Tangled

Chapter 1 Stand Up, I'll Help You

In March of Yangchun, although the snow had melted, the night was still bitingly chilly.

It's past midnight, and the huge Yong'an Hou's mansion is completely silent. The servant girls who are on guard at night are afraid of waking up the sleeping master, so they don't dare to make any noise, even yawning secretly.

The flickering candlelight from the lanterns hanging under the eaves was so weak that it could only illuminate a square inch.

In Furong Courtyard, Grandma Xu had just walked out of the house, and when she was about to step back, her eyes glanced at the courtyard, and her raised feet stopped again.

The cousin girl brought back from Jiangzhou will be about the age of Ji, and she is as fresh as a flower soaked in rain and dew.

The dew was deeper, and the wet clothes were stuck to the body, and the graceful figure of the daughter's family was revealed.

I followed the old lady. I don't know how many nobles and ladies in Beijing, big and small, have seen it, but they still couldn't help admiring.

With such a body and appearance, even compared with the empress and princess in the palace, it is not too much to compare.

The old prince in Prince Gong's mansion just caught a glimpse by accident, and he cared about it. On the second day, someone brought the dowry over, saying that he would take it home as a noble concubine.

If she was the granddaughter of the old lady's direct relatives, the old lady would think of ways to keep her if she lost her old face, but it's a pity that her biological mother was only a companion.

The old lady didn't like girls who were concubines, so naturally she wouldn't stand up for her granddaughter who was a concubine. After receiving the betrothal gift, she returned to the old prince, and sent her to the mansion after two days.

Without an unpopular cousin girl, but with the in-laws of the old prince, the old lady made a lot of money from this deal.

Both governments got what they wanted, and they didn't know how to smile in private, so they only felt sorry for the cousin girl.

When she lost her father and mother when she was young, she was taken back to her natal family thinking that she would be able to live a peaceful life, but she didn't want to be sent to be a concubine to an old prince who was good enough to be her grandfather.

Gusts of cold wind blew past, seeing Jiaohua about to be knocked off the branches, Mother Xu still couldn't be cruel after all.

She looked around and saw that no one was approaching softly, and she sighed, "The old lady has already fallen asleep, cousin girl should go back."

Not to mention my son is an old lady now, even the maids and servants in the mansion are almost asleep, so I can only pity her, still kneeling here.

"Although there is a rift between the old prince and His Majesty, the seniority and status are all there. How dare the old lady offend him."

Although the Gu family is a pair of lords, the Hou Ye has been doing nothing for half his life, and the Hou Mansion is declining day by day.

If it weren't for the young master who joined the army early and made great military exploits, the capital probably would not have had a foothold in the Hou's Mansion long ago.

Right now, there is no other person in this mansion who dares to offend the old prince, except for Gu Tingshu, the young master who was sealed off as Beihou.

"If a girl doesn't want to marry, go find someone who can make decisions for you, why bother being tortured by the cold wind here."

After the old mama finished speaking, she let out another long sigh, and before Shen Qiqi raised her head, she backed away quietly.

Kneeling for several hours, there were bursts of heart-rending pain in both legs, the sweat from the body soaked the clothes, and the cold wind blew unexpectedly made my heart feel cool.

Seeing another bright light burn out under the eaves, knowing that the old lady would not soften her heart, Shen Qiqi sat slumped on the ground, and only slowly got up after a long time of daze.

The dim candlelight reflected her thin body, and her flickering appearance seemed to fall over in the next moment.

But no matter how weak a girl is, she will develop a bit of resilience in her heart when she encounters unwillingness. Although Jiaohua is weak, she still walks out of Furongyuan slowly with the help of the wall.

Dragging her heavy body across the long corridor, Shen Qiqi couldn't hold on any longer before she returned to her own yard, and as soon as her body softened, she slowly slid and sat on the ground leaning on the pillar.

Looking at the quiet courtyard, she felt sad.

He has never been out of the courtyard at night, so he didn't know that in the middle of the night in this Hou's mansion, there was not even a servant girl to be found.

