In Lin Yunyan's memory, there was a long, terrible scar on Xu Jian's right leg.
That was cut by Xiliang's saber. It was Xu Jian's military exploits, and it also cut off Xu Jian's path to continue serving in the army.
At the time of the injury, Xu Jian was only sixteen years old, the age when a good man's sword should be unsheathed.
He and his comrades killed hundreds of Xiliang soldiers. When they returned to the camp, the military doctors were helpless about his bloody right leg.
The leg was saved, but it was also damaged.
Since then, in Xu Jian’s words, the leg has become a “decoration”.
It's just there to hold on for a long time, so as not to leave the pants empty, and to say it has no use, it's really useless.
I still have to take care of him, making medicines, injecting needles, pressing, and beating every day...
Even so, it was still shrinking month by month, losing its vitality, and with the snake-like scar, it looked more and more scary.
For some reason, my left leg was affected. I could still stand on one leg and walk for a while with the help of a cane. Later, I couldn’t use the cane anymore and was completely tied to the wheelchair.
Lin Yunyan set her sights on Concubine Wen again.
The concubine carefully talked to the empress dowager about what happened that day when she saw the clue.
The more Lin Yunyan listened, the more confused she became. She had seen Xu Jian's leg with her own eyes and saw the scar. It was obviously such a serious injury. Why could Xu Jian still walk like a normal person now?
Could it be that after encountering Hua Tuo and Bian Que, his master rejuvenated him?
Hearing the regret in the concubine's words, Lin Yunyan was filled with joy.
Rather than sitting in a wheelchair and never being able to stand up again, just having a slight lameness doesn't mean he's fine, doesn't it?
Of course, she still had doubts.
Lowering her eyes, Lin Yunyan pretended to sigh: "How could the Duke of Guo be so badly injured?"
"Yes," Concubine Wen sighed, "That skill could have been like that of his grandfather, but... speaking of it, that injury is also..."
Lin Yunyan listened carefully and heard that the concubine suddenly paused. When she spoke again, she only sighed: "It's a pity, it's a pity."
Such a turning point was not considered blunt, but Lin Yunyan heard it.
Concubine Wen must have thought of something and swallowed the "reason for Xu Jian's injury" that was already on her lips. Even at that moment, her eyes moved slightly toward the Empress Dowager and then looked back.
why?
Lin Yunyan was puzzled.
Xu Jian was wounded because he attacked the Xiliang people. It was a military achievement and it was fair and honorable. What can't be mentioned?
"I just talked and forgot to deal with the cards." Concubine Wen put her hands on the horse and said, "Come on, come on, I want to win back the victory."
The card table became lively again.
The coral was placed on the shelf, and the cicadas were chirping outside. Cards were touched and played on the table, and some playful words were said from time to time. No one mentioned the person who gave the coral.
After playing three rounds, Wen Taifei looked tired and finally called it a night.
Concubine Wen stood up and left.
Lin Yunyan sent him out and left the main hall. She wanted to ask Xu Jian about it again, but after thinking about it for a while, she gave up.
Concubine Wen liked to talk about family matters, but she also knew the appropriateness of the topic. She was also very obedient to the empress dowager. Since she had swallowed her words before, she would not say anything no matter how much she asked.
After arriving all the way outside Cining Palace, Lin Yunyan turned around and returned to the side hall.
The card table had been put away, and the Empress Dowager moved to sit on the Arhat bed by the window. She leaned on the bed and looked at one place.
Lin Yunyan looked along and saw the pot of coral given by Xu Jian.
Did the empress happen to be looking there, or was she thinking about Xu Jian?
Lin Yunyan was unsure for a moment.
Realizing that she was back, the Empress Dowager withdrew her gaze and waved to her: "Come and sit here at Ai's house for a while."
Lin Yunyan agreed and sat down on the other side of the bed.
"Are you worried?" the Queen Mother asked, and without waiting for Lin Yunyan to answer, she added, "No need to deny it, the Ai family can see that you are more tense today than usual."
Being exposed in this way, Lin Yunyan certainly couldn't say anything in the situation.
Her mind was really tense.
