So, should she go and beg for mercy? Jiang Yuan tapped the table in front of her, thinking.
"Master, what brings you here?" Xu An was packing his things when he saw Song Yansi and was somewhat surprised.
"Don't you think there's anything different about me?" Song Yansi asked, seemingly out of the blue.
What kind of question is this? Xu An suddenly felt he didn't understand him anymore. He looked Song Yansi up and down for a while before finally speaking, "Same..."
Wait a minute, Xu An paused, then took another step closer to him, sniffed, and asked suspiciously, "Has Madam changed her perfume?"
"Is it different?" Song Yansi heard him speak, raised his sleeve and sniffed, and the scent that entered his nose was still that of Ye Hansu.
"It seems like something was added." The taste was strange and unfamiliar. Xu An frowned and thought for a long time before his eyes flashed. "It's tea."
"Tuwu?"
“It’s normal that you don’t know, sir. This incense comes from Boyi. Its fragrance can permeate the ground, seep into the soil and stones, and with long-term exposure, the fragrance can penetrate to the bone. However, although it is fragrant upon contact and lasts for several days, the scent is very light, the quantity is extremely rare, and it is easily masked by other scents, so few people use it in perfumes.” But Xu An looked at him suspiciously, “How did you come to be intoxicated by this incense?”
"I see." Song Yansi sneered, his eyes seemingly filled with a thousand emotions. "So she's been scheming against me in this regard all along."
Xu An hesitated and asked, "Master?"
"Go back and deal with the people watching us." Song Yansi felt a sense of loss. He reached out to catch the raindrops hanging from the eaves. "Consider this a reminder to Lord Xie."
"yes."
"By the way," Song Yansi hesitated slightly, "do you know how to mask the fragrance?"
“…”
At this moment, Xu An especially wanted to tell Song Yansi that he was a man who only knew about poison, not incense.
Ever since Jiang Yuan snapped at Song Yansi at the door, she had been filled with regret and tried to get close to him whenever she could. But he was a vengeful person and avoided her. This wasn't a solution.
Jiang Yuan sat inside the carriage, lifting the curtain with one hand, and sighed as she looked at Song Yansi riding on horseback.
Song Chengyu also sighed along with her.
"You little rascal, why are you sighing!" Jiang Yuan felt it was rather boring with just the two of them in the carriage, so she reached out and pinched her son's cheek. It was soft and adorable.
“Father won’t take me horseback riding.” Cheng Yu’s words were mumbled from being pinched. “He told me to stay in the carriage and talk to you.”
Hmm... at least he still has some conscience. But this tiff can't be delayed any longer; it needs to be resolved as soon as we get back to the Marquis's residence. Thinking this, Jiang Yuan tightened her grip a bit more. "You don't even want to spend time with your mother, and you still want to ride a horse?"
"Yu'er is with you." Song Chengyu pouted; he really felt so wronged!
Once the carriage entered the city and stopped in front of the Marquis's residence, Zhu Chuan reached out to help Jiang Yuan down. But where was Song Yanji?
"Where is Master?" Jiang Yuan asked doubtfully.
"As soon as I entered the city, I said I had important business to attend to with Lord Feng, and then I left."
They actually ran away!
Song Yansi disappeared for two days. As for where he was, Jiang Yuan didn't need to ask; the information would come to her on its own.
"What does Brother Zhongli mean by this?!" Li Qingping lay on the table, watching Rong An peel fruit for her. She peeled one and ate it, then clapped her hands and grabbed Jiang Yuan's hand. "Sister Jiang, you have to do something about him. It's fine if he goes to drink by himself, but don't keep dragging Lord Feng along!"
He perfectly captured the mother hen protecting her chicks.
"It's just going to a tavern for drinks, it's no big deal." Rong An peeled the fruit and handed it to her.
"You don't understand!" Qingping hesitated for a long time, but finally grumbled unhappily, "He went to drink with Brother Zhongli and has been ignoring me for two days now!"
“Zhongli has been cooped up in the manor for too long these days, as you know, so it’s inevitable that he’ll cause a ruckus for a few more days.” Jiang Yuan couldn’t say that he hadn’t come back because the two of them had a falling out, so he could only bring up what had happened recently.
“There have been quite a lot going on lately.” Qingping glanced at Jiang Yuan cautiously. “I originally wanted to come and see you, but Mother wouldn’t allow it. Sister, you know how it is for me to be caught in the middle.”
"I know." Jiang Yuan wiped the crumbs from the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief and smiled. "I'm not blaming you."
"Sister Jiang is the best." Then, Qingping turned to Rong'an and cheerfully instructed, "Little An'er, peel some fruit!"
Jiang Yuan looked at Qingping and Rong'an, who were making a ruckus, and her eyes darkened slightly. After all, Li Sheng was her uncle. In her previous life, Qingping died young. Now, did she really have to watch Song Yanji change the dynasty?
That night, Jiang Yuan was half asleep with Cheng Yu in his arms when he felt a warmth on his body and a hot body pressed against him. He still carried a faint scent of wine. He hugged her from behind and kissed her neck.
"A-Yuan." Song Yansi wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his embrace.
