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Yuan Cixian got a satisfactory answer and finally agreed to let Lu Shiqing go. He put on his clothes and got up, and sent away the servants who were guarding all around to help him.
Lu Shiqing couldn't reveal his true identity before leaving Chang'an, lest she would insist on going with him, so he didn't stop her and watched her escort him out of the house like a thief.
The next day, Yuan Cixian arranged the tactics for the whole day and discussed seven escape routes with Jianzhi and Shicui. After dinner, it was almost time for the family to stay up together for the New Year. Just as she was about to sneak away, Yuan Yizheng forcibly dragged her to play chess with him.
At first she wanted to just play a game perfunctorily, but she didn't expect that the game would last for an hour. Father was particularly interested, and even mother and brother were watching enthusiastically. She had a hundred excuses to escape, but every time she opened her mouth, they changed the subject. Even when she got up to go to the toilet, mother had to accompany her. Naturally, she failed every time.
Yuan Cihan was not stupid, so she naturally figured out what was going on. She thought that her plan had been exposed and she could not go to Lu's house, so she had to wink at Jianzhi, signaling her to run to Yongxingfang and give Lu Shiqing a message, asking him not to wait.
It was almost midnight when she came back from picking branches, and she looked worried. Yuan Cixian sensed something was wrong at first sight, and slipped out again under the pretext of going to the toilet. He motioned for her to follow him, and when they got outside, he asked her what had happened.
Jianzhi didn't even have time to catch her breath before she answered in a hurry, "Young lady, I went to tell Minister Lu, but I didn't see him. Madam Lu said that he left Chang'an before dawn this morning to go on business."
Yuan Cixian was stunned and asked, "What kind of important errand must be done on New Year's Eve?"
"I also found it strange. I thought you must be curious, so I asked a few more questions for you. Madam Lu said that the errand was sent yesterday, but Minister Lu did not explain the details and was very secretive."
"Was he sent down yesterday?" Yuan Cixian grasped the key points and frowned as he began to think.
If that’s the case, why didn’t Lu Shiqing tell her last night and promised her to stay up all night to celebrate the New Year
Isn't this a blatant lie
She turned her head quickly and remembered more strange things. Thinking back, Lu Shiqing's behavior last night was indeed very unusual. Regardless of how breaking into the boudoir at night was inconsistent with his style of doing things, the way he looked at her and the way he spoke to her that night were different from usual.
He seemed to be in no mood to "fight" with her, and was mostly silent or submissive. His words seemed... as if there was something difficult to express, some struggle.
But at that time, because she had failed to catch him for several days, she was anxious to force him to propose marriage and did not give it any thought.
She connected all the strange things that had happened in the past two days and recalled them over and over again. Her heart began to pound. She suddenly turned around and ran back to her father's study. As soon as she stepped through the door, she saw the family who had been talking to each other suddenly stopped talking and looked up at her nervously.
She put her hands on the door frame and looked at them straight in the eyes: "Father, mother, brother, what are you hiding from me?"
Yuan Yizhi sighed and looked at Feng helplessly.
He knew he couldn't hide it from Yuan Cixian for long. But in fact, as long as she didn't know the truth last night, it would be enough to survive until this hour. She couldn't catch up with Lu Shiqing.
Yuan Cixian dug her nails tightly against the door frame and continued to ask, "Where did Minister Lu go? Tell me."
Feng stood up and pulled her hand off to prevent her from hurting herself, then said, "There was a war in southern Yunnan, and he went to negotiate with Nanzhao and Tubo."
Yuan Cixian seemed not to understand for a moment, and after a while he laughed in surprise, asking in disbelief, "Who asked him to go, the Saint?"
"It was his own idea." Yuan Yi answered directly.
She pushed Feng's hand away little by little, stepped forward a little hesitantly, and said word by word, "Is that what you meant?"
Yuan Yizhi remained silent.
Yuan Cixian suddenly laughed, "What kind of place is that? What kind of tigers and wolves are there? What will happen if you go there alone? Others may not know, but don't you know?" She seemed to understand something when she said this, "Or did you force him to go there? You didn't want him to marry me, and you thought he was not worthy of trust, so you forced him to prove it to you?"
"The purpose of Nanzhao's war is our Yuan family. In this war, what the Crown Prince Xiju wants is for the Saint to be more wary of our Yuan family, and for the Great Zhou to cut off its own retreat one day. He went there for the Yuan family, to alleviate the Saint's concerns about you, but you just stood by and watched?"
Seeing her sister's bad attitude, Yuan Yu frowned and said, "Ci Xian, calm down."
Yuan Yi faced Leng Rushuang and said to her, "Who said he went there for the Yuan family? Southern Yunnan fell, and so many people were in dire straits. Since he is a subject and cares about the country, he should go to save them without hesitation."
"Even so, there are many ways to save them, and there are many people in the court who are good at speaking and fighting!" Yuan Cixian held the edge of the table with both hands, and asked with red eyes, "Why must it be him? Why must he be the one who risked his life for the Great Zhou and went through fire and water?"
Yuan Yizhi stood up suddenly in anger: "Why can't it be him? If it's as you said, everyone else can die for the Great Zhou, why can't he be the only one?"
“Because…” Yuan Cixian was choked by the question. Suddenly, her eyes became hot and tears rolled out like a dam bursting.
