Chapter 42

 

Yuan Ci Xian was driven back to her room by the dark-faced Lu Shi Qing, thinking about Shaohe all the way.

It had been more than a month since the Shangzhou assassination case, the local governor and county magistrate were naturally unable to catch those assassins, and Chang’an over there also ended up with nothing.

In this regard, the explanation Emperor Huining gave to the Yuan family was that Shaohe was temporarily possessed and made such a big mistake, so she was punished to go to the Wangji Temple to honestly cultivate, and never allowed to step into the palace gate again without the imperial edict.

It’s just that the spread of this incident would damage the imperial family’s reputation, and it was not a good thing for Yuan Ci Xian. After discussing with Yuan Yu, Emperor Huining concealed the matter. Therefore, others only thought that Zheng Yun accidentally angered the emperor one day, and was confined in her princess mansion.

But this matter could be hidden from others, but not from the people involved. On the day Yuan Ci Xian got the news, she went to ask Lu Shi Qing. After all, he told her before that Shaohe’s layer was just a false illusion to deceive people, and the person the assassin really wanted to set the blame on was the Second Prince.

Lu Shi Qing explained to her that it was originally pretty good. After Vice Governor Liu framed Shaohe, he was summoned by the emperor to inquire about the case. Could not bear the emperor’s power, he confessed that it was the second prince who asked him to frame Shaohe

Compared with Shaohe, the emperor naturally believed that such tricks were done by the second prince, but unexpectedly, before he had time to investigate further, he got the news that Vice Governor Liu had suddenly died.

One moment Vice Governor Liu presented his confession, the next moment he was silenced, so the emperor wondered whether what he said was true or false, therefore failed to find conclusive evidence to convict the second prince. Although the emperor knew that Shaohe was probably innocent, for the time being he had no choice but to release the surface results to the Yuan family.

After Yuan Ci Xian heard the story, she had to admire Xu Shan and Zheng Zhuo again. They must have sent someone to kill Vice Governor Liu. These two people were really good at figuring out His Majesty’s heart, and they got rid of Vice Governor Liu at the best time, which made the emperor confuse and doubtful, and made a conspiracy that was likely to affect the Yuan family and Zheng Zhuo unfounded.

Although it was a good thing that the crisis of the Yuan family was resolved, she could not just sit and watch Shaohe become a scapegoat for this. Whether she was a rival in love or not, the truth was another matter.

People was just doing some embroidery at home, but then a crime suddenly charged from the sky. If she was Shaohe, she would probably vomit blood from anger.

Yuan Ci Xian thought about it, and decided to find a chance to meet the emperor after returning to the capital, and asked him to issue an imperial edict to spare Shaohe. No matter what the emperor thought, originally this matter was to give the explanation to the Yuan family, as long as she didn’t care about it then it was fine.

The disaster situation in Shuzhou stabilized day by day, and the post-disaster plague that almost broke out on a large scale was also controlled by Lu Shi Qing. In half a month, around the middle of Tenth month, this trip came to an end.

Yuan Ci Xian followed Lu Shi Qing all the way north, and roughly returned the same way. But she found that compared to when they came, the routes that Lu Shi Qing chose were mostly official roads, and rarely took a shortcut through the wild road.

Remembering Shaohe’s reminder, she understood the meaning of this move, but after traveling for more than twenty days, they arrived near the capital domain without encountering any threats. She didn’t know if it was Lu Shi Qing who took precautions properly and made the other party back out, or if Shaohe’s news was wrong.

When they entered the capital domain, where the law and order was relatively good, Emperor Huining also sent a team of Jinwu Guards to welcome Lu Shi Qing back to the capital, she completely let go of her vigilance.

At dusk the day before arriving in Chang’an, Lu Shi Qing ordered Jinwu Guards to arrange an inn for the group to settle down.

Yuan Ci Xian was puzzled, they would be able to enter the city in a few hours, why did he suddenly slow down. Because the weather was too cold to get off the carriage, she sent Shi Cui to ask for her.

Shi Cui went to Lu Shi Qing’s carriage at the front, then reported back to Yuan Ci Xian: “Young lady, Assistant Minister Lu didn’t answer this maid. Brother Cao said, maybe he is tired and wants to rest for a night before leaving. If you are in a hurry, you can ask Jinwu Guards to send you into the city first.”

She shook her head: “I’ve been out for the past three months. I’m not in a hurry, just leave tomorrow.”

Back then in Shuzhou, Lu Shi Qing didn’t even close his eyes for three days and three nights at his busiest time, but she never heard him said the word “tired”. Yuan Ci Xian felt strange in her heart for a while, but she didn’t pay much attention to it.

Because this journey was either “eating and sleeping in the open air” or “enjoying food of the common people”, plus she was not used to the food in Huainan, she really missed the flavor of the capital cuisine. Seeing that they were settling in a decent inn, she ordered a table of dinner, and euphemistically called “Decided to buy Assistant Minister Lu a good meal out of her own pocket”.

The inn servant delivered the food to her room as she ordered, she then put a ceramic pot with separate compartments, and filled each compartment was filled with pork, duck, beef, mutton, and cooked vegetables. It was piping hot, and the aroma was overflowing.

Yuan Ci Xian hadn’t seriously eaten meat for a long time, and was so hungry that she hurriedly asked Shi Cui to invite Lu Shi Qing next door, but after waiting for a long time, she heard that he was not at the inn at all.

When they just settled down, she clearly saw Lu Shi Qing enter the room next door, now it was getting dark, and it was freezing outside, what did he run outside for.

