yining's hand, speaking with sincerity.
Su Yining bit her lower lip and revealed her inner plan.
"Grandma, now that I have broken off the engagement, my eldest sister's reputation for being arrogant and domineering has spread throughout Jinling City, and my father can't speak in the court. Even if someone asks to marry me, I'm afraid it's not sincere, I'm afraid it's just for the power of our Earl's Palace. Come."
"But they don't know that our Earl's Mansion looks glamorous, but in fact it has been completely drained. Even if we get married in the future, they won't treat me sincerely even if they think about it."
"And now that the Marquis of Yong'an has regained his favor again, Prince Xie's future is limitless. I'm afraid no family in Jinling City is willing to take the risk of offending future officials by marrying their granddaughter."
The old lady held Su Yining's hand tightly and frowned: "What do you mean? Is it possible that you are still not married?"
She became a little anxious and her voice rose a little higher.
Su Yining was about to explain to her when a sharp voice came from her ears.
"Hey, what a coincidence, I bumped into my in-laws' old lady here."
Su Yining looked back at the sound and saw the cousin of the Chen family walking towards her from the rain curtain holding an umbrella. She was still far away, but the sound had arrived early.
Su Yining turned her body and saluted her.
"The old lady also comes to offer incense?" My cousin felt blessed and saluted the old lady. She was very excited. "But it just so happens that spring is coming soon. My nephew said he wanted to come to Daxiangguo Temple to burn incense. May the real Bodhisattva protect you, he is also in the temple now!"
Her voice was loud and unabashed, and many pilgrims who came to offer incense looked over.
Mrs. Su had a sullen face, looking at her dog-skin plaster look, she was a little angry, but it was hard to get angry in front of outsiders.
"Old lady, what do you think? Is it fate? Otherwise, ask the second girl to follow me to the incense hall in the backyard to meet my nephew!"
"It doesn't matter if we don't meet. We are all relatives. Even if we don't meet, it won't hurt our feelings."
Su Yining and the old lady didn't even have time to say a word. Her cousin's aunt had already said a lot, both internally and externally. If Su Yining didn't give her a chance to meet her nephew today, , just don’t want this kinship.
The eldest son of the second wife's concubine could marry the legitimate daughter of the Zheng family, which is already a high degree of marriage. If the elders in the family deliberately made things difficult for her, Su Heng would probably not have an easy life after their marriage.
Su Yining didn't want to embarrass her cousin, so she nodded, but she kept it in mind.
"How about I go with my grandmother? My niece is young after all. It is better for the elders to decide on the marriage."
If she went alone, with a man and a woman in the same room, if something happened, she wouldn't be able to explain it even if she had words.
While talking, the group walked from the front hall to the incense hall at the back.
It was said that they met by chance, but Qi Lang of the Chen family had been waiting in the Xiangtang for a long time. When he saw Su Yining and others coming, he immediately stood up to greet them.
"Good morning, old lady, good news, cousin." He saluted politely and called her cousin.
He doesn't look like a bad person.
Su Yi condensed his body and returned the greeting. According to his title, he also called him cousin.
As soon as they were seated, before Qi Lang of the Chen family could speak, a boy appeared out of nowhere and brought tea to Su Yining impartially.
"My dear, please forgive me. My dear, please forgive me. I didn't mean it." The boy immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.
Su Yining didn't get angry, but she just saw that a large area of her dress was wet, feeling a little troubled and a little suspicious. At this moment, there were two elders sitting in the room, and she had nothing to say even though her clothes were wet.
But if he had followed his aunt's wishes and came to see Chen Qilang alone, I'm afraid it would be unclear.
"It doesn't matter, you should get up first," Su Yining did not embarrass the boy. She just stood up and saluted her grandmother, "Grandma, you can talk to your cousin here first, and your granddaughter will go back to the room to change clothes."
After saying that, she turned around and prepared to leave.
