The next day, after listening to Yu Linzhi's words, Gu Ru'an really sent someone back to Nanjing to ask the Queen for instructions.
"Xiao Mu."
Gu Ru'an personally escorted the people sent back out of Lin'an City. As soon as she left the gate of Yu Mansion, Yu Linzhi came to find Mu Lingsu. He had such a big argument with Gu Ru'an in front of her yesterday, and said some words that would cause others to misunderstand. He thought about it all night and decided to come and explain to her.
She is still an unmarried girl. If she is really troubled by what he said yesterday, then it is indeed wrong for him to do so.
He didn't want their relationship to become distant because of yesterday's argument.
Mu Lingsu was dressing up. When she heard Yu Linzhi calling her name outside the door instead of knocking, she guessed that he was embarrassed. She didn't expect that he would say to Gu Ruan yesterday, "I don't want me to marry a Queen Party member."
If nothing else, she really discovered that there was something different between them.
Was it because they accidentally slept in the same bed that day that triggered the ambiguity between them, or was it because their companionship over the years had finally reached this day of fermentation?
Mu Lingsu held the comb in her hand, feeling a little overwhelmed. She didn't know how to face Yu Linzhi outside the door.
She had to admit that at this moment, she could not guarantee that she could face Yu Linzhi calmly. She did not know why, but now she was always worried that Yu Linzhi could see through her thoughts, even though she had no secrets from him and they were very open with each other.
But ever since he said that to Gu Ru'an yesterday...
"Xiao Mu, I have something to tell you."
Yu Linzhi waited for a long time but Mu Lingsu didn't respond, so he continued. He knew that Mu Lingsu had gotten up long ago, and he came here when the servants were having breakfast, hoping that she would not have any concerns and listen to his explanation.
Mu Lingsu woke up from her complicated thoughts and realized that Yu Linzhi was still waiting outside. She raised her voice and said, "Come in. I opened the door to get some fresh air when I got up in the morning. The door is not locked."
Yu Linzhi gently pushed the door open, and when he looked up, he saw Mu Lingsu sitting in front of the dressing table. She looked gentle and charming without any makeup on, and she was completely different from her usual strong and forbearing self.
He looked at her profile and smiled unconsciously: "Xiao Mu, you look really good today." He realized that he had said something wrong after he said it, and said awkwardly, "I said the wrong thing. I'm really sorry. I offended you."
He had repeatedly reminded himself to speak properly in front of Mu Lingsu, but he still made mistakes, which made him a little frustrated. As a result, the situation between the two people, which was not awkward at first, became awkward.
"It's okay." Mu Lingsu turned her head and looked at Yu Linzhi who was standing at the door. "It's not like you to apologize repeatedly. There's no need to be so deliberate. I'm not used to you and me being so cautious with each other."
In the past, they always sabotaged and mocked each other. Since yesterday, Yu Linzhi became cautious in front of her, which she was not used to. She didn't want the relationship between her and Yu Linzhi to become more distant than that between her and Shen Qingyu.
Yu Linzhi walked into her room and sat down on a chair beside her. He wanted to pick a topic to chat with her, but somehow he thought of Shen Qingyu.
He realized that Shen Qingyu had been hiding in his room since yesterday and had not come out. During the dinner, he only sent the guards to notify him and asked the kitchen to send over a few dishes.
He asked, "Has Prince Yiyang come to see you?"
Mu Lingsu was stunned by Yu Linzhi's question, but still answered: "Now that Shen Hanyan is missing, as a brother, he shouldn't have time to care about these love affairs, right?"
She didn't know why Yu Linzhi suddenly remembered this, so she was a little surprised.
"Prince Yi Yang has been in the house all day, and I was wondering if he came out to look for you." Yu Linzhi said.
Shen Qingyu must have been severely punished for Shen Hanyan's disappearance. Although the queen loved him the most, the emperor liked his adopted daughter more than him. As long as Shen Qingyu brought this news back to the palace, it would be tantamount to admitting in front of the emperor that it was his negligence that caused Shen Hanyan to be kidnapped.
