She fell out after crying at the wrong grave

on the official road.

Chu Qingfang rode alone on horseback, heading back from his mother's grave.

The provincial government has stationed soldiers around the military mansion, and it is tightly guarded, leaving Chu Hui no room to enter or leave.

So he seemed to be doing it voluntarily, but in fact he was just trying to save face by giving himself a way out and handing over all the power. He spent his time in the mansion as a sad widower.

This can only deceive others.

Thinking of this, Chu Qingfang sneered.

How she fled for her life in fear on the day her mother was assassinated. If she had not met Hengzhi and A'ao on the way, she would have died in Guangyuan Temple with her mother.

After that, he pondered for several days, but couldn't figure out who he had offended to deserve such a fatal pursuit.

It was not until the second night after returning home from Zhao Hou's private residence that Jiang Xu, whose whereabouts were unknown, suddenly appeared in the deserted mourning hall.

Those who came to pay their respects would not stay overnight in the mansion. In order to ensure everyone's spirits were up, Chu Qingfang also ordered that they should take turns to keep watch and rest.

Just when a group of people received the order and went back to change shifts, Jiang Xu, dressed in mourning clothes, climbed in from the window.

Chu Qingfang had already noticed it when she used a knife to push open the hinge through the gap in the window frame. Fortunately, there were only her and the maid in front of the coffin. The fright in recent days made Chu Qingfang extremely sensitive to inexplicable noises.

She held the dagger in her sleeve and stared quietly at the place where the sound came from.

The man was still clinging to the windowsill when a low voice was heard.

"Miss, it's me."

Chu Qingfang was startled and immediately put away the dagger, stood up and ran to the window.

Jiang Xu was a retainer of the Jiang family in Qinzhou. He had practiced martial arts since he was young and was quite skilled. However, his duty was to guard, not to fight. When he encountered the assassins in Beitang who specialized in killing people, he was inevitably at a disadvantage.

When Jiang Xu escaped, he had several knife wounds on his body and his arm was broken. Not to mention lifting the knife, even moving it was excruciatingly painful.

Before he passed out, he was still thinking sadly that he had failed to accomplish his mission in this life.

Before Mrs. Chu got married, Jiang Xu was her bodyguard. When her father sent her off, he only told her earnestly that she must protect the young lady well.

After traveling all the way from the capital to Kezhou, and seeing how Chu Hui treated her and her daughter over the years, she felt that she had done her best for the master of the Jiang family.

By then, Mrs. Chu will send Chu Qingfang to marry, and her life will be worry-free.

But what I didn’t expect was that this peace that was within my reach was broken by an accidental discovery.

Not long after the Spring Banquet, one day, Mrs. Chu suddenly summoned Jiang Xu into the back house.

Jiang Xu was still wondering in his heart why his wife would break the rules she strictly abided by today and let him meet her in the back house.

It wasn't until he actually met Mrs. Chu that he realized things might not be as simple as he thought.

Mrs. Chu had a stern expression. Although there was no sign of misconduct on her face, her hands were inevitably shaking under her long sleeves.

"Madam, you summoned me, is there something wrong?"

After seeing Jiang Xu, Mrs. Chu obviously relaxed and quickly closed the doors and windows.

Seeing her moving back and forth, Jiang Xu felt more and more uneasy.

"I...I shouldn't have." She said this with a tremor she had never imagined, "I saw something I shouldn't have seen."

Looking up in surprise, Jiang Xu saw that his wife's eyes were red, and he felt something was wrong. Could it be that Chu Hui was having an affair with someone and was discovered by his wife?
He quickly put this thought out of his mind. If Chu Hui was unfaithful, he would have done it long ago. Why did he wait for twenty years to be unfaithful now?

Seeing that Mrs. Chu's emotions seemed to be collapsing, Jiang Xu quickly helped her sit down, stepped back a few steps to distance herself from the details, and patiently asked in detail, "Madam, don't worry, tell me in detail, there will always be a solution."

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Chu became even more agitated, almost crying, "No! No, there is no other way. I know him. If he did that, he would definitely not let go of anyone who knew about it..."

He continued to speak intermittently, "No wonder, no wonder I always smell a strange smell but can't find the source."

No wonder the Zhaohou couple came to the flower garden to look for it.

Everything has cause and effect.

At the end of that day, Jiang Xu still didn't understand who the "he" in Mrs. Chu's tone was.

Mrs. Chu told him to look under the plum tree at night when no one was around.

Jiang Xu went there at night, cut the soil with a knife, and then smelled a strange and fishy fragrance.

There were also some rotten bones covered in blood, faintly appearing white in the black soil.

These are all corpses of living creatures used to deliver messages.

After being passed on once, the person would be killed and buried, and then heavy spices would be used to help the body rot quickly.

The government has its own message stations and would not kill carrier pigeons and hawks in this way.

Jiang Xu frowned deeply and cut the bones mixed with mud with a knife.

There are feathers that have not yet decomposed, long feathers and broken feathers, all of different shapes and colors.

Further down, there are even fish bones.

The tree is far away from the path and is next to the wall. There is soft mud in front of it. After the rain, if you step on it, your shoes will be stuck to it, so most people will not walk here.

It is naturally unacceptable for a letter to not be delivered by ordinary post stations.

How could someone do such a thing in such a big military office?

Jiang Xu couldn't figure it out, and there was no chance for him to figure it out.

He took out a piece of cloth, scooped out some bird bones, fish bones, and soil mixed with spices, wrapped them up carefully, filled the hole, wiped away the footprints, and quickly left the plum tree.

