In just a short while, the Seventeenth Prince's mind had gone through a process of change.
By kidnapping Jiang Rao, Rong Ting can be restrained.
Rong Ting was willing to do anything to clear the Ning'an Marquis's house of injustice, so he would definitely give up investigating his grandfather for the sake of his newlywed wife.
After hearing that Jiang Xingzhou was expelled from the Ning'an Marquis' Mansion, his life gradually became difficult. In addition, this man was incompetent and without the support of his ancestors, his career in officialdom was blocked at every turn. If he was a person who was used to living a hard life, and once enjoyed a great reputation and tasted wealth and fame, how could he endure his current miserable situation? He would definitely harbor resentment towards his fourth brother.
It is most appropriate to let Jiang Xingchuan be the scapegoat.
His grandfather has always been a meticulous person. He would not make the same mistake as his mother did and would not leave any evidence behind.
Today, on the Shangsi Festival, Rong Ting and Jiang Rao came out to attend the Linshui Banquet. He observed and saw that Jiang Rao was only accompanied by two maids. When they went down the mountain later, he would find a way to get Rong Ting away from her, and she would be left alone...
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The seventeenth prince made up his mind, turned around and left the stream.
The follower took the order and glanced at Jiang Rao in the distance, "I'll take my leave."
…
The noble ladies in Jinling are used to pretending to be cultured, and they like to show off even more during the Shangsi Festival, when they can be seen by other young men and ladies. They gather by the Luoshui Creek, watch the carp swimming in the river, and recite poems and compose couplets.
Some who were looking for a sense of superiority, after reciting poems and composing couplets, felt that they could not compare with other talented girls, so they talked about Hu Tang, who was generally recognized as the least talented, and rolled their eyes at Hu Tang in a mocking manner.
Hu Tang was originally out of place among these girls and was too lazy to join in their poetry recitation and composing activities. Seeing them reciting some meaningless and sour poems, she was not satisfied and wanted to ridicule them. She suffered an undeserved disaster, but she was not the type to swallow her anger. She patted Jiang Rao on the shoulder and asked Jiang Rao to wait for her there. She went back to the carriage to get her spear and went down. She would go wherever those ladies who had annoyed her went.
She stretched out her spear and would fork away whichever fish they were chanting poems towards. In just a short while, she had stirred up all the mud and sand in the clear stream on the shore, making it extremely turbid. Then she leisurely pinched the fish tails, picked up the five fish, and walked away, swaying, which made the noble lady behind her so angry that she jumped to her feet.
Hu Tang distributed the fish to her maids and servants, found a clean puddle, scooped up some water, washed her fingers, and skipped back to find Jiang Rao. She noticed the resentful looks directed at her, but she was not afraid and instead felt a little proud.
Jiang Rao said, "You are making trouble again."
"They are uneducated but they are comparing me to them." Hu Tang snorted, "I don't know where they got these pedantic sentences from. If they want to write a poem about fish, they can just use the word 'fresh' and the word 'fat', right? They have to bring in a bunch of whining. If women were allowed to wield swords in this world, no one would be my match."
Jiang Rao asked Mingshao to find a sachet and handed it to Hu Tang. She lowered her head and twisted Hu Tang's fingers, asking Hu Tang to hold them. "Don't be in a hurry to be the best in the world. Hold this sachet well first and get rid of the fishy smell in your hands. Otherwise, if your mother knows what you did today, she will definitely punish you again."
Hu Tang pursed his lips and muttered to Jiang Rao, "I thought she would stop caring about me after I reached the age of marriage, but she still cared about me like before."
Jiang Rao shook her head slowly. In her opinion, if she didn't care about Hu Tang's lawless nature, he would be disciplined for many more days in the future. After she stuffed the sachet into Hu Tang's hand, she forgot to let go for a moment. Hu Tang pulled his hand out by himself and said to Jiang Rao with some uneasiness, "Isn't it inappropriate for you to stay with me all the time and not go to your Highness?"
After Hu Tang finished speaking, he glanced at Jiang Rao not far behind him.
Rong Ting just passed by there and seemed to glance over here.
Hu Tang was a bit slow and insensitive, so she realized that Rong Ting seemed unhappy about her pestering Jiang Rao.
She stayed in Prince Qi's mansion for half a day that time, and was put into solitary confinement by her mother after returning home. Hu Tang did not tell Yu Jiang Rao about it, but she always had a vague feeling that Rong Ting was responsible for this.
