With a "click", the bolt fell.

Jiang Rao's heart also skipped a beat. She lowered her head following the sudden sound and saw Rong Ting's left hand being withdrawn from behind.

After his hand pressed down the bolt, it moved to her waist.

Before she could react, she was lifted into the air by him. He shook her twice with his arms, and each time he shook her higher than before.

After walking a few steps forward, he paused for a moment, leaned forward, and put her on the table.

When Rong Ting was talking to Jiang Rao just now, the leftover dishes on the table had been cleared away by the waiter, and the whole table had been wiped clean. Jiang Rao was put on the edge of the table. When he let go of her hand, she didn't dare to let go. At this moment, her body was raised, two heads higher than usual, which made her feel a little uneasy. She hooked her arms around Rong Ting's neck and glanced down at the ground from time to time, fearing that she would fall.

She couldn't help but move her body backwards. His cloak had been untied at some point and was placed under her buttocks. Her movement immediately caused wrinkles to appear on the smooth black feather cloak.

She immediately stopped moving, her eyelashes trembling, and lowered her head slightly, looking at him with his hands on both sides of her body.

Originally, she was shorter than him, but now, as she sat at the table in the restaurant, her line of sight was a little higher than his. She could even see the length of his eyelashes when she lowered her head. The dim light in the room made his face look bright when it fell on his face.

She looked intently at the stars in his eyes and asked, "What are you doing?"

This height made her feel particularly uneasy, and she was always worried that she would get hurt if she fell, but when she looked at him, her slightly moist apricot eyes were full of trust, as if she knew that with him around, she would not get hurt. There was a bit of trust and softness in her eyes, which were extremely clean. Her voice was soft and sticky, and she looked at him straight and defenselessly.

Her behavior will only tempt the cunning hunter to take further action.

But a good hunter is never short of patience.

Rong Ting slowly approached her, the corners of his lips gradually curled up.

His face was very close to her, and his low and serious voice bit into her ear, and he said slowly: "I'll teach you how not to stand on tiptoe."

His tone was extremely serious, so serious that it seemed a bit solemn, but it was this tone that seemed to carry a poison that could penetrate into people's hearts, making them itch.

The hand that had just turned over the file was stained with the fragrance of plants and ink on the scroll. When it touched Jiang Rao's cheek, she could imagine how graceful and beautiful his slender fingers were as he turned the scroll.

These gentle hands.

The action taken at this moment has nothing to do with being gentle.

He pressed the back of her head and suddenly kissed her.

The hand gradually moved downwards.

The big hands were resting on the table, and although they did not touch her, they seemed to have constructed a cage to restrain her.

He preferred it this way, imprisoning her in front of him and preventing her from going anywhere.

Even though Jiang Rao had just taken the initiative with courage, at this moment she was enveloped by the clean and refreshing fragrance on his body, and was kissed so hard that she felt more and more that Rong Ting was a charming enchantress.

…

Outside the private room.

Mingshao, Yu'er and Huaiqing were waiting in the corridor.

The squeak of the table legs rubbing against the ground in the private room made them all look up at the same time. Yu'er was the youngest among the three and wanted to ask what was going on. Ming Shao blinked and realized something, and hurriedly stopped Yu'er, "The two masters are discussing matters inside, we will wait outside the carriage."

Huai Qing also said, "That's great."

Yu'er frowned, wanting to know what was going on in the private room, so she poked her head inside. Mingshao pulled her out and said, "When the young lady wanted to go to Huaizhou, you didn't follow her. There are some things you don't know. Just listen to me and follow me."

She pushed Yu'er downstairs, looked back and thought that according to the lady's arrangement, they would all be Jiang Rao's dowry maids in the future. Yu'er started working in Jiang Rao's yard late, and as someone who had stayed with the girl for a long time, she should give her some advice and teach her some things.

Otherwise, if she is so tactless as she is today, she will be laughed at in the future. Ming Shao coughed and cleared her throat, and said to Yu'er, "Don't be fooled by the fact that the girl looks delicate and weak. After all, she was taught by a rebellious man like the master. The things taught in the female virtues and female precepts have nothing to do with our girl. In some things, the girl will also do evil things. Do you understand?"

Yu'er nodded, not quite understanding.

Jiang Rao had a reputation for being a bad person, but in reality he just sat there not daring to move, his ears growing redder and redder.

