In
the middle of the night, Qiu Che turned over.
When she opened her eyes in a daze, she found a figure sitting next to her.
Thin, with her head down.
Qiu Che shuddered, and her body was faster than her reaction, and she raised her leg to kick.
But when the other person turned his head to look at her, she stopped her action less than an inch away.
Li Qingwu's long hair was scattered, and under the moonlight, he stared at her in an inexplicable trance.
Qiu Che exhaled fiercely: "You... What are you doing sitting here in the middle of the night?"
Unlike the previous life, this time they have been living together to create the illusion of love.
But both parties are very sensible, and even if there is nothing in between, they never cross the line.
Qiu Che has never seen such an operation of sitting up in the middle of the night without saying a word.
It's no wonder that she is paranoid.
Li Qingwu didn't say anything.
After a while, she turned her head, looked out the window, and said softly: "I had a dream."
Qiu Che's heart skipped a beat, and her suddenly relaxed nerves suddenly relaxed and felt a little sleepy.
But her heartbeat was faster than her brain and she had a premonition of something. This strange premonition made her blurt out a nonsense question: "A nightmare?"
"...Yeah."
Qiu Che said dryly, "It's just a dream, don't take it seriously."
Li Qingwu lowered his head and said after a long time: "If."
Qiu Che half-closed his eyes and almost fell asleep again. Hearing this, he replied vaguely: "What?"
"If I can't help you all the time," Li Qingwu whispered, "will you send me away?"
She mentioned it as if unintentionally: "Send me to other places, such as... your Qiu family's old house in Jiangnan." The
speaker didn't mean it, but the listener took it to heart.
Qiu Che almost woke up immediately.
Her whole body tensed up, but her expression was still lazy as usual, as if she was still trapped in sleepiness. She asked in a lazy tone: "Why do you ask this suddenly?"
In the previous life, Qiu Che sent her away in the third month of their marriage in order to prevent the Qiu family father and son from taking action against Li Qingwu.
Before Li Qingwu left, Qiu Chudong heard the news and came to the princess's mansion to have a big fight with her, accusing her of sending Li Qingwu away. Her words were righteous.
If Qiu Che hadn't known from Fuling that Qiu Zhe harassed Li Qingwu almost every day, she might have believed it.
The quarrel was so exhausting that when Qiu Che came to her senses, she found that Li Qingwu had left.
Qiu Che didn't even have time to send her off once.
Li Qingwu suddenly said this...
Could it be that her fleeting premonition was correct?
Li Qingwu was also reborn?
No, that's not right.
Qiu Che quickly denied himself in his heart.
If Li Qingwu had been reborn long ago, he wouldn't have been so cautious about the drugging.
Even if she had memories, they shouldn't be many.
Looking at the few words she said tonight, there was still a sense of being in another world, more like just having a dream about her previous life.
Then the question is.
Does Li Qingwu have any memories of her previous life?
If so, how much did she remember?
During the short moment of silence, Qiu Che was full of thoughts, and Li Qingwu didn't know what he was thinking.
She laughed softly, breaking the inexplicable silence.
Then she said, "Forget it, I just said it casually."
"You're right, it's just a dream."
She lay down again, facing the wall, and said in a relaxed tone, "Sorry, I disturbed your sweet dream... Go to sleep."
After Li Qingwu finished speaking, he really pulled the quilt and fell silent.
Only the back of her head was facing the outside.
Qiu Che stared at her back, took a light breath, and thought helplessly: What is this? Did
she remember it or not?
The next morning, Qiu Che didn't encounter any difficulties when she went to court, but there was a strange feeling of impending storm in the court and the public.
Wu Xiang's face was even uglier than when he was impeached yesterday for killing people to cover up the truth of his son's death.
She pretended not to see it, and ran faster than anyone else after the court.
As soon as Wu Xiang returned home, the housekeeper came up to him and whispered, "Young Master Changsun... has locked himself in his room for a day and won't see anyone."
Wu Xiang frowned.
In fact, after Wu Yiqi heard the rumor yesterday, he went straight to the study room when he returned home and asked him directly if it was true.
Wu Rusheng was silent for a long time and nodded.
Qiu Che was about to throw the evidence in his face. Soon the whole court would spread it all over Kyoto.
What's more, he has always been proud of this eldest grandson. He believes that Wu Yiqi will not speak ill of his grandfather who has raised him for more than ten years because of such a small matter. It
's just killing a person. Who can say that he is clean in the hands of politicians?
