The Prime Minister’s Daughter and the Marquis’s Fool – Chapter 237
by Little PandaExtra 12
Mother Misses Mother
“The common folk who entered the city today number roughly fifty thousand by a rough count. To assemble this many people all at once, they must have put in considerable preparation.” Xiao Bingying walked alongside Qu Sheng, speaking as they went.
Qu Sheng nodded. “These people have clear divisions of labor. For the common folk to learn about this and arrive so quickly, these agitators certainly played their part.”
“What do you plan to do?” Xiao Bingying asked, her voice tinged with worry.
“Before I left the palace, I already ordered Xi Kuan to cooperate with the Ministry of Justice in investigating this matter. They should have made moves by now. Tonight, we’ll go scout it out first,” Qu Sheng replied.
Xiao Bingying nodded. “All right.”
The two walked along the streets, but so many people had flooded into the city that quite a few had laid out bedding right on the ground and were sleeping in the open.
Qu Sheng looked at the common folk sprawling along the edges of the street. If these people were already poor and destitute, seeking only medicine to save their loved ones, only to find in the end that it had all been for nothing — what would their reaction be when they learned the truth?
The deeper Qu Sheng’s thoughts went, the heavier her heart grew. The two slipped into an alley and made their way toward the temple that Zhao Jiayu and the others had visited today.
The temple was called Guanhe Treasure Temple.
The temple had already closed its gates, but when Qu Sheng and the others peered over the wall, they saw a number of monks armed with staves patrolling on guard duty. According to Jin Mingyi, none of these had been seen during the day — apart from the common folk, there had only been ordinary young novices and elderly monks expounding sutras.
What kind of temple enforced such strict security at night?
“Should we go in?” Xiao Bingying glanced sideways and asked in a low voice.
Qu Sheng gave a small nod. “We’ll go through the rear courtyard.”
The two circled around to the back of the temple. It was the hour when lights should have been extinguished and everyone resting, yet the rear courtyard was ablaze with light.
Avoiding the patrolling monks, the two leapt onto the rooftop. Xiao Bingying lifted a roof tile and peered at the scene below.
Large bundles of silver were spread across a table, and a group of shaven-headed monks sat to one side, counting it all. Qu Sheng looked down and spotted someone seated on the other side of the monks.
A man in layman’s clothes of obvious wealth was drinking tea with the temple’s abbot, watching the monks count the silver.
Qu Sheng studied the man. After a moment, something seemed to click. She stood up, tapped Xiao Bingying, and signaled with her eyes that it was time to leave.
When the two returned to the small courtyard house, Xiao Bingying said, “That man looked like a trained fighter to me.”
“Calluses on the web of his hand, and though his posture seemed relaxed, it still carried the ingrained habits of long practice,” Qu Sheng replied.
Xiao Bingying’s eyes flickered as something occurred to her. She blurted out, “Someone from the military camps.”
Qu Sheng nodded, her expression grave.
Qu Sheng returned to her room. Lin Xizhao was lying on the bed, not yet asleep. Hearing the door open, she turned to look.
“You’re back?” Lin Xizhao asked softly, seeing Qu Sheng enter dressed in night-traveling clothes.
Qu Sheng looked up, her gaze tender. She nodded. “Mm. Why aren’t you asleep yet, my wife?”
Lin Xizhao slowly rose, the snowy-white sleeping robe slipping from her shoulder to reveal a swath of pale skin. She replied, “I was worried about you.”
They hadn’t brought many people on this trip, and they were unfamiliar with the area. Naturally, she had been anxious about Qu Sheng going out at night like that.
Qu Sheng walked to the bedside. Lin Xizhao had already gotten up and reached out to help her undress, peeling off the black night-traveling clothes and setting them on the wooden rack nearby. She turned to fetch a sleeping robe for her, but before she’d even completed the turn, Qu Sheng had pulled her back in.
Qu Sheng wrapped her arm around Lin Xizhao’s slender waist, recalling the glimpse of skin Lin Xizhao had inadvertently revealed when she came in. It had stirred a hunger in her.
“Ning’er is still in the room.”
As Qu Sheng leaned down to kiss her, Lin Xizhao raised a hand and pressed it against Qu Sheng’s lips.
Qu Sheng glanced toward the bed, laughter in her eyes. She whispered, “She’s asleep.”
Lin Xizhao was somewhat helpless. When Qu Sheng clasped her firmly against her chest, she no longer resisted.
Their lips met. Qu Sheng gently squeezed Lin Xizhao’s slender waist, and the pressure of the kiss gradually deepened, pressing Lin Xizhao backward until she was leaning away, barely able to hold her ground.
