He Yan didn't have time to speak before Xiao Jue glanced at her, turned around, and walked away.
He Yan didn't have time to take down the lantern in front of him. He hurriedly pushed through the crowd and followed her. The craftsman behind her was stunned and called out to her, "Miss, you forgot to take your lantern!"
But there was no response.
He Xinying also heard the craftsman's call and subconsciously followed the craftsman's gaze. She saw a familiar figure hurriedly leaving.
He Yan was startled. This figure looked exactly like Marquis Wu An, whom she had met at Yu Hua Temple.
She didn't know why, but she had only met He Yan once, but he left a deep impression on her. Xu Zhiheng, who was beside her, asked her, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He Xinying returned to her senses, "Let's look at the lanterns." She was a little anxious.
Ever since she married Xu Zhiheng, whenever he had time, Xu Zhiheng would accompany her to the night market. Recently, Xu Zhiheng had been busy with official business and hadn't come over for two months. Yesterday, when she returned to the Xu family, Xu Zhiheng unexpectedly asked to accompany her for a while. If it was in the past, He Xinying would have been very happy. But now, walking beside Xu Zhiheng, she didn't feel happy. Instead, she felt a little nervous.
Her mother's illness, the assassin that night, and the military book hidden under her dead sister's bedpost. Every one of these was enough to make people suspicious. But she couldn't do anything. She had to pretend that she didn't know anything.
She stared at the colorful lanterns in front of her, but her mind was filled with thoughts of the figure who had hurriedly left just now.
He Yan grabbed Xiao Jue's sleeve with difficulty and said, "Walk slowly. There are so many people here. If we get separated, it'll take a long time to find you. I was stepped on several times just now."
He only walked forward and didn't look back, but his footsteps slowed down a little.
Amidst the bustling crowd, He Yan used all the strength he could muster to grab onto Xiao Jue's sleeve, almost tearing it apart. Finally, they made it out of the crowd, to a place along the river.
"Xiao Jue." He Yan stared at her and asked, "Are you angry?"
Xiao Jue did not say anything.
He tilted his head so He Yan couldn't see his expression clearly, so she stood on her tiptoes to get a closer look. However, Xiao Jue blocked him with her arm and pushed He Yan away.
"Are you really angry?" He Yan said, "I was just …"
"He Yan," Xiao Jue interrupted her. She looked straight at her and asked in a low voice, "Are you …"
He Yan looked at him.
"You still have feelings for Xu Zhiheng?"
"Cough, cough, cough …" She choked and coughed.
"Don't joke around!" He Yan denied, "It's not like you don't know what he did. How could I still have feelings for him?"
"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows and looked at her sharply. "So you're saying that you had 'feelings' in the past?"
He Yan almost couldn't breathe. She was stunned by Xiao Jue's question. What kind of question was this? No matter how she answered, it seemed wrong. He Yan stammered for a while, then whispered, "I didn't have feelings in the past."
Xiao Jue looked at her expressionlessly. He Yan felt guilty and carefully chose her words to lie. "You know, I didn't have the power to choose in my previous life. After I switched identities with He Rufei, I naturally had to follow whatever my family said … The He Family arranged for me to marry Xu Zhiheng, so I married him. I didn't … I didn't have feelings for him."
He Yan inexplicably felt guilty, as if her husband had found out about her adultery. She also had a headache. She had just looked at Xu Zhiheng under the lanterns. Who knew that it would cause so much trouble? However, if she thought about it this way, it seemed that she was the one with a guilty conscience. After all, Xiao Jue had never had any other girls before her.
"But I heard that when you married Xu Zhiheng, you liked him very much." He looked at the river below the railings with a calm gaze.
He Yan quivered. "Who said that? Who spread rumors about me behind my back? She deserves to be punished! "
Xiao Jue looked at her indifferently. He Yan froze for a moment and lowered her head. "Okay, when I didn't know that he was this kind of person, I liked him … a little." She used her pinky and thumb to point. "Just a little. An ant is big. I can crush it with my foot."
Xiao Jue was so angry that she laughed. She lazily said, "Then tell me, why do you like him? Even if you don't know what kind of person he is, your taste, "she sized up He Yan," is much lower than ordinary people. "
Was he scolding Xu Zhiheng or himself? He Yan thought to himself. Normally, he didn't think that when the Young Master was angry, it was really hard to coax him. Why did he ask such an embarrassing question? It was tantamount to taking a knife and dismembering someone. However, the person in front of her was staring at her. His beautiful eyes were full of scrutiny.
He Yan sighed. "At that time, I just thought that this person was very good."
Xiao Jue smiled mockingly.
"Do you remember that time when you secretly gave me a rabbit during the Eastern Mountain Hunt?" He Yan asked.
