Chapter 242: You Say, I Do

The night is long and the hours are deep, the orchid candles are shedding tears.

In the main room of Wang Yang's house, Wang Yang frowned and was pacing.

Chen Qingshan and little A-Wu were also not asleep. The two sat on the right side of the screen that separated the main room from the front hall, silently watching Wang Yang pacing in the dim candlelight, his figure changing.

According to Chen Qingshan's observation, Wang Yang's pacing had characteristics. Most of the time he walked extremely slowly, and the distance was extremely short. He walked at most four steps in the same direction before turning back. As for turning, it was even slower. With one foot as the center, he moved bit by bit. Sometimes his left hand would pinch the edge of his right palm, pinch, release, pinch again, release, usually lasting three or four times, and his head would also tilt slightly, looking a bit dull, a bit silly, and a bit cute.

However, most of the time he looked very wise. As for what exactly a wise look was, Chen Qingshan couldn't describe it herself. Perhaps it was his expression of extreme focus? Or perhaps his deep and profound gaze? In short, his eyes, his nose, his eyebrows, and the corners of his lips all gave Chen Qingshan a very wise and steady feeling, and of course, he was also very good-looking.

This feeling was especially obvious when he was counting with his fingers.

His fingers were very long, and his fingertips shone with a warm luster under the candlelight. First, his thumb slowly buckled into his palm, then his index finger, middle finger... After all five fingers fell, he would stretch them out one by one. Sometimes he would hesitate, as if he couldn't decide for the moment whether this finger should fall or stretch; sometimes his five fingers would hover and move in the air, as if falling but not falling, as if stretching but not stretching, as if plucking strings.

If he suddenly put his hand down and quickened his pace, it meant he was going to the table to write, but he wouldn't write for long, only for a short while, then he would turn around and start pacing again.

He rarely paced back and forth like this when thinking about problems. He must have encountered something very, very difficult. Chen Qingshan supported her face with her hands, and like Wang Yang, she was lost in thought... As for little A-Wu, she had long been drowsy and losing consciousness, but she was still holding on and not sleeping: what if the Young Master wanted a midnight snack or to change the candle?

After an unknown amount of time, Wang Yang stopped at the window, stretched, and then saw a big and a small figure leaning by the screen in the mirror, and was suddenly startled.

"Why aren't you asleep yet?!"

Chen Qingshan whispered: "Waiting for you."

A-Wu had long lost consciousness, and when she heard the movement, she just made a sound.

Wang Yang couldn't laugh or cry: "What are you waiting for me for? Look at how sleepy the child is, hurry up and hug her to the couch to sleep!"

Chen Qingshan hugged little A-Wu to the small couch behind the screen and covered her with a quilt. Wang Yang said: "You sleep too, I'll blow out the candle."

Chen Qingshan looked at Wang Yang and blurted out:

"I'll go with you."

Wang Yang was startled:

"Didn't we agree, this trip is very safe, and it won't be needed at all—"

"You lied to me." Chen Qingshan stared at Wang Yang's eyes.

Wang Yang was startled again, and then looked innocent:

"I really didn't lie to you! I even wanted to take you to play! But I asked and found out that the mission has a limit on the number of people! You don't know, this mission is not like others, the entourage must be registered, and now the quota is full, there is no way to add more people..."

Chen Qingshan's phoenix eyes narrowed slightly: "You lied to me again."

Wang Yang said he was wronged:

"Really, really! If I were the main envoy, I would definitely take you! No one could stop me! But the problem is that I don't have the final say! I even specifically told my uncle that I wanted to take my Xiao Shan, but Uncle said it wouldn't work. I was furious on the spot! I said my Xiao Shan is beautiful and has good skills, why not take her? Uncle said there was no way, if I had said it a few days earlier it might have been possible, but now the mission list has already been reported. You don't know, it's strictly checked now, the so-called 'imperial order cannot be disobeyed'—"

Chen Qingshan's phoenix eyes were full of anger, her fingers gripped her clothes, and her tone suddenly raised:

"You always lie to me!!! You lied to me since the first time we met! Last time I asked you about that belt! You even said you—"

Seeing that Chen Qingshan was anxious and flipping through old accounts, Wang Yang hurriedly lowered his voice:

"Keep your voice down, keep your voice down, don't wake the child!"

Chen Qingshan was stunned.

Wang Yang:???

Seeing that he couldn't coax her, Wang Yang pulled Chen Qingshan to the table and sat down, saying extremely seriously:

"I like to be thorough in my work, but things in this world are rarely perfect. Things that can't be done, just pass after some setbacks, it's no big deal. But some things, as long as you make a mistake once, you will never recover, such as things that lose your life. This mission is a matter that may lose your life. This is not a novel, and I don't have the ability of Zhuang Zhou to kill through the encirclement with one sword; this is not in the city, where I can use my name, my law, my prestige, and my power. This time it is not even about poetry and rhapsodies, talking about classics and history. There are too many uncontrollable factors, and too many accidents that may happen. I calculated and calculated, there is no perfect strategy, so I let you stay at home."

Chen Qingshan did not hesitate at all, her clear eyes were stubborn and firm, and her thinking was exceptionally clear:

"It is precisely because it cannot be perfect that I must go even more. You once told me, 'A lonely son is easy to break, but a connected force is hard to break.' You have no force this time, but you have me."

Wang Yang was moved by this and whispered: "I also have force."

"Add me, the force is even more complete."

"You alone can't make much of a difference to the force."

"Single horse breaking the formation, beheading generals and seizing flags, you say, I do."

Chen Qingshan's voice was very light, as if she were talking about a very ordinary trivial matter, but between her brows, her heroic spirit was blooming, like the first ray of dawn facing the thick dark night, lonely, dazzling, and unstoppable.

