Ye Qingchi said slowly, "Later, Ah Ying worried that the boy would die from his illness like her little rabbits, so she begged me to take her to see him."
Su He widened his eyes in shock, "There's this too?"
Ye Qingchi knitted his brows, "When I came to Changfeng Pavilion tonight, I suddenly recognized some familiar things in this yard. It's been over ten years since then, time is distant, and I'd almost forgotten some things. But when I saw the dog hole under the high wall blocked by stones, I suddenly remembered this."
"I still remember that freezing cold night. I wasn't much older than three or four-year-old Ah Ying then, but I was still more capable than her. So I took her all the way to where the boy lived, found a dog hole, and stuffed the little girl in."
Su He: "..."
Ye Qingchi turned to look seriously at Su He, "So why would the lifesaver you spoke of become Huo Qiyun?"
In the snowstorm, Su He's face suddenly fell, "How would I know!"
Ye Qingchi snorted lightly in disdain, "Could it be someone deliberately forgetting their lifesaver's grace."
"Ah Du would never be ungrateful!" Su He really didn't know how to express his feelings now. "Let's go back and tell Ah Du!"
Just as the two were about to turn back to the Duke's Residence, they saw Jiang Yin, the one Gu Ying had warned them about, slowly walking out of the Prince Shu's residence gate.
Many princes and nobles lived on Changning Street.
Jiang Yin naturally wouldn't have had the qualifications to set foot here before. But now, he stood leisurely at the gate of Prince Shu's residence, wearing a light green embroidered long robe and a black fox fur coat. Seeing Su He and Ye Qingchi, he even smiled slightly and cupped his fists in greeting.
"Good morning, Young Master Su, Lord Ye."
Seeing Jiang Yin, Su He's heart tightened.
Ye Qingchi also slightly frowned.
Gu Ying had said not to let Jiang Yin know of their close connection with the Duke's Residence, especially about last night's secret discussion - even more so he shouldn't know.
The two had no choice but to temporarily set aside the issue of lifesavers. They bid Jiang Yin a perfunctory greeting and left Changning Street.
Watching their departing backs, the smile at the corner of Jiang Yin's mouth gradually faded away.
With Gu Ying's rebirth and return, she would naturally be able to see through his schemes and make counter moves.
"Heh heh, so what?"
He wanted to stir up some fierce flames to burn Zhao Changdu, the Ye family, the Gu family, and even the Su family into ashes!
...
Gu Ying had slept for a whole day today.
When she woke up, the sky had already darkened again.
She opened her eyes. The large red embroidered golden flower canopy bed was half revealed and half covered. The room was filled with Eldest Prince's faint scent of ambergris.
She stretched out her hand. The other side of the large bed was empty.
After a pause, she remembered that unlike her, Eldest Prince had to go to the palace to attend the morning court during the day. Recently there were many things happening - handing over military tallies, preparing relief supplies, medicine, money and grain. Eldest Prince probably hadn't come back yet.
Not seeing him after waking up, she felt a little empty in her heart, though she didn't know why. She had a very unsettled feeling.
She touched her aching temples. Staying up all night and sleeping for this long still left her with a throbbing headache, as if there were ants gnawing at her brain marrow.
She closed her eyes and lay on the pillow to ease herself for a while. Just as she was about to call for someone, she heard hurried footsteps coming from outside.
Someone swept open the curtains and came in. As the footsteps drew near, Yin Lan's voice carried a blast of icy wind.
"Mistress! Wake up quick, bad news!"
Gu Ying sat up from the bed and looked at Yin Lan's pale face. "What happened?"
"I just heard something happened at Madam Huo's place."
Gu Ying's beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly as she got out of bed and listened to Yin Lan. "The past two days have been cold. After Madam returned from Daiyu Pavilion last night, she caught a cold and stayed up all night unsuccessfully fighting it off - "
Gu Ying became anxious and her complexion changed. "What? Huo Qiyun is dead?"
Yin Lan paused, also not knowing whether to laugh or cry for a moment. She quickly said, "Oh no, it hasn't come to that. If the main madam really died, I'm afraid even Mistress wouldn't have been able to sleep peacefully for an entire day."
"That makes sense." Gu Ying let out a breath of relief and her mood stabilized. She complained, "Can't you speak without taking huge breaths to scare me half to death?"
"But this matter is almost the same as scaring Mistress to death!" Yin Lan was truly anxious now, full of worry on her face. "After staying up all night, Madam Huo slept for a day. When she woke up, she felt even more uncomfortable. So she had someone decoct the medicine for colds we sent over. It was fine without taking it, but after drinking it, she was poisoned!"