At first, a few words popped up in her mind one after another, such as "the devil is one foot high, the way is ten feet higher" and "she shouldn't say she has learned it". She was distracted when she was bitten and sobered up a little, but soon her mind was wandering again.

The table still creaked.

…

When returning home, Jiang Rao's chin was tucked into the collar of her cloak, with half of her red face hidden inside. Half an incense stick of time had passed when she left the teahouse, and her breathing was a little disordered.

When we reached the screen wall,

I saw Jiang Jinxing.

"Jinxing." Jiang Rao called him. Jiang Jinxing stopped and looked back at Jiang Rao. After scanning her up and down, the young boy frowned and said, "It's not hot now, why are you wrapped up so tightly..."

His tone turned cold, "Caught a cold again?"

Without waiting for Jiang Rao's agreement, he shook his head as if it was true, with a hint of disgust in his eyes, "Huan is really weak and sickly."

He was very impatient, and beckoned the servant to go find a doctor for Jiang Rao. Jiang Rao hurriedly stopped him, "I don't have a cold."

She just... didn't look at herself in the mirror but knew that she was blushing too much at the moment, and she was afraid of being noticed, so she wanted to hide it in her cloak.

Jiang Rao lowered her head again, trying to hide her identity, and asked Jiang Jinxing, "Where did you come back from?"

"I just went to the post station to help Dad mail a letter."

"We were taken care of by Lord Zuo in Rui County before. Daddy drafted two documents. One was submitted to the emperor to recommend Lord Zuo to the emperor, and the other was sent to Rui County to thank Lord Zuo for taking care of us." Jiang Jinxing put his hands behind his back, looking extremely serious, like a mature little adult.

But when he finished talking about the main thing, his tone soon became a little sarcastic, "Didn't my sister arrange for me to do this? What, did you forget it again?"

Jiang Rao was used to his prickly tone.

It was probably because she didn't show mercy when she scolded him when he was a child, which caused him to change back now. She could tolerate it, but she thought that if the person standing in front of her brother was not her, she might not have such a good temper. Jiang Rao advised earnestly: "If you treat other girls like you treat me, I'm afraid you won't be liked by the girl you like in the future."

Jiang Jinxing snorted disapprovingly.

The book boy beside Jiang Jinxing said to Jiang Rao, "Miss, you worry too much. When the young master is outside, he can please the ladies and young ladies of various families, from old ladies in their seventies or eighties to young girls of three or four years old. The young master will pick flowers for them."

Jiang Rao: “…”

It turns out that he only treats her like this, and he is bullying his sister at home, right?

When she came out of the teahouse, the cold wind cooled down a lot of the heat on her face. She pulled up her collar to reveal her face, walked forward and grabbed Jiang Jinxing's ear. She didn't use much strength with her hands, but she showed enough momentum, wanting to teach him a lesson.

This playboy doesn't look like a member of the Jiang family at all.

While grabbing Jiang Jinxing's ears, he realized that

It seemed that he would be taller than her in two years. She recalled that Rong Ting had to carry her to the high table in the teahouse to reach his height. She suddenly felt embarrassed. She wanted to teach Jiang Jinxing a lesson, but suddenly she was at a loss for words. She paused and said, "I'm going to get married soon."

I was thinking of scolding her, but after she finished speaking, she couldn't help laughing, her almond-shaped eyes curved, and she felt extremely at ease and confident in her heart.

Jiang Jinxing looked at her with some disdain, and stood on tiptoe to match Jiang Rao's action of pulling his ears. Not only did he not linger, his face also changed to a bit sour, "You should have gotten married a long time ago."

He grew up safely, surviving the beatings from Jiang Xingzhou day after day. He was extremely agile when escaping, and even though Jiang Rao's force was so weak, he only stretched out his ear because of their relationship as siblings, and was just trying to give Jiang Rao some face. It didn't hurt anyway.

The young boy tilted his head back, his ears pulled, and stood there with a pursed mouth, blinking his puppy eyes, muttering over and over, "Other sisters get married as soon as they reach the age of 15, but you can't. Fortunately, you are my only sister, otherwise I would be so worried that I would lose all my hair."

Jiang Rao loosened her hand, feeling that this brother was no longer as cute as he was in his childhood. She pouted in dissatisfaction and didn't even want to question him about his studies.

She counted how many times he hummed at her twice, and she hummed at him twice too, turned around, and went briskly to count her dowry.

…

Although Xu Guozhang was running around, the queen was still detained in Jinxiu Palace.