Qu Sheng pressed forward relentlessly, pinning Lin Xizhao against the bed’s railing, her lips and tongue still drinking hungrily.
“Mother, Mother, what are you doing?”
At some point, the little one who had been fast asleep on the bed had woken up. She stared with wide eyes — the same eyes that, like Qu Sheng’s, could see in the dark — at the scene before her, thoroughly shocked.
The two, nearly pressed together as one, froze instinctively at the sound of their daughter’s voice. Lin Xizhao quickly pushed Qu Sheng away.
The two looked at their daughter on the bed, unsure how to explain what had just happened.
Lin Xizhao’s face was faintly flushed. Qu Sheng was slightly awkward. The little one on the bed was blank and bewildered, her mind entirely empty.
Qu Sheng licked her lips. Seeing Lin Xizhao go over to hold their daughter, she feigned a cough and said, “Your mother had something in her eye just now. Mother was helping her get it out.”
Qu Ning was no longer the infant who would only giggle at the sight of them kissing. Qu Sheng’s words didn’t fool her for a moment.
But as her mother came to hold her, Qu Ning caught a close-up glimpse of the flush on Lin Xizhao’s face, and suddenly understood what they had been doing.
Qu Ning said nothing. Her gaze traveled between the two of them. After a moment, she shifted her small body.
“Where are you going?” Lin Xizhao watched her daughter climb off the bed, clutching a small square pillow, with no idea where she was headed.
Qu Ning put on her shoes and looked back with a smile. “Your daughter wants to sleep with Mu-jiejie tonight. Mothers, rest early.”
The little one didn’t wait for Lin Xizhao and Qu Sheng to agree. Clutching her clothes, she skipped happily toward the door.
When Qu Ning opened the door and was about to pull it shut, Qu Sheng reached out and stopped it with her hand. She looked down, her gaze tender and a little apologetic. “Mother will walk you over.”
Qu Ning could see in the dark, and there were guards on duty in the courtyard, but she was still a little girl. Qu Ning looked up at Qu Sheng, and a moment later, Qu Sheng crouched down and scooped her up.
Mother and daughter walked outside. Qu Ning looked ahead, while Qu Sheng kept studying her daughter.
“Ning’er.” Halfway there, Qu Sheng spoke first.
“Mm?” Qu Ning turned to look at her mother.
Qu Sheng lowered her gaze. “Mother lied just now. Mother wasn’t examining your mother’s eyes.”
Qu Ning saw her mother’s rare look of embarrassment. She was blank for a moment, then quickly laughed. “Ning’er knows. Mother was missing Mother.”
Qu Sheng was stunned by her daughter’s explanation for a moment, then laughed helplessly and asked, “Who told you that?”
“Mu-jiejie said so. She said adults miss each other, even though they can see each other all the time, they still miss each other — just like that, missing each other.” As Qu Ning spoke, she recalled what she had just seen — the two adults being so intimate…
Qu Sheng smiled at her daughter, who had actually offered to give them the room. “Yes. Mother was missing Mother.” Qu Sheng admitted it openly.
In truth, she had only wanted to kiss her wife. After all, their daughter was growing up — they couldn’t do much more in the room anyway.
Still, her daughter was this thoughtful. Qu Sheng accepted the gesture.
Qu Sheng carried Qu Ning and knocked on Qu Zhimu’s door. Qu Zhimu had already gone to bed and was still groggy from being woken.
Qu Zhimu opened the door with a yawn. Seeing that it was Qu Sheng and Qu Ning, she asked in a lazy voice, “Little Aunt, is something wrong?”
Qu Ning spoke first. “Jiejie, Ning’er wants to sleep with you tonight.”
Qu Zhimu looked at Qu Ning, blinked, and opened the door wider. “Then come on in.”
Qu Sheng set Qu Ning down. The little one stepped through the doorway and turned to Qu Sheng. “Mother, hurry back. Don’t keep Mother waiting too long.”
Qu Sheng smiled helplessly and replied, “All right.”
Qu Sheng had barely turned around when Qu Zhimu asked, “Why do you suddenly want to sleep with me?”
Qu Ning blinked, closed the door behind Qu Zhimu, and said mysteriously, “I saw Mother kissing Mother.”
Qu Zhimu’s eyes, still groggy a moment ago, instantly lit up. “Quick, tell me — what kind of kiss was it?” Qu Zhimu pulled Qu Ning toward the bed.
Early the next morning, Qu Sheng — who had worn Lin Xizhao out all night — was in exceptionally high spirits. Lin Xizhao lay in bed, her eyes heavy. When Qu Ning returned from Qu Zhimu’s room, Lin Xizhao had no choice but to prepare to get up and help her daughter wash and dress.
