Jiang Rao rolled around on the bed for a while. After midnight, the maid blew out the lights and it was time for her to go to bed.

She promised Rong Ting that she would go to see him tomorrow, and she was afraid that it would delay things if she didn't sleep.

Jiang Rao slowly sank into a dream.

In the dream, I saw a beautiful woman, dressed in gold and green, she looked so noble.

She wanted to see clearly where this was, but she couldn't see clearly at all. She could only see the general appearance of the two people talking.

There was a nanny next to her, whispering something to the beautiful woman in her ear.

"I sent someone to hurry up and he will arrive in Yecheng in the middle of this month. He will go there to investigate and find out that the man named Wang Zhou will be caught this time. There is indeed someone secretly interfering."

Jiang Rao held her breath.

It turns out that this is the person who has been harming Rong Ting.

"Who is it?"

"There is a Fourth Master Jiang in the Ning'an Marquis' Mansion who has no interest in the title and has been traveling around. Do you remember him?"

"Is it him?"

Mentioning what her father did, was it going to harm her father?

Then I heard the old nanny in the dream open her lips and said in a cold tone: "It's not Fourth Master Jiang, but Fourth Master Jiang's only legitimate daughter, Jiang Rao, Fourth Miss Jiang."

A hint of poison suddenly flashed in the eyes of the beautiful woman in golden and green clothes.

Jiang Rao shuddered and woke up from her dream.

My heart can't stop trembling.

The old nanny's cold voice of "Miss Jiang Si" in the dream kept ringing in her ears after she woke up.

There was endless darkness all around her, and it seemed as if there was an invisible knife behind her.

She stiffened and looked behind her, and there was only darkness and nothing else.

But she did not feel relieved. Instead, a feeling of uneasiness began to spread in her heart.

Today is March 12th.

It’s the middle of this month, that’s now.

At the same time, the spies found by Nanny Ji were riding at full speed, traveling day and night, and they would reach Yecheng in less than twenty miles.

…

In the Jinxiu Palace, the copper incense burner was filled with thick mist, and the rich aroma of benzoin filled the entire room.

Empress Jiahe's face was gloomy, and she asked Madam Ji anxiously, "Madam, when will the people you sent come back?"

"It will take three days to go there and three days to come back, a total of six days." Nanny Ji said, "Yecheng is remote, and it was your Majesty who chose such a faraway place. Your Majesty, don't be impatient."

Queen Jiahe's face instantly turned as ugly as if she had eaten a fly.

Yecheng was chosen in the beginning because of its remoteness, being surrounded by mountains on three sides and difficult to get around. Rong Ting was left there with no one to turn to. The heavy snow that closed the city this year was really a blessing in disguise.

Who would have thought that today she would suffer the loss herself.

She suppressed her anxiousness and asked, "The day after tomorrow, March 14th, is the time he will arrive in Yecheng, right?"

Aunt Ji nodded, "That's right."

…

On March 13th, the branches are bustling with magpies jumping around on the branches that have just turned green.

After waking up, Jiang Rao could not get rid of the feeling of a sharp sword hanging from the back of her neck, and she felt a chill on her back.

She couldn't fall asleep again and was in no mood to have breakfast. She asked her maid to go to the main courtyard and tell them that she would not have breakfast that morning. She sat at the table, recalling the dream she had last night.

Being able to predict her future events through dreams did help her avoid many disasters, but the dreams were beyond her control and sometimes she could only dream halfway, which made her a little confused.

What means would that woman in last night's dream use to deal with her?

She asked someone to go to the post station to ask today, and found out that there were no outsiders among the people entering the city.

If you want to enter the city, you must stop at the post station near the city gate for a while and get a permit before you can enter the city.

Post station...

She tapped the table with her fingers. Before she could think of a solution, a little kid rushed in from the door at full speed, shouting at Jiang Rao in a very anxious tone, "Sister! Sister! Something happened!"

Jiang Jinxing's worried expression and anxious tone made Jiang Rao think something big had happened, but she heard him say, "Daddy wants to confine you."

Jiang Rao was stunned for a moment, "House arrest?"

Jiang Jinxing nodded heavily.

For seven-year-old Jiang Jinxing, being grounded was the worst thing that could happen to him, like the sky was falling.

