"Win?"
Apart from winning the battle and everything being fine, Jiang Rao never thought about and was unwilling to think about other possibilities. This was the only question she asked subconsciously.
"This is all I can find out." Ming Shao was also anxious when she thought of Jiang Rao's anxiety to know what was going on in Huaizhou. "The palace maids and eunuchs were all in a hurry to pack their bags and return to the palace. None of them knew about it."
She knew Jiang Rao might not like to hear this, but she had to say it, "Miss, from my perspective, this doesn't look like a victory..."
The stone that was pressing on Jiang Rao's heart had just been removed, but it was thrown back from the sky again, causing her heart to ache.
The north wind was blowing gently. While Ming Shao was talking, she was also listening to the noise outside.
Apart from the sound of wind and snow, the chirping of birds in the trees could be heard. It was very quiet.
If they won the battle, she should at least hear the sound of people cheering, so why would it be so quiet?
"You don't have to speak so early. Perhaps the emperor is anxious to return to the palace for other matters."
From the letters she received and the news she had heard so far, the situation in Huaizhou became more optimistic each time.
"Since the emperor is going back to the palace, we don't have to stay here anymore." Jiang Rao said, "Let's go back too. Ask someone to help us find out why the emperor suddenly returned to the palace this time."
After leaving the palace, Jiang Rao only stayed in the Ning'an Marquis's Mansion for two days. While in the palace, the emperor left in a hurry, but the news in Jinling City did not spread fast. It was almost the end of the year, and every household was immersed in the atmosphere of the New Year. The war did not reach them, and no one cared about Huaizhou. There was no news about Huaizhou.
Jiang Rao also asked someone to inquire about Liao Qiubai, but there was no news. Jiang Rao wanted to know what was going on, so she entered the palace and lived with Concubine Yun. She asked her nanny to go out and make arrangements several times, and finally she managed to persuade Li Ren, the eunuch who served Emperor Zhaowu, to meet her in front of Xiujia Tower, pretending to meet by chance.
Since she had to pretend to meet by chance, Jiang Rao did not go there early to wait. She showed up when the time was almost right. When she saw Li Ren, she bowed and said, "Good luck, eunuch."
Li Ren looked around and then turned to look at Jiang Rao. His eyes were small and there was a light in them, as if he could see through people's thoughts.
Having been an old man in the palace for so many years, he did have some ability to see through people's hearts. Before Jiang Rao could speak, he took the lead and said, "Miss, you have asked me so many times. Do you want to know what's going on in Huaizhou?"
Although it is a question, the tone is affirmative.
He sighed and continued to talk to himself: "Girl, why are you in such a hurry to ask? You will know sooner or later."
Li Ren's words "sooner or later" were not scary. What was scary was that his sigh was filled with sympathy for her. Jiang Rao could hear it and couldn't help but get nervous. Li Ren sighed again and said to her in a low voice, "Not many people know about this. I will only tell you, young lady. Please don't tell anyone else."
Jiang Rao nodded quickly.
"We, the Great Zhao, won the battle in Huaizhou."
"But General Xi and His Majesty the Ninth Prince both fell off a cliff, and their whereabouts are unknown. They have not been seen since."
Jiang Rao's face was not yet filled with joy when she heard Li Ren say this again. Her palms felt cold. Seeing Li Ren was about to leave, she hurriedly chased him and asked, "How many days have you been missing?"
Li Ren slowed down his pace and shook his head. "That's all I know. The emperor has sent people to Huaizhou to look for them. The news won't be spread until both of them are found. Only a dozen people in the court know about it. If a general or a prince gets into trouble, it's a serious matter."
He warned Jiang Rao again, "Miss, don't tell anyone else."
…
Splendid Palace.
Empress Jiahe consoled the Seventeenth Prince, "The general holding the military seal and the prince are missing, which is a serious matter. The Emperor does not want to disturb the people and is unwilling to make it public. You don't have to worry about this. When time goes by and no one can be found, even if the Emperor is unwilling, the news must be spread."
