The Marquis Is Innocent

After their father left, Xiao Qiao and Qiao Ci waited restlessly. Half an hour later, they saw him return. Qiao Ci greeted him and asked, “Father, did you convince Uncle?”

When Xiao Qiao saw his father’s frown, his heart went cold. Sure enough, Qiao Ping shook his head and said: “Your uncle is determined to make peace, I’m afraid he can’t be persuaded!”

Qiao Ci went outside, but was stopped by Qiao Ping: “Stop! This matter ends here. It is useless to talk anymore!”

Qiao Ci froze, his expression depressed.

Qiao Ping paused, his tone slowed down a bit, and said, “The Wei family may not accept this marriage. Let’s wait and see. If it doesn’t happen, then I’ll mention again about contacting Chen Liu, and I think your uncle won’t object.”

Although he said this, but when Xiao Qiao heard it, she felt her father did not hold any big expectations.

Qiao Ci believed it and looked forward to it.

Qiao Ping looked at Xiao Qiao, hesitated and said: “Man Man, stay with your sister more, persuade her to be more relaxed. We may not settle the marriage. Even if it does, Wei Shao is a young man with a heroic reputation. He is an overlord. And I heard he is handsome, so he is a good match.”

……

That night, Xiao Qiao and Da Qiao slept in the same bed again. Xiao Qiao could see that Da Qiao had a heavy heart, but she still smiling in front of her. She mentioned nothing about marriage, so she was even more upset.

Her father asked her to comfort Da Qiao. But she felt that all words of comfort were pale and useless.

The two sisters slept face to face. In the dim night, Xiao Qiao heard her cousin’s voice coming through: “Man Man, you haven’t met with Heir Liu for some time, have you?”

……

The ‘Heir Liu’, as Big Qiao calls him, is Xiao Qiao’s current fiancé, her previous-life husband, the future emperor Liu Yan, named Maoqing. But now, Liu Maoqing is still an unappreciated eldest son in the Han Dynasty’s state of Langya. When he was thirteen years old, his stepmother, in order to assist her son’s promotion, slandered him in front of his father, saying that he had molested her. The King of Langya, who favored his young son, listened to the slander. He abolished Liu Yan as a commoner and expelled him from Langya. Because his aunt was Xiao Qiao’s aunt, he came to Yanzhou and stay.

The Han Dynasty was in decline. In the imperial capital of Luoyang, the 14-year-old young emperor, who was helped to the throne seven years ago by Prime Minister Xing Xun, was like a puppet. Prime Minister Xing Xun held the actual power. Even the emperor was like this, let alone the Liu family in the fiefdom. They had no credibility in front of the local warlords, who had their own troops. The Qiao family was not afraid of the King of Langya and took Liu Yan in.

Qiao Ping, who took care of him, liked him so much. Three years ago, when he was eighteen years old, the King of Langya listened to his ministers and realized that he had wronged his eldest son and regretted his actions, so he took him back. Soon afterwards, the King of Langya sent an envoy to Yanzhou and wanted to propose a marriage between Liu Yan and Xiao Qiao.

Qiao Ping had already seen that his daughter Xiao Qiao and Liu Yan were in love. He asked Xiao Qiao and saw that she was shy, so he knew she was willing.

Six months ago, Liu Yan came to East County once on the pretext of celebrating Qiao Yue’s birthday. He thought he could meet Xiao Qiao and tell her how much he misses her. But Xiao Qiao avoided him and in the end, he had to leave.

……

The nightmare in her previous life left a deep psychological shadow that lingered. She was no longer the original Xiao Qiao who had grown up with Liu Yan and had no feelings for this fiancé, so she avoided meeting him. This time, when she heard Da Qiao mention him, she was stunned.

These days, day and night, she opens her eyes and closes them. Thinking about her cousin Da Qiao’s marriage, almost forgotten that she is also a person with a marriage contract. And the marriage date is approaching, in the next year.

“Man Man, if I got married, the north is far away. By the time you get married next year, I’m afraid I won’t be able to come back. I’m afraid it will be difficult for us to see each other again. You and the Heir share the same heart. After the wedding, you will be in harmony, so I am not worried.”

Xiao Qiao heard her say in a gentle tone. Her heart soured, and her eyes warmed up.

