The Counterfeit Madam Hou

Chapter 23: past

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As soon as Yongfu said this, Li Yuanbai woke up from his drowsiness. He pricked up his ears in high spirits, which was much more interesting than listening to Aunt Zhang complaining about Li Goudan next door when she was helping Aunt Zhang to press her feet!

He waited expectantly to hear the royal secret.

But Xue Mu didn't intend to fulfill his wish. He just remained silent for a while, and said without any ups and downs: "There is no need to mention the past."

"No need to mention it again?" Yongfu sneered, and looked at Xue Mu with mocking eyes, "I was the one who guarded you by the bed all night, just like you guard her now!"

The corner of Xue Mu's mouth moved, but he didn't make a sound. He kept holding Liu Qinghuan's hand, because he remembered that someone held his hand that night seven years ago.

He lowered his eyes and said softly: "She was injured to save me."

Yongfu wanted to refute him, do you need her to save you? What she did was superfluous! But when his eyes fell on the unconscious person, he finally held back and didn't say anything.

She pursed her lips and left the room without saying a word.

Li Yuanbai, who was still listening to the gossip attentively, was taken aback for a moment. This must have ended too suddenly! Li Yuanbai pursed his lips unsatisfactorily, covered his mouth and yawned again.

That night Liu Qinghuan's high fever repeated twice, and finally subsided completely. The people in the main room didn't close their eyes all night, including Xue Mu and Li Yuanbai.

Li Yuanbai felt that Master Hou had to pay him three times his wages.

After the bells and drums to announce the dawn in Chang'an City finished ringing, Nian Tang finally couldn't help but walked in from the courtyard: "Master Hou, today is the day of worship."

Xue Mu's brows twitched, and just as he was about to send someone to ask the emperor for leave, he felt the fingers in his hand move slightly. He subconsciously clenched Liu Qinghuan's hand, and called nervously: "Qingqing?"

"Hmm..." Liu Qinghuan's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she slowly opened her eyes.

Seeing this, the servant girl guarding the bed immediately jumped up for joy: "Madam is awake! Madam is awake!" Even Li Yuanbai was moved, the patient woke up! The patient is awake! He can finally go back to his room to sleep!

The whole room was immersed in an atmosphere of joy, only Xue Mu still looked at Liu Qinghuan sullenly: "Qingqing, what do you think? Is there anything uncomfortable?"

The blurry outline in front of Liu Qinghuan's eyes gradually became clear, she looked at the stern-looking person in front of her, and frowned slightly: "Who are you?"

Xue Mu's face froze instantly, and the joyful voice in the room disappeared in an instant.

Liu Qinghuan blinked, the serious look on the face of the person in front of her made her want to laugh, and then she really burst out laughing: "I lied to you, Master Hou."

Everyone in the room looked at her speechlessly, Xue Mu exhaled lightly, and squeezed her hand punitively: "Is it fun?"

"It's fun." Liu Qinghuan laughed again, but unexpectedly, the wound on her shoulder was affected, and she couldn't laugh anymore. Seeing that her face turned pale, Xue Mu quickly said solemnly: "You just woke up, don't mess around."

Liu Qinghuan pursed her lips: "I blocked three needles for you, so I can't even tease you."

As soon as she mentioned this, Xue Mu's face turned ugly: "Why are you so stupid? I already knew that Jing Shu was Tang Zibo's internal agent in the Hou's residence."

Liu Qinghuan was stunned for a moment, and then his face turned ugly: "Ah, I'm really sorry, I was nosy. If you think I'm stupid, stay away, so as not to infect you."

Li Yuanbai, who was drowsy in the corner, suddenly regained his energy. The quarrel between Hou Ye and his wife was much more interesting than the quarrel between Wang Daniu and his wife!

He looked at Xue Mu with shining eyes, and hit her hard, Lord Hou!

Xue Mu stared at someone who was obviously fighting for a while, and said softly, "I just don't want to see you get hurt." He regretted not kicking Jing Shu out earlier, otherwise she would not have been poisoned and injured.

Liu Qinghuan pursed her lips slightly, turned her head and said, "If you don't want to see it, just close your eyes."

Xue Mu: "..."

Li Yuanbai shook his head in disappointment, the level of Hou Ye's quarrel was far from the level of fighting. But if you think about it, if Lord Hou doesn't like someone, just cut it off and finish the job, there's no need to quarrel.

Xue Mu brushed a strand of black hair from the side of Liu Qinghuan's face, stood up and said, "I'm going to enter the palace, I'll come to see you later."

Liu Qinghuan didn't answer, Xue Mu took two steps, then turned back and kissed her on the cheek.

Li Yuanbai covered his eyes shyly.

Seeing that Xue Mu was about to leave, Li Yuanbai was about to take this opportunity to leave the Hou Mansion, but he heard Xue Mu's order: "Nian Tang, take good care of Doctor Li."

"Yes, my lord."

Li Yuanbai: "..."

Since he couldn't leave the Hou's mansion, Li Yuanbai simply went back to his room to sleep because he didn't sleep for another night last night. Nian Tang didn't stop him, and continued to guard the main room. Seeing her, Qingzhi stepped forward and said: "Miss Niantang, you haven't slept all night, why don't you go to rest first, as long as Chitao and I stay here."

"No need." Nian Tang held up the shuriken and refused expressionlessly.

Hearing this, Liu Qinghuan turned to look at her.

Nian Tang frowned, and said unhappily, "Why?"

Liu Qinghuan said: "It's nothing, I'm just curious, don't you hate me very much?"

