Wait

Along the waterway to Cang County, there are rugged mountains on both sides, and misty fog is everywhere. The boat is just like a small boat in the tide. Jiang Nian looked out the window and suddenly felt that he and the few people on the boat were the only ones who existed in this world.

The sound of waves hitting the side of the ship was heard, and the wind was strong outside. Jiang Nian was arranged to sit inside the cabin, while the other two people who were traveling with him went to the Duke's room. They had received some information from Cang County and were discussing where to dock.

Before setting off, Jiang Nian didn't bring any books to pass the time. There was fog all around and he couldn't see the scenery along the way clearly. When he was bored, he saw the cabin door being opened.

The person who hadn't been seen for a few days appeared in front of him again. He closed the door, walked to Jiang Nian and sat down, staring at her without taking his eyes off her.

Jiang Nian felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by Ai. He curled his fingertips slightly on the table, then smiled back and found a topic to ease the awkwardness: "Where have you been, Xiao Ai, these days? I haven't seen you at the sect yet."

Ai was taken aback by the sudden question and looked at her in confusion. After a moment, he nodded calmly and said, "Help Senior Sister plant herbs."

Senior sister?

Miss Tao’s senior sister?

Jiang Nian was stunned for a moment.

"Are you Miss Tao's sister?" She really couldn't tell, and felt that the position didn't seem right.

Ai shook his head and denied it: "No, I am a child adopted by them."

Adopted by Miss Tao and Qin Lan?

The amount of information was too much, and the girl in front of him was not much older than Tao Yu and Qin Lan. Jiang Nian didn't think about adoption at all. His brain froze for a while before he came to his senses and inexplicably thought of the current regulations of the Huan Dynasty.

If outsiders find out and sue, will he appear in front of the police next time?

I can’t imagine what kind of scene it would be if one day the news broke out on the streets that the eldest son of the capital of Huandu was suspected of having an “illegitimate daughter”, and everyone on the street was pointing and talking about Qin Lan’s mansion.

Jiang Nianwei paused for a moment, feeling that the picture he imagined in his mind was too beautiful and ridiculous. He felt a little funny and turned to Ai Lue and added with a bit of persuasion:

"Then you'd better not mention these to outsiders next time."

The thick fog outside the window made Ai's eyes appear black and white, as if they could see through people. "Miss, are you worried about the adoption issue? Is someone plotting against me and the Pavilion Master?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the only sound left in the cabin was the splashing of waves.

Seeing that Jiang Nian didn't refute, Ai shook his head again and laughed softly, not caring at all, with his beautiful eyes glancing at the sharp edge.

"Nothing, I killed anyone who had bad intentions."

It is common to know that young girls are trained to be killers in this era, but hearing it from a beautiful girl who is only fourteen or fifteen years old is two different feelings.

Jiang Nian didn't know what to say for a moment, so he relaxed his slightly tense nerves and muttered to himself, "...It's better to cut the Gordian knot quickly, so as to be prepared for any eventuality."

The person on the other end didn't think there was anything wrong with her choice of words. He thought it made a lot of sense and responded in agreement.

"Yes, the Pavilion Master also praised me like this."

After all, they came from a society ruled by law. Such a conversation made Jiang Nian's forehead a little painful. She rubbed her temples and changed the subject.

"Is Xiao Ai familiar with Miss Tao's senior sister?"

Familiar? Not really, just helping out occasionally. Thinking of how his senior sister usually looked lazy and asked him to help her with work, Ai made a light assessment: "So-so."

Listening to this bland evaluation, Jiang Nian's thoughts drifted away.

I haven't seen the senior sister and Ai who Tao Yu mentioned as loving to grow plants in the sect these days. They must be inside.

...I don't know if Xiao Ai knew that Tao Yu had only said half of what he said at that time, but she still tried to give it a try.

She worded it a little, but found that the most direct way of asking might make Xiao Ai understand better. If she asked in a roundabout way, she might not get anything out of the question and might even arouse suspicion.

"Does Xiao Ai know the explanation for the different views of the front and back yards of the sect?"

"explain?"

Ai shifted his gaze slightly, thought for a moment, then turned back.

"Which one do you want to ask, miss?"

The scenery of the dormitories they live in is different before and after, but the seasons should be the same.

Recalling the falling snow in winter and falling flowers in spring that he had seen a few days ago, Jiang Nian briefly described the seasonal scenery in front of and behind the dormitory, and asked again the questions he had just asked.

This time, Ai heard it clearly. Although she was always quick to answer, she did not answer immediately. Instead, she looked into Jiang Nian's eyes directly and frankly, as if trying to figure out what he wanted to know.

