lantern

When Jiang Nian returned to his room, he opened the letter sent by Meng Zheng and took a look.

The general content has little to do with the progress of the investigation into the eldest princess' death. It mentions the people related to the bishop who were mentioned in the brief conversation with Qin Lan and Xiao Yingzhu yesterday.

They had been planning to place the source of infection of the plague in the relief warehouse - those "diseases" of which they did not know what kind, but they did not know that the person watching them had changed from the Duke to the Fourth Prince. Seeing that the secret guards following them had been withdrawn, they started the plan in advance to prevent any mistakes from happening later.

The Fourth Prince, who had been keeping an eye on that group of people since taking over the mission, took action, starting a chase and then capturing them.

But because the other party was cunning and more familiar with the terrain than the guards, it took some time to catch them.

That period of time was enough for them to tamper with one of the warehouses, but they might also do nothing out of fear and just hide the "diseases" somewhere randomly.

By this time, when the guards caught them, they were empty-handed, and were now being captured and interrogated by Meng Zheng's men.

Just in case, Meng Zheng temporarily took control of the warehouse where they had stayed.

Just a few lines of text contained a huge amount of information. After reading it all, Jiang Nian's mind went blank for a moment.

Outside the house, the wind rustles the branches of the trees, and the sound of leaves rustling is heard.

The letter in her hand was blown all over by the wind coming through the window, and the fiery red candlelight shone into her eyes.

“…”

Will it really be okay?

In the final analysis, such matters were ostensibly handed over to the granary office, but now Meng Zheng actually intervened directly according to the emperor's secret letter.

Jiang Nian blinked and closed the envelope.

Wouldn't this be a bit too alarming?

wrong.

She opened the letter again and took another look at it.

Meng Zheng did not mention control, but instead implemented the guarding through the accompanying guards.

......

Jiang Nian recalled the past journey with Xiao Yingzhu and the others. During that time, Meng Zheng rarely mentioned his own specific affairs, and she knew almost no details of the mission.

The current situation is probably that he has borrowed someone else's identity, or he has concealed his identity and is investigating secretly to avoid alerting the enemy.

This is probably to prevent the remnants of the bishops who are trying to spread the "disease" from discovering that the people interrogating them are the Fourth Prince's men.

She was not very clear about the rules of the job here. After all, all the things she wanted to do were handled by Xiao Yingzhu. Because they were all handled quickly through special channels, the waiting period was very short, and Jiang Nian hardly paid attention to it.

But since they are connected to the Wu Mi people, those remnants might have something that can make them speechless, or kill them directly through remote control, right?

Although Jiang Nian had never seen how Xiao Yingzhu or Qin Lan interrogated other members of the Wu Mi clan after capturing them, they had one thing in common.

That is the extremely fast, accurate and ruthless interrogation.

The purpose is to prevent these people from having physical problems along the way, which would cut the clue short.

I don’t know if Meng Zheng knows about this situation.

Because the bishops he investigated also included those who had not joined the Umi group.

......The relationships in the entire Huandu are very complicated. Jiang Nian has no idea where to start when thinking about the details, so he has to give up for now.

She put the letter back on the desk, thinking of putting it together with the notebook where she recorded the clues. Then she thought of telling Xiao Yingzhu about this matter, so she paused and turned around and walked out again.

—

She had looked for the courtyard where Xiao Yingzhu was temporarily staying once before, so she still remembered the way.

However, it was daytime before and now it was night. Jiang Nian took the wrong road on his way to find him and had to go around in circles before arriving in front of Xiao Yingzhu's residence.

Jiang Nian looked at the sky and estimated the time.

It was also quite late when Xiao Yingzhu came to see her before, although it was even later now.

But considering that this matter is quite important, and for Xiao Yingzhu, who is either on duty or on his way to complete his duties all day long, he should not have rested at this point.

Jiang Nian's mind was full of complicated thoughts. As he walked, he held the letter in his hand and thought about what he would say to him later. While thinking, he caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of his eye.

“…”

Jiang Nian paused, looked up to see who was coming, and then smiled at him gently: "Mo Qing?"

