wariness

After returning to Youguan and getting out of the car, Jiang Nian was a little surprised to see Qin Lan and Xiao Yingzhu standing at the door together.

"Why are you standing here? Are you waiting for someone?"

The envelope in her bag was replaced with the schedule she had agreed with Meng Zheng. She subconsciously grabbed the strap of her bag and walked towards them, suddenly feeling as if she was secretly doing something that violated the contract without their knowledge.

Qin Lan turned around when he heard the voice and saw Jiang Nian walking towards him. He then curled his eyes and said, "Yes, Miss Jiang's dress has been decided. I wanted to see you this morning, but I found that you were not here."

"It's really unfortunate. I wanted to go to the Fourth Prince this morning to revise the cooperation plan, but I didn't expect you to come to me."

Seeing the two waiting for her here, Jiang Nian couldn't keep it a secret any longer. She smiled at them apologetically and said, "After all, it's not a big deal. If I informed everyone one by one, it would be a bit of an overreaction. So I set off on my own and didn't tell you in time."

Xiao Yingzhu just looked at her and didn't respond.

Although the dim gaze had no warmth, it seemed to have substance. Even without looking, Jiang Nian could feel that gaze following her slowly since she got off the car.

It was like he was browsing through some kind of collection.

She wouldn't feel that sticky disgust, nor would she feel offended, but it would make her feel like she had done something extremely evil behind someone's back, and she would always feel guilty.

Qin Lan let go of all the entanglements between the two of them and continued to smile: "It's okay, since the person is back safely, let's go take a look at the improved clothes first."

While Qin Lan turned around and walked towards the door, Jiang Nian looked at Xiao Yingzhu silently and inquiringly: What's the matter?

The other party obviously received the question, but simply withdrew his gaze without further explanation.

“…”

Jiang Nian often felt that the way he and Xiao Yingzhu interacted with others seemed to be opposite.

There is always a feeling that she cares about Xiao Yingzhu's mood every day, and then coaxes and soothes her.

——Even now, there haven’t been many similar incidents.

But Xiao Yingzhu really looked unhappy. Should she care about it?

Looking up, he saw that Qin Lan had walked further away, while Xiao Yingzhu was still looking relaxed and pretending not to care. Jiang Nian felt secretly amused and raised his hand to gently hook his fingertips that were hanging by his side.

She leaned closer to him and asked quietly, "What's wrong?"

The other party ignored it.

Still a calm look.

It seems like he really doesn't care about anything.

Jiang Nian suppressed her smile and followed his pace again, moving closer. She raised her eyes and smiled at him, "Are you really okay? You don't look very happy. Can you tell me what happened?"

Her tone, which was like coaxing a child, finally made Xiao Yingzhu condescend to look at her, but it was just a glance, and she withdrew the look lightly.

Really tsundere.

This time it is confirmed that he is invincible, there is absolutely no doubt about it!

Jiang Nian knew he was in the wrong, and thought that he and Xiao Yingzhu were not in a romantic relationship, but just an extremely frank partner. There was really no need to tell anyone about this, so he chose his words carefully and continued with a smile:

"Is it really because I went out to cooperate with the Fourth Prince?"

"There's no clause in our cooperation agreement that requires both parties to inform each other before leaving. How about you forgive me first, and I'll add this clause to the agreement later?"

It was really funny to see Xiao Yingzhu pretending to be indifferent and looking calm. His former aggressiveness had disappeared without a trace, and only his face, which did not look so angry, was still erected like a row of high walls.

Jiang Nian inexplicably felt like she was a scumbag who flirted and then ran away. Although she didn't actually do anything excessive, as soon as she said those words, she felt that the aura around Xiao Yingzhu became weaker.

It wasn't that what she said calmed him down, but rather that he was so lazy to pay attention to her that he didn't even want to show his displeasure towards her.

Is it true that Xiao Yingzhu is such a proud person?

Is this the same person as that cynical and surly Duke? No way.

Jiang Nian hesitated for a moment, and suddenly realized that the person in front of him was completely different from the one he just met. After observing and recording this perfect new face, he reached out and shook his arm in a flattering manner.

"Really? I promise, next time I go out to find someone else I will definitely tell you in advance!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she felt that there was ambiguity, so she added: "Find someone else to cooperate! Cooperation!"

"......" Xiao Yingzhu seemed to be completely speechless by her. Although he still let her hold his hand and did not pull it out, the look he gave her again was still light and unobtrusive.

"Really?"

Jiang Nian blinked, and seeing that there was hope of success, he immediately replied with sparkling eyes and sincerity, "Yes, I always keep my word."

The other person's eyes fell lightly on her eyebrows, and after a pause, he asked: "Previous sentence?"

Previous sentence? What previous sentence?

Jiang Nian thought back to what he had just said, and then thought of the 'verbal agreement' he had just made yesterday to become a frank partner. He immediately responded, "A cooperation agreement? I'll definitely add it later."

"After all, our cooperation is the most important thing."

After finishing his words, Jiang Nian curled his eyes at Xiao Yingzhu again, with an extremely sincere look.

“…”

Xiao Yingzhu glanced at her indifferently, with a dark emotion in her glance that Jiang Nian couldn't interpret clearly. While she was stunned, he turned his head back and responded lightly.

"Um."

There is no further story.

Jiang Nian came back to his senses and thought over what he had just said. He didn't see anything wrong, so he pretended nothing had happened. Then he smiled and let go of the hand that was holding his wrist.

"That's good."

Although his expression didn't change much, he did feel warmer than before.

Jiang Nian withdrew his gaze, tactfully moved a few steps to the side, and brought up another topic.

"You too—are going to the reference room?"

