The night was as cool as water. Jiang Yanyi was lying on the bed, leaning on her elbows to read a book. The evening breeze blew, the candlelight flickered, and her eyelids were already fighting with sleepiness.
Chen Yu advised: "Madam, please take a rest first, and ask the Fifth Young Master tomorrow."
However, before Jiang Yanyi could answer, a voice came from the gate of the courtyard: "The fifth young master is coming."
Jiang Yanyi raised his head from the book and looked towards the door.
A lantern was hung at the gate of the courtyard, casting a dim glow. Chu Yangui, wearing a snow-blue robe, walked slowly along the cobblestone path towards the main house.
There were no lanterns on the path leading to the main house. Chu Yangui's figure was still clear at the gate of the courtyard. After entering the gate, he slowly blended into the dark night. Jiang Yanyi could only see a tall and thin black shadow.
As he approached, under the lanterns on the eaves, the black soap-horn boots, the corners of the robe embroidered with winding water patterns, the pale and handsome face... became clear one by one.
His facial features have grown more and more in the past two years. It was a strange feeling. Looking at this young man, for a moment, Jiang Yanyi actually saw some of Feng Shuo's former shadow in him.
But as Chu Yangui walked into the room, smiling with curved eyebrows and two small fangs showing, calling her "Sister", the feeling that he was similar to Feng Shuo disappeared.
Jiang Yanyi also laughed, motioned him to sit down, and asked: "Did you go to a small gathering with your colleagues? Why did you come home so late?"
Chu Yangui said, "The Loyal and Brave Marquis's Mansion asked Han Xueshi to smooth things over and wanted to put their bastard son into the Hanlin Academy. Han Xueshi invited all the colleagues in the Hanlin Academy to a small gathering today. It was nothing more than to shut us up. I couldn't refuse."
In the officialdom, it is not uncommon for aristocratic families to rely on personal connections to find sinecure positions for their children. Scholar Han is Chu Yangui's immediate superior in the Hanlin Academy, and he really cannot refuse today's dinner.
Jiang Yanyi asked: "How are you doing in the Hanlin Academy these days? Are you getting along well with your colleagues?"
Chu Yangui looked a little helpless: "Sister, I'm in the Imperial Academy now, not in the academy. Are you still worried that I'll have conflicts with my colleagues?"
When he was studying, he was indeed unlearned and unlearned. He always caused trouble in the academy and offended many people.
Nowadays, the officialdom is different from the academy. Even if they are sworn enemies, they will flatter each other with a smile on the surface.
Jiang Yanyi smiled and said, "In the blink of an eye, you have grown up."
Chu Yangui looked at her, his eyes deep for a moment, and said: "I hate myself for being sensible too late."
Without waiting for Jiang Yanyi to reply, he quickly changed the subject: "Sister, His Majesty is a trustworthy person. I feel at ease if you follow him."
Jiang Yanyi said with a smile: "Why are you talking about this suddenly?"
Chu Yangui seemed to want to say something, but held back and just said, "I'm happy if my sister is doing well."
This silly child.
Jiang Yanyi said: "You are doing well, and sister is happy too."
Seeing that it was getting late, Jiang Yanyi said a few words to him and then urged him to go back and rest.
She did not have the slightest doubt about Chu Yangui's words. After all, the secret guards she sent out had heard that Chu Yangui and his colleagues from the Hanlin Academy were feasting in a restaurant.
****
On the second day, Jiang Yanyi had breakfast at the Chu family, then changed into casual clothes and went to inspect her properties in various parts of the capital.
The most prosperous business is naturally Ruyi Tower. No matter when, the place is almost always full. Ruyi Tower in the capital city has a rubbing version of the "Gudong Tang Fu" written by Feng Shuo. The original version is no longer framed in Ruyi Tower in Xizhou, but is kept privately by Jiang Yanyi.
Ruyi Tower still retains the entertainment program of storytelling. After she entered the store, she found that the storyteller was not telling any fashionable storytelling, but the story of her and Feng Shuo.
