Chapter 67 Chapter 67

When Xiao Jingzhao thought of Jiang Huai, Jiang Huai also thought of Xiao Jingzhao.

"Where is Wei Xi on duty? I'll go pick him up." Jiang Huai asked the personal guard.

The personal guards were prepared to face all kinds of problems before coming to greet Jiang Huai, but no matter how prepared they were, they did not expect that Jiang Huai would actually go to pick up Xiao Jingzhao from his duty. However, Xiao Jingzhao was currently in Yong'an Palace, and this place definitely could not be told.

But if Jiang Huai goes in to look for someone somewhere else and fails to find him, he will be exposed.

The guard broke out in a cold sweat and finally replied under Jiang Huai's gaze: "The general has been summoned to the palace. I don't know when he will be back."

"Entering the palace?" Jiang Huai said, "Then I'll wait for him at the palace gate. It's so late, he shouldn't stay too long."

Seeing that Jiang Huai had made up his mind, the guards did not dare to stop him. They could only follow Jiang Huai's instructions, prepare the carriage, and take Jiang Huai to wait outside the palace.

But this is a lie, and this news must be passed to Xiao Jingzhao's ears as soon as possible, otherwise the play will be exposed.

When Xiao Jingzhao learned that Jiang Huai had arrived, he became even more restless. Jiang Huai had a hard journey and still had to wait for him to have a meal together. How could he bear to let Jiang Huai wait for a long time?

Wei Xuan originally thought that Xiao Jingzhao had already told Jiang Huai his identity, but looking at Xiao Jingzhao's attitude, he knew that he probably didn't dare to say it. Now it is much more difficult to disguise his original identity than in Anyuan Prefecture.

Not many people in Anyuan Prefecture recognized Xiao Jingzhao, and since he only went in and out of the military camp, it was naturally not so easy for him to be exposed. However, there were too many people in Kyoto who knew Xiao Jingzhao, so how could he hide this from Jiang Huai?

Putting aside other things, just waiting for the Jiang family to come back, I'm afraid they won't be able to hide it anymore. And calculating the time, the Jiang family probably won't arrive in Beijing much later than Jiang Huai.

…

People were coming and going outside the palace gate. After all, it was a busy time now. However, there was only Jiang Huai's carriage parked there, which seemed a little special.

People passing by subconsciously took a look, wanting to see who was waiting there, but Jiang Huai's carriage was indeed unfamiliar and there was no special marking. Passersby took a look and couldn't see anything, so they looked away.

Nowadays, I am so busy with work that I don’t have the energy to explore a carriage, even if it is a little special.

Jiang Huai sat in the carriage and did not go out. Originally, Jiang Huai wanted to go out, but among the people passing by, Jiang Huai found several faces that existed in his memory. They were not particularly familiar, but the other party might remember him.

If the other party saw this, wouldn't they have to exchange a few pleasantries? Jiang Huai didn't have the energy to be polite with others right now, so he just sat in the carriage, occasionally lifting the curtain to look outside to see if Xiao Jingzhao had come out.

However, Jiang Huai also noticed the gazes of passers-by, but he had already been waiting here for such a while, and suddenly changing positions would be more conspicuous. He could only continue to wait patiently for Xiao Jingzhao to come out.

Fortunately, Jiang Huai didn't have to wait long before Xiao Jingzhao came out of the palace.

"This is the first time I see you dressed so...luxuriantly." Jiang Huai looked Xiao Jingzhao up and down, a little amazed.

Without waiting for Xiao Jingzhao to explain, Jiang Huai quickly pulled him into the carriage and urged the coachman to go back. After waiting outside for such a while in such weather, it was still a bit cold even though there was a heater in the carriage.

"I have already given the instructions. The food is probably ready and waiting for us to eat when we get back." Jiang Huai kept talking about some very trivial things, but Xiao Jingzhao listened very carefully.

The carriage drove through an alley and was about to arrive at Jiang Mansion. Who knew that there was also a carriage coming from the front, and it was going quite fast. Originally, this alley could be passed by two carriages, but because the speed of the people coming was too fast, even though the driver had excellent skills, they still brushed against it.

Caught off guard, Jiang Huai's body swayed and he crashed directly into the car wall. Fortunately, Xiao Jingzhao was quick-witted and grabbed Jiang Huai, preventing him from seeing stars.

"Which family are you from? How reckless you are! This is..." someone outside scolded them harshly.

Jiang Huai frowned. Even if the other party had not yet gained the reputation of self-protection, judging from his attitude, he was obviously someone who was not easy to offend, or perhaps he was domineering by nature.

If this happened in Anyuan Prefecture, even if there were such people, they would be relatively rare. But in Kyoto, there was no telling how many such people there were. Even if some of them had no power in their mansions, they could still be connected to them through various connections, such as relatives and old friends. Just thinking about this gave me a headache.

Jiang Huai knew that if he didn't show up, the problem would be difficult to resolve. He lifted the curtain of the carriage. Coincidentally, the owner of the carriage opposite also lifted the curtain and whispered in a somewhat unhappy tone: "Yun Fu, don't be rude. This is..."

The man scolded the servant beside him while looking towards Jiang Huai with a smile on his face, as if he wanted to apologize to Jiang Huai. When he raised his head and met Jiang Huai's gaze, he also happened to meet Xiao Jingzhao's face.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince..." Xiao Zeyang's voice was a little broken because he was too shocked.

