Chapter 121: Missed
After handing over a thick letter to Lu Shaoyun and asking him to hand it over to Baliya when the caravan from Naming Village passed through Tongcheng Pass, Lin Xuran, who was ready to go, then embarked on a journey back to Beijing. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
Different from last summer, when he went out of the customs to Naming Village, Lin Xuran, who was tasked with quickly delivering official documents, borrowed horses from the post station openly along the way, and hurried on the smooth official road under the stars and nights. Therefore, it only took him seven days to arrive in the capital.
Lin Xuran, who entered the city before sunset, didn't care about eating, so he immediately hit his horse and came to Xia's house in Shuanghe Lane. In response to the assumption that Xia Shuanghan had lost his memory and had already returned to Beijing first, Lin Xuran, who thought that it was very unlikely in his heart, chose to avoid direct contact in order to prevent his rash arrival from disturbing the Xia family and finally causing them useless troubles because of Xia Shuanghan's disappearance.
Subsequently, through non-positive inquiry, it was confirmed that the Xia father and son were still waiting for Xia Shuanghan, who returned to Beijing with the Rong caravan in April this year, according to the original plan, turned around and entered the East Palace, and reported to His Royal Highness the Prince, who had just finished dinner.
"Good, good!" In the solemn study room of the East Palace, Ouyang Han, who heard the achievements of Lu Shaoyun and Lin Xuran in the past few months, and thus decided that the Red and White Pill would no longer be the confidant of Great Xia from now on, laughed loudly: "Lin Zhuhai and Deputy Commander Lu have made a contribution this time!" When he returns from the border pass, the two of you, Gu and his father, will definitely be rewarded. ”
Speaking of this, Ouyang Han inadvertently remembered Xia Shuanghan, who had asked him for payment, so he casually added an additional sentence: "That 'little pepper' from Tingxuan, is it okay now?" ”
“...... Back to His Royal Highness the Prince, Miss Xia's life and death are still uncertain, and her whereabouts are unknown. "Now that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already asked questions, then Lin Xuran naturally no longer hides it.
Listening to Lin Xuran's brief overview of "Xia Shuanghan's role in this entire mission", even if he didn't know about the map sketch because he deliberately concealed it, it was impossible for Prince Ouyang Han to deny Xia Shuanghan's efforts to completely eliminate the Red and White Pill.
"In this way, 'Little Pepper' originally had a chance to escape, but it was just to avoid startling the grass and snakes and sabotaging the encirclement and suppression operation, so she stayed in the mountains until midnight, and finally fell into the deep ditch for Lu Tingxuan, right?"
"Back to His Royal Highness the Prince, that's exactly the case."
Glancing at Lin Xuran with a look of pain and worry on his face in front of him, Ouyang Han, who was touched for a moment by Lu Shaoyun for having a fiancée like Xia Shuanghan who was deeply righteous and in love, ordered: "Lin Zhu, you immediately find someone to send a message to Lu Tingxuan, and give him two months to find his fiancée, and during the search period, Gu allowed him to transfer fifty elites of the Tongcheng garrison by himself." But if, after two months, he still can't find 'Little Pepper', then no matter what, he must return to Beijing immediately and assume his duties as the deputy commander of the Waijin Wuwei. ”
"Yes, His Royal Highness the Prince." Lin Xuran, who bowed down to receive the order, quickly left the East Palace and ran into the Waijin Wuwei Yamen. Subsequently, after handing over the information he brought back from the border pass, and witnessing Lu Shaoyun's deputy passing the book for him, Lin Xuran, who rushed to the Dingguo Mansion with the last bit of time before the curfew, finally met the hard-nosed Lu Xiaoqing.
"What? You say that the life and death of the frost girl are uncertain and her whereabouts are unknown? "In the study room of the Xixia Courtyard of the Dingguo Mansion, I listened to Lin Xuran roughly tell about the experience of Lu Shaoyun and Xia Shuanghan after leaving Beijing, as well as Lu Xiaoqing after His Royal Highness the Prince Fangcai, I was surprised and worried." If the frosty girl has three longs and two shorts this time, what face do I have to face the Xia family? ”
Lu Xiaoqing, who regretted his approval of Lu Shaoyun's behavior of taking Xia Shuanghan to the border pass, even if he was instructed, asked his relatives to prepare for a long trip overnight, and in the early morning of the next day, he set off with him and left Beijing and rushed to Tongcheng Pass.
