It was still early, and Danfeng Street was crowded. He ran a little further and turned to Yanxi Gate, where there were fewer people. In Chang'an, horses were not allowed to run, so they could only trot. The followers behind Li Qishen blew cold air and asked tentatively, "Prince, when you left Danfeng Gate earlier... did someone call you from behind?"
Li Qishen's hand holding the reins paused slightly, but his tone was dull: "What did you call me?"
He didn't call him "Prince" or "Your Highness", but a nickname that showed affection. Not to mention that he had heard this nickname from someone else, if he really called Li Qishen like this, the follower would feel creepy. He held it in for a while, then shook his head: "Maybe I heard it wrong."
"You heard it wrong."
"… yes."
After hearing what Li Qishen said, his followers had no choice but to shut up and quietly follow the newly-appointed prince forward.
Li Qishen controlled his horse and ran on the road, gradually approaching Qixia Gate. Daming Palace was left behind, and Danfeng Gate was also far behind. The wind whistled in his ears, but he could vaguely hear the girl's voice, calling him repeatedly, as if her heart was broken.
But he couldn't turn back. Not then, and certainly not now.
**
"Madam Xie?" A hand stretched out and crossed in front of Xie Wangzhi, as if to help her up. "Why are you here?"
Xie Wangzhi looked up and stood up with Cui Shi's help. She had run too hard before, and her legs were stiff and numb. She bent over and pressed her knees: "I heard that His Highness... went to Fengzhou."
"It's still dark, and the imperial edict came overnight." Cui Shi said "hmm" and thought for a moment, "Actually, there's no need to think too much. Fengzhou is a long way away, but it's not a miserable place. The governor of Fengzhou is Prince Ning, your highness's uncle. He is open-minded and generous by nature, so I don't think he will embarrass your highness."
Xie Wangzhi had heard about the reputation of Ning Wang Li Rongjin from his father and brother. It was indeed as Cui Shi said. With the temperament of this uncle and nephew, they would never make things difficult for each other. But after all, they set out from Chang'an, and Fengzhou was thousands of miles away. Xie Wangzhi still felt a little uncomfortable because he didn't see him for the last time before leaving. He sniffed and didn't say anything.
Seeing that she was about to cry, Cui Shi was scared to death. He really didn't know how to coax a young lady. What's more, he was hesitant and didn't even dare to tell the truth.
He happened to be in Qingsi Palace when he received the imperial edict this morning. When he heard that he was only given the title of a prince and was to go to Fengzhou, which was no different from being exiled to the frontier, Cui Shiji was about to jump up, as if his heart was on fire. Li Qishen was very calm. He received the imperial edict and asked Changzu to get something, which happened to be the clothes he had collected earlier.
Seeing those pre-sealed boxes, Cui Shi was not stupid, and he immediately knew that Li Qishen had done it on purpose, and he had expected that Li Chengjin would issue an order to expel him from Chang'an. But Cui Shi could not tell Xie Wangzhi directly, and could only hint vaguely: "Before he left, he told me about the matter."
Xie Wangzhi asked quickly: "What did he say?"
"… It's nothing, just explaining the arrangements after leaving the palace. Don't worry, he is a very thoughtful person, he always makes trouble for others, but never makes himself suffer." Cui Shi touched the tip of his nose and took Xie Wangzhi to a secluded place on the side. "How do you feel about the weather recently?"
"Weather?" Xie Wangzhi was stunned and blinked his eyes. "Isn't it just the weather in spring... sometimes cold and sometimes hot."
"That's right. The weather changes quickly in spring. I'm afraid it's going to change. That's what His Highness is worried about. He said the weather is bad and asked you and I to go home early. It would be bad if we caught a cold."
Xie Wangzhi understood. She believed Li Qishen, and the palace was not peaceful recently. Who knew what Li Chengjing would do next? Since Li Qishen said so, she also thought about going home: "But I'm in the Shangshi Bureau, so I can't reply for the time being."
"It's okay. I remember your brother is the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel." Cui Shi breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll run the trip for you."
"Okay." Xie Wangzhi nodded, took off the bracelet from his wrist and handed it to Cui Shi, "Take this as proof."
Cui Shi took the bracelet and carefully hid it in his sleeve. Suddenly he remembered something and took out a box from his bosom: "I almost forgot about this. This is what he left for you."