But after shouting, Xiao Zeyang quickly realized that the carriage looked very ordinary, which meant that Xiao Jingzhao had concealed his identity when leaving the palace. Now that he had exposed the other party's identity, he was afraid that he would make trouble.

Xiao Zeyang looked around and found that there was no outsider around, so he breathed a sigh of relief. However, he still looked at Xiao Jingzhao with some trepidation, fearing that he would anger the other party.

Then, Xiao Zeyang found that Xiao Jingzhao's reaction seemed a little strange. The other party didn't pay attention to him at all, but stared at the handsome young man sitting in front of him. His body was tense, as if he was nervous about something.

Your Highness the Crown Prince?

When Jiang Huai heard the call, he had not reacted yet, but when he saw the people's eyes were looking behind him, Jiang Huai's mind worked quickly, and without much thought he realized what Xiao Jingzhao had meant by concealing his identity.

Thinking about what Xiao Jingzhao said before about the ancestors having a grudge, how could there not be a grudge?

As for the ancestral home, the imperial palace is indeed the ancestral home. As for the fact that only Xiao Jingzhao lives there, that is also normal. Which emperor would allow other relatives to live in the imperial palace unless they are his own descendants? But Xiao Jingzhao doesn't even have any descendants, so naturally he lives there alone.

Some things that seemed strange before now seem to have explanations.

Jiang Huai could feel Xiao Jingzhao pulling at his sleeve, not with much force, just gently pulling. He could pull it free with a little effort, but the force was hard to ignore.

Xiao Zeyang noticed the subtle atmosphere between the two and didn't even dare to breathe. He realized that Xiao Jingzhao was hiding his identity, perhaps not from others, but from the young man in front of him, but he was revealed by him in one sentence.

Thinking of how Xiao Jingzhao dealt with the emperor and other concubines and princes, Xiao Zeyang swallowed hard. He had originally thought that if he behaved honestly, Xiao Jingzhao wouldn't take him seriously. Maybe he could even go to a fiefdom. If that didn't work out, he could live a leisurely life in Kyoto. But now...

"..." Xiao Jingzhao waited for a long time but there was no response from Jiang Huai. He became more nervous. He wanted to shout, but was afraid of causing Jiang Huai's disgust, so he could only hold his sleeves tightly and dared not let go.

"Let's go back first." Jiang Huai forced himself to calm down, looked back at Xiao Jingzhao, said a word and lowered the curtain.

As for the people outside, he didn't want to say anything anymore, because he was a little angry because they revealed Xiao Jingzhao's identity.

If the other party hadn't said anything, he wouldn't know anything and could still have a happy meal today, but now, Jiang Huai felt like he had lost his appetite.

As for Xiao Jingzhao, Jiang Huai glanced at the clothes on Xiao Jingzhao. When he first saw it, he didn't think much about why he was not wearing official uniform, but now think about it, maybe he changed his clothes in the palace, but the palace probably didn't have official uniforms, or the official uniforms were not good-looking.

The carriage soon arrived at the Jiang Mansion. The servants who came to greet them did not think too much when they saw Jiang Huai coming down with a cold face, but the servants who had been following Jiang Huai realized the problem. Jiang Huai rarely had a cold face, especially when he was with Xiao Jingzhao. When had the two of them ever had such cold faces?

Jiang Huai strode into the mansion, but when he saw the mansion, he thought of Xiao Jingzhao's identity.

When he first came and saw this mansion, and since it was quite close to the imperial palace, he thought Xiao Jingzhao must have been preparing for a long time, otherwise how could he have found such a good mansion. But now it seems that he had clearly made preparations for both scenarios.

Jiang Huai walked in, but Xiao Jingzhao stopped. He could see that Jiang Huai was very angry about this matter. He didn't know if Jiang Huai would get even angrier if he followed him in.

Even though Jiang Huai asked him to come back with him, he couldn't control his anger. What if he got too angry and hurt himself...

Not hearing any footsteps behind him, Jiang Huai paused and turned his head to look over. He saw Xiao Jingzhao standing outside the door, looking at him worriedly, but not daring to come in, just like a timid young wife.

Although he knew that Xiao Jingzhao couldn't be injured so easily, Jiang Huai still felt a little reluctant when he saw him like this.

The previous relationship was not fake. They had been together for so long. Even if he knew Xiao Jingzhao's true identity, Jiang Huai could not change his attitude towards Xiao Jingzhao so easily.

"Come in, eat first, and we'll talk after you're done." After saying this, Jiang Huai continued walking forward.

Xiao Jingzhao followed closely, one step behind Jiang Huai, following Jiang Huai step by step.

For today's meal, Chef Fang tried his best to make Jiang Huai satisfied, but the result disappointed him. Jiang Huai didn't eat much. It could only be said that he ate a little for the sake of his health. He couldn't eat anymore after he was about 60% full. Xiao Jingzhao, who usually ate the most, couldn't swallow either.

Xiao Jingzhao thought of many possible outcomes, but after giving up on revealing his identity, Xiao Jingzhao felt that he might be able to wait for a few more days. However, he did not expect that as soon as Jiang Huai arrived in Beijing, his identity was exposed in front of him.

The only thing that made Xiao Jingzhao feel fortunate was that Jiang Huai seemed to still have feelings for him and did not abandon him directly.