Chapter 376

The next morning, just after the curfew, the news that Duke Jiang suddenly fell seriously ill and died at night reached the Prince's Mansion.

Although Jiang Lingyi had no feelings for Duke Jiang, he was her nominal father after all, so she washed up and went to Duke Jiang's Mansion.

Within eight days, the mistress of Duke Jiang's Mansion and the head of the mansion passed away one after another, and a strong sense of sorrow permeated the mansion.

Luo's mourning hall had just been removed, and Duke Jiang's was set up in a blink of an eye, which was really sad.

When Jiang Lingyi came over, Jiang Huan was outside the mourning hall greeting guests who came to pay their respects.

Although Duke Jiang and his wife had passed away, the Jiang family still had Jiang Heng and Jiang Lingyi, the Crown Princess who was in the limelight, so there was an endless stream of guests coming and going.

Jiang Lingyi walked to Jiang Huan's side, and her white dress made her bloodless face even paler, looking like she was in excessive grief.

"Brother, did father leave any last words before he died?" Jiang Lingyi's voice was a little hoarse, but it was not because of Duke Jiang, but because she caught a cold while keeping vigil for Luo a few days ago. However, hearing this, the guests felt even more distressed for Jiang Lingyi.

Jiang Huan shook his head, "Father's illness relapsed quickly. When I arrived, he could no longer speak."

Jiang Lingyi lowered her eyes slightly, and she had already guessed in her heart that Jiang Huan had done something to cause Duke Jiang's death.

The whole Jiang Guogong Mansion knew that she was tit-for-tat with Duke Jiang, and Jiang Huan treated his parents with great respect, but in fact, only a few people knew that compared to Jiang Lingyi, Jiang Huan hated Duke Jiang more.

However, he had always hidden it very well.

Even after Duke Jiang died, the rumors on the street were that Duke Jiang lingered in the red lighthouse and eventually lost his life.

Duke Jiang's illness came too quickly. If he didn't give everyone a reasonable explanation, it was inevitable that someone would suspect Jiang Huan, so he spread the truth without hesitation.

As for the Jiang family's reputation... Duke Jiang had already lost it, and this time was no problem.

Duke Jiang's reputation was not good to begin with, and it was reasonable that he died because of beauty.

Seven days later, Jiang Huan and Jiang Lingyi handled Duke Jiang's funeral affairs. The brother and sister sat opposite each other, but this time they were in the posture of the master.

After dismissing the servants and maids in the room, Jiang Huan looked at Jiang Lingyi, "Crown Princess, now that my father and mother have passed away, the edict of succession will probably be passed down soon. I wonder what you plan to do in the future?"

Jiang Huan knew from a long time ago that Jiang Lingyi was an ambitious person, but it had never been aroused. After a series of changes such as her father's forced marriage, the loss of her beloved, and the death of Luo, that ambition had probably occupied Jiang Lingyi's heart.

And the fact is just as Jiang Huan expected, Jiang Lingyi already has what she wants.

"Now I am the Crown Princess, and I am favored by the Crown Prince, and my brother is about to become the youngest Duke of Shengjing, so what we have to do next is naturally to help the Jiang family regain its glory as my father wishes."

Seeing the ambition in Jiang Lingyi's eyes, Jiang Huan smiled, "Okay, then I wish us to get what we want soon."

...

When Jiang Lingyi returned to the Crown Prince's Mansion, it was already the fifth day of May, and it was exactly one year since she married into the Crown Prince's Mansion.

In one year, too many changes happened, including the death of her parents, Lu Tingyu's departure from Beijing, Gu Qingqing's entry into the family, etc., and what has never changed is Chu Nanchen's love for her day after day.

Gu Qingqing entered the family in March this year, while Xie Yun was unable to marry into the Crown Prince's Mansion because she was ill and bedridden.

