After Becoming the Cannon Fodder Live-in Spouse A (GL) - Chapter 42: The Forty-Second Day

Chapter 42: The Forty-Second Day

How many things had Ye Fuguang hidden from Shen Jinglan exactly?

She thought that this depended on the angle from which the question was asked.

If it only concerned the story development of this world, then all the plots she had seen but not informed about counted as concealment, but other people’s stories had no relation to Shen Jinglan, and as for the related parts, could she say them?

The brain that Ye the university student had once used during studies now felt muddled and insufficient even when facing Shen Jinglan, who was not skilled in scheming, and telling a lie did not seem like it could be rounded off, but if she did not tell a lie, she did not know if Shen Jinglan would think that her recounting of the original plot was cursing her, and then bring out rules that she could not cope with to deal with her—

So she began to cry hard.

She cried until she was hiccuping, unable to speak a single smooth sentence.

Looking at the pretty and cute face in front of her soaked with tears, like a fawn kneeling down to beg the hunter for mercy, Shen Jinglan, who had always felt compassion in the past, now had bottomless darkness in her eyes.

She had never discovered before that making someone kneel on the bed as punishment was such an erotic thing, just like at the moment, the little Qianyuan who should clearly be the dominant one was begging her for mercy, crying and trembling, while she was iron-hearted and unmoved, even…

She lowered her eyelids, looking at the other step shake she had removed again from the little flower vase’s head, just now when frightening the little friend and mentioning military law, she had casually used this hairpin step shake to pick open the waistband of Ye Fuguang’s collar, and then fiddled with the collar tie of the garment inside.

The cool wind poured in from the little girl’s neck, seemingly making her feel as if she was in the situation of being punished, so she was easily frightened into crying nonstop.

Shen Jinglan threw down the step shake, pressed her head, and in the two voices of “let her continue crying, cry more miserably” and the gradually weakening “in the end, she did not do anything out of line, stop here.”

She realized that the Qianyuan’s trust fragrance was ultimately drinking poison to quench thirst.

In any case, the medicine from the Imperial Medical Bureau could no longer be taken.

So she closed her eyes, used reason to pull back the second voice, “Alright, no more crying.”

After a pause, Shen Jinglan calmly said, “No matter what you have hidden, in short, the Xu family’s case involves many people, so from today on, whether out of curiosity or intention, you are not allowed to get involved in this matter anymore.”

…

Ye Fuguang thought that Shen Jinglan would leave after warning her.

Like the previous period, returning to Qingfrost Courtyard, and leaving her to sleep alone in Plum Garden.

After the initial few nights of insomnia, Ye Fuguang had gotten used again to sleeping without a pillow, and now seeing that Shen Jinglan was already in her middle garment and showed no intention of getting up to leave, after wiping her tears dry with a handkerchief, she thought that she had suddenly wanted to change places to sleep again.

Under Ruyi’s suggestive gaze from the outer room, Ye Fuguang clumsily covered Shen Jinglan with the quilt, and when she wanted to get down from the edge of the bed and go to the side hall to sleep by herself, she was pulled back by Prince Qi with a lift of his hand.

“Where do you want to go?”

The woman who closed her eyes and stuffed her into the quilt, even hugging her, said faintly, “Has the princess forgotten that she still has the duty to attend to the bed?”

Ye Fuguang puffed her cheeks.

Feeling that Ruyi and the others nimbly trimmed the wick and took the candlelight out of this room, clearly not disturbing their night life, Ye Fuguang had a moment where she felt that she really seemed like the kind of role that was kept.

Her voice had not recovered yet, her breathing felt uncomfortable, not knowing how to respond to Shen Jinglan’s words, she could only turn over闷闷ly, lift her hand to try to touch the other’s waist.

Then her wrist was caught and pressed down—

“Sleep obediently.”

Shen Jinglan said, “I did not ask you to serve like this.”