"Grandpa Lu, since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already allocated fifty elites to Ting Xuan, then you really don't have to go in person!" Knowing that with the promise of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Lu Shaoyun dissuaded Lin Xuanran, who was well-staffed, in three or four months. But immediately, his consolation was refuted by Lu Xiaoqing.
"If I don't go to Tongcheng Pass in person, I can't feel at ease! If the frosty girl can't find it back this time, I'm afraid that I owe the Xia family a favor, and I won't be able to pay it off in this life! In such a anxious situation, how do you want me to calm down and stay in Beijing? ”
At this point, Lin Xuran, who knew that it was useless to talk about it, under Lu Xiaoqing's arrangement, had a belated dinner and stayed in the outer courtyard of the Guogong Mansion. After dawn the next day, he finally returned to his two-entry courtyard in Baimi Lane in the east of the city after a nine-month absence.
In the sound of the rooster's crow, Lu Xiaoqing, who had prepared everything for the long journey, rode out of Beijing with more than ten people without informing anyone of the purpose of his trip to Tongchengguan.
And the reason why he didn't tell anyone the reason that "he was here to find Xia Shuanghan" was that Lu Xiaoqing actually had many considerations.
First of all, as far as the Xia family is concerned, Lu Xiaoqing, who knows that "Xia Shuanghan is filial piety, so he never wants Xia Jingzhi and Xia Chaoyang to worry about her for her", has the same opinion as Lin Xuran: If Xia Shuanghan can finally be brought back safe and sound from the border pass, then adhering to the concept that more things are better than less things, there is really no need to say what she once lost contact with. And if Xia Shuanghan can't be found in the end, then when Lu Shaoyun returns, he should personally come to the door to ask for the guilt.
Secondly, as far as the Lu family is concerned, in the entire Dingguo Mansion, except for Lu Xiaoqing, the rest of the people are not people who will care about Xia Shuanghan. Therefore, instead of letting Lu Xiaoqing waste time to explain clearly to them one by one, the explanation of "I was bored in Beijing, and I want to go out of Beijing to relax" is obviously much more convenient and easy to use.
Thirdly, judging from the follow-up progress of the Red and White Pill case, before the case was completely solved and Xia Shuanghan's reputation was officially restored, it was obviously reckless and undesirable to hastily tell the matter of "fake escape marriage" and "latent trio".
So in this way, when no one in the Dingguo Mansion knew the truth of the matter, Lu Xiaoqing, who was accompanying him, slowly informed Lu Xiaoqing of the beginning and end of the matter on the way, and in the morning light on the fourth day of the first month of March, he waved goodbye to the capital and embarked on the official road to Tongcheng Pass.
Before Lin Xiran arrived in the capital, Lu Shaoyun, who was looking for Xia Shuang and cold every day, was emaciated and emaciated a lot because of physical fatigue and mental torture.
The predicament of Xia Shuanghan was never found, forcing Lu Shaoyun's emotions to approach the edge of complete loss of control. Even in the dead of night, countless uncontrollable nightmares began to invade his fragile nerves.
In a certain dream, Xia Shuanghan was taken hostage by the offline buyers of the Red and White Pill, and was finally killed, which scared Lu Shaoyun out of a cold sweat.
And after waking up from that nightmare, Lu Shaoyun continued to comfort his heart that was about to jump out of his chest, and at the same time, he comforted himself: "Impossible, even if Shuang Han really fell into the hands of those downline criminals after drifting along the river, the downline who knows her use value will definitely flee quickly and stay away from Tongcheng Pass after learning about the encirclement and suppression action in the Chuzi Mountains, and it is impossible to imprison her at all." So, everything just now was just a dream. ”
Lu Shaoyun is not the only one who is tormented by nightmares and lovesickness. Now, the trauma has healed, and the eyes have completely returned to normal Xia Shuanghan, after being forced by Su Yixing to leave the border pass, and then embarking on the journey back to the capital, he is also worried about Lu Shaoyun all the time.
