Shen Chen stared at Wei An without blinking. Seeing that her face was red all the way to her neck, he knew that he could not tease her anymore. He sighed softly and stretched out his hand to hold her in his arms. He held her in his arms regardless of her struggle and whispered, "Okay, I won't tease you anymore. I'll hug you..." He lowered his head to Wei An's shoulder, held her hand and held her in his arms, and asked her, "I've been gone for so long, have you missed me?"
It would be a lie to say that she didn't want to, but how could Wei An say it? She really had no talent for the way couples get along. Every time when she should respond, she felt that it was harder than climbing to the sky to say nice words to the other party.
Maybe it's because your feelings have been trampled upon before, so you'd rather not speak. It seems that if you say too much, the other person will get tired of listening, and they will no longer think your care is so important.
She also knew that her behavior was childish and ridiculous. After all, if two people had to argue about who liked me more, it would make this relationship seem too frivolous. But the words were stuck in her throat and she couldn't say them.
Fortunately, Shen Chen was the one who didn't think her being hypocritical was unnecessary. He smiled smugly and broke the deadlock: "I know you miss me too. Ah Cheng told me that you asked me several times if I had written back. Are you worried about me?"
Wei An poked his hand with his arm, wanting to leave his embrace. Thinking of this, he still felt a little wronged: "Since you knew everything, why didn't you write to tell me and let me be kept in the dark... I really thought Bao Ge'er was sick..."
This was an injustice to Shen Chen. No matter how capable he was, he couldn't have determined that this was a conspiracy against Bao Ge'er without verification. By the time he knew about it, Wei An had almost finished his own investigation, but he still coaxed her with a good temper: "Okay, it's my fault. I shouldn't have made you worry. I should have written to tell you a long time ago..."
Wei An knew that he had gone too far. Shen Chen was not in the capital, but he had to take care of all the things in the capital for her, and he had to contact Lin Sanshao. Moreover, he himself was in crisis in Fangshan...
She pursed her lips and couldn't help asking him, "Is everything done? I heard from my father that your trip is very dangerous..."
"It's all taken care of." Shen Chen stroked her hair and leaned against the soft pillow on the seat, his posture still as straight as a pine tree. Seeing Wei An asking this, his face was still filled with smiles: "At first they just wanted to delay me, but later..."
Shen Chen went there on the orders of Emperor Longqing to deal with those parasites who occupied the military settlements. Since he went there to cut off people's financial resources, he was bound to be hated by them.
When he first went there, none of the military households who had filed complaints before dared to stand up and complain about their grievances. They just kept telling him that nothing was wrong and that they had falsely accused the local garrison commander out of greed.
Shen Chen also knew that something was wrong, so he asked someone to investigate secretly. Only then did he find out that last winter, more than a dozen military households in Fangshan almost froze to death.
These people's families were so poor that they had no food to eat. Some even froze to death as pregnant women... They did not enjoy any of the tax and rent exemptions that the court had originally given them, and they had never even heard of the subsidies that should have been given to military households.
All this money was embezzled.
Originally, Tang Santong, the captain of the Fangshan Guard, was very enthusiastic and entertained Shen Chen with banquets day after day. However, after they found out that Shen Chen was secretly investigating those military households who had originally kept their mouths shut, their attitude began to change and they wanted to take action against him several times.
At first, he did not dare to do it too blatantly, but later, for some unknown reason, he killed the man without hesitation, led him to the home of the soldier who had filed the complaint, and forced the old man to serve him poisoned wine and food.
This move was extremely vicious. After the incident, the ready-made scapegoat was the old man who had been wronged.
Fortunately, Shen Chen was on high alert against Tang Santong and had long known that Tang Santong had secretly met this military household. Seeing that the old man looked miserable and spoke differently than usual, he became suspicious and became wary. Otherwise, he might have really lost his life in Fangshan and never come back.
He described the whole process in a light-hearted way, picking out some of the less frightening details and telling Wei An, "Later, I discovered the truth, and the old man was willing to be my witness. I then arrested Tang Santong in the name of the imperial envoy, collected evidence of his crimes and brought them back. I will hand them over to His Majesty for punishment when the time comes."
Although he had deliberately downplayed the conflicts and twists and turns, Wei An was still terrified. Shen Chen didn't want her to worry, so he made it sound as simple as leaving the city. But she was not a fool and knew how dangerous such a situation would be. Even in such a dangerous situation, he still took care of her family affairs, fearing that she would worry about her family. Such painstaking efforts really touched her. She squinted her eyes and suddenly felt some sweet joy in her heart. She couldn't help but whispered, "It must be very dangerous? Are you hurt?"
He was bound to be injured. Although his martial arts were good, the opponent was not a fool either. He certainly tried his best to deal with him. He not only prepared poison, but also many ambushes. If Xuesong and the others had not been quick to see the opportunity, and if he had not fought very hard, he would have never been able to come back.
But these dangers have passed after all. Shen Chen didn't want Wei An to know, so he smiled cunningly: "How could those idiots do anything to me? I have already dealt with them."
He always reported good news but not bad news. Wei An's worries did not decrease at all because of what he said. She frowned, but still did not ask any more questions. She knew Shen Chen's personality. He would not admit it if she continued. Besides, he returned safely, which was enough. She asked him: "Didn't Third Master Lin say that you should go to the palace first when you came back? The emperor must have been waiting for you for a long time. Why did you come to me first?"
"Aren't you asking even though you already know the answer?" Shen Chen looked at her with some resentment: "You heartless little thing, if I don't come to find you, am I still waiting for you to come to me? If I really have to wait, I don't know how long I will have to wait. I don't know how long I will have to wait to enter the palace, and I still have to go to see my father... How can I bear it? Thinking that I may have to wait a few more days before I can see you, I feel it is really unbearable, so I took great pains to come to see you first, but it seems that some people are not very happy to see me?" (To be continued)