She looked at it again carefully.

The eyebrows and eyes of these two people are indeed somewhat similar.

She had never seen the Ninth Prince grow up, but she had never forgotten what he looked like when he was young.

A small child, with skin like cold snow, lips like rouge, and eyes as clear as transparent glass. He is obviously very cute, but he always stays alone, standing quietly in the corner with his eyes drooping, long and thick eyelashes, looking aloof, but very well-behaved.

When that child grows up, he should be as handsome as the boy in front of him.

But she had never heard of the Ninth Prince leaving the capital.

Besides, the Ninth Prince is not disabled.

Looking at the simple and plain cloth clothes on the boy, Jiang Qinshi denied her guess even more.

How could a child of the royal family fall into such a displaced and miserable situation, where the monthly allowance alone is as much as an ordinary family's entire year's expenses?

She was wrong.

Jiang Qin shook her head slightly.

When Emperor Zhaowu hinted at arranging marriages for the two children, they had already politely declined. It was no use thinking about making the Ninth Prince her son-in-law.

You should think about the person in front of you.

After Rong Ting left, Jiang Qin sat next to Jiang Rao and asked her, "Niannian, did you go out of the city this time to get medicine for that young boy?"

Jiang Rao nodded.

"Where's the medicine?"

"I've given it to him."

"Does the medicine really work?"

"Of course it works."

If it wasn't useful, she wouldn't go through so much trouble to ask for it.

Jiang Rao came back from running around outside, feeling very tired. He leaned against Jiang Qinshi, closed his eyes, and said tiredly: "Ren Shen has treated people injured on the battlefield. He gave me pills, and in exchange gave me the medical book he wrote and several conditioning prescriptions. If you use the medicine, massage, and medicinal bath well, the injury on the boy's leg will heal in half a year. After recovery, he will be no different from an ordinary person and can continue to practice martial arts."

Although she was frightened and slightly injured as the carriage rolled down the cliff, she no longer had any of the guilt and depression she had felt in the past few days.

It was like a heavy burden had been lifted off my shoulders and I felt much better.

"As long as it's useful."

Jiang Qin smiled when she heard this.

Since it is useful, the young boy's leg injury can be healed and he will no longer be a disabled person in the future.

Jiang Qin turned around and instructed the maid, "Go to the treasury and find some top-quality tonics and send them to the young man. If you see him coming in the future, you don't need to inform him. Just bring him to your daughter."

Instruct

After that, she turned to Jiang Rao with a smile and rubbed her head, "You have grown up and become more promising."

Jiang Rao thought she was praising her for helping others, so she obediently lay beside Jiang Qinshi's shoulder, as obedient as a kitten. But she heard Jiang Qinshi's loving and comforting voice falling from above her head again, "I know what Niannian is thinking."

Jiang Rao raised her head slightly and felt a little strange.

What is she thinking?

The door was pushed open at this moment, and it was Fourth Master Jiang, covered in snow, who pushed the door open and strode in.

He rushed in with a few steps. Because he had just come back from outside, the hot air coming out of his mouth was replaced by white mist. "Is Niannian really okay?"

He heard from his servants that his daughter had returned home, but he heard many bad rumors and hearsay on the street, so he hurried back, his heart weighing on his shoulders all the way.

Only when he saw Jiang Rao was safe and sound in front of him did he breathe a sigh of relief. He then sat down beside Jiang Rao's bed and frowned, scolding her, "You ran away from the city secretly. Don't you know how worried your family is?"

Fourth Master Jiang rarely got angry in front of Jiang Rao, and the cold tone he spoke in front of him was also very unusual.

Jiang Qinshi now stood on Jiang Rao's side, gently holding her husband's arm, and spoke for Jiang Rao, "Isn't Niannian okay? Besides, she had her reasons."

Fourth Master Jiang's ears pricked up. "Is there a reason? What's the reason?"

"To save someone, she went out of the city to find medicine. She does good deeds every year, so don't blame her." Jiang Qinshi knew that if she told her daughter that she had a lover, she would probably upset her husband, so she spoke vaguely.