The emperor was already prejudiced against him, so naturally he would not forgive him easily.
Mu Lingsu naturally knew that the emperor didn't like Shen Qingyu.
When he was in Fengzao Palace, the crown prince was still the fifth prince. Although the fifth prince was only three years older than Shen Qingyu, the emperor never checked Shen Qingyu's homework. Instead, he would personally review the fifth prince's homework every day. Even if the queen took the initiative to bring up the topic of Shen Qingyu's academic progress, the emperor would only brush it off and would not ask in detail. Shen Qingyu's birth did not seem to make the emperor happy at all, but only made the queen's position as the empress more stable.
"No matter how anxious he is, he can only set off after your father is released by the court." Mu Lingsu picked up the moth powder beside her, looked at her brow bones in the mirror, and began to draw her eyebrows. "Besides, the robbers haven't sent anyone to tell us where they are. It would be useless for us to go now. After passing Yumen Pass, we will be facing the vast desert and we can't even find our way east, west, south or north."
Yu Linzhi didn't really want to talk to her about serious matters, but he couldn't find a topic to talk about. Seeing Mu Lingsu start talking to him about rescuing Shen Hanyan, he felt a little annoyed, worried that he wouldn't have the chance to explain to her what he said yesterday.
After hesitating for a moment, Mu Lingsu was almost done drawing her eyebrows when he suddenly said, "Xiao Mu, don't take it to heart."
As soon as she said this, Mu Lingsu's eyebrows, which were about to be completed, were almost ruined. She was confused by this nonsense, and her hands trembled before she realized that he was talking about what happened yesterday.
She smiled and said, "I didn't hear anything yesterday, so don't mention it deliberately."
She was really frightened by the fierce argument between Yu Linzhi and Gu Ru'an yesterday. She had never met a mother and son who blamed and resented each other like them. But as an outsider, she had no right to judge them.
So, she pretended not to hear what she heard and pretended not to see what she saw.
Yu Linzhi thought she would ask a few questions, but she took the initiative to end the topic, which surprised him.
"There is one more thing. I wonder if you are prepared for it." Mu Lingsu looked at herself in the bronze mirror, observing whether her eyebrows were symmetrical. "If your father regains his freedom as he wishes and goes to the Western Regions with you, he will definitely spend some time with Aunt Ru'an along the way."
She looked away from the bronze mirror and turned to look at Yu Linzhi who was clearly fascinated. "Those two people have met again for the first time in more than 20 years. How are you going to deal with it?"
Yu Linzhi didn't hear Mu Lingsu talking, he just looked at her. When she raised her hand, her wrist was exposed from the slipping sleeve, the porcelain white color was like milk, beautiful beyond words.
"Yu Linzhi?" Mu Lingsu noticed that Yu Linzhi was distracted and called him.
Yu Linzhi shuddered, came back to his senses with a guilty conscience, and coughed awkwardly, trying to cover up his gaffe: "They naturally have their own ideas. If they want to see each other, I can't stop them. If they don't want to see each other, I can't force them together."
After saying this, he secretly blamed himself in his heart. He was clearly talking about serious matters, so why was he always distracted?
Mu Lingsu wanted to tell him something else, but suddenly she noticed from the corner of her eye a white carrier pigeon flying towards the Yu Mansion in the sky.
She ran to the window joyfully, patted the back of Yu Linzhi's hand and told him to look where the pigeon had landed: "Someone from the palace has sent a message. It must be the Queen who took the initiative to ask for peace."
Many concubines in the palace would secretly raise their own carrier pigeons in the pigeon breeding area of ​​the Shanggong Bureau, so that they could convey information to the outside of the palace when they were under house arrest or at other times when . The queen was no exception.
The pigeons raised by the queen were obviously different from those raised by other concubines in one way - in order to distinguish them better, the queen specially ordered people to cut off all the pigeons' tail feathers. So, when Mu Lingsu saw these pigeons without tails, she knew they were from the queen's palace.
"How is that possible? Gu Ruan has only sent people out for a short time..."
