Chapter 66 : Mid Autumn
On the 22nd day of the 9th month, the full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the fragrance of fine wines, and the reunion of the whole family.
A touch of frail figure sitting alone in the pale courtyard under the ancient trees, the sound of the silk zither quietly drifting from afar, deep night, bright moonlight, more lonely and scattered.
Pei Siyan picked up the wine pot, found that it has been empty.
A pot of wine down, but no drunkenness, she did not know when her own alcohol to this extent.
It had been more than two full months since she left the house, travelling south and then west, finally arriving at the county located in the northeast of the Blue Country, and then after inspecting a few more places, she would be able to return to the imperial capital.
This trip, although there were no dangers or tricky things to deal with, gave her a feeling of being even more tired than the disaster relief, not only physically, but also in her heart.
The first time alone over the Mid-Autumn Festival, Pei Si Yan extraordinarily unaccustomed, last year at this time in the Tantai family and the clansmen together with laughter, and then once upon a time is with real family members together to enjoy the moon, there is always someone to accompany the side, at least do not let her completely lonely, but this year is in a faraway strange place, although the local officials hospitality thoughtful enthusiasm, but she a little bit of a laugh out of it.
Pei Siyan hugged her body tightly, the moonlight sprinkled a silver white, as if a layer of frost on her body. The weather in the north has always been cold early, so that born and raised in the southern city she can not get used to, not to mention the heart is even colder, with incurable pain, as if destiny reached out an invisible hand tightly clutched the heart, she can not get rid of the fate of the predestined in the netherworld.
Since the Moqi Villa farewell, no more news of Mo Xuan.
She missed him and wanted to hide him in her heart first, but she found that she couldn't do it, Mo Xuan's smile was engraved in her heart, and she couldn't get rid of it. The intense thoughts made her wake up in the middle of the night, no longer sleepy.
Gradually, she drifted off into a trance, doubting whether Mo Xuan, this person, really existed, perhaps he was just a character she had fantasised about in her dreams, which she could see, but could never touch.
Pei Si Yan raised her head and looked at the lonely white moon.
Was he also standing in the courtyard, enjoying a bright moon with her, and was he also thinking of her far away in the northern lands.
Teardrops involuntarily surged out of her eyes and slid across her pale cheeks, Pei Si Yan raised her hand to wipe them away, looking at the water marks on her fingers, she smiled bitterly.
After that day, it was clear that she had said not to cry again.
But the tears could not be controlled by her, as if the feelings of longing for that person ...
The sound of footsteps came from behind her, Pei Si Yan hurriedly dried her tears, her complexion returned to normal, indifferently slightly inclined her head, glancing at the visitor with the corner of her eye.
Tantai House's exclusive guards respectfully double up to present a letter, "Miss, a letter from the Imperial Capital."
Pei Si Yan took it and unfolded it for a closer look, her face couldn't help but change as she asked, "Where is the person who sent the letter?"
"Waiting outside."
"Tell him to come in, I have something to ask him." Pei Si Yan ordered, looking down and reading the letter again, her brows locked.
Before she left the house, she instructed her beloved officials to send a letter every once in a while to report on the movements in the imperial capital, especially if there was a major incident, she must be the first to come, so although she had been out for more than two months, she was able to grasp what had happened in the imperial capital one by one.
The matter of her killing Lady Yuexi, because of the tour plus Lanxuan regulating it from there, the officials who had appealed to her had stopped talking about it, and two or three of them had been suppressed by the other officials a month later, and subsequently relegated to the borderlands.
Lanxuan's appointment of the Tantai family has been put to an end for the time being, and he has been fully engaged in some other issues that cannot be ignored after his accession to the throne.
Li Qingdian's injuries had recovered for the most part, only that her body was still a bit weak, but there was no danger to her life after all.
In addition to this, there is no more things that make her worry and worry.
But ... Pei Si Yan pinched the letter paper in his hand, the new emperor just just assumed the throne nearly three months, blue pleasant such a big action wants to build a palace in the accompanying capital, in the end is for what?
The messenger who sent the letter arrived very quickly, respectfully kneeling on one knee, "Greetings to Lord Wuban."
"No need to be polite, please rise." Pei Si Yan raised the letter paper in her hand and asked, "Did the Emperor explain why he suddenly wanted to build a palace?"
