Chapter 236 Parting
From the past to now, Jiang Li has never liked separation. When she was in Tongxiang, she was very sad to get married and say goodbye to her father and brother. Now she is even more sad than then, because she knows the danger of going to Jiheng. This is not an easy battle. Yin Zhan has fought to the death and has worked hard for many years just for this day to come.

The Queen Mother even let Prince Cheng deal with Emperor Hong Xiao, causing Prince Cheng and Emperor Hong Xiao to compete with each other for power. If Ji Heng had not intervened, it would have been easy for the Yin Family to reap the benefits.

Jiang Li was still thinking about Ji Heng's injuries. She said, "Can't we go later?"

"Yin Zhili will act quickly." Ji Heng said with a smile, "We can't let anyone get the upper hand."

Jiang Li was silent. Yin Zhili had become a different person. The death of Yin Zhan, his life experience, and the death of Yin Zhiqing were all shocking. An ordinary person would collapse under such circumstances. Jiang Li thought that Yin Zhili would not collapse, but he was definitely not the same Yin Zhili as before. When he decided to use himself to threaten Ji Heng, the Yin Zhili who could not bear to see the people hurt by the war had disappeared.

She thought of Yin Zhiqing again. Yin Zhiqing blocked Yin Zhili's knife for Ji Heng, and she didn't know if she was still alive. Jiang Li hoped that Yin Zhiqing would get better. Yin Zhiqing did nothing wrong. In some ways, her biggest mistake was to be born into the Yin family.

Ji Heng had already put on his armor, which was completely different from his lazy and graceful appearance in the past. Maybe Ji Heng looked very much like Yu Hongye, but in his bones, he was exactly the same as Ji Minghan. Jiang Li had never seen Ji Minghan, but just by looking at Ji Heng's current appearance, she could roughly imagine how graceful the Jinwu General was back then.

He patted Jiang Li on the shoulder and said, "Why are you still standing there? Let's go."

Ji Heng seemed to have fully recovered, but Jiang Li had bandaged him last night, and the scars were so deep that it was impossible to recover in such a short time.

"If you can't hold on, don't force it." Jiang Li said seriously: "Ji Heng, there is nothing more hopeful than being able to survive. Only by surviving can everything be possible."

"Ahri," he narrowed his eyes, "you have always been selfless. Why are you being selfish today?"

Jiang Li reached out and hugged him, saying softly, "I'm just afraid of losing you."

She had lost her loved ones in her life, but fortunately she got them back. But God would not favor her again and again. Many people, once lost, are lost and can never come back. For example, Ji Minghan, Yu Hongye, and General Ji.

People can be strong or calm, but as long as they are mortals, they will not be calm enough to remain indifferent when facing the possibility of losing their loved ones.

The smile on Ji Heng's face faded. He was hugged by Jiang Li, and he seemed to be able to sense Jiang Li's uneasiness. He sighed and said, "Believe me, Ah Li."

Zhao Ke was outside the cave, and he walked in and said, "Sir, the carriage and horses are ready."

Jiang Li let go of her hand, and Ji Heng said, "Let's go. I'll take you there."

Ji Heng must stay in Qingzhou, and Jiang Li must return to Yanjing City. Yin Zhili can capture Jiang Li once, so he can capture Jiang Li twice. On the battlefield, Ji Heng may not be able to protect Jiang Li all the time, and swords have no eyes. Jiang Li does not know martial arts. If she is injured, she will only drag Ji Heng down.

Jiang Li also knew this truth, so even though she was worried and reluctant, she still agreed to Ji Heng's decision. Ji Heng selected dozens of people to escort Jiang Li back to the capital, and they took the water route, which was not easy to be noticed.

But the farewell road seemed particularly short, as if we had not walked for long before we reached the pier.

The ships were docked. The water of the Changhe River was frozen, but that of the Yongding River was not. Passenger ships were floating on the river. The sky and the earth seemed to be connected as one. It was particularly magnificent. Jiang Li was wearing the fox fur coat that Ji Heng gave her, and she looked up at Ji Heng.

