Chapter 189 - We Are the One Always and Forever!

“What about Lu Kou’er?” Jian Xubai looked into her eyes for a while, asking, “What has she done to you?”

As Song Yixiao appeared confused, he reminded her, “You claimed in the imperial palace that Cui Jianlian asked you to make room for Lu Kou’er, so did Lu Kou’er also hurt you before?”

“Not like that,” Song Yixiao finally took a tumble and then ruminated for a while, saying, “At that time, I only wanted to disrupt Cui Jianlian’s plan with a reasonable excuse, for which I had to mention her. Besides, I hoped to take the opportunity to cast in a bone between Dowager Consort of Hengshan and Cui Jianlian.”

Speaking of that, she stayed silent for a moment and then said, “There is one more reason. Before the Spring Festival, Yiren paid me a visit and revealed in secret that when I feigned illness, Lu Kou’er tried to get close to you under the guise of visiting me for several times. I don’t want to take revenge on her, but neither do I feel like taking precautions against her at all times. Hence, I intended to make her marry someone distant in light of this matter!”

She had learnt that within the officer circle, people only knew that Song Yixiao and Cui Jianlian were involved although the incident at the imperial feast was leaked. And Prince of Hengshan just seemed neglected.

After all, the rumor was basically spread by Daiguo Grand Princess and Empress Su. Otherwise, how could it raise a widespread uproar over the city within such a short period of time? They did so of course just in order to sow discord between Duke of Yan and the Eastern Palace without offending the neutral Prince of Hengshan.

Lu Kou’er had dodged a bullet by virtue of her great birth but Song Yixiao’s words were uttered in front of a lot of people. Even in order to avert suspicion, the Dowager Consort wouldn’t allow her to marry someone in the imperial capital!

“You Qingchun betrayed you for her own interest so she won’t be forgiven. Even if she is released and comes back, I won’t spare her!” Jian Xubai took a glance at her and said, “But as to Ms. Zhao and her grandson, I can give it a shot!”

Jian Xubai’s promise was greatly out of Song Yixiao’s expectation. Instead of being surprised, she looked at her husband in astoundment!

“It was me who ordered the maid to stop you,” Ignorant of her stare, Jian Xubai said lightly, “On the wedding night of Changxing, I promised not to involve you in risk. You just stay out of this. It’s useless for you to intervene, or you may be exposed to danger!”

He said with a poker face, “Tomorrow I will enter the imperial palace and intercede with Grandmother. If Ms. Zhao doesn’t betray you, Grandmother will agree to spare her for the sake of me!”

Song Yixiao pursed her lips and had complicated feelings only.

She knew that it was easy to comfort Jian Xubai, at least for her. However, a few hours ago, her husband just suspected her of keeping secret contact with Su Shaoge, but now he stopped being angry and continued to satisfy her requirement. No one would doubt his sincerity.

After all, Jian Xubai was not as virtuous and sincere as Lu Guanlun.

“When I came back, I pulled a long face. It was not because you made trouble for me but because you hid something from me.” After being quiet for a while, Jian Xubai said, “You and I are a couple. We should be the one. Moreover, I am not President of the Supreme Court. I don’t have to be impartial. How can I not take your side? If you told me earlier and let me understand the unusually irreconcilable grudge between you and Cui Jianlian, how could I not help you?”

He talked calmly but Song Yixiao could sense his underlying sorrow in the words.

She took a deep breath and smiled bitterly, “Do you remember what happened on the day of the tea ceremony of Yiyou and his newly wedded wife? We arrived at Mother’s mansion first. Qingjiang and I were talking about health nourishment, and you asked me why I didn’t take the Fragrant Green Liquid at home?”

“Yes.” Jian Xubai was a bit stunned, “You said you had no appetite those days?”

“That was the time when I was living in the Song Family’s mansion. At that time, Madam Liu was newly married for two or three months to my father. One day, Madam Liu’s maiden niece came to visit her and I was ushered to the back hall to receive a gift,” Song Yixiao said casually, “Ms. Liu was wearing a pair of special earrings. I took a look at the earrings out of curiosity. After Madam Liu found that, she gave me a slap in the face at once! She asserted that I must want to steal her niece’s things!”