"The emperor said that the accompanying capital has a lovely view and wanted to build the palace for leisure time amusement."
"Play?" Pei Si Yan couldn't help but cry and laugh, the manpower and financial resources to be spent on building the palace even if it was more or less carefully calculated, it would still cost a lot of silver in the treasury, the Blue Country had a severe drought last year, countless people either starved to death or were homeless, the country was in a much worse state. Now that the new emperor has just assumed the throne, he is spending huge sums of money to build up a large number of buildings, isn't this forcing the people to develop a sense of resentment?
The people's hearts are lost and the throne is not secure, would Lan Xuan not understand such a simple truth?
Could it be that the treacherous villain is compelled by rumours in his ears?
Pei Si Yan asked, "Who was it that mentioned the suggestion of building a palace to the Emperor?"
"I don't know." The messenger replied.
The long and gentle chanting voice made Pei Si Yan feel annoyed, her brows frowned deeper, carefully thinking over the officials who can have an audience with the emperor nowadays, most of them are already under her command, there is also a portion of the forces of other sects, as well as the sporadic number of neutrals, none of them seem like the people who would put forward such a proposal.
If the rest of the officials were to say this to the Emperor through the folders, the officials of the Academy of Political Science would see it and would certainly not submit it to the Emperor.
Or is a moment of negligence accidentally mixed in?
Pei Siyan couldn't figure it out, so she had to continue to ask: "What date does the emperor intend to start the construction?"
"The twenty-seventh of next month."
"October 27th ...," Pei Si Yan pinched her fingers and counted once more, it was impossible to say whether she could make it back to the imperial capital before the fifteenth, but she must stop Lan Xuan from doing something that would hurt the people and the money.
She doesn't want her own painstakingly embraced up the emperor finally fell into a dim king's name, she and blue pleasant is a boat of people, if blue pleasant has a loss, she also have to follow the end.
"Pass the order down," Pei Si Yan instructed her guards, "Immediately organise the carriages and horses and head straight to the next county!"
"Yes!" The guards received the order and immediately went down to do their job.
Pei Si Yan ruthlessly kneaded the letter into a ball and threw it into a pool of water in front of her, her white teeth biting her lips tightly, and between her brows was a sorrow so thick that it couldn't be melted away.
After speeding up her journey, Pei Si Yan finally rushed back to the imperial capital on the twentieth day of the tenth month, and there were guards who went ahead of the Tantai family to inform the news of the matriarch's return, while Lan Xuan told her to go home and rest for a day before going into the palace to report on the inspection situation. When the attendant lifted the curtains of the car, she saw a sliver of rows of clansmen standing on each side of the gate of the mansion, welcoming her return.
Pei Si Yan saw the as-usual Li Qing Dye in the crowd and secretly let out a sigh of relief, waving her hand to reject the wooden wheelchair that the attendant brought, picking up her cane and moving her steps with difficulty, she got off the carriage.
The clansmen immediately surged forward, joyfully greeting the matriarch who had finally returned after three months of travelling outside.
Pei Si Yan barely revealed a trace of a smile and responded one by one, but as time went by, she immediately felt her legs becoming more and more tingly and was about to be unable to support her. It was the crisp autumn weather of October, but her forehead was covered with tiny beads of sweat and her face was much greyer.
The attendant immediately asked softly if she wanted to push in a wooden wheelchair, Pei Si Yan shook her head, she didn't want others to see her woefully weak appearance, she wanted to walk to enter the gates of the Tantai family.
It was hard to hold out until the enthusiasm of the clan members passed, making a way for the clan head to lead the way back to the house, Pei Si Yan took a deep breath and took a trembling step, a huge pain immediately came from her knee, she clenched her teeth not to groan and walked slowly towards the gate.
Tantai Yuan saw that the situation was not right and asked with concern, "Sister, are you alright? Your leg ..." It has been three months since, Xiao Yan's leg injury actually hasn't healed yet?
Pei Si Yan shook her head, "It's fine." After saying that, she continued to walk forward, the rich and luxurious mansion door is close to her eyes, but for her now it is like climbing up to the nine heavens.
Her feet suddenly lost consciousness, Pei Si Yan's body instantly tilted to one side, in the nick of time, a figure flashed to her side and held her in time.