She was reluctant to take the first step to board the boat, which made Ji Heng laugh. He said, "Why didn't I realize you were so clingy before?"

He said this in a teasing tone, as if joking, but Jiang Li couldn't smile at all. She was used to smiling and often used it to hide her emotions, but today, she couldn't force out a smile.

Jiang Li stood on tiptoe, put her hands on Ji Heng's face, closed her eyes, and kissed his lips gently.

Even if others said she was not reserved enough and too bold, she would accept it. She just didn't want to regret it. She let go of her hand, and the next moment, Ji Heng held the back of her head, pulled her towards him, and deepened the kiss.

In the snowy sky, the young man kissed the petite girl. His kiss was deep and passionate, resolute and gentle, just like his contradictory heart, with cautious piety. Jiang Li raised her head to accept the kiss, and felt heat in her eyes, as if she was about to cry.

The guards turned around and did not watch the lingering kiss. The lone boat was quietly anchored on the river, and the departed person was at the dock. It seemed that all the plays they had seen in the past were not as unspeakable as this moment.

After a very long time, Ji Heng finally let go of her hand. Jiang Li didn't look at him again. She turned around, lifted the hem of her skirt, and got on the boat.

The guards followed him on the boat, while Zhao Ke and Wen Ji stayed with Ji Heng. They were Ji Heng's right-hand men and were going to fight with Ji Heng this time. Seeing this parting, they felt sad, not to mention Ji Heng.

Jiang Li stood at the bow of the boat, which was moving slowly forward. In the snow, Ji Heng stood tall and straight, and that bright red was particularly bright in the ice and snow, as if it would exist in her memory so domineeringly and never fade. Jiang Li suddenly remembered the spring night in her dream, when the spring breeze passed through the bustling crowd, and he stopped at her wall. She was still a married woman, and he had just died of despair over his father's death. It was just a coincidence that they had their first encounter in a play on the swing.

No one knows when this war will end. Jiang Li hopes that she can meet him again on a spring night when all things are new. He will reappear and continue the story that has been unfinished since a long time ago.

The boat gradually went farther and farther away, and the snow became heavier. Soon, the red color turned into a red dot. Jiang Li stared at that spot without blinking, until the wind and snow completely covered his figure, and there was no trace of Ji Heng in front of him. Only the broad river reminded them that they were separated.

I hope we will meet again soon and see each other often.

……

It takes about 20 days to travel from Qingzhou to Yanjing by water. When Jiang Li returned to Yanjing City, Ji Heng should have told the people in the Duke's Mansion in advance that Ye Mingyu and others were not living in the Ye Mansion, but in the Duke's Mansion. Therefore, after Jiang Li returned to Yanjing City, he went to the Duke's Mansion first.

White lanterns were hung outside the Duke's Mansion. When Jiang Li was away, General Ji was buried. As the only legitimate grandson of the Duke's Mansion, Ji Heng did not wear mourning for General Ji. If it were the case in the past, people in the city would probably say that Ji Heng was indeed an unfilial bastard. But this time he did not do so. The reason was that Prince Xia rebelled in Qingzhou, and Ji Heng led the Jinwu Army to redress the rebellion. For heroes, the people are always particularly tolerant. Although this hero had a bad reputation in the past and was not sure about his military achievements, he did so, which gave him a reason for not being able to return to the capital in time to perform filial piety.

After so many years, there are only Ji Heng and General Ji in the Duke's Mansion. Ji Heng has an unpredictable temperament and doesn't get along well with others. General Ji has long since left the court, so the house is deserted. After the heroic general passed away, there are only a few people who come to pay their respects. The Duke's Mansion is already sparsely populated, and the white lanterns and filial piety characters hanging at the door make people feel lonely and distressed.

When Jiang Li returned to the Duke's Mansion, everyone was shocked.

Ji Heng really asked Ye Mingyu to move everyone to the Duke's Mansion. Jiang Li entered the yard and saw Ye Mingyu and Xiao Hong arguing. It was because of these many people that the desolate atmosphere of the Duke's Mansion was finally diluted. Xue Zhao was the first to find Jiang Li and shouted, "Sister!"

