Chapter 12: to choose
The atmosphere in the flower hall completely froze.
Everyone didn't dare to talk deeply about the affairs of the DPRK, and seeing Jiang Xuening's frightening posture, he didn't even dare to come out as a peacemaker.
I just wondered in my heart: a girl who has been raised in the farm for fourteen years and has no experience at all, has only been in Beijing for four years, how can she be so scary?
Fortunately, at this moment, the servants outside suddenly looked happy, and rushed to report: "Miss Jin, His Royal Highness Linzi Wang and Prince Yan are already outside."
The previous dispute between You Yue and Jiang Xuening was immediately forgotten by everyone.
Even You Yue herself didn't care for a moment.
The young women in the flower hall chatted among each other, each with a look of yearning or shyness, and some of the brave ones even went to the window by the door to watch.
Only Jiang Xuening was slightly taken aback when he heard the words: Why is Yan Lin here?
But then I felt a headache.
No wonder she came to the uncle's mansion in Qingyuan today, seeing so many people coming to the banquet, it turned out that it was not because the uncle's mansion regained power, but because Yan Lin and Shen Jie were coming!
This is great-
On that day, she declined Yan's impromptu pretext that she would rest at home for two days, but in the end, she came to someone else's house for a banquet during the Double Ninth Festival on September 9, and she was afraid that the jar of jealousy would be overturned.
Chrysanthemum viewing in Qingyuan Bofu is all in the garden. Although male and female guests are separated, one side is in the flower hall and the other side is in the water pavilion. The distance between them is not far away, and both sides have to pass through a long corridor in the garden when entering.
In the flower hall and in the water pavilion, it can be seen from a distance.
When the servant came to announce the time, Yan Lin and Shen Jie had already entered from the outside, and walked up the corridor not long after.
Needless to say, Shen Jietianhuang is a nobleman with a gentle and elegant temperament.
It is rare for Yan Lin today not to wear a sword, and to dress up as a noble son.
Wearing a brocade sky-water blue gown with waist down, a piece of white jade simply hung on the leather belt, the young man is tall and straight, his face is like a crown jade, his eyes are like morning stars, walking up from the long corridor from a distance, like a scorching sun, making people dazzled.
These boudoir girls in the flower hall have already passed the age of ignorance, seeing such an outstanding son and brother for a while, a little spring love sprouted in their hearts.
You Yue was even more dumbfounded, her cheeks were flushed.
She is also eighteen years old this year, and she thinks that her complexion is higher than that of her elder sister, and she is about the same age as Yan Lin. Yesterday when she heard that Prince Yan and the King of Linzi were coming, she secretly speculated why Yan Lin came and almost didn't sleep well all night. When Yan came, his heart was pounding.
"oops!"
A young lady who was leaning against the door and watching suddenly yelled and covered her lips with her hand in surprise.
"Why did Yan Shizi come here?"
Everyone immediately became astonished, and those who could pretend to be calm all stood up and looked out.
Sure enough, Yan Lin stood on the porch, said a few words to Shen Jie who was next to him, and then brought the servant in green beside him to the direction of the flower hall.
Everyone in the hall immediately guessed.
"What is Yan Shizi doing?"
"Who are you looking for?"
"Ah, didn't you come to see Miss You's family?"
The table of You Yue, Jiang Xuening and the others happened to be by the window, and it was the position with the best view in the entire flower hall, where they could see the outside clearly.
Correspondingly, one can get a glimpse of it from the outside.
You Yue heard other people's jokes, and she was happy in her heart, but she was ashamed and annoyed on her face, and she pretended to hit those who were talking about it, she just said: "Don't talk nonsense, our mansion didn't send a post to invite Yan Shizi, yesterday After receiving his reply, saying that he is coming today, the people in the mansion are still puzzled. Who knows why the prince is here?"
It's fine if she didn't say that, but once she said it, it made people speculate: "Then Baba found this, and the Qingyuan uncle's house has a big face."
Jiang Xuening sat in a corner by the window, looked out and said nothing, the secret excitement and shyness of others could not be seen on her face.
No one else's attention was on her.
Only You Shuang glanced at her thoughtfully.
Not long after, Yan Lin approached and came to the window.
Today is the banquet at the uncle's mansion in Qingyuan. It's fine if Shizi Yan only stays with the male guests, but if he is going to the female guests now, it will inevitably make people think: if he is at the uncle's mansion, but also at the female guest's side, and Today he came to the banquet for the sake of saving face, and according to the usual reasoning, naturally he came to see Miss Youfu.
All eyes fell on You Yue for a while.
I don't know whether it is a lot of doubt, a lot of envy, or a lot of jealousy.
You Yue was in the eyes of others, and only felt an unprecedented nervousness, and almost knocked over the teacup by mistake, but this nervousness soon turned into a kind of pride and vanity.
After all, it is the host's house, and it needs to entertain guests.
She took a deep breath, suppressed the heart that was about to jump out of her throat, exhausted her life-long composure, and showed a decent and elegant posture. She stood up slowly and smiled: "Sir Yan —”
Yan Lin grew up in Gaomen, and since he was a child, he didn't know how many women flattered him in front of him. He saw so many pretentious gestures that he didn't even bother to pay her a glance. body.
