Song Xingzhi a vécu sous le règne de l'empereur Huizong

Chapitre 41

After speaking, Wanlan led Xuan'er out the door and headed towards the east wing.

Chapter 46, The Willow Swaying in the Wind, Seemingly Raising Its Sleeve (3)

The night was as dark as ink, the moonlight as pure as fine silk, and a cool breeze was blowing.

The daytime heat seemed to have vanished after nightfall, and the cool evening breeze made one feel sleepy. Xue Suxin had already retired early, and Wanlan sent all the servants away to rest, leaving only Xuan'er to attend to her.

Leave the last lamp lit, brew a pot of hot tea, and quietly await the arrival of guests.

When Xue Weiji and Feng Xing appeared, the moon was high in the sky, and its light shone through the lattice window, casting silvery dust into the room, making the floor sparkle like jade. Wanlan, who was prepared, never expected that Xue Weiji would bring her such an unexpected person.

The man followed behind Xue Weiji and Feng Xing, dressed in dark cloth, with his head slightly lowered. Wanlan only glanced at him at first before turning her gaze to Xue Weiji, simply because the man had an unfamiliar face. However, she did not suspect anything, since he was someone brought by Xue Weiji, and she did not pay any attention to him.

However, Xuan'er, who was standing to the side, cried out in surprise—

"Blue Weapon?!"

The call startled her so much that she almost jumped out of her throat. She looked sharply at the young man in black, who, at Xuan'er's call, slightly raised his eyes. Meeting her shocked gaze, his square and honest face straightened, and he stepped forward, kneeling on one knee to greet her, and said in a deep voice:

"Lan Wu greets the Princess."

Wanlan pressed her hand to her chest, her heart, which had been pounding wildly in shock, slowly returning to normal. She quietly looked at the person in front of her and asked, "Are you Lan Wu?" She had been in the Song Dynasty for several months, and this was the first time she had met this person. When she heard the news of his death in Jiangling, she had no idea who he was. At that time, she was only remorseful for causing someone's death.

"yes."

"You're not dead?" What on earth is going on?

Lan Wu remained kneeling on one knee and explained calmly, "Young Master Xue saved my subordinate."

Wanlan looked up in surprise at Xue Weiji, whom she had left aside, "Young Master Xue? What's going on?"

Xue Weiji smiled broadly as he closed his folding fan, twirling the handle in his palm before letting it dangle between his fingertips. He then cupped his hands and said, “Your Highness, I have come today to answer your questions. Please sit down, and I will explain it to you slowly.”

Wanlan nodded, signaling Lanwu to get up. To prevent the light from the outer room from waking the people in the west wing across the way, the group took lanterns and entered the inner room. After everyone sat down, Xue Weiji slowly began to recount the whole story.

Before Zhao Defang knew about Wanlan's abduction from the capital, and even before the Empress knew who was responsible, Xue Suxin already knew everything. However, as a young lady confined to her chambers, she was restricted in every way and completely helpless. Just as she was losing her appetite in the Prime Minister's residence because of this incident, Xue Weiji happened to return home for a short stay. Although he did not formally meet with his sister, he learned from the servants what was troubling her. After observing her secretly for a few days, he learned what was on her mind.

Having only stayed in the capital for a few days, Xue Weiji, based on information obtained from Su Xin, tracked the suspect to Junzhou, only to discover to his dismay that he had been tricked. Zhao Dezhao had not brought the person to Junzhou at all. Just as he was investigating where Zhao Dezhao had hidden the person, he encountered Lan Wu, who had been tracking the suspicious man who appeared at the "Qiaofeng Inn" all the way from the capital. Completely unaware that he had fallen into a trap, Lan Wu almost exposed his identity, but was pulled back by Xue Weiji, who was hiding in the shadows. So the two of them joined forces to investigate the matter.

Xue Weiji never expected that Su Xin would take such a risk and secretly leave home at this critical juncture, and even fall ill in Xiangzhou, a place she was unfamiliar with. Fortunately, she met Zhao Defang and his group, who were blocked by the tide, and went with them to Jiangling, where she met Jiao Wanlan who was unharmed.

What followed was a series of unexpected events in Junzhou.

When Su Xin first arrived in Junzhou, Xue Weiji already knew her whereabouts. Not only did he know, but the Prince of Yan also knew. Knowing how much Su Xin hated him, she would never leave with him. Xue Weiji had no way to show himself and bring Su Xin to his side to protect her, so he had to ask Lan Wu to step in. However, this put Lan Wu in danger of being discovered at any time.

As expected, Lan Wu was secretly pursued by the Prince of Yan's men as soon as he appeared. During this time, Su Xin fell ill several times due to fright, and Lan Wu was unable to fight back head-on. Finally, he was seriously injured during one of Su Xin's illnesses. Fortunately, the people sent by Prime Minister Xue found them. Su Xin was taken back to the capital, but Lan Wu was taken away by Xue Weiji. The people in the Prime Minister's mansion thought that Lan Wu had died protecting their young lady, which is why they sent the letter to Jiangling.

"...I should have shown up and taken Su Xin away without hesitation back then, so that she wouldn't have almost lost her life and implicated Lan Wu." Xue Weiji pressed his fan to his forehead, his elegant face revealing a different emotion than a smile for the first time, filled with worry.

Wanlan was still lost in thought, engrossed in the story she had just heard.

She never imagined that during the few days she and Zehua spent traveling around Jiangling Prefecture, Junzhou would be filled with bloodshed and infighting. She really should have insisted on keeping Suxin there.

