On the way back home from the bath , Qiu Che passed by a shop under Li Qingwu's name and remembered that she was also busy with the launch of new products recently.
Fuling was taken to Yeming City by Qiu Che to hone her disguise skills. Li Qingwu was worried about other people, so she did everything herself and often stayed in the shop for a whole day.
Thinking of this, Qiu Che asked Yu Yan to stop the carriage and sent Yu Ming to ask if Li Qingwu was here.
Yu Ming quickly replied with the news: "Master, the shopkeeper said that the lady is busy discussing the style of new clothes with Miss Yaotai."
Yes, half a month passed, and the two were busy with their own things. Li Qingwu really took the secret code given by Qiu Che and went to Hongxiuzhao to find Yaotai.
As expected, just like in the previous life, the two of them only got along for a few days, and soon they became hot, and it seemed that the atmosphere was more harmonious than with her.
Li Qingwu was immersed in the shop every day, and most of the time he was with Yaotai.
Qiu Che asked about Li Qingwu's whereabouts ten times, and eight times she got the answer that Li Qingwu was at Yaotai.
After getting this answer again, Qiu Che actually felt a little bit as expected.
In fact, there was also a subtle feeling of dissatisfaction.
Qiu Che thought about it and attributed this feeling to "unhappy because her partner was taken away."
She lowered the curtain and ignored it, saying, "Let's go." After
returning home for dinner, Qiu Che sat in the study to deal with old files until the evening.
She has searched through all the old cases in the past half month and found out the truth behind these cases as quickly as possible.
Not for anything else, just to pave the way for Yang Qiu. If
the flood in Puyang is solved with Yang Qiu's plan, he will definitely be promoted.
Not only can he cultivate new forces for her, but he can also share some of the pressure of being targeted by court officials.
At this time, the second draft has been approved by Li Shi, and she is just waiting for her to find the right time to officially issue it.
Those old ministers probably saw that no matter how they picked on her, her friendship with Li Shi was always "solid as a rock", so they finally gave up on making things difficult for her in this regard, saving her a lot of effort.
The new law, combined with the files she found, is a masterpiece.
Qiu Che could almost imagine how wonderful the expressions of those courtiers would be at that time. When
she found Jin Zishi, she suddenly woke up and remembered that she still had something to tell Li Qingwu. She was afraid that he would fall asleep if she returned too late, so she looked up and called Yu Ming: "Is Your Highness back?"
Yu Ming said: "Yes, the lady is in the bedroom."
Qiu Che nodded, simply tidied up the desk, and returned to the bedroom.
There was no one at the door. Fuling probably hadn't returned from Yeming City yet. Only Fu Feng was hanging upside down under the eaves next to him, resting his eyes.
When he opened his eyes and saw that it was her, Fu Feng retracted his extremely aggressive eyes again. Seeing her raise his hand to knock on the door, he was about to say something but stopped.
After all, they are husband and wife, and they have knocked on the door... There should be no need to remind His Highness the Prince Consort that he is taking a bath, right?
Forget it, never mind.
Fu Feng closed his eyes again, as if he didn't see it.
The light was on in the room. Qiu Che knocked twice and heard Li Qingwu's voice: "Come in."
She went in.
But as soon as she entered the room, she saw that there was no one in the direction of the bed.
Instead, there was a screen in the middle of the room. Under the flickering candlelight, a hazy figure appeared on the screen.
At the same time, there was the sound of water coming from behind the screen.
Qiu Che took a look and immediately realized that she was taking a bath. Subconsciously, his whole body stiffened and he looked away, wanting to close the door and leave again.
Then he reacted: They are all women, what is she afraid of?
What's more, they are just taking a bath in the same room. If they leave at this time, wouldn't it confirm the rumor that they are "not in harmony with each other"?
Thinking of this, Qiu Che stopped in her tracks. Before she could speak, Li Qingwu said again from behind the screen: "I have been tired in recent days. Please come over and help me rub my shoulders and head."
Qiu Che didn't know whether to go in or out, and the words in his throat were stuck in the middle.
Li Qingwu...did he think she was Fuling?
After a long while without any movement, Li Qingwu asked in confusion: "Why are you standing there?"
This time, he finally heard footsteps.
From far away, they gradually got closer until they came behind the screen.
Li Qingwu was very relaxed. She had just finalized the style of new clothes with Yaotai today. She was in a good mood. Her mind was full of store business, and her body was even more tired.