Jiang Xuening still sat upright.
A pair of clear eyes can be seen from the inside, natural and quiet, but there seems to be a bit of distress hidden in the expression, as if he thinks he is a trouble, which makes people feel angry.
Yan Lin was dissatisfied with her perfunctory and ran to this troublesome Qingyuan uncle's mansion, so he slightly pursed his lips, pulled his face down, and said: "I didn't expect me to come today, did you?"
All eyes around turned "swipe".
You Yue's complexion turned pale, and the decent smile she just put on her face was almost distorted, and she almost turned her head to look at Jiang Xuening with an unbelievable gaze!
Jiang Xuening sighed from the bottom of her heart and didn't answer.
Yan Lin said, "Come out."
There was another sound of gasping around.
Jiang Xuening knew his temper, and guessed that he was annoyed deep inside, so she didn't dare to offend him in front of everyone, fearing that his temper would make everyone unable to get off the stage, so she got up as she said, and left the flower hall.
She just stepped out with her front foot, and her back foot exploded in the flower hall.
The ladies who had longed for Yan Shizi just now couldn't believe their eyes, and they even looked at You Yue strangely.
You Yue, as the host, stood up and was about to greet the guests just after speaking half a sentence. Who would have thought that this distinguished guest would ignore her at all, and instead talked to the second girl Jiang who they thought could not be on stage. The time is more familiar, it is so shocking that people's jaws drop!
How is this different from slapping in the face?
Originally, they thought that Prince Yan and His Royal Highness Linzi came to the banquet because of some unknown ability of the Qingyuan uncle's mansion, but it seems that the words and deeds of Prince Yan just now are not what they imagined.
You Yue stood in place, looking at the two distant figures outside, her face suddenly became colorful, with a very "wonderful" expression.
Yan Lin walked in front.
Jiang Xuening was half a step behind.
Qing Feng and Tang Er were further behind, only following from a distance.
After reaching a secluded place in the corner of the garden, Yan Lin stopped, and looked at her with a half-smile: "I said I would rest at home for two days, but today I showed up at someone else's chrysanthemum appreciation banquet, you deliberately want to be angry." Am I?"
Ever since Jiang Xuening heard that he was coming, she knew that the jar of vinegar was about to be poured.
Now it really fell down.
She raised her eyes to look at him, her eyes were like a pool of clear springs, she only smiled and said: "I also saw the invitation card from Youfu when I went back to the house, it was a temporary decision. Besides, aren't you here now?"
The meaning behind these words was as if she knew that Yan Lin would also come.
Yan Lin couldn't get angry immediately, and felt a little sweetness for no reason.
The corners of his lips that had been pursed earlier could no longer be suppressed, and he smiled genuinely, and said, "I haven't learned much about being serious, but I've mastered my skill at coaxing me!"
Jiang Xuening thought in her heart: Don't you just follow my set?
But he said: "Your Majesty is too courageous, just now there are ladies from other mansions in the hall, you dare to come here. Today's situation is seen by others, I am afraid that I don't know what kind of rumors will be spread later. Woolen cloth."
"Then tell them to pass it on."
There was a bit of domineering expression between Yan Lin's eyebrows, and he didn't pay attention to those things at all.
"In the past, I still had two years to become crowned. It's not good for others to know. I'm afraid that something happened in the middle and you will be trapped by rumors. But now there are only two months left, and I wish the whole world could know about it."
Jiang Xuening was speechless for a moment.
At this time, what she remembered was the **** crowning ceremony of Yanlin in the previous life, when the family was ransacked and exiled for thousands of miles. Once the huge Yan clan was destroyed, it was like the scorching sun falling on the valley, so dark that no light could come out.
Looking at the young man's yearning and yearning for real adulthood, he couldn't help but feel cruel.
Yan Lin saw that her expression was not right, thought she was angry, felt a little embarrassed for a moment, thought for a moment and then changed his words: "But if you are not happy, I will never do such a thing in the future."
Jiang Xuening's heart became more and more desolate.
But Yan Lin took a step up and took her hand: "Your Highness is still waiting for me. Since you came out today, you are not in a hurry to go back. After the banquet is over in the afternoon, you wait for me in the floor. Come out later and take you to see the Lantern Festival."
The young man's hand was holding a sword, and some calluses had grown on his fingertips. When he pulled her palm, there was a heat that penetrated into the skin.
Seeing him smiling and looking at herself, Jiang Xuening couldn't say anything to refuse.
After all, he came to the Qingyuan uncle's mansion after rejecting him first, and if he wanted to reject him again, I was afraid that he would turn his face on the spot and show her, so I had no choice but to accept, saying: "Okay."
Yan Lin didn't want to stay here too long, and mistakenly thought that she was not happy about his high-profile behavior, so he said a few words to her, and told her that Wanmo would drink too much and turn into a drunk cat, and then brought Qingfeng back to the water pavilion .
Jiang Xuening followed the same path and walked back to the Flower Hall.