Jiang Nian held her breath and waited for Ai's words, looking back without blinking. At this moment, her expression should be the most honest curiosity, the most frank and bright. Anyone who only listened to Jiang Nian's words would just regard it as curiosity about this question and would not investigate it in depth.

Ai, however, had her own thoughts. She paused for a moment before averting her eyes. The coolness that had swept through her heart, like a spring, and her sharp insight instantly disappeared. Jiang Nian's slightly tense mood relaxed, and she heard Ai beside her answer her words.

“Natural landscape.”

"My sister told me that the patriarch once described the unique scenery produced by the locations he chose as either human geography or natural landscapes, and all explanations were included in them."

…

Human geography, natural landscape.

Even though Ai's answer was off-topic and didn't hit the point, she already understood.

What a familiar yet unfamiliar word.

Jiang Nian was overwhelmed with indescribable sadness and sobs, as if he had returned home, when he heard these two groups of words from these two people who had traveled back in time thousands of years and had grown up in this dynasty and had nothing to do with time travel.

It was like a fleeting moment that touched upon my own era, and because I had only deliberately asked about these two words, others, unaware of the true situation, responded in a flat tone, as if it were an ordinary and unfamiliar name, which made me feel sad.

After all, in this era, the only thing related to modern times is oneself.

No, maybe there is also the sect leader.

He felt uneasy for a long time, but the person in front of him was not Xiao Yingzhu, who could know him a little bit, so Jiang Nian did not show any expression that was not in line with the people of this era who heard these two words, and replied with pretended curiosity and confusion.

"That's a rare explanation. No wonder Miss Tao kept it a secret."

Noticing the sudden flash of great sadness in Jiang Nian's eyes, and then the dark eyes returned to calmness and nothingness as if sucked into a hole, Ai looked at her indifferently without saying a word.

Jiang Nian was so moved by these four simple words that she couldn't utter another word after she said it. She didn't want Ai to keep looking at her, as this would make her sadness even more embarrassing.

Jiang Nian clenched her loose fingers and closed her eyes. It seemed that because of this gaze, her emotions, which had been well-controlled, began to fluctuate again, and she felt like she could not breathe. She turned her head and looked outside the cabin. It was still white, like a fog that tempted people to jump in and relieve all their sorrows. Her heart was vague for a moment, and then it sank.

Not wanting to worry about whether her current state and reaction would arouse Ai's suspicion, she said calmly, "I want to sit alone for a while, okay, Xiao Ai."

There was silence for a while, and the wooden chair was gently pulled open. Ai moved very quietly and cautiously, fearing that if he made a loud noise, it would disturb the girl leaning against the window in the cabin. He restrained his breath, quietly pushed open the wooden door outside, lowered his head and quietly closed it.

Knowing that his reaction was a bit too much, Jiang Nian took a deep breath, lowered his head, and folded his hands on his legs. His cold hands touched the soft silk cloth. He felt deeply that he was in a foreign land without a "home", but at the same time, he felt a sense of luck in his heart.

At least now, she knows that the sect leader is also a person who traveled through time, right?

It would be nice to know that there were people in this world who were as confused as she was. At least she was not the only one who was involved in the era a thousand years later.

Once his mind calmed down, Jiang Nian laughed regretfully, as if mocking himself, but also as if he was relieved. If it weren't for his ridiculous journey through time and space being related to this person who traveled through time, it wouldn't have been such a disappointment.

The thirst-quenching water on the table had gone cold, and the pretty girl who had just come in was no longer beside her. She slowly raised her head and walked towards the wooden door, leaving the room empty.

Miss Ai Na is really... so good.

—

"The letter from Cang County, judging by the time, should have been sent two or three days after the last intelligence."

Qin Lan stood in the lord's room, his hands on the table, his fingertips tapping on the intelligence.

"What's the relationship between Xizhen and Yu He? Why are you looking for him at this time?"

Before boarding the 'ferry' today, Xiao Yingzhu was delayed for a moment on the road, and it was the mechanical bird specially used by the sect to send messages that was looking for him.

The reason for looking for him is also very obvious, it is the information from Cang County.

The information is concise and clear. The first sentence is that the miner Xue is still mining, but Xizhen has not returned yet.

Looking at the handwriting, it was written by Hyun-gyu.

This piece of information was spread out on the table. The light in the room above the 'ferry' was sometimes bright and sometimes dark, and it also changed in a thousand ways. In this unstable light, the words on the information became increasingly strange and unclear.