The storytelling glorified her first meeting with Feng Shuo, saying only that they became acquainted with each other because of the delicious food in Ruyi Tower. Later, when Feng Shuo was resisting the foreign enemies of Minghan State, she cleverly transported medicinal herbs southward on a cargo ship for emergency assistance. This story was basically known to the people of the Daxuan Dynasty, but the diners in the tower were still fascinated by the storyteller's vivid and moving narration.
When leaving Ruyi Tower, Chenyu smiled and said, "No wonder the common people call Ruyi Tower the Queen's Tower."
After leaving the palace, Jiang Yanyi felt much more relaxed. She said, "I haven't seen Qiu Kui for a long time. Let someone go back to the Chu family and let them know that I won't be back for lunch. I'll go see Qiu Kui."
When Qiu Kui and the blacksmith first arrived in the capital, Jiang Yanyi found a quiet house for them to live in. The blacksmith took care of Qiu Kui until she was out of confinement, and then he went to work in the noodle shop in the capital.
When the carriage stopped outside the house where Qiu Kui and her friends lived, Jiang Yanyi lifted the curtain and saw a lot of pumpkin vines sticking out from the top of the courtyard wall.
Although the residents of this area are not wealthy, they are still considered upper-class people. Growing on the walls of every house are mostly red flowers and green trees. This pumpkin vine is quite eye-catching at first glance.
Chenyu went to knock on the door. An old maid opened the door. Seeing that they were dressed richly, she spoke carefully, "May I know who you are?"
Chenyu asked, "Can Miss Qiukui live here?"
Qiu Kui's response soon came from the yard: "Who is it?"
Qiu Kui had a headscarf on her head, her long hair tied up with two silver hairpins, and she was holding a baby she had just coaxed to sleep in her arms. When she saw Jiang Yanyi outside the door, her face was full of surprise and some disbelief, and her eyes were red before she said a word.
"Huahua?" She walked quickly to the door.
When Jiang Yanyi saw Qiu Kui crying, she couldn't help but feel a little sad. This silly girl had been with her through the most difficult times, and she had always treated Qiu Kui as a half-sister.
After entering the house, it was inconvenient for Qiu Kui to make tea while holding the child, so the old maid poured tea for Jiang Yanyi before leaving.
Jiang Yanyi looked at Qiu Kui's red cheeks from crying and said with a smile, "It's good to be fatter than before."
Qiu Kui also had a smile on his face: "Nursing Xiaobao, he eats a lot. Brother Yong was afraid that I would be tired, so he bought Lin Ma back. Now I only take care of Xiaobao and don't work, so I get fat."
"It's good that he knows how to love you." Jiang Yanyi looked at the sleeping child in her arms, feeling relieved to the point of feeling a little sad. She was sincerely happy for Qiu Kui to have what he has today, and said, "Xiaobao is so good, he looks like you."
Qiu Kui smirked: "Brother Yong said the same thing."
Jiang Yanyi said: "I'll hug her."
Qiu Kui then handed the child to Jiang Yanyi. Since he had held Chu Nian'an before, Jiang Yanyi knew how to hold a baby.
The feeling of holding this soft baby is completely different from that of holding Chu Nian'an's chubby little boy.
Jiang Yanyi asked: "What is the child's full name?"
Qiu Kui tucked the baby in the swaddling clothes and said, "We haven't named the baby yet. Brother Yong said before that Huahua should name the baby because Huahua has done us a favor. Later, Huahua entered the palace and we were afraid that we would never see her again. Brother Yong planned to ask a fortune teller to name the baby, but Jianjia said that a cheap name would make it easier to raise the baby. So she named the baby Daman, but Brother Yong thought the name Daman was not nice, so he didn't use it."
Jiang Yanyi was amused by Huo Jianjia's name. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Manman sounds nice too. The lovebird in the Classic of Mountains and Seas is called Manman."