She leaned her head against the edge of the bathtub and closed her eyes, waiting for the other party to put his hands on her temples.
Not long after, a pair of hands came up, very lightly, and hesitantly, and pressed twice.
Li Qingwu did not notice that there was anything wrong with the person who was massaging her. She closed her eyes and asked softly: "How are you learning in Yeming City? Are you used to it?"
Qiu Che did not speak.
She wondered in her heart, does Li Qingwu use this kind of coquettish and gentle tone to everyone?
Outside the house, Fuling had just arrived and stopped knocking on the door. She looked at her brother beside her in confusion: "Who is your highness talking to?"
Fufeng pouted and said, "That someone."
Fuling immediately understood, put down her hand, walked over and gave him a slap, and whispered to him: "What are you talking about? That's the person your highness likes, you have to call him the prince consort."
Fufeng covered his head and was unhappy: "... You clearly called him that before, why are you so respectful to him after being in Yeming City for a few days?"
Fuling looked away and said righteously: "Of course it's because I was blind before and wrongly blamed the prince consort... Besides, no matter what, as long as your highness recognizes him, he is the prince consort."
Fufeng said depressedly: "I know."
The atmosphere in the inner room was a little subtle.
Qiu Che admitted that she was actually a little playful, so she suddenly had a whim and really walked over as the other party said.
I wanted to rub Li Qingwu twice and then stop, so that she could find out that something was wrong and open her eyes to see who she was.
But Li Qingwu frowned, and as if somewhat dissatisfied, he gently grabbed her wrist that was about to pull away, and said angrily: "What's wrong with you today? You haven't spoken a word..."
As he spoke, he finally opened his eyes.
Before he finished speaking, he stopped abruptly when he met Qiu Che's face.
At the moment when their eyes met, Qiu Che felt that the hand that was originally holding her as soft as boneless stiffened for a moment.
She pulled her hand, but couldn't move it.
Then she pulled her lip.
She wanted Li Qingwu to relax, but before she could say anything, she saw Li Qingwu's beautiful face, which was originally rosy white due to the water vapor, turn from red to white, and then from white to red.
In a short moment, her expression changed several times, and finally when she was about to let go of her hand, she slipped and fell into the bathtub.
She subconsciously called out "Help".
The moment the huge splash of water came up, Qiu Che reacted quickly and grabbed her hand that was struggling on the water. He blurted out, "Don't panic!"
and then he was also dragged into the water by inertia.
Fu Feng moved his ears sharply: "Is Your Highness calling for help?"
He was about to break in, but was stopped by Fuling.
She was as steady as a rock, and said calmly, "Why are you panicking? You don't need to go in."
Fu Feng glared, "You're all shouting for help!"
"This is the princess's mansion!" Fu Ling also glared at him with a red face, "You dead fish head... haven't you reacted yet? The prince consort is in there, and it won't be your turn if something really happens."
Fu Feng was confused. After a while, he seemed to finally come to his senses, and his handsome face slowly turned red.
He took a few more steps, hung back again, closed his eyes, and stopped talking.
In the room, after a chaos, Qiu Che had quickly surfaced, held her hand, and struggled to maintain the last courtesy: "Your Highness, it's okay, just stand up."
Li Qingwu's struggle became smaller.
She was originally frightened for a moment, so she was in a hurry and lost her composure. Now that she reacted, she followed her hand and quickly surfaced.
The moment she came out of the bath, a large area of snow-white skin came into view. Unlike when her whole body was immersed in the water just now, this was truly vivid.
Qiu Che's pupils shrank, but she couldn't help but turned her head away.
With the last look, the only thought in her mind was: So white.
Li Qingwu panted violently, let go of her hand in a hurry, and leaned over the bathtub to cough, coughing and saying, "Sorry..."
The heat source that was vaguely attached to her body disappeared, and Qiu Che's tense body curves finally relaxed a little.
She coughed a few times, not knowing whether she was trying to cover up her inexplicable reluctance to speak, or to break the slightly awkward atmosphere: "It's okay, I was abrupt, I will say hello next time I come in..." As
she said, she tried not to look at Li Qingwu, and stepped out of the bathtub with her back turned.
Suddenly, a faint sound of wind was heard.
The sound was masked by the cicadas in the summer night, and it was almost unnoticeable.
Qiu Che paused abruptly.
Li Qingwu was unaware and whispered back: "No, it's my fault for not asking clearly, which made you so embarrassed..."
