She couldn't see where he was, so she went back inside and waited.

Rong Ting came back with a bucket of hot water and a wooden basin. When he opened the door, the little girl sitting on the edge of the bed trembled slightly. His eyes were too sharp, and even though she wiped her face quickly, he still saw the tear she shed.

Jiang Rao didn't cry when she was outside, nor did she cry when there were people around her. But just now, when she was the only one left in the room, she burst into tears without realizing it.

Seeing him coming back, I wiped it off in a hurry.

Rong Ting remained calm and collected.

She wiped the tears from her face because she didn't want him to see them, so he pretended not to know and walked over to pour the hot water.

Jiang Rao looked at him walking in with his long legs and said in a muffled voice, "Your legs..."

Rong Ting froze for a moment.

…

Jiang Rao saw something from his stiff figure. She frowned and asked, "Are you in trouble?"

"Then I won't ask anymore." She was very tired today, and her voice was very hoarse. She could only whisper in the smallest voice, "It's okay." She felt that she had one less thing to worry about.

She didn't even have the energy to think about the dream she had just now in which he had a healed leg injury. She murmured again, "It's good that it's healed."

Rong Ting's gaze was complicated.

The little girl's character is too soft and too obedient.

So obedient that he felt he was guilty of a heinous crime.

Her character was so pure that he seemed like a wicked man for wanting to defile her.

Jiang Rao kept looking at the moon outside, "Can you take me back home early tomorrow morning?"

She wished that in the blink of an eye, the sky outside would be bright and the morning drum would sound so that she could go out and think of a solution again.

But she was also a little afraid of the arrival of tomorrow.

I wish time would stop right here.

Rong Ting narrowed his eyes slightly. He was dissatisfied with her focusing on things other than him. He felt uncomfortable in his heart, but he said "OK" softly.

"You sleep here tonight, and I'll sleep in the study." He placed a half-filled wooden basin next to her feet, with hot steam rising slowly. "Wash your feet."

Jiang Rao looked at him in surprise.

Rong Ting's hand had already grabbed her ankle and was about to take off her embroidered shoes, which frightened Jiang Rao so much that she shrank back.

Even though she was usually a little unruly, exposing her ankle skin to a man was a little beyond her acceptable range.

"Look." He didn't let go, "You don't want me anymore."

Jiang Rao took a breath. this

What kind of logic is this? How does not wanting him to see my ankles have anything to do with not wanting him?

"Marriage will be settled sooner or later, and this is not against the rules." He looked at her with an expression that was a little angry but not daring to be angry, and a little aggrieved, "It's just that you don't think so, only I think so. It's you who thinks that there will be problems with the marriage and want to throw me away at any time."

The tone was obviously low, but there was a sigh and annoyance in the ending, which made her sound like she was acting coquettishly.

Jiang Rao lowered her head after his subconscious thoughts were revealed.

"There's no one else here." He held her feet that had shrunk back into the bed with his fingers, not wanting to let go, not even giving her a chance to come on her own. "Only I can see it."

With her ankle being pressed with a force that was neither too heavy nor too light, Jiang Rao's body gradually relaxed a lot, and she was completely unaware of the domineering tone implied in his words.

Since he, who valued his reputation more than she did, had said this, it seemed like she had nothing else to say. After all, she was a person who had been forced into a desperate situation. Etiquette, law, and chastity were indeed things that could not save her family.

To hell with it, she stretched out her feet weakly and obediently.

Rong Ting received the hint from her action, took off her embroidered shoes and socks, and soaked her feet in the water.

In fact, he didn't care whether she agreed or not.

It would be best if she agreed, but if she didn't, he wouldn't let go.

In the end, there's no escape.

Otherwise, her two embroidered shoes would have been wet, and she would have been very cold if she wore them.

The embroidered shoes placed next to the wooden basin were wet inside and out, covered with snow and mud.

The soles of the embroidered shoes were thin and were soaked through.

These shoes are for pampered young ladies and are not meant for walking. The soles of the shoes are soft and thin, and they will be soaked through after walking two or three miles in the snow.

Jiang Rao's two red, frozen feet were stuck in a wooden barrel and she slowly regained consciousness. The left ankle bone, which was originally as white as jade, was now swollen and purple and red, exposed above the water.

She was a little worried about whether she would be able to walk tomorrow. Rong Ting half-knelt in front of her, looking down at her. His eyes immediately changed. He raised his eyes and asked her, "Who bumped into you on the street just now?"

His voice was cold.

If someone hadn't bumped into him with his foot and he had fallen on the flat road, his ankle wouldn't have been injured to this extent.

"It was a maid." Jiang Rao recalled. She was in a hurry to get on the road and didn't even see what the person who bumped into her looked like.

"I don't know whose maid it belongs to. It was too dark and I couldn't see clearly," she added.

Rong Ting pursed his lips and did not respond.