Yuan Ci Xian really couldn’t hold back at this moment, she came out and was about to knock on the door next to hers, but was stopped by Cao An at the end of the corridor.

This was the second-floor room, Cao An seemed to have come up from the first floor, followed by a servant carrying a basin of clean water.

Yuan Ci Xian frowned. The inn had been arranged by the Jinwu Guard, and there was no one else here. This water must have been prepared for Lu Shi Qing, but wasn’t he not in the inn?

Cao An stopped her, and said with a natural expression: “County Princess, Master has gone out to do some errands, please eat first, you don’t have to wait for him.”

She pointed to the servant behind him: “Then this water?”

He let put an “Oh” then said: “Master ordered the servant to send it to his room in advance, and waited for him to come back to clean his face.”

Yuan Ci Xian suddenly realized, and said with a smile: “Don’t bother the servant, give me this water. It so happens that I want to go to his room to take a look and see if the arrangement is comfortable.” After that, she stepped forward to take the washbasin.

Cao An seemed a little anxious now, and stretched out his hand to stop her: “How can this trouble you. You should have dinner first, and after Master returns, this servant will notify you as soon as possible.”

She smiled, took back her hand and said: “Okay. I won’t bother you.” After saying that, she turned and left.

Cao An let out a sigh of relief, and waited for her to turn around. He then took the basin from the servant behind him, hurried into Lu Shi Qing’s room, looked at the person lying on the bed, approached and said, “Master, are you alright?”

It started yesterday. Last night, Lang Jun suddenly suffered a cold, and the initial symptoms were mild, so he didn’t pay much attention to it. Unexpectedly, today, Master had a severe headache, and the fever got worse, so he had no choice but to find an inn to settle down.

Because Master didn’t want to reveal his condition to the Jinwu Guard and County Princess, he only sent Zhao Shu to invite a doctor, and he had not returned yet.

Lu Shi Qing’s face flushed, he coughed a few times, then frowned at him with, and asked without answering: “Sent away?”

Cao An naturally knew who he was talking about, nodded and said: “But County Princess is smart, I’m afraid she has already noticed something…”

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly heard a “click” from the window behind him, as if it had been pried open from the outside, and then a crisp female voice rang out: “Of course I’m… smart…!”

He abruptly turned his head, then saw Yuan Ci Xian struggling to hold on to the window sill, and she said with difficulty: “The windows on the second floor are too difficult to climb… Cao An, you… hurry up and help me!”

Cao An panicked, afraid that she would fall down and break her leg. At this time there was no time to ask Lu Shi Qing for instructions, so he quickly turned around and pulled her in.

As soon as Yuan Ci Xian’s feet touched the ground, she walked quickly towards Lu Shi Qing’s bed, and said uneasily, “Lu Shi Qing, you are really good, you’re sick like this and still want to hide it from me.”

After seeing Shaohe’s letter last time, Yuan Ci Xian suddenly realized that calling him “Assistant Minister Lu” was too distant and not conducive for cultivating feelings. But she didn’t want to call him “Lu Zishu” like others. When no outsiders were present, she would unrulily call him by his name.

At first Lu Shi Qing’s face would turn black every time, but after getting used to it, he didn’t bother to correct her anymore.

He sighed, stretched out his hand to pull off the canopy, and said coldly: “Cao An, take her back to her room.”

Yuan Ci Xian was cut off by the thick curtain, so she couldn’t see his face clearly, but she knew that the situation was not very good just by hearing his hoarse and thick nasal voice. Thinking that he was affected by the cold, she didn’t get angry by his attitude, and said to Cao An: “He’s confused by the fever, don’t listen to his orders. What about the doctor, have you sent someone to invite him?”

Lu Shi Qing coughed a few times, then said “Cao An” hinting him to see the guest off.

Cao An was tugged from left and right. He didn’t know who to listen to, so he said to Yuan Ci Xian: “County Princess, the doctor is coming soon, you just listen to Master and go back first, lest the sickness pass on to you.”

Yuan Ci Xian refused to leave, and said angrily, “I’ve never contracted a cold since I was a child, who has the ability to pass it on to me? Give it to me then, I want to see what it’s like.” After saying that, she went to lift Lu Shi Qing’s canopy.

Lu Shi Qing was weak from the fever and couldn’t stop her in time. But thanks to Cao An’s quick eyes and hands, he pinched the slit of the canopy and said with a bitter face: “County Princess, to tell you the truth, Master may not have an ordinary cold, you must not show your temper for a while.”

Yuan Ci Xian was taken aback, and stopped: “What do you mean?”

Seeing that Lu Shi Qing did not object, he continued to explain: “When Master was in Shuzhou, he accidentally came into contact with a plague patient…”

Yuan Ci Xian understood his half-finished sentence, she was stunned for a long time and couldn’t react. After a while she said in horror: “How is it possible? It’s impossible…”

Although the plague situation in Shuzhou was controlled to a very small range, but none of those who contracted the disease were cured. In order to avoid spreading, they all ended up being cremated.

Cao An was now telling her that Lu Shi Qing may have contracted an incurable plague?

But how was this possible. He was alive and well in her dream.

Yuan Ci Xian froze in place, and after a long time, suddenly thought of a fatal loophole.

In her previous life, Lu Shi Qing did live a good life, but in this life, she approached him, entangled him, and provoked him in order to protect herself… on the way to the south all kinds of accidents and changes happened to him because of her, so was it impossible for his fate to change too?

Yuan Ci Xian blinked dully.

She was that fatal loophole…

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