Leave clues as you leave the city, or try to steal the incense and escape...... Xia Shuanghan, who had thought of and tried all the ways he could think of to gain freedom, was now completely gone.
Recalling the scene when he secretly tried to let the tiger girl deliver the news for him when he left the office, but was caught red-handed by Su Yixing, Xia Shuanghan only felt cold all over his body, and the cold had penetrated into the bone marrow.
Su Yixing's eyes that were burning with cold anger at that time, and then the words that he said in a low voice, "If there is a next time, I don't mind helping you conceive a child, so that you can completely settle down", all made Xia Shuanghan believe that he would never have the possibility of forgetting it in his life.
So in this way, despite being reluctant and having no other way, Xia Shuanghan and Su Yixing went farther and farther on the official road back to Beijing.
On the tenth day of the first month of March, this is the day when Su Yixing and Xia Shuanghan rode in the carriage and Lu Xiaoqing and his party inevitably met on the way.
Outside a simple tea shed on the side of the official road, Su Yixing, who was sitting in the carriage with her eyes closed, restrained Xia Shuanghan and did not allow her to get off the carriage, and instructed the coachman to return to Li Qinglan, who had entered the tea shed to replenish drinking water, and then went on the road again.
Xia Shuanghan, who was also sitting in the carriage and looking out of the window boringly, but at this moment, she accidentally saw a figure in the tea shed with her back to her, which made her feel familiar - it was Lu Xiaoqing!
"Lu-" Xia Shuanghan, who couldn't wait to ask for help as soon as she recognized Lu Xiaoqing, didn't even have time to finish a word, and was dragged into her arms by Su Yixing behind her and nodded at her dumb hole.
"If you want me to ask you for you directly in this carriage, then you can resist me with all your might." Su Yixing's icy threat made Xia Shuanghan's body shrink in his arms stiffen for a moment. But soon, thinking of some terrible possibility, she still struggled desperately.
Su Yixing, who was caught on fire by Xia Shuanghan's disorderly writhing, was a little puzzled for a while - "I want you to really be my woman", this threat, which has always been very useful in Xia Shuanghan, why did it suddenly fail today?
Then, looking down into Xia Shuanghan's eyes, Su Yixing, who had captured various emotions such as worry, anxiety, and fear, suddenly realized: "Are you worried that something happened to Lu Shaoyun?" Do you think that the reason why Dingguo Gong is serious at this moment and rushes to Tongcheng Pass is because Lu Shaoyun has an accident. And the reason for his accident is most likely because of me, isn't it? ”
"......" Xia Shuanghan, who was speechless, glared at Su Yixing angrily, and then nodded.
"You really put Lu Shaoyun in the first position at all times!" Knowing that if she didn't help Xia Shuanghan confirm that the reason why Lu Xiaoqing went north was not because of Lu Shaoyun, she would really be able to get into trouble with him here, so she reluctantly compromised: "Don't worry, I'll help you figure it out." Dingguo Gong went north this time, not because Lu Shaoyun had an accident, but because he was going to help his grandson find you. ”
"......" glanced at Su Yixing suspiciously, and had to admit that his explanation was quite reasonable, Xia Shuanghan, obediently gave up the struggle, and withdrew from his arms and sat aside.
Then, Su Yixing, who raised his hand to point the acupoints, completely restricted the activities of Xia Shuanghan's whole body, smoothed the folds on his clothes, and then lifted the curtain and stepped out of the carriage.
In the last days of the temporary Tongcheng County Guard, Su Yixing, who knew that Lu Shaoyun would definitely use all his connections in the military camp to find Xia Shuanghan, had been avoiding all contact with Lu Shaoyun.
There is no intersection in official business, and Lu Shaoyun is anxious and busy looking for someone, as long as he avoids meeting him, then it is not difficult for Su Yixing to hide the fact that he is in Tongcheng Pass.