One moment there was a huge fire, and the next moment she was in Cining Palace. For her, it was the Cining Palace a few years ago. It was so earth-shaking that even if she had guessed her situation, she could not immediately deal with it calmly.
Xu Jian's leg injury was different from what she remembered, so how much had other people and things changed?
A single move affects the whole body.
She needed some time to calm down and think about it carefully and figure out the current situation.
Xu Jian said before that there are prerequisites for calmness and tranquility.
Only when everything is under control can you truly be calm, relaxed and strategizing.
Otherwise, pretending to be fake can still be effective in deceiving unfamiliar people, but in the eyes of discerning people, it is just a paper tiger.
The Empress Dowager, who has met countless people, is also very familiar with Lin Yunyan.
The situation at this moment obviously did not give her time to slowly collect her thoughts, and Gu Li's method would only be counterproductive to the Empress Dowager. Lin Yunyan lowered her eyes, and after the silence of "he hesitated to speak", she finally He spoke in a low voice: "When I was resting in the side hall, I had a nightmare."
When the Empress Dowager heard this, she laughed loudly: "You are not a five or six-year-old child. Why is your dream so scary?"
"Fire," Lin Yunyan said, "The house is on fire, and the smoke is billowing. I'm trapped inside, and I can't escape at all..."
After just a few words, the Empress Dowager's eyebrows suddenly twisted, and the smile disappeared from the corner of her mouth.
She reached out and hugged Lin Yunyan into her arms, holding her back: "Good boy, it's just a dream, it's just a dream."
Seeing this, Grandma Wang quickly winked at the others.
The palace maids and chambermaids filed out quietly. Grandma Wang glanced at the two people again, then withdrew, stood outside the curtain, clasped her hands and recited "Amitabha" secretly.
She also saw that the princess was absent-minded at the card table.
It's not that the princess showed all her emotions on her face, but the empress dowager looked at the princess several times.
Grandma Wang has served the Empress Dowager personally for many years, and of course she will never miss a look or a look in her eyes. It is this caring and cautiousness that allows her to pick up clues from the Empress Dowager.
Yuan thought that maybe something unpleasant happened to the girl's family, but she didn't expect it to be such a nightmare.
No wonder the princess was absent-minded, no wonder she hesitated to speak when asked by the empress dowager, and no wonder the empress dowager felt so heartbroken after hearing this.
That year, the late emperor was seriously ill, and the prince's majesty took the prince's concubine, his young highness, and several ministers and ministers' wives up the mountain to the temple to pray for blessings. Late at night, there were flames blazing down the mountain, and there were screams for help. The Holy Spirit insisted on leading the guards to rescue. Unexpectedly, a fire also broke out in the temple. The prince, the young highness, and the princess's mother were trapped in the temple. After rescuing the young highness, she went to save the prince again...
When the bad news came, Grandma Wang remembered it very clearly, and the empress was heartbroken.
To the empress, she was more than just a niece from her mother's family. She had been serving the empress in the palace since she was eight years old, and later served as a reading companion to the princess. She was no different from her own daughter.
Later, the murderous conspiracy of Yamashita was revealed, and the government and the public were shaken. It was not until the Holy Emperor ascended the throne that things gradually stabilized.
The fire on the mountain was an accident. It was just the people trapped in the fire. Because the Holy One took away the guards and monks and was unable to rescue them, they could never come back.
The princess, the princess’s mother…
A total of nine people were killed.
The princess was not involved in that disaster. Xu was mother and daughter. She had several dreams of fires when she was a child and lived in Cining Palace. She cried incessantly in the middle of the night and was hugged by the Empress Dowager to coax her to sleep. I asked about the residence of the uncle, and he said that he would have nightmares two or three times in a month.
Fortunately, as I grow older, my nightmares have become less frequent, especially in recent years, I have never had nightmares in return for the princess.
The Empress Dowager still has the same behavior as before. She cannot listen to words like "fire" and "water leakage", and she will feel uncomfortable for a long time after hearing them.
Thinking of this, Grandma Wang quietly took a look inside.
The way the empress dowager comforted the princess was still the same as before.
