Chapter 056 Water Dragon Song (I)
"You asked me this all of a sudden. I can't think of anything right now."
Ni Su wiped his face carefully and threw the handkerchief into the basin. "I'll tell you when I think it over."
She knew that he would never be willing to take off his bloodstained clothes in front of her, nor would he show her the wounds under his clothes, so she said nothing and went to get some clean willow leaf water.
Ni Su came and left, the door closed, Xu Hexue supported himself on the bed with one hand and managed to get up, the wounds covered with red blood scabs were torn open, his pale knuckles untied the belt, slowly took off his outer robe and inner garment, the white gauze screen half-hidden his pale and gaunt body, in fact, it was no different from before his death, because after five years at the border, he had held a halberd, swords, and tamed wild horses, his body had smooth muscles and distinct textures, not as thin as an ordinary teenager.
But he had too many scratches on his body, and the bright red blood was flowing down. He wrung a handkerchief from the basin and wiped himself silently. Dust was flying in the air, and in the bright candlelight in the room, he could see his body more and more clearly. Even though it was very painful, he wiped himself again and again.
Only when the wound stopped bleeding did he put on his clothes one by one and buttoned them up. After doing all this, he lay down on the bed and pulled the quilt over himself.
There were two glass lamps on the stool beside the bed, with translucent lampshades and warm yellow light. He rested his cheek on the soft pillow, staring at the two lamps.
Ni Su bought this lamp from a glass shop on their way to look for Jiang Xianming.
She said that this way they wouldn't have to be afraid of going out on rainy nights in the future.
Xu Hexue closed his eyes. He was not sleeping and did not dream, but at this moment he heard the rustling of the night rain. He was wearing clean clothes and wrapped in a brocade quilt, and he felt at peace.
However, in the middle of the night, he suddenly threw off the quilt and stood up. In the bright candlelight in the room, he took extremely difficult steps to walk to the desk, poured water on it, ground the ink, spread out the rice paper, and wrote as the rain fell.
Jiang Xianming had already found out a lot about the anonymous person in the secret account book, and all of his details were written down on the account book as annotations.
After a while, more than a dozen names were added to the rice paper.
Xu Hexue sat at the desk, holding the corner of it with one hand. The ink had dried, but he had not yet been able to find any connection between these names.
These people had been giving money to Du Cong and his superiors day after day for fifteen years. Even Du Cong, who seemed to have a lot of money flowing in and out of his account, the money seized from his home by the Night Police was not even half of what was on the account.
Fifteen years, exactly fifteen years.
Xu Hexue raised his eyes again and scanned the name on the paper.
There was not a single official in Beijing.
The spring rain had been falling for several days in a row, and the city of Yunjing was always shrouded in a layer of moist mist. In addition to the rain and fog, there was also a gloomy haze in the imperial city.
Emperor Zhengyuan believed in the Dao, and a few days ago during the Qingjiao ceremony, he ordered Prince Jia Zhao Yi to present the Qingci. However, Prince Jia delayed for a day or two, and even knelt outside the Qinghe Hall and cried, "Yonggeng is stupid, does not understand the Dao, and has no way to write."
This action immediately angered Emperor Zhengyuan, and Prince Jia was taken to Chongming Palace by the people from the Palace Front Department and confined that night.
People who came to interrogate him kept changing, and Prince Jia was terrified and speechless. No matter how much he asked, nothing could be learned. From dusk till dawn, Princess Jia Li Xizhen asked for permission. When she entered the Chongming Palace, Prince Jia was sitting alone in a thick shadow, hugging his knees with his eyes unfocused.
"Your Highness."
Li Xizhen walked up to Prince Jia carrying a food box, squatted down, and looked at his face carefully. Her eyes were full of heartache, and she couldn't help but reach out to touch his face.
"Xi Zhen."
Prince Jia called her in a murmur, "I'm sorry for scaring you."
"Your Highness wants to take me back to Tongzhou, right?" Li Xizhen knew how many heavy thoughts were hidden in the heart of the man in front of him.
Prince Jia did not answer, but raised his eyes and looked around. After a long while, he said, "Xizhen, when I was young, I was confused and was named Prince Jia. At that time, I lived here. Everyone in the palace knew that the emperor did not like me. I don’t know how many times he treated me harshly, both openly and secretly. Later, Prince An came, and sometimes I couldn’t even have a full meal. If it weren’t for you…"
As soon as he said the name, Prince Jia's eyes became moist, and he could not say the following words. "After that, he got into trouble, and then the teacher and Mr. Meng got into trouble. I was imprisoned here for three years. This place is really not a good place for me. Xizhen, I am even afraid of this place. After so many days since I came back, I dare not sleep or dream, but my mind is still filled with the feeling of walking on thin ice in the palace during those years..."