Even though Emperor Zhaowu did not announce the news to the outside world, Empress Jiahe still learned the news of Rong Ting and Xi Zimo's disappearance through her spies in Huaizhou.
"What about General Xi?" The Seventeenth Prince frowned. "If General Xi can't be found, won't his military power fall into the hands of others?"
"I didn't expect that the cripple would drag someone down with him." Empress Jiahe said gloomily, "But Xi Zimo is not the only one who can take control of the military power south of the Quezhi Mountains for us. Your grandfather can find someone to replace him. When the emperor wants to send a general south, he can ask the ministers in the court to recommend him. We sacrificed Xi Zimo, but got rid of the thorn in our side. It's a gain."
She covered her face and laughed, "He died for his country. His Majesty will definitely think that I taught you well and will love you even more."
The seventeenth prince lowered his head and said, "I have not seen the body yet, and I am still worried."
"At that time, he had all his limbs intact, not like now, a crippled useless person. He was lucky to have run into Jiang Xingzhou's family passing by in Yecheng, otherwise, he would have been seen on the road to the underworld. Instead of worrying about these useless things, you might as well go to your grandfather more often to see how he took Xi Zimo's military power back into our hands and learn his strategies."
The seventeenth prince reluctantly let go and nodded. Seeing that Queen Jiahe was in a good mood, he was reluctant to leave. He approached Queen Jiahe like a child and said, "Mother."
Empress Jiahe was indeed in a good mood. She showed a bit more indulgence to the Seventeenth Prince which was not usual. She was not in a hurry to send the Seventeenth Prince back to the academy. Instead, she looked at him with patience.
"Before I came here, I saw Eunuch Li beside my father chatting with the man who was engaged to my ninth brother at Xiujia Tower. I wonder if they talked about Huaizhou."
"Why do you always keep an eye on her?" Empress Jiahe's tone was casual and she didn't take Jiang Rao to heart. "Even if she knew, what would it be of any use? Can't you go to the mountains in Huaizhou and dig her out?"
"But it was she who rescued Ninth Brother in Yecheng. If it was the last time, wouldn't she have let Father scold Mother in front of others?"
Empress Jiahe was reminded by him and thought of the luncheon in the palace. Her expression became much uglier and she frowned. "You do have some truth in what you said."
She said impatiently: "At this critical moment, we can't let a little girl ruin things."
…
A month later, the people sent by Emperor Zhaowu to look for Xi Zimo and Rong Ting still found nothing, so Emperor Zhaowu finally made the news public.
The Lingnan area, which was originally under the jurisdiction of Xi Zimo, was temporarily controlled by Xi Zimo's deputy general before Emperor Zhaowu found a suitable candidate.
It's a new year again.
On the day when the news of Rong Ting's disappearance came out, the queen fell to her knees and cried for the whole day.
After crying, he fell seriously ill and it took several days to recover.
Concubine Yun felt sick at the thought of the empress's hypocritical look. When she was alone with Jiang Rao, she couldn't help but scold Emperor Zhaowu, "The empress's tears are so fake, maybe her illness is also fake. How could the emperor change the letter?"
"Even if the emperor has his own ideas in mind, this drama is overdone."
No matter what Concubine Yun said, Jiang Rao always hugged the heater, sat quietly on the couch, lowered her brows and eyes, and said nothing.
Too quiet.
Concubine Yun glanced at Jiang Rao, and seeing that she had scolded both the empress and the emperor, she said nothing. She stopped scolding, sat down beside Jiang Rao, and hugged Jiang Rao, "Niannian, there is no news, not that he cannot be found. Didn't they say that they only found the remains of General Xi, but not the Ninth Prince?"
Jiang Rao still didn't respond.
Concubine Yun held her tightly in her arms.
She hoped that her little niece's marriage would go smoothly, but she was disgusted by Empress Jiahe's smug and pretentious motherly demeanor. However, she herself did not believe what she had just said.
