Events (minor revision)

"......Um."

Qin Lan was still standing at the mansion watching. Jiang Nian didn't want to show any other agitated expression under the gaze of others, nor did he want Xiao Yingzhu to see anything, so he responded softly in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

I don’t know what Xiao Yingzhu wants to say to her, so I’ll just agree first.

The faint sunlight dyed the sky red, and when I walked out of the path in the forest, my vision suddenly became clear.

After the shadows of the woods faded away, Qin Lan wanted to observe the changes in their facial expressions more carefully, but found that their expressions had completely restrained and there was no extra expression on their faces.

Today's affairs came to an end for the time being, and the heavy thoughts about work were thrown aside by him.

Since I can't get any clues from Xiao Yingzhu, I can only look for a breakthrough from Jiang Nian.

In pursuit of gossip, Qin Lan waved his hand and told Ai to leave the rest of the report until he got back. Then he straightened his clothes and smiled at Jiang Nian:

"Miss Jiang, are you free tonight? Ai brought some Cang County festival specialties when he handed over the task to Yan. If you are free, I will ask Ai to deliver it to your room later."

Cangjun festival specialties?

When Qin Lan took the initiative to talk to her about something, it was mostly for personal gossip.

Judging from his expression at this moment and the "daily topics" he suddenly mentioned, it was probably due to some interest of his own.

Jiang Nian was a little uneasy because of Xiao Yingzhu's sudden invitation. At this moment, the person who invited her was standing not far from her waiting for her reply to Qin Lan. Two pairs of eyes fell on her at the same time, and the pressure suddenly doubled.

After agreeing to Qin Lan's words, could she use this opportunity to squeeze out Xiao Yingzhu's invitation to her?

She has been busy recently and has not yet sorted out the relationship between herself and Xiao Yingzhu. If he asks her something that catches her off guard at night, then she will be the one who is tricked.

To talk to Xiao Yingzhu, you must have a certain amount of weight in your hand.

Her thoughts were in a mess now, and she felt unsure about facing Xiao Yingzhu directly.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Nian put away his thoughts and smiled calmly: "Sure, Master Qin is thoughtful. When Ai comes, just ask Ai to knock on the door and put the specialties at the door of the room."

"Jiang Nian would like to thank Master Qin for his kindness."

Qin Lan had been preparing to do this all along, just waiting for her to say this. When he heard Jiang Nian say the key words, he immediately smiled and replied, "Don't worry about it. Cang Jun will need Miss Jiang's help in the future. Please forgive me when the time comes."

Thinking of his previous speculations about the boatman's future, Jiang Nian immediately realized what Qin Lan was referring to - this matter was related to the progress of the investigation he was undertaking.

She nodded and said, "It's okay. It's my job to contribute to the investigation in Cang County."

Answering is answering, but after replying to Qin Lan's words, Jiang Nian suddenly felt like he had fallen into a bad trap.

——The purpose Qin Lan wanted to achieve by using the gift to make her say thank you at this moment should not be a business purpose.

According to past practice, it would seem more reasonable for him to use this gift to gossip.

After his thoughts came to light, Jiang Nian raised his eyes and looked towards Qin Lan, and sure enough, he saw a satisfied smile on his face.

As if afraid that Jiang Nian would take back his reply, he immediately waved his hand, took a few steps back, raised his eyebrows and smiled at her.

"Miss Jiang, just remember it. Well, I have other things to do, so I'll leave first."

Before the words fell steadily, Qin Lan nodded to her neatly, then turned and walked towards Ai, who had packed up the carriage not far away.

He walked extremely fast, as if he was afraid that Jiang Nian would take back what he had just promised. Before he knew it, he was outside the carriage. The servant who had been waiting for a long time lifted the curtain for him, and then he disappeared behind the curtain.

“…”

You're walking too fast.

Jiang Nian withdrew her gaze helplessly and looked around, only to find that Xi Zhen and Yu He, who had just been standing at the door, seemed to have left while they were talking. Only she and Xiao Yingzhu were left outside the mansion.

Fortunately, the entrance to the gate was empty and there were some servants cleaning around, so she wouldn't be too embarrassed.

Jiang Nian didn't look at Xiao Yingzhu's face. He turned around and took a few steps forward. He knew that he couldn't escape his fate today and had to go back to the State Guest House with him.

With Qin Lan accompanying me on the way here, I didn't feel uncomfortable or nervous.

Now that Qin Lan has slipped away, only the groom and the two of them are left. It's very strange no matter how you think about it.

In addition, Xiao Yingzhu's words were unclear and did not clearly point out the topic.

She knew in her heart what the other party wanted to talk about, but according to her current mood, it was better not to talk about it.

Unfortunately, she had no choice but to avoid these two things that she was about to face. She could only struggle on the spot, then calm down the rebellious thoughts in her heart and face them with a positive attitude.

The curtain in front of her was lifted, Xiao Yingzhu turned her head, revealing her beautiful and charming profile, and looked down at her.

"You go first."

Jiang Nian agreed calmly, without refusing, and simply stepped over to the empty seat under the curtain he had lifted.

The layout inside the carriage was the same as when she came. Xiao Yingzhu behind her was still waiting for her to take a seat, so Jiang Nian didn't bother to choose a new seat and sat directly back to the seat she had when she came.