Before she finished speaking, Qiu Che suddenly quickly pulled a towel next to her, turned around and quickly draped it over Li Qingwu, and whispered in her ear:
"Shut up."
Li Qingwu immediately stopped moving.
The two were very close, and half of Li Qingwu was still soaking in the bathtub. She stood like this, with the towel only surrounding her upper body, starting from the thighs, and her two slender legs were exposed to the air.
Li Qingwu didn't know what happened, but the awkward posture of being so close but unable to move made her feel really anxious. After a while, she asked in a very low voice: "What's wrong?"
Qiu Che listened attentively for a moment and didn't say anything.
Li Qingwu's legs softened unbearably.
Qiu Che finally noticed her posture, thought about it, and whispered: "I'm sorry."
Then he bent down, picked up Li Qingwu from the bathtub, and carried her horizontally from the knee bend, and walked lightly and quickly to the bed.
The whole process was silent.
It was the first time that Li Qingwu lay in someone's arms in this position. She pursed her lips and her eyes turned red with shame.
She couldn't help but close her legs and tightened the towel wrapped around herself, but she always felt that her lower body was empty, which gave her a sense of shame and uneasiness.
But the man was very serious, not looking sideways, and even walked forward with a serious expression, without giving her a sidelong glance.
Yes, which woman needs to be so cautious when interacting with other women?
It seems that she is the only one who is particularly fussy about such a small matter.
Li Qingwu turned her head away, thinking that it would be better to forget it if she didn't see it, but when she turned her head, she unexpectedly saw Qiu Che's pink earlobe.
She was slightly stunned.
The embarrassment in her heart suddenly disappeared.
Qiu Che was tense all over and was on alert.
Years of experience in swordplay and her whole body's sense of danger told her that someone was secretly watching them and releasing malicious intent without hesitation.
This kind of malice that followed her like a shadow and almost numbed her reached its peak the next moment after she put him on the bed.
A flying knife came through the air and rushed arrogantly to Qiu Che's face.
Qiu Che turned around quickly, raised his sleeves to take over, and threw out a close-fitting dagger from his sleeves, colliding with the flying knife in the air.
Sparks flew. He
narrowly blocked the attack.
Just from this fight, Qiu Che knew that the opponent's skills were not inferior to hers.
She thought that the newcomer would take advantage of the victory to pursue, but she didn't expect that the opponent would drop the flying knife, turn around and fly over the eaves and walls, and quickly run away.
Qiu Che subconsciously wanted to chase, but someone reached out and grabbed the hem of her clothes.
Li Qingwu was stunned for a moment by her show of skill just now. Now he came to his senses, wrapped in a bathing towel, and pulled Qiu Che awkwardly, whispering: "Don't go."
She had just come out of the water, and she looked as pitiful as she could be.
Such a humble "Don't go" made Qiu Che blink.
She thought the other party was going to say, "I'm scared."
Unexpectedly, Li Qingwu said, "Be careful of the trick of luring the tiger away from the mountain."
Qiu Che's expression was stern, and he gently pressed her hand: "... Got it."
Because they were discovered, the other party's movements were no longer concealed.
Yu Yan, who was dozing off, heard the wind and woke up immediately.
Qiu Che heard her loudly asking, "Who is it?!"
Of course, no one answered her.
The only response to her was the back of the man in black who quickly disappeared into the night.
Just as she was about to chase him again, Qiu Che had already opened the door and said lightly, "Don't chase him. By the time you chase him, the daylily will be cold."
Fuling only then reacted and almost jumped up from the ground: "There is an assassin?!"
Fufeng asked, "How is the prince?"
Qiu Che didn't answer any of them.
She asked softly, "Everyone has left, and you only know about it?"
Qiu Che's tone was not good, and it sounded even colder than his usual indifferent tone.
"That's fine by me. If Qingwu is the only one here tonight, will I have to come and collect her body?"
Fufeng was standing next to him, lowering his head, unable to choke out a word: "It's my fault." He
didn't even notice that someone had sneaked into the mansion.
Yuyan's face turned pale, and she knelt down neatly: "Master..."
Behind her, the guards of the mansion also knelt down in a large group with her. They were all good seedlings picked from Yeming City and were trained to become the first dark guard team around Qiu Che.
But tonight, such a big mistake happened. With so many people, no one noticed the abnormality.
The princess's mansion has been peaceful and stable for so long, it is inevitable that the guards are a little lax.
