Jin Changge emerged from the main hall in a daze, his face pale and his steps unsteady.
As she was walking towards her boudoir, she bumped into her second brother, Jin Jiande, in the corridor. Jin Jiande walked briskly and looked relaxed.
Jin Jiande was rarely home recently, and when he did come back, he would always have a furrowed brow and a sullen face as he went to the backyard.
This time, however, he appeared relaxed. Seeing his expression, Jin Changge raised an eyebrow and said in a deep voice:
"Second brother, do you know about what happened to me?"
When Jin Jiande saw Jin Changge's gloomy face, he knew something was wrong. He knew that his father had said that his sister should marry a man from the southern barbarians, and judging from her appearance, he must have already told her that.
The girl has a strong personality. If you force her to marry a man from the south, she will definitely be unwilling and will be holding a grudge.
Jin Jiande had a headache just thinking about it, so he could only pretend not to know.
He scratched his head and chuckled, "I've been busy these past few days, I didn't know."
Jin Changge's face darkened. "I haven't even said what it is, and you're already saying you don't know? Your expression is unnatural too. Could it be... that you and Father told me to marry into the Southern Barbarian tribe?"
As they were talking, Jin Changge had already grabbed his wrist.
Jin Jiande's expression changed drastically.
Although he was a skilled martial artist as the commander of the Thousand Machines Camp, he had practiced martial arts with his sister since childhood, but he could never beat Jin Changge. Over the years, he had suffered countless hardships at her hands.
The siblings had often fought at the slightest disagreement. Jin Jiande knew that his body had weakened considerably in recent years due to his infatuation with women, and his martial arts skills were not even as good as before.
When this younger sister gets angry, she really can be violent, like right now.
Immediately, he took a step back and chuckled, "How could that be? I spend all my time helping His Majesty, how could I have time to worry about your marriage?"
Jin Changge looked at him with a cold face.
"Yongning, please let go of my hand. His Majesty has summoned me to the palace, and I cannot delay." Jin Jiande was somewhat flustered.
"Speak! Father, why did you choose this time to let me get married, instead of earlier or later?" Jin Changge's face was as cold as ice, and she tightened her grip.
Jin Jiande felt his wrist start to hurt, and the whip marks on his back also started to hurt.
He was beaten by that woman in the room a few days ago. He was in the middle of a good time and got carried away, so he was beaten badly without realizing it.
Only afterwards did he realize that the injury on his back was quite serious, and even applying wound medicine did not help. At this moment, the injury had a ripple effect, and Jin Jiande's face turned red.
He hurriedly said, "Because the Southern Barbarians are to attack the Northern Liang."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Changge's eyes widened in surprise.
It wasn't cold today, but for some reason, she felt a chill run through her body all at once.
Seeing his sister in a daze, Jin Jiande keenly noticed that her hand had loosened. He quickly flicked his wrist and took several steps back.
"I still need to go to the palace to see His Majesty, so I won't say any more." With that, Jin Jiande scurried away, leaving Jin Changge, whose face was now completely pale, standing alone in the corridor.
"So that's how it is..." Jin Changge looked miserable and staggered back to his room.
Once she sat down at the desk, she curled up, hugged her knees, buried her head in them, and her whole body began to tremble slightly without her realizing it.
Just then, the laughter of the maid Qing'er came from outside the door:
"Miss, you always say you feel bored at home, so I've found a good gadget to cheer you up."
As they were talking, Qing'er came in carrying a birdcage. Inside the cage was a small, exquisite canary, hopping and jumping with great agility.
Jin Changge buried his face in his knees and said in a muffled voice, "Not interested."
Seeing that Jin Changge didn't look up, Qing'er raised an eyebrow, then chuckled and said:
"Miss, look at this! It's a very clever bird. It's different from ordinary birds; it's been trained so well. It can bow, and it can even..."
Just then, Jin Changge raised her head, her beautiful and delicate face showing a slight redness in her eyelids.
Qing'er was startled, and quickly put down the cage and went to Jin Changge's side: "Miss, what's wrong? You...?"
Jin Changge stared blankly at the birdcage on the table. The canary in the cage tilted its head, its small eyes seemingly looking at her as well.
"Miss?" Qing'er noticed that Jin Changge was in a bad mood and asked cautiously.
Jin Changge didn't say anything; she simply brought out the birdcage and then opened it.
"Miss, this sparrow is for you to keep you entertained. Are you going to let it go..." Qing'er whispered.
"I no longer need to relieve my boredom," Jin Changge said expressionlessly.
However, although the birdcage had been opened, the canary remained inside, tilting its head and looking around, without making any move to leave the cage.
"Qing'er, why won't it leave?" Jin Changge stared at it blankly.
"This sparrow was raised by a bird keeper since it was a chick. The bird keeper provides it with food and water every day. Over time, it has gotten used to staying in this cage. This sparrow is very smart. It knows that if it goes out, it will have to find its own food, so naturally it won't leave," Qing'er explained.
"But that's just my guess. Who can really know what a little bird is thinking? Maybe it's scared," Qing'er added.
"Is that so?"
Jin Changge stood up and looked out the window.
The wind was blowing hard outside the window, and the once lush sycamore tree had lost all its leaves, with only an unknown bird perched on its branches.
She reached out her cold hand and into the birdcage, carefully taking in the small, warm canary.
The canary did not sing; it quietly curled up, letting her hold it.
Then, Jin Changge held it in her palm and stretched her hand out the window.
A gust of wind blew, causing the slender branches of the sycamore tree to sway and the unidentified bird perched on the branch to tremble as well.
The canary in the palm of my hand slowly stood up, its body hunched over. It poked its head out, its small eyes looking at the sycamore tree outside, and at the unknown bird.
Jin Changge looked at it with anticipation.
The next moment, the canary spread its wings and flew away from her palm.
but--
It flew less than a meter before circling back into the house and landing on the birdcage.
"Miss, it really won't leave. These domesticated birds are quite different from the wild birds." Qing'er sighed softly.
Jin Changge's eyes were terribly red and brimming with tears.
"Chirp".
Just then, the unidentified bird in the sycamore tree called out, and then it flapped its wings and flew away from the branch.
The canary took flight again in the next instant, quickly darting out of the window.
In the blink of an eye, it had vanished without a trace.
"Miss! It flew away!" Qing'er's eyes widened.
"Fly, fly as far as you can..."
Jin Changge spoke in a trembling voice, tears welling up in her eyes and falling, soaking her clothes...
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