Star Trace Gate

Chapter 833: The Flower Garden Reopens, Drinking in the Government Office

At night, after half past the hour of Xu, at the City Lord's Mansion.

Long Yuqing stood in the pavilion in the east courtyard, looking at the brightly lit inner hall with astonishment and empty eyes. He saw his beloved wife chatting and laughing with the maid, busy with her work.

Beside them, the maid named Cui'er sobbed, her eyes red. "Your Highness, not long after you left, the young lady went mad. After the eldest uncle of the Yang family left with his family, there was no news at all. Coupled with the general's death in battle at Luoshen Mountain, these two waves of anxiety overwhelmed her, and the young lady...became like this. She keeps replaying the day before she brought you back, and every night she stays awake until the end of the night, constantly muttering...that tomorrow you won't have to hide anymore."

He listened quietly to the maid's narration, his eyes wide open, and the extremely distressed emotion in his heart turned into two lines of hot tears that slid down his cheeks.

If love really exists in this world, then Long Yuqing is undoubtedly extremely lucky, because his wife truly interprets what it means to be a couple in adversity and what it means to share honor and disgrace.

She loved him, simply and purely. Even though you were no longer the city lord, but just a prisoner hiding in a dark room, this would never change.

After nearly a year of "death", Long Yuqing lost a lot of things in that darkroom, saw through a lot, and figured out a lot. He asked himself if he had become numb to all emotions in this world.

But the love between him and Yang Ling'er grew deeper and stronger day by day.

When he saw his wife busying herself for him in the inner hall like a madman, his heart was broken.

Long Yuqing stared straight ahead, tears streaming down her cheeks. She asked in a hoarse voice, "Has anyone come to the inner courtyard of the City Lord's Mansion since I left?"

"Some officials, gentry, and wealthy merchants in the city have visited my mansion before, but I declined all of them, citing my young lady's illness. Therefore, none of them have ever entered the inner courtyard." Cui'er paused for a moment, then immediately added, "Oh, the descendant of the ancient emperor came here a few days ago."

"What are you here for?" Long Yuqing asked.

"He used a miraculous method to instantly enter the courtyard. He originally wanted to look for you, but you were not there... Then, seeing the young lady in this state, he sighed and left."

"He didn't say anything?"

"No." Cui'er shook her head.

Upon hearing this, Long Yuqing nodded slightly, thinking to himself, "He didn't sense my presence in the Emperor's Tomb, so he left first. But after he came out... he came to find me first. He also knew that Ling'er had gone crazy, but he didn't tell me just now. Perhaps he didn't know how to bring it up. Alas, Brother Zhu is truly a man of great affection. He has never forgotten the sacrifice he made to help me..."

"Your Highness, do you think...will the young lady be okay? Will she wake up?" Cui'er asked crying.

"Yes, everything will be fine."

Long Yuqing raised his arm, wiped his eyes with his sleeve, lowered his head and said, "Go ahead, you all take a rest, I'll accompany her."

After she finished speaking, Cui'er wiped her tears and left, and secretly called back Sister Hong from the inner hall, and returned to the servants' room to rest together.

Inside the room, candlelight was bright. Yang Ling'er was holding a pair of scissors in her hand, looking at the gorgeous clothes spread on her legs, and was about to trim some silk threads.

"Ling'er!"

Footsteps rang out as Long Yuqing walked into the room.

Yang Ling'er suddenly looked up at the familiar call. When her eyes focused on her husband's body, her pupils instantly dilated, becoming empty and dull.

The two looked at each other, and the room was silent. Long Yuqing looked at her motionlessly.

"brush!"

Yang Ling'er held the scissors in her hand and stood up suddenly. The gorgeous dress on her legs suddenly fell to the ground, and the sharp scissors heads were shaking violently.

"Ling'er, I... I'm back." Long Yuqing spoke with a trembling voice.

Yang Ling'er stood there, stunned for dozens of breaths, before her empty eyes gradually regained their spirit.

"Snapped!"

She suddenly placed the scissors on the table, stepped forward eagerly, and said excitedly, "Why did you come back today?! Who came to pick you up?! Was it Daddy? Or one of his generals?!"

"This old man clearly told me that I would pick you up tomorrow, but I didn't expect that he would give me a surprise!"

"Oh, I see. He must have thought it would be inconvenient to pick you up from the darkroom tomorrow and then take you on a tour of the city. So he picked you up a day in advance so that he could be prepared. Tomorrow, we can secretly set out from here and then cross the long street."

This crazy person has a hard time controlling her emotions, so when she saw Long Yuqing, she acted too excited and happy, saying a lot of things in a row. When she grabbed the other's right arm with both hands, she used a lot of force, and her expression looked exaggerated. Her eyes were full of stubbornness, and she even looked a little weird.

Long Yuqing slowly raised his other hand, gently grasped Yang Linger's wrist, and said to her, "Father-in-law's thoughts are naturally more meticulous. Now that I'm back, you don't have to worry anymore...!"

"Humph, who would worry about you!"

Yang Ling'er acted like a little girl, pulling Long Yuqing aside and saying, "Daddy has already posted a notice to clear your name. On that day, you can legitimately take over the position of city lord again. Come and see, I've prepared two sets of clothes for you: one for the city tour and one for meeting guests."

"You've lost a lot of weight over the past year, but when I visited you a few days ago, I secretly measured you... Hey, try it on and see if it fits."

"...!"

She seemed to have endless words in her mouth, and no matter how she expressed herself, she couldn't release the joy in her heart at that moment.

Long Yuqing was completely obedient to her, without showing any impatience, and just tried his best to go along with her.

