Rong Ting took a deep breath and the sound of his cough gradually subsided.
He waved his hand to tell Jiang Rao not to worry, "I'm fine."
Apart from her cheeks being a little redder than usual, there was nothing unusual.
But his complexion was as cold as frost and snow, so that little bit of red seemed particularly obvious.
It’s as if an immortal was forcibly dragged into the human world and had the smell of worldly life on him.
The maidservant beside Jiang Rao said, "Miss, you dreamed about pork elbows, so you want to eat them? Do you want me to tell the kitchen to make this dish tomorrow?"
Jiang Rao: “…”
“No need for that.” She smiled bitterly. “It would be too embarrassing for people to know that I cried while hugging a pork elbow in my dream.”
Rong Ting coughed again.
Jiang Rao shifted her gaze to him again, and he said "It's okay" again.
"It's just that I drank the tea a little too quickly."
Jiang Rao had just woken up from her dream, and her energy had weakened a little. She asked him, "There haven't been three performances of opera in the Tingyin Court yet. Opera troupes from the public cannot enter the palace, and you don't have many opportunities to see them in the palace. Why did you come out?"
Do you want to chase him away... Rong Ting clenched his fingers and said, "Opera is boring."
This was beyond Jiang Rao's expectations.
She was worried and couldn't concentrate on the opera sung by the troupe.
But among the top opera troupes in Jinling, at least ninety out of a hundred guests were invited. Rong Ting had never had the opportunity to listen to their operas in the palace, and said they were boring...
But if you think about it, you can figure it out.
Although his personality has become completely different from that of the Jiu Ye in the original dream, some small details are still similar.
If you piece together the scattered fragments of her dreams.
Although Jiu Ye has great fame and wealth, he has little interest in anything.
There is a look of fatigue in his eyes, his eyelids droop all day long, he is cold and lonely, far away from all kinds of excitement.
Others are afraid of him, and he is disgusted by others.
Apart from revenge on those who bullied him, especially her, he had never shown any fanaticism or obsession towards anything else.
But she didn't expect that his character of being tired of everything had already shown some signs when he was a teenager.
Jiang Rao said: "Maybe the previous few scenes were not good enough. Now that the music has changed, it may be more interesting."
Rong Ting shook his head. "The sound of stringed instruments is too loud. It gives me a headache. I am sitting next to the master. Behind me are several senior brothers, all of whom are elders. No one talks to me..."
Jiang Rao understood what he meant.
Think about it, he and she are in a similar situation, just returned to Jinling, the same age
She didn't know any of the noble ladies there.
Sometimes when I went to the rouge and powder shop alone, or saw other young ladies having gatherings in their boudoirs, I felt a little out of place.
Feeling of sympathy, Jiang Rao smiled at him, "Then you can stay here for a while, I can accompany you."
Rong Ting's expression eased slightly and he nodded.
The yard outside the Xiaoguoshan Pavilion is full of shade from trees, making it cooler than other places. Jiang Rao was worried that Rong Ting might catch a cold, so she picked up the thin blanket on the stone table and draped it over his legs.
Rong Ting let her do what she wanted and looked very well-behaved and obedient.
"Yu'er, stand guard outside the gate."
She suddenly cleared her throat and sent her personal maid away.
Looking down at the white velvet blanket covering Rong Ting's legs, Jiang Rao asked, "How is your leg injury recovering?"
Since I dreamed that he stood up, he should be getting better soon.
Rong Ting's Adam's apple moved slightly, but his eyes avoided to the side.
Thinking of her awkward look when she just woke up, and also thinking of her care in covering him with a blanket, he said, "It's a little better now, but it doesn't hurt that much anymore. I can't stand up."
His face is paler than a rabbit's, and his eyes are more pitiful than a rabbit's.
"Before, I couldn't sleep well every night because of the pain, but now I can sleep peacefully for several hours."
That is true.
Even now, he sometimes feels pain when he does the shifts. He is afraid that if he delays for a year, he will waste the kung fu he practiced to survive as a child. So every day before Huai Qing and the other palace servants come to serve him, he would secretly practice martial arts. Sometimes he cannot control the strength well and pulls his tendons and veins, causing the pain to recur.
Jiang Rao just felt that his words "I couldn't sleep well because of the pain" were really heartbreaking.
Comforting him, "You will definitely get better. When you get better..."
Rong Ting thought she was going to say again that when he got better, he must tell her first.
But the little girl said seriously and solemnly: "It's best not to tell anyone."
Rong Ting suddenly raised his eyes, with some confusion in his gaze.
