Chapter 168 Fight against injustice
The night wind blows gently, and the manor is as quiet as a pond.
The stars are twinkling like Zhuang Wei’s shining mood.
The past seems like yesterday, and it seems to be right in front of me.
Fang Zhixuan said that when he was still in the womb, An Song had already diagnosed through pulse diagnosis that Chu Lantong was pregnant with twins, both boys.
Gu Mengzhen took advantage of the fact that "twins are difficult to identify" and proposed to raise Zhuang Wei with himself, while Zhuang Rui should be left to be raised by Fang Zhixuan and his wife.
At that time, Fang Zhixuan had just returned to Shengjing from exile and had not yet established a firm foothold. Even though he was reluctant to leave his son, he did not dare to go against the emperor's will and could only nod in agreement.
Unexpectedly, after they were born, the two sons did not look very similar. They looked like ordinary brothers and were easy to tell apart.
Fang Zhixuan wanted to refuse and keep Zhuang Wei by his side, but he saw Gu Mengzhen hugging Zhuang Wei, moved to tears, and exclaimed: "Uncle Zhuang, mother, did you see this? The Zhuang family has a successor, your spirits in heaven can rest in peace!"
The mother of Gu Mengzhen and Zhuang Shao eloped with Gu's father in her early years and gave birth to Gu Mengzhen for him.
Later, Emperor Dezong issued an edict to grant the marriage, and Gu's father had no choice but to marry a girl from another family. He had no choice but to take Gu Mengzhen away, thus letting her down.
Many years later, she married into the Zhuang family. Although she was not young, she was deeply loved by her husband. When she was nearly forty years old, she gave birth to Zhuang Shao.
Fang Zhixuan knew that Gu Mengzhen was grateful to Zhuang's father. He also saw with his own eyes that among the Zhuang clan members, only Zhuang Shao survived the exile. Gu Mengzhen was so distressed that he blamed himself.
I remember him saying something like this: "When the Gu clan was in trouble, you saved the situation with your own strength; and then the Zhuang clan was exiled, but I was powerless to stop it. It was me who harmed Uncle Zhuang and my mother, and it was me who failed the Zhuang clan!"
It was not until Zhuang Wei was born that Gu Mengzhen's sad expression finally eased.
He personally washed Zhuang Wei and dressed her, and he held her in his arms from the first time he saw her. Even if they were separated for a short while during feeding, he would pace anxiously, worried about the outcome, and even worried that the wet nurse would take the child away and not give him back.
Fang Zhixuan could see that he truly loved Wei'er, so he acquiesced to her entering the palace and did not make any excuses to keep his son.
Chu Lantong was afraid that her eldest son would become a hostage, so at first, she begged Fang Zhixuan to find a way to get Wei'er back. Later, she gradually stopped worrying.
Everyone saw Gu Mengzhen's love for Zhuang Wei and envied him.
Gu Mengzhen kept his word and raised Zhuang Wei personally, and did not hand him over to any concubine.
Before Zhuang Wei was ten years old, he almost never left her side, even when he went to court, he would take Wei with him.
I remember when Zhuang Wei was still an infant, he once accompanied his father to court and suddenly burst into tears.
Gu Mengzhen put aside the affairs of state and discussed with more than a dozen female ministers why Wei'er was crying. He also alarmed all the doctors in the Imperial Medical Bureau and tried every possible way, but still did not know the cause.
Finally, Zhuang Wei reached out and fiddled with the dragon crown on Gu Mengzhen's head, as if to say that he wanted to wear it too.
Upon seeing this, all the ministers suddenly fell silent and dared not say a word.
Gu Mengzhen didn't care at all. He took off the dragon crown and handed it directly to Zhuang Wei. He also asked someone to bring a dragon robe and used it as a quilt to cover Zhuang Wei.
Seeing that he stopped crying, there was only a satisfied smile on Gu Mengzhen's lips.
The ministers looked at each other in bewilderment; no one had expected that the emperor could favor her so much.
Zhuang Wei left the palace at the age of 20. Before that, he lived in the Prince's Changsheng Palace, which shows that Gu Mengzhen had high hopes for him.