Originally, according to the laws of the Great Chu, concubines could not enter the palace within one year after the Crown Princess married. However, Gu Qingqing was getting older and older. After her birthday in March this year, she would be 18 years old. If she did not get married, she would be criticized.

Gu Taifu went to the palace to ask Emperor Yonghe for this matter. He had such a precious daughter, and he always pampered her at the top of his heart. Naturally, he could not bear to let her become the center of rumors.

Gu Qingqing admired Chu Nanchen for many years, and she was the Crown Prince's concubine designated by Empress Yuan and Emperor Yonghe. Jiang Lingyi naturally had no reason to refuse, nor was there any need to refuse.

She did not like Chu Nanchen, so she would not be jealous of him. It was just that there was one more lonely person in the mansion, and she did not care.

However, Jiang Lingyi's indifference did not mean that others did not care. After learning that Jiang Lingyi had no hard feelings about Gu Qingqing's marriage, Chu Nanchen was depressed and did not sleep well for half a month.

He had known for a long time that Jiang Lingyi's heart was hard to warm, but he never thought that after a year, she still had no desire to possess him. If she didn't have the desire to possess, she didn't love him.

In order to get some attention from Jiang Lingyi, Chu Nanchen deliberately stayed in Gu Qingqing's yard for half a month, and even didn't go back on the fifteenth night when he was supposed to stay at Jiang Lingyi's place. However, what he got in return was Jiang Lingyi's increasingly relaxed life.

Knowing that everything he did was in vain, Chu Nanchen stopped tossing and returned to his old ways. He only stayed in the back house for three or five days a month, and the rest of the time he either stayed up late to handle government affairs or stayed alone in his own yard.

In this regard, Jiang Lingyi was still unmoved, or rather, she had never known about it.

Another half year of leisurely days passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of the year again.

Now, Jiang Lingyi is seventeen years old.

After marrying into the Prince's Mansion for more than a year and a half, Jiang Lingyi's belly still didn't move at all. For this, not only Jiang Huan, the Emperor and the Empress were anxious, but even Gu Qingqing couldn't help but feel anxious.

Because the main wife didn't give birth to an heir, she, as a concubine, was not qualified to get pregnant, so every time after serving the emperor, she had to take a bowl of contraceptive soup. This cold thing would hurt the body over time.

However, Jiang Lingyi was always in a leisurely state of letting everything go with the flow. It was not that she was not in a hurry to give birth to Chu Nanchen's eldest son, but because Jiang Lingyi was really not ready to give birth to a child for Chu Nanchen.

Raising an heir is different from having sex, especially for a girl like Jiang Lingyi who grew up in a background where her mother didn't protect her and her father didn't love her. She knew what the birth of this child meant.

So she didn't dare, and didn't want to let that child go through the difficult path she had gone through again.

On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, Jiang Lingyi went to Chenglu Temple under the pretext of praying for the family. Because she didn't want to make a big fuss, she didn't bring many people with her, and most of them were her confidants.

Chu Nanchen knew that she had a lot of things in her heart, so he didn't say much, but asked Yunlan and Chuntao to take good care of Jiang Lingyi.

Even if he loved Jiang Lingyi, the issue of offspring was inevitable.

When Jiang Lingyi and her group reached the foot of the mountain, snowflakes had already fallen from the sky.

Yunlan stepped forward to hold an umbrella for Jiang Lingyi, and Chuntao led people to sweep the snow off the steps for her.

The snow gradually became heavier, and soon it had turned into heavy snow, dyeing the originally clean stone steps into a piece of snow-white.

Chuntao was afraid that Jiang Lingyi would fall, so she asked the servants to clean more carefully, and then walked to the other side of Jiang Lingyi and supported her arm.

Jiang Lingyi smiled, "Don't worry. When we were in Ningcheng before, Yunlan and I would go to the mountains to pick firewood on snowy days. The snow at that time was much heavier than it is now."

Chuntao was stunned. Picking firewood on snowy days? What's the difference between this and deliberately making things difficult for others?