Wu Yiqi did as he thought and said nothing.
He nodded in agreement, then turned around and left.
Wu Rusheng felt something was wrong at the time, but he didn't think much about it.
Now he heard the housekeeper's words, and he immediately became a little dissatisfied.
No matter what, how can you be angry with him with your body?
Wu Rusheng swung his sleeves and said with his hands behind his back, "Where is the person?"
The person is in the ancestral hall.
The door of the ancestral hall was closed, and several servants and maids stood outside at a loss. No one dared to knock on the door.
It's not that they haven't knocked before, but they were all yelled out by their young master.
Wu Rusheng walked up the stairs with a fierce face and raised his hand to knock twice.
As expected, a somewhat impatient voice came from the ancestral hall: "I told you not to bother me. I'm not hungry or thirsty. Get out of here!"
"It's me."
The roar stopped abruptly.
Wu Rusheng paused, and it can be heard that he was trying to make his tone gentler, but when he spoke, he still revealed some obvious superiority: "That's enough, Yi'er."
Wu Yiqi said nothing.
Wu Rusheng said patiently: "She is just someone I have never met. She deserves to be killed by me. If she hadn't attacked your father, I would never have killed her so ruthlessly..."
Wu Rusheng took a deep breath and continued to persuade:
"I kept it a secret from you for so many years because it was for your own good. I was afraid that you would have a trauma. I wanted you to have a good impression of your mother. Who knew that Qiu Che would insist on interfering..."
"What did you say?"
The door of the ancestral hall in front of Wu Rusheng was suddenly opened.
Behind the door was Wu Yiqi's handsome and young face, but with a bit of gloom.
Wu Rusheng withdrew his hand, pleased that he listened to his advice, and was willing to come out immediately. His tone was also a little more relaxed: "I said, grandfather also did it for your own good. He was afraid that you would have a psychological trauma. She is just a lowly woman I have never met..."
"A lowly woman whom I have never met--" Wu Yiqi raised his voice, as if he found it ridiculous, and twitched his lips, saying coldly, "Grandfather, is this how you evaluate my biological mother?"
"Do you think that I didn't eat or drink for a whole day just because of this?"
In front of so many people, Wu Yiqi asked back so rudely to his grandfather, whom he had always respected so much. This had never happened before.
Wu Rusheng frowned, somewhat dissatisfied: "What else?"
Wu Yiqi couldn't help laughing out loud, not knowing whether it was more of sarcasm or sadness: "...It turns out that you have raised me for more than ten years, but you don't know what your grandson is thinking."
Wu Rusheng frowned and said, "What do you want to say?"
"Why did the two bodies buried in the Wu family suddenly appear in the Duke's Mansion?" Wu Yiqi said in a deep voice, "Why did you know that there would be a Southern Yi insider in the Duke's Mansion, but didn't know there would be those two bodies?"
"Who told you, who are you cooperating with?"
Wu Xiang frowned and said, "You don't need to know this. In short, if it weren't for that kid Qiu Che..."
"I'm not a child anymore," Wu Yiqi interrupted him abruptly, "Grandfather, I have my own judgment. The group of people in the court believe in you and speak to you because you have prestige...but there are always some doubts that cannot be explained."
"I'm not stupid, I can guess what the truth is."
Wu Xiang stared at him coldly: "...What did you guess?"
"You cooperated with Nanyi," Wu Rusheng whispered, "but they stabbed you in the back... right?"
Wu Xiang shook his beard and retorted: "Nonsense! You must have been too close to that Qiu Che kid, so you believed the slander--"
"You still want to quibble now!" Wu Yiqi widened his eyes, his face flushed with excitement, "Then how do you explain where you got the news about Nanyi's accomplice! Why did you keep silent about this in the court? Are you innocent, or are you afraid to explain..."
"Pa--"
A slap interrupted Wu Yiqi's voice.
The ancestral hall was extremely quiet for a while.
The slap was so loud that everyone outside the yard was startled, looked at each other, and dared not say a word in fear.
Wu Xiang has always loved this eldest grandson. There are also several cousins from the side branches who are fatherless and motherless, and none of them have been raised by Wu Xiang himself.
Why did the grandfather and grandson quarrel like this today?
Wu Rusheng also wanted to know.
He looked at his hands, then at his eldest grandson who was covering his face in disbelief. After a while, he said angrily, "Ridiculous! Who gave you the courage to challenge me!"
"Who is ridiculous!"