"Yes."
"In order to make the Emperor happy, the teachers in the Xian Chang Dojo put in all their effort to compete. They set a rule that if they didn't catch any prey, they couldn't eat and had to starve for an entire day."
Now that He Yan thought about it, she still felt indignant. "The person who set this rule was simply sick. Even prisoners on death row were given a full meal. Just because they didn't catch any prey, they made such an inhumane punishment … Although you gave me a rabbit that day, I let it go. I didn't catch any prey. "
If it was summer, it would be fine. However, the feeling of starving on a snowy day was really unbearable. When the hunt was over, He Yan looked at the youths around her who were returning from a rewarding journey in twos and threes. Her heart was extremely uncomfortable.
That was when she met Xu Zhiheng.
At that time, Xu Zhiheng was only a fifteen-sixteen-year-old youth. He was dressed in black and looked handsome and gentle. He Yan walked to the place where she put her bundle with an empty stomach. The snow on the ground was very deep. She went to the hunting ground in the morning and didn't come out until the sky was dark. She was really weak. She didn't pay attention to a piece of Shi Tou buried in the snow. She accidentally kicked it and fell. Half of her body fell into the snow and she didn't get up for a long time.
Just as she was flopping around in the snow, she suddenly heard a voice in front of her: "Are you okay?"
He Yan raised his head and saw a young man in green robes.
This youth looked unfamiliar. He shouldn't be a student of the Xianchang Gymnasium. However, today's hunt in the mountain was also attended by students from other gymnasiums. She guessed that he was a student from another gymnasium.
He Yan was still in a daze. That youth actually smiled. He directly reached out and grabbed her hand, saying: "Let me help you." He pulled her up from the snow.
She was still wearing the mask on her face. The mask was cold, but the youth's hand was very warm.
"My name is Xu Zhiheng. Brother, are you a member of the Xianchang Gymnasium?"
He Yan randomly nodded her head.
"I heard that the rules of the Xianchang Gymnasium are very strict. If you don't catch any prey today, you'll have to starve." Xu Zhiheng looked at her empty hands, "It's a pity that I didn't go hunting. Otherwise, I could give you one of the prey."
In the Xianchang Gymnasium, she could be considered a loner. She didn't have many friends. Because of her mask, other people also felt that she was quite unsociable. They were too lazy to approach her. This was the first time they met such a warm-hearted person. For a moment, she didn't know what to say.
"Are you going over there to get your bundle?" Xu Zhiheng asked: "How about I help you? You can't even walk. "
He Yan was about to say that there was no need, but as soon as she lifted her foot, she felt a severe pain in her ankle. It seemed that she had just twisted it. Thinking of this, she slightly nodded her head towards the youth and blushed: "Thank you very much." She then pointed at the red bundle: "That's mine."
Xu Zhiheng then turned around and went to the high platform to help He Yan get her bundle. After he retrieved the bundle, he handed it to He Yan. He then supported her all the way to the carriage where the students of the Xianchang Gymnasium were sitting before leaving.
At that time, He Yan looked at Xu Zhiheng's back and felt that this youth was really warm and considerate.
When she returned to the Xianchang Gymnasium, sure enough, she didn't have anything to eat that day. He Yan hid in the room alone and poured herself some hot tea. The more she drank, the hungrier she felt. Her stomach rumbled incessantly.
But what could she do? The rules of the Xianchang Gymnasium were the strictest. Moreover, she really didn't hunt anything. If she really wanted to go, she wouldn't be able to bring herself to do it. After sitting for a while, He Yan helplessly sighed. She took the bundle and prepared to put away the paper and brush she had brought during the day. As soon as she opened the bundle, two glistening yellow loquats rolled out from inside.
How could there be loquats at this time of the year?
He Yan stared blankly for a moment. She subconsciously picked up the loquats. The loquats were big and heavy. She could faintly smell their fragrance. This bundle had always been placed on the high platform. During the group hunt, the students only brought quivers and arrows for the sake of convenience. After thinking about it, the only person who had touched this bundle was that black-clothed youth called Xu Zhiheng.
She peeled off the loquat and took a small bite. The fruit was sweet. When she thought about that youth's face and smile, she felt that her luck today wasn't too bad.
A few years later, when He Yan returned from the battlefield and exchanged identities with He Rufei, Madam He told her that she had arranged a marriage for her. The other party's name was Xu Zhiheng. In addition to being astonished, He Yan also felt a trace of joy. The marriage of the He Family's women had always been to pave the way for the men. Compared to marrying a stranger she had never met before, marrying Xu Zhiheng was clearly the best choice she had.
