box of hearts

Chapter 246
9.
Things happened faster than expected. In less than three or five days, there was a reply from Zhou Dun.

After Tao'er returned to the palace, she sent someone to secretly find a tyrant who cured the red-haired wind from the Lianzi alley. He was rejuvenated.So the majestic concubine Wang took off her pants in front of this charlatan.Not too late, just at this time, a little eunuch came to send a message to Wang Bin, saying that the prince had urgent orders, and regardless of the obstruction of a few gatekeepers, he opened the door and went in. Huahua's butt was held in the hands of a man with a wretched appearance.The little eunuch was so frightened that he turned around and ran out, and reported the extremely heinous crime of Concubine Wang's secret meeting with an adulterer in the palace of the king.Eunuch Zhou reported to the prince, who was criticizing in Chongding Court at that time, and after hearing this, he threw the ink pen into the water palace, "It's not filthy. You can go and see." Only an hour later, the king's concubine Taoer and that The doctor was thrown together into a cesspool in the suburbs. Tao'er struggled several times to get out of the cesspool, begging for mercy, calling for grievances, and begging to meet the prince. Her last clear words were to curse that old woman Duan Qingtian to die. .At this time, the executioner raised the bamboo rake for scooping up dung and pressed Tao'er's head, piercing that beautiful face that was once like a bright pearl into the deep dung.

Taoer never floated up again.

After Qingtian heard the whole story, he only said one word: "Oh."

The little eunuch who came here to deal with the matter had a red face, and looked very dexterous and capable. "It's related to the face of the palace. To the outside world, it is only said that the concubine Wang slipped and fell into the lotus pond and drowned at night. Let's forget about it."

"Thank you, Mr. Zhou, for me."

"Eunuch Zhou said thank you to Madam, if Madam hadn't asked him to send people to monitor day and night, he wouldn't have been able to catch him so quickly."

The corner of Qingtian's mouth twitched, and a bleak smile emerged, "Yingzhi——"

The reward silver was prepared a long time ago, and Ying Zhi stepped forward to hold it, "Eunuch keeps it for tea."

The little eunuch even laughed out loud, "Thank you, Ma'am, for your generous reward."

Qingtian smiled blankly and carelessly again, that kind of smile was enough to make a messenger think that what he just brought was not good news, but bad news of great mourning.

Mu Yun's funeral is just a few days away.

Chenzheng knocked on the castanets, and the coffin was raised, and the coffin carried by 64 people was surrounded by the incense candle pavilion, Baihua Pavilion, soul-inducing sedan chair, Gongbuzhao, etc., and went away like a mountain of silver.To the cemetery outside Xizhimen, the paper sticks of the ghost vessel disappeared in the rising smoke and flames, and a handful of loess buried the dead.

Along the way, Xiao Zhao's expression was numb, his eyes were sluggish, and he never shed a single tear.

That night, Zhao's residence suddenly caught fire, and the fire burned for most of the night.In the midst of the scorched earth and rubble, Boss Zhao, the owner of the house, disappeared, with no one alive or dead.

Then, when it snowed.

The auspicious snowfall from the sky is a sign of abundance, and the snowflakes fluctuate, big and small, and land on the earth.

At dusk, Qing Tian was sitting on the porch looking at the snow, stretching his hands into the dark and silent void, when he suddenly saw the maid Qin Su running out of breath from outside the porch, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty! The king, the prince is here!" ..."

Qingtian's first impression when he saw Qi She was that he was getting old.In fact, it has only been a short period of three months, but his usually straight shoulders have sunk inwards, and his temples have also seen bits and pieces of gray—or is it unmelted floating snow?Before Qing Tian had time to see clearly, he knelt down deeply, "The concubine sees the lord, lord Wanan."

Every year in the past, whenever he came back, all she gave him was a bright smile. When she was particularly happy, she simply ran up and wrapped her arms around him. When she was unhappy, she lifted her eyelids and mouthed With a frown, "I woke up from sleep before you came in." Of course, occasionally she would pretend to bow and kowtow, but he always smiled and pulled her up with one hand, and what's more, he directly pulled her up. Lift your feet off the ground and hug into the house.But right now, he just walked away from her humble body as if nothing had happened, and said indifferently: "Get up."

Qingtian got up and turned around, feeling uncomfortable all over.

"The prince is here."

"Not welcome?"

"It's just flattering." She couldn't even look at him properly, but she couldn't help but listen to him, every ounce of power and majesty in his tone:

"I have something to ask you, everyone else will step back and serve outside the corridor."

The servants retreated from both sides like flowing water, Qingtian peeked over, and there was no Zhou Dun, or "accomplice" among them; and the judge had already sat in the hall.Qingtian began to pinch her hands, pull at her belt, and straightened the buttons of her small jacket one by one, as if she was looking for something to temporarily separate her from the man.When the whole room finally became empty, she found an excuse on the tip of her tongue: "Then I'll go make tea for the prince myself, and the prince should sit down."