Only then did everyone realize that Jiang Li had returned.

Situ Jiuyue, who was holding a pot for pounding herbs, also came over. Everyone gathered around, and Xue Zhao said, "Sister, my brother-in-law wrote to say that you would be back in the next few days, and you really did come back in the next few days!"

Ye Mingyu was too lazy to correct Xue Zhao's wrong address. He just thought that this boy probably wanted to establish a relationship with Jiang Li. He looked Jiang Li up and down and said, "How are you, Ali? Are you not hurt?"

Jiang Li shook her head, and Xue Huaiyuan said in a deep voice: "Ali, you were too impulsive this time. You shouldn't have risked your life to save us. If something happened to you, how would we deal with it?"

His name is "Ali". Ye Mingyu wondered why Xue Huaiyuan and Jiang Li became so close. But now was not the time to pursue this. Besides, what Xue Huaiyuan said was right. He nodded and agreed: "That's right, A Li, if Yin Zhili really wants to do something, we will play with him. How can we let you, a little girl, save us?"

Jiang Li said: "Mr. Xue, Ah Zhao, uncle, cousin, Miss Jiuyue and Haitang, are you all okay? Did Yin Zhili embarrass you... All the servants of the Ye family were killed, and Haitang's finger..."

Haitang retracted her hand slightly and said, "It's nothing. My face was already damaged before, so a finger is nothing. They knew Miss Jiang was soft-hearted, so they did this to make her worry. It's me who implicated Miss Jiang." "Why do you say that? If it weren't for me, the Yin family wouldn't have kidnapped you." Jiang Li replied, and then asked, "What happened that day? I only know that Yin Zhili kidnapped you, but I don't know what happened to you."

Ye Mingyu sighed and said, "It happened suddenly, and we didn't expect it..."

It turned out that the night before Jiang Li went to the Ye family and found out that something happened to the Ye family, someone sneaked into the Ye mansion and kidnapped Ye Mingyu and his friends. Those people were not like ordinary Jianghu assassins, but rather like soldiers in the military camp. Ye Mingyu was tricked by them. When they woke up, they had already left the city gate. They didn't know where they were, but it should be not far from Yanjing City. They heard those people say "Prince" repeatedly, and guessed that maybe the person behind the scenes was Yin Zhan. It was at that time that Haitang was dragged out and had a finger chopped off.

Xue Huaiyuan was smarter after all, and he quickly guessed that these people kidnapped them for ulterior motives, but to threaten someone. It seemed that Jiang Li was the only one who had a close relationship with both the Xue family father and son and the Ye family uncle and nephew.

"Mr. Xue guessed that they might want to exchange us for you, and he wanted to stop them. But a few days later, we were knocked unconscious and left at the gate of Yanjing City. Lord Kong Liu of the Cavalry Corps found us and brought us back." Ye Shijie explained.

When Jiang Li heard Kong Liu's name, she knew that Kong Liu's appearance was not accidental, but was arranged by Ji Heng in advance. Xue Zhao said: "Later, Lord Kong came and said that my brother-in-law had made arrangements. Now Ye Mansion is not safe, so let us live in the Duke's Mansion. We then learned that General Ji had passed away."

Xue Zhao's voice was also a little sad. Ye Shijie frowned and asked, "Cousin, what's going on? What is going on between Duke Su and the Yin family? The Yin family suddenly rebelled. Did you know something about it a long time ago?"

Jiang Li and Ji Heng had a close relationship. It was impossible for Jiang Li to know nothing. But Jiang Li was unwilling to show Ji Heng's past to others. It was too dark and too cruel to Ji Heng. She didn't want others to look at Ji Heng with sympathy.

Xue Huaiyuan seemed to understand what Jiang Li was thinking, and said, "Miss Jiang is just a girl after all. These things are of great importance. Duke Su may not tell her. The more she knows, the more dangerous it will be. I think Duke Su will not say much to protect her."