It was like this before Jiang Rao got married. If she stayed with Jiang Rao for too long, her mother would put her in solitary confinement for a few days after she returned home, using various reasons. It would have been fine once, but it happened every time. The coincidence was so frequent that she could hardly believe it. Her mother wished she stayed with Jiang Rao more often, so how could she punish her just for pestering Jiang Rao too much?
Apart from Rong Ting, she couldn't think of anyone else who would be dissatisfied with her because of her clinging to Jiang Rao.
Jiang Rao was angry at first, but then she realized how envious and admiring other people were of her. She felt a little pleased and her anger subsided for a moment.
It sounds like a good idea to show off your handsome husband.
However, she was not used to being ostentatious. Even if she felt a little happy in her heart, she was unwilling to make it public. Besides, Hu Tang seemed to be out of tune with others. If she were there, she could at least help her relieve her boredom and allow Hu Tang to interact more with others.
Just now, Hu Tanghuan was only concerned about her, worried that the Seventeenth Prince would do something bad to her, so she had to be nicer to him.
Jiang Rao shook her head. "I'll stay with you for a while. When the party is over, I can stay with him."
Hu Tang chuckled twice. She was restless and her eyes kept wandering. When she saw the figure a few steps away, she raised her chin slightly and motioned Jiang Rao to look there, "Xie Xi is there."
Jiang Rao looked over when he heard that.
Xie Xi was standing by the stream, paddling the water with her hands. Her status as the legitimate daughter of Prince Xiang's mansion qualified her to appear upstream. Jiang Rao stared at Xie Xi's movements for a while, and her thoughts gradually shifted to Xie Xi. "The father-in-law is in a very bad state right now, but she seems to be in a good mood."
"It's probably because he has a bad relationship with the father-in-law." Hu Tang said.
Jiang Rao thought so in her heart, but since Xu Guozhang was Xie Xi's biological grandfather, she did not dare to make any arbitrary decisions. Just as she was about to step forward and talk to Xie Xi, Xie Xi had already been helped up by the maid and returned to the carriage.
Jiang Rao was a little disappointed. Hu Tang said to her in a casual tone, "If you want to get to know her, then I will go to the Liyuan whenever I have time. Now the owner of the Liyuan will smile when he sees me. He will tell me whatever I want to know. I will always find an opportunity."
Jiang Rao nodded.
The Seventeenth Prince's entourage went and came back to the Seventeenth Prince, "I have arranged everything."
"Tell me something." The seventeenth prince had a gloomy face and turned to look at his followers.
The attendant lowered his voice so that only the two of them could hear, and said, "The news from the palace is that there will be an urgent summons to summon His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi to the palace. We don't need to make any arrangements, and we can lure the tiger away from the mountain."
"After the King of Qi leaves, I will do something with the wife's carriage. When they have repaired the carriage, we will definitely go down the mountain later than others. When the wife goes down the mountain, the people arranged by the father-in-law will be waiting there..."
He made a knife-raising and knife-slashing gesture, his eyes were sinister and vicious, "Your Highness, go to the palace after you get down the mountain. Remember not to behave too strangely, lest people suspect you."
There was a hint of sarcasm in the Seventeenth Prince's eyes. "I know this kind of thing."
"If we only put the blame on Master Jiang, it may not be possible to hide it from my ninth brother."
The seventeenth prince slowly rubbed the two
Lower your own finger bones.
Rather than hatred, he was more afraid of his ninth brother.
If he was in the same situation when he was young, without the protection of his mother and the care of his father, he would probably not have survived. But Rong Ting not only survived, but lived very well... But how could a child born to a palace maid who was not presentable live better than him?
He frowned, gritted his teeth, and then said, "Find someone to pretend to be a bandit and move around at the bottom of the mountain."
Years ago, bandits passed through the Gyeonggi area. Even though they were suppressed, there were still remnants. When Jiang Rao really disappeared, they would say that the bandits robbed the rich to give to the poor and had come to rob Jiang Rao.
By taking this two-pronged approach and confusing the public, he felt more confident.
"Your Highness is wise." The attendant's eyes lit up when he heard the words.
The Seventeenth Prince heaved a deep breath, "This matter cannot be delayed, you should go down the mountain immediately and start making arrangements."
He suddenly remembered something and called his followers to stop, "Did you only damage the carriage of Prince Qi's palace?"
The follower stopped and nodded.
