Jiang Yihuan was about to argue, but he saw his brother turn his horse around and said, "Your Highness, do you know where my sister has gone?"
Xinyi Daoyi nibbled a peach leisurely, juice dripping from her fingertips onto the bright yellow saddle. "Just now I saw it heading west toward the pine forest."
Jiang Jinzhao had no suspicion, clasped his fists in greeting, and galloped away on his horse.
"Brother! There's a cliff to the west!" Jiang Yihuan squeezed his horse's belly with anxiety, causing the horse to suddenly drop to its knees. He rolled down, protecting his head and neck, and rolled over three times to avoid being trampled. When he raised his eyes, his philtrum was burning with pain. He wiped it with his hand, only to find it stained with blood.
"Young Master Jiang, be careful." Xin Yidao came over in brocade boots. As she bent down, her wide sleeves brushed the ground and she kicked the bloody peach pit into the grass. "Should we call the imperial physician?"
"No need." Jiang Yihuan stood up on his knees, his dark suit stained with dust. He glanced suspiciously at the official road—the bluestone slabs were smooth as new, without even a broken stone. Zhuiyun was licking his front leg, clearly showing a wound about an inch long.
Xin Yidao covered her mouth with a handkerchief and coughed, her pale face flushing. "Just now. Ahem. Did I point in the wrong direction?"
Jiang Yihuan stared at his thin shoulders, remembering how the prince had been taking medicine constantly since childhood, unable to even draw a bow, and secretly laughed at his own suspicion. Just as he was about to speak, he saw Xue Xin trotting over with a golden wound medicine in her hands, her crimson skirt sweeping across the ground covered with peach pits.
"Young Master Jiang, quickly apply the medicine!" the girl's voice was sweet, and the silver bells on her wrists jingled. Jiang Yihuan suddenly took a half step back - Jiang Songyi's thoughts from yesterday suddenly exploded in his ears.
Xue Xin is a Miao spy! The sachet she gave you contains a poisonous insect!
Xin Yidao looked at the two of them with interest. "Young Master Jiang, what's going on? Are you afraid the girl will poison you?"
"Your Highness, you're joking." Jiang Yihuan took the medicine bottle and seemed to avoid Xue Xin's fingertips unintentionally. "It just suddenly occurred to me that the calming incense Miss Xue gave me last month has a very special smell."
Xue Xin's smile froze on the corner of his mouth, and his silver bell trembled as he stepped back: "Yes, it's a family secret recipe."
At this moment, there was a noise coming from the pine forest in the west. Jiang Jinzhao's angry shout pierced through the morning mist: "Xinyi Daoyi!" followed by the dull sound of a heavy object falling to the ground, startling all the birds on the mountain.
Jiang Yihuan's face suddenly changed. He pulled at his wound as he tried to mount his horse, and gasped in pain. Just as he was about to spur his horse, he heard sobbing behind him—Jiang Yuyao was tugging at Xin Yidao's sleeve and sobbing, "Prince brother, don't you believe Yuyao too?"
"Believe it, of course you wouldn't." Xin Yidao pried open her fingers, and the peach pit fell into the stream with a "plop". "After all, Fourth Brother even trampled on the face of his wife to make you smile." Suddenly leaning close to her ear, he said, "Just like your mother back then, when she coaxed Marquis Wu'an into accepting you as her 'adopted daughter'."
Jiang Yuyao's face turned pale and she staggered and fell to the ground.
Jiang Yihuan didn't bother to ponder the deeper meaning behind his words, and rushed towards the pine forest. The morning breeze blew into his wounds, stinging his eyes. "My eldest brother has always valued the reputation of the Marquisate above all else. If he finds that the Crown Prince is deliberately giving directions to the wrong place," he replied.
"Jiang Yihuan!" Jiang Jinzhao's stern shout met his face. He couldn't rein in his horse in time and nearly crashed into the carriage that was blocking the road.
"Look at the good sister you're protecting!" Jiang Jinzhao's sword pointed at half of the blood-stained sleeve that Jiang Yuyao had worn yesterday. "The assassin confessed that someone paid a huge sum of money to buy Song Yi's life!"
The chirping of cicadas pierced the oppressive midsummer heat, and the wheat fields on either side of the official road swirled with a savory, green fragrance. As Jiang Songyi reined in the horse, he saw the distant mountains like spilled dark blue paint, smudged across the sky like an ink painting.
"Finally!" Su Sheng whipped his whip, pointing toward a clearing in the woods where seven or eight horses were leisurely grazing on weeds. The most eye-catching thing was the green-feathered parrot on Ye Zhe's shoulder, tilting its head to peck at its owner's gold-embroidered collar.
"Brother Su, you are so lucky!" Ye Zhe rode up to meet him, the jade pendant on his waist jingling. The parrot flapped its wings and mimicked, "Lucky! Lucky!" This made Yao Zhe sneer in the back - the adopted son of the Minister of War was wearing Hu clothing today, and there were grass scraps on his sleeves.
Su Sheng raised his foot and kicked Ye Zhe's saddle: "If you keep talking nonsense, Jiang Yihuan will break your neck." He turned sideways to reveal the two people behind him, "This is Princess Jiaqing, and that is General Bai's daughter."
The forest suddenly fell silent. The young men from the noble families hurriedly saluted from their horses, the clatter of gilded stirrups echoing. Jiang Songyi caught a glimpse of Bai Linxi tightening her grip on the reins—the girl had specially changed into crimson riding clothes for the day, but now the tips of her ears were red as if they had been burned.
"It's Her Highness the County Princess." As Ye Zhe pretended to clasp his fists, the parrot on his shoulder suddenly swooped down on the pearls in Bai Linxi's hair. The startled girls spurred their horses back a step, only to see the flat-haired creature simply snatch away a piece of elm leaf, causing everyone to burst into laughter.
Yao Zhe suddenly narrowed his eyes. "Miss Bai, is she the one from the Yongding Marquis' Mansion?" He tapped his whip against his palm. "I heard she's engaged to the young master of the Jiang family?"
"The engagement is being dissolved," Su Sheng said, his voice deliberately raised. Just then, a mountain breeze carried the sound of horse hooves. Bai Linxi turned sharply, only to see Jiang Yihuan dashing out from the shadows of the trees with a stern expression. The young general's black cloak rustled, startling the parrot from Ye Zhe's shoulder.
"Good solution!" Ye Zhe clapped his hands and laughed, completely unaware of the approaching shadow. "Jiang Yihan has a stern face all day long, just like the clay yaksha in the temple - Ouch!" The parrot suddenly pecked his earlobe, making him grimace in pain.
Bai Linxi bit her lower lip, her fingertips almost digging into her palm. She hated to see others slandering Brother Yihuan, even if... even if they were angry. Just as she was about to speak, she heard the stupid parrot screaming at the top of its voice: "Dead face! Dead face!"
Jiang Yihuan's black cloud horse suddenly reared up. Ye Zhe frantically covered the parrot's beak, wrapping a silk handkerchief around the bird's head in a comical knot. As everyone stifled laughter, Bai Linxi suddenly noticed a fresh scratch on Jiang Yihuan's nose. A bead of blood formed on the edge of his lip like a vermilion mole.
"What are you doing here?" She turned her head away deliberately, staring at the foxtail grass swaying by the road.
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