Who would have thought that on such an ordinary night, an assassin who came from nowhere would suddenly appear.
The atmosphere in the yard was a little quiet for a while.
Yuming, who had never spoken, noticed that she was soaked and her hair was still dripping with water. He was thinking about handing her a towel to ease the atmosphere.
However, soon, a slender hand was placed on Qiu Che's shoulder.
"Okay," Li Qingwu said softly, "Don't be angry, they didn't mean it, and besides, I'm fine, right?"
Yu Yan was listless and secretly glanced at Li Qingwu.
She didn't know anything else. She only knew that since she followed her master, she was fine on weekdays, but every time she made a mistake, she would inevitably be thrown into Yeming City to fight with those dead men.
It's not something that can be solved with just one word of advice?
Yu Ming thought so too.
But she hesitated for a moment and noticed that Li Qingwu's hair was also full of water.
So she handed over two towels instead.
Qiu Che took the towels and glanced at her.
Then he said, "Okay."
"Forget it this time. If there is a next time, go to Yeming City to receive the punishment."
"...Yes."
When Yu Yan got up from the ground, there was only one thought in her mind:
No way.
Can it really be solved?
Fu Feng asked, "Do I want to go too?"
Qiu Che said lightly, "You are not under my jurisdiction."
Fu Feng is Li Qingwu's man.
Li Qingwu pinched her shoulder flatteringly, and said with red ears and pursed lips: "Go back."
Qiu Che looked at her sideways.
Li Qingwu coughed: "We are all allies... husband and wife, and my people are of course under your control."
Qiu Che said nothing more, turned around and went back to the bedroom.
In the next few days, Fu Feng followed Li Qingwu, and was inseparable from her. Except for going to the toilet and sleeping, or when Qiu Che came, he would never move beside Li Qingwu. Yaotai came
to discuss matters with her, and seeing this situation, he teased: "Your little guard is so funny. I asked him to wait outside, and he rolled his eyes at me."
Fu Feng: "..."
How could someone complain to her face.
Li Qingwu shook her head with a smile and said: "Nothing, just let him stay here."
She saw that everyone in the princess's mansion had been on high alert for several days.
It seemed that Qiu Che was angry that day and scared them.
Yaotai propped up her chin and said shockingly: "He doesn't like you, does he?"
Li Qingwu was holding a teacup in her mind, and her heart stagnated when she heard the words, and the tea almost spilled out of the bowl: "...Who?"
Yaotai raised her chin, motioned to Fufeng who was standing by the bed like a cold-faced demon, and said with a smile: "Him - who else could it be?"
Li Qingwu slowed down, and felt that her heartbeat, which had suddenly stagnated just now, began to beat regularly again.
She slowly put down the tea and said, "Don't talk nonsense."
"Okay, okay, I'm talking nonsense," Yaotai didn't delve into it, and blinked at her, saying, "Then tell me, when I said the word like just now, who did you think of?"
Her eyes were gossipy and hot, and there was also a bit of temptation to "quickly tell me".
Li Qingwu couldn't stand her gaze, dodged twice, lowered his eyes and said: "... No."
Yaotai said "Oh" and repeated: "No~"
Li Qingwu helplessly: "We are here to talk about business, can you be more serious?"
Yaotai said: "This is business, how can emotional issues not be business?"
Li Qingwu said abruptly: "You can ask this question, which means you know that Qiu Che and I are... not in harmony."
Yaotai was a little surprised: "...Ah? You are not in harmony?"
Li Qingwu: "...Since you don't think that I am not in harmony with her, why do you ask me about 'emotional issues'? You know that I married her, so the person I am talking about can only be her."
But Yaotai's words clearly meant that they didn't have any feelings.
Too sharp.
Yaotai pondered and thought.
This pair of the most famous female wives in history have always been the "female prime minister Qiu Che" who reformed the century-old system and created the new millennium era. The achievements are more dazzling and more outstanding.
In comparison, the future richest woman, the eldest princess, seems a little inconspicuous.
In the past twenty years, Yaotai's memory of the time before the time travel has actually become vague.
But she remembered that she had read a historical gossip analysis post, which talked about this female couple who shocked future generations, and who was more powerful.
The result is beyond doubt, naturally it is the female prime minister Qiu Che.
But some things still need to be witnessed with one's own eyes to understand why a couple can be a couple.