If she is allowed to go alone now, she might not be able to hold on to Qingzhu Xiaozhu.

Thinking of the days since entering the Hou's mansion, her eyes filled with mist again.

If she thought she was an eyesore, why bother sending people to pick her up in Jiangzhou? Although her parents died early, there are still a lot of relatives.

He brought her into the mansion for a few words of praise, but he ignored her, and now he wanted to marry her to the old prince who was over half a century old.

All she did was to deceive her parents, both of whom were dead, and her relatives were far away in Jiangzhou.

Two days later, she was sent to the palace, and the family members rushed to hear the news, but by then there was nothing they could do.

The chill kept creeping into his body, and his head was muddled, as if it was no longer his own.

Shen Qiqi couldn't think, only lamented that it would be better to just die like this, it would be clean to die.

Just as he was leaning on the pillar and was about to fall asleep, he suddenly heard the sound of steady footsteps.

She turned her head slowly, and through the mottled light and shadow, she saw the man slowly coming out of the shadow.

The man was wearing a black cloak and a long sword around his waist. It seemed that he had just returned from the prison, and his evil spirit had not faded away.

Seeing him, Shen Qiqi recalled that when he first met, the young man was standing in a pool of blood with a spear in his hand, his body was densely packed with bandits who had been beheaded by him.

Although she knew that those people deserved what they deserved, the look of the young man with red eyes and full of evil spirit was still deeply imprinted in her mind.

Because of that look, she had countless nightmares when she was a child, so much so that when she thinks about it now, she still can't help but tremble with fear.

As the man slowly approached, the strong smell of blood on the cloak hit her overwhelmingly, making her breathless.

The old nanny's words suddenly sounded in his ears, Shen Qiqi seemed to lose her mind, she stretched out her hand to grab the raised cloak.

The golden eagle embroidered on the cloak seemed to come to life, and it was about to pounce on her with its teeth and claws.

Shen Qiqi became more and more terrified in her heart, but she didn't dare to let go of her clenched hands, she just tightened them tremblingly.

The force of pulling the cloak is too light, if it is not sharp, I am afraid it will be skipped.

Gu Tingshu stopped in his tracks, lowered his head, and his eyes fell on the hand holding the hem of his clothes.

The slender and slender fingers were too pale to show a trace of blood, whether it was because it was too cold at night or too hard.

Shen Qiqi wasn't sure if he would offend a prince by being a concubine's cousin, but he didn't take back the cloak, so she had two hopes in her heart.

The hand holding the cloak tightened a little bit, she mustered up the courage to look up, but bumped into the man's dark pupils.

The man's eyes were too cold, and he traveled along the air into his bones, Shen Qiqi trembled, his mouth opened, and the words were blown away by the wind as soon as he uttered them.

"Tomorrow morning, I will go with the prince to Yuntai Mountain to offer incense for the queen mother."

Maybe it was because she babbled for too long, the man's patience was exhausted, and he suddenly opened his mouth.

Although Yuntai Mountain is only half a day's journey away from the capital, it takes two more days to offer incense for the Empress Dowager, and three days have passed for this trip.

If she didn't speak now, she would never have the chance to speak again.

Shen Qiqi took a deep breath, intending to calm down, but unexpectedly her body trembled even more.

Her eyes were red, and tears rolled in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to fall.

"Cousin, help me..."

The soft crying was trembling, and she could understand her grievance and helplessness without distinguishing.

"Cousin, help me..."

She repeated this sentence, her voice was not loud, but it was enough to break the cold wind into her ears.

Looking at her red and swollen eyes, Gu Tingshu's hand hidden under the cloak rested on the hilt of the sword, protruding half an inch from the knuckles, and slowly retracted it.

He repeated this action until the man who was almost prostrate on the ground was discouraged and limp and wanted to lie on the ground, then he opened his mouth:

"Shen Qi, stand up!"

"Stand up, I'll help you!"

(End of this chapter)