Regardless of how outsiders praised Xu Zhiheng for being young and promising, in He Yan's heart, she only felt that the ten-year-old Xu Zhiheng was able to take care of someone he had met by chance. He was definitely a good person. At that time, she actually had a lot of expectations for this marriage. Later on, even though Xu Zhiheng favored He Wanru and He Wanru had always flaunted in front of her, He Yan still had some fantasies about Xu Zhiheng because of the two loquats he had in his youth.
Until he became blind, until Xu Zhiheng personally broke this fantasy bit by bit.
"So," Xiao Jue said playfully, "you like him because of those loquats?"
"You can say that." He Yan said, "I just feel that he can take care of other people's feelings and see through other people's difficult situations. At least he's a good person."
"You really like him so casually." Xiao Jue sneered and walked forward. After taking two steps, she stopped and said coldly, "Those two loquats were given by me."
He Yan was stunned.
He had already continued to walk towards the river. He Yan was stunned for a moment, then caught up with him in a few steps and grabbed his sleeve. "How is that possible? You're lying to me, right? "
Xiao Jue lowered his head and looked at her with a calm gaze.
That year, when Lin Shuanghe had proposed to give He Yan a rabbit, he couldn't help but shoot one. He Yan, however, had set the rabbit free. Because he remembered his own experiences in the mountains when he was young, he began to treat this boy who didn't seem to have any strong points in a different light. He also knew that the students who didn't manage to hunt today would starve when they returned to the Xianchang Hall.
As the winner of this group hunt, Xiao Jue received a lot of rewards. The people in the palace even gave him food, and there were two loquats in it.
At this time of the year, loquats weren't available everywhere. He originally didn't have much interest in this sweet fruit. When he was leaving, he passed by the high platform and caught a glimpse of a red bundle in the corner. He vaguely remembered that this bundle seemed to belong to "He Rufei".
That boy didn't manage to hunt anything today. When he returned, he would starve for the night. It was also winter, so he was afraid that it would be difficult for him to endure. He looked at the imperial food basket in his hand and thought of the first time he met "He Rufei". He saw this guy standing under the loquat tree in the Xianchang Hall, jumping up and down with all his might, trying to pick loquats. It was extremely comical. After thinking about it, he stopped and took out the two loquats from the basket and stuffed them into the red bundle.
He Yan stuttered, "It can't be? You really gave them to him? "
Xiao Jue quietly looked at him.
He Yan thought to himself, "This is the end. This is like Xiao Jue doing something good, but Xu Zhiheng intercepted it. It was a freak combination of factors. How could he be happy?" But at this critical juncture, how could he calm his anger?
"Today is your birthday, and I forgot to take the lamp just now. What do you want as a congratulatory gift …" She awkwardly changed the topic. Then, she caught a glimpse of someone selling tanghulu on the opposite side of the street. She said, "Wait here." She rushed over and bought a tanghulu. Then, she ran back and handed it to Xiao Jue. "Here!"
Xiao Jue turned his head.
He was probably really angry.
He Yan was in a difficult position. There was no way to undo the past. She did have feelings for Xu Zhiheng and married Xu Zhiheng, but Xiao Jue didn't. She had never experienced what Xiao Jue was feeling at this moment, but she knew that it wasn't a good feeling.
He Yan walked around him, "Xiao Jue, Xiao Jue?"
Xiao Jue avoided her gaze and only looked at the flowing river under the railings.
She didn't know when it started snowing, but the snowflakes fell on her body. He Yan finally felt cold when she was far away from the crowd in the night market. She suddenly remembered what Qing Mei said to her before she left.
He Yan glanced at Xiao Jue, but he still didn't look at her. She sneezed exaggeratedly and said to herself, "It's so cold."
The next moment, she felt warmth from the sky. Xiao Jue turned around and took off his cloak to cover her. He was finally willing to turn around and look at her.
He Yan quickly took advantage of the situation and threw herself in front of him, "You're not angry anymore?"
Xiao Jue helped her tie the rope in front of the cloak, but he still didn't look at her.
Xiao Jue's cloak was very big, almost covering He Yan's entire body. He Yan was afraid that Xiao Jue would be cold, so he leaned very close to Xiao Jue. Just like that night when he was drunk, he was almost sticking to him. She looked up and teased Xiao Jue, "Commander Xiao, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mistaken you for someone else. Today is your birthday. Don't be angry. Smile? If you don't want to smile … have a bite of candied fruit? "
She raised the candied fruit to Xiao Jue's lips. Suddenly, her hand was grabbed.
He Yan was startled. She subconsciously raised her head and met his shimmering black eyes.
The young man's facial features were no longer as delicate as they were when he was young. Like the moonlight on a snowy mountain, his facial features were clear and clean, and he was beautiful and flawless.
He held He Yan with one hand and pulled her into his embrace. He leaned over and kissed her.
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