He suddenly stood up and pressed his palm on the bed board behind her, and a shadow instantly covered Jiang Rao.

Jiang Rao's right shoulder sank.

Rong Ting's face was pressed against her, his forehead resting against her right collarbone, buried deep inside.

Before she could react to his sudden move of leaning into her arms like a big dog, he straightened up and frowned in disgust, "You smell like someone else."

Jiang Rao turned her head to the right, lowered her head and sniffed.

She was a little surprised that there was an unfamiliar aromatherapy smell on her.

She sniffed the scent on her body again - it was the scent of lilac.

Next to him, Rong Ting said, "This is not the kind of incense you use."

"It was the scent of the incense on the maid who bumped into me." Jiang Rao turned back to look at him and said hoarsely and slowly, "I rarely use incense."

Her right shoulder was scented with lilac flowers, and it was also her right shoulder that the maid bumped into her on the road.

Anyone who can afford to use aromatherapy must at least be a maid in a wealthy family.

Rong Ting half-knelt down again, and put his head on her knees. He felt a little distressed when he heard her hoarse voice. He half-raised his face and said to her, "Don't talk anymore."

He tilted his head and added to her, "You smell delicious yourself."

His chin was resting on her knees, as if he was pressing the weight of his head on them, but Jiang Rao didn't feel the heaviness. Instead, she felt a sense of security in her heart because of his closeness.

She begged for the whole day, but no one was willing to help her.

She could figure out what they were worried about. Some people take care of their families, some people take care of their future, and everyone has their own pursuits and responsibilities.

She neither complained nor was angry.

Just sadness and despair.

As she walked on the road in the dark, she kept thinking, it would be nice if there was someone standing by her side, just one person.

There really was such a person in front of her at this moment.

It’s really good.

After washing her feet, she was fed a bowl of medicine for treating sprains, then wrapped in a brocade quilt and placed beside the couch like a triangular dumpling.

The quilt smelled of his medicine. She shrank her head and her eyelids felt heavy as she sniffed. She looked at the medicine bowl suspiciously and pulled Rong Ting before falling asleep. "Remember to tell him to wake me up at the first bell tomorrow if I am not awake."

She didn't want to be a coward who overslept and waited for death.

Only after Rong Ting agreed to her request did she close her eyes, but she did not forget to thank him in a soft and sweet voice.

Outside the window

Under a bright moon, Rong Ting watched her fall asleep. He put his hand close to her and pulled the quilt over her, but he didn't lift it up for a long time.

It's time to be so obedient.

He glanced at her eyes, stood up, took the bowl of medicine mixed with sleeping pills that would help people sleep well all night, and walked out of the room.

Huai Qing was waiting under the eaves holding a lantern. When he saw Rong Ting walking slowly towards him, he stood tremblingly, lowered his head, and dared not look at Rong Ting.

Rong Ting's steps were unhurried. With a solid foundation in martial arts, his footsteps were so light that they seemed to be non-existent.

Huai Qing looked at the shadow walking towards him on the ground and tightened his grip on the lantern nervously.

Anyone with a brain would know that His Highness the Ninth Prince would not get better in one day.

But even someone like him who served him closely didn't notice anything was wrong.

Not at all.

"Wu Que has invited Lord Liao back. He is in the front hall now." Huai Qing reported truthfully.

Rong Ting handed him the medicine bowl and ordered, "Tell Wu Que to bring Lord Liao to the guest room."

…

When Liao Qiubai entered the guest room accompanied by Wu Que, Rong Ting was wiping a long sword with a rough hemp towel.

He stood with his sword next to the candlelight, raised his fingers and knocked twice. The long sword made two "clang" sounds, and the cold light was like water, covering half of his face.

Hearing Liao Qiubai's movements, he smiled and looked up, "Master Liao is here?"

Liao Qiubai was almost scared away by the cold sword light.

Although the pair of eyes looking at him were smiling and even clear and transparent, Liao Qiubai felt as if needles were falling on his body. He shivered for no apparent reason and could not feel any warmth at all.

He laughed dryly and saluted Rong Ting, "I'm here."

If you have something to say, just say it nicely. Why are you wielding swords?

After taking a closer look, he sat down on the seat farthest from Rong Ting, lowered his head for a while, and suddenly took the initiative to say, "I will keep my mouth shut about the fact that His Highness the Ninth Prince can stand up."

He doesn't think he's stupid.

After Rong Ting rode away his horse, he did not forget to ask someone to take him to his mansion, and he held a sword in his hand. Wasn't this hinting to him?

He was probably the first person in the Ministry of Works to know that his disability was fake.

Maybe even the only one.

When they thought about the weakness and frailty that Rong Ting had shown them over the past year, as well as the lonely and pitiful expression on his face when he was mocked as a cripple, all his actions seemed extremely real and natural.

He looks like a real disabled person...

Liao Qiubai felt cold all over and shivered as he crossed his arms, but there was also a hint of thought in his eyes.