Mo Qing, who was about to sneak out to play some games at this time, paused, waved his hand at her and said with a smile: "Miss, are you going to look for the master?"

"yes."

They were all Xiao Yingzhu's secret guards, so there was nothing to hide. Jiang Nian simply responded, "Did your master rest?"

Mo Qing turned his head and glanced deep into the courtyard.

The woods there were dense, and only the light of a single lamp shone through the intertwined branches and leaves, illuminating the mottled path.

"Not yet. The master doesn't usually go to bed so early... If you want to see him, you can go directly."

"Yes, thank you."

Jiang Nian was unfamiliar with Mo Qing, so he hesitated for a moment. To remain polite, he had to ask before Mo Qing looked over with a smile:

"Mo Qing is going out so late, is there something else you want to do?"

Remember to go to Zuihualou tomorrow.

When asked this question by Jiang Nian, Mo Qing had no idea that he might be caught. He turned around and waved at her casually: "Well, Miss, aren't you looking for the master? Go quickly."

Jiang Nian turned around and glanced in the direction where Mo Qing was standing just now.

The place was empty, and the person who had casually spoken to her just now had disappeared.

...Running so fast.

Turning back, Jiang Nian no longer hesitated and entered the courtyard before the moonlight was completely blocked by clouds.

—

The courtyard was silent. Stepping on the fallen leaves on the path made a crisp sound like a thin blade, cutting through the thick night.

Jiang Nian walked along the road with an envelope in her hand. After shaking off the fallen leaves stuck to her skirt, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

It’s so late now, it’s too tiring to get dressed again and go out to look for Xiao Yingzhu.

What's more, I have to get up early tomorrow.

It’s better to be quick.

The dull thud of knuckles tapping on the ebony door was subtle, but loud enough for the people inside to hear in the quiet night.

Fighting the inexplicable fear that was rising in his heart, Jiang Nian took a few steps back after knocking on the door.

Not long after, there was a slight noise in the study, and then the door was opened from the inside.

The bright light in the room flowed down from his shoulders, and the arc it reflected was like half a remaining moon, hanging in her light brown pupils. The overlapping light and shadow seemed to be shattered at the touch of a finger.

When he saw Jiang Nian, Xiao Yingzhu was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes fell on the letter in her hand.

Noticing his gaze, Jiang Nian came back to his senses, stopped looking at him, took a step back, raised the letter in his hand and handed it to him.

"This is a letter from Meng Zheng. It was just delivered to the mansion tonight."

After all, it was night, and even if this was not Xiao Yingzhu's dormitory, it was his study. It would be strange to go in.

Still thinking about his cooperative status, Jiang Nian kept a distance from the threshold of Xiao Yingzhu's study. When he saw him take the letter, he thought there was nothing else to do, so he turned around.

Her skirt swept across the bluestone steps. After walking a few steps forward, she stood under several clumps of green bamboo. She turned around and waved at him, with a faint and comfortable smile on the corner of her lips.

"I came to visit you tonight just for this matter...it's getting late."

Meeting the indifferent gaze of the man in front of the study door, Jiang Nian put his hands behind his back, tilted his head and smiled at him.

"...Get some rest early."

Under the moonlight, Xiao Yingzhu stood in front of the steps. The moonlight shone through the mist of the fine night, illuminating half of her tall figure, making her outline seem half-transparent like frost.

As the night deepened, his eyebrows became darker than glaze.

Slowly, he chuckled very softly, and the coldness in his gorgeous eyes and brows disappeared because of this soft light. The dangerous aura that seemed to be born with him was completely restrained under this extremely deceptive appearance.

"I've taken note of what Miss Jiang said."

"It's getting late and the dew is heavy, so I'll see you off for a bit."

The evening breeze blew by, and Xiao Yingzhu's clothes fluttered like the cry of a crane. She raised her hand and closed the door.

“…”

Before he knew it, he had already put the letter back into the study.