Wang Yang couldn't refuse such determination, so he changed the angle to persuade, reminding:

"You still have to find out the truth for your father."

Chen Qingshan's gaze lowered, and she remained silent. Her long eyelashes cast shallow shadows in the candlelight, like a bird folding its wings, but she only remained silent for a moment before raising her eyes again, her gaze like a strong arrow that would not return, like a bright star that would not fall:

"Some things are more important than finding out the truth."

Wang Yang's gaze shook.

After Chen Qingshan finished speaking, her face turned red, and she stumbled:

"I... I sleep... no! I... I'm going back to sleep!"

Then she ran out of the room as if fleeing.

However, she soon returned, poked her head out and said: "I'm definitely going!" After speaking, she didn't give Wang Yang a chance to refuse and disappeared quickly.

After two seconds, she came back again, leaning against the door and adding: "I'm bringing the lance!"

Wang Yang smiled helplessly and nodded.

Chen Qingshan was relieved and left.

The light in Wang Yang's room stayed on for another hour before it went out.

The dawn color penetrates the window, and the curtains roll up the morning glow.

Slowly opening the makeup box, the fragrance is curling, lightly sweeping the eyebrows, fresh and clever.

Xie Xinghan was combing her hair by the morning window, looking in the mirror, her movements slow and delicate, her expression very serious.

Xiao Ning held a gilded silver hairpin box and approached, with five hairpins neatly arranged on the red silk lining.

Xie Xinghan said while drawing her eyebrows: "Not this box."

Xiao Ning said oh, turned and left, and soon brought back a black lacquer gold-painted jewelry box, opening the lid gently.

Xie Xinghan glanced through the mirror: "I want the blue jade hairpin."

Xiao Ning put down the box, took out the cloud-water blue jade hairpin, and while pinning it for Xie Xinghan, said indignantly:

"Young Xie Xie Niangzi, Steward Zhang came to urge again, saying that if there is nothing to do, let us set off quickly. Relying on being from the main courtyard and being sent by the Master, she urges three times a day! Just now she was asking around about where the Young Xie Xie Niangzi has been these past few days!"

Steward Zhang was sent by Xie Xinghan's father to pick her up. Although she arrived the day before yesterday, she had already urged several times.

Xie Xinghan tilted her head to examine the hairpin and said: "Let her in."

Before long, Xiao Ning led in a middle-aged woman wearing a brown skirt. As soon as the woman entered the door, she knelt and saluted, but her eyes kept glancing at the dressing table:

"This old woman wishes the Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi a good morning. The Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi's complexion is really good, I think she slept peacefully last night! I wonder if we can set off today?"

Xie Xinghan didn't look back, just carefully drew her eyebrows in the bronze mirror: "Who said we are setting off today?"

Steward Zhang asked tentatively: "Then the Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi's meaning is..."

"The business is not finished yet, and I can't leave."

Steward Zhang asked suspiciously: "But this old woman heard that the business was finished long ago."

Xie Xinghan put down her eyebrow pencil and looked carefully at the depth of her eyebrows in the mirror: "Who did you hear that from?"

Steward Zhang didn't think much and said: "Li Qi."

"Xiao Ning, call Li Qi over."

Steward Zhang was even more puzzled, why call him over?

Xiao Ning responded and left. Steward Zhang moved her feet uneasily:

"Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi, this old woman is dull-witted, I don't know why you are calling Li Qi..."

Xie Xinghan smiled slightly: "Just asking. Is Steward Zhang used to living here? The weather here is hotter than Jiankang, and the room is small, so I have to wrong you for a while. Later, I will have someone send you some plum syrup, chilled with well water, which is best for relieving the heat."

Steward Zhang apologized and thanked her, feeling confused in her heart, not knowing what the Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi meant. Li Qi came quickly, bowed and saluted: "I have seen the Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi."

Xie Xinghan turned around, and the smile on her face disappeared: "Li Diancai, did you say that the business in Jingzhou was finished?"

Li Qi was startled and looked at Steward Zhang.

Steward Zhang's expression was embarrassed.

Xie Xinghan's voice turned cold: "I am asking you, don't look at others."

Li Qi answered in a panic: "I... I saw that the goods on each ship were purchased, so... so I thought..."

"Is the business decided by you or by me?"

Li Qi hurriedly said: "Of course, it is decided by the Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi."

"Then I, the one who decides, don't know, but you, who don't decide, know instead?"

Li Qi stammered and couldn't answer. Steward Zhang was also shocked, wanting to open her mouth to plead, but afraid of being rejected to her face like Li Qi, hurting her face.

"Regardless of whether the business is finished or not, it is not something you can spread and discuss at will. Those who disrupt the tongue should be whipped. You used to follow my eldest brother, so I will save you some face and won't punish you this time. If there is a next time..."

Li Qi hurriedly bowed to apologize, saying he didn't dare.

After Li Qi retreated, Xie Xinghan said kindly to Steward Zhang:

"I still have to delay in Jingzhou for a while, I have to handle the affairs here before I can go back."

Steward Zhang respectfully replied:

"The Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi is right, but I... to the Master..."

Xie Xinghan interrupted her:

"When the Master is here, you listen to the Master. When the Master is not here, you listen to me."

Steward Zhang felt cold in her heart, feeling her knees go soft, and immediately apologized carefully:

"Naturally, naturally, I will listen to the Fourth Young Xie Xie Niangzi's orders."

Xie Xinghan smiled brilliantly:

"Don't urge about going back in the future. You live here with peace of mind, and walk around. You report all expenses, and I will approve them."

Steward Zhang felt that her knees were getting softer and softer. ===== CHAPTER 243 =====

Zhang Guanfu felt that his knees were becoming increasingly weak.