Chapter 22: Hug is the pine tree after the snow, it is Jiang Cichen
People have seven emotions and six desires, and there are many friendships in the world that are difficult to give up. The relationship between master and servant is an emotion, and the relationship between mother and child is also an emotion.
It is obvious which one Peony chose.
After daybreak, Luo Wan couldn't stay outside for long, as she couldn't be sure that the people from the East Courtyard would come to cause trouble again. After leaving Baolin Village, she immediately returned to the Chi Mansion, planning to catch up on some sleep and then go to the brothel to look for Platycodon after dark.
However, the lock of the west courtyard was suddenly opened, and a servant passed on the message that the crown prince and other princes were leading the children of noble families out hunting.
Luo Wan was chosen by the prince because of the palace banquet.
This is not a wild hunt, it's clearly a Hongmen Banquet.
The royal hunting grounds are located outside the palace walls on the north and south sides of the capital and are managed by dedicated personnel.
"Jiang Qing has returned triumphantly, having conquered seven cities for the Northern Kingdom. He is a truly deserving hero." Bei Yeji sat on the stage, his subtle smile sweeping across the audience. "As the Crown Prince, I naturally want to contribute to the Northern Kingdom. Therefore, today I am leading all of my officials in a wild hunt, hoping for good weather and peace for the country and its people in the coming year."
The young men from the noble families echoed and praised His Highness for his wisdom.
This Beiye Ji is indeed smart.
One is a "prince" and the other is a "minister".
It not only warned Jiang Cichen, whose achievements were too great to be trusted by his superiors, but also earned him a good reputation for serving the country and the people.
The man who was verbally attacked was standing in the front row. Luo Wan could only see his back. The young man had a broad and thin back.
Luo Wan really wanted to know what expression Jiang Cichen would have when facing this future mortal enemy.
After the paddock manager read out the rules, he divided everyone into groups of four.
The hunting time is two hours, and the first, second, third and other grades are determined based on the number and type of prey.
Luo Wan was chosen as the shooter, responsible for deciding the final ranking.
She was a little confused as to what the prince was up to.
Not only men who practiced martial arts came to participate in the wild hunt, but also many daughters of generals, whose heroic demeanor was no less than that of the men.
Among the children of the noble families and the other princes, Luo Wan still did not see the sickly Ninth Prince.
After everyone left, Beiye Ji slowly spoke: "Miss Chi, who do you think will win?"
People in high positions have a common problem: they are extremely suspicious.
Luo Wan saw that Bei Yeji was already terminally ill.
The dismemberment of Shen Zhiyan and the extermination of the Jiang family in the future were all manifestations of this paranoia.
Luo Wan said in a roundabout way, "I don't know. I'm a humble servant with limited experience. I just returned to the capital and don't know much about the young masters in the capital."
"You are short-sighted?" Beiye Ji sneered, "Come here."
Luo Wan followed his instructions and came to the stage, kneeling on the palm-leaf fan.
Beiye Ji lifted Luo Wan's chin with a fan and commented, "You are indeed beautiful. Of all the women I have ever seen, you rank second." He ate a green date and said casually, "But the first one is dead. You are the first now."
Luo Wan had already greeted Bei Ye Ji from beginning to end in his heart. If it weren't for his status, when he said "come here", Luo Wan's foot would have been on his face.
Bei Yeji brought up the palace banquet: "You are Shen Zhiyan's staff member. Do you know who your father's staff member is?"
Of course she knew that Chi Jingan was a lackey of a lackey, and Luo Wan also knew that the Northern Kingdom would be destroyed in his hands in a few years.
Luo Wan said: "I am only Master Shen's student, not his staff."
Beiye Ji asked, "Why is Shen Zhiyan so kind to a student?"
Luo Wan said, "Master Shen loves his students like his own children. Among all his students, my daughter's family background is the lowest, so he brought me to the palace banquet."
The incense sticks used for timing on the side emitted a faint smoke.