Xie Wangzhi responded, and was a little confused when she took the box. In an emergency, she ignored the rule of not opening gifts in front of others, held the small box with one hand, and opened the buckle.
There was a small mechanism hidden in the box. With a light press, the lid slid open, revealing two bracelets inside. Judging from the size, the bracelets were worn by adult women, made of pure gold, with a rather exotic pattern on them, a style Xie Wangzhi had never seen before.
"… This is… "
"I don't know either. Don't ask me." Cui Shi shook his head quickly. "Anyway, it was given to me by His Highness. It clearly said that it was left for you. Just accept it."
It was already opened, and it would be hypocritical to say it was too valuable. Xie Wangzhi nodded and carefully put the box in his chest: "Thank you, my dear."
"... I should." Cui Shi was a little embarrassed. He and Xie Wangzhi were not familiar with each other. After holding it in for a long time, he just said, "By the way, last time in the kitchen... Sorry, I don't know what happened between you two."
Xie Wangzhi felt that this was a bit strange, but he didn't refute it and nodded: "It doesn't matter."
She had nothing to say, but Cui Shi was terrified, thinking that she was still angry with Li Qishen. After thinking about it, he decided to help Li Qishen. He cleared his throat: "In fact, he cares about you very much. Although he lied to you, he had no choice."
"… oh."
"Really!" Cui Shi was anxious. "He doesn't like sweet food. I don't know how you misunderstood me before and made sweet soup for him. I saw that he felt uncomfortable eating it, but he still forced himself to finish it and refused to share a bite with me."
Xie Wangzhi knew about this. She had seen Li Qishen worrying about the milk and rice porridge, frowning and swallowing it hard. At that time, she just thought he was stupid and why he would embarrass herself like this. But now thinking about it, a subtle sourness and joy actually emerged in her heart.
Chang'an was in turmoil, Li Qishen's reputation was not good, his mother died early, his father treated him as if he did not exist, and his brother moved him with pity. Many people secretly laughed at his bloodline and ridiculed him as a madman, but Xie Wangzhi never thought of alienating him because of this.
Because Li Qishen is a very, very good person, one-of-a-kind.
She smiled for no reason, but her eyelashes trembled, and she felt like crying. Xie Wangzhi raised his hand and rubbed it, asking casually, "I suddenly remembered that the prince went to Fengzhou. Can you send a message?"
"It's always possible. Fengzhou is not without a post station." Cui Shi said, "But he rushed to Fengzhou these two days. I guess given his personality, he won't stop on the way. He must be in a hurry and probably won't have time to return. When he arrives in Fengzhou, he will send a message first. We know where the post station is, so we can communicate."
As long as they can communicate, Xie Wangzhi nodded: "There is one more thing."
"What?"
"That is..." Xie Wangzhi was a little embarrassed and scratched his face, "Your Highness, did you bring coal briquettes with you when you went to Fengzhou?"
Cui Shi paused for a moment before he realized that he was referring to the black cat that Li Qishen kept in Qingsi Palace. He shook his head and said, "No. That cat is very fierce and can't be caught. It hasn't come to the palace to eat in the past two days. Your Highness probably doesn't intend to take it with him."
"… Then I'll keep him." Xie Wangzhi responded. He had asked all the questions he needed to ask and couldn't say anything more. "Then I'll go back to the Shangshi Bureau. Thank you, my dear, for telling me this."
"Well, be careful on the road."
Xie Wangzhi bowed to Cui Shifu and turned to walk towards the Shangshi Bureau.
As soon as she left, Cui Shi breathed a sigh of relief, and without looking at her again, he turned in the opposite direction. He raised his head and looked towards Danfeng Gate, his sight passed over the top of the gate and fell to the sky in the distance.
"Your Highness," Cui Shi closed his eyes and said softly, "I hope everything will be successful."
**
Cui Shi was very quick, and agreed on March 27, and brought back Xie Yunzhi's letter the next day. There must have been a lot of things going on in the past few days, and Xie Wangzhi opened the letter. The handwriting on the Huanhua paper was a bit sloppy, with a few drops of ink, probably written in a hurry by Xie Yunzhi.