Even though Jiang Rao sent the maid away to guard the gate, she lowered her voice, leaned close to Rong Ting's ear, and said, "If you don't get better, you won't be a threat that others want to get rid of."
She knew Rong Ting would understand what she meant, so she didn't say much.
After saying that, he stood up and looked at him.
Last time, Jiang Rao heard from Qin Yun that other concubines wanted to win over Rong Ting, and she often thought about it.
Rong Ting lowered his eyelids.
He had already thought of what she said, which was why he was sitting in a wheelchair, continuing to endure other people's contempt, ridicule, and mocking pity.
He just didn't expect that she would be so thoughtful.
"I promise."
For some reason, I suddenly felt as if I had just been taken to the guillotine, but had escaped death through amnesty, and I felt relieved.
She seemed to have found an excuse for him.
- To clear his name from her for hiding his leg injury and recovering from it.
Otherwise he wouldn't know what to say.
When she woke up, her face was obviously filled with shame and discomfort.
If she were to reveal that it was not a dream, she would be embarrassed.
Now I have an excuse...
"However, when your leg injury heals, you must be the first to tell me." Jiang Rao added.
“…”
Just make an excuse and it's gone.
Rong Ting went up to the guillotine again.
…
After a cup of tea, Ming Shao came back with the painting Jiang Rao gave her, with a worried look on her face, "Miss, none of the servants recognize the bracelet in this painting."
Jiang Rao knew it would be difficult to find it, and she didn't hold out much hope. She sighed and said to Ming Shao, "No need to look for it anymore."
"Give me the painting." Rong Ting asked for the painting again.
After unfolding it, he asked, "Do you have any writing materials?"
The brush and ink used for painting were placed under the stone table, and Ming Shao took them up.
Rong Ting rolled up his sleeves, picked up the red brush, and added a few strokes to the bracelet pattern drawn by Jiang Rao. He handed the painting to Jiang Rao, "Take a look, is this the bracelet you are looking for?"
Jiang Rao lowered her eyes and took a look.
After adding a few strokes, the pattern on the green bracelet became more like what she had dreamed of.
But……
"How do you know that?"
She looked at Rong Ting curiously.
Rong Ting nodded his head, but raised his eyes a little, glanced at her hair, and muttered, "It doesn't look good."
Jiang Rao didn't hear clearly, "What?"
"Your hairpin doesn't look good."
Rong Ting lowered his head, and continued to write on the drawing paper with his wrist suspended, drawing a few more patterns.
His tone was calm and he didn't look at her, but his words somehow sounded like a child throwing a tantrum or being angry.
Jiang Rao raised her hand and touched the hairpin she was wearing today.
Suddenly he understood and smiled.
Isn’t it just that I didn’t wear the hairpin he gave me?
Just now I said she was not ugly, and now I'm making a fuss.
"Today is my grandmother's birthday, so I have to wear something festive."
Rong Ting's eyes softened a little. Festive colors, eh? He took note of it.
Jiang Rao looked at his face which was paler than paper.
She felt that he was always thinking about this and that, and was too quiet and deep-minded like a man of his age. He would rather stay with her in this secluded courtyard than go to see the play performed by the opera troupe. He was like a dull wooden block.
This made Jiang Rao feel itchy and she wanted to make him laugh.
Besides, from childhood to adulthood, few people have ever said the word "ugly" in front of her.
She tilted her head in front of him, the tassels of the hairpin on her head drooped to one side, and smiled, "Does it really not look good on me wearing this hairpin?"
"Doesn't it look good? Doesn't it look good?" she asked repeatedly.
Rong Ting didn't expect that she would suddenly be so close to him. His breathing tightened for a moment. Looking at her smiling face and lively eyes, his Adam's apple rolled.
It was like a scholar walking at night, but suddenly encountered a bewitching demon in the middle of the night, and his breathing gradually became disordered.
The area behind the ears is as red as a sunset glow.
He lowered his eyelids and rubbed the back of his ears with his cold fingers. His voice sounded hoarse and heavy because of the tension. "It looks good."
"You look good."
But he insisted, “The hairpin doesn’t look good.”
Jiang Rao wanted to make him laugh, but was instead amused by his stubbornness.
The maidservant beside her felt ashamed for Jiang Rao when she heard Rong Ting proudly and awkwardly praising their daughter's beauty.
Jiang Rao, on the other hand, had been accustomed to hearing people say that she was pretty since she was a child, so she took it very seriously.