Rong Ting laughed and put the sword aside. "Lord Liao is a smart man."

"It's good that Lord Liao has this intention. Lord Liao doesn't need to keep my leg injury a secret. Even though it's late at night, I'm afraid someone has seen it, and I may not be able to continue to hide it."

Liao Qiubai breathed a sigh of relief. "If that's the case, why did His Highness the Ninth Prince invite me to your house?"

"Lord Liao lent me the horse, I should thank you."

Liao Qiubai: “…”

Bring a sword to thank him? Is there such a way to thank?

He looked at Rong Ting again. The young man was sitting upright with a nice smile. He couldn't tell whether the man in front of him was scheming or ignorant of the ways of the world.

Rong Ting did not finish his words. He stood up slowly and poured Liao Qiubai a cup of tea. "There are few talented people and staff in my house."

Liao Qiubai frowned, then relaxed in an instant. He touched his head and refused with a simple smile, "I am a leisurely and uninhibited person. I don't have any ambitions. I am not a capable and wise man. This... I am not either. Your Highness the Ninth Prince thinks too highly of me."

Rong Ting said calmly, "Your own brother has already held the rank of second-rank official. Can Lord Liao really swallow this humiliation and not want to make achievements?"

Within a day, Jiang Xingzhou's situation had reached a point where it was almost irreversible. Regardless of whether the painting was real or fake, this must have been done intentionally by someone. He arranged for spies to gather information in Jinling City and report back every few days to avoid chaos. But in the market, not only is the knowledge of the people slow, but the information they get is also mixed and confusing, making it difficult to distinguish true from false.

He had not thought about the matter of the staff so urgently, but if the staff in the officialdom had not been missing today, he would not have known about it so late.

Liao Qiubai has seen the painting and found this person useful.

Liao Qiubai's face changed, and his eyes became sharp. "My elder brother and I are both descendants of the Liao family. It is an honor for our Liao family that he can be promoted to the second rank. How can I not swallow this humiliation?"

“Brother has brought honor to our family. There’s nothing wrong with me living a carefree life.” He turned his eyes away to avoid Rong Ting’s inquiring gaze.

Rong Ting said, "If you really don't want to, why do you have to stay in the Ministry of Works every day until the evening drum sounds before going home? You live a carefree life, but you are just being cautious. If you look competitive and overshadow your eldest brother, your biological mother will be bullied by the mistress."

Liao Qiubai clenched his fists tightly.

He was hit in the sore spots one by one.

His illegitimate birth and his weak biological mother tied his feet.

His father wished he had never been born. Even though he was more talented and wise than his legitimate brother, he could only pretend to be a coward.

But he couldn't swallow this humiliation in his heart, and he wanted to climb higher.

The Third Prince

, the fourth prince, and the seventeenth prince. He had always been watching which prince would become the crown prince in the future, but until today, he had never paid attention to Rong Ting.

In his eyes, Rong Ting, who became disabled at the age of thirteen, lived an even more miserable life than him.

However, today, just a few words from him made him realize that the person in front of him was not a good person.

He actually knew everything about his worries that he had never told anyone.

The fox's tail is hidden very deeply.

However, if he didn't have such scheming and cunning, he wouldn't be the one he wanted to serve.

This was no small matter, so he did not dare to act rashly and did not agree immediately. "Let me think about it for a few days."

Rong Ting looked tolerant and nodded slightly, "It's late today, and tomorrow is a day off, so please ask Lord Liao to stay at my house for a few days. Lord Liao has always been curious about what books I have read, so you can come and go in my study at will. I will discuss it after I have dealt with everything."

Liao Qiubai was overjoyed to be able to read Rong Ting's collection of books. He thought about what Rong Ting had just said, "A few days instead of one night." He knew that Rong Ting was on guard against him, so he said, "Even if His Highness the Ninth Prince says that he doesn't need to keep his mouth shut, I know what I should and shouldn't say. Your Highness's leg injury will not be known to others from my mouth."

He asked curiously, "It's so late, what could your Highness want?"

"The affairs of the Ning'an Marquis' Mansion are my affairs."

Only when this matter is resolved will Jiang Rao continue to look at him wholeheartedly and have only him in her eyes.

Rong Ting made light of it, and Liao Qiubai was horrified. "The Ning'an Marquis's Mansion matter is basically a foregone conclusion. Everyone wants to distance themselves from the Ning'an Marquis' Mansion. You are going against the trend and courting your own death."

Rong Ting ignored his words.

Seeing that he couldn't stop him, Liao Qiubai suddenly wanted to see how capable he was. After a moment of silence, he said, "If Your Highness the Ninth Prince can settle this matter, I will be your aide."

"But." He lowered his voice and warned for the last time, "Prince Jing has been a long-standing concern of His Majesty. I am afraid that if you get involved in this, you won't be able to come back alive."