Jian Xubai clenched his hands placed on his knees subconsciously, asking in a deep voice, “Then?”

“Afterwards, my grandmother persuaded my mother into taking me to Prince of Hengshan’s mansion but my mother declined,” Song Yixiao said plainly, “My grandmother told her that I looked pretty so I could be sold at a good price! Therefore, after I arrived at Prince of Hengshan’s mansion, I walked on eggshells every day; meanwhile, I never put forward any request or ask for anything if possible!”

“I was afraid that my mother might find it not cost-effective to raise me. If she thought of me as a burden, I didn’t know how she would dispose of me.”

“But I couldn’t excuse myself for that in front of the people in the prince’s mansion, so I tried not to attract any attention.”

As time passed, “I’ve become used to staying away whenever I hear of anything good in case that others may suspect me of having a desire for it!”

One might be able to hide his injuries from others but he couldn’t do it to himself.

Since she got married, she put on airs as the mistress of Duke of Yan’s mansion for several times but she never displayed her ignorance in public.

Even in the eyes of the Empress Dowager and the Empress, she was good enough to be the wife of Xubai in terms of disposition.

However, the several ignored Fragrant Green Liquid in the cabinet just laid bare her humility and timidity.

She looked up, “Look. I don’t even dare to take a few supplements awarded by the imperial seniors, for I have a feeling that I may be loathed by you if I take it… No need to mention that I intended to do something that might sow discord between you and the Crown Prince. How could I dare to tell you the truth? Worse still, I was even more afraid that you might find any loophole. By then, under your watch, I wouldn’t be able to seek revenge for Zhiqin at all!”

“Hence, I could only act first behind you!”

“It’s not that you don’t treat me well but that I am used to counting on myself to solve problems if any!”

Song Yixiao laughed with self-mockery, “Actually, I have known that you love me. The reason why I dared to take action was that I was pretty sure that you would help me anyway, but even so, I still didn’t dare to discuss with you first!”

“Because my birth father and grandmother abandoned me mercilessly. My birth mother wouldn’t care about me if she didn’t hear my grandmother talk of the advantage of raising me. People always say that parents love their child by instinct, but my parents don’t even show any concern for me. How can I expect others, even my husband to pay for me with no regrets?”

She grew up with no one to rely on since she was a child, which eliminated all her hope and optimism.

Therefore, she would make a last desperate effort and submit to the will of Heaven rather than believe that her husband would take her side no matter what!

After voicing out all the thoughts deep in her mind, Song Yixiao finally calmed down. She pushed away her husband’s hands and walked to the basin behind the screen to wash up.

“You know that I’ve been taking antidote for the past one year or two and that I was poisoned in Wuhuan.” Jian Xubai stood up and followed her. While pouring hot water from the kettle, he said casually, “But do you know who wants to kill me?”

Song Yixiao was stunned and realized that he was paying her back for her honesty by sharing his own secret.

She wanted to say that he was poisoned by the people of Wuhuan as he was captured by them, but suddenly, she thought of something and asked, “Is it your father or Yiyou?”

“Yiyou is not that capable.” Jian Xubai reached out his hand to test the temperature of the water. After making sure that the water was okay, he shook away the water from his fingers, put the kettle back on the shelf, and wiped his hands with the towel on the screen, saying calmly, “It is your father-in-law. This is also the reason why I participate in the fight for the throne. Otherwise, in light of my mother’s position, I could remain neutral like Prince of Hengshan. After all, I don’t need to worry about wealth or power in light of my dukedom and the kinship between me and His Majesty. Otherwise, why would I bet my life on this mess?”

Song Yixiao was astounded and subconsciously grabbed his sleeves, “I thought it was your grandpa who asked him to distance from you in order to avert suspicion?”