Gu Ying's eyebrows were tightly knitted. Where could she sit still? "Poisoned?"
"Yes." Yin Lan swiftly took a cloak for her mistress to put on. "It's chaos over at Madam Huo's now. Lady Cheng's people are already waiting outside Changfeng Pavilion. Without orders from Mistress and Eldest Prince, they can't come in. But this stalemate isn't a solution either. Lady Cheng is quite ruthless. With Madam Huo lying in bed foaming at the mouth, she still refused to let the doctor see her. She insisted on dragging in Mistress to take a look - to see if you intentionally poisoned Madam Huo! "
"Hmph, she is quite vicious."
"Of course she is. Lv Zhi has nearly cried herself into a faint while kneeling and begging the doctor from Lady Cheng and Eldest Young Master."
"Any clues on who poisoned it?"
"Unknown. They only said it reacted after Madam Huo took our medicine. She had been sleeping the entire time without eating anything else."
Gu Ying gave a cold sneer and headed out after tying her sash.
Outside, large snowflakes floated down. Icicle wind lanterns hung under the eaves. The winding bluestone slate road in the yard was covered by layers of thick snow.
Zhuzhi had also rushed over, head covered in snow. She was anxious. "Mistress, Lady Cheng said if anything really happens to Eldest Young Lady Huo today, she'll condemn you as the murderer! What should we do?"
Gu Ying wasn't afraid even if Lady Cheng made threats. Even if His Majesty personally came to interrogate her, the poison wasn't administered by her.
She was just somewhat worried Eldest Prince would be disturbed upon hearing this and lose his composure.
After all, Huo Qiyun was especially important to him.
A man like him had gone crazy once because of Huo Qiyun before. If something really happened to her now... he would probably hate her to death.
She had complex feelings, as if a large hand was fiercely squeezing her heart. Stuffy and unable to breathe for a moment.
Seeing her mistress' worries, Yin Lan carefully asked, "Mistress, something so big has happened. Should we send someone to ask Eldest Prince to come back?"
Gu Ying felt somewhat sour in her heart, but she could still maintain basic rationality and calmness.
She threw all those messy hurt and anguish to the back of her mind. Knitting her brows in contemplation for a bit, she said, "Naturally someone has to quickly invite Eldest Prince back."
Ye Qingchi said slowly, "Later, Ah Ying worried that the boy would die from his illness like her little rabbits, so she begged me to take her to see him."
Su He widened his eyes in shock, "There's this too?"
Ye Qingchi knitted his brows, "When I came to Changfeng Pavilion tonight, I suddenly recognized some familiar things in this yard. It's been over ten years since then, time is distant, and I'd almost forgotten some things. But when I saw the dog hole under the high wall blocked by stones, I suddenly remembered this."
"I still remember that freezing cold night. I wasn't much older than three or four-year-old Ah Ying then, but I was still more capable than her. So I took her all the way to where the boy lived, found a dog hole, and stuffed the little girl in."
Su He: "..."
Ye Qingchi turned to look seriously at Su He, "So why would the lifesaver you spoke of become Huo Qiyun?"
In the snowstorm, Su He's face suddenly fell, "How would I know!"
Ye Qingchi snorted lightly in disdain, "Could it be someone deliberately forgetting their lifesaver's grace."
"Ah Du would never be ungrateful!" Su He really didn't know how to express his feelings now. "Let's go back and tell Ah Du!"
Just as the two were about to turn back to the Duke's Residence, they saw Jiang Yin, the one Gu Ying had warned them about, slowly walking out of the Prince Shu's residence gate.
Many princes and nobles lived on Changning Street.
Jiang Yin naturally wouldn't have had the qualifications to set foot here before. But now, he stood leisurely at the gate of Prince Shu's residence, wearing a light green embroidered long robe and a black fox fur coat. Seeing Su He and Ye Qingchi, he even smiled slightly and cupped his fists in greeting.
"Good morning, Young Master Su, Lord Ye."
Seeing Jiang Yin, Su He's heart tightened.
Ye Qingchi also slightly frowned.
Gu Ying had said not to let Jiang Yin know of their close connection with the Duke's Residence, especially about last night's secret discussion - even more so he shouldn't know.
The two had no choice but to temporarily set aside the issue of lifesavers. They bid Jiang Yin a perfunctory greeting and left Changning Street.
Watching their departing backs, the smile at the corner of Jiang Yin's mouth gradually faded away.
With Gu Ying's rebirth and return, she would naturally be able to see through his schemes and make counter moves.
"Heh heh, so what?"