Even someone like Xi Zimo, who had been marching and fighting outside for years, didn't survive, so Rong Ting was probably in great danger.
Concubine Yun's voice became hoarse, and she finally spoke her heart out, "My condolences."
"Don't let it get to you."
"I won't think too much about it."
At this time, Jiang Rao crawled out from Concubine Yun's arms.
"Now in Huaizhou, the war has stopped and the epidemic has been suppressed."
She didn't cry, and her eyes didn't turn red. Her tone was calm, as if she didn't see Concubine Yun's surprised expression. She counted on her fingers and said, "If we set out tomorrow and travel overnight, we can reach Huaizhou in about ten days. We need to find someone to go into the mountain to look for people and search the entire mountain. If we can find many people to help, it will take about four or five days. We need to bring more silver. If we don't spend more silver, I'm afraid no one will want to go to some dangerous places. We must bring enough silver. If we can't find it after searching once, we can search a second time."
She mumbled and calculated for a long time, then her eyes lit up and she smiled and said to Concubine Yun: "Aunt, am I wrong? I have calculated so many accounts, I must be right."
There were no tears in her eyes when she lowered her head, but tears filled her eyes when she smiled. Concubine Yun frowned and looked at her, feeling a little scared. She pulled Jiang Rao's hand and said, "You're not really going, are you?"
Jiang Rao didn't look at her, but just looked out the window. There was a dull look in her eyes, and she was immersed in her own world, as if she couldn't listen to anyone's advice.
This is actually true.
Concubine Yun pulled Jiang Rao's arm and told him to turn around and look at her. "If you can't find it after searching once, search again. If you still can't find it after searching once or twice, do you want to stay in Huaizhou forever?"
Jiang Rao fell silent.
"Are you crazy?"
Jiang Rao smiled faintly, "I'm not crazy."
The more she laughed, the more frightened Concubine Yun became. Her laughter was uglier than crying. She might as well cry in front of her and hold Jiang Rao's arm tightly.
"Aunt, please don't stop me. I won't feel at ease unless I go and look for him myself." Jiang Rao smiled and said in a calm tone, "I should go and prepare the carriage."
She gently brushed away Concubine Yun's hand, "Whether there is an accident or not, he is now in Huaizhou. It doesn't matter if it's a person or something else."
She was so timid that she didn't even dare to say the word "corpse" out loud, but her tone was firm, "I will come back when I find him. I want to bring him back."
Seeing her like this, Concubine Yun couldn't even utter a word of persuasion.
Some people seem to be soft-tempered, well-behaved and obedient, but they are not without backbone. When it comes to things that they have made up their minds, they are very stubborn and cannot be persuaded even by ten cows.
Concubine Yun stopped persuading her.
Jiang Xingzhou and Jiang Qinshi did not try to persuade him either.
Jiang Xingzhou even regretted that he had not agreed to their marriage earlier.
Even if they got married first, his daughter would become a widow after Rong Ting got into trouble. He didn't care about other people's views and opinions, and just wanted to fulfill his daughter's long-cherished wish.
It's better than not having the marriage go through now, letting my daughter worry about it all the time, and having an untouchable scar in her heart.
This scar on my heart will hurt every time I think of it.
He allowed Jiang Rao to go to Huaizhou, and not only that, he also let Jiang Jinxing go along.
He was afraid that his daughter would be like those in the operas. If she couldn't find the one who loved her, she would become depressed and want to commit suicide for love. Now he had to take care of everything in and out of the Ning'an Marquis's Mansion. He and Jiang Qin were inseparable. Raising a son for a thousand days only takes a moment to use him. It would be better to let Jiang Jinxing stay with her, so that when his daughter became depressed, she could see her brother and think about her family.
Jiang Rao didn't know what her father was thinking, but she was stunned for a moment when she saw Jiang Jinxing following her.