Such a terrible thing was about to happen to his elder sister. He was so anxious that he ran over to tell her after breakfast. He was so tired that he was panting and sweating. "Just now when we were having breakfast, Daddy saw that you didn't come. He was unhappy and became..."

He was young and didn't know how to describe it. He straightened the corners of his mouth, drooped his cheeks, made a serious face, and said with his lips moving: "The face is like Guan Gong in the temple, so scary. I have a friend who went to the temple and was so scared that he trembled!"

Seeing that he was getting further and further off the track, Jiang Rao fabricated a friend and blamed the fact that he was trembling with fear in the Guan Gong Temple on the "little friend". She took away his chubby hand that was pulling at the corner of her mouth, held the little boy on her lap, and helped him get back to the point, "Why did Daddy ground me?"

It's just skipping breakfast, not just being grounded

Bar.

Jiang Jinxing tilted his head and thought for a moment, "Last night, my sister came back late, and Dad knew about it."

He seemed quite experienced. "If Sister wants to go out to play today, Jinxing knows how to get out. The wall is too high, and you have to ask the maid to hold you to climb over it, but there is a hole that big at the foot of the west wall of the backyard."

Jiang Jinxing raised his hand and gestured a circle that was about the same size as his round belly. "If I can get in, I think I can too."

"That's a dog hole." Jiang Rao didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

She didn't pay much attention to the time when she came back last night, but she remembered that it should not be too late. Just when she was a little confused, she heard Ming Shao say, "Miss, we came back at 15:00."

Jiang Rao's heart skipped a beat.

A moment late.

Punishing her just for this moment...

When did Dad become so strict?

…

"Isn't it too harsh to ground her just because she comes home a little late every year?"

Jiang Qin handed a cup of tea to Mr. Jiang Si after his meal and asked softly.

Fourth Master Jiang, however, had a gloomy look on his face, and his voice was much higher, even more ruthless, "If you don't treat her more strictly, she might stay in the west of the city and never come back!"

But he couldn't keep up his iron face for long. He soon couldn't bear it anymore and called a maid over, "Make a bowl of sweet porridge and send it to the girl. Even if she has something on her mind, how can she skip breakfast?"

Seeing Jiang Qinshi looking at him with a slightly teasing smile, he felt that his attitude softened too quickly and was a little embarrassed, so he called the maid back, "Don't make sweet porridge, make the barley and lily porridge that she doesn't like, make her suffer. Now it's time to be patient with her."

He coughed and said, "Just add a little bit of Job's tears and lily, not too much."

The old father was jumping back and forth between caring for his daughter and punishing her. Jiang Qinshi smiled, "Niannian is not an ignorant child. She won't do anything unruly."

At this time, the housekeeper of Jiang Mansion came to report

"Master, Madam, people are gradually leaving the city. I have inquired and found that although the officials here have not issued an order to lift the lockdown, the snow on the mountain roads has melted and is no longer scary. People entering and leaving the city are all safe. Master, should we start preparing to return to Nanjing?"

Fourth Master Jiang thought for a moment and said, "It's time to go back to Jinling."

Jiang Qinshi was unwilling to leave so early.

The old uncle's birthday had already passed, and it was several months away from Jiang Rao's grandmother's birthday. She hadn't found out anything about the young man's family background in the west of the city, and there was no sign of his marriage, so she didn't want to leave so soon.

"Zi Huai." She called Fourth Master Jiang by his name and asked softly, "Can you stay for a few more days? There's no rush to return to Jinling."

Fourth Master Jiang has always doted on his wife. After thinking about it, he decided that there was no rush to go back, so he said to the old housekeeper, "Let's talk about leaving after the unblocking order is issued."

…

And Jiang Rao was confined to house arrest in such a pitiful way.

Before she could figure out how to avoid the disaster she had predicted in her dream, she was caught off guard by this unexpected little misfortune.

It was useless to complain. Her father specially assigned servants to watch outside her yard and asked someone to cook her the most unpalatable barley porridge so that she would not even think of begging for mercy. She just had to stay in the yard and think of ways to avoid the disaster in her dream.

Until now, she still didn't know whose family Rong Ting belonged to, so she couldn't deal with the noble lady directly.