There was another snowfall at the end of February, a very thin and shallow layer that melted as soon as it fell to the ground.

On the day when the snow fell, Rong Ting was granted the title of King of Qi and entered the Palace of King of Qi.

However, on such an ordinary day for an ordinary family, people in the vortex of power noticed the changes in the situation in Jinling. On that day, there was an endless stream of people visiting Prince Qi's mansion. The Queen was in the Jinxiu Palace and could hear the news from outside. She was so resentful that she almost bit her teeth.

As we waited for the visitors to leave, dusk fell.

Jiang Rao waited until this moment, lifted the curtain and took a look. Seeing that the people in front of the mansion had dispersed, she got off the carriage parked at the entrance of the alley.

She walked towards his mansion and looked around to see if she was right. Those people had all left.

Rong Ting was about to go back to the study, but when he saw her coming over with her eyes half-closed and looking around, he quickly walked over to her, "Niannian, why are you here?"

Forcing a smile all day long made him feel bored and tired, but if he could see her at the end of the day, it would be considered a good day.

Jiang Rao goes to the mansion

She took a look inside and found that the house in Wuyi Lane was much more magnificent than the desolate and bleak one in the west of the city, so she was no longer worried. There were already enough people visiting him today, so he didn't need her. She turned her gaze back to him, "I want to invite you to the Sanqing Temple tomorrow."

She had already found out that tomorrow was a day off, so he should have time.

But she added, "It won't be long. Go change your wish."

Rong Ting smiled and agreed.

Jiang Rao was thinking about the fortune she had asked for with Hu Tang.

Although she was unable to decipher whether the fortune was good or bad, she thought it must be a good fortune since she was able to get what she wanted.

Since she has obtained what she wanted from the Buddha, she should change her wish.

She was very good at calculating with the abacus and remembered all the accounts clearly in her mind.

The next day, she wore an indigo-blue corseted skirt, with her makeup and attire more refined than usual, and arrived at the Sanqing Temple just before the appointed time.

When he got off the carriage, he saw Rong Ting standing in front of the temple.

She curved her eyes and smiled, tugged at the hem of her skirt and trotted towards him. Rong Ting subconsciously opened his arms and wanted to hug her, but Jiang Rao stopped two steps away from him, smiling beautifully with her snow-white skin and red lips.

Rong Ting put his hand back, but he was not annoyed and smiled faintly.

He entered the temple with her, and when they stepped on the white marble steps, he looked at her sideways and asked, "What wish do you want to make?"

Jiang Rao was very frank, "I came here to ask for a fortune before."

"What kind of signature?"

"It's a marriage sign."

She lowered her head, hiding her blushing face, and whispered, "It works very well."

The sun was high in the sky, casting their shadows on the ground.

Jiang Rao lowered her head and looked at the shadow on the ground, then looked at the hem of her skirt, then looked at the shadow just a few inches away from her own shadow, looking carefully.

The shadows were taller than her.

Her pace suddenly slowed down.

She remembered a dream she had once had.

That dream of her getting married.

After she woke up, she was panicked for several days. After that, whenever she saw the young men from the noble families in Jinling, she could not help but compare them to see if they were the figure in wedding dress in her dream. However, no one matched the figure in her dream.

But at this moment her mind suddenly became clear.

She took two steps back, asked Rong Ting to walk in front of her, and looked at his back.

Slender as a bamboo, tall and straight, if he put on a red dress, he would look exactly like the one in her dream.

No wonder she couldn't find out who the person was who married her in her dream.

It turned out to be him.

But she was thinking wrong.

At that time, she thought that his leg injury had not healed yet, and she had never thought about or seen him standing up. Even when she dreamed of herself getting married, she didn't think of him.

It's a good thing she didn't expect that, otherwise, with her mindset at that time, she would probably think of ways to ruin the marriage.

No wonder, even on their wedding night in the dream, she didn't pay any attention to him, instead she looked lazy as if she didn't take the marriage seriously.

But this marriage was indeed destined by heaven. She had even dreamed about it.

Jiang Rao is very good at making herself happy, so she smiled when she thought of this.

In Rong Ting's eyes, it was as if she had just looked at his shadow and the corners of her lips curled up. Her smile was soft and sweet, and it seemed as if the light of the whole world was shining on her. She was incredibly beautiful.

In the past ten years, he had only met her for a few years, and he had spent more time hiding in the corners of the palace, enduring his life. The painful days passed slowly one by one. At that time, he thought the days were too long. It always took a long time for the sun to rise before it set, but now he thought it was running westward too fast.

