It didn't take long for the little girls to bring their lunch back. Cui Ya and Chun Yan arranged a table. Shen Yunchu changed into more loose and casual home clothes. Looking at the dazzling table, his mood also followed. He got better and kept picking up food for Xiao Jiu.
"Although these mushrooms are not as delicious as the ones we picked when we were young, they are still fresh. Please try them quickly."
"These bamboo shoots were brought from the mountains early this morning. I don't think they are as delicious as the ones in Yunzhou, but they can satisfy my craving. Please try them quickly."
"This pheasant is a bit fatter and not as tasty as the wild pheasants running around in the Yunzhou Mountains, but it's still edible. I'll serve you a bowl."
"A Chu, since you miss Yunzhou so much, why don't you want to go back with me?" Xiao Jiu held the spoon and stared at her for a moment, with a smile on his lips, "A Chu, are you homesick? "
This home is not that home. The home they are talking about naturally refers to the Yunzhou Protectorate in Yunzhou. It is the place where their childhood sweethearts grew up. There are too many beautiful memories there.
Shen Yunchu looked gloomy, but shook his head and served himself a bowl of chicken soup, "Why did you look so nervous when King Linjiang mentioned leaving the clan today? But is there any secret you don't want me to know about?"
Xiao Jiu lowered his head, then raised his head after a while, with a warm smile on his brows and eyes, "Ah Chu, how could I hide something from you? You are smart and transparent, but I have always been transparent in front of you."
"No!" Shen Yunchu put down the porcelain spoon in his hand and made a clear voice, "You used to hide things from me. Just because I didn't ask doesn't mean I didn't know you were hiding it from me. I just didn't want to expose you. Now you have something There are more things hidden from me, such as your parents, your life experience, and why you ended up in the mountains. I didn't ask before. I was just afraid of mentioning your sadness, so I kept silent. But now it's all inexplicable. Prince Linjiang’s eldest son, aren’t you going to tell me in detail?”
"A Chu——" Xiao Jiu hesitated, hesitated for a long time, and finally gave her a piece of chicken leg meat, "I will tell you after you finish your meal."
"Say it now!" Shen Yunchu intuitively felt that Xiao Jiu's life experience was inextricably related to his own, just because Uncle Cheng brought Xiao Jiu home inexplicably, and because King Linjiang was so excited when he first saw her. But with hesitant eyes, she concluded that the relationship between Xiao Jiu and her should be very close.
"Then tell me first whether you have fallen in love with Xun Yang?" Xiao Jiu threw the bowls and chopsticks in his hands on the table, his cool eyes filled with seriousness, which was slowly stained with sadness, "Ah Chu, I am today Seeing you being so intimate with him makes me feel sour and unbearable. If you really want to know my life experience and my relationship with you, the prerequisite is that you tell me whether you have ever been tempted by Xun Yang. Otherwise, you can't teach me how to bear it. !”
"What do you mean?" Shen Yunchu suddenly had an ominous premonition, feeling that her concern for Xiao Jiu's life experience would completely change her relationship with Xiao Jiu. Her eyes dodged a little, and she forced a smile and said: "But you are me. Brother, what does your life experience have to do with who I like?"
Xiao Jiu took out the jade pendant from his arms, "Ah Chu, haven't you ever been curious about why we two have exactly the same jade pendant?"
Shen Yunchu's heart tightened and she had a bad premonition, but she suddenly remembered that the jade pendant that Wei Zhuang showed her was exactly the same. There might be something fishy about there being two identical jade pendants in the world. If there were three of them, , it was probably a coincidence. She smiled relievedly and said, "Don't tell me that the two of us are engaged."
"You don't believe it?" Xiao Jiu pinched his jade pendant, reached out to untie the jade pendant from Shen Yunchu's neck, and placed two identical jade pendants in front of her, suppressing strong emotions in his voice, "Have you ever seen anything like this in the world? Is there such a similar jade pendant?”
"There is one at Wei Zhuang's place!" Shen Yunchu put the two pieces of jade pendants together, and they fit the same piece as Wei Zhuang's. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to pinch his face, "Ah Jiu, you take this joke seriously. It’s not even remotely funny.”
Xiao Jiu stiffened for a moment and said with a wry smile: "Ah Chu, what are you running away from? Or are you actually in love with Xun Yang? You and him will never end in the end. He is our husband. One day for us. Master is a father for life. There are twelve years between you. Ah Chu, he is almost old enough to be your father."
Shen Yunchu's hand holding the jade pendant trembled a little. When she was held by Xun Yang in Prince Xiang's Mansion today, she realized her feelings and determination. How could she be easily defeated by Xiao Jiu's few words? Instead, she argued: "I have never gone through the apprenticeship ceremony. We are not masters and apprentices. He is just twelve years older than me. Among the noble men in the capital, who doesn't have a man who is dozens of years younger than me?" Is it possible that all of my beautiful concubines are inappropriate?"