There were only two sentences on the Huanhua letter, meaning that there were many things to do at the end of the month and the palace rules were difficult to break, so she asked Xie Wangzhi to hold on a little longer and he would come to take her home before April 15th.
Xie Wangzhi was not in such a hurry to begin with. It didn't matter if he left a few days earlier or later. He took advantage of the free time to pack his things slowly and greet the female officials so as not to leave too suddenly and startle them. The female officials in the food bureau were easy to talk to and didn't say much. Only Yan Shangshi said a few more words, but he was also speaking politely from the position of an elder.
Xie Wangzhi suddenly felt relieved and was planning to leave the Shangshi Bureau. However, on April 14th, he met Meiqiu on the palace road outside the Shangshi Bureau.
Unlike the previous times, this time Coal Ball was not only not majestic, but also a bit embarrassed. The black cat was lying on the palace path, with its long tail dragging behind it, its ears drooping, and its whole body was bloody. Half of its fur was stuck together with blood. It kept licking the wound on its front leg. Fresh blood dripped and formed a small pool under it.
When Xie Wangzhi walked over, Meiqiu was so frightened that his ears stood up and he made a low sound in his throat, as if he was about to move his claws.
Xie Wang was shocked: "Coal briquettes..."
Meiqiu stared at Xie Wangzhi for a while, as if he finally saw who the girl was. The whole cat suddenly became depressed, shook his ears, and continued to lick his front legs.
Looking at the pool of blood, Xie Wangzhi was scared to death, but she couldn't just leave Coal Ball like that. She made up her mind, endured the smell of blood, bent down, grabbed Coal Ball by the scruff of the neck, supported and hugged the bloody black cat, and ran to find the female doctor.
The illness of palace maids was not the responsibility of the Imperial Medical Bureau. There were female doctors who took care of this matter. It happened that the female doctor Xie Wangzhi knew was kind-hearted. When she saw that the person who came to see him was a cat, she did not kick Xie Wangzhi out. Instead, she carefully cleaned Meiqiu's wound and bandaged it carefully.
The cat could endure the pain. The knife used for cleaning the wound was burned by fire. The coal balls caused its ears to tremble with pain, but the cat endured the pain and did not run away or show its claws.
After bandaging the cat, the female doctor wiped her sweat and confiscated the medical fee Xie Wangzhi gave her: "It's just a cat, it's useless. It can't talk, I don't know how it got hurt. I think the wound looks like it was bitten, maybe it was a hunting dog brought into the palace by a young man... But fortunately, the bones were not injured, but the wound is big and bleeding a lot. You should take it home and take care of it first. If it doesn't get burned later and the wound doesn't rot, it will heal slowly."
After all, people and cats are different. Xie Wangzhi thought about it and didn't ask about the prescription: "Then what should I feed it?"
"This..." The female doctor was a little embarrassed. "I learned how to treat people, not cats. But according to the method of treating people, make some bone soup and chicken for nourishment in the next few days, and don't drink alcohol or eat raw, cold and spicy food. That's it."
Xie Wangzhi nodded, thanked the doctor, and then took the coal briquettes back.
It was easy to say at home, with such a large yard, there was no shortage of space for an injured black cat. However, there were four people living together in the Shangshiju house. Lou Hanyue obviously didn't dislike coal briquettes, but Sun Shuirong and Xue Geshu were not sure. After thinking it over, Xie Wangzhi decided to leave the coal briquettes outside, feed them shredded chicken, and then put a basin on top of a towel to let them stay overnight.
The author has something to say: Coal Ball: Report, I think I can still save it (weakly)
Look, there is something sweet in this chapter, Changsheng gave a bracelet and a cat, look, it's a betrothal gift (nonsense
After that, the next plot... Well, I hope there will be a feeling of two parallel lines, which should be written in parallel from Changsheng's side and Wangzhi's side. I hope to write a sweet and sour long-distance relationship. Anyway, Changsheng has done a lot of tricks (touching his chin). Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the [mine]: 1 for Shifangxiao;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
hxy123 30 bottles; Buwuzhengye 24 bottles; Celia, Fat Panda Mumu 10 bottles; Qimon 7 bottles; Innocent Square, Edogawa Magical Tornado Boy 5 bottles; Mario Mushroom Stew 3 bottles; Only the Common People Will Never Grow Old, 123, Dianaive 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!