"Manman?" Qiu Kui read it once and said happily, "It sounds nice. Xiaobao's full name will be Manman."
Jiang Yanyi asked, "Does Jianjia come here often?"
Qiu Kui nodded: "She said the escort agency's chef's food is not tasty."
Jiang Yanyi couldn't help laughing, it turned out that Jianjia came here to eat for free.
As he was talking, Qiu Kui seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, by the way, Aunt Guo lives behind this alley. She runs a butcher shop. She often comes to help me take care of Xiaobao when she's free."
Jiang Yanyi was extremely surprised: "Auntie lives here too?"
Aunt Guo passed away on the eve of her entering the palace.
Aunt Guo was originally a maidservant of the Mu family. Later, because the Mu brothers were protected by Feng Shuo, she went to work under Feng Shuo, which could be regarded as repaying her master.
The Mu family was rehabilitated, and the country was at peace. Aunt Guo said that Jiang Yanyi was just a rough person and could not help her in the palace. She wanted to live a stable life for the rest of her life, so she would not follow her into the palace.
Aunt Guo was unwilling to accompany her into the palace, and Jiang Yanyi would not force her. However, she was still sad in her heart. She prepared generous banknotes and a house for Aunt Guo to live in after her retirement, but Aunt Guo chose to leave without saying goodbye. She did not even take the banknotes and land deeds that Jiang Yanyi gave her.
Qiu Kui asked the maid in the mansion to go to the butcher shop at the end of the alley to tell Aunt Guo that Jiang Yanyi was coming.
Aunt Guo soon came over with some meat.
When Jiang Yanyi saw Aunt Guo again, he was filled with mixed feelings and had a thousand words to say, but in the end, he only said one sentence: "Aunt."
Aunt Guo sighed and said with emotion: "I didn't expect to see the queen again."
Jiang Yanyi was a little sad and asked, "I heard that Auntie opened a butcher shop. Is the business going well?"
Aunt Guo said, "When my husband was alive, our family ran a butcher shop. I am now back to my old business, probably to fulfill my wish."
Jiang Yanyi heard Aunt Guo talk about her husband. Her husband was shot to death by the imperial guards while trying to cover up Aunt Guo and the Chi Qing brothers from leaving the city.
She had been loyal to her master for half her life, and in the second half of her life, she just wanted to live the ordinary life she and her husband had once hoped for.
The master and his two servants gathered together, and everything was still the same as it was in the antique soup shop in Xizhou. Time did not bring any sense of distance.
Jiang Yanyi asked Qiu Kui: "Why are there so many pumpkins planted at the foot of the wall?"
Qiu Kui smiled foolishly and said, "Hua Hua said that pumpkin is full of treasures. The seeds can be eaten, the buds can be eaten, the flowers can be eaten, and the pumpkin can also be eaten. Now I can make pumpkin pie. Brother Yong and Jian Jia both said it is delicious."
Qiu Kui's words brought Jiang Yanyi's thoughts far away. When they just came out of the Xizhou camp, she made pumpkin rice and ate it with Qiu Kui in the small yard. She pointed to the yard wall and said that they would plant pumpkins in the spring.
She is no longer with Qiu Kui, but Qiu Kui still lives their life as they used to.
These memories are always distant yet clear, making Jiang Yanyi feel full of emotion.
She turned her head and asked Qiu Kui: "What do you want to eat for lunch?"
Questions like these are like the days when I was at Xizhou Gudonggeng.
Qiu Kui was stunned for a moment, then said crisply: "I want to eat the pumpkin rice made by Hua Hua."
Xiaobao fell asleep, so she asked the maid to take the child back to the room to sleep, and she rolled up her sleeves and went to the kitchen to light the fire. Aunt Guo helped Jiang Yanyi, and everything was still the same as before.
Chenyu also went into the kitchen to help. She often saw Jiang Yanyi cooking, but she always felt that Jiang Yanyi was particularly happy this time.