Yaotai thought that if it were not for the restrictions of the current situation and life experience, Li Qingwu might not have joined the officialdom. He
might not have done worse than Qiu Che.
She was wandering for a long time, and Li Qingwu was still waiting for her answer.
Yaotai came back to her senses, smiled slightly, and said: "Because... I can tell fortunes."
Li Qingwu looked at her seriously and stared blankly.
Perhaps he didn't expect such a serious topic to be easily twisted by Yaotai like this.
"Don't disbelieve it," Yaotai came over mysteriously and whispered, "I really can tell fortunes. I have also told you and Qiu Che's future."
Li Qingwu's reason told her that Yaotai was teasing her and she couldn't believe it.
But her mouth was more honest than her expression: "Our...future?"
"Yes."
"What did you calculate?"
"I calculated--"
Yaotai pretended to count with her fingers, and said with a smile, "I calculated that you will definitely love each other and live happily forever."
Li Qingwu's breath was choked in her throat, and she couldn't breathe.
She didn't know how she should react, but she was vaguely relieved.
What...
two women, what "love each other, happy and perfect"?
I knew Yaotai was bluffing.
Li Qingwu shook her head in her heart, and suddenly remembered that this sentence sounded familiar, as if she had heard it somewhere before.
But after half a month, most of the scenes in the dream had been forgotten in Li Qingwu's memory.
She couldn't even remember where she had heard this sentence before.
After thinking again and again, she really had no clue, so Li Qingwu gave up: "Let's talk about how to launch new clothing styles..."
The day after the new law was officially promulgated and implemented, Puyang was flooded, and another urgent letter was sent to the capital.
According to Qiu Che's method, Yang Qiu's proposal was soon brought up by Li Shi in the court.
As expected, the ministers quickly quarreled over it.
One side was indifferent to the matter and wanted to solve the flood problem quickly for the sake of merit, so they agreed with both hands and feet.
The other side opposed it, which was the rare old ministers who were concerned about the country and the people. Most of them were honest and upright and kept to themselves.
Qiu Che glanced around and memorized their faces in his heart.
Then he stood up and said in a strong voice: "Your Majesty, I have a memorial to report!"
The whole hall was silent.
Some eyes were cast over, including the crown princeââ
He used to be idle. He rarely appeared in the court even though he was old enough to attend court.
Now that the Queen was gone and the Duke's Mansion was neglected by the Emperor, he was anxious. He had
made many reports on the flood in Puyang in the past few days, but unfortunately his methods were useless and were rejected by Li Shi one by one.
Seeing Qiu Che standing up, he looked gloomy and clenched his fists without making a sound.
Li Shi's eyelids jumped, but he didn't realize the seriousness of the matter. He said cheerfully: "Lord Qiu, do you have any ideas?"
Qiu Che stepped forward, unfolded the memorial in his hand, and said: "I report that Lord Zhao, the Minister of Rites, seized ten acres of good land from Wang, a good citizen, five years ago. According to the new law of Daxia, he should cut his monthly salary of 100 taels and return it in even numbers."
Lord Zhao's face turned pale: "No matter whether it is true or not, Lord Qiu is too fussy to bring it up for discussion now?!"
Qiu Che ignored it and continued to turn the next page: "Lord An, the Chief Censor, ordered the secret guards to kill the former Chief Censor Gu five years ago..."
Lord An's face turned pale: "This is slander! It's slander! Your Majesty, please listen to my explanation--"
The faster they refuted, the faster Qiu Che turned the pages. At the end, the only sound left in the hall was her turning the pages.
"Lord Yin Shi of Kaifeng..."
Lord Shi turned pale.
"Grand Marshal Du..."
Du's face turned pale.
When Qiu Che finished speaking, the whole hall, not to mention others, even the emperor's face turned pale.
Finally, Qiu Che put away the memorial with a rustle, cleared her almost hoarse throat, and calmly said a summary:
"The above. These are all the officials involved that I want to impeach."
She cupped her hands, her voice was clear and transparent, but it was like a mountain, pressing down on Li Shi's head: "Your Majesty, please make a wise decision--"
Li Shi collapsed on the dragon chair, thinking:
When did Qiu Che go crazy?
Make a wise decision.
There are so many cases, if he really has to make a wise decision one by one, his head will be broken by the noise of these court officials.
Even the prime minister and the prince were impeached by her without any hesitation.
Only a few old ministers who were not affected stood in the corner, staring at each other, stunned.
I haven't seen a scene in my life, but I saw it today.