After all, the day Lin Xuran took people to the county guard office to greet his group for the next act of entering the house to search for Xia Shuanghan, Su Yixing, who had long expected this to happen, had already perfected it.
Therefore, under the circumstance that Lin Xuran and most of the Tongcheng defenders did not know who the temporary county guard's surname was, and had never even seen the appearance of the temporary county guard, Lu Shaoyun, who did not know that his rival was in Tongcheng Pass, could not have thought of taking someone to the county guard office to find it.
Now, Su Yixing, who has deliberately had an in-depth understanding of Lu Shaoyun, knows that at the beginning, before the unpleasant meeting of the three people in the Yuelai Inn, Lu Shaoyun was still not sure that he Su Yixing coveted Xia Shuanghan, and it was even more impossible to inform his grandfather Lu Xiaoqing of the situation of his rival after leaving Beijing.
Therefore, at this moment, when Lu Xiaoqing did not know that Su Yixing was actually Lu Shaoyun's rival, and he was very likely to hide Xia Shuanghan after rescuing him, Su Yixing faced Lu Xiaoqing, and there was no need to dodge at all.
What's more, even if Lu Xiaoqing immediately informed Lu Shaoyun after arriving at Tongcheng Pass that he had met the prince of Xiangyang during the trip?
Su Yixing, who was very confident in the plan he had already launched, believed that even on the second day after Lu Xiaoqing arrived at the border pass, Lu Shaoyun would rush to the capital. By the time he arrived in Beijing, Xia Shuanghan would definitely have become his rightful woman in Su Yixing, and it would no longer be possible to have anything to do with the Dingguo Mansion.
So, now Su Yixing, who just wants to put Xia Shuanghan at ease as soon as possible, so that he can obediently continue on the road with him, used his superb conversation skills, and quickly got all the news that Xia Shuanghan was eager to know from Lu Xiaoqing's mouth.
At the same time, Xia Shuanghan, who was sitting in the carriage and listening attentively to the conversation outside the carriage with her ears pricked up, didn't know what Su Yixing was secretly doing to her for the time being.
However, at this moment, she is sure that Lu Shaoyun is safe and sound, and she has no idea what Su Yixing did during the month of house arrest, and this status quo will not last long. Because soon, everything that is hidden behind will be presented in front of her.
As the nominal princess of the Xiangyang Palace, the Xie family, who has not had a harmonious relationship with Su Yixing for more than ten years from the day of the entry to October of the Yichou year, has been looking for a way to establish a harmonious family within the Xiangyang Palace.
In October last year, Su Yixing's "thank you" before going to Jiuping Iron Mine made Xie see the possibility of his vision coming true for the first time after waiting for so many years. So, when she received a handwritten letter from Su Yixing from the border pass in February after the Chinese New Year, and was asked by him to help complete something in the letter, Xie's heart couldn't help but gush with joy and comfort.
In the letter sent back by Su Yixing, it is not difficult to ask Xie to complete it. To put it bluntly, it is nothing more than a simple request for her to tell someone some unfabricated real facts. However, although the request in the letter sounded simple, once it was realized, Hsieh knew that it would cause an uproar.
His stepson Su Yixing is in love with Xia Shuanghan, the fiancée of Lu Shaoyun, the fifth young master of the Dingguo Mansion, and Xie has heard about this from his nominal husband Su Chunfeng. Therefore, when Xie Shi saw from the letter that Su Yixing's request was just a necessary step for him to snatch love from others, she couldn't help but hesitate a little when her inner emotions and morality collided.
From the emotional aspect, the stepson, who has not been enlightened for twenty-three years and regards herself as a nephew, finally fell in love with an innocent girl, and also prepared three media and six hires to marry her into the door as a wife, what a happy thing this was!
As a stepmother who hopes that she can fulfill her stepson's lifelong happiness, there is nothing wrong with Hsieh's willingness to contribute to Su Yixing's lifelong events. But from a moral point of view, it is not right to snatch love with a knife, disturb the family affairs of a girl from a yellow family, and then come to the door to propose marriage.