Nian Tang said: "I hate you, this has never changed. But you are the wife of Lord Hou, if something happens to you, Lord Hou will be sad."

Liu Qinghuan chuckled: "You worked really hard for Master Hou."

Nian Tang looked at her in silence for a while, then suddenly said in a low voice: "Actually, I'm only doing it for myself."

If Li Yuanbai were here, he would definitely regret that he left too early and missed a gossip.

Nian Tang looked at Liu Qinghuan and asked, "Do you still remember what happened that winter seven years ago?"

Seven years ago, Xue Mu made an appointment with Liu Qinghuan to take her to West Market the next day.

But before the next day, the news of Xue Cheng's death in battle came first.

Like a thunderbolt from the blue, Ning passed out when she heard the bad news and couldn't get sick. Thirteen-year-old Xue Mu not only lost his most revered father, but also had to take care of his seriously ill mother and take care of all the family affairs. no time. He couldn't make the appointment with Liu Qinghuan because of his body.

He sent Nian Tang to give Liu Qinghuan a message and asked her to wait for him for three days.

But Nian Tang didn't go.

Xue Mu didn't know if Liu Qinghuan had been waiting for him at the back door on the appointed day, but when he finally found a space to meet her three days later, she had already made friends with Tang Zibo, Prince Yong's adoptive son.

"Master Hou didn't say a word to me for three years after he knew that I didn't bring you a message." Nian Tang's expression seemed normal, but Liu Qinghuan could still see from her hand tightly grasping the hilt of the sword. her emotions.

Nian Tang let out a breath, and looked down at Liu Qinghuan: "At that time, I swore that I would never provoke the relationship between you and him again. So even if I hate you, I will do what Lord Hou told me to do."

She was kind to Liu Qinghuan, but because of Xue Mu.

Liu Qinghuan closed her eyes and fell asleep, while Nian Tang retreated into the yard without saying a word.

After a slight sound of closing the door, Liu Qinghuan opened his eyes. She stared blankly at the top of the bed for a while, and then called out in a low voice: "Chi Tao Qing Zhi."

Chitao Qingzhi stepped forward and responded, "What are your orders, madam?"

"How long have you been in the Hou Mansion?"

Qingzhi said: "The servant was sold to the Marquis's Mansion when she was ten years old, and it was still called the General's Mansion at that time."

Chi Tao said: "Slaves are too."

Liu Qinghuan responded, and then asked: "How much do you know about Niantang?"

Chi Tao and Qing Zhi glanced at each other, and said: "Return to madam, Miss Niantang was already there when the maidservant came to the house. I heard that Miss Niantang is an orphan, and her adoptive parents wanted to sell her to fireworks. It was the master who rescued her on the street. At that time, Miss Niantang was skinny, and she looked as if she would not live much longer. The master hired a doctor to treat her illness and let her practice martial arts with Lord Hou. , as time goes by, the body has recovered, but it didn't take long for the master to... "

Regardless of Liu Qinghuan's next words, he also knew that General Xue Cheng died in battle that year, and the whole country was in grief. I heard that the old emperor still shed tears in the morning.

She closed her eyes and said nothing. Qing Zhi stepped forward to help her tuck the corner of the quilt, and said softly: "Madam, you just woke up, so don't think about it so much, get a good rest."

"Um."

"There is porridge in the kitchen, Madam, would you like some?"

"good."

Under the company of Chi Tao and Qing Zhi, Liu Qinghuan drank medicine and ate some porridge, then lay down and fell asleep again.

In the Hanyuan Hall, when Xue Mu arrived, the court had already been halfway through.

When it comes to the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty, the most difficult person recognized is General Xue - he has been assassinated more times than the emperor. He was assassinated again yesterday, and today he still insisted on attending the morning court. Although it was a bit late, everyone was still very moved. Even Yu Shi, who was ready to go, ignored the problem that the court clothes he was wearing today were wrong.

Emperor Yan did not blame him as expected, and asked him and his wife with concern after he was flattened. Although General Xue said that he and his wife were fine, Emperor Yan still felt guilty, so he decided to reward his love with more things later to calm his love.

When Xue Mu came in, Emperor Yan was scolding General Weiyuan, but after caring about Xue Mu's situation, he started scolding again. After the emperor finished expressing his dissatisfaction, he glanced at Li Mo who bowed his head in the shape of a quail: "But seeing that you were successful in catching the assassin yesterday, I won't care about you today."

Li Mo: "..."

Your majesty, you don't care about me? Why have you scolded for so long

Li Mo slandered in his heart, but on his face he still had the look of "thank you, the Emperor Long En".

Emperor Yan then looked at Xue Mu again: "Yesterday's five assassins are being tried by the Ministry of Criminal Justice. They haven't recruited the mastermind yet, but all five of them are from Dongganluo."

Xue Mu snorted and laughed, it's pretty good that dogs eat dogs like Aes and Tang Zibo.

Emperor Yan naturally understood who the real mastermind behind the assassin was, but he didn't point it out: "As for the dancer..."

Xue Mu said: "I will investigate." He can remember clearly who put Jing Shu into the Hou's residence.

Emperor Yan nodded, ready to end today's morning court, but he took another look at Li Mo before leaving.

"In the future, if anyone dares to drink in the army, he will be dragged out and killed with a stick."

Emperor Yan's cold and indifferent voice echoed in the main hall lightly, and everyone's eyes fell on General Weiyuan in unison.

General Weiyuan trembled silently.