Wu Yiqi was so angry that he gritted his teeth. His eyes were red and tears could be seen flickering. However, he still raised his voice and refuted vigorously:
"It was you who taught me to behave uprightly! It was you who taught me to be patriotic and loyal to the emperor! It was you who said that the Wu family is the leader of the clean stream! Generations have been loyal to Your Majesty... I have done what you asked for more than ten years, and I have believed it for more than ten years."
He panted, cried and laughed and asked, "But now, what are you doing?"
Wu Xiang's chest rose and fell for a moment. He gritted his teeth and didn't look at his expression. He said coldly,
"I have said that you are too naive. The situation is no longer the same as it was back then. How can the words from more than ten years ago be taken seriously now?"
"Of course I have my reasons for what I do. You don't need to question me."
Wu Yiqi asked again: "Just like you acquiesced that my father abducted a woman, and then killed her in anger after my mother took revenge?" Wu
Rusheng immediately scolded: "Shut up! She deserved it!"
Wu Yiqi fell silent.
He slowly straightened his body, which was a little hunched after being slapped, and whispered:
"The grandfather in my eyes is not like you."
Wu Rusheng was shocked.
"I know very well that it was not Lord Qiu, not my biological mother, but my father who brought me the shadow-" "
And you. Grandfather."
Wu Yiqi looked at him calmly and said:
"I am very disappointed in you."
He opened the door, ignored the few trembling servants standing in the yard, and walked out, thinking vaguely: From
childhood to adulthood, the grandfather who grew up in his heart was upright and upright, was he just his imagination...
or, was it just a lie?
Qiu Che took office today. She went to the Dali Temple to familiarize herself with her future workplace, and then she received a message from Yang Qiu.
The other party asked her to meet at Linglong Pavilion, a restaurant in the capital.
Qiu Che packed her things and quietly boarded the carriage to the restaurant.
Linglong Pavilion is the largest restaurant in the capital, with people coming and going every day and business is booming.
There is a stage in the lobby on the first floor, and a storyteller is on the stage with ups and downs, and the whole room is cheering.
When Qiu Che came, as soon as she gave her name, the waiter respectfully led her to the private room on the second floor. As soon as the door was opened, she saw two people sitting at the table.
One sat upright, holding a scroll, and when he lowered his eyes and said nothing, he could also see his gentle temperament.
One was full of alcohol, holding a wine gourd in his hand, and slumped over at the other end of the table, not in human form, mumbling something in his mouth.
Hearing the knock on the door, Yang Qiu looked up, put down the book, stood up and bowed, his voice gentle: "Lord Qiu."
Qiu Che also returned the greeting: "Brother Yang, you don't have to be polite. Since we are allies, it's okay to call me by my name."
Yang Qiu smiled: "Etiquette cannot be abolished."
Qiu Che shrugged indifferently, knowing that he was surprisingly stubborn on some things, so she let him go.
She turned her eyes to another person present, raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise: "Wu Yiqi? What is he..."
Yang Qiu sighed: "I met him halfway, Brother Wu stopped the carriage and insisted on going with me. I couldn't get rid of him, so I had to bring him with me. Sorry."
Just at this time, Wu Yiqi looked up, his face full of drunkenness, stared at Qiu Che for a moment, and laughed: "Qiu... Brother Qiu! Why are you here too! What a coincidence! Come on, come and accompany me - a drink will relieve all worries!"
As he said that, he burped with a strong smell of alcohol.
Qiu Che avoided him with disdain, and after a little thought, he knew why he was so drunk.
Most likely it was because of his mother.
But why did he stop Yang Qiu's carriage?
Thinking about it, Qiu Che sat down on the side and naturally cast a puzzled look at Yang Qiu.
Yang Qiu actually understood what she meant with this one look, and immediately smiled helplessly: "Brother Qiu should know that my father is Prince Zhao." A
brother who once shared the same ideals with Wu Xiang and then parted ways.
"He stopped the carriage and asked me..."
"What did you ask?"
"Ask me if my father parted ways with his grandfather because he saw through his grandfather's character."
Yang Qiu said, picked up the teacup, lowered his eyes and took a sip.
He is already twenty-three years old this year, the third son of King Zhao, and King Zhao is the same age as Wu Xiang. In this way, by accident, he has become Wu Yiqi's father.
Wu Yiqi must have drunk a lot to say such things to a colleague he was not very familiar with. Seeing
Qiu Che's thoughtful look, Yang Qiu asked, "Why don't you ask him why he said that?"
