"Young Master Jiang?" Su Sheng flicked his sword sheath, the trembling sound of the black iron startling a bird that had landed on the tent ceiling. The tip of his boot twirled back and forth, grinding a half-dead leaf. The coiled dragon embroidered on his brocade waistband bared its fangs and claws in the firelight. "With all you have left." The sword tassel brushed against Jiang Jinzhao's waistband. "An embroidered pillow that's never even seen blood?"
Jiang Jinzhao's fingers, hidden beneath his wide sleeves, brushed the golden sword at his waist—he'd forged it himself at Jiang Songyi's coming-of-age ceremony the previous year, and the blade hadn't seen blood yet. The scent of pine resin mixed with ink wafted from his sleeves. "Sir Su, do you know that there's a record of this in Lüshi Chunqiu?" Before he could finish his words, sparks erupted from the charcoal basin, startling Bai Linxi so much that she took a half step back behind Jiang Yihan.
"Ahem!" Jiang Yihuan pounded his chest with a fist, his black wristband scraping against the red mark on his neck. The tent was suddenly so quiet that one could hear the soft clink of Xin Yidao's jade pendant against the copper buckle of her sachet. Meanwhile, Jiang Songyi was concentrating on adding mugwort to the lacquer box, the curling smoke obscuring her expression.
Jiang Jinzhao gazed at the garnet hairpin swaying in his sister's hair, and suddenly recalled the day she'd first learned horseback archery. The fourteen-year-old girl's fingertips had turned white as she gripped the reins, yet she stubbornly refused to accept the kneepad he offered. The faint scar on her wrist, now hidden by the agate bracelet, seemed as if it had never existed.
"Big brother, you're right." Jiang Yihuan suddenly strode over the scattered arrows on the ground, his boots crushing half a piece of pine soot ink. "Our Jiang family." His eyes darted over the pearl tassels adorning Jiang Songyi's hair. "Even if we need to protect our shortcomings, it's not the place for outsiders to interfere."
Xin Yidao traced the dark patterns on the sachet with her fingertips, then suddenly plucked a pine needle that had fallen onto the satin. In a previous life, in a secret chamber of the Xuan Sect, Jiang Songyi held up a blood-stained pear blossom cup and asked him, "Master, can we trust blood kinship?" The pearls in her hair, reflecting the candlelight, were even more glaring than the bloodstains that had splattered on the pear blossoms that day.
"The wound on Second Young Master Jiang's neck." Yu Huanshen tapped the side of his neck with the jade bone fan. "Isn't it caused by a mosquito?" The cinnabar on the scholar's cuffs suddenly became noticeable, looking very much like the blood beads oozing from the scratch behind Jiang Yihuan's ear.
Jiang Yihuan turned his back abruptly, his black iron scabbard colliding with the teacup on the table. "There are a lot of poisonous mosquitoes in the mountains!" His nails dug crescent marks into the leather of his wristband. Suddenly, he caught sight of the tassel of the sachet held by Jiang Songyi's fingertips swaying in the wind. "Did you bring any insect repellent?"
Jiang Jinzhao paused as he untied the sachet, the jade Sinan pendant slipping halfway from his sleeve. It had been a gift from Jiang Yuyao last Dragon Boat Festival, yet now it felt strangely hot. "When did Third Brother become like this?" He gazed at the intertwining scratches on Jiang Yihuan's neck, both old and new, and suddenly remembered the time during the autumn hunt last year when he had been injured by a wild boar while protecting Jiang Yuyao, and how his Third Brother had ridden a horse three hundred miles overnight to find him some remedy for the wound.
"Girls are delicate and need to be handled with care." Jiang Yihuan suddenly raised his voice, his boots crushing half of a pine branch that had fallen on the carpet. "I'm afraid." His eyes swept over the ribbon hanging from Jiang Songyi's skirt. "Someone's been bitten and is crying!"
Jiang Songyi slammed the lacquer box shut, startling the green-feathered parrot so much that its wings flew off. The flat-haired creature fluttered down onto Jiang Yihuan's shoulder, its sharp beak tugging at his silver hairpin. "Serves you right! Serves you right!"
Su Sheng chuckled, wrapping the golden thread of his sword tassel around the carved pattern on the table. "Second Young Master Jiang's injury looks like..." He deliberately dragged out the last word, his fingertips making a scratching motion on the side of his neck. "Was it scratched by a wild cat?"
Jiang Yihuan's ears instantly flushed red as he reached back to catch the parrot. Instead, the creature fluttered down onto Jiang Songyi's desk, tilting its head to peck at the agate bracelet on her wrist. Xinyi Daoyi suddenly coughed softly, her slender fingers tracing the pear blossom embroidery on the sachet. "After hunting a white fox, I wanted to borrow the county lady's sachet to fill with mugwort ash to stop the bleeding."
Jiang Jinzhao untied the sachet's ribbon, which suddenly tangled around his fingertips. The jade Sinan pendant clanged against the sandalwood box. In his previous life, Jiang Songyi had knelt in the snow, clutching the shattered jade pendant. Now, the crisp sound of the agate bracelet colliding with the jade startled the dormant bronze bell on the maroon saddle outside the tent.
Jiang Yihuan didn't expect Jiang Jinzhao to call him spoiled. He felt a little embarrassed and said, "I..."
"Forget it," Jiang Jinzhao interrupted him. Although his tone was a little disgusted, as the eldest brother, he never refused the requests of his younger brothers and sisters. "I brought some incense, and I'll ask Yan Zhu to give some to you later."
After saying that, he looked at his sister Jiang Songyi again, his eyes gentle and his voice softer. "Songyi, I have three kinds of incense here, all specially made by the teacher of the academy, which can repel insects. Come with me later and pick out which one you like."
[Jiang Jinzhao was possessed by a fox spirit from the mountain?]
I'm still used to his cold and arrogant demeanor. I'm not used to him being so gentle all of a sudden.
[Are you up to something bad again? Why don't you give this good thing to Jiang Yuyao?]
Jiang Songyi stared at Jiang Jinzhao and saw that his eyes were clear and frank, without a trace of calculation, but only a hint of caution and expectation. She couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.
Is he trying to please me?
Her inner voice was silent for a long time.
Finally, he uttered a soft, "Oh."
This "huh" was full of mockery, like a thin and thin blade, silently piercing Jiang Jinzhao's heart.
At first he felt no pain and there seemed to be no trace, but gradually, fine and dense pain began to seep out, making him feel uncomfortable belatedly.
She didn't say anything extra, but Jiang Jinzhao already understood - it was too late.
It was too late for her to be kind to him.
Not to mention his indifference and neglect after she returned home in this life, the bloody events of her previous life alone were enough to chill her to the bone.
Jiang Songyi refused coldly: "No need. I don't like any of it."
Jiang Jinzhao felt like there was a stone blocking his chest, making him feel suffocated and uneasy.
He understood that Jiang Songyi didn't dislike those aromas, she just didn't like him as her elder brother.
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