Bing Shao was nominally a royal guard, but in fact he was Jiang Yanyi's personal bodyguard. He also followed Jiang Yanyi out of the palace this time. Whatever ingredients Jiang Yanyi wanted to buy, he would go to the street to buy them.
When Huo Jianjia heard that Jiang Yanyi had left the palace, she came to Qiu Kui's place, left her work at the escort agency, and hurried over to get a free meal. When the blacksmith heard the news, he also went back from the noodle shop to accompany Qiu Kui.
When Huo Jianjia learned that Jiang Yanyi named Qiu Kui's child Manman, she snorted at the blacksmith with great pride.
The blacksmith didn't want to provoke this woman who could break the tiles in his yard with a stomp of her foot, so he didn't say anything, but he was muttering in his heart, "How could Manman and Daman be the same?"
Gathering together to eat hotpot is the most lively thing, but Okra needs to breastfeed her baby and can't eat anything too spicy, and there is no time to make clear soup for hotpot, so Jiang Yanyi directly asked someone to go to Ruyi Tower to bring over a shuangyang hotpot, and also brought over many of the most popular dishes in the building.
Fearing that the hot pot would be too spicy, Jiang Yanyi also used a casserole to boil crucian carp soup, which also helped with the production of milk through okra.
Huo Jianjia clamored for some braised pork elbow, saying that she had never tasted such a good braised pork elbow since she left Jiang Yanyi. Jiang Yanyi braised three pork elbows in one go. During the meal, Huo Jianjia snatched one away with one chopstick. As she chewed the elbow, her face was covered with sauce, like a little wolf snatching food.
The pig skin is stewed until it is soft and elastic. You can bite it off directly when your teeth touch it. The fat attached to the pig skin is not greasy at all. The flavors of spices and sauces are completely absorbed, and you can feel the mellow flavor when you eat it. The lean meat is rotten into strands and breaks into pieces when you touch it with chopsticks. It has a very tender taste.
The red soup and clear soup in the pot were boiling, and everyone was using serving chopsticks to eat and scoop up food, creating a lively atmosphere.
Huo Jianjia was gnawing on the braised pork elbow in one hand, and using chopsticks in the other hand, she was competing with Bing Shao for the meat in the red soup. Fortunately, Yang Xiu had gone out again, otherwise the three of them would have been fighting with their chopsticks in the pot.
Okra can't eat spicy food, and he stared at them as they fought for the meat.
The blacksmith cooked the meat in a clear soup pot for her, but in front of the bright red spicy pot, the meat slices in the clear soup looked like vegetarian cabbage.
After Okra swallowed his saliva again, the blacksmith had to pour a bowl of boiling water, take the meat out of the red soup, rinse it in the boiling water to wash off most of the chili, and then give it to Okra to eat.
The fight between two people for the meat became three people again. Chenyu had never eaten hotpot with them before, so she was hesitant at first. In the end, she found that she could only get bean curd skin and lotus root every time. In order to grab the meat, she no longer pretended to be reserved, rolled up her sleeves and joined the army grabbing the meat.
Jiang Yanyi and Feng Shuo would be full after a quick meal in the palace. But today, seeing them wolfing down their food, her appetite also increased.
Halfway through the meal, she felt the food was a bit spicy, so she scooped a bowl of crucian carp soup, but as soon as she took a sip, she couldn't stop dry heaving.
The few people who were still using their chopsticks to grab the meat in the pot were stunned.
Chenyu hurriedly poured a cup of tea and handed it to Jiang Yanyi. Jiang Yanyi took a few sips of tea before he suppressed the feeling of nausea.
"Flower disease?" Qiu Kui looked worried.
Jiang Yanyi touched his forehead and said, "Maybe I've been too tired these days."
Her poor appetite was not a one or two-day thing. Feng Shuo saw that she was often full after just one bowl, so he thought she was affected by the impeachment memorials and let her go back to the Chu family to relax.
