She did not say a word about what she was thinking at that time.
The past is like the wind, and my mood has changed a lot.
She was a person who particularly didn't like to take things to heart, and she didn't like to publicize the things she had thought about but didn't do. She just told Rong Ting about what she had seen at the Baole Ceremony about the soul-guiding lamp as a joke to relieve his boredom.
Soul-guiding lamp, Rong Ting silently repeated these three words in his mind.
I felt a sense of inexplicable melancholy in my heart.
I have never seen the Baole Ceremony, but I am familiar with these three words.
He looked at her in front of him, feeling a chill running through his body, his voice a little hoarse, "It may not be fake."
He looked at the person in front of him, stretched out his hand, gently grasped her hand, and then held it tightly in his palm.
The small hand, with five straight and white fingers, fit perfectly in his. The warmth in the palm of her hand made his heart warm, and the uneasiness in his heart dissipated.
…
As autumn came, Rong Ting became visibly busy.
Xu Guozhang could not escape the charge of helping the Seventeenth Prince escape. On the day the Seventeenth Prince left the capital, he was taken into custody by the imperial guards who followed Rong Ting's orders.
Being imprisoned, he no longer had the ability to fight Rong Ting, and the whereabouts of the two hundred assassins he kept in captivity were revealed, along with the old story of Rong Ting being shot by an assassin in the hunting ground.
Accepting bribes and forming cliques were also uncovered.
Emperor Zhaowu issued an order to confiscate his property.
Emperor Wu was kind and reserved 10,000 taels for the maintenance of the government, while the rest of the treasures and goods were deposited into the national treasury.
The Xu family fell into complete decline.
All officials in the court who had connection with the Xu family were implicated without exception.
Gradually, I also understood Rong Ting's style.
He looks dignified and refined, but inwardly he is actually tortuous and dangerous, and he knows how to make a good trade-off.
His methods were so well-measured that no one could find any fault with them. They did not attract any criticism, and could not even be said to be dishonest.
But look at what happened to the Xu family... This style of annihilation can clearly be considered sinister and vicious.
In the 27th year of Emperor Zhaowu's reign, he had been ill for the entire year. When he was in good health, he would attend court and meet with court officials, but he had to rest in the palace for at least half a month. Compared with his previous diligence, he appeared in public much less often during the year he was sick.
When he was not in public, almost all the major and minor affairs of the court were handled by his young ninth son.
There has always been more than one power in the court, and there are people who obey and follow.
There were those who rebelled and disobeyed. Emperor Zhaowu had many sons and daughters, and if Rong Yuan was removed, there would be others who also coveted the throne.
Jiang Rao stayed away from the court. The court was full of twists and turns and was far away from her. Although she wanted to help Rong Ting to take care of the wives of the officials, he seldom asked her to go out for social events.
Jiang Rao had always disliked those occasions where everyone seemed friendly on the surface but had their own agenda. Rong Ting didn't need her, and she knew that her participation in socializing would only add icing on the cake, and not adding any would not affect the overall situation. She was happy and at ease, and focused on the things she liked.
The shops along the Qinhuai River that she managed were given to Jiang Rao by Jiang Xingzhou as a dowry.
The gold and silver notes in Jiang Rao's dowry were enough for her to squander in several lifetimes, but money is something that you can never have too much of. Jiang Rao managed those shops, and when she had free time, she would often think about buying a few more shops and hiring people to run them.
Although she said she would not socialize in the circle of ladies from noble families in Jinling, Jiang Rao actually never missed out on taking care of the things she needed to do.
When dealing with people you are not familiar with, it's all about benefit. The more benefits you give, the more friendly you will appear to be. Jiang Rao knew this truth very well. Whenever a lady had a birthday or a baby, the gifts she gave would always be lavish. Although she had no shortage of money, she had many places where she needed it. While she was calculating on the abacus, Rong Ting lazily leaned against the window and read official documents.
When he was reading official documents, he never deliberately avoided Jiang Rao. Instead, he set up a small table in the study for Jiang Rao to use, and Jiang Rao did her accounts on that small table.
Jiang Rao never said a word. Instead, when Rong Ting got tired of reading official documents, he would look up at her. The more focused she was, the more he wanted to make trouble. He felt unreasonable for being jealous of the account book, but he would still call Jiang Rao by her nickname and ask her to look at him.
Jiang Rao was the one who was extremely obedient by nature. When she heard him calling, she would immediately look up from between the desks and follow him with her eyes. She held the accounts in one hand and placed the other on the abacus. She had just calculated a number, but was afraid that she would forget it later, so she muttered the number in her mouth, put down the account book, and searched for the red pen, wanting to write down the number first, her movements were flustered.
When she was dizzy from calculating accounts, she had the habit of stopping to rub her forehead, and even a strand of soft hair at her hairline would be rubbed up and made to stand up, making her look dull and confused.
Rong Ting caused trouble and felt no guilt at all. He has a good appearance, and there is nothing wrong with him when he acts like a spoiled child. However, he is actually a wicked person in his bones. He never feels guilty about anything he does. The only thing he fears is that Jiang Rao will see through his nature and make him disgusted. He disturbs Jiang Rao from settling accounts, so he always steals her account book at night and checks it from beginning to end.
