Chapter 87
Chapter 86 – 086
Lu Shiqing said “I’ll talk about it in a few days” and left, saying that he was leaving the house for a trip and would be back at noon.
Yuan Cixian pouted at him, climbed out of bed, smelled the fragrance of zongzi leaves with an empty stomach, and then remembered that today is the Dragon Boat Festival, and hurriedly ordered the servants to send some zongzi to Yuanfu for brother After eating, he went to the courtyard to greet Xuan Shi. Lu Shuangyu was also there, and excitedly asked her if she wanted to go to the Qujiang River to watch the dragon boat race together.
When she was young, she liked to go to this kind of crowded scene, but now she felt tired of it, and she didn’t have a good rest last night, so she was really tired from running around, so she declined her.
The Xuan family also said to her daughter: “Today there is a Dragon Boat Festival banquet in the palace. Your elder brother even shirked the saint’s invitation. He just planned to accompany your sister-in-law to celebrate the festival. You are lucky, do you have any eyesight?”
Lu Shuangyu had no choice but to purse her mouth and silently went to Qujiang with her friends in Beijing.
Yuan Cixian was talking with Xuan Shi in the yard, but Lu Shiqing hadn’t returned until noon, so she couldn’t help feeling a little worried, fearing that something might be wrong with Cai He.
Seeing her talking to her, Xuan’s eyes glanced out from time to time, and she understood very well, so she asked a servant to watch at the gate of the mansion to see when Lu Shiqing would return.
Yuan Cixian smiled embarrassedly, but she had no choice but to let her misunderstand that she had hurt Acacia. After all, Lu Shiqing didn’t tell this mother anything about what he did in the court, so she naturally had to take care of it for him.
When it was time for lunch, the servant reported that Lu Shiqing had returned, but he didn’t enter the mansion, so he only asked Yuan Cixian to go out.
She went outside in doubt, lifted the curtain and entered the carriage parked in front of the door, and when she entered, she heard Lu Shiqing explain: “I won’t be coming back for dinner, you stay with Auntie.”
She wondered for a moment: “If you don’t come back for dinner, why do you still make this trip?”
Lu Shiqing deliberately turned back this trip because he told her before leaving in the morning that he would be back at noon, and he didn’t want to break her promise, but he didn’t admit it, he just said: “By the way, you go back, I have to go to work. “
Seeing his indifferent look, Yuan Cixian thought that the matter was handled smoothly, so she didn’t inquire further, before going down to ask: “Then what do you have for lunch, I’ll bring you some zongzi?”
He shook his head to indicate no need: “I’ll go to Xishi to eat.”
When Yuan Cixian heard this, the person who had already got up sat back down again: “Don’t you use food outside?”
When he went to Xishi with her last year, he just sat and watched her eat two big bowls of wontons, and even threw the pancakes she gave him directly by the side of the road.
Lu Shiqing found that she was very sticky when she really cared about people, and she felt happy, and said lightly on her face: “I’m just dealing with a few officials.”
Unexpectedly, when she heard the words, Liu Mei frowned: “Are you going to Orchid’s Restaurant?”
Lu Shiqing choked.
Seeing him choking, Yuan Cixian knew that she had guessed right. You have to drink a little wine when you talk to officials. As for going to the West Market, you can’t avoid going to the wine shop where the beautiful orchids are twirling and jumping.
She was immediately annoyed and said, “Why did you choose that kind of place to talk about things? Don’t you think that someone else’s powder is crackling into your wine glass? There is also a smell of spices in the room, and it won’t be clean after washing for an hour! Let’s talk about those dancers who just sit in your arms when they don’t agree with each other…”
Lu Shiqing trembled and made a “stop” gesture. He couldn’t even hear this kind of scene of being defiled by others. He originally wanted to bring his drinking utensils and go over there for a few drinks, but when she said that, goosebumps came up, and he said: “It’s not the place I chose, I will stay away from them.”
Yuan Cixian looked at him with distaste, said “Okay”, got up and was about to leave, hesitated for a moment, then suddenly turned around and grabbed his arm and said, “How about I go with you.”
The corners of Lu Shiqing’s mouth twitched slightly: “Have you seen anyone who went to that kind of place and brought the main house?”