Ye Fuguang understood, withdrew her hand, but even after closing her eyes for a long time, her mind was still on Xu Leyao and Ye Yuge squatting in the big prison, afraid that they were having a hard time in the Horse and Step Army Division Prison, and also afraid that they could not come out alive.

The disordered and heavy-hearted breath was so close, naturally unable to be ignored by Shen Jinglan.

She opened her eyes in the night, smelling this slightly cool breath that gave her great comfort, and the person whose waist she held was warm and soft, she was quiet for a while, then spoke again:

“As long as you are obedient and do not cause big trouble, this prince can protect you from harm.”

This was said to coax her.

–

But after saying it, Shen Jinglan herself did not quite believe it. If Ye Fuguang had not married into her family, she actually would not have every move scrutinized, even if sharing her wealth and honor, she had to bear others’ criticisms together with her.

The emperor was wary of her, the officials hated her, how long could the merits she exchanged with the bl00d of her comrades support her in this position? Was her glory as a prince enough for her to protect the people around her?

Shen Jinglan, who had no soldiers in hand and only an empty general title, thought so clearly about her past and future in this quiet night, but no matter how she thought, she could not see where her own path ahead was.

Then she heard Ye Fuguang quietly ask, “I will be good, I will not go out in the future, will Your Highness let me always live well?”

Shen Jinglan’s thoughts snapped back, and she felt that the child was obedient to the point of being a bit unreasonable.

Which noble family had gained such power and stood in such a position, yet worried about their own life?

No matter how Ye Fuguang was before, after marrying into Prince Qi’s mansion, she indeed had never used the side consort’s title to go out and cause trouble, had not used it to bully the common people, and even the servants in the mansion had not been scolded by her, while these were just normal among the young masters and ladies of Yong’an’s noble families—

Sure enough, she had frightened the person too much just now.

She sighed very lightly in her heart, stroking Ye Fuguang’s cheek, “As long as this prince is still here…”

Saying to here she stopped again, thinking of Ye Fuguang running around for her illness when she first entered the mansion before, she changed the words to another premise, “Even if this prince is not here, I can protect you for the rest of your life without harm.”

But the child quickly forgot the fact that she had been so fierce just now, turned over and gently hugged her, and said, “No.”

“Your Highness cannot say that, you must always stay alive.” If Shen Jinglan died, her little life would probably be hard to preserve, and moreover, the main storyline still had to open the war chaos instance, Ye Fuguang, who had no ancient survival skills, did not think she could endure that kind of hardship.

Her breathing, alternating cold and hot, fell on Shen Jinglan’s neck, “I prayed very hard for Your Highness to wake up, Your Highness is not allowed to curse yourself like this.”

In short, not allowed to die before she found a way to go back!

Shen Jinglan kissed her forehead, “Got it, sleep.”

…

The Xu family’s case took Shen Jinglan more than a month in total.

But this was not because the case involved many people, or because it was difficult to get the results upon hearing the news, but because after she presented the investigation files into the palace, and sent her own memorial together to the Politics Hall, the files stayed in the Politics Hall for a long time.

During this period, Xu Yi was advanced in age, even under Prince Qi’s special instructions, the Horse and Step Army Division Prison did not use heavy punishments, but he could not withstand the damp environment in the prison, and fell seriously ill, difficult to treat.

Shen Jinglan pleaded for him several times at the court assemblies, but they were all refuted back by some fabricated stories constructed by the people of the Censorate, and even criticized her for investigating the case unclearly and wanting to favor the Xu family.

When she heard this reason, she sneered.

She did not answer a single word, but Shen Jinglan’s gaze that looked over carried a cold light, like a spear on the battlefield that took lives, in an instant making the people of the Censorate retreat several steps, frightened into speechless.

She swept over the civil officials in this Chenji Hall who were one better than the other at slick talk, and only then looking back did she discover that there were many fewer generals among them.

