The sun peeked out from the roof, and the ground was scorched with a golden glow.

Baoning and Pei Yuan sat in the house to eat breakfast.

Aunt Liu prepared the meal. Perhaps she had been asked to do so, and she did her best to prepare it. She knew that Baoning liked to eat river fish and Pei Yuan liked to eat meat. Although it was just breakfast, she still prepared a large table full of food, which was very rich.

Baoning watched Pei Yuan concentrate on eating rice. He scooped a spoonful of meat soup on the white rice, poked it a few times with chopsticks, and ate the meat together with the meat.

"Is it delicious?" Baoning asked him softly.

Pei Yuan paused: "It's just so-so, far worse than what you made."

When he said this, Bao Ning was much happier: "There is no small kitchen in the courtyard, and the main kitchen is too far away. It's not convenient for me to go there. I'll cook for you when I have the chance in the future."

For seven or eight days in a row, Pei Yuan left at dawn and came back late at night. They didn't say a word all day. After coming to the Qiu Mansion for so long, this was the first time that the two of them could have breakfast together without rushing.

Bao Ning didn't know what to say to him.

She was not a person who was good at talking. In the past, Pei Yuan took the initiative and she could cooperate. Now that he was busy, the two of them were more or less distant and not as close as before.

"I've been busy lately and have neglected you." Pei Yuan seemed to see the doubt in her eyes, put down his chopsticks, and grabbed her hand, "After this period, I'll take you back to your parents' home to meet your aunt, okay?"

Bao Ning smiled.

"I'll try to come back early tonight." Pei Yuan peeled the shrimp for her. He had a good technique and the shrimp tails were intact. He dipped the shrimp in the sauce and fed it to her mouth.

Watching Bao Ning swallow it, Pei Yuan stood up and said, "I'm leaving." "

So soon." Bao Ning was a little disappointed. She stood up to see him off, and saw someone coming to pick her up outside the yard. Suddenly she remembered something and called out, "Pei Yuan..."

Pei Yuan waved back, joined the man, turned a corner and disappeared.

Nanny Liu stepped forward and asked in a low voice: "Young Madam, are you going to send the soup cooked in the kitchen?"

Baoning shook her head: "No need." She stood at the door, glanced at the direction Pei Yuan left, and walked back to the house.

In fact, Baoning had thought of such a situation a long time ago.

Pei Yuan couldn't stay by her side all his life, accompanying her to stir up those meaningless trivial things that only girls like. He is a man with his own pursuits and career, and some ideas. They were born to go in opposite directions.

It's just that I didn't expect it to come so soon. A few days ago, they were still together, talking about some family matters, but now they only have a few bites of food.

Baoning knew that this was a problem that she had to balance, but it was very difficult to balance.

What she is more worried about now is Pei Yuan's health. He seems to have no idea about this. When the poison is not taking effect, he does not feel any pain or itching, as if nothing has happened. But according to Pei Yuan's current condition, who can predict when the poison will suddenly take effect? ​​Besides, his legs are not suitable for walking for a long time.

In addition, there are emotions hidden deeper in her heart that Bao Ning wants to ignore.

Pei Yuan doesn't need her that much now. They are no longer as dependent on each other as they were at the beginning. Bao Ning understands the bad nature of men, just like her father, Duke Rong. She is not sure whether Pei Yuan will become like that in the future. If he really wants to take a concubine, how can she refuse? Can she refuse?

If that day really comes... Baoning thought, she would not stay with Pei Yuan anymore.

Ah Huang's low cry interrupted Baoning's thoughts. Baoning lowered her head and looked into its wet eyes.

"Are you full?" Baoning smiled with curved lips, leaned over to hold it in her arms, and put her nose against its forehead.

Aunt Liu said, "You're full. Ah Huang had minced meat porridge this morning, with cooked chicken liver and an egg in it. He ate a big bowl!"

"You ate so well." Baoning rubbed Ah Huang's head. "Are you happy?"

