The news that Yan Wangfei gave birth to a daughter, and that the mother and daughter were safe spread quickly. Now already entered night curfew, perhaps when the sun comes out tomorrow, everyone in the capital would know that Yan Wang Mansion had a new Junzhu.
Yan Wang spent half his life as military horse, fighting in the north and the south, and Shizi also had grown up alone. It was conceivable how the two of them love this newly-born, incredibly soft little Junzhu.
Gu Hui Yan came out of the delivery room and gave the space to the womenfolk. Lin Wei Xi had just finished giving birth, there were many places that need to be tidied up by the maids, if he continued staying in the room it would only inconvenienced them. When Gu Hui Yan came out, he happened to see Gu Cheng Yao holding the little Junzhu behind the screen, teasing her carefully. Perhaps the little girl hungry, she held Gu Cheng Yao's fingers and started to cry. Gu Cheng Yao's expression immediately became painful and loving. Perhaps he didn't hear the sound, subconsciously looked up in the direction of the delivery room.
Gu Hui Yan record everything with his eyes, his expression was still, and after the wet nurse took his daughter away, he walked out slowly and silently.
"As soon as she entered the delivery room, you came over?"
Only then did Gu Cheng Yao realize that Gu Hui Yan had come out. Gu Cheng Yao's heart shook. When did his father come out? How much did he see just now? Gu Cheng Yao's face stretched taut, probably he didn't even realize that his voice was tense and defensive: "Heard the maid passed on the message, this son thought that there was no master in charge here, so took the liberty to come over."
Gu Hui Yan smiled indistinctly. Although his voice was moderate, but there seemed to be a whirlpool in his eyes, which instinctively let people feel danger: "You did the right thing today. Her safety is the most important thing. For her safety, everything else must be compromised."
Gu Cheng Yao lowered his head, wondering whether or not he should reply this sentence. He always felt that his father's words seemed to have other meaning.
Gu Hui Yan was not in the mood. He stared at the sky, his deep voice neither happy nor angry: "It's getting late. You also have stayed up for half a night. Go back."
"Yes."
Gu Cheng Yao asked to be excuse to Gu Hui Yan, and then slowly withdrew. After walking out of the courtyard, Gu Cheng Yao realized that his hands were sweating.
There was a heavy weight in his heart, and this weight gradually tightened, almost making him unable to breath.
Lin Wei Xi slept so hard that she could not lie down anymore, and only when her limbs became drowsy from sleeping too long, did she slowly wake up.
As soon as she moved her fingers, her palm was immediately held. She heard someone ask softly in her ear: "Wake up? Would you like some water?"
Lin Wei Xi laboriously opened her eyes and stared to the bedside for a long time before recognizing the person in front of her: "Wangye?"
"It's me, I'm back." Gu Hui Yan lightly and gently supported her back to get up, and carefully placed her on the soft pillow, "You have been sleeping for a long time, so drink some water to moisten your throat first."
Lin Wei Xi nodded, Gu Hui Yan soon brought fresh water. Didn't know whether it had always been warm, but the water temperature was just right.
Fresh water ran down the throat into the esophagus, and the dryness felt much better. After Lin Wei Xi's lips were moisten with water, it regained its vitality like a rose. She only drank one cup then hurriedly took Gu Hui Yan's wrist and asked, "Where is the child?"
"Here." Gu Hui Yan put down the water, carefully picked up the baby from the wooden bed, and handed it to Lin Wei Xi. "She is a little Junzhu, really look like you."
Lin Wei Xi finally saw the baby she carried in her womb for ten months. She hugged her daughter in her arms, looked carefully and looked again, for some reason she felt like crying: "She is really small."
"Hmm." Gu Hui Yan stretched out his hand and pressed warm fingers to her eyes, "Don't cry, crying during confinement is not good for your eyes."
Lin Wei Xi blinked and withdrew her tears. The slender eyelashes ran across Gu Hui Yan's fingertips, felt soft and itchy, almost could tickle people's heart.
Gu Hui Yan put down his hands, continued to focus and carefully gazed at Lin Wei Xi. However, Lin Wei Xi didn't have time to pay attention to this now. She held her daughter and kept watching. After a while, the corners of her mouth curled slightly: "Where is it look like me, in your eyes do I look like this?"