She had just accompanied Ming Shao to count the silver and supplies they had brought, and asked Ming Shao to hand them over to the escort leader of the escort agency. When she saw Jiang Jinxing, dressed in green and carrying a small bag, walking over calmly, she was a little surprised, "Why are you here too?"
Jiang Jinxing didn't say anything. Ming Shao had just finished communicating with the escort agency. When she came back, she saw Jiang Jinxing. She wanted to cheer up the depressed Jiang Rao, so she smiled and said to Jiang Rao, "The young master is probably here to protect the girl."
Jiang Rao was in a bad mood, and Ming Shao tried every means to cheer her up.
Compared to when he was a child, he had a round head and body, and walked like a ball rolling on the ground. After he started to grow taller, he lost weight rapidly, and both his figure and face became much more handsome.
Especially when he didn't speak, just kept his mouth shut and stood there quietly, he looked like an elegant young man from a noble family.
But once he opened his mouth he wasn't so likable anymore.
He first frowned and glanced at Ming Shao, as if he was dissatisfied with what Ming Shao had just said. He muttered twice, "Huaizhou has nice scenery. I'm going there to see the scenery." He climbed onto the horse and looked at Jiang Rao with some disdain, "Hurry up and get on the carriage. Don't delay my journey."
Jiang Rao got on the carriage and after it drove out, she lifted the curtain on the window and looked out. She saw Jiang Jinxing riding a horse following her carriage and shook her head.
It was obvious that he came to protect her, but he said he was going south to see the scenery.
As he grows up day by day, he seems to have reached an especially conflicted age. He is not as frank as he was when he was a child, and he is becoming more and more hypocritical.
…
They arrived at Qiliu Town two days later. They traveled day and night for two days and one night. Seeing that both the maid and the coachman were exhausted, Jiang Rao planned to rest in Qiliu Town for one night and continue their journey tomorrow.
After arriving at Qiliu Town, they had to change the water route. Jiang Rao instructed Jiang Ping and several other servants to go to the ferry to rent a few boats. He, accompanied by Ming Shao and the guards, went to book an inn to rest for the night.
Ming Shao followed behind Jiang Rao, looking at Jiang Rao's back. In the past few years, she seldom saw Jiang Rao wearing a cone hat when walking outside. Now, she didn't know whether it was because she started to pay attention to the rules after she came of age, or if it was because she was engaged and had some taboos. She didn't need to say anything, she just walked so fast.
Ming Shao quickly chased after him, "Miss, aren't you tired?"
Traveling all night almost drained everyone's energy. It was like this for them, let alone the girl who had never done any work before.
"A little tired."
Jiang Rao is honest.
Although she said this, her eyes followed the plaques on both sides of the street, looking for the location of the inn, and she didn't stop at all.
Tiredness and exhaustion are not as important as the things in your heart.
After visiting four or five inns in a row, Jiang Rao found that all of them were full. She thought to herself that since the New Year had just passed, perhaps the inns had been booked by people who were anxious to make money or go on business trips. That was possible. If she really couldn't book a single room in the end, she might as well leave by boat tonight.
But those who came with her will have to suffer.
Jiang Rao knew how to be considerate of her servants and kept in mind what she owed them. When she returned from Huaizhou this time, she would promote those who deserved promotion and reward those who deserved rewards.
Even if others didn't think so, she felt in her heart that she could find Rong Ting and then return to Jinling.
She could more or less guess what others thought. Not only others, but even her father, mother and aunt, all thought that her trip might be a waste of effort and she would find nothing in the end. Only she didn't think so.
In the dream, his legs were weak and shrunken like an octogenarian, but he could still crawl to a place that everyone feared. Now that his leg injury has healed and he no longer has that hateful and brutal temperament, his situation should only be better.
It will definitely be found.
Even if it was a bit self-deception, she could only think this way. If she didn't think this way, her heart would be too painful, the pain she couldn't bear.
