Impératrice douairière Xiaoxuan

Chapitre 178

That's it?

"Um."

Zhao Yu couldn't help but feel disappointed, saying, "You're not just a little bit short, you're far from it."

"It's just a dream, you can't expect too much." Mo Yan comforted herself, still beaming with joy. "But this dream really felt so real. At least, when Brother Zhan hugged me, his chest was warm, and I could hear his heart beating, thump-thump, just like before."

As Zhao Yu listened, envy was evident in her eyes. At least Mo Yan and Zhan Zhao had been husband and wife and enjoyed the time when they were in love. She was afraid that she would never be able to taste such a feeling in this lifetime.

After savoring the memory for a while, Mo Yan finally let out a long sigh: "If only it were true." Just as she was feeling melancholy, she suddenly heard a cough coming from not far behind her, which startled her. She quickly turned around and saw that Old Hu had arrived nearby at some point, bending over to cut grass, with a chestnut horse beside him.

Mo Yan scratched her ear. Old Hu didn't know martial arts. She must have been too engrossed in the moment, so she didn't notice the difference.

"Xiao Qi, do you have any silver on you?" Zhao Yu also saw Old Hu and felt sorry for him because of his shabby clothes.

Mo Yan took out a few silver ingots from her pocket and handed them to her: "I have some, but not much, less than two taels."

"Please call Lao Hu over for me. I owe him a lot yesterday."

"good."

Mo Yan wanted to call out, but then she remembered that Lao Hu was hard of hearing and probably couldn't hear her either, so she walked over and patted him on the back.

Suddenly patted on the back, Old Hu straightened up abruptly, his eyes wide as he glared at Mo Yan, his voice booming loudly enough to deafen her: "Little girl! What are you doing?"

Mo Yan tactfully stepped back, pointed at Zhao Yu, and said loudly, "The princess wants you to pass!"

"What!"

Mo Yan took another step back, gesturing wildly: "Princess! You! Come here!"

Old Hu finally seemed to understand, and looked at Zhao Yu with a puzzled expression: "You guys are lost?"

Mo Yan shook her head, but found that explaining it would be too long and she couldn't express it with gestures, so she simply said, "You! Come over! The princess has something to say to you."

Old Hu tied up his horse and limped after her as they walked toward Zhao Yu.

"Princess, how did you speak to him yesterday? Look at me, I'm sweating buckets." Mo Yan shook her head laboriously at Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu laughed and said, "He's not that hard of hearing." She turned to Old Hu and said in her usual tone, "Thank you for yesterday. Here's some loose silver, not much, keep it for your drinks." As she spoke, she handed him the silver.

Old Hu accepted the money and thanked him repeatedly.

"Go ahead." Zhao Yu waved his hand, and Old Hu turned and walked back.

Zhao Yu raised an eyebrow at Mo Yan: "See? He understands everything."

"That is..."

Mo Yan wanted to say that he would of course take the money if he saw it, but he might not understand. But she stopped midway through her sentence when a gentle breeze blew by and she vaguely smelled a very familiar fragrance.

"Wait a minute!" she called out to Lao Hu, only to find that he seemed not to hear her at all and was still walking forward, so she quickly caught up with him and grabbed his arm.

Old Hu turned around, slapped her hand away in annoyance, and stared at her with a puzzled look: "Is there something else?"

Mo Yan leaned closer to him and took a deep sniff to confirm that the fragrance was indeed coming from him.

"I never expected that someone as lame and deaf as you would steal!" Mo Yan grabbed him and wouldn't let go. "Tell me! Did you steal Lord Yelü's Green Jade Ointment? Hand it over right now!"

Seeing Mo Yan's behavior, Zhao Yu rushed over and asked in confusion, "Xiao Qi, what's going on?"

"He smells of Green Jade Ointment, which is something no ordinary person would have. He must have stolen the medicine I gave to Lord Yelü!" Mo Yan shouted. "Hurry up and take it out. Don't play dumb and think you can fool me."

Old Hu shook his head repeatedly, trying to shake off Mo Yan, saying only, "I don't want the money, why are you holding me like this!"

Zhao Yu looked at him and didn't think he was faking it, so she softened and said, "Xiao Qi, are you sure you're not mistaken? I don't think he's the kind of person who would resort to petty theft or thievery."

Mo Yan snorted and suddenly reached out and grabbed Lao Hu's beard: "If you don't take it out, I'll pluck your beard hairs off one by one!" With that, she applied a little force, intending to make him suffer and tell the truth. Unexpectedly, she actually pulled out his beard hairs, and not just one hair, but a whole bunch, almost all of them, hair and skin, were pulled off by her.

Old Hu cried out in pain, covered his face, and turned his head away.

"..." Having never seen such a sight before, Zhao Yu gasped.

Mo Yan stared at the object in her hand, dumbfounded. After a moment, she frowned and examined it closely, then angrily said, "So your beard is fake! Who exactly are you?"

Old Hu slowly turned around, tearing away the remaining disguise from his face, and said angrily to Mo Yan, "You little brat, you're really too ruthless." At this moment, his voice was clear and gentle, completely different from the old, aged voice he had before.

"Young Master Su...it's you!" Mo Yan exclaimed in surprise.

"Who is he?" Zhao Yu was quite surprised to see someone in disguise for the first time. "Xiao Qi, you recognize him?"

“I wouldn’t say I know him. I passed through Yanxie Town on the way here and went to the courtyard where I used to stay. He’s the one who lived there and said his name is Su Zui.” Mo Yan turned to Su Zui, “Who exactly are you, and why are you dressed as Lao Hu?”

"My name is Su Zui, and I did not hide it from you at the time." Su Zui smiled slightly, calm and composed. "As for why I disguised myself as Old Hu, it was Hai Dongqing's order, just to make it easier to protect the princess."

"A gyrfalcon?"

Mo Yan was bewildered, but then she noticed that Zhao Yu's eyes seemed to be filled with tears, and her chest was heaving.

"So it was him who sent you." Zhao Yu bit her lip, holding back tears. "Does he still care about me?"

“Of course he…” Su Zui paused, then continued, “Hai Dongqing said that the princess’s status is noble, and there must be no mistakes before the grand ceremony.”

Volume 3, Chapter 22

"Princess, who exactly is Hai Dongqing? Do you recognize him?" Mo Yan, who was listening from the side, was completely baffled.

Now that the matter had been brought to light, there was no need to hide it from Mo Yan any longer. Zhao Yu then told Mo Yan the truth in detail, leaving Mo Yan stunned. Only now did she finally understand the truth that Zhan Zhao had never told her back then.