Qiu Che blinked, "I thought Brother Yang had already figured it out."
The two looked at each other, and Yang Qiu took a deep breath, "So, Prime Minister Wu really..." betrayed his country?
"Nine out of ten," Qiu Che looked out the window calmly, "other than that, I can't think of any reason to explain why he always had drugs from Nanyi in his hands."
Qiu Che had already written a letter to Yang Qiu yesterday to inform him of the case. Even so, Yang Qiu was still a little dazed when he heard it in person, "...My father actually said something like that."
"Huh?"
"He said... Prime Minister Wu is too ambitious and will go astray sooner or later." Yang Qiu whispered, "I never believed it, but I didn't expect that one day..."
"I didn't believe it either." Wu Yiqi interrupted abruptly.
He opened his eyes at some point, and although his face was still flushed, his eyes were already mostly sober.
He lay on the table, and said blankly: "So many people told me that he was all-powerful and ambitious... I never believed it. I always felt that his original intention was to work for the people, and he would not change even if he was in power."
"In the end, it was he who personally shattered my imagination of him."
As he said this, tears came down again.
As if he was ashamed, Wu Yiqi tilted his head and buried his face in the table, sobbing and crying. It was hard
to tell which way of crying was more embarrassing.
Qiu Che had no emotion, and even wanted to laugh when she heard his crying.
She commented lightly: "People will change."
Yang Qiu asked: "What about you?"
Qiu Che: "Hmm?"
"I can see from your reforms that you want to change this corrupt government," Yang Qiu said blandly, "Will your original intention change too?"
"Me?" Qiu Che thought about it, but smiled, "Without the original intention, how can we talk about change?"
From the beginning, she entered this vortex of power just to win her father's attention and praise.
Later, this original intention became to climb up regardless of everything.
The higher you climb, the more power you have to speak.
Just like what she had said to Li Qingwu, she didn't have any lofty ideals. She
just felt that the court was rotten from the inside out, and it made her sick.
It would be better to overturn it and replace it with her own one-man show.
During this period, the reform laws were added and revised, and so many regulations were added to make women's lives better. In fact, they were just to give her something to rely on when her disguise as a man was exposed in the future.
Yang Qiu smiled faintly and said, "No matter whether the original intention has changed or not, a gentleman judges by deeds, not by heart."
Qiu Che was stunned.
She glanced at Yang Qiu subtly: "Someone has said this to me too."
Do people who follow the rules like to say this?
Yang Qiu said, "I just said what I felt."
He asked again, "Now the Prime Minister may be targeting you, what are your plans?"
"We should do what we should do," Qiu Che looked up and said, "Brother Yang, did you ask me to come here just to say this?"
"Of course not," Yang Qiu shook his head, paused, and lowered his voice, "I heard that the Queen Mother and the commander of the Jinwu Guards had an affair... Is this true?"
The two looked at each other, and in a flash, Qiu Che narrowed his eyes: "Where did you hear the news?"
"When I got up this morning, I accidentally heard my colleagues discussing this matter," Yang Qiu frowned, "So it is true?"
Qiu Che did not reply immediately. He thought for a moment, lowered his eyes and said, "I'm afraid the so-called 'unintentional'... is not really unintentional."
The case was closed yesterday, and Yuan Fu was released from the Jinyiwei yesterday. He had an affair, and the Queen is not the type to let bygones be bygones. It is one thing to protect him in front of outsiders, but it is another thing how she will punish him behind his back.
Qiu Che didn't think the queen would be so careless as to be intimate with Yuan Fu at this time, and once again be caught having an affair.
Yang Qiu immediately said, "You mean, someone spread this deliberately?"
Qiu Che nodded.
Yang Qiu was puzzled: "Who could it be?"
Who knew about this, but could not say anything until now?
Qiu Che didn't say anything, but he already had a guess in his mind.
As the two were talking, they suddenly heard Wu Yiqi, who should have fallen asleep, slap the table, startling them at the same time.
Wu Yiqi stood by the table, his face ruddy, but his expression serious, looking at them suspiciously, and asked, "Are you allies?"
Qiu Che thought he was sober for a moment, and raised his eyebrows: "What. Are you unhappy?"
"No." Wu Yiqi shook his head.
"You are all my good friends! How can you be allies behind my back! So..."
"So?"
Wu Yiqi grabbed Yang Qiu's hand.
Before Yang Qiu could react, he grabbed Qiu Che's hand again and said sincerely: "So, can I join you?"
