Wei Hong shrugged: "I don't know either. He said he would talk to Qiongyu himself, and he's waiting outside now."
"There's no need to say anything more," Qiongyu said. "It's not like I'm determined to marry him!"
He bowed to the two men and took his leave, his eyes red as he left the main room to return to his own.
Li Dou and the others were waiting at the courtyard gate. When they saw Qiongyu come out, they thought she had come to talk to them, so they grinned at the girl.
To his surprise, the girl glared at him angrily and walked towards the side room.
Seeing that she was about to enter the room, Li Dou didn't care about being impolite and rushed over to grab her.
"I have something to tell you."
What are you doing?
Qiongyu struggled: "Let go! I have nothing to say to you!"
People around looked over, and Li Dou smiled awkwardly and waved to them.
"I'll just say a few words to Qiongyu and be right back, I'll be right back."
After saying that, he pulled her and walked outside.
He was strong, and Qiongyu struggled several times but couldn't break free. He carried her out of the courtyard like that.
Hearing the commotion, Zhou's mother stood at the door and glanced inside. She then went back to Yao Youqing and said, "Your Highness, Doctor Dou... has taken Qiongyu away."
Yao Youqing had already heard it, and her brows furrowed slightly.
Wei Hong said from the side, "Don't worry, it's fine. Beans have different weights."
Even so, Yao Youqing still asked Zhou's mother to send someone to go and take a look.
...
Li Dou led Qiongyu to the garden and stopped in a secluded corner behind the artificial hill.
Qiongyu looked down and rubbed her wrist. Seeing this, he quickly asked, "Did I hurt you?"
He then tried to take her hand to look at her, but Qiongyu dodged it.
"If you don't want to marry me, what's there to say?"
Qiong Yu said, her voice filled with annoyance and a hint of shame and indignation.
"I...it's not that I don't want to marry you."
Li Dou explained.
"I was afraid you would misunderstand, so I thought I would come and explain it to you in person, so that others wouldn't have to explain it clearly. Who knew... with your short temper, you wouldn't even give me a chance to say a word before you went inside."
He looked so wronged, as if Qiongyu had bullied him.
Qiongyu's anger subsided slightly, and after calming down and thinking about it carefully, she realized that she had indeed been a bit too hasty just now. However, she was unwilling to admit that she was wrong, so she stubbornly said, "Well... I just have a short temper. If you don't like it, then forget it."
"I like."
Li Dou immediately chimed in, then paused, stunned.
Qiongyu was also stunned for a moment, and the two of them blushed and lowered their heads at the same time.
“My teacher’s wife said… I’m just too slow, I dawdle and never rush anything, which is just right for you…”
He added another sentence to himself.
"...Then why don't you want to get married?"
Qiongyu asked.
It's not that I don't want to get married.
Li Dou raised his head, his expression somewhat solemn.
"You've been by the Princess's side, so you should be familiar with the current situation."
"When the Southern Yan and Daliang besieged Shuozhou, the imperial court not only did not help in the slightest, but also kept dragging them down."
"His Majesty and the Prince are at odds. Although we do not have direct evidence to prove that he started this war, we are all very clear about it."
"Now that he's started this, he'll definitely make a move against the Prince. At that point, the Prince will not only have to face the Southern Yan and the Great Jin, but also our own court..."
"We can barely manage to deal with the princes on both sides now, but when that time comes... no one knows what will happen."
Upon hearing his words, Qiongyu's heart sank, and she suddenly understood something, standing there in a daze.
Li Dou looked at her and continued, "Master and Mistress want me to get married as soon as possible because they want to... think that if something unexpected happens, at least we can leave behind a bloodline. But... if something really happens to me, leaving you alone to raise the child... wouldn't life be difficult?"
"I'm willing."
Qiongyu tilted her head back, her eyes red and glistening with tears.
“I don’t want to,” Li Dou said gently. “I don’t want you to suffer.”
He himself had suffered a lot. He was abandoned by his parents when he was five years old and spent a period of lonely and helpless life on the streets. He witnessed his younger sister die and buried her with his own hands. If it weren't for his master's kindness in saving him, he might have died long ago.
From the day his sister died, he no longer had any blood relatives in this world, so why should he waste a woman's life for a so-called bloodline?
He lived naked and he will leave naked; there's nothing wrong with that, and he doesn't need to leave behind any more entanglements.
“If I am safe and sound after the war, I will welcome you into my home with great pomp and circumstance,” Li Dou said. “But if I am…”
He paused for a moment, then, not wanting to say anything unlucky, skipped over it.
"When the time comes, you'll marry someone with a clean conscience, and no one will have anything to say about it."
Qiongyu pouted, tears sliding down her cheeks, which she quickly wiped away.
Li Dou wasn't good at comforting people. Seeing her tears, he scratched his head, stood there blankly for a while, and asked, "Did I hurt you just now?"
After saying that, he took her hand and looked at it.
Qiongyu wanted to say no, and was about to pull her hand back when she felt something being put on her wrist.