Without even giving the other party time to breathe, she lifted her foot and fled into the room.Qingtian stood in a daze for a moment behind the thick curtain before recalling where Qi She's favorite tea was kept.She opened the cabinet and searched, but she couldn't find it after searching back and forth. It became more and more chaotic, and she just fiddled with it.After that, a small wooden box fell out of a pile of tin cans and jade cans containing famous teas of various colors.

What surprised Qingtian was that she had long forgotten the existence of this thing, but she remembered it completely the moment she saw it, as if that scene of the past was directly "bang" from her heart Falling out: Mu Yun is holding the box, with a red face and a red voice, "I promise you to be reunited with the prince Yunyu, and love you forever."

Qingtian's hands began to sweat, as if these hands suddenly had life of their own, he rushed forward to open the box for her.In the box, a pair of willow dolls bound with red silk threads, and a yellow Taoist talisman.

Qing Tian slammed the lid of the box again, looked around like a thief, and saw the pot of tea leaves that she couldn't find was placed in front of her eyelids, like a ghost.

She was so determined.

Next, she quickly picked out the tea leaves, poured boiling water on them, lit a candle to burn the talisman into ashes, and mixed the ashes into the new tea.Then she came to the bed with the pair of puppets in both hands, staring blankly at the pillow and quilt embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in the water on the bed. She couldn't remember where Mu Yun said it should be put. Just as she was hesitating, a message came from outside. An impatient shout: "Where is the person?"

"Coming!" Qingtian hurriedly stuffed the puppet into the bed, flattened the quilt, and returned to the main room with the tea tray in his hands.

Qi She's face was reflected by several palace lanterns with bright corners in the room, the pale clarity was almost cruel.Qingtian summoned up great courage to look into his eyes, as if he was confronting the sun, so he had to narrow his eyes carefully, and there were a few traces of traces at the corners of his eyes, which were charming, "Mr. Have a sip of tea, if you want to ask any questions, you can ask them slowly for one night."

Qi She's brows were knotted, and under his suspicious gaze, Qingtian blushed with embarrassment, and his shame dyed his eyes, making his look even more pitiful, "Third Master, since you left, I will cover you alone. The old quilt is too cold and too big, but I still don’t want to change it. It smells like you.” She manipulated her voice like a lute, weeping and complaining, like a stone listening I have to nod for it.

Sure enough, Qi She was stunned for a moment, her harsh expression obviously softening.Qingtian lifted the white porcelain teacup out of the lacquered plate with both hands, as if humbly holding up a lofty and fragile wish, before his brow.

As long as you love me, as long as you still love me.

There was a rush of blood in her blood, she panicked and her hands trembled, a few drops of tea splashed out and splashed on Qi She's fur coat, a drop hung on the tip of the fox fur on his cuff, crumbling and having nowhere to go.

With a swipe of his fingertips, Qi She knocked off a few drops of water, and returned to his indifference, "Everything is difficult for people who are stupid."

No matter what, Qingtian never imagined that it was these five words that finally overwhelmed her.It's been too long, so long that it has been as long as several lifetimes, and she feels like an animal. Every insulting look, every contemptuous word, every indifferent movement he left... these trivial things Broken and heavy, one after another, all have to be carried by her.She is a cow that trembles with every step she takes, a bony old horse that cannot even lift her head, trudging through the storm, and the burden on her back becomes heavier every day.These five words are the last weight she can bear.Qingtian knew that as long as there was one more word—half a word, her spine would be broken forever.

Everything around suddenly faded away, and it seemed unprecedentedly clear.She could see clearly that Qi She's sideburns had indeed already grown gorgeous hair.She saw him pick up the teacup and bring it to his mouth.Qing Tian didn't have any hesitation any more, and snatched back the teacup, throwing the last hope in her heart to the ground with her own hands.

"The tea is not clean." She said it very lightly, but she understood that he would not fail to understand.

Qi She's face changed very little, his eyes widened a little, and the corners of his mouth drooped, but this was the most shocked expression he could have. "You poisoned me?"

Qingtian took a sniff of the breath before the tip of her nose, and shook her head, "Something like a love potion." After she finished speaking, she immediately raised her hand to cover her face, "You don't need to laugh at me, no matter how much you laugh at me , It’s no match for the ridicule I made to myself in my heart.” She put down her hand slowly again, bit by bit, water dripped through the stone, and looked into the depths of Qi She’s eyes, “Enough, my lord, enough. "

Qi She also took a breath, about the size of a stone, "What is enough?"

"All, all, enough." Qingtian's plain face was like snow, icy and snowy, piercing into her eyes, "My lord, I'm leaving."

"What did you say?"

"You heard me clearly."

(End of this chapter)