Ye Shijie looked at Jiang Li, and seeing that Jiang Li didn't want to say more, he understood a little. This cousin was always stubborn about things she didn't want to tell, and no one could shake her decision.

"I think it's better for you to go back home and rest for a while." Xue Zhao looked at Jiang Li's face and said, "As for the future, there is still a long time to come, so it's not too late to talk about it slowly."

Xue Zhao was trying to help her out, and Xue Huaiyuan also said, "Yes, Lord Jiang is also waiting for Miss Jiang to return home. When Miss Jiang returns, Lord Jiang can rest assured."

Although Ye Mingyu also had a lot of questions to ask Jiang Li, those things were not important. He was still concerned about Jiang Li's health and safety. Xue Huaiyuan and Xue Zhao had said so, and Jiang Li didn't look very energetic, so he said: "That's true... Ah Li, then you go back to the mansion and rest. I will come to see you tomorrow. There are guards arranged in the Duke's Mansion, so you don't have to worry about us. Although the Duke of Su is a person... but he treats you well. I won't say anything."

Ye Mingyu always felt that Ji Heng's appearance was too good, which was not a good thing, and the rumors about Ji Heng in the market were not very good. But Jiang Li was saved by Ji Heng again and again. Moreover, Ji Heng had no relationship with their Ye family, so why let them live in the Duke's Mansion. If it wasn't for Jiang Li, why would Ji Heng be so proud to let the merchants that the government avoided live in his own mansion. Men understand men best. Ji Heng did this because he loved the house and the people in it. It was really rare for him to have such a heart for Jiang Li. At least compared with Jiang Li's previous marriage to Ningyuan Marquis Mansion, it was many times better. In addition, Ji Heng personally led the troops to the battle, which showed that he was a real man, not just a pretty boy.

……

When they returned from Ye Mansion to Jiang's house, it was already evening. Jiang Li had returned to Yanjing City without informing anyone in advance. When Ji Heng's personal guards sent Jiang Li back to Jiang Mansion, the gatekeeper was startled when he saw that it was Jiang Li, and hurried to inform the master and the mistress.

Evening Breeze Hall suddenly became crowded.

Mrs. Lu was as warm and shrewd as ever, but now she showed some genuine concern. She looked Jiang Li up and down and said, "Xiao Li, where have you been? Where... did you come back from?" She looked confused, and it was obvious that Jiang Yuanping had not told her the news about Jiang Li.

Old Madam Jiang was very calm. She was only a little excited about Jiang Li's sudden return, and then she returned to her normal state. She didn't ask Jiang Li much, just asked if Jiang Li was injured, and then she didn't ask anything else. Jiang Li guessed that Old Madam Jiang probably knew something. Putting aside the grudges between the Ji family and the Yin family, at least Old Madam Jiang should know where Jiang Li had been these days and why she disappeared. Jiang Jingrui wanted to ask a few more questions, but was interrupted by Jiang Yuanbai, who looked at Jiang Li and said, "Come with me."

He always said this, and Jiang Li was used to it. She followed Jiang Yuanbai back to the study. Jiang Yuanbai asked, "Do you know that you were too impulsive this time? For the sake of the Ye family, you actually went out to be a bargaining chip. In this way, where do you put the Jiang family?"

"I'm sorry, father," Jiang Li replied, "It was an emergency at the time, and I really didn't think too much about it."

"I'm afraid that even if you thought of it, you would still do it." Jiang Yuanbai snorted coldly, "You have always been closer to the Ye family and Xue Huaiyuan and his son than to the Jiang family."

Jiang Li had nothing to say. To be fair, what Jiang Yuanbo said was absolutely right. But people are all made of flesh and blood. Ye Mingyu treated her as his own daughter, and Xue Huaiyuan was her biological father. People have their own relatives and strangers. Even though Jiang Li is not a person who remembers beatings but not food, some of the things the Jiang family does sometimes are unavoidably chilling. Just like she gets along more comfortably with her uncle than with Jiang Yuanbo.

Jiang Yuanbo was speechless when he saw Jiang Li like this. Jiang Li knew her mistakes, but she refused to change. Who did she inherit this stubborn character from? She was not like him, and even less like Ye Zhenzhen.