When they arrived at the eighth inn, some guests were leaving. Jiang Rao quickly booked all the empty rooms and finally found a place to stay. She finally breathed a sigh of relief and sent someone to follow the waiter in the inn to the best restaurant here to buy a lot of delicious food at a high price to reward the people who came to Huaizhou with her. She was not in the mood to eat, so she went to her room to rest first.
Jiang Jinxing saw from the corner of his eye that Jiang Rao went back to the room first, and put two bean paste buns that he had brought from Jinling in his pocket. He followed her up the stairs, threw one to Jiang Rao, and sat down cross-legged in front of the couch. "You are better than those crying women, but you can't not eat."
"If you don't eat more, your body will collapse before you reach Huaizhou. You are not a real fairy who can survive by drinking dew."
The child's mouth became more and more naughty day by day, and he made faces and looked disgusted, which just happened to appease Jiang Rao.
Jiang Rao was indeed afraid that, as Jiang Jinxing had said, she would collapse before reaching Huaizhou. She looked down at the bean paste bun, tore off a small piece and took a small bite.
Jiang Jinxing looked at her for a long time, and his voice suddenly softened, "Don't worry, sister."
"Brother-in-law must be fine."
His eyes sparkled, and he said with some admiration: "I have never seen Kung Fu as beautiful as his. Even my martial arts master can't compare to him."
Jiang Rao felt that she was a little weird.
Everyone else said that something happened to Rong Ting, but she stubbornly believed that they were all wrong.
But when her brother came to tell her with a solemn promise that Rong Ting was fine, she actually felt uneasy?
Jiang Rao burst into tears.
I don’t know if it’s because Jiang Jinxing is too frivolous and what he says is never right, so she acts like this.
When Jiang Jinxing saw her like this, his face became deflated.
It’s over, it’s over. It wasn’t a problem originally, but now because of his words, it has become as troublesome as those crying women.
"It's all right."
The more he spoke, the harder Jiang Rao cried.
Jiang Jinxing: “…”
"I won't say anything anymore, I won't say anything anymore." He finally shut his mouth and watched Jiang Rao twisting the bean paste bun with her fingers. She reached out to take it and put it in her mouth. Then, step by step, as if raising her hands in surrender, she backed out of Jiang Rao's room and went to find the innkeeper to change her room to the one next to Jiang Rao's.
The innkeeper readily agreed and asked the waiter to help carry his luggage up.
After changing the room, Jiang Jinxing went back upstairs. He didn't notice that after he turned around, the innkeeper and the waiter's eyes became sinister, and they looked at each other silently as if they were discussing something.
…
Jiang Rao still had the habit of staying in the same bed, so she found it difficult to fall asleep at night and tossed and turned several times.
Normally at this time, when Ming Shao heard the sound of her turning over, she would definitely say something to her, but today she didn't.
She couldn't sleep and gradually didn't want to sleep anymore, so she quietly got up, lit a candle herself, and began to look at the topographic map of Quezhi Mountain in Huaizhou.
After lighting the candle, she glanced at Ming Shao who was sleeping on a mat in the room. Jiang Rao felt helpless, thinking that she was really exhausted from all the traveling in the past few days.
She looked at the topographic map herself, memorizing those gullies and ravines in her mind, and then she smelled smoke. At first she thought that she didn't often light candles and might have lit something else. As the smoke became stronger and thick smoke seeped in from the window, Jiang Rao suddenly realized that something was wrong.
She put down the sheepskin map and shook Mingshao, but Mingshao kept her eyes closed and her body was so heavy that she could not be woken up.
Jiang Rao tried to feel her breath, then quickly got up and opened the door to look for someone.
The door was locked from the outside.
She called out twice, but no one came.
Jiang Rao suddenly realized that she had fallen into someone else's trap.
The flames of the fire outside were growing brighter and brighter. Jiang Rao bit her lower lip and looked around. Apart from the water in the kettle, there was no water in the room to put out the fire.
The smoke was too choking, so she instinctively soaked a handkerchief with tea and covered her face with it. She looked at the closed door and cast her gaze towards the window frame.
