Jinyi Spring

After leaving Xu Fang Bamboo Ware Shop, Xia gave out what she was supposed to give, and then found another small note in her hand.

Xia's palms were sweaty from clenching them.

After having lunch at the steamed bun shop, we bought some more steamed buns with pickled bamboo shoots and braised pork, which the elderly couple liked.

After getting into the carriage, while Kong Xiyan lifted the curtain to look outside, Xia couldn't help but unfold the note.

The note read: "Urgently need one piece each of Ming Changqing's old undergarment and accessories, quickly."

Xia probably guessed what they were going to do, and once again dragged Ming Changqing into it.

She was furious. Not furious that they wanted to frame Ming Changqing, but furious that she had to do so much in such a short time. What if something so difficult to handle got discovered?
However, things have come to this point, and there's no turning back.

She closed her eyes, crumpled the paper into a ball, and put it in her mouth. The paper ball absorbed the water in her mouth, leaving a dry, sticky feeling in her throat. She strained to swallow it. The paper ball cut through her throat, causing a sharp pain.

This time, she won't help him.

After entering the inner courtyard of the Ming Mansion, Kong Xiyan returned to her own courtyard, while Xia Shi went directly to Fu Rong Hall.

After washing and drying his hands in the main room, he went into the east wing.

The old lady was leaning against the kang (a heated brick bed) and dozing off, while a faint scent of sandalwood wafted through the room.

Xia took out a talisman and smiled, "Mother, I specially went to Master Zhang to have your fortune told, and it's an extremely auspicious one."

The old lady's eyes lit up, and she straightened up to take the inscription, which read: "May the pine and cypress remain evergreen, bringing lasting blessings. May the family be peaceful and tranquil, and may the family be filled with children and grandchildren."

The old lady smiled, "A good omen, a good omen. Perhaps Changqing will really be able to bring a wife back this time."

Just then, Madam Ming walked in gracefully.

She smiled at the old lady and said, "Today I had someone tidy up my second uncle's yard. It's been deserted for three years and it's very quiet. I also sent over the clothes and boots that the sewing shop made for him."

The old lady's smile faded slightly, and she sighed softly, "Over the years, the second son has almost turned himself into a monk. Go to the storeroom and get a few brighter decorative items—flower vases, screens, palace lanterns, embroidered stools, and the like. Put two in each room for a festive touch."

Madam Ming smiled and agreed, "Yes, I'll take care of it right away."

Just as Xia was thinking about how to get to Ming Changqing's courtyard, these words were presented to her.

She stood up and said with a smile, "I know what Second Brother likes. Why don't I go to the storeroom, pick out a few items, and personally deliver them to him and set them out?"

The old lady nodded, a glint of something unreadable flashing in her eyes. "That's fine. When you were little, you loved following him around."

Madam Ming laughed and said, "Then I'll take a break from work."

Xia hurriedly left.

The old lady and Madam Ming exchanged a glance, then looked away. In that instant, a hint of mockery flashed in their eyes, understood only by the two of them.

Xia rode in a sedan chair to the front yard storeroom.

She picked and chose in the storeroom, and had someone bring her six flower vases, two Suzhou embroidery screens, four lacquered glass lamps, six flower and bird paintings, three embroidered stools, and a red agate carp ornament, each piece bright and festive.

They loaded two trucks and headed towards Ming Changqing's courtyard.

The year Xia first entered the Ming family mansion, Ming Changqing lived here.

In the courtyard stood several large trees that had lost all their leaves, a few sparse green bamboos, and in the middle stood a lonely wooden fence of weapons, exuding a cold and solemn atmosphere.

Pushing open the door, a chilling emptiness washed over me. A huge portrait of Guan Yu hung on the main wall of the hall, and several weapons dangled on the four walls, cold and lifeless. The tables and shelves were bare, devoid of any decoration, and even the curtains on the canopy bed were a plain blue.

The blue curtains were not something Madam Ming could easily change, and Madam Xia was even less inclined to move them.

She looked around the rooms and, having a general idea of ​​what to expect, instructed her servants to set out the items she had brought. Several servants busied themselves in the main hall, removing the old walnut-framed screen and replacing it with a Suzhou-embroidered screen decorated with plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums. Madam Xia herself carried two small pink porcelain vases into the study in the west wing.

While the servants were hanging flower and bird paintings in the west room, she quietly entered the bedroom, carrying a glass lamp.

Once everything was arranged, the room immediately transformed.

Those few bright colors scattered everywhere were like rays of sunlight filtering through in winter, bringing life to the whole room.

Xia stood in the center of the hall, looked around, and nodded in satisfaction.

She curved her lips into a smile and said softly, "This is more like a house. Second Brother is a noble young master and a general, how could he live in such a desolate place?"

At the beginning of Hai hour, Yuxiang helped Xia Shi onto the bed, lowered the purple silk curtains, went to the table to lift the gauze cover and blow out the candles, and then tiptoed out of the bedroom, gently closing the door behind her.

Xia opened her eyes, but everything in front of her was pitch black.

She waited for more than a quarter of an hour, and when there was no further sound outside, she lifted the bed curtains. Moonlight streamed in through the window paper, making the room hazy, as if shrouded in a thin veil.

She got up and pulled out an old undergarment from under the mattress, which she had secretly brought back from Ming Changqing's courtyard that afternoon.

She buried her face in it, took a few deep breaths, and when she looked up again, her eyes were full of tenderness.

She put on her inner garment, the large robe wrapping around her body, as if she were being gently embraced by someone who didn't exist, so warm that she wanted to cry.

She then pulled out a jade pendant from under the mattress. It was round, greenish-blue, with auspicious cloud patterns around the edges and a ruyi (a traditional Chinese symbol of good fortune) in the center, and it had a warm, lustrous sheen from years of use.

It's a very ordinary piece of jewelry.

Often, the more ordinary something is, the less clear it is.

She then placed the jade pendant on her chest.

These two items were too important for her to ask Sister Juan and her husband to deliver them. Instead, she would invite Madam Xue to the Defuquan Grand Restaurant to meet her and present them to her personally.

The moonlight fell on the tent ceiling, hazy and indistinct, like those dreams that can never be spoken.

That man's heart was made of stone. She ripped out her heart and presented it to him, but he didn't even lift an eyelid, only saying indifferently, "Sister, please have some self-respect."

But once her heart was ripped out, it could never be put back in. For so many years, it has been left there, bleeding and exposed, dried by the wind, scabbed over, but it still hurts when touched.

She hated him. She hated his coldness, his ruthlessness, and the fact that he never even glanced at her. That bitch Xiao Wan was already married and a nun, yet he spent his entire life thinking of her.

But she still loved him.

I've cherished this feeling for so many years, so much so that I've sewn this shameful thought into the dead of night, hidden it in my long dreams, and now, I'm secretly wearing it on my body again.

He's a million times better than Confucius. No, Confucius isn't even worthy to carry his shoes.

Thinking of Kong Rui, the tenderness in Xia's eyes instantly turned to ice.

She herself was very beautiful when she was young, and even the Empress Dowager praised her appearance and character, saying that she was good enough to become a concubine in the palace.

But what about that bastard? He dragged women into the house one after another, completely oblivious to the concept of a "single-minded person."

And that old hag, who humiliated her every day.

That's why she...

It's not her fault. It was Kong Laosan who wronged her first. (End of Chapter)