After the meal, Granny Liu laid out the newly bought bedding for Xiao Ling in the woodshed. Although there was no bed, she piled up a thick layer of straw so that it wouldn't be too hard to sleep on.
Xiao Ling wasn't picky; he had lived in much worse conditions before.
In that golden cage that others saw as incredibly wealthy, they actually couldn't even get enough to eat or sleep, and had to be on guard against open and hidden attacks every day. It was nothing like what they are like now.
Xiao Ling thought he could stay here for a few more days.
He came to Jian'an City because he heard news of his sister there. He had been searching for his sister for ten years. Hearing that she might be in Jian'an City, he rushed over immediately, only to fall into an ambush.
But he was certain that his sister was in Jian'an City.
He needs to stay here until he finds his sister.
Moreover, that woman took all his gold, leaving him not even a scrap. Now he is penniless and can't move an inch without money. Even if he wanted to leave, he couldn't. Rather than stay here, he might as well settle down.
The capital city, the princess's residence.
"Your Highness, the Ninth Prince has been executed by our own hands!"
Xiao Yunyan leaned back lazily on the chaise lounge, and upon hearing this, she merely lifted her eyelids slightly, "Where is his body?"
The man kneeling below the hall paused for a moment, then replied, "Your Highness, the Ninth Prince's body fell off the cliff and cannot be brought back to the capital. However, I guarded the bottom of the cliff for two days and confirmed that he is indeed dead."
"His worthless life should have been taken by the King of Hell long ago! If the King of Hell won't do his work, I'll do it for him!"
With a faint smile on her lips, Xiao Yunyan slowly walked towards the kneeling guard.
"Speak! What reward do you want?"
"This servant dares not take credit." The assassin buried his head in the ground, his posture humble.
"Unwilling to do it!" Xiao Yunyan suddenly turned cold, turned around, drew a long sword from the shelf, and stabbed the assassin in front of her. Blood spurted out and splashed all over her face.
Xiao Yunyan, however, seemed not to mind. She took the handkerchief from the maid and wiped her face.
The assassin lay on the ground, blood gushing from his chest. He looked at Xiao Yunyan with confusion and bewilderment, seemingly unable to understand how he, so loyal to his master, could die at her hands.
Xiao Yunyan leaned forward slightly, "Since you killed him, I will kill you to avenge my younger brother! Although he and I are not born of the same mother, he is still my own brother! You killed him, and you still want to live?"
Seeing that the assassin had completely died, Xiao Yunyan threw away the blood-stained embroidered handkerchief and ordered outside, "Clean up the body!"
Jian'an City.
After a night's rest, Shen Yuan got out of bed at the crack of dawn the next day to tidy up her pharmacy.
She hasn't hired any help yet; she has to do everything in the shop herself.
Shen Yuan first checked the Crane Blood Flower in the flowerpot and found nothing seriously wrong. Then she took out paper and pen and wrote down all the medicinal herbs sold in the pharmacy.
When Xiao Ling came out of the woodshed, he saw the girl engrossed in writing.
Half of her hair was styled into a bun at the back of her head, while the other half was braided and hung down from behind her ears, the ends of which gently brushed against the snow-white Xuan paper, like ink entering the clouds.
This scene was peaceful and serene.
Xiao Ling glanced at it a few more times before walking over to Shen Yuan's side and looking at the note she had written.
Angelica dahurica, Perilla frutescens, Angelica sinensis, Imperata cylindrica...
Xiao Ling raised an eyebrow. What was this "Mao Shi"?
He had never heard of this medicinal herb before. Moreover, the lower part of the character "茅" was missing a stroke, making it look somewhat like the character "予" in the word "赠予".
Who taught this girl to write? This must have driven the teacher crazy!
Xiao Ling pointed to the note that read "Mao Shi" and tapped it hard on the table with his index finger.
Hearing the noise, Shen Yuan, who had been focused on the table, finally came to her senses and found that Xiao Ling was standing beside her at some point, holding a note in his hand.
It's as if they're asking her what's written on the note.
Shen Yuan glanced at the note, pouted, and thought, "If you don't even know this, are you even from the South?"
She turned around, pulled out a shelf from the medicine cabinet behind her, grabbed a few grains, and handed them to Xiao Ling. "This stuff tastes best when it's freshly picked. It's a snack for children in our farming families, also called chicken head rice. But it needs to be dried before it can be used as medicine, so we can't eat it directly now."
Xiao Ling looked at the thing in Shen Yuan's hand, his thin lips slightly pursed.
Then he raised his hand and tore up the small piece of paper that read "Mao Shi".
"Hey, how could you tear my things? I've been writing on this for ages!" Shen Yuan tried to stop him, but Xiao Ling snatched the brush from her hand.
He picked up the slip of paper and wrote two elegant characters on it: "芡实" (芡实).
Finally, fearing that Shen Yuan might not understand, he wrote a line of small characters below.
"You wrote it wrong."
Shen Yuan recognized those four characters very clearly. She stood there, stunned, silently looking at the note Xiao Ling had written.
He said she misspelled the character "芡" in "芡实"? How could that be? She was extremely diligent when learning to read, and Chu Yuning taught her all her characters...
Thinking of this, Shen Yuan suddenly stopped, then lifted her skirt and ran upstairs.
A moment later, she ran downstairs again, carrying her peach wood box, and took out a few slips of paper from the box, handing them to Xiao Ling.
Shen Yuan pointed to the top note that read, "In the third month of spring in the thirty-sixth year of Qiyuan, Chu Yuning owes Shen Yuan five hundred coins. He will repay the full amount after passing the imperial examination." She said, "The person who lent me the money told me that this word means 'owe'! He also said that he would repay the full amount in the future."
Xiao Lingjun frowned slightly, and the word Chen Yuan was pointing to was clearly "Yu".
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