Da Qiao did not notice her strange, continued to laugh: “Your needlework was not good before, these two years it seems even worse. I have nothing to give you. But I thought you will get married next year. The Liu family is the royal family. I can’t be sloppy with the sewing work. I took advantage of my free time to make things for you with Chun Niang, and I put it in her place. It’s almost ready, just left a pair of red slippers for your father-in-law, because it takes a lot of work, so I put it in the end. I’ve already made the head, but I can’t decide on the color. Would you like to have a look? What would be good? Let’s discuss ……”

Da Qiao moved her body to get up from the blanket, but Xiao Qiao held her down and said in as smooth a voice as possible, “Thank you, sister. There is no need to look. Sister is also tired. Go to sleep.”

Da Qiao said: “I am afraid that it’s too late to make things ready and I  ……” She stopped, silent, and smiled: “Tomorrow is good. Let’s sleep first.”

……

The room was quiet.

Da Qiao sleep seems to be very peaceful, not moving. The sound of breathing is also very smooth.

Xiao Qiao remained awake at first. She became sleepy in the early hours of the second half of the night. When she was hazy, she noticed Da Qiao move her body. She tiptoeing off the bed. Without lighting the lamp, she dressed in the dark under the moonlight coming through the window. She slowly opened the door, passed by the maids who were asleep outside, and went out of the bedroom.

Xiao Qiao thought she was getting up, so she did not make a sound. But she felt something was wrong. When Da Qiao went out, she thought of an incident in her previous life. She was shocked and got up from the bed, dressed haphazardly, and held her breath as she walked out.

The moonlight is cold tonight, and the courtyard is cold. When she stepped out of the threshold, she saw Da Qiao’s figure going to the back garden.

……

There was a young man waiting in the back garden. His face is handsome, his body is as strong and agile as a cheetah’s, and every muscle contains a great power ready to explode. The wall of the Qiao family’s back garden was high, but it was easy for him.

He stood fixed in a dim corner where the moonlight could not shine. His back was devoured by the night. He has been waiting for a long time. The thin patched coarse sackcloth has been soaked by the night air. But he didn’t feel cold.

He didn’t know whether his beloved, the high and noble lady, would come here to meet him. But he still came here to wait.

His heart, at this moment, is burning a flame. The flame is weak but enough to warm him.

When he was born, one of his eyes was green and glowing at night. His parents thought it was demonic. They were terrified and left him in a pigpen near the Qiao family horse farm. In the freezing weather, he did not freeze to death. The pig’s mother took him into the pigpen. Drink the pig’s milk and survived. The horsemen thought he was odd and reported him to the family. He was kept in the stable and raised as a slave.

He had no surname and no name. Because they threw him in the pigpen at birth, Bi Zhi became his name.

……

Xiao Qiao followed her and saw the young man who came out of the shadows embraced her cousin. She broke away as if she was saying something to him.

Her heart suddenly understood.

In the previous life, not long after Da Qiao got married, this slave named Bi Zhi also disappeared. The Qiao family had hundreds of servants. The absence of one person attracted little attention from the head of the family. When the search was unsuccessful, it was stopped.

A few years later, the drought in the south of the Yangtze River led to chaos. The refugees roamed everywhere. They were becoming thieves. Among them, a green-eyed bandit rose, swallowed all the forces, and became a major figure. He took over Huaiyin and appointing himself as the commander.

Xing Xun of Luoyang sent soldiers and horses to besiege, but was defeated. Combined with the tight war with Wei Shao, the matter was closed, and they left him to encircle the land.

Later, when Wei Shao had defeated Xing Xun and seized Luoyang, he could dominate the Central China. But the green-eyed bandit, who had always been a loner, suddenly volunteered to join Liu Yan, who had been made emperor of Han by a group of loyal ministers in Yongdu. Liu Yan, who was short of soldiers and generals, was overjoyed and made him the King of Huaiyin, who then became an enemy of Wei Shao.

If not for the King of Huaiyin’s counterattack, who appeared out of nowhere, the schedule for Wei Shao to take over the world could have been at least two years earlier.

The ultimate outcome of this King of Huaiyin is also quite legendary.

After the last battle of Weinan, which determined the winner of the world, the King of Huaiyin disappeared. Some say he was dead, others say he plucked out an eye and disfigured himself and fled. Wei Shao hated this man so much that he offered a reward of thousands of gold and ten thousand households, and ordered him to be found alive or dead. But nothing happened.

It was only six months later when the news reached Wei Shao. Someone seemed to have seen a man with the appearance of King Huaiyin appearing near the ancestral tomb of the Wei family.

Wei Shao rushed over, but did not detect any unusual features. Then it was discovered that someone had broken the deserted tomb outside the mausoleum. The cave of yellow earth was empty, with the coffin nowhere to be found.

Wei Shao abolished the Qiao’s daughter. After her death, she could not enter the Wei’s mausoleum. So, they buried her in the grave outside the mausoleum.