From her perspective and thoughts, Xiao Yingzhu should sit opposite him when he comes up.

After all, he is very sensitive to everything. In this situation, it would be unreasonable for him not to notice the obvious subtle and stiff atmosphere between the two sides.

Servants everywhere were still sweeping up the wet fallen leaves that had stuck to the stone slabs after the recent rain.

The soft sound of sweeping the floor softened as the setting sun gradually dimmed, leaving only the remaining pink color. She turned her head to look at the distant view outside the mansion on the mountain.

The scenery here is different from that of the mountain mansion in Pingzhou. Looking from afar, the darkness that is about to swallow up the remaining light is gradually approaching the quiet city below. There are few lights, which flicker from time to time, exuding a gloomy and thick depression.

The dry fallen leaves in the air mixed with the howling cold wind brought back Jiang Nian's depressed thoughts.

The sight fell on the bottomless dark town, with dark clouds surging, suppressing the strange wind and clouds on the ground, and flickering with the coming storm.

One wrong move and the whole game is lost.

There are many things waiting for them to face next, and they must inquire carefully before making a conclusion.

Jiang Nian blinked, his memories overlapping. The scenery he saw when he came down from the Pingzhou mountain mansion seemed to be seen from this angle.

However, compared with the lifeless Cang County, it is filled with a peaceful and happy atmosphere of life.

Even the things we worry about on a daily basis are just the daily necessities and the business struggles of our neighbors.

It's completely different from what we are worried about here.

If Xiao Yingzhu wanted to talk to her about the future arrangements in Cang County, she still had to calm down and listen.

You can't put your personal feelings on your career.

But Xiao Yingzhu made an appointment to meet alone in the evening. Was it really a business matter?

......

The date of the appointment hasn't even been announced yet, and she's already worrying about nothing.

I really feel that she is not the same as before recently.

This can't go on any longer.

Her goal from the time she traveled through time until now was nothing more than to deal with the tedious matters at her family's pharmacy and to deliver the anthelmintic prescription requested by Xiao Yingzhu.

Rather than considering her own personal relationship with her partner here.

It's her mentality that has changed.

She shouldn't bother with these trivial things that the other party doesn't care about.

—

The curtain was lowered by the latter, and Xiao Yingzhu sat opposite Jiang Nian with a normal expression, without saying a word.

He seemed tired after too much socializing today. He half-closed his eyes and leaned casually on the arm of the car to rest.

Jiang Nian subconsciously tensed up her body. The wind outside the window brought cold air into the car, and she shivered and her hands trembled slightly. After a moment of silence, she relaxed her nerves and calmly closed the car window.

The driver drove the horse forward silently, and the sound of horse hooves was like drumbeats, hitting Jiang Nian's eardrums.

It was time for her to think about what she should talk about with Xiao Yingzhu that evening.

There is no point in running away blindly, and she doesn't like to run away anyway.

My subconscious guard against him these past two days is more like a self-protection mechanism to prevent myself from getting hurt by something.

However, after experiencing the lonely evening scene just now, Jiang Nian figured it out.

Instead of thinking about these boundless and vague ambiguous feelings, it is better to think about the current interests and power struggles. Only by stabilizing the current Huan Kingdom can all the desired goals be achieved.

Jiang Nian reached into the book in his handbag, which contained the clues he had recently obtained. The book was very thin, but the clues inside were crucial.

Remember all the information she could find out from Xiao Yingzhu's side.

The delicate touch gently covered the fingertips, and the bright afternoon sunshine emerged along with the contents of the diary volumes.

At that time, she wrote down all her doubts about the sect line by line in a notebook.

Since Meng Zheng wanted to investigate her and led her to the diary, no matter what his purpose was, the result would definitely benefit him.

Could she confirm the definite answer she didn't get from Meng Zheng through Xiao Yingzhu in the evening?

No matter how much rift there is between him and Xiao Yingzhu, their goals are the same.

but...

Maybe it's not time yet.

If she were to ask directly, she would be implicitly admitting that she was no longer from this era.

She was not sure what would happen after she confessed, and worried that if she asked directly, it would arouse others' suspicion of her and even change the course of the incident.

Jiang Nian's eyes fell on the notebook in her handbag, and her eyes gradually became cold.

Xiao Yingzhu has not yet said when she will hand this book over to him. If he sees the notes she left about the eldest princess in this book at that time,

The excuse of "Meng Zheng wants to show it to her" seems reasonable on the surface.

After all, this is something that actually happened.

When she saw it, she wrote it down as he instructed, so it didn't count as concealing the information.

But Xiao Yingzhu would definitely think of the other side that she had written down.

That is to say, it is related to her own desire to explore the matter of time travel, and she recorded this aspect.

Even though he hid it well on weekdays, it couldn't withstand Xiao Yingzhu's suspicion.

All he needed to do now was to ask himself if he didn't belong to this era.

If Xiao Yingzhu wants to read the notebook containing the clues at night, does she need to tear up these pages?

She had to record the contents of the eldest princess's diary.

But how Xiao Yingzhu views her is a question of how she will guide her at that time.

Now she is not sure whether she should hand over this extremely secret trump card to Xiao Yingzhu.

Want to ask?

She felt a faint gaze falling on her hand.

Jiang Nian raised his head and happened to meet Xiao Yingzhu's eyes.