Hong Yingrong carefully picked up the paper with a burnt corner and gently unfolded it. On the paper was the blueprint for making half a tiger talisman. Her heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

Although a corner of the drawing has been burned, the remaining part is still clearly visible, enough to show the tiger talisman's exquisite structure and uniqueness.

Hong Yingrong stared at this unexpected discovery, and an indescribable complex emotion surged in her heart.

The blueprint of this half tiger talisman had been hidden in this inconspicuous secret cabinet, right under her nose, but she had never noticed it for all these years.

Hong Yingrong's thoughts quickly turned back to her, she remembered Xue Yonghuai's instructions before his death, and how much he valued this half tiger talisman.

She suddenly understood that the reason why Xue Yonghuai hid the drawings here was because he was well aware of the importance of the tiger talisman. Once it fell into the hands of someone with ulterior motives, it would definitely cause an uproar.

And now, she accidentally discovered the drawing of this half tiger talisman, which made Hong Yingrong feel inexplicably pressured.

She must be careful not to let the blueprint fall into the hands of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, otherwise there will be no peace in the Xingyuan Marquis Mansion.

Before closing the drawing, she paid attention to the blurred handwriting on the tiger talisman drawing and carefully identified it.

"The mighty general's mansion, the Xue family's ancestral home in Baishuichuan", these words seemed to open up long-forgotten memories.

"The ancestral home in Baishuichuan..." she murmured to herself. That was the Xue family's old home in the north. Now only the old servant Xue Qiang and his family were in charge there.

The Baishui River is a natural boundary that separates the Great Zhou and the Northern Di.

Since the Xingyuan Marquisate moved to the capital, the direct descendants have rarely returned to the ancestral home. Only the manager of the ancestral home would come to the capital every spring.

The words "Xue's ancestral home" appearing on the drawing was not surprising. What made Hong Yingrong even more confused was that alongside the Xue family, there were also the words "Mighty General Ding's Mansion".

This important drawing clearly carries a meaning beyond its surface.

She recalled that Xue Yonghuai once said that when he first joined the army as a young man, he was trained in the army of veteran General Ding Weishan.

Xue Yonghuai also fought side by side with the old general's son Ding Dayong as brothers and gained experience together. As time went by, they each took on the responsibility of guarding one side. Xue Yonghuai defended the Western Rong, while Ding Weishan and Ding Dayong, father and son, guarded the Northern Di, each in a different place.

She unfolded the blueprint again, her gaze lingering on the words "Mighty General's Mansion, Ding Family" for a long time.

The Ding family and the Xue family, two generations of friendship, jointly guard the borders of the Great Zhou.

Now this important drawing closely links the two families together. What secrets are hidden behind it?

Many thoughts flashed through Hong Yingrong's mind, but she denied them one by one. With the information she had at hand, she was unable to guess the truth behind it.

She needs more clues and needs to go to Baishuichuan's ancestral home in person. Perhaps there are answers to all the mysteries there.

…

Outside the south gate of the capital, a porridge factory was busy distributing porridge to people in need.

As Qiao Heyuan jumped lightly from the carriage, she caught a glimpse of Ding Xinwan rushing from the city gate out of the corner of her eye.

Ding Xinwan was riding on a horse, wearing a pink riding suit, as bright as fire and as gorgeous as the peach blossoms blooming in spring. Her eyes were lively and she looked heroic.

She is completely different from those delicate young ladies in the capital. Her every move exudes the courageous temperament of a daughter of a general. She has perfectly inherited the bravery of the mighty General Ding Dayong and is worthy of being his only daughter.

Ding Xinwan has a lively and straightforward personality and is open-minded by nature. After meeting Qiao Heyuan at the porridge factory this time, they became good friends who can talk about anything and are as close as sisters.

"Sister Xin!" Qiao Heyuan waved immediately.

"Sister He!" Ding Xinwan also responded with a smile, tightened the reins, and got off the horse.

Ding Xinwan was also very thoughtful and brought a lot of dried fruits for cooking porridge, including red dates, lotus seeds, kidney beans, etc.

She directed the servants to carry the things into the porridge shed one by one, preparing to cook pots of fragrant and delicious hot porridge for the people.

The two girls are responsible for serving the porridge. After helping out at the porridge factory over the past few days, they have been able to quickly scoop up spoonfuls of hot porridge to ensure that every citizen can get a full bowl.

"This porridge is so delicious!" The people who came to drink the porridge praised it, "It's fragrant and sweet!"

These people who work as farmers in the suburbs are all very satisfied to be able to taste such delicious hot porridge after a hard day's work.

Just as the porridge factory was busy and orderly distributing porridge, a scoundrel in tattered clothes and with a scoundrel smile on his face suddenly broke into the queue. He swaggered to the front of the line, completely ignoring the sidelong glances and dissatisfaction of the other people in the queue.

The thug looked at Qiao Heyuan and Ding Xinwan with a critical look on his face, and said with a tut-tut sound: "Oh, two delicate little girls are giving out porridge here, it's really rare to see them."

Qiao Heyuan and Ding Xinwan looked at each other and saw the vigilance in each other's eyes. Although they came from prominent families, they were not unfamiliar with the world and were familiar with these ruffians.

Ding Xinwan said coldly: "Please go to the back and line up. We will give porridge to everyone in order."

The thug didn't care. He grinned and said, "Queue? I don't have time to queue. Hurry up and serve me some porridge, or you'll be in trouble!"

Qiao Heyuan frowned slightly, but she showed no fear. She softly said to Ding Xinwan, "Sister Xin, ignore him. Let's follow the rules."

Ding Xinwan nodded in agreement. She turned to the other people and said, "Please wait a moment. We will serve you porridge as soon as possible."

When the thug saw that the two girls ignored him, he immediately became angry and embarrassed.

He actually stepped forward and snatched the spoon from Qiao Heyuan's hand, shouting, "You two little girls, how dare you not serve me some porridge?!"

At this moment, several strong men walked out from the crowd. They were all servants brought by Ding Xinwan.

The servants quickly gathered around and surrounded the ruffian. One of them said coldly, "This is a porridge factory, not a place for you to act wildly."

The thug turned pale with fear upon seeing this, and quickly dropped his spoon, but he still spoke toughly and shouted in a cowardly manner: "You, you wait, you will see what happens to you! I am not that easy to bully!"

After saying this, he turned around in a hurry, squeezed out of the crowd in shame, and ran away. Seeing this, the onlookers booed and some even threw stones at his departing back, expressing their dissatisfaction and anger towards him.

The ruffian fled to a deserted place and carefully hid in the shadow of the city wall, looking back at the porridge stall in the distance with a sneaky look to make sure no one was following him.

After making sure that everything around him was quiet and no one posed a threat to him, he dared to crumple the empty paper bag in his hand and throw it at his feet.

The little powder remaining on the paper bag disappeared without a trace in an instant under the breeze, as if it had never existed.