Chapter 61 - Gui Shui
Xie Xun was lured away by a plate of jujube paste sponge cake.
According to Zhong Shang, Gao Xun was in a teahouse nearby.
She thought it would be a long time since she saw him last time, and she wanted to say something to him, so it was fine to meet him again.
At the time Xie Xun arrived, Gao Xun was sitting in a booth, unsettling, and occasionally getting up to look out the window.
When the door was pushed open from the outside, he stopped abruptly and looked toward the door.
But it was Xie Xun who came in. She was taller than last year and wore a pink and white dress and a plain, flowered bast that showed the slender figure of a young woman with nutmeg.
Gao Xun did not give up and kept staring behind her. However, there was Zhong Shang and the servant maids behind her, no one else.
Zhong Shang took a seat on the ground floor of his own accord, without disturbing their conversation.
Inside, Xie Xun saw it was him and asked incredulously, “When did Brother Gao Xun come to the capital?”
“Why are you here?”
Gao Xun looked away and invited her to sit on opposite side of the couch. “Ah Zhen…”
She immediately realized it, “My sister didn’t come.”
A cup of tea was placed in front of each of them, and the fragrance wafted in the air.
Gao Xun sipped the tea with disappointment. He had thought Xie Zhen would come. He had a lot of things to talk to her.
Why didn’t she come?
Didn’t she want to see him?
Gao Xun put down his teacup and said slowly, “I just arrived in the capital half a month ago …”
He explained the whole story to her, succinctly, and finished it in a moment.
After it, Xie Xun seemed not fully understand. “So, do you plan to stay in the capital in the future?”
Gao Xun was silent, slowly nodding his head.
Xie Zhen became the fifth girl of Duke Dingguo’s Mansion, so she would definitely not return to Qing Zhou in the future. He had to do something in the capital to have the qualifications to marry her.
He opened his mouth to say something, but finally asked, “Why didn’t you tell me when you left?”
Xie Xun took a sip of tea with guiltily, her eyes flickering. “By then, you were already in the army.”
“Sis wanted to leave you a letter, but she was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to get it in the army, so she gave up.”
He bitterly said, “If the army doesn’t receive the letter, then where will the letter go?”
Xie Xun seemed to suddenly understand.
He continued, “In the past, we were playmates in Qing Zhou, but now, in the capital, it is even difficult for us to meet each other.”
Xie Xun understood the meaning behind his words. He was blaming them for not revealing their identities ….
But he didn’t ask them then, did he?
Xie Xun didn’t know how to comfort others. After a short pause, she said, “If big brother Gao Xun wants to meet us, you can just go to the Duke Dingguo’s Mansion.”
Gao Xun smiled and said, “OK,” and when he saw she had finished her tea, he lifted the teapot and poured more tea for her.
He did not beat around the bush, as he had when he was a child, and he was not stingy with the expression of love for Xie Zhen.
The two families had indeed planned to make an engagement for them, and if not for the delay in Xie Zhen’s agreement, the two families would have already become relatives of each other.
Xie Xun lowered her head as she looked at the tea that was slowly flowing out of the teapot. She didn’t want to hide anything from him as she slowly said, “Elder sister got married …”
The tea immediately spilled out of the cup and Gao Xun looked up in astonishment. “What did you say?”
Seeing the tea overflowing the table, Xie Xun jumped to the side and cried out in panic, “Brother Gao Xun, the tea is full!”
Gao Xun snapped back to reality. He didn’t even know that the tea had soaked his clothes. His eyes stared at her. “You just said …”
“Ah Zhen got married?”
Xie Xun nodded, completely cutting off his last shred of hope.
It was also good to tell him now, to let him recognize reality as soon as possible so that he wouldn’t sink deeper into the ground.
Xie Xun thought that although Xie Zhen’s marriage to the sixth prince was not a good idea, it would only get better and better.
Moreover, she didn’t want to make things difficult for sis. Based on Gao Xun’s infatuation with sis, he wouldn’t let her go so easily. He would only give up if he found out that sis was married off.
Gao Xun sat in a daze. At first, he was at a loss, but at the end, he became more and more sorrowful, turning into a heavy sense of loss.
