Chapter 10: The Starry Night
"I happened to get some foreign medicine, which is very effective for treating serious illnesses and old injuries. I heard that Yunyang Hou also has some old illnesses..."
"No!" Jiang Jue was already very upset because he couldn't see the emperor, and he also had a guilty conscience. When he heard the second prince asking about Jing Beian, he denied it without thinking.
"Second brother must have remembered it wrongly. Jing Beian didn't suffer any serious injuries. I'll go first."
After saying that, he pushed Jiang Jinhan away and ran away.
The eunuchs sent by the eldest princess to chase him had just caught their breath when they saw the fourth prince running away again and had no choice but to follow him. The several of them were panting and their movements were funny, which made the second prince, who was watching all this, laugh uncontrollably.
But soon, the second prince's smile became more playful.
He threw the black medicine bottle in his hand into the air, caught it, and threw it up again.
The black porcelain sparkled in the sunlight, like an eye that could see through everything.
"How can a general not be injured?"
"Your Highness, do you think there is something wrong with Marquis Yunyang?" his eunuch asked softly.
"He found someone who had been missing in the desert for three years." Jiang Jinhan put the medicine bottle back into his sleeve. "But if it's true, the Yunyang Marquis Mansion is too quiet."
"Should I report this to His Majesty?"
"How can we let a small matter ruin His Majesty's meditation?" Jiang Jinhan straightened the wrinkles on his sleeves.
Jiang Jue left a sweat mark on his sleeve, and the second prince frowned.
"The Third Prince once said that Madam Qiu is reliable. Should we go and ask her?"
“If you want to take something, you must first give it to it.”
The second prince slowly left the inner court, with the eunuch following closely behind him.
Just as he was worried that he had said something wrong, he heard the Second Prince in front of him say slowly, "Hasn't the Qiu clan member been found yet?"
"Scouts saw someone who looked like a member of the Qiu clan's female family in the Di clan's capital."
In recent years, the Di tribe has frequently disturbed the border, defeated several border fortresses, and many troops have marched straight in and abducted many civilians.
"Keep looking."
*
"Second Prince, what happened to him?"
Qiu Xuan led Jing Beian through the stone forest in the Marquis's mansion garden. Originally, it didn't have to be so troublesome, but Jing Beian insisted that she demonstrate how she had entered the princess's courtyard that night.
Qiuxuan couldn't persuade him, so she chose to walk through narrow places.
"Didn't I run into him today? I'm a little curious about him." Jing Beian shrunk as much as he could to squeeze through the crack in the rocks. "He seems more reliable than his brother, and he's also quite close to the eldest princess. Why did the eldest princess support the fourth prince and not him?"
"Because he's not the Queen's child," Qiu Xuan explained. It wasn't just his mother's low status. Rumors circulated that his origins were a royal scandal, and in recent years, underground gambling houses in the capital had been offering numerous bets on the Second Prince's parentage.
"I thought he was just too smart to be controlled."
"Don't overthink it," Qiu Xuan replied. "I only know that the Second Prince followed the First Princess to recapture the Northland and returned severely injured."
"I felt as though he was doubting me."
Qiu Xuan slipped and almost hit a rock. She turned around and glared at Jing Beian.
"I'm just kidding." Jing Beian grinned, "Grab your candy and let's keep going."
*
"You are indeed in the same group!"
Princess Feifei shouted loudly when she saw Qiu Xuan and Jing Beian enter the room together.
"It's just on the way." Jing Beian explained lazily.
"Stop talking, you liar!" Princess Feifei glared at Jing Beian, then glared at Qiu Xuan: "I trusted you so much!"
"I brought some candy, would you like some?"
"No! I won't eat charity!"
"We have candied osmanthus dates, salted green plums, and peach blossom cakes. Which one would you like, princess?"
Princess Feifei looked at Jing Beian fiercely: "Get out and don't eavesdrop on our conversation."