She felt more and more distressed for Jiang Lingyi. How much suffering did Jiang Lingyi endure in the three years when she disappeared from everyone's sight?

While her thoughts were wandering a little, Jiang Lingyi had walked out of more than a dozen steps. Her steps were steady and she ignored the dirt. She didn't look like a delicate lady raised in a boudoir at all.

When the group climbed to Chenglu Temple, it was almost noon. Because of the snow, there were not many pilgrims in the temple. You had to walk a long way to see one. Some of them were in a hurry to go home, or they were looking for a wing room to avoid the falling snow.

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Jiang Lingyi came temporarily, so there was no monk to receive her, but soon a young monk recognized her identity and respectfully invited her to the backyard wing.

The Luo family believed in Buddhism, so Jiang Lingyi had been a frequent visitor to Chenglu Temple since she was a child. After returning to Shengjing after three years in Ningcheng, in order to find a moment of peace, she would come here every few months to burn incense and pray for blessings.

It was winter, and the sky got dark earlier than usual. In addition, it snowed today, so the night fell even earlier.

Jiang Lingyi had sent someone back to inform Chu Nanchen that it was too snowy today and they could not go back. They would set off to return to Beijing when the snow stopped a little.

At dinner time, Jiang Lingyi was still slowly copying scriptures at the table. The obscure scriptures in the book became beautiful and pleasing words under Jiang Lingyi's pen.

At this time, Yun Lan pushed the door open and walked in. After hesitating for a long time, she walked to Jiang Lingyi's side and whispered, "Master, just now, I saw Master Lu."

Hearing this, Jiang Lingyi paused with her hand holding the pen. Although her expression did not change much, her heart had already set off a storm.

Lu Tingyu...

Speaking of which, she and him, since they parted at Fengyue Teahouse that day, it has been almost two years since they last saw each other, right?

Two years of not seeing each other... "Is he okay?"

Jiang Lingyi asked this question with a lingering heart. It was not until the words fell that Jiang Lingyi realized that she had never forgotten him in the past two years.

Yun Lan pursed her lips and shook her head immediately, "It seems that he is not very good. When I saw him just now, I felt that he was darker and thinner, and the whole person looked absent-minded."

Hearing this, Jiang Lingyi became even more worried.

"Is there anyone guarding outside?"

Yun Lan vaguely heard what Jiang Lingyi meant, and shook her head after a moment of silence, "No, I just heard what you said and arranged for them to rest in the wing room."

Jiang Lingyi put down the brush in her hand. On a snowy night, she was trapped in the temple, but she met Lu Tingyu unexpectedly. Is this God helping her?

For no reason, Jiang Lingyi wanted to see Lu Tingyu again.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Lingyi asked Yun Lan to call Chuntao, put on Yun Lan's clothes, and then walked out of the wing alone.

The snow was still falling, the air was extremely cold, and there was no one in the quiet corridor. Jiang Lingyi walked quickly towards Lu Tingyu's wing according to the location mentioned by Yun Lan just now.

Not long after, Jiang Lingyi came to a side room in the corner and pushed the door directly in.

The firelight in the room was a little dim, but Jiang Lingyi could still identify the decadent-looking man on the ground in front of the bed as Lu Tingyu, holding a silver wine flask in his hand.

Lu Tingyu's drinking capacity has never been good, and he seemed to be a little drunk at this time.

Lu Tingyu stared at Jiang Lingyi for a while, then asked a very uncertain question: "Jiao... Jiaojiao?"

Jiang Lingyi did not respond, but stepped forward and helped Lu Tingyu to the bed, and helped him take off his soaked shoes, socks and outer shirt without any care.

Lu Tingyu was a little disappointed when he didn't get a response, and couldn't help but murmured: "It's not her. How could she appear here... But, I really miss her..."