"Oh, right, right..." Yang Ling'er froze in her tracks, her thoughts wandering as she said, "Your return a day early was a surprise from my father. And I... also have a surprise for you."

"What surprise?"

"Quick, quick, follow me...!"

Yang Linger grabbed his arm and ran to the backyard.

The two of them passed through the back hall and walked along the corridor with carved beams and painted buildings, and came to an open space in the courtyard with moist soil and turned clay.

Long Yuqing recognized it instantly. This was once his paradise, full of exotic flowers and plants. Little Bit's mother was the gardener here.

However, the flower garden that used to be full of blooming flowers has now turned into a vegetable field that looks like it has just been plowed. The beautiful scenery is gone, and there is only loose and moist soil, ridges after ridges, crisscrossing before his eyes.

"here……?!"

He stood there in a daze, looking at his wife with a puzzled look.

"After the Xianlan Sect forced my father to give you the poisoned wine, some spineless civil servants in this city came to remonstrate with you. They claimed... the existence of this flower garden only confirmed your reputation as a playboy who neglected state affairs and was not dedicated to his work. Now that you have committed suicide to apologize, the general should destroy this flower garden to demonstrate his loyalty to the Xianlan Sect and prove his virtue to the people of Chaolong."

"Although my father ignored it, my eldest brother was always cautious and didn't want this flower garden to become a source of trouble, so he ordered people to clear it out, leaving this place in ruins."

"When you want to accuse someone, you can always find a pretext. I was deeply upset when I heard this. Even this great emperor has the hobbies of a craftsman?! So what's the big deal about you loving to cultivate rare and exotic plants?"

"So, haha..." Yang Ling'er said with a joyful smile, "So, I secretly took out the seeds you hid in the attic, plowed the land again, and planted them one by one. I had thought that when you returned, the scenery here would remain the same, nothing would have changed. But I didn't expect that, as luck would have it, you'd be back in less than a year...!"

"Then from now on, you and I will plant the remaining seeds together and cultivate them carefully. Sooner or later, this place will be more prosperous and more magnificent than before!"

Having said that, Yang Linger turned to look at Long Yuqing and asked with a smile, "Okay?!"

After hearing her words, Long Yuqing was already in tears.

He and his wife were childhood sweethearts, playmates who had grown up together. He knew his woman too well. Over the years, she had lived a life of luxury, usually too pampered to even help with farm work or even a spilled oil bottle. But ever since the Emperor's Tomb was opened, and Chaolong City was in turmoil and undergoing a sudden and dramatic transformation, she had matured as if overnight.

She became more caring and no longer yelled at herself or cried and made a scene at every turn. Amidst the great changes in her family, she slowly learned how to be someone else's wife and how to protect the things that the person she loved cared about to the best of her ability.

A cool breeze blew, and Long Yuqing looked at her with blurry vision. He slowly raised his hand, stroked her withered cheek, and said solemnly, "Alright, let's wait together for it to flourish again. Ling'er, you are happy, because in your eyes, nothing in this city has changed, everything is the same as before... If a person can immerse themselves in the happiest and most blissful years, then... that's quite good."

He stood in the night, slowly raising his arms and weeping bitterly, "I, Long Yuqing, swear to heaven!!! No matter what happens in the future, I will only have you as my wife in this life... until death, and never betray you! I will take good care of you for my father-in-law and everyone in the Yang family...!"

"If I break this oath, I will be punished by heaven and die! Lost in the cycle of reincarnation, I will forever be a slave to the Yang family!"

His voice was hoarse but sincere, and even revealed a ruthlessness directed only at himself.

Yang Ling'er stood there, staring at him blankly, seemingly in a trance.

After a long while, she smiled and replied, "Why are you being so corny today?! Husband and wife... are supposed to be loyal until death, never betraying each other!"

“Yes, yes…!”

Long Yuqing also smiled through tearful eyes and nodded heavily.

……

In a blink of an eye, the seven-day appointment that Ren Ye had to meet with the lords of the four cities had come to an end.

Early that morning, after Long Yu washed and brushed his teeth, he entered the inner hall and saw that Yang Ling'er had already prepared breakfast.

"Hurry up and have some breakfast, then we'll go on a parade in the chariot..." Yang Ling'er, as usual, was lost in her own world. She gently urged, "After dinner, go to the bedroom and change into new clothes."

"Okay, everything is up to the madam's arrangement."

Long Yuqing had become accustomed to his wife's style of beating him. He would get up in the daytime and parade through the streets. After a walk around the city, he would return to the mansion. Then Yang Linger would insist that Long Yuqing visit his father and meet the civil and military officials in the government office.

However, every time this stage came up, Long Yuqing would make excuses such as feeling unwell and saying they would see each other tomorrow, and the next day, everything would start all over again.

The bad news is that she has gone crazy. If you don't want to continue to stimulate her, you can only coax her: the good news is that her madness is a bit different. She is only immersed in a certain day in the past. She will not completely collapse because her loved ones have not shown up. Moreover, when Long Yuqing really has an emergency, he can also find some excuses to comfort her.

He looked at the food on the table, bent down in his chair, and said softly, "Ling'er, when you were asleep last night, my father sent someone to deliver a message. He said that the descendant of the ancient emperor has returned and wants to discuss the affairs of the five cities. So... the city tour ceremony will be postponed. After the discussion is completed, my father will find a special opportunity to announce that I have resumed the position of city lord...!"

"Someone came last night? How come I didn't know?!"

"Didn't I tell you I came when you were asleep?" Long Yuqing replied calmly, her hands steady, "Don't worry, I'll be back before dusk, and I'll definitely wear the clothes you prepared."