In addition, if the princes and princesses had conflicts with Zhuang Wei, Gu Mengzhen would not give any explanation and would simply protect Zhuang Wei.
No matter what happens, Gu Mengzhen always puts Zhuang Wei first and his favor and honor will never diminish.
The fragrance of flowers in the courtyard intoxicates me.
Suddenly, he heard a burst of dog barking. Zhuang Wei turned around and saw a poor stray kitten being bullied by a group of vicious dogs.
"Leave the kitten and drive away the vicious dogs."
After giving the order, the follower left.
In this situation, he couldn't help but think of the time when he was ten years old, just like the kitten in front of him, being bullied by princes and princesses of the same age.
The Emperor's uncle loved him especially, and over time, this caused resentment among the princes and princesses, who decided together to bully him back.
They used the excuse of going out of the palace to visit the market, and sent palace servants to sincerely invite Zhuang Wei to accompany them.
The palace maids looked calm, and Zhuang Wei thought they had changed their tempers and were trying to make peace, so he accepted the invitation and left.
When he met them, Zhuang Wei realized that they had bad intentions, but he was already outside the palace.
They couldn't do it alone, so they took Zhuang Wei to a deep alley, and after making sure that it was quiet and there was no one around, they started to teach him a lesson.
Before he could even land a punch, a girl holding a broom came out from the back door of a shop. She was about to go home, but when she turned around and saw this, she hurried over and stood in front of Zhuang Wei to protect him.
"stop!"
"Why did you hit people?"
One of the princes shouted.
"You bold commoner, do you know who we are?"
The girl raised her broom and met their blows.
"I don't care who you are. It's wrong to hit people!"
"If you know what's best for you, leave now. Otherwise, I will stand up for you!"
Just like that, she waved her broom and drove away all the princes and princesses.
She did not leave her name, but just muttered to herself as she walked away: "It's too late, it's too late, the mistress is about to return home, if she finds that Xiangzhu Garden is dirty and messy, she will cry and complain that the girl deliberately framed her, intending to make people mistakenly think that she, as a mother, did not arrange for servants to clean up for her daughter..."
Hearing that she had something urgent to tell him, Zhuang Wei said nothing. He just stared at her back with a smile and watched her go away.
After returning to the palace, he sent someone to investigate secretly and learned that the girl was a maid in Xiangzhu Garden of Ningguo Mansion, named Qiu Bi.
Those princes and princesses with bad intentions would naturally send people to investigate. Zhuang Wei blocked the news in time to protect Qiu Bi.
The princes and princesses couldn't find out, so they targeted him. As long as he dared to go to Ningguo Mansion to look for someone, Qiu Bi's identity would be discovered by them. So for many years, he deliberately stayed away and didn't disturb Qiu Bi.
The next time they met was when she was apologizing to Ning Yunxi. Qiu Bi rushed over and stood in front of her master, just like she did back then, bravely protecting him and daring to confront the prince and princess.
At that time, he heard that she had become a sophomore in high school.
She has the support of the noble family; he has entered the Eighth Palace, and his status is very different from before. Now, even if the princes and princesses find out who was involved in the past, they cannot easily touch Qiu Bi.
He originally thought that their old friendship could be renewed, but unfortunately, he heard that she and Lin Mu were already engaged.
There was no other way, he could only hide the memories deep in his heart and keep them silently.
Unexpectedly, their engagement was cancelled!
Qiu Bi even wrote a love letter to express her feelings.
As a result, he could no longer hold back.
The faint light of the stars quietly fell on his smiling face.
"Does she still remember the old days when she was young?"
"Why didn't you mention it in the letter?"
"And the handwriting on this letter is a bit like my cousin's. Is it because she is too shy that she asked my cousin to write it for her?"
After talking to himself, he listened to the report from his servant.
"My Lord, the Secret Attendant Gao requests to see you."
Zhuang Wei smiled in surprise.
"Please."
"Someone, comb my hair and change my clothes."
What is she doing here so late?
Is this considered... a tryst?