Standing behind Wanlan, Lan Wu slowly spoke, "Young Master Xue did not implicate me. On the contrary, he made me see the actions of the Prince of Yan more clearly. The reason I tracked him to Junzhou was to find out who was behind the kidnapping of the Madam."

“But if I had stepped in that day, you could have found out what you wanted to know and gotten away unscathed.” Xue Weiji frowned and sighed. “In short, it was I who caused you to get hurt, simply because I didn’t dare to see Su Xin.”

“You don’t dare to see Su Xin just because you don’t want to upset her, and no one will blame you,” Wan Lan blinked, snapped out of her daze, and took over the conversation. She glanced at the man in front of her intently, then thoughtfully rubbed her forehead. “Young Master Xue, does Su Xin hate you so much because of your reputation? If you don’t want her to dislike you, why did you mislead her?”

Xue Weiji was startled, then suddenly laughed, raising his narrow eyes slightly. "Your Highness, how do you know I'm misleading her? My reputation outside is already bad. I'm unambitious, idle, and even decadent. I have all the vices of a spoiled brat. It's only natural that Su Xin dislikes me. There's no question of misleading or not."

Wanlan seemed not to be listening to him at all, and asked directly, "Why did you mislead her? If you care about her, why don't you care openly? She is your sister, and it's okay for an older brother to care about his younger sister, but no one would deliberately turn themselves into a spoiled brat that everyone despises. Are you deliberately trying to make Su Xin hate you?"

Xue Weiji tightened his grip on the fan, his narrow eyes crinkling with a smile, and said with a smirk, "Your Highness, I don't understand what you're saying."

Wanlan stared at the smile on his lips, suddenly understanding. Could it be what she thought?

“If I’m not mistaken, I roughly know what’s going on, but—if you have feelings for her, why are you holding back? Is it because of the Prince of Yan? As far as I know, Su Xin’s feelings for the Prince of Yan only started in the last two years. In other words, if you had taken any action before that, things wouldn’t have turned out this way.”

As Wanlan finished speaking, a crisp "snap" shattered the air, startling everyone present. Their gazes turned in unison to the folding fan in Xue Weiji's hand. The gold-rimmed fan had been crushed in his grasp, bamboo and paper scraps falling onto the dimly lit wooden table. His clenched fist was deathly pale.

To crush the fan ribs and fan paper into powder, what intense emotions must that require?

"Your Highness is so perceptive!"

Xue Weiji said in a deep voice, then smiled bitterly and said, "I can't do anything, she's my sister." However, recently he began to regret that if he had known that Su Xin would risk her life for another man, he shouldn't have hesitated and done nothing back then. At least he should have protected her heart from being taken away by others, and she wouldn't be so weak now.

"I know she's your sister, but aren't you Prime Minister Xue's adopted son? What can't you do?" For Prime Minister Xue, having an adopted son and son-in-law in the same person should be a good thing, right? If Su Xin could be betrothed to him, it would be perfect for the Prime Minister! What is Xue Weiji worried about? He even personally pushed Su Xin away.

Staring in shock at the bewildered and confused woman opposite him, Xue Weiji had never been so astonished. How could this woman know everything? "Your Highness, how...how did you know about this? Didn't you lose your memory?" Even if she hadn't lost her memory, how did she know this little-known secret?

Wanlan was dumbfounded. Was this a secret?

She turned to look at Xuan'er, only to see the girl staring at her in astonishment, unsure whether she was frightened by her words or the message she conveyed. Lan Wu, after a moment of shock, looked thoughtfully at Xue Weiji, as if pondering the meaning of her words. The most exaggerated was Feng Xing, who was completely dumbfounded. Although he hadn't been a guard in the Prime Minister's residence since childhood, he had been there for at least seven or eight years, yet he had no idea that his eldest son was not the Prime Minister's biological son.

"This..." This is terrible! Why didn't anyone tell her this was a secret? "I heard it from Zehua." After taking the bait without much certainty, Wanlan blinked innocently. Would Zehua really know about this?

Xue Weiji's expression instantly turned strange. He slowly released his hand from the table, casually brushing away the crumbs from his palm, and said slowly, "The King of Qin does not know about this. In fact, no one else knows about this except my father. Even my mother thought that the child she gave birth to was me."

"What?" Wanlan almost clicked her tongue. How could a mother get her own son wrong?

"To put it simply, my mother had a difficult childbirth and gave birth to a stillborn baby. My father was worried that my mother wouldn't be able to handle the shock, so he adopted me from my biological mother, who was unable to raise the child. To this day, the only people in this world who know that I am not the son of the Prime Minister are my biological mother, whom I have never met, and my father. Under these circumstances, what do you think I can do for Su Xin?" He shook his head repeatedly with a bitter smile. "I can't do anything. I can't even care for her as a good older brother." Because he lacked confidence in his self-control, he was afraid that he would do something to hurt Su Xin without restraint. So he could only let himself live a life of debauchery, and could only let Su Xin hate him. No matter what, hatred is an emotion that cannot be discarded, at least it is not without trace.

Wanlan was speechless; it was yet another helpless and regrettable unrequited love. Gradually, she realized how fortunate she was to be able to know and stay with the one she loved. Compared to them, she seemed exceptionally happy.

"What's your plan to stop Su Xin?" She composed herself and got down to business.

Xue Weiji took a deep breath, a smile returning to his face, his slender eyes once again brimming with a gentle smile. "My father is currently investigating the person behind the scenes who secretly intervened in Junzhou. Although I know he might not trace it back to me, I want to use this to keep Suxin here." He had no other choice; Suxin's stubbornness forced him to compromise.