"Let me ask you, has Ji Heng ever told you about the past relationship between the Ji and Yin families?"

Jiang Li's heart skipped a beat, but she remained calm, lowering her eyebrows and answering, "No."

"Really?" Jiang Yuanbai looked at her suspiciously.

"real."

It was strange that Jiang Li always revealed her lies to Ji Heng and felt very uncomfortable, but she seemed to be an expert at lying to Jiang Yuanbo without even thinking about it. Jiang Yuanbo sighed and said, "Forget it, none of this matters anymore."

He sighed for a long time, but Jiang Li heard something strange in his words and asked, "Did something happen to father?"

"Yin Zhan's rebellion is tantamount to roasting me on the fire. He was close to me before and went to the Jiang family many times. I think Your Majesty knows it very well. Your Majesty allowed him and me to do this without reminding him, which shows that he had made plans long ago and wanted to deal with my Jiang family. Now he didn't make it clear, but he saved face for my Jiang family because of the many years of friendship between monarch and minister, and the grace of teacher and student. If I lick my face and play dumb, don't blame Your Majesty for being ruthless and ungrateful." He turned around and shook his head, saying, "The Jiang family can no longer stay in the court."

Jiang Li didn't say anything. In fact, she had already seen through this. Emperor Hong Xiao probably didn't intend to keep the Jiang family in the court from the beginning. When King Cheng was still there, keeping the Jiang family could still be a check and balance. Now that King Cheng has disappeared, there is no benefit for the Jiang family to stay. It's not because Jiang Yuanbai has a rebellious heart or something, but because most of the civil officials in the court today were once Jiang Yuanbai's disciples. This is not a good thing for Emperor Hong Xiao.

The art of being an emperor was taught to Emperor Hong Xiao by Jiang Yuanbai, the Grand Tutor. He should understand this better than anyone else, but unfortunately, people who are in it are inevitably confused by the situation in front of them. Jiang Yuanbai's position was too high and too smooth, and he was reluctant to give it up. Things that should have been completed many years ago have been delayed for so many years.

The character of old Jiang is no longer in the Jiang family, so the decline of the Jiang family is only a matter of time. Now Jiang Yuanbai can make up for the loss, which is not a bad thing. If he cultivates his descendants well, such as Jiang Jingrui and Jiang Jingyou, the Jiang family may prosper again.

It all depends on personal choice.

"Xiao Li," Jiang Yuanbai said, "after I resign, you will no longer be the daughter of the Prime Minister. Your marriage with Ji Heng..."

"Your Majesty's words are golden, there is no reason to disobey them." Jiang Li interrupted Jiang Yuanbai's unfinished words.

Jiang Yuanbai stared at her, as if he understood her thoughts in an instant. He slowly said, "It seems that you like him very much."

"Not bad." Jiang Li answered frankly, she said: "I like it very much."

"What if he died on the battlefield?" Jiang Yuanbai frowned. "You have to know that he has never been on the battlefield, but Yin Zhili is Yin Zhan's son and has learned the art of winning since he was a child. If he loses, the emperor's marriage will not count."

"Father is wrong." Jiang Li looked up at Jiang Yuanbai, her voice clear, and for a moment, Jiang Yuanbai seemed to see Jiang Li's eyes when she was taken back to Yanjing City from Qingcheng Mountain, and she appeared in front of him eight years later. Jiang Yuanbai was surprised by the determination between his daughter's eyebrows, and the deep stubbornness hidden in her gentleness. Her voice was also gentle, but it was like a vow, heavy and unshakable.

She said, "Ji Heng will die, but he will not lose. If he comes back alive, I will marry him. If he doesn't come back, I will tie my hair and stay a widow for the rest of my life. However," the corners of her mouth slightly raised, as if she was smiling. Suddenly, Jiang Yuanbai's eyes blurred, and he felt that Jiang Li's smile at this moment was very similar to Ji Heng's. She said, "He promised me that he would definitely come back."

(End of this chapter)