Tibetan affairs

The young man was frightened by Xiao Yingzhu's fan. He was hesitating whether to look back, but the lady standing in front of him excused him:

"It's okay. This is inevitable. You just need to avoid telling anyone and forget what you just saw."

Jiang Nian bent down slightly, looked at him with a smile and raised his eyebrows: "Have you remembered it?"

The young man's heart was pounding at Jiang Nian's charming smile and shining eyes. To save his life, he nodded: "I understand, I understand!"

Jiang Nian answered with a satisfied smile, then stood up and said to Xiao Yingzhu, "You should leave quickly before Fuling comes."

"Nothing else you want to ask me?"

At this moment, Xiao Yingzhu had some rebellious thoughts and stood motionless at the back of the carriage. Although half of his body was covered by the wall of the carriage, from the angle at which Fuling came out of the mansion, she could definitely see his figure clearly.

What's more, Fuling is such an observant person.

...Fuling had become a little suspicious just now, and now she must not let her see herself and Xiao Yingzhu standing next to the carriage and chatting happily.

Thinking about the minerals and Meng Jian, Jiang Nian waved at him, urging him to leave quickly: "I'll send Ling Qing back with a letter for you. You better leave quickly."

This was the first time in his life that he saw the famous Duke Xiao who could stop children from crying being chased away by his own young lady, and he seemed to be indifferent. The young man was shocked and buried his head deeply, not intending to look at what was happening in front of him.

Fuling's hurried footsteps came from a distance. Listening to the sound of the embroidered shoes splashing water on the ground, Jiang Nian looked up at the sky for a moment.

I don’t know when the pitch-black sky will be covered with clouds again, bringing about continuous rain.

Jiang Nian secretly calculated the distance from Fuling's residence to the door for her to see Xiao Yingzhu, and reached out to pat Xiao Yingzhu gently. After all, the title of Duke was still on his head. Every time he saw him, he always felt a sense of pressure from above. Jiang Nian didn't dare to do anything to him. He just patted his arm and looked up at him.

This soft reaction seemed somewhat funny. Xiao Yingzhu remembered Jiang Nian's slightly annoyed expression in his mind and felt particularly satisfied.

He raised his eyes and caught a glimpse of Fuling rushing here. He raised his hand, said "go first" with a chuckle, and disappeared here.

Jiang Nian looked at the direction where Xiao Yingzhu left, without taking his eyes away, even though he could hear the sound of Fuling's hurried footsteps behind him.

"Miss, why don't you wait in the carriage? I've brought you the pen and the cloak."

The cloak she was holding in her arms was so thin that the wind lifted up a corner of the gauze.

Jiang Nian didn't actually think it would be that cold on a rainy night in Pingzhou during the summer; it was just a little damp and uncomfortable, but he still reached out and took the cloak from Fuling's hand and turned to walk towards the carriage.

The people inside naturally left. Jiang Nian lifted the car curtain and looked around. He caught a glimpse of Fuling still standing outside. Even though she blocked the burning paper on the table with her body, there were still some residues left.

Normally, she should have handed these over to Fuling, but this sandalwood box...

If Jiang's mother had received the box, she would have told her about it. However, when she went to see her mother this morning, she never heard her mention it.

Besides, this was the carriage she came in.

She didn't smell any agarwood at the time, and as for whether there was a box on the table... she was thinking about other things at the time, so she naturally wouldn't observe the layout of the carriage and deliberately remember the placement of each item.

Recalling the driver's face hidden in the shadows when he took her to the teahouse, Jiang Nian paused while staring at the sandalwood box.

Could it be that this box was put in after the carriage returned along the same route?

Jiang Nian put the sandalwood box back to its original place, then swept the remaining paper scraps on the table into his hands, got out of the car gently from the other side, and scattered the ashes into the wet and muddy weeds growing on the street.

The cold night wind still retained the chill of the previous rain. The remaining heat emitted from the ground had been dissipated by the rain. Houses in this era were not very good at keeping out the cold. When the wind blew, Jiang Nian suddenly shivered.

“…”

It felt a bit chilly on this rainy night. Jiang Nian quickly turned around, put on his cloak, and arranged the brush on the table to look like it had been written. He pretended to have finished writing the letter and handed it to Duke Xiao's men, then got off the carriage in front of Fuling.

Seeing that the young lady was finally willing to go back from the carriage, Fuling sighed, turned around and followed Jiang Nian's pace. While looking at whether Jiang Nian was wet by the cold rain tonight, she turned around and told the young man to park the carriage back to its original place.

After some twists and turns, Jiang Nian was safely placed in the room by Fuling, and a cup of warm water was stuffed into his hand.

His hand touched the warm wall of the cup, and he smelled some damp water vapor in the room. Jiang Nian subconsciously raised his eyes to look at the table, only to find that the window that was originally closed had been opened at some point, and the temperature in the room was exactly the same as outside.

Fuling also noticed the window, and frowned again as she thought of something. "The sun was shining brightly at noon, and I wanted to ventilate the room. I'll ask Guizhi to close it later, but she forgot."

Jiang Nian didn't mind these things. He just told Fuling to close the window, then lowered his eyes to think about the sandalwood box.

