After dinner, Luo Xueyan instructed Shen Miao to rest early, then pulled Shen Qiu and Shen Xin back to the room to discuss what happened today. Shen Miao did not follow. She had already learned many things from Luo Xueyan. What she could not understand now was what Shen Yuan gave to Fu Xiuyi.
In front of the oil lamp, Shen Miao sat at the table and was deep in thought. Jingzhe and Gu Yu were careful not to disturb her. Outside the window, it began to drizzle. This was the first rain since the new year, indicating that spring was coming.
When spring came, everything would be revived, bringing along with it new hope, but what was the hope for the Shen family?
Shen Miao closed her eyes.
That night, when Xie Jingxing passed by the courtyard, he happened to meet Xie Changwu and Xie Changchao. When the two of them saw him, they immediately stopped and bowed respectfully to him. “Brother.”
Xie Jingxing had always ignored these two people. It was the same today. Just as he was about to walk past them, he was stopped by Xie Changchao. Xie Changchao said smugly, “I haven’t seen you in a long time. I wonder what you’re busy with. I wanted to go with you to hunt a few days ago, but Father asked us to go to Lord Liu’s official banquet, so I had to postpone this plan.”
Xie Ding had been bringing Xie Changwu and Xie Changchao to the banquet of his colleagues these days. Everyone knew that Xie Ding was going to guide his two sons into officialdom.
Speaking of which, Xie Changwu and Xie Changchao were the sons of a concubine, and they weren’t as talented as Xie Jingxing. If not for the fact that Xie Jingxing was cynical and refused to become an official, everyone knew that it would not be the two brother’s turn. However, Xie Jingxing had been at odds with Xie Ding for many years because of what happened to Princess Yuqing. The relationship between father and son was awkward, so how could it be fixed?
Xie Changwu was a little more humble than Xie Changchao. Even so, he could not hide the smugness in his eyes. He said, “Brother, when will you go with us? With your talent in both civil and military, you will definitely be favored by everyone. It will be much easier for you to become an official.”
Xie Changchao and Xie Changwu had figured out Xie Jingxing’s temper and knew that he was arrogant by nature. The more he said that, the more impossible it was for Xie Jingxing to become an official. In terms of background and talents, they were destined to be inferior to Xie Jingxing. Now that they finally had something that Xie Jingxing didn’t have, they naturally couldn’t wait to show off.
When Xie Jingxing heard this, he looked at them with a faint smile and suddenly asked, “Are you very smug?”
Xie Changchao and Xie Changwu were stunned, but Xie Jingxing had already walked away. The disdain in the corners of his eyes was seen by the two of them.
Looking at Xie Jingxing’s departing figure, Xie Changchao said hatefully, “Smart ass, who does he think he is?”
Xie Changwu’s expression was sinister. “One day, I will trample him under my feet!”
When Xie Jingxing returned to the house, there were already two people waiting there. One was middle-aged and had a beard, and the other was young and had straight eyebrows.
The bearded middle-aged man asked, “Master, are you really going to…”
Xie Jingxing sat down at the table and waved his hand.
“Xie Changchao and Xie Changwu…” The younger one said,” Do you want us to…” At the end of his sentence, there was a trace of killing intent.
“No need. If we do it now, we’ll cause more trouble.” Xie Jingxing interrupted him. “With me around, Xie Changwu and Xie Changchao won’t do anything to Xie Ding. As for Concubine Fang…” He sneered.” Just keep her.”
The two of them nodded. Xie Jingxing took out a letter from his sleeve. It was a copy of the letter he sent to the emperor to request to go to war.