He put down the amulet and placed his palm on the table. He gradually clenched his fist into a fist. Every vein on the back of his hand bulged out powerlessly.
His voice was pained. “Who did she marry?”
“The sixth prince,” Xie Xun said.
She had originally wanted to tell him that the sixth prince was the Li Yu, but from the looks of his current despondent appearance …
If he was told this again, he would be in even more despondent, wouldn’t he?
Xie Xun thoughtfully did not say anything more.
After a long time, Gao Xun asked, “How’s she going on?”
Xie Xun hesitated for a moment before nodding. “She’s fine.”
He didn’t ask again, afraid that the more he asked, the more heartache he would feel.
They were still fine even before they left, just like when they were young …
Why did he come to the capital and everything changed?
His little fairy marrying someone else, he didn’t even know a bit of information, and he was so pleased that he thought he would soon be able to marry her, but he didn’t know that she wasn’t just his, so why should she wait for him?
Gao Xun’s heart was missing a piece, empty, very uncomfortable.
It was like raising a flower with his own hands, watering it with water every day, expecting it to grow faster than anyone else.
He waited eagerly, and one day, after he had been gone only a little while, the flower was plucked away without even a word to him.
He thought the flower was his, but he was only responsible for growing up with it.
She would meet many people in her life, but he had only been with her for a little longer.
Xie Xun did not ask Gao Xun to take her back. She walked down the stairs alone, tripping absent-mindedly and being held by the two servant maids in time to avoid injury.
Most of the people downstairs were chatting and drinking tea, and only one youth sat by the window and spoke abnormally.
His skin was dark, his facial features deep. His sword-shaped eyebrows and star-like eyes were casually observing the pedestrians on the street.
In front of him was a food box. It was Xie Xun’s.
Xie Xun would never forget to eat at any time.
She told the servant maids to take back the food box, and Zhong Shang raised his eyes and grinned at her.
He thought she had said something extraordinary to Gao Xun, but he did not embarrass her. He returned the box to her and went upstairs to meet Gao Xun.
As soon as the door opened, he was startled by the scene inside.
Gao Xun lay under the low table, his eyes closed in pain.
Zhong Shang went up and kicked him twice, but he did not move.
“What did she tell you?”
No matter how much Zhong Shang asked, he refused to speak.
This was extremely rare. The weak and gentle girl, how could she say such hurtful words?
To upset a grown man like this?
Zhong Shang sat down beside him. “It’s just a woman.”
Gao Xun finally opened his eyes, his eyes somewhat despondent. His first sentence was not anything else, but to have Zhong Shang accompany him for a drink.
Zhong Shang readily agreed, leading him out of the teahouse to the restaurant to get drunk.
That’s right, it was just a woman …
But that was the girl he liked best, and there would never be another in his life.
In the Sixth prince’s Mansion.
For a whole day, Xie Zhen felt sick to her stomach, which was swollen and aching.
Her appetite was bad, and she didn’t eat much all day.
Yan Yu had gone to the palace to meet up with Emperor Yuan Hui. She didn’t know why His Majesty had summoned him so often these days.
But he didn’t look too good every time he came back, and when Xie Zhen asked what was wrong, he wouldn’t tell her.
If he didn’t say it, why did he still sleep in the side room with her at night.
When Xie Zhen drove him away, he clung to her like a big dog, kissing and licking her face in silence.
He returned early that evening, and since he did not see Xie Zhen, he asked the servant maids where she had gone.
Shuang Yan replied, “Empress’s health is not good. After lunch, she goes to rest. She hasn’t woken up yet.”
Hearing this, he walked into the inner room to take a check, and sure enough, he saw her sleeping.
Her brow was furrowed, and she didn’t feel good even when she was asleep. Her small face was listless, and she looked rather pitiful.
Yan Yu smoothed out the space between her eyebrows and asked, “Have you got a doctor?”
Shuang Yan shook her head. “The Empress won’t see the doctor, she said she’ll be fine after sleep.”
Yan Yu was worried, worried that she was really sick, so asked Shuang Yan to go get a doctor.
She seemed to have an upset stomach. When she slept, she would curl up and put her hands on her stomach. He didn’t know what was wrong with her.
