, after she finished saying this, both sides were silent for a long time.
Qiu Che raised his hand, and finally touched her head like comforting a child, and said softly: "It's okay."
"Actually, it doesn't matter if you don't say it, it won't affect anything."
Li Qingwu was slightly stunned by her behavior, and forced a smile, thinking that she was still comforting herself.
Qiu Che changed the subject calmly: "Aren't you busy running the shop recently? Talk to me, how is it?"
Li Qingwu didn't say anything else.
She thought about it, got up and went to her desk, took a few notebooks, and hesitated: "I was just about to discuss with you... I think the shopkeepers of these shops have to be replaced. The accounts of the shops have been in deficit for nearly half a month. When I investigated, I found that they all had corruption."
Qiu Che was a little confused: "Just change it, if you think it's okay. What are you discussing with me?"
Li Qingwu blushed and stammered: "Because it is a dowry, so... it is now the property of both of us."
That's why they need to discuss it together.
Qiu Che laughed: "I'm not really your husband... You can decide these things by yourself. I don't have any idea about them, so I can only listen."
Li Qingwu lowered his eyes, nodded, and said, "There is one more thing."
"I think the things sold in these shops are too ordinary. They are all outdated rouge and powder, and even the clothes are very old. They are either too expensive and ordinary people can't afford them, or too cheap and not close-fitting and comfortable to wear... These are also the biggest reasons why the shops are unable to make ends meet."
Under Qiu Che's encouraging gaze, she slowly completed the rest of the words: "I want to try and find someone to make some new designs."
Qiu Che thought about it seriously and nodded: "That's not a bad idea. We can find some experienced craftsmen..."
"No," Li Qingwu interrupted her softly, a little shyly, "I want to design it myself."
She added nervously: "I'm good at calligraphy and painting and embroidery, so I want to try it myself."
Qiu Che paused in surprise.
Then she quickly said, "Of course that's no problem."
After Qiu Che finished speaking, she suddenly remembered that in her previous life, she had also told Li Qingwu to find something she liked and not always revolve around her.
Later, she packed him up and sent him to Jiangnan. He seemed to have really listened to her advice and kept doing these small businesses.
Ten years later, when Qiu Che became the prime minister, Li Qingwu had already made a name for himself in Jiangnan.
She suddenly had an idea and asked, "Since we are going to make new models, we naturally need a new name. I heard that all big shops have their own names. Do you want to give your shop a name as well?"
"I haven't thought about this," Li Qingwu seemed to have not expected her to think so far. She was stunned for a moment, but did not refuse. She tried to ask, "Why don't you help me think of one?"
Qiu Che pretended to ponder for a moment: "How about calling it Zhu Yan?"
This was Li Qingwu's business name in his previous life.
"Zhu Yan..." Li Qingwu murmured again, and didn't know what he thought of. He curled his lips lightly, "Okay, then let's call it this."
Qiu Che glanced at her with a slightly complicated look.
Li Qingwu talked to her about the idea of renovating the store. She planned to close the store first and start with the clothing store.
Find a few helpers, select all the usable fabrics and try to make new models with the discarded fabrics.
Qiu Che supported everything she said.
But the plan was set, but Li Qingwu had no idea how to design clothes.
"If you want to design new clothes, you can go to Yaotai," Qiu Che hinted, "She always has a lot of ideas for these new things, maybe she can give you some inspiration."
Li Qingwu paused, looked at her strangely, and suddenly asked: "Have you... known each other for a long time?"
Qiu Che was stunned: "No, only a month or so."
Li Qingwu said "Oh" and didn't say anything.
Qiu Che wrote the code of Yaotai on the paper roll in front of him and told her that if she had anything, she could go directly to Yaotai through the back door of Hongxiuzhao.
When handing it over, Qiu Che felt as if time and space were confused.
In the previous life, Li Qingwu had helped her connect with people. In this life, after many twists and turns, Qiu Che personally connected them with her.
It was like a reincarnation that ended up closing by accident.
Li Qingwu held the note in her hand, not knowing what she was thinking.
After a long time, she asked in a low voice, "Do you really think that it's okay for me to do business as a woman?"
Sometimes when she looked at Qiu Che's matter-of-fact expression, she would often have the illusion that it was okay for a woman to do so.
It seemed that as long as she focused on doing everything, she would be able to achieve her goals.
But she was always unconsciously attracted by the other person's calm and indifferent expression.
Qiu Che paused: "Li Qingwu."
This was the first time that she didn't call her princess or your highness, nor did she jokingly call her "wife" or "madam", but a serious name.
Li Qingwu unconsciously straightened her back. Before her brain could react, she had already said, "Hmm?"