If something went wrong because of his interruption, the little girl might secretly feel a little resentful in her heart.
Even if it's secretly, even if it's a little bit, as long as it's resentment towards him, it's not allowed at all.
He wanted her wholehearted trust and dependence.
At the end of November, seeing that Hu Tang was unmoved, Mrs. Hu finally gave up the idea of finding a marriage for her daughter and agreed to let Hu Tang take her to the northern border to find General Hu who was stationed at the border.
Although Jiang Rao was a little reluctant, she didn't want to stop Hu Tang from going to the Northern Frontier that she had been longing for because of her. She didn't say a word to stop him, but took some time to think carefully about what to give Hu Tang.
Hu Tang was different from other girls. She didn't like rouge and powder. She couldn't think of anything good to give her, so she just gave her a stack of banknotes.
She has a lot of experience on the road. As the saying goes, a poor family makes a rich journey, so when you go out, you need plenty of money.
Although one needs a lot of money for the journey, one has to be wary of bandits and one cannot show off one's wealth. One cannot walk around the city with a box of gold, silver and other treasures, with it clearly written on one's face that "they are here to rob me". It's better to be low-key when traveling on the road, with money notes that can be easily hidden close to your body and not be noticed by others, not showing off your wealth, and living a safe life.
It is a common trait of most people to be greedy for money, and Hu Tang is no exception. She took the silver note that Jiang Rao stuffed into her without any courtesy, smiled so hard that her teeth were showing, and guaranteed that she would come back after the New Year.
Jiang Rao thought that if Hu Tang found a good husband in the Northern Frontier, it would be okay for her not to come back. When Hu Tang talked about the men of Jinling with her, she always mocked those handsome and well-mannered ones. Maybe there was someone she liked in the Northern Frontier military camp.
The weather is getting colder day by day.
The snow fell late this year. The winter solstice and the lesser cold seasons have passed, but the first snow has not yet arrived.
It was not until the twelfth lunar month, when it became warmer for a few days, that the first snow fell.
As if to compensate for the emptiness of the entire winter, the snow came so heavily that in just half a day, the city of Jinling was covered in silver, creating the magnificent scene of heavy snow in midwinter.
According to the old custom, Jiang Rao asked the maid to set up a stall in front of the palace to distribute porridge after Laba Festival. She would take a look at the stall when she had nothing to do.
The harvest was good this year, so not many people came to take the porridge and rice back. Jiang Rao prepared 300 dan of grain, hoping to distribute it all in one day, but it took her two days and only about 100 dan were left.
Jiang Rao had been planning to go to the grain store to get more if there was not enough food, but now he had the remaining food and had already decided what to donate. Jiang Rao didn't want to stay any longer, and seeing that it was getting dark, he called Ming Shao over and said a few words to her, asking her to pack up the food and send it to the Sanqing Temple.
At this time, a few more people came, so Jiang Rao said to Ming Shao, "Wait a minute, wait until there's no one on the street before sending it off."
Ming Shao nodded, "I will go and give them porridge first."
Jiang Rao followed Ming Shao and went over to lend a hand, but her attention was drawn to someone in the team.
She was a girl standing among the crowd getting porridge.
Her hair was long, hanging behind her, blown into a mess by the wind and scattered on both sides. She wore a hat that covered half of her face, and her head was lowered, as if she didn't want people to see her face clearly.
Jiang Rao guessed that the other person's appearance might be disfigured and he was ashamed to see people. Fearing to offend, she looked away and stopped staring at the man's face.
When it was the girl's turn, Jiang Rao's hand that was handing her the bag of grain retracted.
look familiar.
It didn't look familiar to her, which made her happy. This appearance seemed to be associated with a person in her memory who she was wary of and disgusted with.
The fragrance of osmanthus.
Jiang Rao smelled the scent of osmanthus ointment in the air, and the familiar feeling became clearer.
When her father got into trouble, the maid who bumped into her had a strong magnolia scent on her body, which all stained her body.
She was happy to give alms, but didn't want to be bullied for no reason. After her family was out of danger, she followed the clue of the magnolia ointment and wanted to find out which family's maid had knocked her down.
Knowing that it was Shen Que who framed her father, she casually checked Shen Xiuying.
The owner of the spice shop in Beijing said that Miss Shen was the most obsessed with spices, and when new goods came into the store, hers must be included, otherwise she would definitely get angry and question him.
Magnolia scent was a style of perfume from previous years. It was no longer fashionable that year, so she might have just given it to her servants.
After Jiang Rao heard the news from the innkeeper, she did not continue to investigate anyone else.
After all, the person who framed her father was Shen Que, and she was almost certain in her heart that the one who knocked her down was a maid from the Shen family.
The north wind brought snow, rustling loudly and making people's faces feel cold.
Jiang Rao stood in front of the chopping board piled with grain bags, looking at the lower half of the other person's face exposed from under the brim of his hat. When she saw the face matched with the image of Shen Xiuying in her memory, she felt cold all over.
Wasn’t Miss Shen II burned to death by the fire?
Jiang Rao became frightened, and the grain bag in her hand that she was about to hand over fell to the ground with a "pop".
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