Jiang Yanyi herself thought so too. She felt uncomfortable when she was making the crucian carp soup, but she had finally gotten to see these old friends again and didn't want to spoil the fun like this. Now she felt so uncomfortable that she felt a little nauseous.
Chenyu always put Jiang Yanyi's health first and decided to take Jiang Yanyi back to the Chu family.
Aunt Guo frowned and looked at Jiang Yanyi for a while, then asked Jiang Yanyi to go into the inner room so that she could take his pulse.
Aunt Guo practices martial arts and can also read pulses.
Jiang Yanyi trusted Aunt Guo and agreed immediately.
Aunt Guo held her wrist, looked at her intently for a moment, and asked, "How long has it been since your menstrual period came, Madam?"
As Jiang Yanyi's chief maid, Chenyu was particularly concerned about these things and immediately said, "Your Majesty's menstruation has always been very accurate. This month, it is already three days late."
Jiang Yanyi herself knew about this, but she just thought that her mood had been fluctuating greatly recently, which had caused her menstrual period to become irregular, and she didn't take it seriously.
Now that Aunt Guo suddenly asked this, she had a vague idea in her heart and asked, "Aunt, how is my pulse?"
Aunt Guo said with a smile: "I feel that the pulse is that of a happy mother, but the pregnancy is too early to be confirmed. When the queen returns to the palace, ask the imperial physician of the Imperial Hospital to take another careful pulse check."
Suddenly she was diagnosed with pregnancy and could no longer stay outside the palace, so Jiang Yanyi returned to the palace that day.
She was afraid that it was just a false alarm, so when she ordered people to invite the imperial physician, she specifically instructed them not to let the news leak out, but she still let Feng Shuo know.
Feng Shuo put aside a bunch of government affairs and went straight to Chengde Palace.
As soon as he entered the palace, he heard the imperial physician and Jiang Yanyi congratulating him, "Congratulations, Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Majesty. It is definitely a pregnancy."
Feng Shuo strode into the inner hall and said in great joy, "Reward! Huge rewards!"
The imperial physician was frightened by his sudden voice, but when he heard Feng Shuo mention the reward, he thanked him with a happy face.
"All palace servants in Chengde Palace will be rewarded!" Feng Shuo said this and walked quickly towards Jiang Yanyi.
The palace servants in the hall knelt on the ground and expressed their gratitude one after another.
Feng Shuo sat on the dragon couch and waved his wide sleeves. Chenyu, the imperial physician and other palace servants bowed and retreated.
He raised his hand as if wanting to touch Jiang Yanyi's abdomen, but he didn't dare.
Jiang Yanyi pulled his big hand and pressed it, the corners of his mouth raised, and a gentle smile in his eyes: "Feng Shuo, we have a child."
Feng Shuo placed his large palm lightly on her still flat abdomen, as if he wanted to feel the existence of the life that possessed his and Jiang Yanyi's blood.
Jiang Yanyi laughed at him: "It's only been a little over a month, there won't be any movement."
Feng Shuo gently stroked her belly and said, "Don't bother your mother. When you are born, your father will give you the second best thing in the world."
Jiang Yanyi asked with a smile: "What about the best one?"
Feng Shuo raised his eyes to look at her, his eyes were gentle: "The best are reserved for you."
Jiang Yanyi felt that this guy was good at saying sweet words, but what she didn't know was that he was telling the truth.
Perhaps it was because she was pregnant, but the voices in the court clamoring for Feng Shuo to be selected as a concubine suddenly became quieter.
One day, Feng Shuo accompanied her in Chengde Hall while she was handling memorials. The two of them were so close that they almost had a fight. In the end, Feng Shuo had to go to the bathroom to solve the problem himself. Jiang Yanyi helped to clean up the messy desk and accidentally saw that the minister who had impeached her before was demoted. When Feng Shuo came back, he talked about it.
Feng Shuo pinched her fair and rosy cheeks and said, "Why, are you afraid that I will become a tyrant who takes revenge on others?"