He wanted to stir up some fierce flames to burn Zhao Changdu, the Ye family, the Gu family, and even the Su family into ashes!
...
Gu Ying had slept for a whole day today.
When she woke up, the sky had already darkened again.
She opened her eyes. The large red embroidered golden flower canopy bed was half revealed and half covered. The room was filled with Eldest Prince's faint scent of ambergris.
She stretched out her hand. The other side of the large bed was empty.
After a pause, she remembered that unlike her, Eldest Prince had to go to the palace to attend the morning court during the day. Recently there were many things happening - handing over military tallies, preparing relief supplies, medicine, money and grain. Eldest Prince probably hadn't come back yet.
Not seeing him after waking up, she felt a little empty in her heart, though she didn't know why. She had a very unsettled feeling.
She touched her aching temples. Staying up all night and sleeping for this long still left her with a throbbing headache, as if there were ants gnawing at her brain marrow.
She closed her eyes and lay on the pillow to ease herself for a while. Just as she was about to call for someone, she heard hurried footsteps coming from outside.
Someone swept open the curtains and came in. As the footsteps drew near, Yin Lan's voice carried a blast of icy wind.
"Mistress! Wake up quick, bad news!"
Gu Ying sat up from the bed and looked at Yin Lan's pale face. "What happened?"
"I just heard something happened at Madam Huo's place."
Gu Ying's beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly as she got out of bed and listened to Yin Lan. "The past two days have been cold. After Madam returned from Daiyu Pavilion last night, she caught a cold and stayed up all night unsuccessfully fighting it off - "
Gu Ying became anxious and her complexion changed. "What? Huo Qiyun is dead?"
Yin Lan paused, also not knowing whether to laugh or cry for a moment. She quickly said, "Oh no, it hasn't come to that. If the main madam really died, I'm afraid even Mistress wouldn't have been able to sleep peacefully for an entire day."
"That makes sense." Gu Ying let out a breath of relief and her mood stabilized. She complained, "Can't you speak without taking huge breaths to scare me half to death?"
"But this matter is almost the same as scaring Mistress to death!" Yin Lan was truly anxious now, full of worry on her face. "After staying up all night, Madam Huo slept for a day. When she woke up, she felt even more uncomfortable. So she had someone decoct the medicine for colds we sent over. It was fine without taking it, but after drinking it, she was poisoned!"
Gu Ying's eyebrows were tightly knitted. Where could she sit still? "Poisoned?"
"Yes." Yin Lan swiftly took a cloak for her mistress to put on. "It's chaos over at Madam Huo's now. Lady Cheng's people are already waiting outside Changfeng Pavilion. Without orders from Mistress and Eldest Prince, they can't come in. But this stalemate isn't a solution either. Lady Cheng is quite ruthless. With Madam Huo lying in bed foaming at the mouth, she still refused to let the doctor see her. She insisted on dragging in Mistress to take a look - to see if you intentionally poisoned Madam Huo! "
"Hmph, she is quite vicious."
"Of course she is. Lv Zhi has nearly cried herself into a faint while kneeling and begging the doctor from Lady Cheng and Eldest Young Master."
"Any clues on who poisoned it?"
"Unknown. They only said it reacted after Madam Huo took our medicine. She had been sleeping the entire time without eating anything else."
Gu Ying gave a cold sneer and headed out after tying her sash.
Outside, large snowflakes floated down. Icicle wind lanterns hung under the eaves. The winding bluestone slate road in the yard was covered by layers of thick snow.
Zhuzhi had also rushed over, head covered in snow. She was anxious. "Mistress, Lady Cheng said if anything really happens to Eldest Young Lady Huo today, she'll condemn you as the murderer! What should we do?"
Gu Ying wasn't afraid even if Lady Cheng made threats. Even if His Majesty personally came to interrogate her, the poison wasn't administered by her.
She was just somewhat worried Eldest Prince would be disturbed upon hearing this and lose his composure.
After all, Huo Qiyun was especially important to him.
A man like him had gone crazy once because of Huo Qiyun before. If something really happened to her now... he would probably hate her to death.
She had complex feelings, as if a large hand was fiercely squeezing her heart. Stuffy and unable to breathe for a moment.
Seeing her mistress' worries, Yin Lan carefully asked, "Mistress, something so big has happened. Should we send someone to ask Eldest Prince to come back?"
Gu Ying felt somewhat sour in her heart, but she could still maintain basic rationality and calmness.
She threw all those messy hurt and anguish to the back of her mind. Knitting her brows in contemplation for a bit, she said, "Naturally someone has to quickly invite Eldest Prince back."