Qin Lan was no longer in sight ahead, so he must have gone indoors. The information room was only a dozen steps away, and Jiang Nian didn't want the atmosphere to suddenly become quiet and awkward, so he looked at him expectantly after finishing his words.

Sensing Jiang Nian's concern that he wouldn't reply, Xiao Yingzhu sighed imperceptibly and replied calmly, "Yeah, just in case something goes wrong."

Seeing the thought deep in his eyes, Jiang Nian blinked, suppressed the doubts in his heart, and then responded calmly: "Well, I feel relieved if you can see it."

After all, although the soldiers in the military department looked honest, they were actually stubborn. Even if they did what Qin Lan ordered, they were afraid that they would have a sudden whim in the middle of the production and add some extra things into the work.

Although it was well-intentioned, Jiang Nian was also afraid that she could not accept this kindness.

—

They arrived at the door of the information room together. The soldier who opened the door for them stood at attention immediately when he saw Xiao Yingzhu following behind Jiang Nian.

"The Pavilion Master is still inside looking at information about the 'Witch'. If you and the Duke want to find him, I'll take you there right away."

Hearing this rare word, Jiang Nian subconsciously turned around to look at Xiao Yingzhu. Xiao Yingzhu's expression didn't change much, and she nodded calmly: "I'll go and see her later, first."

Buqu immediately set his eyes on Jiang Nian: "In that case, Miss Jiang, please follow me first."

Jiang Nian retracted his gaze, smiled and nodded to the guards: "Then I'll trouble you."

Perhaps when the Youguan Mansion was built, Qin Lan allocated it for storing verification materials. Unlike the place where he showed Jiang Nian the clothes yesterday, this time the place was hidden behind the information room.

If someone doesn't know the inside story, they really won't discover that this place exists.

Jiang Nian walked with his troops for a while, and then stopped under a window where light was falling.

The maid's dress that she wore to Zuihualou was placed in front of the table, hung on a clothes hanger to support the shape of the dress.

After the soldiers led them to the place, they retreated. Jiang Nian reached out and lifted the sleeve of his clothes and looked inside.

His fingertips reached out to the place he remembered from yesterday's demonstration, and immediately touched a line.

"?"

Jiang Nian lowered his head and tried to pull the line out.

In my sight, the shape of the cuffs of the clothes changed slightly - I couldn't tell what had changed, but it was different from what I saw just now.

Jiang Nian blinked and put his fingertips in.

The skin touched the fabric, and there was nothing inside, but Jiang Nian was very familiar with the texture and the space it contained.

It was the cloth bag that could accommodate shrinkage that Buqu demonstrated to her yesterday.

Feeling curious for no reason, Jiang Nian turned to look at Xiao Yingzhu, only to see that Xiao Yingzhu had her eyes lowered, seemingly thinking about something.

Feeling Jiang Nian's gaze, he subconsciously raised his eyes and asked, "What's wrong?"

"......nothing."

Jiang Nian hesitated for a moment, then turned around and pulled the line back from the other side.

The cuffs changed slightly again, but they did return to the same appearance as when we first saw them.

This side is for storing self-defense items, and the other side——

Jiang Nian changed his cuffs and probed.

As expected, this is the tie that Buqu mentioned before, which can leave powder marks.

Since we can’t pierce the tie at the moment, it’s hard to understand how to use the specific method.

I can only wait and act accordingly when I get to Zuihualou.

Jiang Nian was not very curious about the tie. After she lowered her cuffs, she withdrew the line.

Just as he was about to drag Xiao Yingzhu to where Qin Lan was, he remembered the lines in his clothes and looked up at Xiao Yingzhu who was still thinking about something:

"The lines of this dress... they won't check it, right?"

Xiao Yingzhu heard this and immediately raised her eyelids to look over there: "No, the Wumi people have never paid much attention to the clothing of their servants."

A sect that doesn't even provide food to its servants won't waste too much unnecessary energy in this place.

Although he had not actually met with the Wu Mi people yet, they were all standing on opposite sides and fighting silently. Jiang Nian was stunned for a moment before he suddenly remembered that he did still have a filter of conscience when looking at the sects of this era.

Recalling the story of 'Lu' eating children many years ago, Jiang Nian suddenly became indifferent: "That's right, I will just act according to the circumstances in Zuihualou."

She secretly adjusted her mindset and continued to look up at Xiao Yingzhu and said, "Do you see anything wrong with this dress?"

Xiao Yingzhu didn't know much about the maids' attire. She just glanced at the place where Jiang Nian had just been looking and then looked away: "It's pretty much what Qin Lan expected."

"I have people waiting for you inside Zuihualou. When the time comes, you can just follow them after you get the code."

“?!”

Why are you telling me such an important thing now?

Glancing at Jiang Nian's somewhat angry expression, Xiao Yingzhu's slightly depressed mood inexplicably improved. He curled his lower lip casually: "You didn't even ask me where I assigned the secret guards."

Yes, it is true that Xiao Yingzhu still has a group of secret guards in Cang County, but they have not been seen for a long time - except Xuan Gui.

Jiang Nian almost forgot about these characters.

She felt that Xiao Yingzhu was trying to change the subject, but when she thought that there was someone to pick her up in Zuihualou and she was not really alone, the tension that had been weighing on her heart instantly dissipated a lot.

Turning away from Xiao Yingzhu's gaze, Jiang Nian left him and walked forward a few steps before replying with a faint smile: "That's good, I'll feel much more at ease."

No wonder Qin Lan and Xiao Yingzhu didn't feel worried when talking about this matter after they decided that she would go to Zuihualou. It turned out that this step had already been decided at that time.

They really have deep trust in each other's subordinates.

So, in the next mission, should she also try to rely on the people they trust?

Even though she had never truly let down her guard and trusted anyone.