Good and bad luck, fortune sticks, these things are still useless in his eyes.

But if she liked it so much, it would have been right for her to ask the Imperial Observatory to choose an auspicious date.

He just slowed down his pace, waiting for Jiang Rao, who was a step behind, to come back to him, but he saw Jiang Rao stopped and looked away from him.

Rong Ting glanced sideways, followed her line of sight, and saw a thin figure standing on the other side of the palace gate.

He was dressed as a young master from an aristocratic family, wearing a white fox fur coat, standing in the shadow of a pine tree, and he looked quite good.

Rong Ting narrowed his eyes instantly.

Even though he had never seen them before, he remembered the names and portraits of the young masters of the aristocratic families in the capital clearly. He even knew which official had a concubine and gave birth to an illegitimate child.

What’s more, he is a legitimate son.

Bai Yushu.

…

Bai Yushu saw Rong Ting and Jiang Rao from a distance.

After meeting Jiang Rao once, he never saw her again. He was afraid of Jiang Rao's hard-heartedness. He was born like this, and showed such a pitiful look to her, but she was unmoved. She was really hard-hearted. It was a waste that she was born with a charming face and didn't understand the ways of the world.

Today, I saw Rong Ting and Jiang Rao standing together. I wanted to go meet His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi who was in the limelight at the moment, but after taking a few glances from afar, I suddenly didn't want to go forward.

Regardless of Rong Ting's appearance, the look he gave him was full of hostility. He had heard before that there were people who could scare away ferocious beasts in the wild with their eyes, and he always thought that such people must at least look like the warriors from the Qiang tribe who came to pay tribute a few days ago. He didn't expect that Rong Ting, who had such a cold and elegant appearance, could reveal such a ferocious look.

The Bai family and the Xu family have a very good personal relationship, and now they are also implicated. He has not only heard about the strategies and methods of this young Prince Qi on the battlefield, but has also experienced them firsthand, and immediately became timid again.

Originally, I wanted to go forward and compete with him, but now I just want to slip away. Today he came to the Sanqing Temple to pray that the situation would turn favorable to his family again, but he met the evil spirit that caused his family to suffer hardships. Bai Yushu turned around and said angrily in his heart that he was unlucky.

Bai Yushu turned and left. Jiang Rao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that this man no longer shamelessly asked to see him like he did in the Plum Garden.

Her soft sigh fell into Rong Ting's ears, making his eyes darken.

"Do you know the young master of the Bai family?" His voice was so soft that it would not scare the people-scared sparrows on the ground.

Jiang Rao turned around and looked at him. After thinking for a while, she didn't know what to say, so she just told the truth, "I stayed in the palace for half a month last winter. He was always waiting for me in the Plum Garden. It wasn't out of sincerity. The Queen wanted him to get close to me."

Jiang Rao was a little angry when she said this, "She thought I was just after beauty. Since Mr. Bai is a handsome man, she wanted to ask him to seduce me, but I am obviously not what she thought. Even if Bai Yushu is really pretty, I am not a womanizer."

Rong Ting rubbed her head and said lightly, "You are not."

Jiang Rao had been looking at him. Seeing that he seemed somewhat dissatisfied, she guessed what he was thinking and sighed in agreement, "I really hate this queen."

It is unknown whether Emperor Zhaowu will give a lighter sentence out of consideration for their years of relationship, or punish him severely and impartially.

The latter obviously pleases her more.

Otherwise... She looked at Rong Ting, feeling angry at two people, her cheeks puffed up with anger. If the Queen was given a lighter sentence, then what would the suffering he had endured from her when he was a child be compared to?

She was feeling annoyed when she was suddenly startled by the handsome face that appeared in front of her.

Rong Ting put his hands behind his back, lowered his head slightly, and moved his face closer to Jiang Rao.

What he thought was completely different from what Jiang Rao guessed.

He repeated what she had just said, "Is it really that colorful?"

There was a hint of displeasure in his low voice.

Jiang Rao was stunned for a moment before she realized that he was repeating what she had just said.

That he

The person who said this was Bai Yushu.

But his ending tone was light, clearly showing some disapproval.

To be fair, the color of Bai Yushu's calligraphy is naturally not as good as his.

No one in this world has a better complexion than him.

Jiang Rao looked at him, with a gorgeous face that was flawless. He was so close to her that their breaths disturbed each other, causing her to hold her breath slightly and forget what she was going to say for a moment.