Two guards brought out an injured young man from the hunting ground. His right leg was bleeding from being torn by an unknown beast.
Beiye Ji looked at the man grimacing in pain and asked Luo Wan, "Your brother is in there, are you worried?"
As soon as he finished speaking, someone came to pass on the message: "Report to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the young master of the Chi family is missing."
The corner of Luo Wan's eye twitched.
Shen Zhiyan died at his hands, and the Jiang family was destroyed because of him. It seems that there are traces of this.
This Beiye Ji is a completely poisonous snake in the open.
He was so unruly that he didn't even bother to hide his cruelty.
Luo Wan knew clearly that Bei Yeji was going to set her up, but she didn't expect that he would use Chi Mingli.
He simply wanted to use his so-called brother's life to lure her into the hunting ground in order to intimidate the disobedient Shen Zhiyan.
Beiye Ji doesn't need neutral people. What he needs are people who stand on his side. Only with people who stand on his side can the people around him live well.
Luo Wan pretended to be panicked: "Your Highness, please send someone to search for Mingli."
The guard who delivered the message said, "The hunting ground is so large, with so many wild animals. I'm afraid the young master of the Chi family is in great danger. Maybe... maybe..."
The guard stammered and couldn't explain what he meant.
Beiye Ji held his forehead in frustration and said, "If you can't tell me, I'll kill you."
The guard immediately knelt down and said, "Perhaps the young master of the Chi family has already fallen into the belly of the beast. If there is someone who can recognize the young master's personal belongings, it can greatly improve the efficiency of the search and rescue mission."
Now that things have come to this, if the elder sister Luo Wan doesn't come forward, given the nature of the Prince's Party, she will be labeled as cold-blooded and heartless tomorrow.
Not only her, Shen Zhiyan would probably also be charged with poor teaching and being an unqualified teacher.
Luo Wan bowed and said, "Your Highness, please allow me to follow the guards into the hunting grounds to search for Mingli."
Instead of playing cozy with the poisonous snake, it is better to face the real beast.
Beiye Ji declined: "How can I let you, a weak woman, enter the hunting grounds?"
Before Luo Wan could say anything, the guard who had just knelt down immediately promised loudly: "I will protect Miss Chi!"
After the snow melted, the hunting ground finally revealed its true appearance.
Dead trees are leaning, rotten leaves are piled up, and occasionally snow water drips from the branches, making a subtle sound in the silence.
Luo Wan followed behind the guards, watching them coldly as they pretended to search.
They did not explore carefully, but instead seemed to have a goal in mind and moved forward in a certain direction.
Soon, they stopped in front of a slope. A guard pulled a piece of indigo cloth from a tree branch and shouted, "Miss Chi, do you think this is the material for Master Chi's clothes?"
Luo Wan walked forward slowly, his eyes sweeping across the slope.
The slope was not steep, and the gravel and dead branches were sparsely distributed, obviously not enough to cause serious injuries.
As she reached the guard's side, she felt a sudden push on her shoulder. She suppressed her instinct to fight back and let herself roll down the slope.
This roll lasted longer than she expected.
When they finally stopped, there was dead silence all around, and they were far away from the center of the hunting ground.
Although she had made preparations in advance and protected the parts that were more vulnerable, the dead branches still left several fine scratches on her palms and arms, and her dress was covered in mud, making her look miserable.
Luo Wan stood up and brushed off the dead leaves stuck on her dress.
Instead of going out now and staring at Beiye Ji, it is better to wait until it gets dark before going out. You can also create the appearance that you have gone through a lot of hardships and successfully escaped death.
It is very consistent with her current identity as a naive and delicate young lady.
As for Chi Mingli's disappearance, it was most likely just a trick used by the prince's gang to trick her into entering the hunting ground.
A black fox flew past but was hit on the skull by a stone the moment it took off, and fell limply to the ground.
The boy who threw the stone walked over on the broken leaves, and the iron wristband on his wrist flashed a cold light when he picked up the fox.
When the boy saw her, his eyes froze for a moment.
