At midnight, Huayang fell asleep in Chen Jingzong's arms.
Her long eyelashes were still wet. She rested her head on Chen Jingzong's strong arm, her hand holding the hem of his shirt.
The princess was usually so particular, but tonight she didn't mind the smell of tung oil on his hair, and she didn't have the energy to ask him to help her clean herself.
The lights in the inner room were still on, and Chen Jingzong looked at the person in his arms silently.
Qi Jin did frame him, but he was not in danger. Three years had passed. It was normal for her to be angry, but she didn't have to cry so sadly.
Chen Jingzong had guessed long ago that she was hiding some secrets and that she could probably predict some things in advance.
Therefore, according to her prediction, he should have died in Wuduo Mountain.
She had seen that scene, which was why she went with him on the expedition without any hesitation, and why she felt so sad and scared when she relived the ambush.
A thousand sweet words, ten thousand gentle and considerate actions, could not compare to the tears she shed for him.
Chen Jingzong didn't like romance, and he never wanted a gentle and considerate wife.
He liked this little royal princess who was on a blind date with him, liked being glared at and scolded by her, liked the fact that she showed great disgust but was willing to do those happy things with him in the end.
Willingness comes from love, it is enough for both parties to understand, there is no need to say it out loud.
.
When Huayang woke up, it was already bright outside the window.
Chen Jingzong was gone, and there was a faint smell of tung oil in the tent, but she was clean and comfortable, and she had changed into a new set of undergarments.
August 26th, there is a court meeting this morning. Perhaps my brother and the civil and military officials are discussing a thorough investigation of Qi Jin's treasonous relationship with the enemy.
How much do his uncle, aunt, and grandmother know about what Qi Jin did
Huayang was in mixed feelings. He just ate a quick meal and went into the palace.
When Huayang arrived at the Qianqing Palace, he learned that his mother had moved to the Cining Palace.
As my younger brother grew up, the Cining Palace had already been renovated. All they had to do was ask the palace maids to move the utensils used by their mother there, and the place would be ready for people to live in.
Huayang went to the Cining Palace again.
Empress Dowager Qi had just returned from the morning court and had just changed into her casual clothes. She looked a little haggard, which was enough to prove that she did not sleep well last night.
"Panpan is here, come and sit down."
Empress Dowager Qi sat on the warm couch by the window and waved to her daughter.
The palace servants withdrew respectfully.
Huayang held his mother's hand and said, "My husband told me everything last night. Are you sad?"
Empress Dowager Qi: "I feel sorry for your grandmother and uncle. They are both honest people who have lived a decent life. But in their old age, they were implicated by your cousin."
Everyone praised her as a virtuous queen, and Empress Dowager Qi always held herself to the highest standards and disciplined those around her. She was strict with her son and her family members.
In the past twenty years or so, her mother and brother have been law-abiding, and her nephew has been a great talent in both literature and martial arts, bringing honor to the family. Who would have thought that he would become a scourge to the family.
Hua Yang was silent for a moment, then asked, "How are you and your brother going to deal with this matter?"
Empress Dowager Qi looked out the window and said, "If the head of a family colluded with the enemy and committed treason, that is a serious crime of killing all nine generations of the family. Your cousin colluded with the enemy, and his family was unaware of it. He was sentenced to death by slicing, and the marquisate was stripped of his title and demoted to a commoner. This is enough to thank the world."
There are many types of death penalty, and the most appropriate punishment is chosen according to the crime committed by a person. A cup of poisoned wine and a three-foot white silk are considered decent, beheading is common, and beheading and lingchi are both serious crimes.
Huayang felt a chill. She had only seen the death penalty of Lingchi in books, but she had never expected that the first real example around her was actually her own cousin.
Huayang was just horrified by this way of death, but he did not sympathize with Qi Jin.
Not to mention that he killed Chen Jingzong and more than 5,000 soldiers of almost the entire Daxing Left Guard in his previous life, even if there were more than 5,000 men of the Jinwu Vanguard who died unjustly at his hands in this life, Qi Jin should be punished by slow slicing.
No matter how much pain he was in, the dead soldiers would never come back to life, and the wounds in the hearts of their thousands of relatives would never heal.
The death cell of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Qi Jin calmly cooperated with the interrogation of Jinyiwei commander Liu Shou.
Liu Shou asked him if he had such evil intentions because he was jealous of Chen Jingzong's popularity. Qi Jin then realized that both the Empress Dowager and Emperor Yuanyou wanted to get rid of Huayang.