“…”
angry.
Yuan Cixian glared at him bitterly, gritted her teeth and walked away without looking back. After having lunch with Xuan Shi, she felt very itchy in her heart. She couldn’t hold it back and asked Shi Cui to dress her up as a man, and then brought her Picking branches and went to Chang’an West Market together.
There is more than one orchid wine shop in West Market, but there are not many officials who Lu Shiqing can’t refuse, and there are only those high-ranking officials when counting up, so they must go to the most luxurious places.
Yuan Cixian asked Pick Zhi to pick out two families and found out.
As the name suggests, this Orchid wine shop is a tavern opened by barbarians from outside the region. There are all kinds of fish and dragons in it.
Yuan Cixian dressed up as a man, and as soon as she entered, she was warmly received by Dr. Jiu, who asked her where to sit. She glanced at the room on the second floor where Lu Shiqing was, and pointed to the next door to him.
Picking up followed her to the second floor, and when she entered the room and closed the door, she saw that she opened the window not facing the street to communicate with the next door, and then pressed her ears to the wall, as if she was listening. The movement on Lu Shiqing’s side.
It’s a pity that the wall is too thick, and the music next door is too loud, Yuan Cixian couldn’t distinguish the voices at all, and could only vaguely hear low chattering and laughing.
Instead, she leaned on the window edge and looked over there, sighing when she found nothing. I can’t hear it, I can’t see it, what is she doing here.
She was about to turn her head to find other ways to spy, when suddenly she heard the sound of wheels rolling from under the window, the driver seemed to be whipping his whip, and hurriedly said to the inside of the car: “You must hold on!”
Yuan Cixian was slightly taken aback when he heard this sound that seemed somewhat familiar, and looked down.
This is an alley not facing the street, and usually only civilians would pass by this way, but the carriage that is galloping in this direction right now has delicate carvings on the walls, and the shape of the carriage is spacious, obviously it belongs to a wealthy family.
She subconsciously felt strange, and began to recall the sensuality she had heard somewhere, and suddenly raised her head as her head turned sharply.
It’s a dream.
In a dream earlier, she heard Zheng Zhuo’s subordinates salvage her body on the bridge.
This coachman is from the Prince’s Mansion. In other words, the person in the car was probably Zheng Zhuo.
What did she just hear? Hold on?
Her eyes flickered for a moment, seeing that the carriage was about to drive past her window, she turned around and quickly picked up an empty jade lamp and threw it down.
The coachman also reacted quickly, seeing something out of the sky, he reined in with one hand, raised the other hand, and subconsciously pinched Yuzhan in his hand.
In this way, the young man driving the car saw Yuan Cixian in the direction the “hidden weapon” came from.
He squinted his eyes first, and when he saw Qing Yuan Cixian’s face, he was startled as if he had found a savior.
Seeing the change in his expression, Yuan Cixian guessed that something happened to Zheng Zhuo, so he raised his chin at Chao Caizhi and hurried downstairs to the alley.
This young man is Zheng Zhuo’s confidant, Chen Zhan, who was waiting for her underneath, and when he saw that she was about to speak, she stopped her with a look.
She glanced at Picking Branches, motioned her to guard at the entrance of the alley, then looked at Chen Zhan, pointed at the closed window of Lu Shiqing’s room, implying that there were people above and it was not appropriate to talk, and then silently opened the curtain and entered.
Chen Zhan understood what she meant, and after she sat down firmly, he quickly raised his whip and continued to rush towards the deep alley.
Yuan Cixian was really taken aback by the scene in the car.
The inside was dirty and messy, the medicine box was overturned, and the gauze was scattered all over the floor. Zheng Zhuo was lying sideways on the low couch with one leg bent, almost half of his body was soaked in blood, and fresh blood trickled out from the waist and abdomen tightly clutched by his hands.
Her expression tightened, she hurriedly took a step forward, squatted down in front of the low couch, frowned and said, “Your Highness, what is this?”
Zheng Zhuo’s face was bloodless, and his mind seemed to be not sober. Hearing the words, he opened his eyelids with difficulty, but he didn’t know if he recognized her, and then closed his eyes tiredly. Down, lost the will.