"I know everything about your Highness. I also understand that the emperor has no son. This time he suddenly asked you to stay for a long time. He must have some considerations. Otherwise, you would not risk refusing to write the Qingci."
Li Xizhen and Prince Jia were childhood sweethearts. She knew his temperament and what he had experienced.
Prince Jia was extremely afraid of Emperor Zhengyuan and did not respect or love him enough.
The knot in his heart was a shadow that shrouded his entire life. He had finally escaped, but now he had to live under the shadow again. He was not willing to do that.
His action was intended to deliberately anger Emperor Zhengyuan so that he would completely exile his useless adopted son with absolute disgust, just like before.
"Xizhen, you know I came back to see the teacher."
Prince Jia's hair was in disarray, with a few strands of light hair falling in front of his temples. He reached out to hold his wife's shoulders, "Since the teacher doesn't want to see me, there is no need for you and me to stay in Yunjing any longer. Let's go back to Tongzhou. I don't want anything, I don't ask for anything. I just want you to be healthy and for us to live through this life, that's all..."
Li Xi was silent. She looked at the man in front of her. She had seen him as a child and had accompanied him through his youth. "Your Highness, you really don't want to?"
she asked suddenly.
What don't you want?
Prince Jia's chin, which was covered with a layer of green stubble, tightened a little, and he said in a hoarse voice: "No, Xizhen, I just want to go back with you."
…
Ni Su bought another basket of incense and candles and came back. Just as she entered the main hall of the clinic, she heard a voice behind her: "Madam, it seems to be here."
She turned around and saw two maids supporting a woman in plain clothes. The woman looked her up and down the moment she turned around.
"Excuse me, madam, are you here to see a doctor?"
Ni Su put the basket aside and walked closer to ask.
"I have a doctor at home, so there's no need to trouble you, young lady." The woman spoke in a gentle tone.
Ni Su paused, then nodded, "In that case, I wonder why Madam came here?"
"Is your last name Ni, Ni Su?"
The woman asked as she looked her over.
"yes."
Ni Su nodded, and seeing that her left knee seemed to bend, she asked, "Is your knee uncomfortable? Why don't you come in and sit for a while?"
The woman thought for just a moment, then nodded and was helped into the house by the maid.
The room was kept very clean and tidy. Even someone as particular as her could not find a single flaw in the woman's house.
There was hot tea and snacks on the table. The woman had only sat there for a while when she saw the young lady coming out from behind with hot water in her hands. She could smell the aroma of mugwort before she got close.
"Your knees hurt. If you don't mind, you can apply this moxa water on them." Ni Su put the basin of water on the stool. Because there were maids on both sides, she didn't do it herself.
The two maids looked at the woman.
The woman looked at Ni Su for a moment and nodded slightly to the two of them.
Behind a screen, the maids lifted her skirt, rolled up her silk pants, and held her knees with a wrung-out hot towel.
"I heard from outsiders that the girl was a very remarkable woman. What happened to your brother is really a pity."
The woman's brows relaxed a little and she suddenly spoke.
"I really don't deserve the word 'remarkable'. As a blood relative, I just did what I should do." Ni Su fiddled with the charcoal fire in the stove and refilled the tea.
"It's been cloudy and rainy lately. If your knees are often uncomfortable, you can use this method more often. It can alleviate some of the pain."
"How much?"
The woman patted a maid's shoulder, and the maid immediately reached for her purse. Ni Su shook her head and said with a smile, "It's just some moxa leaf water. I'm not the one who gave you the hot compress, so how can I take your money?"
The woman said nothing, holding a circle of Buddhist beads in her hand. She looked at Ni Su and waited for the maid to finish giving her the hot compress before she stood up and said goodbye.
From beginning to end, she never explained her intention.
"Madam, what do you think of her?" After leaving the clinic, a maid helped the woman into the carriage and asked cautiously.
The woman was sitting upright in the carriage, fingering her Buddhist beads. She was thinking carefully about the young lady's behavior. "She looks very nice and well-mannered. It's obvious that she was well-educated at home. If her family hadn't had such an incident, she probably wouldn't have to come out to make a living. It's not easy for a girl to have such a hard life."
The carriage left the door of the clinic, and Ni Su packed up the things on the table. Afang, the little girl from the herbal medicine shop opposite, was only twelve or thirteen years old. She often came to Ni Su's place to play these days. She leaned on the corner of the table with one hand and muttered, "Didn't you buy the mugwort leaves at my house? Doesn't it cost money? Besides, she's acting weird, and I don't know what she's here for."