Yuan Yizhi sneered: "I will pretend that I have never heard these treasonous words. You should think carefully about whether you should say them or not." After saying that, he turned and left.
Yuan Cihan stood there and tried to wipe her tears with her sleeves, but in the end she kept wiping more and more tears and couldn't stop them.
Feng sighed, winked at Yuan Yu, signaling him to look at Yuan Yizhi, then put her arm around Yuan Cihan's shoulders and patted her gently.
Yuan Cixian couldn't help crying, she didn't know what was going on, she couldn't stop crying, after holding it in for a while, she just hugged Feng and cried, "Mother, I just don't want him to go... It's not that I don't understand what father said, and it's not that I don't worry about the people in southern Yunnan, but he went to save them, who will save him?"
She cried more and more uncontrollably: "Mother, I feel so sad... I feel so sad... What if, what if he died in southern Yunnan? Mother, what should I do..."
Feng patted her back and whispered, "Yaoyao, southern Yunnan is very dangerous, but why can't you trust him? Your father believes in him, don't you?"
Yuan Cixian paused slightly, then raised her head with sobs.
Feng scratched her nose and said, "Your father went to the battlefield every now and then. When have you ever seen your mother crying like this? It's not that your mother doesn't worry about him, she just trusts him more."
"Southern Yunnan is a place of trouble, but mother has always liked it because it is the place your father has risked his life to protect time and time again. Now that Southern Yunnan is in trouble, how could your father sit idly by? But he gave it to Minister Lu. Isn't it because he has full confidence in him? If so, why can't you trust your father and Minister Lu?"
Yuan Cixian slowly stopped crying and calmed down amidst sobs.
"Yaoyao, mother knows that it is hard for you to accept it for the time being and you want to find a way to vent your feelings, but you must not hurt your father's feelings. After you finish crying, go and apologize to him. Today is New Year's Eve."
Yuan Cixian nodded: "Mother, I know I was wrong, I will apologize to father." She bit her lip and said, "But can you sleep with me today?"
Feng couldn't help laughing: "How old are you?"
She pouted: "I am more fragile than a three-year-old child now."
*
Yuan Cixian apologized to Yuan Yizhi overnight, and then took Feng away with a clear conscience. However, she could not rest well at night. She woke up from time to time and dreamed over and over again about the scene of Lu Shiqing breaking into her boudoir.
After she finished threatening to marry her, she heard him promise to marry her the next time they met.
Then the scene changed, and the sky was filled with white paper money. She saw Lu Shuangyu standing at the front of the funeral procession, holding a thin bamboo stick in her hand and crying with red and swollen eyes.
She wanted to rush over to see who was in the coffin, but she couldn't catch up, and heard the wailing sounds getting farther and farther away.
This happened several times, and every time she opened her eyes she broke out in a cold sweat, as if she had seen a bad omen. When she woke up the next morning she found her bedding was wet.
Maybe she cried in her dream.
Yuan Cihan had been depressed for the entire night, but when she heard the New Year's firecrackers in the neighborhood, she suddenly woke up and was cheered up by the joyful noise.
She couldn't catch up with Lu Shiqing, but she couldn't just sit there and wait for death.
She pondered in the room for a while, made up her mind, and suddenly ran out of the yard, knocked on Yuan Yizhi's door, and asked him when she saw him: "Father, I remembered something. In the early years, when the Great Zhou was not as weak as it is now, Nanzhao occasionally paid tribute to the court, and sometimes you presented it on our behalf."
"Once, I saw a fist-sized piece of unpolished jade among the tribute, but it was not recorded in the gift list, so I wanted to steal it secretly and use it as a toy. You said at the time that this unpolished jade was comparable to the Heshi jade, priceless and not to be trifled with. It was not recorded in the gift list because it was privately used by the Second Prince of Nanzhao to please the Saint."
Father and daughter don't hold grudges overnight. Yuan Yizhi's anger had long since subsided. Hearing this, he thought carefully and said, "There is such a thing. Why are you asking this?"
"You see, where there is power there is struggle. Our Great Zhou is in chaos because of the struggle for the succession. Can Nanzhao be lucky enough to avoid it? The Second Prince of Nanzhao took a priceless jade and secretly paid tribute to the Crown Prince. Isn't it to please our Saint and gain the support of the Great Zhou one day?"
"This incident is enough to prove his ambition, and it also proves that Xi Ju is not clean. At that time, we were too lazy to get involved in their Nanzhao's family affairs and chose to stand aside and watch. Now, why don't we use this incident to remind Xi Ju to pay attention to the fire in his backyard?"
"You mean to send someone to deliver this unpolished jade to Xi Ju as quickly as possible, so as to win Minister Lu's slight favor. At least, the Nanzhao army will not open fire on Minister Lu without saying a word?"
Yuan Cixian nodded: "But the question is, where did this unpolished jade go after it entered the palace?"
"Father sent someone to check it out."
Yuan Cixian returned to the courtyard and waited anxiously for a reply. An hour later, she heard Jianzhi report: "Young lady, there is news. The unpolished jade was made into an animal sculpture and placed in the imperial mausoleum, but there were some scraps left, which the saint gave to his children. A small piece of it was used to make a jade ring for Princess Shaohe."
She suddenly stood up, pursed her lips which were dry from a sleepless night, and said, "Let's go to the princess's mansion."
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