"Don't always imagine the ending of something that hasn't happened yet," Qiu Che said lightly, "Just move forward."
"Even if something really happens, I'm behind you."
She was not afraid to dress up as a man to participate in the imperial examination, so how could Li Qingwu be so timid in running a store?
I don't know if Li Qingwu understood what she meant. Anyway, after Qiu Che finished speaking, she lowered her head again, as if she was lost in thought.
Qiu Che stretched his waist, walked past her side, and said, "You go ahead. I'll go wash up first."
Li Qingwu said "Hmm".
Qiu Che walked to the door, but suddenly took a few steps back and patted her shoulder.
"About what you told me today--"
Li Qingwu looked up and reacted to what she said a little late.
She blinked.
This face with a blank expression was so bewitching that even though Qiu Che was not a man, he was confused and his thoughts paused subtly.
She paused for a moment before she started to move her stagnant mind again and continued:
"I think we should all allow ourselves to have an unbearable past and accept all the wrong paths we have taken."
Just like she accepted the wrong path she took in her previous life.
"The future is so long, and you are still so young, you will not stop here."
"ââWe won't."
Li Qingwu had another dream that night.
This dream was a little longer and clearer than the last time.
She looked up and saw that she was sitting in the bedroom of the princess's mansion.
The room was empty, and she was holding a wooden comb in her hand, as if she was in a daze.
Li Qingwu subconsciously stood up, trying to find something.
But after walking two steps, she reacted again and thought slowly, what was she looking for?
She couldn't remember clearly.
This was the third month since she married into the Qiu family.
It was also the third month that Qiu Che and she had been sleeping in separate rooms.
She went out early and came back late all day, and no one knew what she was busy with.
... No matter what she was busy with, she could not see her at all.
Fuling sometimes sighed in front of her, inevitably revealing some resentment.
They had not slept in the same room for so long, and everyone knew how much Li Qingwu was not favored by her husband.
It was really unique to be rejected right after marrying into the family.
Fuling felt that the prince consort was really unkind, and should at least give the prince some face in front of outsiders.
Li Qingwu didn't think so.
She knew that the other party felt awkward and ashamed because of the last accident, so he didn't dare to meet her.
But it doesn't matter, Li Qingwu thought.
In order to save Qiu Che's life, she had already made up her mind when she kowtowed three times and nine times in the Golden Palace to ask for a marriage.
Even if she knew that the other party was a woman, she had to marry, so as to quell those scandals and rumors.
Since they were married, it was not impossible to support each other for the rest of their lives.
When she was found hanging out with Qiu Che, Li Qingwu was actually terrified at first.
Sad, terrified.
But also a kind of indescribable relief. She
was relieved that Li Shi was just as she thought, and therefore hated her and no longer paid attention to her.
She married out of the palace and left the cage that had trapped her for more than ten years.
She was free.
After marrying Qiu Che, her life was unusually peaceful.
- Except that Qiu Che's brother would often come to the house suddenly, chat with her for no reason, and suddenly want to take advantage of her while talking, and was often beaten out by Fuling with a broom and a stick.
In fact, she and Qiu Che had not met very many times, and in three months, she could count the number on both hands. All
Li Qingwu could do was to knock on the door occasionally and ask about her well-being when she was working in the study after returning home.
Or serve tea, or bring soup, or add clothes.
But what she thought was considerate seemed to be a trouble to Qiu Che.
Once, there was a knock on the study door in the middle of the night. Qiu Che probably couldn't help it, so he put down his pen and asked her, don't you have your own things to do?
Li Qingwu bowed properly, like all ordinary wives, and replied in a proper manner: "My job is to serve my husband."
Qiu Che said coldly that it was not necessary.
She suggested that Li Qingwu go out and turn left to find something to do.
To be honest, Li Qingwu had some doubts about her charm at that moment.
Then she touched her face, and thought that the other party was actually a woman under the appearance of a boy, and this doubt quickly disappeared.
She realized that such a long-term warm and considerate offensive would not work on Qiu Che.
But she had no other way.
Women who grew up in the deep palace are best at only those few things.
Seduction, warmth.
The former does not apply to Qiu Che, and the latter is not good for him at all.
She also stopped thinking about it and no longer appeared in front of Qiu Che frequently.
It's just that occasionally when she looks at the busy and fulfilling figure of the other party, there will be a little bit of hidden envy in her heart.
She envied that Qiu Che, as a woman, could walk out of this world anytime and anywhere, have her own salary and career, and did not need to rely on men to live.
The etiquette she had learned for more than ten years told her that this was wrong.
But her heart said that she longed for such a life.
But because she could not have such a life, her eyes began to stay on Qiu Che frequently.
She began to yearn for Qiu Che.