“It is merely an excuse of my grandfather!” Jian Xubai gave a look of mockery, “In fact, my grandpa applied for retirement simply because his improper conduct was coincidentally revealed. If my uncle didn’t give consideration to his identity as an important officer throughout two dynasties, he wouldn’t be able to ask for retirement himself. Instead, he would be impeached and forced to resign with his reputation in ruins!”

Jian Pingyu thought most highly of Jian Likuang and Jian Yiyou. When he left the imperial capital, Jian Xubai was only five years old, who seldom spent any time with him. It went without saying whom Jian Pingyu would show partiality for.

“In fact, without the help of my grandpa, my father could not successfully have me poisoned!”

After all, although he was young and innocent, and he didn’t take precautions against Jian Likuang, he was raised by the Empress Dowager. How could the Empress Dowager not arrange everything for him when he was leaving for Wuhuan?

Song Yixiao was not in a mood to wash up now. She asked in a trembling voice, “Just because he and Jian Likuang both liked Jian Yiyou more, they combined against you?”

Now she couldn’t refer to them as grandfather and father anymore. Song Yixiao had no idea whether she should cry or laugh. A moment ago, she just claimed that Jian Xubai was such a well-loved person that he could never understand what she had suffered. However, it turned out that this man covered in honor and glory used to survive from the fatal scheme by his grandfather and father!

How did he feel at that time?

Song Yixiao believed that he must feel even more desperate than she did in the previous life.

After all, Jian Xubai was not her. She was adored as a beloved daughter for such a short time that she often felt never cared about before while Jian Xubai was always the apple of the Empress Dowager’s eye!

“No wonder he insisted on killing the Chief House Steward and his accomplices!” Song Yixiao finally understood her husband’s resolution. If he didn’t kill those people, they would try their best to doom him to death when they got away!

“It’s for the dukedom,” Jian Xubai stayed silent for a moment and then continued saying, “Seven years ago, you know, I could basically do anything to win the favor of that person. Therefore, incited by him implicitly, I pled with my grandmother to pass the dukedom to Yiyou.”

Of course the Empress Dowager didn’t approve.

Worse still, she even summoned Jian Likuang and gave him a dressing-down face to face!

At that time, Jian Xubai was too innocent to understand the meaning of him inheriting the dukedom. In order to play up to his father, he went to Wuhuan with the troop so as to force his beloved grandmother to compromise.

Nevertheless, his action enhanced Jian Likuang’s determination to get rid of him, “He didn’t go at me before just because he had no chance and he was also not sure who would take over the dukedom after me if I died.”

However, since Jian Xubai claimed to pass the dukedom to Jian Yiyou and he himself went to Wuhuan, the two concerns of Jian Likuang were solved then!

“So I must seize enough power!” Jian Xubai said with a sigh, “My grandmother, uncle and mother love me very much, but they are all my seniors, who are older than that man. Once they cannot protect me anymore, my consequence will be imaginable!”

Filial piety and public opinions were shape blades. But faced with sufficiently strong power, they would turn blunt and even be shifted to point at the ringleader.

This was his only way out and the sole choice if he didn’t want to await his doom!

Jian Xubai looked at his wife who was covering her mouth with her sleeves tremblingly, and then held her into his arms, saying gently, “You see, I am loved and protected by my grandmother, uncle and mother, but in fact, only you can spend the rest of my life with me.”

He caressed his wife’s long and black hair, “Even though none of your maiden seniors sincerely love you, you are no longer one of the Song Family but the wife of Jian Xubai.”

“From now on, the one you should rely on should be me!”

Song Yixiao held his waist tightly with her heart strongly flipped by his words. Instantly, her tears had wetted her husband’s collars. She had a lot to confess now but in the end, she only said carefully in a low voice, “We are the one?”

“Always and forever!” Jian Xubai answered her without hesitation and then lowered his head to kiss her harshly.

For the moment, there was no wedding music but the whirling snow outside the window; there were no blessings of guests but the sincere confession of this couple; there was no romance of a perfect match but the relief after their scars were revealed to each other.

Yet, this was the first time that their hearts had been so close.