Seeing this, Yuan Cixian glanced around, calmed down, picked up the gauze scattered on the floor, pressed the wound for him with one hand while gritting his teeth, and picked up the scissors to cut his robe with the other, thinking quickly.
Judging from the location of the injury, it wasn’t critical, but with so much blood loss, it was enough to kill a person. It’s impossible for Chen Zhan not to know this, but he didn’t deal with Zheng Zhuo in time, and he didn’t send him back to the house immediately. Instead, he rushed here, which must be to avoid the opponent behind him.
During the Dragon Boat Festival, at the feet of the Son of Heaven, in broad daylight, it is difficult for those who want to kill Zheng Zhuo to do so clearly, and the pursuit is to delay the time. Because that would be enough to cause him to bleed to death.
Yuan Cixian quickly cut open his robe, fixed his eyes on the inch-deep oblique stab wound on his waist and abdomen, and quickly picked up gauze to stop the bleeding and wrap him up.
Outside, Chen Zhan stopped the carriage just at this moment.
He lifted the curtain and looked inward, and asked anxiously, “Master, you’ve come to a dead end.”
Yuan Cixian kept moving her hands, without turning her head, she said: “Stop here first, and tell me what’s going on?”
Seeing this, Chen Zhan took the whip away, and stepped forward to take over the work in her hand: “Please trouble the county magistrate, villain, come.” He explained, “Today’s Dragon Boat Festival, His Highness and Second Highness went to the Qujiang River to watch the dragon boat race, because There are so many people on the riverside, the villain squeezed on the outer edge, and in the chaos, I don’t know what happened ahead, suddenly I heard screams from all around, and then I saw that the two highnesses were stabbed by knives.”
Yuan Cixian had already retreated to the back to wipe the blood on her hands, and smiled in disbelief: “Your Highnesses are both martial arts practitioners, how can they be injured by this kind of dark knife?”
“The villain doesn’t understand either.”
“Who was chasing you along the way?”
Chen Zhan explained: “Today, the two His Highnesses followed Jane to go out in modest obedience, and each brought only one entourage. At that time, the guard of the Second Highness hurriedly helped him into the carriage, and did not have time to turn around to take care of His Highness. The villain did not Pay attention to the Second Highness, he only carried His Highness all the way out, and when he was about to treat his wound, he found an ambush around him, so he didn’t dare to stay any longer, and drove the car away. Unexpectedly, he was bitten and chased all the way.”
“Then why didn’t you send His Highness back to the mansion, instead came to West Market?” Yuan Cixian continued to ask.
“His Highness explained. Before getting into the carriage, His Highness whispered four words into my ear: Orchid Wine Shop.”
Yuan Cixian frowned, and seeing that he had bandaged Zheng Zhuo’s wound, she ordered: “Drive the carriage back to the wine shop, and then get me dressed in Orchid’s clothes.”
Chen Zhan didn’t dare to ask any more questions, so he hurriedly followed suit.
Yuan Cixian sat in the car and waited for a while, thinking.
Zheng Zhuo probably knew that Lu Shiqing was drinking at the Hu Ji Restaurant at this time, but he must not be coming for him, but for those senior officials. For some reason, he hoped that these people who held up half the sky with a word in the court could see him being assassinated and injured with their own eyes.
But Chen Zhan didn’t understand his instructions in a hurry, and Yuan Cixian didn’t know about it just now, so he ordered the carriage to drive away from the wine shop. Right now, she doesn’t dare to act rashly, it’s best to inform Lu Shiqing to make a decision.
It’s just that it’s not suitable for her to appear in the wine shop openly, so as to avoid other people’s suspicion of her treatment of Zheng Zhuo, it is best to pretend to be an orchid and cover her face.
In Yuan Cixian’s mind, the scene of herself spinning and jumping into Lu Shiqing’s arms, and then delivering the message perfectly appeared.
Although she said a lot of bad things about Hu Ji at noon, he shouldn’t recognize her, and throw her to the ground in order to keep her body like a jade, right?
small theater:
Lu Tongsong: Maybe… As for.
Yuan Cixian: I may have dug a hole for myself to jump into. 🙂