What's more, now, according to the records in the letter, Xie also knows the truth behind Xia Shuanghan's escape from marriage, as well as the fact that she and Lu Shaoyun are more in love than Jin Jian. In such a situation, it is too difficult for her to insist that she ruin her marriage with a clear conscience and help her stepson snatch his wife from others.
Hesitating and hesitating, persuading and arguing, and conflicting in his heart, Xie Shi, who had not slept all night, finally made up his mind at dawn according to his handkerchief handkerchief-Xu's behavior and performance in the past few months.
"Anyway, the ideal daughter-in-law in Xu's mind is Pei Huanting, the young lady of the Prime Minister's Mansion, who has often traveled to and from the Dingguo Mansion in recent months. Then, it shouldn't be wrong for me to tell Xu the truth about the truth in the letter, and then let everything take its course. After all, if the Xu family really ruined the marriage between the Lu Xia family because of my words, then I couldn't have done anything wrong to help Xia Shuanghan avoid being bullied by my mother-in-law after marriage, right? ”
So in this way, Xie Shi, who had done a good job of psychological construction and self-persuasion in his heart, went to the house to find Lu Shaoyun's mother Xu Shi on the afternoon of the second day after receiving the letter, and finally according to Su Yixing's request, he told some information that would definitely anger Xu......
"Okay, good, I really gave birth to a good son!" In the main hall of the Shanlan Courtyard of the Dingguo Mansion, the Xu family, who had just given away his handkerchief to the Xie family, smashed the teacup in his hand in anger.
"Madam, you dissipate your anger, dissipate your anger." Mama Gui, who has been serving the Xu family for decades, made the girls come forward to clean up the broken porcelain with her eyes, and sighed in her heart: "In the past half a year, the porcelain smashed by Madame is really not young and old!" ”
"Degassing? Can I get rid of this anger? Tingxuan was my own son who was conceived and born in October, but he made that slut surnamed Xia confused, and he even remembered to deceive me! You say, how can you let me take this breath? ”
Since last year's summer frost and cold escape, Lu Shaoyun "went south", Xu's temper has not been very good for several months. During this period, although his two daughters had a close relationship with the two young ladies of the Pei family of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Xu gradually had contacts with Chen, the wife of Dali Siqing, and then diverted some attention for a while, but now, combined with what Xie said and some of the information that Chen had revealed at the beginning, Xu only felt that his chest was overflowing with anger and humiliation after being deceived.
It turned out that his son was not suspected of breaking his sleeves at all, and the misdirection and deception he used against him were all for Xia Shuanghan. A couple for a lifetime? For the ridiculous request of a woman who has not yet passed the door, his son can turn a blind eye to his mother's worries and play his mother around, what kind of good son is this?
Also, even if you hide from your family, you can fake the marriage, and now you are still stuck at the border and are frantically looking for someone. Just kidding, that Xia Shuanghan was already damaged due to the injury and high fever of the Lantern Festival. This will, before her whereabouts are unknown, she has been soaking in the cold water in the glacier for so long, and it is estimated that it will be difficult for her heirs in this life. How could such a woman let her marry into the Dingguo Mansion and delay Tingxuan's life?
Thinking of this, the Xu family, who clenched his fists, said angrily: "Mama, you also heard what Princess Xiangyang said, Grandpa Guo went out of Beijing this time in order to help Tingxuan get the Xia family back." But if this is really recovered, Ting Xuan married the Xia family and refused to take a concubine, isn't this going to cut off children and grandchildren? So, whatever I say, I can't let such a thing happen. ”
"Madame is right, but ......" Thinking back to what she had just heard, the conversation between Princess Xiangyang and the Xu family, Mama Gui, who was embarrassed, said softly: "The marriage contract between the fifth young master and the Naxia family is still valid today!" ”
"Humph! Since neither my father-in-law nor Tingxuan told me that the marriage contract was still valid, then I should not know. Xu Shi, who made up his mind in his heart, and then showed a weird smile, continued: "In this way, since I don't know that Tingxuan still has a marriage contract, then I went to the Queen Mother to ask for a satisfactory marriage for my son, this can't be regarded as my fault, right?" (To be continued.) )