Lu Tingyu's voice was intermittent, but Jiang Lingyi still heard everything clearly. She looked into his eyes and said, "It's me."

When a familiar voice reached his ears, Lu Tingyu's whole body suddenly became clearer, and his consciousness returned a little, "Jiao...Miss Jiang, why are you here?"

Although he couldn't call her 'Jiaojiao', Lu Tingyu couldn't call her Princess.

Jiang Lingyi didn't hide anything, "Yun Lan saw you, so I wanted to come over and see you."

Lu Tingyu's eyes clearly flashed with surprise. Although they couldn't grow old together, it would be good to see her again.

Jiang Lingyi casually picked up the wine glass in Lu Tingyu's hand, poured herself a glass, and drank it all in one gulp, "Where have you been for more than a year?"

Since Jiang Lingyi married into the Prince's Mansion, Lu Tingyu left Shengjing. For this, Chu Nanchen blamed himself and felt guilty for a long time.

Lu Tingyu's eyelids drooped, hiding the bitterness in his eyes, "I went to Ningcheng and walked through the places we once walked. I thought that I could forget everything that happened without seeing you, but the result was completely different. on the contrary……"

After not seeing each other for a year, the longing in his heart grew like weeds, so Lu Tingyu chose to come back, but he didn't dare to go back to Shengjing, so he came here. Unexpectedly, he met Jiang Lingyi by accident. .

Jiang Lingyi's expression froze and she didn't respond. Instead, she poured herself another glass of wine.

The yearning in her heart was no less than that of Lu Tingyu.

In the two years since she married into the Crown Prince's Palace, she was a favored and noble Crown Princess, but only Jiang Lingyi knew how she could endure those nights of having fun with people she didn't love.

Now, everyone is forcing her to give birth to a child for someone she doesn't love...

The more he thought about it, the more depressed he became. Finally, Jiang Lingyi threw away the wine glass in his hand and poured a bottle of wine into his mouth.

Is it possible to stop thinking about things you don’t want to do but have to do when you’re drunk?

Seeing Jiang Lingyi like this, Lu Tingyu quickly grabbed her hand and snatched the wine bottle from her hand, "Don't drink so much wine, your stomach won't be able to bear it."

Jiang Lingyi raised his eyes to look at her, his bright eyes stained with drunkenness were like stars in the sky, twinkling and dazzling.

After hesitating for a moment, desire finally defeated reason. It wasn't until he held Jiang Lingyi tightly in his arms that Lu Tingyu realized that his heart, which had been silent, finally became warm again.

Jiang Lingyi couldn't help but hugged his waist, her voice choked up instantly, "Ayu, I miss you, I miss the days when we were together in Ningcheng, but what should I do? I can't go back, and we can never go back again. …”

Big tears rolled down and hit Lu Tingyu's heart so hard that he almost suffocated from the pain.

He didn't understand why a pure and beautiful girl like Jiang Lingyi had to suffer this?

Just because the imperial power is supreme, just because Emperor Yonghe is the king and they are ministers? So their lives and happiness must be at his mercy?

After eighteen years of life, this was the first time that Lu Tingyu hated someone so strongly. He hated Yong and Emperor for beating each other up, and even more hated his own powerlessness.

"I'm sorry..." Full of hatred, it finally turned into a weak apology.

The moment the voice fell, Lu Tingyu felt his lips soften.

When he looked up in shock, he saw Jiang Lingyi looking at him with a gentle face and a seductive voice, "Ayu..."

Such intoxicating tenderness slowly revived Lu Tingyu's suppressed drunkenness.

He suddenly wanted to obey his heart and rub her into his bones, but the remaining reason told him that he couldn't.

However, Jiang Lingyi, who had lost all his senses, could not care about so much. He followed his own desire and kissed Lu Tingyu's lips again. The faint smell of alcohol spread into Lu Tingyu's mind along his lips and teeth, instantly eroding the bit of clarity he tried to maintain. Almost exhausted.

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