Just then, Qu Sheng came back from outside. Seeing Lin Xizhao about to get out of bed, she quickened her pace. “I’ll handle Ning’er’s washing and dressing. Sleep a little longer, my wife.”
Lin Xizhao, half-risen, paused at Qu Sheng’s words. Her entire body was sore — all because of Qu Sheng’s lack of restraint the night before.
Qu Sheng smiled at Lin Xizhao and led her daughter to the dressing table.
Qu Sheng’s hands were exceedingly deft. She had styled Lin Xizhao’s hair before, and the coiffure she now arranged for her daughter was especially gentle and graceful.
Qu Ning gazed at herself in the bronze mirror. She knew she looked very much like her mother, yet she lacked even a tenth of her mother’s gentle grace. The hairstyle Qu Sheng had arranged for her seemed to fill that small gap.
Even Lin Xizhao on the bed couldn’t help but brighten when she saw her daughter approach.
“Mother, does it look nice?” Qu Ning stood at Lin Xizhao’s side, her small hand resting on the butterfly hairpin Qu Sheng had inserted for her.
Lin Xizhao’s brows curved, her expression tender. “It’s beautiful.”
Hearing the praise, Qu Ning turned her smiling eyes to Qu Sheng. Qu Sheng’s lips curved slightly, and Qu Ning laughed and headed out, saying as she went, “Your daughter is going to show Mu-jiejie and the two little ones!”
Qu Sheng watched her daughter leave from the corner of her eye. When she turned back, she saw Lin Xizhao was also looking in the direction their daughter had gone. Qu Sheng sat down beside her with a smile and kissed her soft lips. “I’m sorry for wearing you out last night, my wife. I’ll bring you breakfast in a bit.”
Lin Xizhao shot her a playful glare. “Better not.” Lin Xizhao wasn’t buying it.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t used to Qu Sheng doting on her like this. But they were all traveling together, and if she didn’t show up for breakfast, someone might notice something. She had no desire to be teased by Zhao Jiayu about it.
Speaking of Zhao Jiayu — she had brought back a Buddha statue a few days ago and knelt devoutly in prayer before every meal. Lin Xizhao didn’t think Zhao Jiayu was overreacting, though.
When it came to matters of gods and buddhas, Lin Xizhao’s stance was that belief made them real, and disbelief made them not. Zhao Jiayu’s anxiety over Qu Yu was not without reason.
Qu Yu’s body had grown sturdier, but Doctor Liu had also said his lifespan wouldn’t be long. How long he could live depended on his will to survive.
Though Zhao Jiayu teased Qu Sheng and Xiao Bingying about having married beautiful wives that everyone envied, what she cared about most was Qu Yu. Beautiful people and all that — she only said such things in passing. After all, her Ah Yu was a rare beauty himself.
The divination lot she had drawn at the temple, originally just for fun, had struck straight at Zhao Jiayu’s heart.
Belief or disbelief — since she had drawn such a lot, she didn’t dare ignore it. If there was a way to remedy it, why would she begrudge worldly possessions?
The temple had said the donated incense money would be used for the people’s welfare. Zhao Jiayu could pray for Qu Yu’s safety and contribute to the common good at the same time — why wouldn’t she?
As for the matter of attaining immortality, though, Zhao Jiayu still didn’t believe it.
A day later, the city’s common folk swarmed inside and outside the temple. Even the local garrison troops had entered the city, following the temple’s orders to maintain order.
Qu Sheng and the others were jostled about in the crushing crowd. The guards tried their best to shield their masters from the masses, but the human tide was too great and scattered everyone apart.
Fortunately, the children had all stayed behind in the courtyard house and hadn’t come out. Qu Sheng shielded Lin Xizhao in her arms and gazed into the distance, trying to spot the separated Zhao Jiayu.
Xiao Bingying and Cheng Xi were with Zhu Ming’an and Jin Mingyi near the guards. Xiao Bingying, being taller, could see that Qu Sheng wasn’t far from them, but she still couldn’t spot Zhao Jiayu anywhere.
They all had guards behind them, but there was no telling whether the guards had kept up or gotten lost in the crowd.
Xiao Bingying cared most about this younger sister. Even though they were in the city, she felt deeply uneasy.
The author has something to say:
Zhao Jiayu: “Don’t worry about me. I’m going to the front to get a look and drag that fraud out.”
Xiao Bingying: “…Don’t get scammed out of your money again.”
Zhao Jiayu: “Ajie, you underestimate me!”
Xiao Bingying: “Never mind.”
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