What's so good about this letter? It's annoying when people leave things unfinished. Yang Dali had woken Jane Ning from sleepiness. She turned over and sat up, only to see Ding Youtian still asleep beside her. She glanced at the clepsydra on the table, and it was just past midnight.
She put on her clothes, got out of bed, opened the door and looked up. The night sky above the courtyard was dotted with stars. Except for the occasional chirping of insects from the courtyard wall, the whole place was quiet.
Summer nights in ancient times were truly peaceful.
Jian Ning walked towards the government office in the front yard. It was late at night, so she went to remind Ding Youtian that it was time to go back to the house and sleep.
In the yamen, Ding Youtian was sitting in front of the desk where he worked every day, one hand on a book and the other on his forehead, dozing off. Jian Ning pushed the door open and put her hand on his left shoulder. He grabbed her hand and shouted "Jincheng" and woke up.
"Jincheng?" Jian Ning frowned slightly. Ding Youtian rarely dozed off while reading, and he almost never dreamed.
"Did you dream about Huo Jincheng?" Jian Ning asked him.
"Hey, it was just a dream. How could I fall asleep?" Ding Youtian closed the book and glanced at Jian Ning. "Did you wake up from a nap?"
"Well, I dreamed of Uncle Yang..." She told him everything in her dream. "I don't know what to believe. Could he have something good to give us?"
Ding Youtian touched his nose, thought hard, suddenly clapped his hands on the table and chuckled a few times, then burst into laughter.
"What are you laughing at? Are you annoying? Tell me quickly, what good news is it? Are you thinking of something?" Jane Ning patted him on the shoulder.
"Madam, don't you want to know what your husband dreamed about?" Ding Youtian smiled.
"Hurry up and tell me, stop keeping us in suspense." Jian Ning urged.
"I was reading with him when I heard footsteps. I looked up and saw something strange..." Ding Youtian looked toward the partition on the left side of the room. "In my dream, I could actually see through the wood and see him coming. He seemed happy but also unhappy. He pointed at my forehead and said, 'You, you're lucky, bastard.' I was about to ask him what he meant when his wife happened to walk over."
Jian Ning was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously touched her belly and said hesitantly, "You mean... it's impossible?"
"We'll know whether it's possible or not by calculating next month's letter."
Jian Ning had long given up hope of pregnancy, so she no longer paid attention to the date of her period. She turned to Ding Youtian and asked, "When did you come last time?"
"Why are you asking me?" Ding Youtian looked her up and down. "Shouldn't Madam know better?"
"Why can't I ask you? If you care about my affairs, you will naturally remember them better than me. If you can't remember, it's your fault."
Jian Ning turned away with a sullen face, but Ding Youtian grabbed her and said, "That's unreasonable. You always resort to this tactic when you can't argue. Didn't you say before that if there's a problem, solve it. Don't just get angry and give the cold shoulder? What do you mean by leaving with such a sullen face?"
"I'm happy to, what's it to you? You didn't help me remember it, so why don't I just hide away and calm down and recall it? Do I have to stay and argue with you?"
Ding Youtian thought she was going back to move her bedding and was going to send him to sleep in the hut. Seeing that she didn't seem to be interested, he pulled her into his arms, stroked her belly with his right hand, and said with an apologetic smile, "Thinking alone is boring. Why don't you let your husband think with you?"
Jian Ning bumped into him with her shoulder, "Get lost! Do you really think I don't remember? There are still three to five days left."
She couldn't recall the exact date, but she knew it roughly. However, she had been disappointed so much before that she had let it go and forgot about it. Five or six days later, Ding Youtian remembered to ask her, "Madam, are you not having your period? Check your pulse to see if you are really pregnant."
Jian Ning raised an eyebrow and thought carefully, "Forget it. There have been cases where the pregnancy lasted more than ten days or half a month in the past. If I feel unwell after taking the pulse, it will only cause more trouble. If I am really pregnant, it won't go away."
Just as Ding Youtian was about to say something, Xu Dali came over and said, "Sir, Madam, please come out and take a look. The princess of Yue Kingdom is here."
"Pei Zitong?" Jian Ning put down the half-finished clothes she was sewing for Sanniu, stood up and asked as she walked past, "Did she find it herself?"
"Yes, when I came back I saw her sitting at the gate of the yamen. She looked like she had been robbed and was in a very miserable state. She wouldn't answer when we asked her questions." Xu Dali had brought his mother, wife and children here half a month ago. As Ding Youtian's term was about to end, he listened to Jian Ning's advice and did not rent a house outside. The whole family temporarily lived in the house in the backyard where Dabao had lived before.
Pei Zitong was indeed robbed. That day, she walked out of Jishui City and arrived at the Xing'an City Gate. Although she did not have a photo ID, the guards gave her a pass that allowed her to enter the city. However, the pass was only used for customs clearance and was not recognized by the hotel.
No matter which county in the Dayan Dynasty, if a business takes in a guest without a ID card, it will be severely punished once the facts are verified and the guest will have to stay in a black shop.
Although Pei Zitong was not favored since childhood, she grew up in the Yue Kingdom Palace. Moreover, she was a simple-minded person and did not understand the principle of not showing off one's wealth. She even opened her bag while staying in a shady hotel. Isn't this obviously something that would attract thieves?
In desperation, she had no choice but to ask her way to the Xing'an government office. When Jian Ning and the others came out, she was still sitting on the stone steps at the gate in a daze. When she heard the footsteps behind her, she turned around and met her gaze. Jian Ning exclaimed, "Ah!" and hurried forward to pull her, "Hurry up, how did you get like this?"
Pei Zitong cried out "Wow", "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be where I am today." She had come to ask for help, but when Jian Ning asked her, she couldn't help but complain again.
"How can you talk like that?" Ding Youtian was displeased when she said that. "I remember you were good at using flying stones. You're only good at scheming against others on the battlefield, but you can't let others scheme against you? Besides, you have your own mouth. If you insist on not telling the truth, who would put a knife to your neck and force you to tell? You come here to blame my wife, but not your royal brother. Why are you raising an army to attack? It's so unreasonable."
Jian Ning used her eyes to signal Ding Youtian to stop talking. She guessed that Ding Youtian must have come to ask for something, so she raised her hand to straighten her messy hair, patted the back of her hand, and said softly, "Don't be afraid, and don't feel wronged. If you have any difficulties here, tell me, and I will help you if I can."
Pei Zitong cried even louder. She came from a neighboring county and had been walking for two days. Her feet were aching. She had only drunk stream water and eaten two pieces of coarse grain cakes packed in a black shop in the past two days. She was hungry and tired. How could she not feel aggrieved?
"Okay, stop crying and come with me." Jian Ning held her hand, took her to the kitchen in the backyard, and made her a bowl of noodle dumpling soup.
Pei Zitong seemed to be really starving. She gobbled the food up, even the soup, and cleaned it up. "It's delicious! I didn't expect that you, the princess of the Great Banquet Dynasty, could cook. I heard that you were named General Ningyuan. That's amazing!"
Jian Ning smiled faintly, "Don't rush to praise me, tell me where you were robbed, maybe we can help you find your lost property."
"really?"
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