Before walking a few steps, the boy who had just been carrying the water knelt down and said, "Thank you for your understanding, sir. There is a charcoal fire in the next door room. You can go there and take off your coat and bake it for a while. It will be done in less than half a quarter of an hour."
Su Yining paused and hesitated.
"Go, grandma is waiting for you here." Old Mrs. Su said.
Su Yining nodded, saluted the old lady and her cousin, and followed the boy to the penthouse next door.
The servant led her over and left. Su Yining took off her coat alone in the ear room and baked it over the charcoal fire.
About half an hour later, she put on her almost dry coat, moved her chair, and prepared to get up and leave.
The door to the penthouse was pushed open by someone unknown, and a ray of light leaked in along the crack in the door.
Su Yining's heart tightened, she squinted her eyes and looked outside.
Xie Yu came here for some reason, opened the door generously, walked in, moved a chair, and sat opposite Su Yining. He didn't say anything, just looked at her coldly.
Su Yining saw clearly that the person coming was Xie Yu, and she was relieved for no reason, but soon became nervous again. She sat opposite Xie Yu and clenched her fists uncontrollably.
Time passed bit by bit, and they sat looking at each other, but neither of them spoke. The room was eerily quiet, and Xie Yu's face was gloomy, as if he was very angry.
Su Yining couldn't help but move her toes and wanted to get up and leave. When she raised her eyes, she saw a trace of cruelty flashing in Xie Yu's eyes.
She quietly sat back down.
Xie Yu didn't move or speak. He just looked at her. Such an unscrupulous look was enough to make Su Yining sit on pins and needles.
"Prince Xie," she said in a deep voice, "What's wrong with you?"
Xie Yu looked at her, his brows and eyes relaxed a little, and he said calmly: "Something's wrong."
Su Yining inadvertently met his dark eyes, quickly turned her head away, and murmured: "What's the matter?"
Seeing her avoiding her, Xie Yu felt a sense of irritation in his heart for no reason. He was even more irritated than when he heard Chen Qilang say something good was about to happen to her.
"Guess." Xie Yu asked her to guess angrily.
Neuropathy. Su Yining couldn't help but cursed, but she didn't say the words out loud. She just shook her head: "I couldn't guess."
"If nothing happens to Prince Xie, I will leave first. Grandma is still waiting for me."
After saying that, Su Yining stood up and left.
"You left something here with me," as he said, Xie Yu took out a handkerchief from his arms, a plain lotus brocade handkerchief with the word "Ning" embroidered on it, "I'm not telling you not to appear here again. In front of me?"
"But you deliberately left the veil here to lure me to see you?"
Even Su Yining herself didn't remember when she lost this veil.
Could it be that it was on the day of Ruyi Zhai?
Su Yining stretched out her hand to take the veil, but Xie Yu dodged it: "Your Majesty, what do you mean? I accidentally lost this veil. Thank you very much, Your Majesty, for returning it."
Xie Yu said nothing, with a cold light in his eyes. He raised the veil high above his head and picked it up with his slender fingers. His tone was actually mocking.
"Does your current fiancé know that Miss Su Er deliberately left the veil with me?"
Su Yining was a little confused by what he said. She corrected her: "I told you that it was lost accidentally. Why did I deliberately lure you to meet me?"
Originally, Xie Yu's expression had relaxed a lot after saying a few words to her, but when he heard Su Yining's words, Xie Yu's whole person suddenly became gloomy again.
The aura around him changed, and he was filled with resentment and a chill.
"Ha," he chuckled, "I really have a fiancé."
After saying that, he stood up, approached Su Yining, put one hand on the handle of the chair where she was sitting, and the other on Su Yining's shoulder.
Xie Yu's voice suddenly became a little louder.
"Miss Su Er! You are very well."
The sound was neither loud nor quiet, but it was enough for the next door to hear. Su Yining was so frightened that she hurriedly covered his mouth.
"Shh, keep your voice down, grandma is next door."
Xie Yu's lips touched her palm and felt hot.