She looked down and saw a red bracelet made of red beans, each bean being roughly the same size, round and neat.
Li Dou stammered, "I... I wore it myself, it's nothing valuable, you can wear it for fun, you can take it off if you don't like it."
Qiongyu still had tears in the corners of her eyes, but she couldn't help but laugh out loud. She held the bracelet in front of her eyes, touched it, and said softly, "I like it."
Chapter 91 Lingering Fragrance
“Look, look,” Zhou’s mother said with a smile, holding Qiongyu’s hand. “She wouldn’t talk to anyone just now, but in the blink of an eye she’s back with a bracelet that someone gave her.”
Qiongyu cried out and pulled her hand away, blushing as she said, "Aunt Zhou, please stop teasing me."
Zhou's mother reached out and tapped her forehead: "You, this temper is one thing in front of me and the princess, but you can't be like this after you marry into another family."
"Fortunately, Dr. Dou is a reasonable person and won't hold it against you. Otherwise, if you hadn't listened to a word he said and he had also stopped talking, wouldn't this marriage have been off?"
Qiongyu touched her head: "I...I have changed a lot. Before Ling Shuang left, she told me to control my temper and not to be impatient, and to take good care of the princess. I have always remembered that."
"Just now... just now I was in a hurry and forgot..."
Mrs. Zhou chuckled and pulled her to sit down.
"You and Ling Shuang are both good people. If she were still alive, the Princess would surely have found her a good marriage. It's just a pity..."
When Ling Shuang was mentioned, both of them looked somewhat somber.
Mrs. Zhou chuckled and said, "Look at me, this is supposed to be a happy occasion for you, why bring this up?"
He then took Qiongyu's hand and said, "But since Doctor Dou has said these things to you, it's clear that he truly cares for you. I'm relieved that you'll have a good life after you marry him."
"After meeting with the Princess, we'll have her discuss it with Madam Li another day. Even if the wedding date can't be set for now, it's best to go through the six rites in advance so that we can choose an auspicious day to get married as soon as the war is over, without it seeming rushed."
Qiongyu blushed and nodded: "I'll do whatever you say. I'm fine with anything."
After saying that, she realized that she hadn't gone to the main room after returning, and that Zhou's mother had stayed with her there for a while. She got up and looked out the window.
"Is there anyone serving the Princess? I..."
“You don’t need to go,” Zhou’s mother pulled her back again. “The prince just sent me back. He’s taking care of me in his room by himself.”
After saying that, they both chuckled.
Wei Hong disliked servants staying in the house. This time, having not seen Yao Youqing for a long time, he was even more clingy when he finally came back. He wished he could close the door and stay inside with Yao Youqing without coming out. He did everything himself, from serving tea and water to washing and bathing. He even combed Yao Youqing's hair himself, leaving all the servants with nothing to do.
However, this period of leisure did not last long, as Wei Hong only stayed in Cangcheng for two days before leaving again.
On the day of his departure, Yao Youqing personally saw him off, accompanying him all the way to the city gate and watching him gradually disappear into the distance, his tall figure becoming a tiny dot until he was no longer visible. Only then did she reluctantly turn back and get into the carriage.
In a secluded corner not far from the city gate, a filthy homeless man huddled in a tattered, drafty blanket, watching this side. His messy, tangled hair covered most of his face, and the horrific scars beneath were vaguely visible.
The wind blew open the curtain of Yao Youqing's carriage, and she unintentionally saw this down-on-his-luck vagrant. She asked Qiongyu to take the snacks she had left in the carriage to him.
Qiongyu picked up the snack box and was about to go downstairs when Yao Youqing called her back.
"Give him this blanket too."
There was a charcoal brazier in the car, so she didn't need the blanket at all. Wei Hong had it put in the car because he was worried she would get cold.
Qiongyu took the blanket and placed it in front of the homeless man along with the snack box.
The homeless man flinched when she approached, but realized what was happening when she put her things down. He repeatedly bowed and thanked her, but could only make muffled noises.
Qiongyu tilted her head and glanced at him, waved her hand and said, "No need to thank me," then turned back to the carriage and said to Yao Youqing, "Your Highness, that person is mute."
Yao Youqing glanced at the homeless man again at her words, and seeing that he was still bowing and thanking her profusely, she smiled and nodded, lowered the carriage curtain, and told the driver to continue on his way without stopping.
“In the past, there were some beggars and vagrants in Cangcheng, but not as many as now, nor as destitute as they are now…”
She murmured to herself, lost in thought.
Madam Zhou nodded in agreement: "It must be because of the war that many people have no home to return to. They have heard that Cangcheng is prosperous, with a prince guarding the border and you personally overseeing things here, so they have all gathered here."
"If that's the case, won't there be even more in the future?"
Qiong Yu answered.
Although the border was not in dire straits and the battles were more victories than defeats, there were still losses.
Even in victory there are casualties, let alone in defeat.
Those civilians who lived near the battlefield fled here with their families. They might encounter some accidents along the way. Some arrived safely, while others were displaced.