flstandardbreds Chapter 136 Getting used to my presence...
Chapter 136 Getting used to my presence...
Lin Shu now understood where the faint zither music in the woods had come from, and nodded in response, "Young Master Ji."
Ji Heng smiled slightly, holding his guqin, and stood at a distance from Lin Shu, maintaining proper etiquette and self-restraint.
Later, Lin Shu learned from him that Ji Heng originally intended to return home, but for some reason the carriage wheels had cracked, so for safety reasons, he had to return to the peach blossom forest to see if he could ride in someone else's carriage.
Seeing that it was getting late, the group gathered and set off for the capital.
"Ah Shu, Prince Dingbei, farewell. I... I'll escort Young Master Feng and my cousin back to their residence first." As soon as they entered the city gate, Feng Zhao ordered his men to drive the carriage next to Ling Huanan's carriage, and lifted the curtain to say goodbye.
Ling Huanan replied succinctly, "Yes."
After bidding farewell, Lin Shu watched as the other's carriage gradually disappeared into the distance.
The Lin family's carriage needed to take Ji Heng back to the Grand Tutor's residence first. Ling Huanan was displeased and coldly said to Lin Shu, "Go to the back."
The implication was that she was unwilling to accompany the escort, so she asked Lin Shu to replace Xue Wen.
"It's not appropriate." Lin Shu glanced at the other person indifferently.
There was another man in the carriage behind her; if she really went, it would damage his reputation.
Ling Huanan didn't give her a chance to refuse. She got out of the carriage and went to the back. She said something to him from outside the carriage, and Xue Wen got out of the carriage and walked towards her carriage.
Ling Huanan returned and coldly told Lin Shu, "Get out of the car."
Lin Shu glanced at Xue Wen, who looked helpless, but didn't say anything. She got into her own carriage, but instead sat on the shaft with the driver.
As soon as they were seated, the two carriages headed off in different directions.
At the entrance of Grand Tutor Ji's residence.
The carriage slowly came to a stop, and Lin Shu jumped off the carriage decisively.
After the coachman placed the footstool, the curtain was lifted by a slender, jade-like finger. Ji Heng, carrying a guqin, stepped out of the carriage. He first smiled slightly at Lin Shu before carefully stepping off the carriage.
"what……"
Suddenly, perhaps because his view was blocked by the zither, Ji Heng missed the second pedal and almost fell off the carriage shaft, letting out a cry of surprise.
Seeing that he was about to fall while still tightly holding onto the guqin in his arms, Lin Shu didn't have time to think. She quickly grabbed his wrist with one hand and gently put her arm around his waist with the other, and with a little effort, she lifted him up and placed him on the ground.
After landing, Ji Heng still looked dazed, as if he hadn't yet recovered from the danger he had just experienced.
Lin Shu followed his gaze and saw that her hand was still gripping his wrist. She quickly let go, and as soon as she did, she saw that Ji Heng's fair wrist had been marked with her finger marks...
Lin Shu glanced at the other person's wrist and frowned. She must have not used enough force. After checking that no one else was around, she felt much more at ease. The more prestigious the family, the more they valued their reputation...
"I'm sorry," Lin Shu said softly, unsure whether she had pinched the other person too hard or been too abrupt.
Ji Heng's gaze was somewhat unfocused. He tilted his head slightly towards the side of the guqin he was holding, revealing his bright red ears, and whispered:
"It's alright, thank you, Miss Lin."
"Now that Young Master Ji has arrived home, then Shu and her husband will take their leave." Lin Shu felt the atmosphere was a bit awkward, so she said goodbye and got into the carriage.
Ji Heng stood at his own door, watching Lin Shu's somewhat uneasy figure get into the car and then slowly drive away until she was out of sight, before turning his gaze away and heading into the mansion.
Just then, his personal servant Yantai and carriage, which he had brought to the peach blossom grove, finally arrived late.
Yantai hurriedly jumped down from the carriage, stood in front of Ji Heng, leaning on his knees, panting heavily, and complained:
"Young master, young master, why didn't you wait for me! If anything had happened, I would have been guilty of a thousand deaths."
Ji Heng smiled slightly and said, "I'm fine now."
As Yantai helped Ji Heng inside, he kept muttering to himself:
“Our carriage can be repaired immediately, yet you say there’s no rush, and then you share a ride with someone else…”
In the past, she would often send me to inquire about the preferences and whereabouts of the Lin family's husbands. Young master, your status is so noble, how could you...? Alas! I don't know what you were thinking..."
"Heh! Of course, I want them to get used to my presence!" Ji Heng stopped in his tracks, turned around with a slight smile, looked at Yantai who had a puzzled expression, and said something that was hard to understand.
Yan Tai scratched his head, clearly not understanding his young master's meaning, and asked, "Young master, what do you mean?"
Ji Heng didn't answer directly. Instead, he turned and looked in the direction the carriage had gone, raising his hand to trace the marks Lin Shu had left behind. His voice drifted on the wind, carrying a hint of a smile:
There are some things you don't understand.
After saying that, he turned and walked towards the inner courtyard, leaving Yantai looking bewildered.
……
Dingbei Prince's Mansion, in Jiyan Courtyard.
That's right, Ling Huanan had just told Xue Wen about Ji Yan's situation, and that's why Xue Wen came to visit her with her.
Inside the room, Ji Yan's condition was already very bad. He was kept alive by ginseng soup and medicine every day, and he lay in bed in a daze.
He was used to Ling Huanan coming to see him every day, but he didn't expect that Ling Huanan would bring someone else in today.
"Cough...you...you are Xue...that kid from the Xue family." Ji Yan's voice was weak and hoarse, his increasingly cloudy eyes filled with surprise, then returned to calm as he slowly raised his hand towards Xue Wen.
"Uncle!" Xue Wen hurriedly stepped forward, grasped the other's withered hand, and knelt down in front of the bed.
I never imagined that my once dashing uncle would look so haggard when I saw him again.
The three chatted inside for a while. Of course, it was Ji Yan and Xue Wen asking and answering questions, mainly asking Xue Wen how he had been doing all these years, while Ling Huanan stood aside and listened quietly.
"Nan'er, you go out first, cough cough... Wen'er and I have something to talk about." Ji Yan said to Ling Huanan, who was standing like a door god at the head of the bed.
Ling Huanan did not respond immediately, but looked back at Xue Wen. Seeing Xue Wen nod, he left the room.
This scene also caught Ji Yan's eye. His eyes were complicated. He had opposed the marriage between the two of them because he was worried that his daughter would be like this now, putting Xue Wen's wishes first in everything. Who would have thought that in the end she would not be able to escape it.
"Uncle? Is there something you want to tell your nephew in private?" Xue Wen noticed that the other person was staring at him but remained silent, so he couldn't help but ask.
"Cough cough... Wen'er, when I separated you and Nan'er, did you have any resentment?" Ji Yan tried to sit up.
Xue Wen quickly got up and helped him up, saying gently, "I can understand what Uncle did."
Although they expressed understanding, they did not directly respond to whether they harbored any resentment.
Ji Yan coughed softly a few more times, gripped Xue Wen's hand tightly, and gazed into the distance with a heavy heart, slowly recalling the past:
"Actually, according to the rules, I can no longer be considered your uncle."
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