Qi Jin paused and answered yes.
It really had nothing to do with Huayang. She knew nothing from the beginning to the end, did not understand his intentions, and had never been attracted to him.
He wanted to marry her, he resented his aunt's power over the entire mansion, he was dissatisfied with the marriage arranged for him by his grandmother and mother, and he had been holding a grudge in his heart.
He could not seize Huayang by force, nor could he openly resist his aunt, so he could only take action against Huayang's son-in-law.
Whether it was Chen Jingzong or any other man, whoever married Huayang and got what he could not get would become a thorn in his eyes.
But in the end, he still had to submit to the power of his aunt.
If he had cooperated honestly with Liu Shou's questioning and not revealed his ambitions towards Huayang, the fate of the Qi family would have been better.
He is destined to die, so why should he implicate his family
Qi Jin just held on to a glimmer of hope. He was about to die. Would Hua Yang come to see him? Even if it was just to scold him, it would always be good for him to see her before he died.
Qi Jin has been waiting.
He waited for the scolding and tears from his grandmother and parents, waited for the night to fall and the sky to brighten again and again, waited for the Jinyiwei to take him away to be punished, waited for the knife to fall on his body again and again, but he did not wait for the person he wanted to see the most.
.
Huayang did not sympathize with Qi Jin, but after all, he was her cousin whom she had known since childhood. After Qi Jin was sentenced at the end of August, her grandmother and her family moved to Qi's hometown and she would never see him again in this life. How could Huayang act as if nothing had happened and not be affected at all
Chen Jingzong took a special leave and accompanied her to Hongfu Temple for two days.
Huayang didn't want him to worry, so he pretended to have let it go and asked Chen Jingzong to go to the garrison to work first.
But as soon as Chen Jingzong left, Huayang became depressed again.
She also learned from Chen Jingzong that her mother had also attended the court meeting on August 26, and issued a self-blame edict in front of all the civil and military officials, saying that she and the Qi family had failed to teach their children and nephews well, causing thousands of soldiers to die unjustly on the battlefield. Since she had blamed herself, her mother had no face to continue to attend government affairs on behalf of her brother, so her brother would take charge of the government from that day on, and she would move back to the Cining Palace to cultivate herself and no longer interfere in court affairs.
Huayang felt sad for his mother. Apart from being too strict, his mother had almost no shortcomings. But because of Qi Jin, her reputation as a virtuous woman was tarnished!
"Princess, the Grand Princess sent someone to deliver the invitation."
Huayang glanced at him lazily and said, "You read it."
Wu Run nodded, opened the invitation, read it quickly, and then imitated the tone of Princess Anle, smiling and saying, "My dear niece, I know you are unhappy recently, so I specially asked the troupe to arrange a good play. Come quickly, I have prepared tea, fruits and fine wine for you."
Although Eunuch Wu is intimidating without even getting angry when disciplining the servants in the Princess's mansion, he is also very good at showing off when he needs to make the Princess happy.
Huayang: …
Chaoyun and Chaoyue both laughed and said, "The eldest princess is really caring."
Huayang was infected by the joyful atmosphere and did not want to let his aunt down, so he set off immediately.
Princess Anle sent a young eunuch to wait for her niece at the door. When Huayang arrived, the young eunuch bowed and nodded and led her to a waterside pavilion.
Huayang didn't think much about it until she saw from afar a piece of white gauze hanging in the waterside pavilion, gently fluttering in the autumn breeze of early September. Her aunt, in a gorgeous long dress, was sitting behind the white gauze, listening to music comfortably and happily, as carefree as a goddess in heaven.
Certain memories from his previous life flooded into his mind, and Huayang suddenly began to feel like backing out.
Princess Anle ran out with a smile, grabbed her niece and pulled her into the waterside pavilion: "Since you are here, why are you leaving?"
She was also a little puzzled. Her good show hadn't even begun yet. Could it be that her niece could predict the future
Huayang was pressed by his aunt onto the rosewood carved Arhat bed behind the white gauze.
Princess Anle clapped her hands, and two strong guards with their upper bodies exposed came in.
Huayang was not interested in this kind of show, but at this point, she didn't want her aunt to laugh at her.
Therefore, Huayang became generous and calm, and watched the two guards start fighting nonchalantly.
The sturdy guards actually looked similar in body. Huayang tried to recognize their faces, only to find that she didn't remember the faces of the two guards arranged by her aunt in her previous life at all. Naturally, she couldn't be sure whether the people in front of her were the two people she had seen before.