Jiang Yanyi was embarrassed to say that she was a little worried. She didn't want to see Feng Shuo being unfair in important matters because of her.
Feng Shuo knew what she was thinking, and showed Jiang Yanyi another memorial: "Even if I want to deal with them, I will openly find out where they are wrong in politics."
The official funds that were embezzled when repairing the reservoir were discovered, and the minister was one of the bribe-takers. This was irrefutable evidence of his guilt.
Jiang Yanyi didn't know that the reason why these evidences were obtained was that Feng Shuo leaked the news to Chu Yangui. Chu Yangui took advantage of the dinner party in the Hanlin Academy that night to kidnap the minister's son, tortured him to pry open his mouth, found the accounts of that year and successfully convicted him.
Knowing that it was his misunderstanding, Jiang Yanyi stuck out his tongue and complimented, "Your Majesty is wise and powerful."
Feng Shuo curled up the corners of his mouth, rubbed her hair and said, "Flatterer."
He looked at the memorial he was reviewing and sighed, "Chi Qing, that kid, asked to go to Xizhou to serve as a captain. Well, I feel more at ease with him guarding Xizhou."
When Chi Qing followed him, he was mostly seen as a counselor in front of the world, and few people knew that his martial arts skills were not inferior to those of Mu Xuanqing, the prince of Wu Hou who was famous in the capital at that time.
Chi Qing is going to Xizhou, and Jiang Yanyi can't help but think of Xie Chuji again. It is said that when the Turks attacked Xizhou, she promised the Princess of Dayue to stay in Dayue for a year to teach Middle-earth culture in order to get the Dayue Kingdom to send troops to help.
After Feng Shuo ascended the throne, he was moved by Xie Chuji's righteousness and conferred the title of Princess Wenchang on Xie Chuji.
Xie Chuji opened a school in Dayue Kingdom to teach the people of Dayue how to read and write. Thanks to the cultural integration of the two countries, the ties between Dayue and Daxuan are becoming increasingly close, and there are many intermarriages between the two tribes.
Jiang Yanyi said with emotion: "The descendants of a scholarly family are different. Although Miss Xie is a woman, she is no less capable than a man. It was thanks to her righteousness that Xizhou was saved. I only hope that God will have mercy on her and not let her love life be bumpy again."
Jiang Yanyi didn't think there was anything wrong with what she said. Even if Xie Chuji let go of the past, she still hoped that Xie Chuji could meet someone worthy of entrusting her life to.
But Feng Shuo stared at her for a long time with an ambiguous meaning, and suddenly said: "I am not bad in knowledge either."
Jiang Yanyi looked at Feng Shuo with a confused look in his eyes.
How did he suddenly get into his own knowledge
Feng Shuo was looked at by her confused and puzzled eyes. He withdrew his gaze without saying a word and continued to deal with the memorial.
Just when Jiang Yanyi thought that this inexplicable topic was about to be exposed, he said again: "I also went to the troubled Xizhou."
Jiang Yanyi still didn't understand the purpose of his words, so he could only nod blankly: "I know."
Feng Shuo: "There's nothing special about a family of scholars."
Jiang Yanyi was stunned for a moment, and said in disbelief: "Feng Shuo, are you jealous of Miss Xie?"
Feng Shuo's face turned black: "Why would I be jealous of her?"
Jiang Yanyi said: "Didn't I just praise Miss Xie a few words?"
Feng Shuo remained silent again.
Jiang Yanyi hugged his arm and shook it gently, "What's wrong with you?"
Feng Shuo rubbed his brows, and when he looked at Jiang Yanyi again, his eyes softened: "Nothing."
After all, he couldn't tell her. When he heard her praising Xie Chuji, he subconsciously thought of Lu Linyuan.
Lu Linyuan also came from a scholarly family. He was well-educated and had a sense of justice. He also made great contributions during the turmoil in Xizhou.
The jealousy that suddenly welled up in his heart made him feel ridiculous.