Yu Linzhi certainly didn't believe that someone as noble as the queen would take the initiative to negotiate peace. Just as he was saying that he didn't believe it, he heard the servant in his room looking for him everywhere: "Master, Master... Madam Gu wants to see you, go to the front hall quickly."
I don’t know when this rule was established, but the servants in the Yu Mansion all called Gu Ru’an like this.
Yu Linzhi felt a little bit unbelievable. He looked at the complacent and went to the front hall by himself.
Sure enough, the carrier pigeon from Fengzao Palace brought a handwritten letter from the Queen, saying that the Emperor had released Yu Jianwu and that he would be escorted back to Lin'an by the Imperial Guards in a few days.
"You really have a good foresight." When he said this, Yu Jianwu and his son, Shen Qingyu and the Imperial Guards' artillery team, Mu Lingsu, Gu Ru'an and his party had already set out for Yumen Pass.
On the third day after the Queen's handwritten letter arrived at Yu Mansion, Yu Jianwu returned to Yu Mansion unharmed. After resting for a day, the group set off in a mighty procession, heading west.
Along the way, perhaps to avoid embarrassment, Yu Jianwu only talked to Yu Linzhi and the servants of the Yu family, leaving Yu Linzhi and Mu Lingsu no chance to talk. After waiting for two or three days, the group arrived in Chang'an and took a short rest in Chang'an City. Yu Linzhi found a free time to go to the guest room of the inn to find Mu Lingsu.
Mu Lingsu stood at the door of the guest room, raised her hand and pointed backwards, and said with a sly smile: "Aunt Ruan and I are in the same room, do you want to go in and talk?"
Yu Linzhi never wanted to take the initiative to have any contact with Gu Ruan. When he heard Mu Lingsu's suggestion, he shook his head like a rattle: "Let's talk for a moment."
So the two of them strolled into the patio of the inn and sat on the long bench provided by the inn.
Yu Linzhi poured a glass of water for her and himself, and said, "Don't go back to Suzhou. You have already followed us to Chang'an, and it's not far from Yumen Pass. Come with us."
Mu Lingsu had expected him to say something like this, and she felt a little proud in her heart, but she held back her pride and didn't show it on her face: "My family needs me to go back and take inventory of the land. My grandmother and aunts don't understand these things, so I have to go back and keep an eye on them."
To be honest, she really didn't want to get deeply involved in this kind of dispute in the martial arts world, so as not to drag herself into endless trouble. Last time when Yu Linzhi recovered from his illness, she didn't follow him all the way. Even when he was seriously injured, she only rushed to Chang'an to treat him later, not to mention that the court intervened this time.
The male members of the Mu family had already been exiled or sent into exile because of the case of the imperial physician poisoning the concubine. She really couldn't take the risk of pushing the remaining members of the Mu family into the fire pit.
"But..." Yu Linzhi looked around several times, and after making sure that there was no one around, he looked into her eyes and said word by word, "But I need you, Xiaomu."
Regardless of whether Mu Lingsucheng admitted it or not, Yu Linzhi always believed in his heart that the relationship between them was not just ordinary doctor-patient, and there were other ties between them.
Mu Lingsu was very surprised that Yu Linzhi said these words in front of her. She was so flustered that she didn't even know what expression she should put on her face. In the past, she might have laughed and cursed back when she heard this, but since she woke up in Yu Linzhi's room that day, she couldn't do it anymore.
Although she didn't want to admit it, Yu Linzhi had become a thorn in her side. It hurt when she moved, but it made her difficult to breathe when she didn't move.
She never knew that there would be a day when she would be so helpless.
She looked at Yu Linzhi, who had no trace of joking on his face, and tried desperately to organize words in her mind. But she thought about it over and over again, and emptied all the books she had read, but she couldn't find the right words to respond to him.
She was a little anxious and embarrassed about her lack of words. "I..." After hesitating for a long time, Mu Lingsu could only say this one word. It was pale and weak, and it also exposed her panic. She was afraid that Yu Linzhi would misunderstand her and think that she was so nervous because she had other thoughts.