But after passing a few clusters of flowering trees, suddenly I heard a few cursing from the other side of the flowering tree, passing through the overlapping branches and leaves,
"You little **** let you run!"
"I don't even know who you are. The mansion has raised you for many years, but you dare to rebel!"
"Gag her and press her down to wake up!"
There seemed to be a woman's desperate whimpering in the middle, but it was extremely vague.
Jiang Xuening's footsteps stopped on this quiet road with few people. Suddenly, she realized what was happening on the other side of the flower tree, and rationally urged her to leave quickly.
But the feet didn't listen to them at all.
She didn't know if she was crazy, but she gently raised her hand and pulled away a branch, looking in through the gap.
There is a small lotus pond over there.
It's just that in the late autumn, the lotus and lotus leaves in summer have already withered, leaving a pool full of decay, which has not yet been cleaned up.
At this moment, there are three rough envoys by the pool.
One of them had a black face and wiped his **** wrist with a handkerchief. One of the other two wives grabbed You Fangyin's hand and the other held You Fangyin's head, and threw her into the water. according to!
Jiang Xuening only heard that You Fangyin in her previous life changed her temperament after falling into the water, but she didn't know it was this way of "falling into the water"!
Standing behind her, Tang'er was horrified.
Jiang Xuening felt chills all over her body. The voice that had shouted in her heart before surfaced again, sharper and harsher than last time—
do not go.
do not go.
Everyone has their own destiny, the original You Fangyin was timid and stupid, and would only be bullied. You can only save her for a while, can you save her forever?
And don't you really want to see another You Fangyin?
Don't go, don't go.
You are not the one who killed, you just stood by and watched!
The rough envoys were scolded by the two young ladies for You Fangyin's escape from the firewood house. They hated her, a concubine born to an unknown concubine, who didn't know how to flatter her, and wanted to torture her so that she could be called She has a long memory and dare not do it again in the future.
This is a very heavy hand.
Press the person's head into the water, let her thrash and struggle, and don't let her get up.
You Fangyin was locked in the woodshed for several days, didn't eat much, and was beaten again, how much strength was left?
It's just that after struggling a few times, it can't move anymore.
The water in the pool was icy cold, pouring into her mouth and nose, and it was difficult to breathe. The previous fierce resistance gradually weakened, and a section of her delicate neck slowly sank into the pool water...
What kind of desperate gesture was that?
Jiang Xuening was stunned suddenly.
No one understands the fear of death better than her, because she has experienced it once.
At this moment, seeing You Fangyin no longer struggling, there was a bang in her head: really seeing such an innocent girl being murdered in front of her, and really feeling that the "You Fangyin" she was waiting for came, Can she become close friends with her with a clear conscience like in the previous life?
At that moment, Jiang Xuening's rationality could not be controlled after all, when she yelled "Stop", she knew that the warnings she had given herself in the past few days were all in vain!
She is a selfish person.
But it wasn't bad enough.
The three women by the pool were startled when they heard the sound, and turned their heads to see a lady from the noble family who they didn't know came out from among the flowers and trees, and quickly let go of their hands. It's just that You Fangyin had already lost her strength, and the moment they let go of her hands, she fell from the edge of the pool.
Hearing only a "plop", the person sank to the bottom of the pool.
Seeing this, the two women who did it first turned pale.
Jiang Xuening had no expression on her face, and even her voice was extremely cold and calm, she just said: "Find him up."
The two rough envoys just wanted to punish You Fangyin, how did they expect her to be so troubled?
No matter how humble she is, she is still a concubine in the mansion.
If there is a real incident of death, they can't bear it and walk around!
After being instructed by Jiang Xuening, Dang even came back to his senses and hurriedly fished him up, and when he dragged him to the shore, he was already dripping wet, his face was blue, and his eyes were closed tightly.
The woman who ordered people to do it first also panicked, and hurriedly said: "Quick, take two shots!"
Jiang Xuening stood aside, watching their rescue with cold eyes, and also looked at this familiar face, but her heart was in a trance like never before, and for a moment she couldn't even tell whether she was looking forward to it or fearing it more.
She thought she was being hypocritical.
Obviously she could have come forward to reprimand him earlier, but she had to wait until she was dying before coming out to stop him.
Perhaps, this can comfort myself: it is not that she is unwilling to save her, nor is she intentionally bringing You Fangyin into this world that she hates; she tried her best, but she just couldn't stop it.
"cough!"
The rough envoy patted twice but there was no response, so she slapped the man on the back with great strength in a panic, and pinched the man again, then coughed violently and coughed up all the water that had been choked.
A pair of eyes opened slowly and tiredly.
At this moment, Jiang Xuening didn't stand firm, her body swayed, and she took two steps back.
Those eyes are not intelligent and transparent.
She didn't have the kind of sobriety and indifference that she was familiar with when she was on the outside and looked at the world indifferently.
There was only panic, a clumsy dullness.
not her.
In Jiang Xuening's heart, something crashed to the ground, as if she had been redeemed. But immediately, there was a kind of unparalleled loneliness that surged up and submerged her.