Ah Huang cried twice.

Baoning said nothing more.

After she came here, she has been in a bad mood. Maybe it was just like Pei Yuan said, she cracked too many melon seeds before leaving, and she was a little irritated. After leaving her precious yard, she had no energy to do anything.

Besides, there was nothing for her to do. Qiu Mingshan was afraid of neglecting them, so someone came to sweep the floor and deliver meals every day. She just ate and slept.

Aunt Liu stood aside and wanted to talk to Baoning. Pei Yuan had asked her to accompany Baoning to relieve her boredom, but Baoning was obviously unwilling to speak, so she gave up.

Baoning took Ah Huang and walked around the yard. After looking at the pomegranate flowers for a while, she still felt listless.

Until she saw the pile of firewood when she passed by the woodshed, she finally found something to do. She sent Aunt Liu out and stayed in the room alone to carve wood carvings.

Baoning had some skills. When she was in the Duke's Mansion, the man of Aunt Zhang's family in the kitchen was a carpenter who was very skilled in carpentry. Baoning learned from him for several years without the knowledge of her aunt.

Moreover, she was dexterous and could paint well. She also liked to study and soon became a master.

Aunt Zhang said that it was a pity that she was a girl. If she was a boy and was born in the countryside, she would definitely make a lot of money with this skill and marry a concubine. She would be the gift of the ancestors.

Baoning focused on the work in her hands. She didn't have any idea about carving. She just did what she wanted, carving one cut after another according to her feeling.

Two quarters of an hour passed in a flash, and the wood in her hand took shape. It was the back of a man, with broad shoulders and narrow waist, wearing a black robe and holding a sword. Baoning didn't recognize who it was at first, but after looking carefully, the back of the wood carving gradually overlapped with the figure of Pei Yuan leaving in the morning. Baoning paused, and suddenly felt a burning sensation on her face. Why did she think of him again? He

must be free!

Baoning threw the wood carving out of the window and picked another good piece of wood. Now she had chosen what she wanted to carve. She wanted to carve a Huang.

Huang was sleeping on the windowsill, lazy, but very cooperative. Baoning connected it to the pomegranate tree in the yard. After half an hour, it was finally done.

The picture is beautiful, with a sleeping dog under a pomegranate tree.

Baoning smiled with satisfaction, holding the finished product in her palm, and was examining it carefully when she suddenly heard a little girl's surprised voice behind her: "Sister, you are so amazing!"

Baoning was startled and turned around quickly, only to see Aunt Liu covering the little girl's mouth: "Seventh Miss, you are not allowed to speak, just watch quietly, look at you, you disturbed the lady!"

Seventh Miss said timidly: "Mammy, I didn't mean it..."

Madam Liu hurriedly apologized to Baoning: "Madam, I used to be the wet nurse of Miss Seven. She often came to play with me. Today, I saw you working, and Miss Seven was curious, so I decided to keep her for a while. Please forgive me, we will leave now."

Baoning smiled and said it was nothing. Madam Liu breathed a sigh of relief and walked out with the little girl in her arms.

Baoning did not keep the guest. She was still a little wary of the people in the general's mansion.

It was not that she was wary, but she just didn't want to contact them. She was a cautious person. What she feared most was to cause unnecessary trouble. It was not a good thing to befriend the daughter of the general's mansion. Miss

Seven looked very sad, but she didn't say much. She whispered to Baoning and followed him out.

The moment she turned her head, Bao Ning noticed her face. Aunt Liu had been covering her face with her wide sleeves. Just when Aunt Liu put down her arms, Bao Ning discovered that there was a large, bright red birthmark on the right side of Miss Qi's face.

She was a very beautiful girl, who looked only eight or nine years old. This birthmark ruined her entire face.

It also ruined her confidence.

"Hey, wait a minute." Bao Ning called them out of nowhere.

She was really a soft-hearted person. Seeing the pitiful side of the girl, she felt sympathy and put all her previous thoughts behind her.