We can only start with the people sent by that woman.

She continued her thoughts from the morning: post station, post station.

If that person passed by the post station, she would definitely recognize him.

She had to find a way to stop him from returning to Jinling to report the news.

"Ming Shao, go call Jiang Ping over!"

After Jiang Ping arrived, Jiang Rao handed him two pieces of paper and said, "Find a few more skilled workers, and then do what is written on the paper. Don't make a fuss."

Jiang Ping raised another rolled-up paper in his hand and asked, "What about this one?"

"Send it to the west of the city."

Jiang Rao remembered the agreement she made with Rong Ting yesterday.

But today she was under house arrest and had no way to go find him, so she could only ask Jiang Ping to take a letter to apologize on her behalf.

Go look for him some other day, and then bring some apology gifts and apologize sincerely again.

…

After reading the paper written by Jiang Rao, Jiang Ping followed her instructions not to make it public, burned the paper, and silently kept the request in his mind.

He first gathered all the men in the family to have a competition, then selected the ones with the best martial arts skills, and added two others who were not very skilled but were big, strong, and powerful, to help hold the place and scare people.

This task took him half a day. After he finally made the selection, Jiang Ping rushed to the post station to make arrangements.

Finally, they went all the way east and came to an abandoned house along the mountain east of Yecheng City, and arranged two people to clean up there.

After doing all this, it was already dark.

"Girl, everything you arranged on paper has been done."

Jiang Ping hurried back to Jiang Rao in the night and reported.

Jiang Rao signaled Ming Shao to hand the reward money that had been prepared earlier to Jiang Ping, but

Jiang Ping knelt down with a thud, "I don't deserve this reward."

With sweat on his forehead, he took out a roll of paper from his sleeve and held it in front of Jiang Rao with shaking hands. "I was busy all day and forgot about delivering the letter. When I remembered it, it was already late and I couldn't make it in time."

Jiang Rao frowned.

The letter was not delivered.

Didn't he wait a whole day?

She frowned, but stuffed the reward money back into Jiang Ping's hand, then turned to ask Ming Shao, "Is there anyone sent by Daddy watching outside the courtyard?"

Ming Shao said, "It's already night, no one is watching anymore. Someone is guarding the main gate now."

She glanced at Jiang Rao hesitantly, "Miss, what you mean is..."

Jiang Rao sighed and said, "Try the methods Jinxing mentioned."

I stood him up without even saying hello. What should I do if he's still waiting for me?

Ming Shao glanced at the sky outside and said, "It's almost time to go to bed. Maybe he's already asleep."

Jiang Rao had already put on the cloak she was going to wear when she went out, and she lit a lantern and carried it with her. "It's my fault after all. Even if he has gone to bed, I still have to see him to feel at ease."

Jiang Ping felt guilty and said, "I will follow you too."

Jiang Rao nodded, "Let's go to the backyard."

…

In the morning, before the dawn, Rong Ting went to the stream to fetch water.

After so many days of taking medicine and massaging, his legs gradually regained some strength. Although he still couldn't walk without relying on other things, it was much better than when his condition was so serious that he lost consciousness.

However, taking a bath is time-consuming and laborious.

Changing into a set of clean clothes from inside to outside is also time-consuming and laborious.

So he woke up very early in the morning, washed himself thoroughly, and waited for a long time. It was not until Jiang Rao did not show up that he began to feel a little irritated.

I watched the sun rise in the east and then set in the west.

After waiting for a whole day, he was sure that she really would not come today.

My sincere request yesterday was treated as a joke by her?

Rong Ting frowned.

He felt more uneasy in his heart, emotions he hadn't experienced in years pulled at the memories in his mind. That time she didn't come for a few days, and what he finally waited for was the news that her carriage fell off a cliff.

He stood up suddenly, in a moment of anxiety, and forgot that his leg injury had not yet fully healed. His bones suddenly felt as if they were broken, and he fell back heavily, with beads of sweat the size of beans appearing on his forehead.

He said that if she didn't come, he would go find her himself.

He turned his wheelchair and walked out of the house.

…

When he arrived at the Jiang Mansion, before he reached the main gate, he heard a rustling sound near the wall.

On the top of the wall, a little head was poking out.