I walked over quickly and pushed it twice, but it was also locked from the outside.
Jiang Rao coughed twice, and without much thought, he took out the dagger from his waist and chopped the wood in the middle of the window frame dozens of times. The wood did not break, and he was feeling desperate when the door was knocked open by someone.
Jiang Jinxing stood in front of the door, panting, covering his arm. He had just pushed the door open with his body.
He was awakened by the smoke in his sleep and knew about the fire later than Jiang Rao, but he was stronger than Jiang Rao and broke the window and ran out first.
A window and a door. Even though Jiang Jinxing has grown taller over the years, he is still not as tall as Jiang Rao. He is shivering and is obviously in great pain.
"This inn is a den of thieves. I just saw a dark figure slipping out of the yard. Since the rooms are locked, the gate to the yard is probably locked as well. There's something wrong with the boss and the waiter. The people who came with us ate the food they took us to buy and were all drugged. We are the only two who are awake."
He endured the pain and carried Ming Shao to the inn yard with Jiang Rao. Jiang Rao patted Ming Shao's face several times but she still didn't wake up. Jiang Jinxing tried the main door of the courtyard and found it was locked.
Jiang Jinxing's face turned red, and he dug up the innkeeper and the waiter's ancestors for eighteen generations and cursed them all. He turned around and wanted to help Jiang Rao carry Ming Shao on his back and climb over the wall together.
"Stop scolding me first." Jiang Rao stopped Jiang Jinxing who wanted to take Ming Shao with him, "You don't have to help me. If you take her with you, it will only make it difficult for you to move and waste time."
"You climb over the wall by yourself first, and quickly find someone to put out the fire. The fire is not big right now, and no one will get hurt if we find water. I'll stay here to watch over her, and by the way, try to see if I can wake up others."
"I tried before but couldn't wake him up." Jiang Jinxing's face was filled with anger, and he was shaking all over. He didn't know if it was because of anger or because it was too painful to break open the window and door. He couldn't recover for a long time and kept shaking. "Don't stay too far away from me. The black shadow that rushed out was obviously a martial artist. I'm afraid his skills are not low. Maybe he came for you. If you are alone, I'm afraid something will happen to you."
She had always been protecting her brother, but now she was stunned when she heard him talking like this. Her eyes, which had been smoked by the smoke, became even more sour. Jiang Jinxing looked at her expression, frowning like a little old man, looking worried. He hit her arm and said fiercely, "Don't cry, climb over the wall quickly."
Jiang Rao: “…”
My tears disappeared in an instant.
The wall of the inn was too high, so she had to move the wooden barrels in the yard over to climb up.
She knew that any further wasted effort might cost her life, so after she climbed onto the top of the wall, she stared at the wall to keep her balance, not even thinking of looking down.
She knew that if she saw it, she would be scared.
Once you get scared, you'll waste time.
Jiang Jinxing also climbed onto the top of the wall. Seeing that Jiang Rao didn't dare to open her eyes, he clicked his tongue, looked down for Jiang Rao, and said to her, "You can jump. There's a pile of firewood there."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Rao jumped down.
I am afraid of changing.
But those maids and servants who came to protect the escort were all here because of her. If they lost their lives because of her, it would not be okay.
The sound of the wind in her ears was mixed with the sound of horses' hooves running from some unknown direction, and the sound of the horses' hooves made the ground shake.
Maybe someone is coming
Put out the fire.
This thought flashed through Jiang Rao's mind for a short while, and she felt more at ease. She fell into the pile of firewood, but she did not hear the sound of the wood breaking, but only a dull sound.
Her feet didn't even touch the ground.
Jiang Rao subconsciously thought that she was caught by Jiang Jinxing who jumped down first, but she also felt that it was impossible given her brother's small body that was not as tall as her.
What's more, her brother asked her to jump first.
When she opened her eyes, she was suddenly aware of the familiar smell of medicine on this person and was slightly startled.
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