It was hard to tell whether she was longing for her as a person or her life.
Later, when she was free and went out for a stroll, she met Yaotai.
ââThis friend, who actually did not spend much time with her in the following years, also gave her many valuable suggestions.
Perhaps seeing that she was not living a satisfactory life in the princess's mansion, one day Yaotai suddenly told her that she could tell fortunes.
At that time, their relationship was already quite good.
Li Qingwu also smiled and asked back: "What have you calculated?"
Yaotai said meaningfully: "I have calculated that you will be safe and happy for the rest of your life."
Li Qingwu was stunned.
Yaotai said again: "Don't always have a bitter face. You two are not in a good relationship now. Maybe it's just that the time has not come yet?"
Li Qingwu asked: We?
Yaotai pointed at her, then pointed at the Princess Mansion, and said: You, and your "husband".
Li Qingwu laughed, thinking she was joking.
The days in the backyard were boring, and Li Qingwu thought of the shops she brought as a dowry.
She followed Qiu Che's advice and began to inspect the shops and renovate the stores.
During this period, she adopted many of Yaotai's suggestions, and the business improved.
As a result, Qiu Che became closer to her and often asked her about her business.
Yaotai said: You see, I was right, wasn't I?
Li Qingwu pursed her lips and smiled, still not saying that she believed it, but inexplicably, she also had some hope for her "prophecy" without any reason.
But the business was halfway done, and many aspects had not been implemented. Just when she almost really thought that life would get better day by day as Yaotai said.
Qiu Che suddenly brought news -
she wanted Li Qingwu to leave the capital and go to the old house of the Qiu family in Jiangnan.
Li Qingwu didn't know what she was thinking.
It was just that the expectations for the future that had just risen in her heart suddenly fell through.
She looked at this "husband" who had been married for nearly half a year but rarely looked at her straight in the eye. She
felt frustrated with herself again.
Her talent and beauty, gentle and considerate temperament, which were famous in the capital, have always been a weapon to control men's hearts.
But Qiu Che was a woman.
In front of Qiu Che, she had nothing and was useless.
So when Qiu Che wanted her to leave, she didn't even have a reason to refute him, nor a reason to ask why.
There was no reason to choose to stay.
So after a moment of silence, she chose to nod and say, "Okay." She
should have expected this day to come, didn't she?
Apart from that, she didn't know how she could react.
The day Li Qingwu left, Chaojing had its first snow this year.
Qiu Che said he would see her off, so Li Qingwu held an umbrella and planned to wait at the door of the Qiu Mansion with Fuling.
When she passed by the side hall, she heard a loud quarrel coming from inside.
From the sound of her voice, it sounded like Qiu Che and her father.
ââThe "father-in-law" whom Li Qingwu rarely saw.
Fuling asked her quietly if she wanted to go and take a look.
Li Qingwu stood in the snow in a daze and didn't speak for a long time.
She heard Qiu Che's rare angry voice, with a bit of fatigue: "If you hadn't drugged me, how could I be with her... How could I have to marry her?!"
"I have made too many concessions for your so-called plan, don't go too far!"
In the quarrel, there was also Qiu Chudong's equally angry condemnation.
But Li Qingwu was no longer in the mood to listen.
She staggered slightly.
It was not until this moment that Li Qingwu knew that Qiu Che was not willing to roll with her in the imperial garden that day.
She was also calculated.
In that absurd love affair, Li Qingwu was not the only one who was drugged.
Li Qingwu raised her hand and slowly covered her face.
There was a touch of ice crystals falling on the corners of her eyes, and for a moment she didn't know whether it was snowflakes or tears.
She just wanted to laugh.
Because she thought it was ridiculous.
It was ridiculous that she had been living in calculation and being calculated all her life.
Even the "husband" she married didn't want to marry her at all.
If it weren't for the effect of the drug, even if Li Qingwu was in a mess that day, Qiu Che, who was a gentleman who remained calm, probably wouldn't have touched her at all.
Why did she understand it only now?
After a while, she heard Fuling calling her: "Your Highness."
"You look a little bad, do you want to..."
Li Qingwu shook his head and said:
Let's go.
Fuling asked: Don't you want to wait?
Li Qingwu didn't say anything else.
She was wearing a white fox fur coat and carrying a bundle. She left the Qiu Mansion alone with a maid and a guard. She
never looked back again.
The snow was really heavy that day, and the carriage leaving Beijing was almost impossible to move.
It was as if there were really gods trying to stop her.
But she was determined to leave, and no one could stop her.
So in the next ten years, every time Li Qingwu returned to Beijing, it became extremely difficult and long.
Just like that day, it was difficult to move.
It is always one step later than expected.
Happy National Day everyone!