As soon as she opened her mouth, Mu Lingsu regretted it so much that her intestines turned green. She felt guilty like a thief and didn't even have the courage to look up and look directly at Yu Linzhi.
She could only lower her head and look at the sachet Yu Linzhi hung around his waist. The sachet was a pattern of platycodon flowers. She vaguely remembered that she bought it during the Suzhou Lantern Festival three years ago. Later, when Yu Jianwu invited her to dinner on the Flower Festival, she remembered to give it to Yu Linzhi.
She thought Yu Linzhi had thrown it away long ago, or at least put it in a box, but she didn't expect that he would still wear this ten-cent sachet on his body.
Someone touched a string in Mu Lingsu's heart, and she softened her heart in an instant and changed her mind: "I'll go with you." After saying that, Mu Lingsu didn't ask Yu Linzhi's opinion, but reached out and wanted to take off the sachet from his waist.
She wanted to see if he had just started wearing the sachet, or if he had always worn it. For some reason, as her fingers got closer and closer to the sachet, she felt a sense of anticipation.
Yu Linzhi had no idea what she meant. He thought she had discovered that the sachet was given by her and wanted to take it off and return it to its original owner. When he saw her hand reaching out, he grabbed her wrist and stopped her from moving: "What's wrong?"
He was somewhat subconsciously alert. As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, he realized that his reaction was a bit extreme, so he stiffly defended his behavior: "I thought you were going to do something, and my reaction was a bit too strong."
After thinking for a while, in order to cover up his overreaction, Yu Linzhi took the initiative to take off the sachet and handed it to Mu Lingsu: "Take it and have a look."
He watched Mu Lingsu take the sachet and look at it with great interest, and he felt a little happy. At least she didn't want to take it back and not give it back to him.
Mu Lingsu stroked the sachet in her hand. It had some frayed edges and the color had faded a lot, but it was still clean and tidy. It was obvious that it had been carefully cared for over the years.
Mu Lingsu said, "It's a bargain worth only ten cents, but you've taken good care of it until now."
When Mu Lingsu found that Yu Linzhi had been wearing this sachet, she felt touched and happy for some reason. Perhaps it was because even if it was such a worthless little thing, Yu Linzhi still loved it.
"The sachet has a price, but you are priceless to me..." Yu Linzhi took the sachet and tied it around his waist again, choosing his words carefully, "You have saved my life several times, and that is priceless."
He didn't know what to say in a reasonable and appropriate way, so he could only weigh the options carefully.
He didn't know when his heart and instinct began to hate this kind of caution that made him uncomfortable. He began to want to take the initiative to move forward, starting from a casual acquaintance, and go a step further. But every time this thought came up, he retreated timidly.
He was not afraid of anything, but he was afraid that Mu Lingsu would feel offended.
No matter how dumb Mu Lingsu was, she could hear the hidden thoughts behind his words. She raised her chin slightly and smiled at him, saying nothing, feeling genuinely happy for no reason. Little did she know that this smile at this moment almost cost Yu Linzhi his life.
Yu Linzhi was caught off guard by her smile. He felt as if his heart was grasped by some force. He wanted to break free, but he didn't have the strength to do so.
"Xiao Mu..." Yu Linzhi felt that his heart was blocked by thousands of words, but the only thing he could say was Mu Lingsu's name. He wanted to tell Mu Lingsu all his thoughts, but when the words came to his lips, he felt that it was inappropriate and hesitated.
He thought for a moment and said, "I'll tell you after I rescue Princess Yongjia."
Good words should always be said last.
"Miss Mu, the prince asked me to come find you."
Gu Ruan seemed to have been standing at the door of the guest room waiting for Mu Lingsu for a long time. She was leaning against the railing in the corridor, in a daze, and only after she noticed Mu Lingsu coming back did she regain her scattered attention. In an instant, she returned to her usual arrogant and serious attitude.
Mu Lingsu was three steps away from her, but he could still clearly see the moment when her face was intertwined with fatigue and arrogance. She might have been tired a long time ago, but she had no choice but to use this body that was kept away from strangers to disguise herself. Suddenly, Mu Lingsu felt a little sorry for her.