Was this the people her imperial brother used to guard the rivers and mountains?

Did he want to rely on their mutual suppression and verbal battles to take back the sixteen cities of Yanbei?

Shen Jingming interrupted lightly from the head seat, “Enough.”

He seemed to have finally made a decision on this matter.

But before the special gracious instruction from Chenji Hall could be transmitted to the Horse and Step Army Division Prison, the news came that Xu Yi had suddenly fallen ill in the prison and passed away suddenly.

Then, the emperor’s decree arrived tardily at that sunless prison.

The general meaning was that although the matter of Minister Xu and the examinees cheating in the exam had not yet been investigated clearly by me, but considering that Xu Yi had served the court for a long time, with no merits but hard labor, I grant him a coffin, and allow his family to come and collect his corpse for burial.

–

When Xu Leyao got the news, her entire expression was blank.

Ye Yuge in the cell next to her had no expression, but still could not help closing her eyes, and said very lightly, “My condolences.”

She thought she had already seen life and death in the prison, but seeing her friend like this, she only then discovered that her heart was not as cold and hard as she had imagined.

Xu Leyao did not eat or drink for several days.

Suddenly one day she opened her mouth, “My father was just unlucky in timing, originally the sage was also going to issue a decree to let him go home to recuperate and wait for the verdict, he was just unlucky and did not wait for that day, right, Yuge?”

Ye Yuge did not make a sound.

If she had not been caught in because of Prince Qi’s matter, perhaps she would also be like Xu Leyao, still harboring expectations for the person sitting in Mingde Hall, because the rules of the world were like this, the emperor was fair, just, and benevolent, if the policies went wrong, it was not the emperor’s fault, but those ministers who had blinded him.

But the current Son of Heaven of the main storyline was absolutely not someone who would be blinded by ministers.

Thinking of the scholar living on her other side, who had previously often exchanged conversations between her and Ye Rong for some gold and silver and delicacies, and recently, when disgusted that he could not squeeze more benefits from her, the malicious words he said, such as—

“Tsk, you and that friend of yours are just two pure jinxes, you two really, if you die someday, burying together I would worry about ruining the feng shui of a whole area.”

“You just don’t say it, mysteriously came in, that friend of yours, heh, the case handed over to Prince Qi to handle, is there still salvation? Don’t even look at whose court this is, Prince Qi has lost the sage’s favor, even if it is found out that she is innocent, she should not think of going out, so many civil officials standing in Chenji Hall, can they let a general press them down?”

Ye Yuge’s expression was indifferent, she probed some words.

After that loose-mouthed scholar said many things about Prince Qi, that day when Prince Qi’s people came to pass the decree to Xu Leyao, she finally waited for the opportunity to remove that thorn in her eye.

She conveniently reported to Prince Qi’s people.

Then that scholar was dragged to the execution area in the prison, screamed for a long time, until there was no sound, and no prison guard sent him back.

Ye Yuge thought without much feeling that she was just such a vengeful person, no matter to whom.

…It was just that some increasingly stupid little waste would think she was a healer who could save people, showing her that kind of naive and expectant gaze.

…

When Xu Leyao fasted until she was almost dying, she was awakened by Ye Yuge asking someone for a set of needles to prick.

When she was in great pain and curling up because her empty stomach was twitching, she asked Ye Yuge in a daze why she had to do this, anyway, even if she was released, she could not participate in the imperial exams in the future, the Xu family’s future was broken by her, why not let her go like this to apologize to her father?

“Don’t know.”

Ye Yuge answered very coldly, “In short, not allowed to seek death in front of me, after all, I am considered a doctor, will save lives and help the injured, you seek death how many times, I will save you how many times, if you want me to practice medicine, I have no objection.”

Xu Leyao: “…”

In that instant, she thought, hell is empty, demons are in the human world.

Why had she thought in the past that this friend had a super good personality and wanted to introduce her to other friends? If that Ye Ying really met Ye Yuge, she would be frightened to tears by her fierce appearance, right?