"You also said that she is a beautiful concubine. A concubine is just a plaything brought into the family. Naturally, the younger and more beautiful the better, but a wife must be of the same age. Have you ever seen an 80-year-old man marry a young girl?" Xiao Jiu quietly held her trembling hand and said, "Achu, you should recognize the reality. You and he are not suitable. If Yan Niang of your family is as domineering as Yan Niang, the Queen Mother, Empress and even the entire Wei family will stand in for her. Support her, and she has a high reputation in the hearts of the people, and the people will not make irresponsible remarks, but you can't do that, Ah Chu. If you marry Xun Yang, you will not be stable for the rest of your life."
"You're talking nonsense!" Shen Yunchu shook off his hand, "He said he would fight through all obstacles to find a rich and comfortable life for me, and he said he wanted to protect me."
Xiao Jiu was furious, pointing to the shocking burns on her neck and asked: "Then how did he protect you? Is this how he protected you? Why did he protect you when you were being plotted and bullied by Eryu and Xunjie? Didn't he stand up to protect you? Why didn't Xun Jie stand up to protect you when he hurt you today? He didn't even dare to offend Princess Eryu. Could it be that in the future when the Queen and the Queen Mother are instigated by your so-called mother to deal with you, he Can I protect you? Ah Chu, don’t be stupid!"
"How can he hit people with his martial arts without clearing out the poison in his body?" Shen Yunchu subconsciously spoke for Xun Yang. Although she was indeed annoyed with him when they were in the carriage, it was not that he failed to protect her, but that he was angry in broad daylight. He blocked her carriage at the gate of Prince Xiang's Mansion and tried to touch her in front of Xiao Jiu. He was embarrassed, so he deliberately kept his face cold.
"Besides, what kind of identity is Princess Eryu? He beat the royal princess in front of the two princesses and King Linjiang. If the incident spreads, I will also be implicated! I am the beauty who is blamed by the people, how could he do this? Put me in this situation? Even if Princess Eryu is not a princess, she is just a little girl who has not yet grown hair. Xun Yang is about to reach his thirties, how can he be as knowledgeable as a little girl, and how can he hit women casually! "
Xiao Jiu suddenly choked and stared into his beautiful eyes, "You mean, just because I hit the little girl, I am not a man? Ah Chu, I just don't want to see you being bullied. I don't allow you to say that to me!"
"That's not what I meant!" Shen Yunchu looked at Xiao Jiu who was about to spit fire, and immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing, "Ajiu, you are just a child. You are the same age as Eryu, even if you hit her, It's just a child's conflict, but Xun Yang is different from you. If he hits Princess Eryu today, the world will be in an uproar tomorrow!"
"How can I be a child! After all, you are just biasing him!" Xiao Jiu pinched the jade pendant in his hand hard, his joints turned white, but he smiled leisurely, "Ah Chu, if you marry him, what will happen if you marry him? How will the people of the world view you and him? He is a saint, and the people respect him, so they will naturally not criticize him harshly. Your situation is different. You are the concubine of the general's palace, and your engagement was annulled by the King of Jin. Half of the disciples have admitted that rumors can kill people, Ah Chu, you must have thought about the power of this, right?"
"I like him, he likes me, we want to get married, what will we do to the people of the world?" Shen Yunchu might have thought about what Xiao Jiu said, and this was one of the reasons why she did not dare to respond to Xun Yang, but Now that she has discovered that she is emotionally moved, how can she shrink back because of these external resistances?
"I like him and he likes me!"
"I like him and he likes me!"
"I like him and he likes me!"
…
Shen Yunchu's words echoed in Xiao Jiu's mind for a long time. After a long time, he seemed to understand the meaning of her words. His breathing suddenly stagnated, his heart throbbed severely, and he asked with a pale face: "What about me? ?Ah Chu, the five years I spent with you as my childhood sweetheart are not as good as the few dozen days you spent with him?"
"You are my younger brother!" Shen Yunchu blurted out. She looked at Xiao Jiu's face that suddenly turned pale. She hesitated a little, but still hardened her heart. "Ah Jiu, you are younger than me. You are my younger brother. I It's your sister! When you see me and Xun Yang together, you feel uncomfortable just because you are not used to it. You won't feel sad after seeing me more. Just like the pair of pigeons Xun Yang gave me, they were taken by your Haidong After I ate the pigeons, you gave me two little pigeons as pets. At first I thought there were good-looking pigeons in the pigeons, but after raising them for a long time, I felt that the pigeons were also very good, so I didn’t feel uncomfortable anymore.”
"You don't understand anything at all!" Xiao Jiu was very angry and squeezed her small hand with his big hand, "This is not raising a pet, Ah Chu! I like you precisely because when I knew that I was engaged to you, I started I like you, Ah Chu, you can’t treat me like this!"
"Father never said that I was engaged, otherwise why would he let me marry Xiao Ming in the first place?" Shen Yunchu was extremely determined. After she was reborn, although some things changed, such as her failure to marry Prince Jin, she still He had a secret love affair with Xun Yang, but many things had not changed. He still picked up the valuable piece of jade in the peach grove of Bodhi Mountain, which could buy hundreds of acres of fertile land. So how could Xiao Jiu be engaged to her?