However, Fourth Master Jiang became smart on this point.

"I heard that you often go to the west of the city recently?" Looking for a young man.

Jiang Rao didn't answer, but remained silent and agreed.

Fourth Master Jiang immediately understood something.

The old father was very depressed.

"I won't punish you this time."

But when he thought of his daughter often going to the west of the city to meet boys of her age, he felt sad and ignored. He wanted to set some rules for his daughter, but he was reluctant to punish her severely, so he said, "If you don't come home for a long time again, I will definitely confine you!"

…

Inside the palace, envoys from foreign countries came to pay tribute.

The tribute of fat cattle and fierce horses was cooked into delicacies, and the banquet was full of food. In the center of the banquet, the Hu Ji dancer had a graceful figure and danced like a flower.

The envoys and Emperor Zhaowu talked and chatted happily during the banquet. After a few rounds of wine and meat, it was customary to have a competition in the martial arts field to exchange ideas and liven up the atmosphere.

Warriors from the Western Regions

When he appeared on the scene, he was big and strong, with big muscles on his arms that were hard and bulging. Just looking at his size, he stood there like a mountain, which was quite terrifying.

The people who grew up on horseback are naturally brave and extremely concerned about their reputation. When they came to Dazhao to pay tribute last year, this warrior who was known as the strongest in the Fanbang tribe was defeated by Rong Ting, who was only thirteen years old. He lost three games in a row and was defeated miserably. He had been training hard for a year, just waiting to avenge his previous defeat this year.

But when the warrior glanced around, he did not see Rong Ting in the crowd.

His fighting spirit visibly waned, he lost interest and dealt with it in a perfunctory manner.

This time, they won one game after another without any effort.

It seemed that the Fourth Prince, the Seventh Prince and others who fought against him were particularly useless.

Emperor Zhaowu showed displeasure on his face.

He didn't care about the outcome of the game.

Before last year, foreign warriors usually won such martial arts competitions, and Emperor Zhaowu was used to it.

Since the result was already determined, it became a routine for Da Zhao to lose and foreign countries to win, so Emperor Zhaowu no longer took this kind of competition seriously.

But last year Rong Ting won three games in a row, which greatly enhanced his reputation and also aroused Emperor Zhaowu's interest in this kind of competition.

If they lose again this year, Emperor Dazhao will be embarrassed.

He didn't expect that among all his sons, none of them could win!

If you say that this barbarian is powerful, it is clear that Xiaojiu was only thirteen years old last year and he won all three games.

Unfortunately, the foreign envoys who came this time were not tactful. They laughed and pointed at their warriors, saying in a poor Central Plains accent: "This year he has done his best."

In one sentence, Rong Ting's three consecutive wins last year were attributed to their courtesy.

Emperor Zhaowu felt extremely uncomfortable when he heard this.

However, Empress Jiahe, who was sitting on the left side of Emperor Zhaowu, smiled faintly after hearing this.

In her eyes, all the words that slandered Rong Ting were good words.

What's more, her son was not among the people who just competed, so she was not the one who was embarrassed.

If Xiao Shiqi grows up and defeats them, he will seem even more powerful.

As glorious as Rong Ting was last year, her little Seventeen will be as glorious in the future.

And Rong Ting will always be like his mother, a useless person who can never turn over a new leaf.

Queen Jiahe raised the corners of her lips in joy.

The foreign envoy glanced around and asked, "Where is the Ninth Prince? Why hasn't he come out to compete?"

After two rounds of drinking, Empress Jiahe was too relaxed and blurted out her thoughts, "His legs are broken, how can he compete with others?"

There was a sudden silence at the table.

Emperor Zhaowu looked at Empress Jiahe with a cold look.

Empress Jiahe realized later that she had said the wrong thing.

She quickly made amends, pretending to be sad and said, "During the autumn hunt last year, Xiaojiu was attacked by an assassin and suffered some injuries. He has not recovered yet. If I ask him to compete and tear his wound, I can't bear it."

Emperor Zhaowu's eyes softened a little, "How could my son be disabled? He was just slightly injured, nothing serious."