The seventeenth prince gritted his teeth, looking conflicted, but finally he hardened his heart, clenched his fists and said, "Go and destroy General Hu's daughter's carriage. Don't give her the chance to leave in someone else's carriage."
As for Hu Tang, he had some inexplicable feelings towards her, but if he wanted to achieve great things, he could not be soft-hearted or be bound by love.
If her mother had not misunderstood that she had really received the favor of her father, how could she have made such a clumsy mistake in the martial arts test.
…
Rong Ting was urgently summoned into the palace, and Jiang Rao planned to go down the mountain with Hu Tang. When they were about to go down the mountain, Hu Tang suddenly disappeared.
Jiang Rao waited for Hu Tang around the carriage, but Hu Tang did not show up. Instead, Ming Shao came over with a frown on her face and said sadly, "Miss, the carriage is broken."
Jiang Rao was stunned for a moment, then followed Ming Shao to the carriage to take a look.
The coachman was squatting beside the carriage repairing it. Jiang Rao watched for a while, but couldn't figure out what was going on. She frowned and asked him, "Didn't you change it well before going up the mountain?"
The coachman's forehead was sweating. "I don't know why the shaft of the carriage broke at this critical moment. I didn't hit anything on the road. Madam, please give me two cups of tea. I can fix the carriage."
Jiang Rao didn't embarrass him, but nodded, and asked with some concern: "Is there any problem with the carriage that His Royal Highness Prince Qi took earlier?"
The coachman nodded hurriedly, "If there was a problem, we would have heard the news by now."
Jiang Rao felt relieved.
Hu Tang came over in a hurry and saw Jiang Rao's coachman also repairing the carriage. She was furious and said, "My carriage is broken too."
Jiang Rao turned around and looked at her, "Where did you go just now? I suddenly couldn't find you."
Hu Tang spread out his palm and motioned Jiang Rao to look at her wrist. "I don't know when the bell tied here disappeared. I was afraid that my mother would blame me after I returned, so I went to look for the bell. At that time, you were talking to your prince, so I didn't go over to disturb you."
"It's my fault that I missed the time to go down the mountain." Hu Tang was annoyed, "I shouldn't have gone to look for my bell."
Jiang Rao stood there in a daze, muttering softly, "Are both your carriage and mine broken?"
She vaguely felt that something was wrong, and Hu Tang quickly replied, "Fortunately, it will be fixed soon. Otherwise, it would be terrible to stay in this wilderness for a whole day. If I go back too late, my mother will have to call a doctor again."
Jiang Rao curled the corners of her lips slightly, but there was not much of a smile on her face.
Perhaps it was because it was dusk and the sky was overcast, and because she met someone whose carriage had broken down, she felt inexplicably uneasy.
Hu Tang's carriage was repaired first. She insisted on waiting for Jiang Rao, but Jiang Rao let her go first.
Although Hu Tang was not a rule-abiding person, he was just tough. However, the Hu family's rules were not ambiguous at all. She did not want to see Hu Tang being punished for accompanying her.
By the time her carriage was repaired, it was already dark.
The sunlight during the day gradually disappeared and was covered by the night. The stars in the sky no longer had to compete with the sun and became much brighter.
After Jiang Rao boarded the carriage, she leaned her head against the window and looked at the overlapping and changing scenery outside.
When she came, the light yellow and emerald green outside the window were full of vitality and vigor. But at night, the dark shadows under the trees made her feel a little scared for no reason.
She suddenly wished Rong Ting was by her side at this moment.
If he were here, she wouldn't be afraid.
When she was urgently summoned from the palace just now, she couldn't let go of her pride and didn't want Rong Ting to see that she was dead, so she didn't say a few words to him.
Jiang Rao bit her lip, feeling a faint regret in her heart.
If she had known earlier, she should have accompanied him down the mountain at that time.
The carriage swayed gently as it went down the mountain. Seeing that they would reach a place with bright lights in another mile, Jiang Rao gradually relaxed, thinking that it was because the sky was too dark just now that she was overly suspicious.
Jiang Rao's mind was very fickle. She felt regretful just now, but now she felt fortunate that she didn't pay much attention to Rong Ting.
Otherwise, it would seem that she is too easy to please.
But just when she breathed a sigh of relief, the carriage braked suddenly and stopped.
The sound of cold swords colliding in the air instantly tore the silence in the carriage, and the maid's screams rang out.
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