"He used to be a member of the Wu Mi clan. If Yu He finds out, not to mention how long he'll be thrown into jail, he might even be charged with treason and sentenced to death before he even goes to jail!"

His companion's life or death was in danger. Thinking of the bad outcome, Qin Lan's forehead throbbed. Seeing Xiao Yingzhu still sitting in the command seat, drinking tea slowly, without any anxiety, he suddenly felt chest tightness and shortness of breath, and rubbed his aching head.

"...Xiao Yingzhu, did you hear that?"

Qin Lan is still very serious about matters concerning family, country and military affairs.

The other party just smiled but didn't answer. He took a deep breath, pulled a chair from the other side and sat down. He ignored Xiao Yingzhu's reaction, frowned, and read the letter with only two sentences over and over again. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"Really...what's the reason why we have to go? We can meet and talk it over when the time comes, and then go together."

Qin Lan was really a little overwhelmed at the moment.

Apart from Yan and Yan, who have been monitoring the Wu Mi people according to his instructions recently - but according to the current situation, they should be unable to be tracked down, so they should join Xuan Gui and others to investigate the mine.

The more important thing at the moment is that the four people sent are in a gray area in the eyes of the world in terms of their identities and positions.

In terms of their positions, their masters - Qin Lan, who was ostensibly unrelated to military affairs, and Xiao Yingzhu, who was ostensibly at odds with Emperor Changde, were both "for no reason" engaged in the increasingly urgent tasks on the eve of the war.

Yan and Yan—two key figures in the mysterious intelligence agency that had suddenly emerged overnight in recent years—were unknown to outsiders, leaving them virtually untraceable.

And the stream pillow...

Thinking of Xizhen's image in the eyes of outsiders, Qin Lan suddenly felt the hair on his forehead throbbing even more violently.

To put it simply, even in the current situation, if the matter they were investigating was exposed to Yu He, not to mention whether there would be a chance to explain and negotiate with him, the first consideration should be whether there would be a chance to enter Cang County.

After all, except for Emperor Changde and the trustworthy people around them, the rest of the people are completely unaware. From Yu He's point of view, they are now untrustworthy people with no legitimate reason and their political stance is wavering.

So according to the original plan, they had to disguise themselves and dock at Chimen, then enter from the side gate of Cang County. They had to avoid the commander's eyes on the way, and they had to immediately find out the frequency and number of times the Wu Mi people appeared in the city, where they could bypass them, and where they could run into them - the most critical person among them was Xi Zhen.

After all, he dealt with these people most often and was best able to predict their backgrounds, so the reason why he arranged for Xuan Gui to deliver the letter instead of Xi Zhen was because he was afraid that his identity would be accidentally exposed.

But now, he himself is deliberately walking into the tiger's mouth.

Qin Lan couldn't figure out the twists and turns in this matter. Even if he communicated with him in depth, Xi Zhen would not say a word about his life experience. On this point, even the Intelligence Bureau could not find out anything about his identity.

Even the name "Xizhen" is not known whether it is a real name or a pseudonym.

However, his overwhelming hatred towards the Wu Mi people was clearly hidden in his cold and charming smile.

Therefore, Xiao Yingzhu, as if she knew him inside and out, welcomed him into the house with a smile on her face, without any precautions, on that hot and humid rainy night.

Thus, they became allies.

Of course, except for Xiao Yingzhu who didn't care about his real identity and origin, everyone else was paying close attention and caring.

After all, Xi Zhen appeared in the capital with an unknown identity, and no one knew how he instantly became the first chief of staff official to enter the court with a scimitar.

People whose background is unclear are the most alarming.

Therefore, wherever Xizhen went, he would attract gazes from all directions, both obvious and hidden.

His glamorous dress and noble demeanor attracted people's attention wherever he went. As time went by, the whole capital knew that a glamorous and charming chief of staff, Shi, had come to the capital in recent years. His appearance was comparable to that of the most beautiful courtesan in a brothel.

—

Xiao Yingzhu seemed tired of listening to Qin Lan's analysis of the intelligence. She put the teacup back in its place, left Qin Lan who was still speculating about Xizhen's intention, opened the door and went downstairs.

As soon as I reached the cabin where Jiang Nian was, I saw Ai leaning against the wall next to the door after carefully closing it.

Feeling someone approaching, Ai turned around and met the eyes of the cheerful Xiao Yingzhu.

Looking at his expression, you can tell that he has annoyed the Pavilion Master again.

Ai stared at Xiao Yingzhu quietly for a while, then said softly, "Miss, you want to rest, so it's better not to disturb you."