Rong Ting's eyelashes trembled, and his eyes suddenly became a little pitiful, "Don't you think the hairpin I made is beautiful?"
He seemed very frustrated, "I have studied for a long time..."
Jiang Rao only wanted to tease people, but she didn't have the ability to do so. Instead, she tried to coax people. Hearing his low and lost tone, she hurriedly said, "It's beautiful, it's beautiful."
Rong Ting's thin lips curled slightly, and he no longer looked so pitiful.
Jiang Rao felt that if he was an animal with long ears, both of his ears would have stood up and waved at her.
The tip of the pen made a few more bends on the paper, and finally finished it in one go. Rong Ting stopped writing and handed the drawing paper to her.
Place several patterns side by side on the drawing paper.
The lines go from simple to complex.
From a simple pattern on the green bracelet, it evolved into a lifelike little wolf.
"The pattern on the bracelet is the totem of the northern nomadic people."
When Jiang Rao lowered her head to look at the painting, Rong Ting explained beside her.
"The person you are looking for should be of nomadic descent. The quality of jade is exquisite, and it is difficult for ordinary people to afford it. Think about it, among the nobles of Jinling, the only one who is of nomadic origin is General Hu who is now stationed at the border."
Rong Ting analyzed slowly and methodically.
"He has a pair of twin daughters, Hu Li and Hu Tang. The people you are looking for are likely to be them."
When Jiang Rao looked up at Rong Ting again, her eyes were as bright as stars.
The way he looked at Rong Ting was a bit like looking at an omniscient god.
Brilliant and somewhat worshipful.
"How do you know so much?"
Rong Ting coughed.
The vision is dim and unclear.
When he just returned to Jinling, in order to find her, he looked through the list of all the noble ladies of similar age in Jinling.
Later, in order to make a hairpin for her, I read almost all the books that jewelry craftsmen should read, and I understood the connotations of various patterns and the meaning of totems.
"I saw it in a book by accident," he said.
Jiang Rao didn't doubt him and her eyes were still filled with shock.
She wants her brother to read more.
She was a little unsure whether Hu Li and Hu Tang were on the banquet list, so she asked Ming Shao to go and find out. Suddenly, she turned around and looked at Rong Ting and asked him, "Don't you want to know why I'm looking for them?"
You're the type who wants to be in control of everything, so why are you so well-behaved today?
Rong Ting thought.
He wanted to know everything about her, even to have complete control over her.
Ever since he met Ming Shao on the road just now and recognized the totem pattern, he has been wondering why she wanted to find Hu Li and Hu Tang.
But if she gets annoyed by his shackle-like desire for control, it will be more trouble than it is worth.
But she was soft-hearted.
He could only hold on to this point and try his best to be nice to her.
So good... that if she abandons him, she will never be able to sleep or eat well for the rest of her life.
So good that she couldn't abandon him at all.
"If you don't want to tell me, I won't ask." His eyes were as dark as ink, just like the sea in the dark. Under the calm surface, there was an almost morbid paranoia, but he smiled gently and said, "I just want to help you accomplish what you want to do."
…
But what he said made Jiang Rao even more soft-hearted.
Blame her, because he didn't want to listen to the opera, but couldn't help but think of him as the Ninth Master in his dream.
He has obviously changed.
Although she did not mention the dream, she explained to him her search for Hu Li and Hu Tang.
I lied a little and said that I had just seen their bracelets and liked them, so I wanted to ask them where they bought them.
Love their bracelets...
Rong Ting seemed to be thinking about something.
…
The sun's shadow slowly moved from the east to the center of the sky. At three quarters past nine, the noise in Tingyinyuan finally died down.
It's time to go back to the music hall.
Jiang Rao stood up and helped Rong Ting move the wheelchair down from the pavilion, pushing it forward, "I'll take you back to Tingyinyuan."
Rong Ting shook his head.
He turned his head to look at her, his eyelashes fluttering, "It's too far from here to Tingyinyuan. I don't want you to be so tired."
Behave very sensibly.
He controlled the wheelchair and took two quick steps, forcing Jiang Rao to let go of her hand.
Jiang Rao looked at his back and two words popped up in her mind.
Good boy.
But he watched Rong Ting's wheelchair hit a rock, and as luck would have it, the wheelchair got stuck.
Rong Ting staggered and almost fell.
In an instant, the words in Jiang Rao's mind changed from two to four...
From "good and well-behaved" to "fragile and fragile".
He just missed two steps and ended up like this.
Jiang Rao couldn't help but worry and doubt.
This fragile little body...
The leg injury...can it really heal like she dreamed?
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