"Either he doesn't come home, or he's like this when he does." Jiang Yuan was a little unhappy, so she jabbed him backward with her elbow, hitting him squarely in the stomach. Song Yansi groaned from the impact.
"Chengyu is still here." Jiang Yuan used her son as a shield.
No sooner had she finished speaking than the little boy in her arms was taken out. She hurriedly got up. In the moonlight, Song Yansi carried his son in one arm and took three steps at a time to get out of the door. Bi Fan's voice came from outside the door.
Then the pearwood door was closed, and the figure quickly approached again. Jiang Yuan was instantly pulled into a familiar embrace. "A Yuan, I'm home."
"So you know how to come back." Jiang Yuan deliberately softened her stance, grunted a few times and didn't struggle much, but she regretted that the elbow strike earlier was too light; she should have hit him a couple more times.
“I miss A-Yuan.” Song Yansi withdrew his arm again, rested his chin on her shoulder, and said in a somewhat innocent voice, “Before, at Hui’an Temple, she lost her balance and pulled me up.”
Was he trying to explain himself to her? Jiang Yuan was slightly taken aback. She turned around to look at him, but his expression was unclear in the darkness. In her memory, Song Yanji wasn't one to argue, and he never bothered to explain anything to her. When she got annoyed by his questions, he would simply avoid her, just like before. Gradually, he became unwilling to answer, and she stopped asking. Apart from their intimate moments, they had nothing else to say to each other.
"Are you trying to explain this to me?" Jiang Yuan asked, her hand resting on his chest, the sound of her heart pounding beneath her fingers.
"Hmm." Song Yansi's voice was not very loud, even a little low. He held her soft hand and placed it on his waist, then rested his head against her forehead. "I don't want you to misunderstand me, and I don't want you to be unhappy."
It was so difficult that we got to start over.
"Then why don't you go home?" Jiang Yuan put her arm around his waist. "Cheng Yu and I wait for you to come home for dinner every night."
"I was a little angry at first, but then I ran into Xu Anfang and found out that I had a strange fragrance on me that displeased you." Song Yansi deliberately concealed the fact that the Xie family had sent people to watch him. "I couldn't smell it at all."
"Can't you smell it?" Jiang Yuan's eyes flickered slightly, and his other hand, which was hanging at his side, subtly retracted.
“Completely.” Song Yansi shook his head. He really hadn’t noticed anything. Towards the end, he even sounded like he was deliberately trying to gain sympathy. “I only dared to return to the manor after Xu An could no longer smell it.”
"So, why did you let her pull you?" Jiang Yuan was a woman, and women are prone to making trouble over trivial matters. Although she felt she had wronged him, she still said, "Why didn't you dodge?"
“How could I have known she would grab me when we first met?” Song Yansi said, but knowing Xie Jiayan’s vindictive nature, “You must have offended her first.”
"How did I offend her?" From the very beginning, she was shamelessly seeking trouble. How can I blame her? Jiang Yuan thought of Xie Jiayan's pitiful expression as she looked at Song Yansi in the temple, wanting to say something but hesitating. She moved further into the bed unhappily. "Look how heartbroken you are."
"Come back!" Song Yansi grabbed her clothes. "A-Yuan, a gentleman says that everything must be based on reason."
"I'm not a gentleman," Jiang Yuan pulled the blanket over herself. "I'm not going to reason with you."
“…”
Chapter 58 The Storm Rises Again
Li Sheng's health was not as good as before, and he fell ill again. The imperial physicians in the palace were going in and out of his bedchamber. Song Yanji took the opportunity of an incident a few days ago to submit a memorial to the court, saying frankly that he did not know the affairs of the court because he did not attend court, which led to such a big mistake. Now that he has been back for more than a month, he should share the burden of the emperor. His words were earnest and he wrote nearly a thousand words, which made Li Sheng so angry that he almost fainted again.
"What does he mean!" Li Sheng clutched his chest and coughed incessantly. Even before the dead of winter, the palace was already heated by an underfloor heating system, making it stuffy and difficult to breathe.
"Your Majesty, you might as well agree to his request," Grand Tutor Xie advised, standing before the bed. "It's just a matter of court affairs, nothing serious."
“Grand Tutor has been by my side since I was a child, and everything he has done and thought over the years has been for me.” Li Sheng pressed his forehead, somewhat regretful. “Back then, you said that Song Yanji was not a person to be trusted, but I did not listen. Now I am filled with remorse and indignation.”
"There's no need to bring up the past," Grand Tutor Xie said calmly. "It's just that his entry into the court is something he really can't refuse. If the dignified Marquis of Anguo can't even enter the inner palace, what will people think of His Majesty?"
"Is the Grand Tutor helpless?"
"Being content with what you have is always better than anything else."
"Enough." Li Sheng had a headache and waved his hand, saying, "As the Grand Tutor says, you may leave."
"This old minister takes his leave." As soon as he left the palace, Zhang Rang hurriedly went to greet him.
"Grand Tutor." Zhang Rang always had a smile on his face.