Seeing Xiao Yingzhu walking towards her, Jiang Nian smiled and walked side by side with Xiao Yingzhu, accepting his kindness: "Then I'll trouble Duke Xiao to give me a ride."

—

It wasn't far from his courtyard to Jiang Nian, just a few steps.

When walking side by side, there is no awkwardness even if the two of them don't talk.

I happen to be in a range where talking is too noisy, but not talking is comfortable.

Although the lighting lanterns in the Youguan Mansion were bright, Qin Lanxu only arranged a few stations at intervals on the roads on both sides for the sake of aesthetics.

It was a rare trip without any information to discuss. As the day of going to Zuihualou approached, Jiang Nian didn't feel as heavy and nervous as before. He felt much more relaxed.

After walking with Xiao Yingzhu all the way, I saw that he had nothing in his hands and the night around them was thick and dark.

As if thinking of something funny, Jiang Nian first looked at him with a smile, and when Xiao Yingzhu looked at him with some doubt, he handed the lighting lantern in his hand to him.

A lamp was unexpectedly stuffed into Xiao Yingzhu's hand, and a faint question mark suddenly appeared in his mind.

Although it was not obvious, Jiang Nian could still clearly feel his doubts because they were close.

The rarely seen Xiao Yingzhu.

There is no sloppy or careless Xiao Yingzhu.

Take a few more looks.

After walking a few more steps with the lantern, Xiao Yingzhu lowered his eyes to look at the round and plump lantern in his hand, then curved his eyebrows almost imperceptibly.

How could Jiang Nian, who had been paying attention to Xiao Yingzhu's facial expression, miss this subtle change? He immediately raised his hand to cover his lips and smiled, "Have you realized it?"

Xiao Yingzhu glanced at the person who was as happy as a child because of such a trivial matter, and with a faint smile on her face, she slightly looked away: "As long as you are happy."

Jiang Nian smiled and walked forward a few steps, then turned his head and looked at him.

Glancing at her inquiring expression, Xiao Yingzhu lowered his gaze to her back and immediately asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Looks so happy.

Jiang Nian hesitated for a moment, then turned his back to him, smiled and shook his head: "Keep it a secret."

"?"

Jiang Nian didn't feel sorry at all for missing the rare questioning expression that Xiao Yingzhu showed again.

It was a long journey in the dark night, and even though there were no one to accompany her and comfort her, she could still relax her tense nerves for a while.

Standing in front of the courtyard where they would be staying for the last night, Jiang Nian paused for a moment, turned around and waved to him: "Thank you for sending me here. Go back and rest, don't work too late."

Xiao Yingzhu weighed the light lantern and showed no intention of returning it: "Hmm."

She opened the courtyard door halfway, Jiang Nian waved to him, and walked into the yard.

When she left, she had not turned off the light in the study, so a hazy glow shone through the window paper, emitting a soft warmth.

Xiao Yingzhu's figure standing outside the courtyard gradually blended into the misty moonlight.

“…”

Jiang Nian picked up the candle clippers in the study and cut the candle short.

In the darkness, she smiled again.

I will never tell Xiao Yingzhu that the person who looks so calm and reserved is actually younger than me.

Sometimes I really feel like my identities have been reversed.

He often appears to be indifferent and reserved, but he is secretly angry and needs others to comfort him.

Is this love? Or is it ambiguity?

I guess both should count.

His hand seemed to still retain the touch of his fingertips that had accidentally touched Xiao Yingzhu when he handed the lantern over to her just now.

The time was extremely short, but it was like a brand, imprinted on the skin along with the heartbeat that is still beating happily.

Jiang Nian was happy for a while, then became serious again.

She couldn't go on like this any longer. She needed to wash up and go to bed because she had to get up early tomorrow.

With a happy mood, Jiang Nian lay down on the bed after cleaning himself up.

“…”

Can't sleep.

The ceiling was dark, but not sleepy enough.

Jiang Nian turned over, then bent his body while holding the extra pillow. He blinked for a moment and closed his eyes.

I'll be able to see him again after the Zuihualou matter is settled.

The days to come, in such a joyful mood as this one, should come quickly.