Unexpectedly, He Yong, who was hiding behind the courtyard gate, saw everything these actions did.

He Yong broke into Chu Hui's study room late at night and told Chu Hui the matter quietly.

"If he knows, Xue Shu must know too." Chu Hui put the book in his hand on the table, his emotions unpredictable, "This is really tricky."

He Yong was unsure and had to ask again, "What does the master mean?" Chu Hui immediately looked extremely worried, clenching his fists tightly, as if he was making a sad decision.

"Husband and wife are birds of the same forest."

At night, these words sound sad and cold, like a faint candlelight, flickering and elusive.

"I understand." He Yong looked at him and retreated silently.

No one in the world is as heavy as a thousand pounds. The heaviest thing is always just one's own goal.

Even Chu Hui is the same.

"Even if you do it, don't tell me."

Chu Hui didn't look back, and suddenly said when He Yong opened the door.

If he asked again, Chu Hui was afraid that he would become soft-hearted and let Jiang Xueshu go.

After all, they have been married for twenty years, how could they not have any affection for each other?

But for the teacher, for myself, and for the unfair world, love seems too pale and floating.

Wu Qi killed his wife because he was not clear about his relationship with Qi.

In order to make it clear that he did not associate with Chong or the Shen family, he became Wu Qi, which is also a story that will be passed down through the ages.

His name, Chu Hui, will surely be sung by everyone after the Shen family, who believed in slander, became villains and alienated wise ministers, was punished.

Thinking of this, Chu Hui's heart felt as hot as fire.

The first thing Mrs. Chu considered was Chu Qingfang's future.

During the years of sleeping in the same bed, she also roughly knew that Chu Hui had always been the frustrated one.

Ever since his teacher Qiu Yuan died tragically in prison, the king's uncle Jin Feng took advantage of the situation to ascend to power, and Chu Hui's bright future was ruined as well.

If not for this, when Zhao Hou Hengqi came to the capital many times to invite him, Chu Hui was too proud to agree to be inferior to the military generals.

The night before Qiu Yuan died of illness in prison, he said to Chu Hui earnestly, "Teacher can only accompany you here. Everyone has their own destiny, and God's will cannot be violated."

He also said that since Huize is young, he should have the ambition to be impartial and also learn to judge the situation and prepare for the future.

Chu Hui lost his way for a moment, and all he remembered was how he was bullied by Jin Feng and how he was scolded by Shen Cong as worse than pigs and dogs.

I thought Qiu Yuan's words were a warning to him not to forget to take revenge.

So this memory started from my youth and continues to this day when I am old.

Precisely because they were husband and wife, Mrs. Chu had a deeper understanding of Chu Hui's dissatisfaction.

How can the hatred accumulated over the years be dispelled in an instant?
I heard in the past that the wife of the former Marquis Zhao, Xu, had become estranged from the Marquis and his wife, and that she had been saving money for the prince in Guangyuan Temple every year, so that no matter what happened in the future, she would always have something to rely on.

Mrs. Chu thought about it all night and finally decided to follow suit. She folded all her dowry into gold and silver deeds that were easy to carry and handed them all to the abbot.

On that day, she met Hengzhi's carriage and took the opportunity to ask Jiang Xu to entrust Chu Qingfang's safety to Hengzhi.

But she didn't expect that Chu Hui would act so quickly and decisively.

At the moment of death, his eyes were still open in disbelief.

Jiang Xu told Chu Qingfang everything in detail in front of Mrs. Chu's spirit.

Chu Qingfang almost immediately thought of He Yong and his father together.

This terrified doubt was like a rusty nail that was driven deeply into her heart until the day she met Ah'ao.

I hurried back today to see what trouble this unfaithful and unrighteous father would cause next.

"Miss!" After Mrs. Chu's death, Aunt Jiang, her maid, took charge of the entire backyard with the authorization of Chu Qingfang.

In this family, for the first time, she used her tactical skills and cold-heartedness to replace all the servants who were loyal to her father.

"You are finally back. The officer said he was not feeling well and wanted to ask for a doctor."

Chu Qingfang was so exhausted that he didn't even have time to brush off the dust on his clothes. "Okay, go directly to Xingyun Hall on West Street and ask Shopkeeper Wu to bring a doctor."

"I want to see what's wrong with him."

The further he walked into the courtyard, the more hatred appeared in Chu Qingfang's eyes.

Until several strong palace soldiers followed her, she kicked the study door open.

"Oh? It's Qingfang who's here, hahaha." Chu Hui propped herself up from the bed, her face looking weak, but still pretending to be a kind smile.

Just as he had loved her for the past seventeen years.

It was as if he really was a loving father.

But Chu Qingfang knew that it was all fake.

When he reached Chu Hui, Chu Qingfang stopped and stared at him coldly, with a wet note between his raised fingers.

"You are so sick and dying, but you still ordered someone to secretly put a note in the porridge. Father, you are really good at pretending."

Seeing this, Chu Hui simply stopped pretending, turned over and sat cross-legged, but without the compassion of Buddha.

"Ze Ze." Chu Hui called her by her nickname affectionately, and softened his tone, "Daddy misses you."

In Chu Qingfang's eyes, all this was like an invisible poisonous snake lurking, spitting out its tongue, ready to kill her at any time.

"Really?" Chu Qingfang smiled, but her words were as chilling as winter. "I miss my mother, too."

Since they are father and daughter, of course they are exactly the same in their appearance and inner self.

Chu Hui's smile faded.

(End of this chapter)