Luo Wan was also surprised that Jiang Cichen was here. It was common knowledge that the princess's party and the prince's party were at odds with each other, but the prince set up a trap at the wild hunt he organized. Wasn't he afraid of arousing suspicion?
Luo Wan really wanted to gloat over someone else's misfortune.
After all, this person always targets her.
The young man said slowly: "Isn't Miss Chi the referee in the viewing platform?"
To complete the play, Luo Wan said, "Chi Mingli is missing. I'm here to find him."
Jiang Cichen said: "The one missing now should be you."
Luo Wan asked, "Why are you here?"
"This beast has been trained." He shook the dead fox in his hand, "It's specifically led to the west side of the hunting ground."
Luo Wan was about to ask further questions when the rotten leaves under his feet suddenly collapsed.
Jiang Cichen instinctively held her in his arms, and his body made a dull sound when it hit the wall of the pit.
The reason is simple: this is the aftereffect of fighting on the battlefield.
During the three years of the war, he always habitually protected those around him, but many people still died.
"Idiot." Jiang Cichen cursed inwardly.
The reason why the people in the hunting ground want to train foxes is self-evident. The prince invites the children of noble families to hunt in the wild under the pretext of praying for the country, and Jiang Cichen cannot refuse.
He also wanted to see if Bei Ye Ji had made any progress in his thinking after not seeing him for three years.
He originally thought that Bei Ye Ji would grow up a little smarter and learn how to train a fox to lure him here. He was just wanting to test the skills of the secret guards that the prince had trained over the years.
However, Beiye Ji still did not change his despicable behavior and tried to use a woman to clear his reputation and take revenge.
Both of them walked for a while on the west side and did not fall into the pit, but as soon as they got a little closer, the trap collapsed.
This trap was tailor-made for the two of them. The weight of one person was not enough to cause the trap to collapse, but when two people stepped on a trap at the same time, it would collapse.
He can't stay here much longer.
Otherwise, news that shouldn’t have been spread would have spread in the capital.
Jiang Cichen jumped out of the deep pit lightly, lowered his eyes and said, "I know you can come up."
Luo Wan looked up, her clothes were dirty, but her face was still so beautiful that it made people's hearts tremble.
The lips on her petite face opened and closed as she asked innocently, "What do you mean, Major General?"
Jiang Cichen said nothing more and turned and left.
The boy's back quickly disappeared.
This deep pit really couldn't stop her, but Luo Wan planned to follow her previous idea and wait in the hunting ground before going out.
She slowly took off her cloak, spread it in the corner, and sat down.
She hadn't slept much since last night, and she was really sleepy, so she thought of taking a nap with her knees crossed.
People have no sense of time when they are sleeping.
I don’t know how long it took, a short while or a very long time.
Half asleep and half awake, Luo Wan felt someone approaching.
A cloak covered her, and then she lost weight and fell into a warm embrace.
The scent lingering on my nose seemed to be something I had smelled somewhere before.
It was the night of the Lantern Festival at Shen Mansion, it was the pine trees after the snow, it was Jiang Cichen.
But unlike the beginning, the breath became softer.
He held Luo Wan in his arms, used his lightness skills to leap to the ground, and stood steadily.
"Stop pretending." His chest vibrated slightly when he spoke, making Luo Wan's ears numb.
Luo Wan opened her eyes slightly and looked directly at Jiang Ci Chen's well-defined jaw.
The sunlight shone through the shadows of the trees and fell on the side of his neck, outlining a sharp arc.
She suddenly remembered the look at Jinxicheng.
Finally, Luo Wan turned to something else: "Where's your fox?"
Jiang Cichen said calmly, "Throw it away."
“Why throw it away?”
"It's in the way."
The author has something to say:
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Hug, hug~ (Happy, happy, happy, happy. [Sprinkle flowers][Sprinkle flowers][Sprinkle flowers]
Due to their character design, these two have eight hundred tricks up their sleeves...
So I can only give candy in disguised ways [clown]
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