Being able to put the sandalwood box into the moving carriage quietly was a testament to Zhou Jinyu's skill.

Xiao Yingzhu left Pingzhou some time ago. Now he uses a sandalwood box to deliver messages, which can be regarded as a psychological basis for people on both sides.

She had seen the coachman who took her there several times before, so there was nothing more to think about.

Jiang Nian's gaze fell on the loose page on the table, and he suddenly felt a little confused.

What if Meng Jian wanted Zhou Jinyu to search her pharmacy or this rest room for an insect repellent formula? The servants guarding the house didn't have the clairvoyance to detect these elusive creatures.

Feeling a little uneasy, Jiang Nian stood up and walked to the table, reaching out to pick up the loose leaf on the table.

Her gaze paused for a moment on the slightly blurred ink handwriting, and she suddenly sighed.

In order to prevent Meng Jian's men from finding her prescription at the competition venue, Jiang Nian borrowed the 'arsenic seed mixture' from the Xu's pharmacy next door. As for the anti-insect prescription at the competition venue, it was also placed close to the Xu's pharmacy next door.

Although the recipe seemed to be similar at first glance, the subtle dosage and slightly changed medicinal ingredients would mislead those who tried to find an anthelmintic recipe from her, making them think that this recipe was similar to the one from Xu's Pharmacy and instead get the recipe from Xu's Pharmacy.

Or perhaps in a hurry, one confuses two very similar insect repellent recipes, and then imagines the insect repellent recipe to be what one thinks it is.

However, arsenic seed dressing focuses on arsenic.

She had to wait for the minerals to arrive so that the trickery of this competition could be more realistic.

The loose pages were put back on the table. Jiang Nian breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and saw Qing suddenly appear behind him, and was suddenly startled.

"…Why are you here?"

The room suddenly became full of people. If Jiang Nian hadn't been used to seeing this in Cang Jun before, he felt that he would have fainted.

"Just now... didn't the young lady say in the carriage that she had a letter to deliver to the master?"

With the attitude of "doing his duty for Miss Jiang", Qing saw that Jiang Nian was about to mail the envelope, so he took the initiative to show up before Jiang Nian called him.

“…”

Jiang Nian didn't know how to explain that it was just a casual remark. After all, if she had questions asking Xiao Yingzhu every day, she would feel embarrassed.

But since Qingdu appeared in front of him, thinking of the words "since you're already here", Jiang Nian smiled helplessly, turned around, picked up the pen, and then took out a piece of paper and filled in a few words casually on the paper.

"If Qin Lan orders someone to bring the minerals to Pingzhou, please inform me immediately and I will go and get them."

Qing took the letter from her hand, put it away carefully as if it were a treasure, and placed it in her arms, then she quickly moved towards the Qishan Mansion in the distance.

Jiang Nian looked up at the direction Qing left, then turned around and saw Fuling pushing the door open. Seeing the young lady laughing so happily, with no one else around, he couldn't help but ask, "Did the young lady encounter anything funny just now?"

The comforting joy in his heart had not yet dissipated. Jiang Nian shook his head and replied with a smile: "It's not a big deal, just some...small things."

The content written on the note was only what she could say to Xiao Yingzhu when they met just now, but she chose to send it with the name Qing, which was a bit of an exaggeration, but it seemed to give it a different kind of fun. After Jiang Nian finished picking up the insect repellent pages on the desk, the smile remained in her heart.

—

Qing followed the eaves under the night sky, crossed Pingzhou City, took a shortcut from the mountain, and landed at Qishan Mansion. He suddenly paused, restrained his breath, and quietly landed at the corner of the corridor not far from the study.

In the dark night, even the slightest sound of the treetops will be amplified, making the heartbeat even more intense.

The voices in the study came through the corridor, and in the silent air, the words were transmitted to my ears.

"How is Duke Xiao these days? I haven't fulfilled the formalities of visiting you yet, so I apologize in advance."

A gentle and soft voice broke the silence of the good night. Qing's pupils shrank slightly, and she couldn't help but take a few steps forward and stopped not far from the study window.

"...Your Highness's words are too kind. How dare I accept your apology? I have been doing well recently. Thank you for your concern."

"Your Highness has come to see me this time. I wonder why?"

The teacup was placed on the tea tray with a very crisp sound. Xiao Yingzhu's shadow against the stone floor seemed slightly fainter, as if faded by the bright candlelight.

His voice was deep, and there was a hint of indifference and coldness in his words. Qing suddenly came to her senses and raised her hand to touch the letter paper that was warmed by her body temperature on her chest.

The letter paper was thin, and Jiang Nian wrote very few words in the letter, but it was still related to the anti-worm recipe.

Suppressing the trembling in her heart, Qing turned around coldly and wanted to run away, but was stopped by Meng Jian's words again.

His words were full of smiles, like a gentle breeze passing through the room, but they could not conceal the biting chill and hidden murderous intent within them.

"In the burned village earlier, I wanted to personally comfort the survivors, but I didn't expect Duke Xiao to lend a hand and take them in."

"Today's unexpected meeting...isn't it fate sent by heaven?"