When the woman came just now, she was playing outside the door.
"It's not worth much." Ni Su gave her a candy and said, "Did you see the material she's wearing? Such fine clothes must not be from an ordinary family."
Ni Su naturally had her own thoughts. Even though the woman didn't need her diagnosis now, it was always right for her to treat her with courtesy.
Ah Fang said nothing. Her mother said that a woman who treats women's illnesses does not have a good reputation. But the sister in front of her was very strange. She specialized in treating women's illnesses, but it could not be said that she had a bad reputation. Everyone admired her courage to seek justice for her brother, but at the same time they were very secretive about her medical practice.
"Sister Ni, are you also waiting for the rain to stop?" Afang sat on the chair, supporting her chin with one hand and changed the subject.
Ni Su glanced at the dense rain and fog outside, thinking of the person who had not seen the moon for days and could only bathe in willow leaf water, and she nodded.
"I told you that you must be making kites in secret!"
Ah Fang laughed.
Kite?
Ni Su was confused, "What kite?"
"I saw you put some bamboos here yesterday!" Ah Fang snorted and pointed to the corner. "How is your kite? Take it out and show it to me!"
"I didn't do it, what should I show you?" Ni Su laughed and touched her head.
After a while, Afang was called back by her mother to eat. Ni Su returned to the back porch and smelled the aroma of food. She looked towards the kitchen and saw a young man in a light blue round-necked robe with his hair combed neatly and a white jade hairpin on his head. He was sitting in the eaves, holding a flexible bamboo strip in his hand.
"Xu Ziling, didn't I tell you that I don't need you to cook for the next few days?" Ni Su walked over quickly, put down a basket of incense and candles, lifted her clothes and sat beside him.
"Do you know what you looked like last night when you were hiding in your room eating sweets and cakes?" Xu Hexue's eyebrows and eyes always showed a kind of coldness. In the rain and fog here, his face looked even colder.
"What...how do you know?" Ni Su was embarrassed.
"Your window is open."
At that time, Xu Hexue just came out of the room. When he looked up, he saw her through the window, biting a candy cake with her cheeks puffed up. It tasted as bitter as if she had drunk a bowl of medicine.
"I forgot the time when reading medical books, so it's very convenient to eat those." Ni Su said in a low voice, and then noticed the bamboo strips in his hand. She suddenly remembered what A Fang said, and she couldn't help asking, "What are you holding... for?"
"You said you couldn't sleep that night, so you came to watch over my bed. After a while, you fell asleep on the edge of the bed," Xu Hexue scraped the burrs on the bamboo strips with a knife, "and you talked in your sleep."
Ni Su was stunned. "What did I say?"
"Why can't my kite fly..." Xu Hexue's emotionless voice did not imitate her tone, but just told her in a plain manner.
Ni Su was a little embarrassed and lowered her head. "Although I don't remember it, I must have dreamed about going outings with my brother when I was a child. My kite could never fly and my brother didn't help me."
"So, you're making a kite for me?"
She asked this question, pursed her lips for no reason, raised her eyes and looked at him.
"Um."
Xu Hexue pinched the bamboo strips with his fingers and asked her again, "Do you still want to fly a kite now?"
“…I thought so.”
Ni Su's voice became very soft.
Hearing this, Xu Hexue turned to look at her and said, "That's good. I was worried that you might like this kind of thing when you were a child, but you might not like it now."
"you……"
Ni Su avoided his clear and beautiful eyes. She didn't even know where to put her hands. The rain was soaking the wooden steps. She looked at the raindrops dripping on them and asked, "How could you do this?"
Xu Hexue stopped looking at her and focused on the work in his hands. "When I was young, my good friend wanted to please a girl who was his childhood sweetheart, so he tried to make it himself. But he was a little stupid and couldn't do it after trying several times. He also got his hand pricked by the bamboo strips. So he forced me to learn it with him. In the end, he took what I made and gave it to the girl."
Ni Su finally heard him talk about his past again. She supported her chin with one hand and smiled, "Why did he take yours? You made it better than him?"
"Um."
Xu Hexue stopped and placed one hand on her knee. She seemed to recall the past carefully, with a faint smile in her eyes: "If I remember correctly, the one he made seemed to be too ugly to be seen."
His figure was as light as mist, and perhaps the wounds on his body had not healed yet. But under such torture, he recalled some light memories from the past. This man who seemed to be made of frost and snow seemed to show signs of melting.
Ni Su looked at him and suddenly wanted to touch him.
But she didn't do that.
The sound of rain was very light, the mist was moist, Xu Hexue was quietly arranging bamboo strips, Ni Su was watching him and said, "If you do this, I will look forward to the rain stopping."
