After walking a short distance, she stopped, panting, with fine beads of sweat on her forehead. "Why are there so many unfamiliar faces in town today?" she asked, puzzled.
Yingxiang also found this unusual. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Perhaps they are merchants passing by on business?"
Jiang Huaiyu gently shook her head. "It doesn't seem like it."
Those shrewd merchants, who usually exchange information or boast of their extraordinary abilities over tea, are unusually calm and aloof today, making one wonder about their true identities.
Why did they appear in Fushun Town?
Upon arriving at the Bai family's residence, Jiang Huaiyu spotted another unfamiliar face. Yingxiang, seeing her worried expression, approached to inquire. The woman only said she had come to buy medicinal herbs, then turned and walked towards the residential area behind the mountain.
Yingxiang was puzzled. "That's strange. This person sounds like he's from the capital. How does he know about our remote town?"
Beijing accent?
Alarm bells rang in Jiang Huaiyu's mind, and the joy he had felt for days after the results were released faded. So many strangers had flooded into Fushun Town in just one day—could some major event be about to occur?
At dinner time, she was still in a heavy mood and had no appetite, so she went to bed early. However, in the middle of the night, she suddenly woke up from a dream, and the terrifying memory of being kidnapped last year flashed through her mind.
Finally, she understood where that strange feeling from earlier in the day came from—she sensed a potential threat, an intuition that filled her with deep unease.
How did this wonderful feeling arise? She found it difficult to express in words.
"Yingxiang, Yingxiang!" she called out urgently.
To make it easier to take care of her, Yingxiang settled down on a low couch in the room.
Hearing her call, she immediately dressed and rushed over to check on her. Seeing Jiang Huaiyu's bewildered expression and her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat, she asked worriedly, "Madam, did you have a nightmare?"
Jiang Huaiyu shook his head slightly, a resolute look in his eyes. "Yingxiang, prepare the writing materials."
Yingxiang sensed the seriousness in her tone and didn't ask why she needed the writing materials so late at night. She quickly fetched paper and inkstone, and after arranging them, she softly reminded her, "Madam, everything is ready."
Jiang Huaiyu put on her coat, slowly got up, and walked to the table to sit down. She held the pen, but couldn't put it down for a long time.
The flickering candlelight cast long, mottled shadows of varying lengths throughout the room.
Jiang Huaiyu stared intently at the flickering flames, seemingly lost in thought, unaware even of the black marks left on the paper by the ink dripping from her pen.
"Madam?" Yingxiang called out in confusion.
"It's alright."
Jiang Huaiyu snapped out of her reverie and began to draw freely. Following the scene in her memory, she sketched it stroke by stroke, and it took about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before she put down her pen.
Yingxiang approached curiously, and upon seeing the contents of the paper, asked in surprise, "Madam woke up in the middle of the night to paint this picture?"
The painting depicts a unique sign with a proud pine tree standing atop a mountain peak, its posture transcendent and otherworldly.
Jiang Huaiyu nodded slightly, without offering any further explanation. Instead, he wrote a few more lines on the paper, gently blew the ink dry, and handed the letter to Yingxiang.
"Yingxiang, at dawn tomorrow, take this letter to the county town and give it to a painter named Lingmo."
Yingxiang knew the importance of this matter; otherwise, her master would not have given such a solemn instruction late at night. She nodded seriously and agreed, "Yingxiang obeys."
Having finished explaining the matter, Jiang Huaiyu felt a little tired. She gently rubbed her temples, as if to soothe her weary soul.
In the dead of night, Jiang Huaiyu suddenly woke up, unable to fall asleep any longer. She softly called her maid Yingxiang and told her to go and rest, while she placed a candlestick by her bedside and took out a book to read.
Yingxiang was still worried, and although she returned to her low couch, she did not immediately fall asleep. She took out her sewing basket and began to organize the colorful embroidery threads.
The master and servant were busy with their own tasks. The room was brightly lit by candlelight, yet it was filled with a tranquil atmosphere.
Time slips away quietly, without us even realizing it.
The book slipped from Jiang Huaiyu's hands, and she drifted off to sleep by the bedside. Turning to look at Yingxiang, she too was fast asleep, her sewing basket fallen to the floor, her body leaning against the couch.
The next day at dawn.
The maid, Feiyue, brought over hot water to prepare for Jiang Huaiyu's washing up. Upon opening the door and seeing the state of the two, she exclaimed in surprise, "Madam, Sister Yingxiang, what happened to you?"
Jiang Huaiyu was startled awake by her voice. She rubbed her aching lower back and slowly sat up straight.
She glanced at the fallen book beside her and immediately understood. She had been so engrossed in reading last night that she had fallen asleep in that position without realizing it, which explained her aches and pains.
Yingxiang walked over, rubbing her shoulders, and muttered to herself, "I don't even know when I fell asleep."
Seeing the discomfort on Jiang Huaiyu's face, she was immediately filled with guilt: "Madam, it's all my fault. I wanted to stay by your side until you fell asleep, but I ended up falling asleep myself, leaving you, pregnant, to endure a whole night of discomfort..."
Jiang Huaiyu gently shook her head: "It's late, and we're all sleepy, which is perfectly normal. Besides, I already told you to go and rest, so how can I blame you?"
She stood up and gently twisted her shoulder.
"It's alright, I'll feel better after a little movement. Hurry up and help me wash up, I still have to go to the private school after breakfast."
Jiang Huaiyu finished washing up as usual, and Yingxiang combed her hair. Then she searched through the dressing case but could not find the hairpin that the lady wore most often.
Seeing Yingxiang's anxious expression, Jiang Huaiyu couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong, Yingxiang?"
“Madam, I remember that last night before going to bed, you put your usual jade hairpin on the table, but now I have searched the whole room and I can’t find it anywhere!”
"how so?"
Jiang Huaiyu frowned and began searching as well.
The two searched almost the entire room, but still couldn't find the jade plum blossom hairpin. Jiang Huaiyu was filled with doubt; she had personally placed the hairpin on the table last night, how could it suddenly disappear?
Yingxiang knew the history of that hairpin and was aware of its importance to Jiang Huaiyu. In her anxiety, she couldn't help but blurt it out.
"Has my house been burgled?"
“Don’t talk nonsense,” Jiang Huaiyu said with a frown, displeased. “The priceless jewelry in the dressing case is still there. If a thief broke in, how could they have only stolen a hairpin?”
Yingxiang pondered for a moment, then sighed: "Perhaps it was left behind in some corner?"
"Perhaps..."
Jiang Huaiyu's gaze was deep and unwavering as he slowly said, "Yingxiang, I will have Granny Liao and Feiyue assist me in finding that hairpin. You must set off immediately to the county town to deliver the message, without fail."
"Yes, ma'am! I'll set off immediately!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