She was covered by the mattress in a mess, and Yan Yu covered her up again, up to her stomach, and massaged her gently with his hand.
He lowered his head and noticed the change in her body.
His pupils contracted and he lifted the mattress and threw it aside, staring at the blood on her white silk dress.
Not only her clothes, but even her bed was covered in blood.
His voice trembled as he helped her to her feet, full of panic. “Xie Zhen, Xie Zhen?
Wake up! ”
When Xie Zhen woke up, she felt pain in her lower abdomen, and then was frightened by his pale face. “What’s wrong with you?”
Yan Yu took her in his arms and wrapped his arms around her. “Are you injured?”
“Why are you bleeding?”
As he said that, Xie Zhen was shocked and quickly checked to see where she was bleeding.
When she saw the blood on her legs and the bed, her face was pale with fright. She reached out and touched it. It was sticky. Yes, it was her blood.
She thought she was going to die. No wonder she had a stomachache all the noon …
Immediately, she was overcome with grief and was unwilling to let go of Yan Yu, “What happened to me, Brother Xiao Yu?”
“Am I injured?”
The two of them were laymen. They didn’t know what was going on, but they were getting more and more worried.
Yan Yu called servant maids to get a doctor. He urged them again and again, but the doctor still didn’t arrive.
He sat at the head of the bed, holding Xie Zhen to him and comforting her, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
He was too dumb to say more comforting words.
Xie Zhen thought she had been poisoned. Otherwise, why was she bleeding?
Just as she was about to catch the person who poisoned her, the doctor finally came.
After the doctor felt the pulse for her, he asked with an embarrassed expression, “Do you have any older biddy in this residence?”
Yan Yu, who had been standing at the side, asked, “How is she?”
“What’s the injury?”
The doctor asked him to go out with him, leaving the rest to the biddy.
Xie Zhen sat on the bed and watched them go, and a round-faced biddy in her forties came in and told her why she was bleeding and what it meant and what she should do about it.
Before she was married, Madam Leng did not have the time to tell her these things. Therefore, she had no idea what was going on. After listening to the biddy’s explanation, she came to a realization and her face flushed red.
The doctor called Yan Yu to the porch and said to him, “The Empress’ meridians have just opened, and her Heaven Gui Shui arrives.” (Note: The words “Heaven Gui Shui arrives” is a alias for menarche.)
“This is a joyous occasion. Your Highness, you don’t have to worry too much about it.”
The doctor explained to him for a long time before he realized what was going on.
After understanding the situation, his ears felt warm. He covered his mouth and coughed, “Thank you, Doctor.”
After seeing the doctor off, he returned to the inner room.
At this time, Xie Zhen had changed into clean clothes and covered with cotton strips. The servant maids and biddies worked in a flurry and finally managed to get everything in order.
The biddy said this would bring bad luck and advised Yan Yu to avoid her, but he did not listen and insisted on coming in to see her.
After finding out the truth, both of them felt a little awkward.
Especially Xie Zhen, she had thought she was going to die just now, crying and calling him ‘Brother Xiao Yu’. Now that the truth was out, she really wanted to find a hole to burrow into.
She didn’t want to see him, so she covered her head with the blanket and said, “You go out.”
Yan Yu tilted his head, pursed his lips and asked: “Do you still feel pain?”
Xie Zhen still hurt, but she doesn’t want to tell him.
He continued to stare out the window, pretending to be calm. “The doctor said not to touch cold water. Pay attention.”
“You go …” Xie Zhen was shy, and her voice choked with tears.
He had no choice but to leave the room and stand in the corridor. It was funny when he thought about the two of them being at a loss just now.
The biddy said that if it hurt badly, she’d better drink brown sugar water and it would ease the pain.
Yan Yu told the servant maids to boil the brown sugar water. The servants from the front yard came over and passed on a message to him, “Your Highness, there are two people from the front yard who wish to meet you. They say that they are old friends of yours.”
Yan Yu’s footsteps paused, he tilted his head and looked over, “Who’s it?”
The servant said, “It’s a mother and a daughter, and their family name is Ouyang.”
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