The foreign envoys were puzzled by what Queen Jiahe mentioned. "He is the one who defeated the most courageous warrior here. How powerful an assassin must be to hurt him?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Zhaowu narrowed his eyes and shifted his gaze to the Queen beside him.

When an assassin appeared at the autumn hunt and Rong Ting was injured, the subsequent investigation was handled by Empress Jiahe alone.

When Empress Jiahe heard this question, her heart sank.

The assassin who hurt Rong Ting was a assassin from her mother's family, the Xu family.

The matter of raising assassins must not be known to the Emperor.

With tears in her eyes, she acted like a loving mother who hated the assassin, "The assassin committed suicide out of fear of punishment. Poor Xiaojiu, you have to suffer this kind of punishment for no reason."

The foreign envoy saw her sad face and asked soothingly, "How has the Ninth Prince recovered recently?"

Emperor Zhaowu tapped the table with his fingertips, signaling Empress Jiahe to answer the question.

Empress Jiahe's acting skills were flawless in front of the public. At this moment, her brows relaxed and she said gently, "Thank you for your concern, my Lord. I found the best doctor and the best medicine for him. His injury has healed well."

It's really like a mother who cares for and protects her child.

The foreign envoy laughed and said, "That's great! Let our warriors learn martial arts from him next year."

Emperor Zhaowu also smiled and said, "Definitely."

Afterwards, Emperor Zhaowu summoned the eunuch and asked him to find someone to check on Rong Ting.

Emperor Zhaowu missed his insignificant son very much at this moment.

It would be better if Rong Ting could just return to Beijing next year, and he could also regain face for him in the competition.

How can a great country like Da Zhao be outdone by a small country with less than 10,000 people?

Emperor Zhaowu's instructions to the eunuchs reached the ears of Empress Jiahe who was beside him.

She looked sullen and worried.

She was afraid that Emperor Zhaowu had noticed something.

After the banquet, she returned to her Jinxiu Palace in a hurry, called her confidant, and ordered in a cold voice, "Get rid of the emperor and go find Rong Ting's people."

"And go to Yecheng and investigate Rong Ting to find out what's going on."

She originally thought that Rong Ting was so badly injured, and he only had a servant who was a local bully who was famous for being greedy and gambling. He had no medicine to cure him and no one to turn to, so he would not survive more than a year.

But she never expected that he was so tenacious, and she hasn't even been able to wait for the news of his death until now!

A hint of dark ruthlessness flashed across Empress Jiahe's eyes.

No matter what, she would never let Rong Ting appear in the next year that Emperor Zhaowu was looking forward to.

…

The next day, the sky was clear and the snow had stopped.

After Jiang Rao finished her breakfast, she wanted to go out, but was scolded by Fourth Master Jiang, who said that everyone in the city was talking about her, and those parents used her as a negative example to warn their children not to go up the mountain for fun. What was she going to do outside? If you go out, you will be laughed at!

Jiang Rao: “…”

She couldn't argue with her father, so she could only stay in the pavilion in her yard, admiring the snow scene with a mountain of books in front of her.

She wanted to know why her dreams were always consistent with future events?

If someone told her that someone had the ability to predict future events through dreams, she would definitely regard that person as a monster or a god. But she is just a mortal, how could she have such ability?

After flipping through a bunch of official and unofficial histories and finding some folk books, there was no record of her dream. Jiang Rao felt a headache after reading it, so she picked up a storybook to calm down.

There is a plot in the storybook about a young lady from a very wealthy family. She is arrogant and looks down on everyone. She has loved bullying servants since she was a child. Later, her family fell into poverty, but she married a servant who had been bullied by her. From then on, she could no longer be arrogant.

Jiang Rao first clicked her tongue, wondering what this servant had done wrong to deserve to marry such a vicious wife. Then she suddenly felt cold all over, thinking that this storybook was a miniature of her: bullying others, her family falling into poverty, and marrying a servant.

In the dream, she was not married, but her life was worse than being married.

This was exactly the same fate she had dreamed of.

The little girl's small and delicate face was wrapped in a red cape with a white fox fur collar, and she looked unhappy.