After Xizhou was pacified, Lu Linyuan made great contributions, but he refused the reward from the court and continued to be a teacher in the school. Whether it was because he had no interest in officialdom or he did not want to return to the capital, a sad place where things had changed and people had changed, Feng Shuo did not know, but with a man's intuition, he knew that it was because of Jiang Yanyi.
In his life, he was open and calm about everything except her. Because he cherished her to the extreme, he was always worried about losing her.
But when he lowered his eyes and saw the tenderness in her eyes, all the restlessness in his heart was soothed.
He was an evil ghost roaming this world, and fortunately he met her, and finally he could live like a human being.
"Jiang Yanyi." He called her softly.
"Hmm?" Jiang Yanyi leaned in his arms, her bright eyes half raised. The lush green trees and red flowers outside the window were not as beautiful as she was.
Feng Shuo leaned over and kissed her lips, and repeated to her what he had said after she fell asleep the night he first moved into the palace: "Meeting you is the greatest blessing of my life."
*****
Sixty years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Chengde Palace still looks the same as it did back then, except that Jiang Yanyi and Feng Shuo both have gray hair.
Feng Shuo was a good emperor. He worked hard to govern the country during his reign. He spent his whole life building up the Xuan Dynasty and creating a prosperous era, but he also ruined his health.
The imperial doctors who came to Chengde Hall came in and left in batches. Jiang Yanyi sat by the bed from beginning to end, holding his old and skinny hand without letting go.
Since he ascended the throne, they have never been apart for a single day, but now Jiang Yanyi knows that he is leaving.
There was only a little light left in Feng Shuo's old dark grey eyes. His eyes were fixed on the figure beside the dragon couch. He couldn't see clearly, but he still stubbornly refused to look away: "Queen, I'm leaving..."
Jiang Yanyi was choking with sobs and unable to speak. She leaned over and lay down, curled up in his arms, just like before, with her head against his shoulder and her fingers tightly clasped with his. Her tears almost soaked his clothes.
"Don't cry... You stay in this world for a few more years for me, I... will go there first and take care of everything..." He spoke intermittently and with difficulty.
"In the next life, I will come to find you..."
The temperature held tightly between your fingertips will eventually cool down.
The sharp and sorrowful cries and the heavy sound of funeral bells penetrated the palace walls together. The wind and snow raged, and the sky and the earth were white.
The old man on duty in the palace said that this year's snow and wind were heavier than in previous years.
Jiang Yanyi loves cooking more than before. She prepares three meals a day and offers them in front of Feng Shuo's tablet.
The crown prince who had already succeeded to the throne was afraid that she would be too tired, so he asked her to let the imperial kitchen cook it. She just shook her head and said, "Your father loves the food cooked by your mother."
On the same night of the second year after Feng Shuo left, Jiang Yanyi also left.
When the palace maid went to tuck in the quilt for her, she found that her hands and feet were already cold.
She curled up on her side in a corner of the bed, with the corners of her mouth raised, as if she was sleeping peacefully in someone's arms.
*******
******
***
Jiang Yanyi couldn't remember how many times he had woken up from a dream with tears on his face.
Because I cried so hard, my nasal cavity was blocked.
She fumbled to pull out a tissue from the tissue box on the bedside table and sniffed awkwardly. Perhaps because the emotions in the dream were still there, her tears could not stop flowing.
She died in that world, but woke up in the hospital. Jiang's father and mother cried with joy, and her attending physician said it was a miracle that she woke up.
In the six months since she came back, she has tried every possible way to find any clues about that world, but it was undoubtedly in vain.
In the novel she had read online, the supporting actress with the same name as her still died tragically at the beginning. King Feng Shuo of Liaonan never officially appeared in the book, and his death in battle was still just mentioned in passing, as if the unforgettable life she had experienced was just an illusion when she had a car accident.
Jiang Yanyi even saw a psychiatrist for this, and the psychiatrist apparently thought that it was just her imagination.