Gu Hui Yan glanced at her amusedly. He turned his head and coughed, still couldn't help but smile: "Naughty, how can you talk about your daughter like that."
Lin Wei Xi suddenly became a little jealous. She was just this old but already guarding me from scolding her. However, even though Lin Wei Xi said so, in her heart she regarded this little girl as a treasure. She took a small breath, looked carefully for a while, and said, "Cannot see with her eyes closed, but nose and chin looks like me. She still so small but her chin is pointed. It can be seen that in the future she surely be a beauty like me."
Gu Hui Yan smiled and looked at her: "Yes, thank you Wangfei."
Lin Wei Xi finally held the child to her heart content, and then she reluctantly handed her to Wan Yue, and let the wet nurse to hold her to breastfeed. Gu Hui Yan sighed softly in his heart. It was rare, he sat here and talked to her for a quarter of an hour, but it's the first time her eyes looked at him.
However, even if Lin Wei Xi and Gu Hui Yan were leaning face-to-face, her gaze frequently slipped to the door, only perfunctory conversed with him. After a long time, Lin Wei Xi remembered that Gu Hui Yan had official duties, and she still didn't know what happened with the disaster situation in Guanzhong.
"Wangye, why did you come back so soon?"
Just remember to ask now, Gu Hui Yan's face was calm, really unable to see that his heart already sullen for a long time: "Qin Shan's matter more or less has been handled, and the rest is not difficult, so I just return in advance."
Lin Wei Xi let it passed, and asked, "You came back half a month earlier than the letter said. Will it be hard to explain it to the emperor and First Assistant?"
Gu Hui Yan didn't care about this, and said indifferently: "Why would it be hard to explain, it was originally the troubles they caused. I personally went to clean up their mess, what else do they want?"
Lin Wei Xi did not answer, she looked at Gu Hui Yan carefully for a long time, and then suddenly laughed, "What's wrong with you today, why are you so angry?"
Gu Hui Yan smiled gently at her, and helped Lin Wei Xi lie down: "It's nothing." He nearly sighed and said, "Don't worry, you should rest and recuperate. This time let you suffer a hardship. I am wrong. Leaving you alone and left."
Lin Wei Xi was put back on the bed and muttered in a low voice: "I don't want to sleep anymore."
"You didn't eat well before, but now still want to lose temper?" After Gu Hui Yan finished speaking, his tone became soft again, "Be obedient, confinement is the most tiring, so sleep a little longer."
Lin Wei Xi could only fall asleep, the woman who just gave birth really lacked energy. Not long after she tilted her cheek slightly she fell asleep again.
Gu Hui Yan watched quietly for a while, got up and walked outside. Those knots of estrangement before the trip seemed to sink under the deliberate ignorance of the two.
Gao Ran sat in the Buddhist hall, staring hollowly at the wooden fish in front of her. She faintly heard some music, and after a few beats, she barely reacted as she raised her head: "What's wrong outside, why is it so lively?"
The maid who did not know whether she should serve or guard Gao Ran lowered her head and said briefly: "Today is the third day washing banquet of the little Junzhu."
"Third day washing?" Gao Ran paused and asked, "She gave birth to a daughter?"
The maid lowered her head and said nothing, and seemed unwilling to talk too much to Gao Ran. Gao Ran also didn't insist on the answer. She returned her eyes to the wooden fish in front of her. After a while, she suddenly laughed gently and slowly. The laughter was so soft and ethereal, it made people get goose bumps all over.
"She actually gave birth to a daughter, she actually gave birth to a daughter." Gao Ran smiled and tears fell from her eyes. She took such a big risk and did not hesitate to calculate her family in order to keep Gu Cheng Yao's Shizi position. But in the end, Lin Wei Xi gave birth to a daughter.
So what was she doing all this for?
Gao Ran thought she was ridiculous. She made a desperate move, thinking that she was doing something brave, but the final result told her that all this was in vain. Lin Wei Xi was pregnant with a daughter, in the future apart from dowry, it would not affect Gu Cheng Yao at all. But all this was too late, Gao Ran had already implicated and imprisoned, and at the same time offended her family and husband.
Although this Buddhist hall was still part of Yan Wang Mansion, in Gao Ran's eyes, it was no different from a prison.