Pei Si Yan raised her head, her gaze met Li Qing Dye's deep eyes and smiled, "Thank you, Qing Dye." She grabbed his arm and felt the warmth of his body, "Seeing that you are safe and sound, I am relieved."
A complex look flickered in Li Qingyan's eyes, but his tone remained flat, "Thank you for your concern, Miss."
Pei Si Yan felt a lot of emotions, but now was not the time to talk to Li Qing Dye, grabbing his arm, she continued to walk slowly towards the main door in the centre. The threshold is very high, and the gate in the middle can only be walked by the current matriarch, she looked at Li Qingyan, let go of him, tremblingly lifted her legs that did not have much sensation, every time she lifted a point, the pain worsened by a point, and she was almost close to fainting.
With tenacious perseverance, Pei Si Yan's one foot finally crossed the threshold, she supported her cane, biting her lip, lifting her other foot, Li Qing Zhan had already passed through the side door, once again reaching out to her.
Pei Si Yan looked at Li Qing Dye and his outstretched hand, her expression drifting up.
"Miss?" Li Qingye called in a low voice.
"Hmm?" Pei Si Yan panicked back to her senses, peeked at Li Qing Dye, held his hand and smoothly crossed the threshold, walked into the main hall and sat down, the clansmen in turn walked in and sat in their respective seats.
"Matriarch, during the three months that you were away, the Tantai family was in order and no accidents occurred." Tantai Zhang, who was temporarily in charge of the clan's affairs these past few months, rose to report.
"I'm sorry to trouble you, Uncle Zhang, you've worked hard." Pei Si Yan said politely, looking around, "Where is Xiao Si? How come I don't see her?"
"Xiao Si, she has an occasional wind chill and is not feeling well, she is resting in her room," Tantai Zhang said, "If the matriarch wants to see her, I will immediately send someone to call her over."
Pei Si Yan said, "No need, since she's not feeling well, just lie down in the ** and rest well."
The crowd had a few words of idle chat, seeing that the matriarch did not look well, fearing that she was overworked from running around, they all got up and left. Pei Siyan then called out to people to bring a wooden wheelchair, away from the light dye to carry her to sit on it, and then pushed the wheelchair back to the Shide Xuan.
The oldest doctor in Shide Xuan waiting for a long time, see the matriarch back even bowed and salute, and then check her injuries.
Li Qingyan asked, "Doctor, how is it?"
"Er-" the oldest doctor stroked his beard, seemingly having a hard time explaining.
Pei Si Yan was psychologically prepared for just how bad her body was, and said blandly, "Please speak, doctor."
"Miss condition for healing will embark on the trip, travelling, this is a big taboo ah!" The doctor is very painful to say, "the knee has not been able to get quiet, repeatedly do not see improvement coupled with new injuries, the situation is worrying ... if you do not take good care of, I'm afraid that Miss will not be able to walk in the future."
Pei Siyan sighed in a low voice, without the slightest hint of sadness and worry.
"Doctor, the young lady is an important minister of a country, you must do everything you can to make the young lady recover." Li Qingyan said, his tone slightly rippling.
"Naturally, naturally, this is my part." The oldest doctor arched his hand towards Pei Si Yan, "I'll go down to deliberate on the prescription first."
"Go." Pei Si Yan said.
The doctor packed up his medicine box and respectfully exited the room.
"Light Dye, call out to Yun Qi to prepare to bathe and change for me," Pei Si Yan's mind was not on her legs at all, "I want to go into the palace immediately to meet the Emperor."
"Miss, you just came back, it's better to rest first, if there's something to be said in the morning court tomorrow, it's not too late."
Pei Si Yan was unwilling, "The matter is urgent, I must go into the palace now."
Li Qingye stood in place, looking coolly at the stubborn young lady, and asked softly, "Young lady, do you intend to walk into the palace gates by yourself, or will you be pushed in by someone?"
Pei Si Yan raised her head violently and glared at Li Qing Dye, not knowing whether it was anger or consternation or some helplessness in her eyes.
Suddenly, she let out a bitter smile, "Alright, I'll rest first."
"Subordinate will immediately call for Yun Qi to come over." Li Qingyan owed his body and walked out with large strides.
Pei Si Yan looked at the wooden wheelchair she was sitting in, a self-mocking look in her eyes - she had actually fallen to such a state, if she didn't achieve what she wished for nowadays, how could she stand up to herself!