"How about it? Looking at such beauty, have you forgotten all those bad things?" Princess Anle approached her niece and teased with a smile.
Huayang: "Can this be called beauty? My aunt's taste is getting worse and worse."
Princess Anle: "It's not that I'm bad, it's that you've been spoiled by Chen Silang's face. But then again, no matter how handsome he is, you've been looking at him for almost seven years, and you're not tired of him yet?"
Huayang has always been stubborn. According to her usual personality, she would probably say at this time that she didn't really look at her own prince consort.
But in her previous life, she could only sit next to her aunt and fantasize about Chen Jingzong in front of two unfamiliar guards. But now, Chen Jingzong is still fine, and she can see him whenever she wants.
After a moment of silence, Huayang smiled and said, "I'll never get tired of watching this in my lifetime."
Princess Anle: …
She held her niece's shoulders in disbelief and pinched her niece's smooth cheeks: "Are you our Panpan? Are you possessed by some monster?"
She watched her niece grow up. Apart from trying to please her elders, when has she ever said anything sweet to her peers
Huayang just pushed his aunt aside with disdain: "Don't block me from watching the show."
.
In the evening, Chen Jingzong returned from the garrison and found Huayang sitting by the window, holding a storybook in his hand and a palm-sized brocade box next to him.
Seeing that he noticed the brocade box, Huayang said, "This is a gift from your aunt."
Chen Jingzong: "Why did you suddenly think of giving me something?"
Huayang lowered his eyes. His aunt's original words were that she asked her niece to look after the guards. She felt a little guilty towards her niece's husband, so she gave him a small gift.
Of course Huayang couldn't tell Chen Jingzong, so he just said, "It was also given to me, yours is just a gift."
Chen Jingzong understood that she had been in a bad mood recently. Since the Grand Princess loved her so much, he sent some gifts to cheer up his niece.
Chen Jingzong sat next to Huayang and opened the brocade box, revealing a dagger inside.
Huayang moved away a little.
Chen Jingzong took out the dagger and laughed: "How can I hurt you?"
Huayang snorted: "Who can trust someone so clumsy?"
Chen Jingzong also stepped back a little and pulled the dagger out of the scabbard. Before he had time to check whether the blade was sharp, a folded piece of letter paper fell out of the scabbard.
The couple were both stunned.
Chen Jingzong had a complicated expression: "What is that?" The eldest princess is very frivolous, don't cause trouble for her!
Huayang had already taken the letter, unfolded it, and after looking at it for a while, his whole face turned red!
Chen Jingzong had an idea and put the dagger aside, then snatched the letter back before the princess tried to tear it up.
Huayang rushed over, and Chen Jingzong held her with one hand to prevent her from moving, and held the letter in the other hand and stretched it out to look at it.
The letter read: My nephew-in-law, Panpan is unhappy and none of your proper methods work, so I arranged for two handsome and strong guards to take off their shirts to demonstrate the masculine beauty of men for her. It's just that I feel a little sorry for you, so I'll give you a dagger that can cut through iron like mud, so don't blame your aunt.
Chen Jingzong: …
Handsome, strong, and without a shirt, he is a masculine beauty!
Crumpling the letter into a ball with one hand, he looked down at the eldest princess who had given up struggling.
The eldest princess' face was red, and it was unclear whether she was angry with her aunt or felt guilty because her husband caught her doing good things outside.
Chen Jingzong smiled with a fake smile: "Okay, no wonder you looked so happy today, it turns out you were having an affair outside."
Hua Yang glared at him: "I just took a few glances, stop making up stories."
Chen Jingzong: "How many times did you look at them? What did you look at? Am I not as pretty as them, or are you tired of looking at them and have to look at others?"
Huayang closed his eyes and mouth and ignored him.
Chen Jingzong quickly took off his outer robe and threw away the clothes inside. He then pulled the escaping princess back and pressed her against his chest: "Look, if you think there's something wrong with it, can't I change it?"
Huayang hits him.
Chen Jingzong was unable to force the princess to open her eyes, so he had no choice but to pick her up and hold her in his arms, gnashing his teeth in her ear: "I understand that you are unhappy these days, and I haven't touched you. But you actually ran away to flirt with other girls behind my back!"
Huayang hits him on the mouth.
Chen Jingzong grabbed her wrist and pushed her down on the couch. Soon, the princess could only let him talk nonsense and she could no longer speak complete sentences.
.
(End of this chapter)