Jiang Yanyi was once very upset. For a while, she herself could not tell whether everything in her dream was what she had really experienced in her life.
But every time she dreamed of Feng Shuo, she would burst into tears.
Jiang Yanyi went to the bathroom to wash his face, raised his head to look at himself in the mirror, and tried to curl the corners of his mouth upwards.
The person in the mirror has delicate features and is above average in appearance. If she dresses up properly, she could probably be considered a beauty.
But compared to "Jiang Yanyi", there is still a world of difference.
If Feng Shuo also came to this world, he wouldn't be able to recognize her even if they met on the road, right
The arc at the corner of the mouth is more self-deprecating.
Even if he couldn't recognize her, it would be nice to let her see him again. Jiang Yanyi had expressed this desperate hope more than once.
The alarm clock on the bedside table rang, and I had to go to the store.
No matter how broken down you are, you still have to live your life.
She smoothed her messy hair and tied it into a high ponytail, finally looking more energetic.
The hot pot restaurant opened by Jiang Yanyi was only a dozen minutes away from her home. She bought a bouquet of flowers from a flower shop on the road and replaced the wilted flowers on the table when she arrived at the store.
Jiang's father and mother didn't understand why Jiang Yanyi renovated the originally renovated hot pot restaurant again in a literary and retro style after he was discharged from the hospital.
Fortunately, this city is already a popular internet celebrity city, and the retro-style hot pot restaurant has attracted many internet celebrities to check in.
The newly renovated hotpot restaurant resembles the antique soup shop she used to run next to the Protectorate. It bears some resemblance to that world, and Jiang Yanyi feels somewhat comforted.
The calligraphy skills she had practiced hard in that world were not wasted. She memorized the fu written by Feng Shuo, framed it and hung it on the wall.
Customers who come into the store just think of it as a decorative calligraphy or painting, and few of them try to find out what is written on it.
Jiang's father and mother have a Jianghu restaurant to run, so Jiang Yanyi is the only one in charge of the hot pot restaurant. The few employees in the store didn't come until almost ten o'clock, and Jiang Yanyi had already finished cleaning.
In the past, there were not many customers in the store at this time of year. However, because an internet celebrity with a large number of fans came to the store to check in some time ago and took photos and posted them online, the number of customers coming to the store has increased significantly in the past few days.
Several employees came and each did their own thing. Although the boss of the store looked like a young girl and they had seen her lose her temper before, they inexplicably did not dare to get close to Jiang Yanyi.
Jiang Yanyi was entering the newly added dishes into the computer at the bar. He didn't look up when he heard footsteps coming from the door of the store - the waiter knew to greet customers when they arrived.
However, the footsteps did not go into the store, but came towards the bar, and finally stopped directly in front of her.
"How many people?" Jiang Yanyi thought that they came to the bar to order food, so he asked out of habit.
When I looked up and saw the man's familiar handsome face, tears suddenly burst out.
Feng Shuo!
The name was stuck in my throat and I couldn't say it out.
The stern man standing outside the bar looked at her without blinking, his eyes red, and asked as he remembered: "Why are you crying?"
His voice was so hoarse that it almost trembled, as if he had traveled thousands of miles and finally brought the missing piece of his heart back into his hands.
The glass vase with flowers on the bar was knocked to the ground with a crisp sound. Jiang Yanyi covered his mouth tightly and sobbed like a child: "Feng Shuo..."
He never lied to her, he really came to find her.
The author has something to say: Feng Hanhan will always be with Jiang Yiyi.
This story ends here. Thank you for your continued support for the author. When I’m done with my work, I’ll write some modern spin-offs on WB. There will be other characters from the original world. If you like it, you can go check it out. You can find me by searching the author’s name.
Finally, the humble author asks for a five-star review online woooooooooooooooooooooo qaq (lower right corner of the text, crazy hint)
The author's final article is ok~
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"The Demon King is both fierce and delicate" The Demon King is furious again