Seventh Miss looked at her, her eyes lit up, and she said in a small voice: "Sister?"

Baoning waved at her: "Do you like this little thing? If you like it, I'll give it to you."

Seventh Miss and Aunt Liu looked at each other happily and ran towards Baoning.

With Seventh Miss's company, Baoning spent this afternoon very easily. Seventh Miss's name is Qiu Lingyan, the daughter of General Qiu's wife. She is a very good-natured girl, soft and shy when she smiles, but because of the birthmark on her face, she has some inferiority complex in her bones.

When sitting next to each other, she would sit on Baoning's right side, facing her with her left face, and her neck would always be slightly tilted to the right.

Baoning told her many times that she didn't care, but she was still like that, and it became a habit.

Perhaps because of her appearance, although she was a legitimate daughter, she was not so favored in the mansion.

Baoning felt that there were more or less similarities between them.

"Sister, my little bracelet is broken, can you help me fix it?"

After dinner, Qiu Lingyan was still reluctant to leave. She watched Baoning clean up the wood debris on the table, hesitated for a while, and carefully made this request.

"What kind of bracelet do you want?" Bao Ning was very patient with this little sister. "If it's made of jade, I'm afraid it won't work."

"How about gold?" Qiu Lingyan's eyes widened. "My father gave it to me when I was very young, just one month old. But my sister broke it and scratched it a while ago."

Bao Ning was surprised: "Why would your sister break such an important thing?"

"I was the first to break her things..." Qiu Lingyan sniffed aggrievedly, "Some time ago, the emperor gave me a marriage, and Sixth Sister didn't like it very much, but there was nothing she could do. She was in a bad mood. I'm clumsy, and when I went to play with her, I broke the porcelain vase in her room. Sixth Sister got angry and scratched my bracelet."

Bao Ning sighed, but this was Qiu Mingshan's family affair, so she couldn't comment. She touched Qiu Lingyan's head: "Give it to me, sister will show you."

The bracelet was indeed scratched thoroughly, as if it had been pressed on a stone and rubbed. The pattern was fragmented and blurred, but it could be seen that it was a very strange pattern, like a wild goose, which was hard to buy on the market.

Bao Ning looked at it for a long time, frowned and said, "We can only melt it again and then forge it."

Qiu Lingyan was a little at a loss, "If so, can it be restored to its original state... Dad has already come back, I'm afraid he will scold me when he asks about this."

"You can copy the pattern onto paper and then carve it. I'm only 80% sure." Bao Ning asked, "Do you want to try it?"

...

In Qiu Mingshan's study, Pei Yuan fiddled with the tiger talisman that Zhou Jiangcheng had someone forge for him for half a month. He sneered and threw it on the ground.

"Do you think I'm a fool, or the emperor? Even a blind man can tell that this crude thing is fake! I advise you to apologize to the emperor yourself. Losing the tiger talisman is a dereliction of duty. If people find out that you got a fake one, it would be deceiving the emperor, and even killing all your clans would not be enough."

The tiger talisman was lost, and the southern barbarians were planning to invade again. Things were imminent. While tracking the whereabouts of the tiger talisman, we must also consider a retreat. If we really can't find it, the best way is to forge a new one. If we can hide it from the world, that's the best. If we can't hide it, we can still hold on for a while.

This is because this matter is too private. Although there are many skilled craftsmen in the capital, we can't invite everyone. If the secret is leaked, things will be more troublesome.

After hearing Pei Yuan's words, Zhou Jiangcheng's neck stiffened: "I'll die if I want to. A real man is not afraid of a knife. I just feel sorry for the Bashu Army. The former prince has cultivated it for seven years. If the general is replaced, it will be like handing it over to others!"

Qiu Mingshan said: "It's useless to say angry words now. It's better to think of a solution as soon as possible."

Zhou Jiangcheng frowned and put his fingers into his hair: "The problem is, where can I find a craftsman who is trustworthy and can forge a realistic tiger talisman?"