Rong Ting narrowed his eyes slightly, a dark light flashed in his phoenix eyes, and he opened his lips and uttered a word lightly, "I."

Jiang Rao didn't understand what he meant, and whispered softly, "You?"

Rong Ting spoke slowly, "My color is better."

Jiang Rao: “…”

He is so competitive. The person in front of me is really competitive.

Ye Gong likes dragons and he likes to compare.

Seeing that she still didn't speak, Rong Ting's eyes suddenly became weak, and his tone was low and roundabout, looking very disappointed, "Niannian, don't you think so?"

Jiang Rao heard the disappointment in his tone and shook her head quickly.

Rong Ting's expression did not change.

After he got drunk, she would hold his face and look at it for a long time, admiring how handsome he was. It was obvious that she liked the color of his face.

But it’s not enough.

He wanted her eyes to be filled with no room for any other colors in the world.

Rong Ting smiled lightly, his tone was neither hurried nor slow, but he was actually trying to get more attention. "The one with the best color is mine, right?"

She wanted to give him a piece of candy, but it was not enough. He was greedy, so he tried to please her by acting cute and pitiful, and tried every means to exchange the candy for two or three pieces.

"Instead... am I being overly sentimental?"

He was forcing her to admit that he was the most handsome. Jiang Rao vaguely sensed his intention, but looking at his innocent expression, that vagueness disappeared. She shook her head heavily and nodded, "No one can compare to you."

Rong Ting was finally satisfied and stood up.

Bai Yushu left and came back.

Although he was afraid of Rong Ting's covert means of putting pressure on his family, there was one thing that always weighed on his mind and could not be resolved.

Just now he only saw Rong Ting's outline from a distance and saw his aura, but did not see clearly what he looked like.

Even though the Ninth Prince, who has been confined to a wheelchair for many years and has extraordinary means, is not necessarily more romantic than him.

But he didn't dare to go too close, and quickly stopped.

He looked at Jiang Rao, who was disdainful of him, and then looked at Rong Ting with concentration and smile, and he was furious. He had no shortage of female confidantes around him, so who dared to treat him so coldly like Jiang Rao?

Although he saw Rong Ting's face clearly, he didn't want to admit that he had lost, so he called a young monk to ask.

The young monk didn't even bother to look at him. He just bowed politely and said calmly, "Donor, you should know yourself."

Bai Yushu humiliated himself and stamped his feet.

Rong Ting saw Bai Yushu sneaking around, and he felt angry. Jiang Rao was looking at him, but he remained calm and said to Jiang Rao, "Let's go to the Buddhist temple."

He slowly walked to her side, not giving her the chance to look at Bai Yushu again, and asked Jiang Rao in a faint voice, "What methods did Mr. Bai use at that time?"

His tone was gentle, neither a question nor an inquiry, as if he was bringing it up casually, like a casual conversation.

"Picking plum blossoms, reciting poems, and standing under the plum tree, it does look elegant at first glance, but it seems a bit deliberate to be shivering with cold."

Jiang Rao suddenly frowned when she said this and glanced at Rong Ting.

At that time, Bai Yushu was shivering in the snow. After being scolded by Mingshao, he was unwilling to give up and did not leave. He looked up at her in the attic, and she looked a little pitiful.

At that time, she felt that his expression and behavior were like that of a human being.

After thinking for a long time, she couldn't figure out who it was, and thought it was a beggar on the street, but now she finally knew who it looked like.

Especially now Rong Ting showed her that pitiful expression again. He knelt on the cushion and looked at her sideways. After entering the Buddhist hall, his body was soaked with compassion and incense. His eyes were clearer and more thorough than those of the young monks in the courtyard. "Even if Niannian didn't know that he was sent by the Queen, he wouldn't have looked at him twice, right?"

The tone was low and gentle, with a hint of coaxing.

As if he would be heartbroken if she said no.

His pupils were as clear as a lake, but his heart was as dark as a cold night.

Originally, he suppressed the evil in his heart that refused to submit to ghosts and gods, and wanted to follow the etiquette and laws of this world and behave himself for once, asking the Imperial Astronomical Observatory to pick a good day according to the almanac and their horoscopes.

But now he suddenly knew about Bai Yushu...

If it is really...

Fuck the lucky gods and evil spirits of the year, fuck the three yuan and nine cycles.

Tomorrow is an auspicious day.