Perhaps, more than 20 years ago, Gu Ru'an was still a passionate girl. She threw aside her family prejudice and secretly got engaged to a gangster, and was willing to elope with him.
Although in the end she had to bow to reality and return to the world she escaped from.
Mu Lingsu looked at Gu Ru'an's cold face, and for some reason she thought of Yu Linzhi again. Yu Linzhi grew up in power and desire, would he be forced to go back one day?
While thinking about something, she followed Gu Ru'an through twists and turns and went to the small courtyard where Shen Qingyu lived.
Gu Ruan had never been on good terms with her, so Mu Lingsu was also very tactful and didn't speak. She had already prepared herself for the two of them to remain silent all the way until they entered the yard, and was just wondering what Shen Qingyu was looking for her for when she heard Gu Ruan speak.
"Miss Mu, I have something to ask you." Mu Lingsu was originally distracted, and Gu Ru'an's words brought her back to her senses.
She was a little frightened by Gu Ru'an: "Ah...Aunt, Aunt, just say whatever you want." This was the first time in history that Gu Ru'an actually spoke to her without the Queen's order.
Seeing that she had focused her attention, Gu Ru'an nodded with satisfaction: "I don't have anything important to say, I just hope that you will follow His Royal Highness Prince Yi Yang wholeheartedly and stop messing with my son."
Mu Lingsu could think of thousands of excuses for Gu Ruan, but she never thought that she would persuade herself to follow Shen Qingyu. It was obvious that the Queen would not agree to make the daughter of the Mu family the Princess of Yiyang. Gu Ruan was someone close to the Queen, and even though she was in Cao's camp, her heart was with Han, which did not mean that she could disobey the Queen's ideas at any time.
Could it be that Gu Ru'an still has the ability to convince the Queen to agree to let Prince Yi Yang marry her?
"I am willing to try my best to make the Queen no longer have a prejudice against you, young lady."
Hearing Gu Ru'an say these words with such confidence, Mu Lingsu's eyes widened in shock.
"Aren't you afraid... that Concubine De will abolish you?" Mu Lingsu was surprised, but when she realized that Gu Ru'an thought she was a woman who wanted to become a phoenix, she was so angry that she replied. After all, Prince Yi Yang was on a tour incognito, and the surroundings were not like the palace, with spies everywhere.
Perhaps only the Queen was willing to believe that Gu Cheng and Gu Ru'an had really broken up . In this world, there were indeed parents and children who never saw each other again, but when it came to interests, all hatred could be put aside.
Gu Ru'an was startled and stopped immediately, looking around to see if there were any suspicious people. She had been hiding by the Queen's side for many years, and had been passing on all kinds of information to the Pixiang Palace of Concubine De, without revealing any clues. If all her efforts were to be wasted today because of Mu Lingsu's slip of the tongue...
Gu Ru'an glared at Mu Lingsu and asked in a low voice, "Mu Lingsu, who told you this?"
"Who else could it be? Of course it's your good son."
Mu Lingsu had always suspected that Gu Ruan was the mastermind behind her father's death. Although she didn't dare to attack Gu Ruan directly, she still dared to show off her eloquence. Especially when it came to Yu Linzhi, she believed that Gu Ruan would not do anything to her.
As soon as Yu Linzhi was mentioned, Gu Ru'an really lost his temper, and the arrogant anger on his face quickly subsided. In the blink of an eye, not even a trace of it could be found.
What right does she have to be angry?
Gu Cheng had trained Yu Linzhi as his true successor since he was young, so naturally he told him all the secrets, not to mention that she was working for the Queen but tipped off Concubine De. Now Yu Linzhi valued Mu Lingsu, so it was not surprising that Mu Lingsu knew these things.
It's her own fault. She spent too little time with her son. The daughter of a criminal is more important than her.
Gu Ru'an stared at Mu Lingsu for a long time, and finally sighed: "I don't know what evil has befallen Lin'er." She raised her hand and pointed to the hanging flower gate not far away, "His Royal Highness Prince Yi Yang is in the room behind the hanging flower gate, you can go there by yourself."