Qiu Che: "..."
She endured and endured, and didn't slap him out directly: "Tell me what benefits you can bring to us first, I'll consider it."
Wu Yiqi raised his finger and said seriously: "I'm an undercover agent for you in the Prime Minister's Mansion."
Qiu Che paused.
She pulled the corner of her lip and said to Yang Qiu's surprised eyes: "This is what you said."
Qiu Che was dragged by Wu Yiqi, a drunkard, and said that he wanted to join the Three Oaths in Peach Garden. She stayed in Linglong Pavilion for a meal before going back.
Before leaving, she looked out the window again, and suddenly found that this box was where Li Qingwu was when she first met him.
At that time, she saw a group of palace maids around Li Qingwu, surrounding her like a moon surrounded by stars.
It is said that after that day, Li Qingwu was discovered by the emperor because he sneaked out, and he went back to ask the emperor for a marriage. When
Qiu Che thought of this, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
Sneak out... bring so many palace maids with you, and make such a big fuss, as if afraid that others would not know?
Li Qingwu... did it on purpose?
When returning to the princess's mansion, Li Qingwu was strolling in the back garden with Wang.
Qiu Che was so busy that she had no time to rest. Recently, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law have been spending more time together than with her. It has only been half a month since they changed from being awkward at the beginning to the harmonious atmosphere now. There are
not many varieties of flowers in the princess's mansion garden, and they were planted by Li Qingwu himself.
Li Qingwu stood beside Wang, supporting her, and as if leaning on her, he listened to her talk with a slight smile on his face.
When he lowered his eyes, the earrings and the hairpins swayed slightly, as if swaying with the flowers in the yard.
For a moment, he didn't know who was more beautiful, the flowers or the people.
When he reached the end, Li Qingwu realized that she was standing here. He opened his mouth in surprise and said, "Are you back? Have you had lunch?"
Qiu Che came back to her senses and said, "We've eaten. What were you talking about?"
"We were talking about you," Wang scolded, "You've been busy all day, and we couldn't find you... What a pity, Qingwu made lunch by herself, and you didn't come back to eat or send me a message..."
Qiu Che looked up in surprise.
Li Qingwu avoided her gaze and said shyly, "Mom, don't say it. It's okay, just heat it up in the evening and I'll eat it myself, it's not a waste."
When this address came out, Qiu Che was quiet again for a moment.
Although they are now a legitimate "husband and wife", they are two women after all. Qiu Che is still a little uncomfortable hearing Li Qingwu calling her mother "Mom".
Wang didn't notice her abnormality, and smiled with wrinkles on her face, as if she was used to this address.
After talking to Li Qingwu for a few more words, she patted his hand and said, "Okay, you still have something to talk about, right? Mother will go back first and won't disturb you."
Wang walked halfway and turned back and said, "Hey, Che'er, I forgot to tell you that you should not always sit up so late at night and skip dinner. Qingwu has to cook soup for you every time, for fear that you will not be happy..."
She kept talking about her concern, but Qiu Che could not help but look at Li Qingwu again.
The soup was made by Li Qingwu?
Then she commented in front of others that the soup was too bland and needed more salt?
Qiu Che opened his lips and didn't know what to say at all.
"...I know, mother."
Wang left contentedly, leaving only Qiu Che and Li Qingwu standing under the corridor bridge.
Although they didn't look at each other, the atmosphere was filled with a subtle awkwardness.
Qiu Che coughed: "Actually, you don't have to cook soup for me..."
Li Qingwu said: "If I don't eat at night, my stomach will feel uncomfortable."
"You can ask the cook."
"At that time, the cooks are on vacation."
Qiu Che was speechless.
Li Qingwu thought about it, and then smiled and added: "But there is also a cook named Li who doesn't have it."
"...Hmm?"
"So, for the soup I want to drink next time, do you have any suggestions?"
After a while, Qiu Che coughed again: "Hmm... Actually, the soup is very delicious. You don't need to add salt."
Li Qingwu pursed his lips, and a smile flashed across his eyes: "Okay, I will convey your suggestion."
The two looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.
Li Qingwu looked at her rare and real smile, and shook his mind almost unnoticeably. In
that dream that could not be told to others. Has
Qiu Che ever laughed like this in a place she didn't know?
She hoped so.
Otherwise, after all the ups and downs over the years and the ten years without her by his side, Qiu Che would have been alone on this long journey of life...
It would have been too painful.