"It's too stuffy inside the palace. I don't think His Majesty is very comfortable," Grand Tutor Xie said slowly, his tone earnest. "Don't keep the doors and windows closed all the time."
"Yes, sir." Seeing Zhang Rang's reply, Grand Tutor Xie nodded before turning away. As the footsteps faded into the distance, Zhang Rang, bent over, looked up at Grand Tutor Xie's departing figure with some worry. His Majesty's health was poor, and with the weather getting cold today, what if he caught a cold…
The Xie family's carriages were waiting in front of the palace gate. Xie Jiali stood respectfully under the carriage with his hands at his sides, waiting for him. When he saw Grand Tutor Xie coming over, he quickly reached out to help him up, saying, "Father."
The horse-drawn carriage creaked and groaned as it made its way along the old cobblestone street.
Grand Tutor Xie glanced at Xie Jiali, who was fidgeting, and said, "Speak."
"Something happened to Yanmei's people." This was the news that came from outside after her father entered the palace this morning. Three corpses were neatly stacked at the side door of the side room. The old woman who went out to buy cosmetics stepped on the corpses as soon as she came out and fainted on the spot. Xie Jiali felt that it was much better for him to say this himself than for his father to hear it from the servant.
“Yan’er is, after all, a woman.” Grand Tutor Xie seemed to have expected this and was not surprised. “She was born and raised in the inner quarters and is still young. It’s fine for her to play mind games with the women in the courtyard in the past, but why does she have to provoke Song Yanji?”
Xie Jiali nodded, "Father asked me to persuade Yanmei that day, I suppose it was for this reason."
"Forget it, consider it a lesson for her." Grand Tutor Xie squinted, leaning back against the soft cushions inside the carriage, his fingertips rubbing his sleeves, lost in thought.
As the weather grew colder, Song Yanji returned to court and unleashed his old temper. He was never one to back down, but he had been holding back for years. Now that he was indulging, he really angered Li Sheng. At first, some court officials argued with him, but Song Yanji didn't get angry. He just listened silently. The next day, he submitted a memorial with irrefutable evidence.
"Ah Yuan, come and see how my memorial is going." Song Yanji blew on the ink to dry it and beckoned to Jiang Yuan, who was embroidering a flower branch at the door.
"Who has offended you this time?" Jiang Yuan put down the basket in his hand, smiled and strolled over to her side. He was stunned when he saw the name: Cao Yan, the elder brother of Madam Si Li.
He actually took action on the Pinghu matter so quickly!
In her previous life, when Song Yanji first ascended the throne, he began investigating the Pinghu case, naturally starting with Cao Yan to unravel the mystery. Not long after, Cao Yanji, drunk, fell from the Xiuhong Tower and died instantly. His death was suspicious, implying connections to other matters. Although Song Yanji never discussed court intrigues with her, Jiang Yuan could guess something, and the matter was left unresolved. Now, she knew this. If Song Yanji acted too soon, he might alert the enemy; it was best to proceed cautiously. Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment before taking the memorial from him. All the points pointed to Pinghu. As she read, she deliberately remarked, "Cao Yan is from Lin'an; he probably couldn't have accomplished this alone."
After hearing her words, Song Yansi put down his pen and pulled her into his arms. "I know that, of course."
"Then why did you do that?" Jiang Yuan asked, puzzled. "Aren't you afraid that the person behind you will be on guard?"
"I'm not afraid of him making a move, I'm afraid of him not making a move." In his previous life, he, like Jiang Yuan, chose to plan carefully before acting. But in this life, he doesn't want to wait any longer. He has to use that person's hand to get rid of a few major threats first.
Sure enough, when the memorial was presented the next day, Li Sheng's face immediately darkened. He looked at the memorial in his hand, his fingertips under his sleeves trembling. Ge Zhentang had submitted memorials to the capital many times, but he had not seen a single one of them.
Song Yansi's voice slowly rose from below, "Your humble servant also learned of the Pinghu matter by chance." He shifted his gaze to Cao Yan, "I just don't know what Cao Dongguan thinks."
"Your Majesty!" Cao Yan knelt on the ground with a thud, his head hitting the stone surface. "Your Majesty, I am innocent... Your Majesty..."
Snap—
Before Cao Yan could finish speaking, Li Sheng slammed his memorial down on him, shouting, "Take a look! Take a look before you speak!"
In the fifth year of the Kangwu reign, a severe drought struck the north. The emperor ordered the transfer of grain from Pinghu. Cao Yan, serving as the inspector, allowed moldy and stale grain to be replaced with new grain and transported to the disaster-stricken areas…
In the seventh year of the Kangwu reign, the river embankment in Pinghu and Jixian breached. Cao Yan was ordered to go to Pinghu, but he embezzled the repair money and used bricks to make up the difference...
…
As he read through the details, Cao Yan broke out in a cold sweat. The details even included when and where he had forcibly taken which girl. He suddenly looked up and glared at Song Yansi. He was being watched!
"Why are you looking at me, Lord Dongguan?" Song Yanji stood with his arms crossed. "I didn't force you to do these things."
"Cough cough cough—" Li Sheng's chest heaved continuously. Such a big matter as Pinghu was suppressed before it even reached him.