#

Xu Leyao lay in the prison that could only see a little light, her expression dazed as she recalled many past things, just like this, on the verge of death and struggling to survive, and in Ye Yuge’s life-threatening acupuncture, she miraculously recovered her vitality again in nearly a month’s time.

One day she did not want to die anymore—

“No.” She sat up in shock in the night, “I have to wait until the sage investigates this case clearly and clears my father and me.”

The surrounding prisons were all empty, even the prison guards were too lazy to guard their area, Ye Yuge was woken by her resounding movement that even echoed back, and thought expressionlessly, which acupoint to prick to make someone mute?

Considering that Xu Leyao had just come out of the grief of losing her father, she勉强 answered calmly, “You I don’t know, but I cannot go out.”

“Oh,” Xu Leyao lowered her voice, leaned to her side, holding the bars to ask, “What exactly did you commit?”

Ye Yuge did not speak.

Xu Leyao scratched her head, “I guess Prince Qi is very busy and cannot remember my appearance…”

At this time, the divine doctor Ye was willing to open her mouth again,勉强 said some words about what Prince Qi had paid for this case, received Xu Leyao’s shocked gaze, then dazed for a long time, not knowing what she muttered, and waved her hand at her again, “Hey, come over, I remembered a secret.”

Ye Yuge did not want to pay attention to her.

Xu Leyao, “Hurry hurry, it is a secret that you will not regret hearing, once this village passes, no more shop.”

Ye Yuge took a deep breath again, thinking that if she dared to say something boring, she would absolutely prick her until she regretted coming to this world.

She seemed good-tempered as she leaned over, even cooperatively posing as if willing to listen, then heard Xu Leyao ask her in a breathy voice, “Do you know whose family supervised the construction of this Imperial Guards prison when the Great Dynasty was established?”

Ye Yuge paused.

She pulled back a bit of distance to size up the person in front of her, then discovered that Xu Leyao began to tidy her prisoner clothes, pretending to stroke her messy hair, and nodded reservedly at her.

—That’s right, it was our Xu family.

She was expressionless, “So what?”

Xu Leyao cleared her throat: “Unfortunately, this person was naughty when young, accidentally burned eight ancestral graves during ancestor worship, and when chased by my father and mother with brooms, from the burial items that fell out of my grandfather’s, I saw the structure of this Horse and Step Army Division Prison.”

“You also know, our Xu family once escorted the eldest young master, my father and grandfather even fantasized about our Xu family becoming in-laws, wielding power over the court, when supervising the construction of the Horse and Step Army Division Prison, they thought, what if our family gets too arrogant, offends the emperor or the new emperor in the future, and has to be locked in, what to do?”

Ye Yuge had no interest in listening to her Great Dynasty version of One Thousand and One Nights in the middle of the night, frowning, “Get to the point.”

Xu Leyao was interrupted, and stated dryly, “There is a secret room two levels down with a secret passage that can lead out.”

Ye Yuge: “…?”

Her expression was subtle for a good while.

Just when Xu Leyao thought she was shocked speechless, Ye Yuge said with a complicated expression, “I am starting to be curious about your other secrets.”

There were no other secrets.

Xu Leyao shook her head for a while, suddenly thought of something, “Oh, there is one.”

When Ye Yuge thought she could say some earth-shattering plan about escaping from prison, she heard Xu Leyao say in an even more mysterious tone than before, “Yes, I have a sweetheart.”

“…”

“She is super cute, I will introduce her to you when there is a chance in the future, she

should be a Zhongjun, when I find a way to pursue her later, for us to have children, we will have to rely on you to work hard—”

The words were silenced by one needle.

Ye Yuge looked at the sky, no matter what plan, it was not something that could be discussed in this hot-headed time, so she expressionlessly agreed:

“Sleep.”

“Everything is there in the dream.”