Gao Ran listened to the faint movement outside and said in a daze, "It seems very lively today."
The maid did not answer, but Gao Ran's sentence was also not a question. The sound of the salute she heard just now was the etiquette performed to welcome the Holy One. The emperor could not leave the palace, but the close eunuch by his side represented him. The emperor in the deep palace actually sent people to attend the third day washing, the rest of nobilities and court officials no need to be said.
Gao Ran couldn't help muttering: "Going this far just for one lousy girl?"
The maid had her own orders, she didn't have to acknowledge Gao Ran. But despite that, the maid couldn't help but criticize: "Even if it's a girl, that's still our mansion's Junzhu, the pearl in Yan Wang's palm. In the world if there are men, there are also women. The harmony of yin and yang is the norm. Shizi Consort yourself is a woman, and your sisters, mothers, relatives and friends are also woman. Why do you look down on daughters like this?"
Gao Ran coldly said, "What do you know." This maid was born to serve people. How could she understand that men conquer the world, women conquer men. If women wanted to climb up, when young rely on men, later on rely on sons. What's the use of having a daughter?
Not only Gao Ran, but the maid also felt that this abandoned Shizi Consort was simply unreasonable. The two were tired of seeing each other, and it didn't take long before the maid go out to take care of the daily matters. Only Gao Ran was left in the empty Buddhist hall.
Gao Ran knelt down on the pad, tapped the wooden fish one after another. Boom, boom, boom sound echoed in the high and cold Buddhist hall, the Buddha on the altar table stood high, looking down on the seven sufferings of the world with compassion.
Gao Ran's thoughts seemed becoming clear with the sound of the wooden fish.
In the past, there were blooming flowers in front of the eyes, and the clouds of smoke came and went, and her eyes seemed to be blinded by the splendor and wealth. Until she came to the Buddhist hall, she only read scriptures and heard the sound of the wind every day. She had a lot of time and one day could only think about one thing. If still couldn't figure out in one day, then two or three days, until she figure it out.
After tossing and turning over and over again, Gao Ran finally found some problems that she hadn't paid attention to before.
For example, Lin Wei Xi was clearly growing up in a remote country, why was she not unfamiliar with the four arts, and even the first time she played gomoku, she defeated Gao Ran, who has the advantage of time and place? For example, why was she so familiar with Yan Wang Mansion, walking in the mansion with green tiles and red walls, everywhere had an imperial atmosphere, the young ladies from third grade official would be panicked, but why for Lin Wei Xi it was as natural as breathing?
Another example, Lin Wei Xi's face was so pale on the day of Duke Yingguo Shizi's death. Even when she was diagnosed with pregnancy, such a big happy event, why was she still wear plain colors. Also, why was she contemptuous and nearly hostile to Han shi, why she meddled with Duke Yingguo Shizi's matter, why did she recommend Gao Ke. You know, this kind of other family's affairs, no one would want to get involved, to avoid the problems that could arise in the future, and also to provoke troubles for oneself.
Why did Lin Wei Xi do this?
One point alone might be difficult to explain it, but when all the things were combined, there was only one answer.
Lin Wei Xi was Gao Xi. Gao Ran herself was a transmigrator, how could she forget that being reborn after death could also happened to other people.
Gao Ran slowly laughed, the laughter was hoarse and low, resounding in the empty and desolate Buddhist hall, it unspeakably horrifying. That's it, that's how it is, she said why she always had a sense of deja vu when facing Lin Wei Xi, she said why Gu Cheng Yao always couldn't control himself to look at Lin Wei Xi, she said why Lin Wei Xi always targeted her like that!
The wooden fish in Gao Ran's hand suddenly fell and hit the ground with a loud sound. The guard maid was taken aback, and ran inside in panic: "Shizi Consort, what's the matter with you?"
Gao Ran's eyes fixedly looked at the wooden fish mallet that was rumbling on the ground. Her eyes dark, but if looked closely it didn't seems to focus. Her voice rise and fall seemed like suppressing a huge emotion, as if there was strong black ink in it: "I want to see Lin Wei Xi."
The maid paused, you still want to see Wangfei? What are you dreaming about?
"You tell her that if she doesn't come to see me, she will regret it."