Even though she had only dreamed of her home being torn apart and being separated from her family once, that was the dream she feared the most, even more than her own fear of being tortured. Whenever she thought of it, she would tremble with fear in her heart.

Outside the pavilion, a figure appeared.

Because he was sitting in a wheelchair, he was several centimeters shorter than ordinary people, but his posture was tall and straight. Coupled with his handsome and flawless face, he suddenly stood out from the crowd. While others were still in the human world, he was in a fairyland.

Jiang Rao saw Rong Ting, stood up and walked towards him.

But after seeing what Rong Ting held in his hand, he paused, and a look of fear slowly appeared on his face.

Why did he come with medicine?

Rong Ting noticed her gaze, and before she could ask, he explained: "I just met your mother, and she asked me to..."

"I asked you to watch me drink the medicine." Jiang Rao slumped his shoulders and guessed it right away.

Her mother really knew how to cure her.

"Um."

He found out her name from others. Everyone here called her Fourth Miss Jiang, but she never seemed to want to tell him who she was, nor was she curious about who he was.

But he was somewhat curious about her identity.

She was different from the people he had met before.

Jiang Rao looked at Rong Ting. She felt that his complexion seemed to be better. She asked him, "Are those medicines useful?"

Rong Ting nodded.

Jiang Rao waited for him to say more, otherwise he would forget about asking her to take medicine, but he remained silent and quickly held the medicine bowl in front of her, "It's time to take the medicine."

Jiang Rao: “…”

Couldn't dodge it.

Seeing that changing the subject was useless, she could only look up at Rong Ting with pleading eyes, begging pitifully, "The medicine is so bitter that I want to vomit. Can I not take it?"

At noon, the sky was bright. The light golden sunlight, as light as a gauze, spread on her face, making her cheeks look as clean as washed glutinous rice grains. Her pleading tone sounded like a coquettish tone.

Rong Ting's gaze fell to the back of her neck.

There was a dark bruise on the back of her jade-white neck, which spread into the collar.

When the carriage fell off the cliff, Jiang Rao was hit on the back by a rolling stone, leaving a bruise.

The injury was on her back, and Jiang Rao didn't take it seriously except for the occasional pain.

It was worth it to exchange her pain for medicine to heal his leg injury.

Rong Ting's gaze paused on the bruise, and he said in a deep voice, leaving no room for argument, "Take the medicine."

Jiang Rao stamped her feet in her heart.

She knew it was useless to reason with him.

It will be useless in the future, and it is useless now.

She brought the medicine bowl reluctantly. Last time, she didn't know how bitter the medicine was and she had the courage to drink it all in one breath. But this time, looking at the medicine bowl and thinking of the bitter taste of Coptis chinensis that went to the bottom of her heart, Jiang Rao's face almost wrinkled before she even drank the medicine.

A voice came from the side, "You want me to feed you?"

The tone was serious and solemn, and the deep voice made her tiny courage tremble twice, "No, no need."

Let her take the medicine by herself and suffer.

But if she was fed by him, it would probably be a torture for her.

She didn't care whether it was bitter or not, she tilted her head back and drank it in one gulp again. After she finished drinking it, the expression on her face was as if she had lost half her life.

Jiang Rao swallowed it down with a gulp and felt like she was almost turning into a medicine jar.

Just when she was about to tell Rong Ting not to come tomorrow, as she would have to take medicine again if she came, she turned her head away from him and slightly opened her red lips, but a plum was unexpectedly stuffed into her mouth.

The candied plums were as sweet as candied fruit, but more refreshing than candied fruit. The sweet taste instantly cleared the bitter taste of medicine in her mouth.

She was stunned, her eyes wide open.

Before he could react, Rong Ting stuffed another one into his mouth.

Rong Ting held an oil-paper bag in his hand, on which were written the three words "Miao Shige".

He was pinching a plum between his long fingers. Just now, his fingers accidentally brushed across her soft red lips, and he immediately retracted them, but the feeling of the touch was still there.

He suppressed the strange turmoil in his heart and asked her, "Is it hard to change?"