"Is there anything I can't listen to?" Jing Beian argued.
Qiu Xuan secretly waved to him and sent him away.
Jing Beian sighed: "Okay, I won't be here to bother the princess."
Seeing Jing Beian leave, Princess Feifei immediately grabbed a handful of green plums and stuffed them into her mouth.
"How did you know I wanted to eat this? I'm told not to eat this or that all day long, and I'm dying of greed."
The old lady advocated frugality and would not allow these fancy snacks to appear in the mansion. As a result, everyone from Youzhen and Youan to the little maid sweeping the yard would steal some of them when they got the chance.
Qiu Xuan gave half of the snacks she brought back this time to Jing Youzhen, and distributed the rest to her maids.
Zhemei took a few more packets. Qiuxuan knew that she was going to distribute them to the sisters in the old lady's courtyard, so she was not in the courtyard tonight.
When Qiu Xuan left, she stuffed two more packets into Gan Tang's pockets, and brought the rest to Princess Fei Fei.
"I finally managed to get out and brought this to you." Qiu Xuan briefly told her about the palace banquet.
"Jiang Jue is the Prince of Lu?" Princess Feifei's eyes lit up, and she continued, "Have you told the Princess what I said?"
Qiu Xuan lowered her voice: "I'll take you out. Where is the key?"
Feifei excitedly shook Qiuxuan's hand a few times and pointed to the vase in the corner: "It's inside."
She took a big bite of the peach cake and said, "He did it on purpose. If I want to get the key, I have to smash the vase. That will make a noise, and he'll know I'm going to run away."
Qiu Xuan gently patted Fei Fei's hand: "Wait for me."
Then she stood up and walked to the outer room and said to Jing Bei'an, who was sitting there wiping his dagger, "The princess asked me to stay here with her tonight."
Jing Bei'an looked at Qiu Xuan suspiciously: "When did your relationship become so good?"
"What do you care?" Feifei chimed in, "I've been feeling suffocated these past few days. I finally have someone who understands what I'm saying. How can you let her stay here with me?!"
Feifei complained without caring about anything.
Jing Beian lowered his voice and asked Qiu Xuan, "You want to know about me?"
"I guess so." Qiu Xuan smiled. "My Lord, can you please help me?"
"Okay." Jing Beian stood up and left the house neatly.
Feifei in the room ran to the window.
"Hurry up and go." Feifei chewed a plum and watched Jing Beian leave fiercely.
After sending away the God of Plague, Feifei sighed lightly. She turned around and saw Qiuxuan hanging something with a rope and putting it into the vase.
"What are you doing?" She came closer curiously. "You're carrying a magnet!"
"I just found it. Maybe the girl put it in her bag when she was playing." Qiu Xuan made up a story. When she first met Feifei, she noticed that the latter was particularly obsessed with this big vase, so she guessed that there was something inside.
In addition to the magnet, there is also a four-claw hook in the bag, so there is always one thing that can be used.
Soon the magnet attracted something. Feifei was more excited than Qiuxuan and pulled out the rope in a few seconds.
"Key!" She quickly used it to open the chains on her feet.
"Put this on." Qiu Xuan put an inconspicuous piece of clothing on her.
"You're so well prepared. Shall we leave now?"
"wait."
After an hour, Qiuxuan took Feifei and tiptoed into the back of the house.
There are still a few blue bricks there for footstools.
"Did you prepare this too?" Feifei widened her eyes.
"It's already there. Let's not talk about that. Can you turn it over? I'll help you."
"No, don't underestimate me." Feifei jumped over the wall with her hands and turned back to pull Qiuxuan.
By this time, the sky was already slightly bright, and the old woman guarding the corner gate was snoring continuously.
Qiuxuan pushed open the door and there was indeed a carriage there.
"Let's get on." Qiu Xuan pushed Feifei onto the carriage and followed her up.
"Go to the Princess's Mansion."
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