The Jiang family is a prominent family in Xuzhou, and all their contacts are with local powerful people. Wei Hanzhang grew up in the Jiang family, and she knows all the members of other big families in Xuzhou by heart, and she can recognize most of them.

His mind was quickly trying to determine who this person belonged to, but he did not forget to reply.

She bowed and said with a smile, "I came to the other courtyard with my sisters to have a small gathering. I remembered that I had buried a jar of wine in Cao's garden when I was young. I thought that this courtyard had no owner..."

At this point, Wei Hanzhang paused and apologized in a low voice: "It's my fault for coming here rashly."

The white-faced, beardless servant asked, "Where is the wine?"

Wei Hanzhang answered truthfully: "Under the cherry tree in Wei Tingxuan's courtyard."

The servant insisted: "Next door is the Jiang family's courtyard, which lady of the Jiang family are you?"

Wei Hanzhang recalled the words of dissuasion from the two maids. She hesitated slightly and said, "I will be the ninth one at home."

This is true. She is indeed the ninth in the Wei family. As for the Jiang family...

The youngest daughter of this generation of the Jiang family is Xiaowu, named Jiang Zhiyu, who is only seven years old this year.

If they are not relatives by marriage, few people would specifically inquire about how many daughters another family has, so there is no need to worry about revealing a flaw by saying this.

She had thought that after asking about her family background, this group of people would show her some courtesy, but unexpectedly the servant suddenly stepped forward, reached out his hand and took off her veil.

Wei Hanzhang was completely unprepared for such an abrupt treatment, and only reacted and turned his head away after the veil was taken off.

She was only dressed for home today, without a complicated bun, and with a simple jade hairpin on her head, without any other decorations. However, even the jade hairpin was knocked off by the servant's rude action of taking off her veil.

With a crisp sound of breaking jade, her favorite hairpin in recent times hit the bluestone bricks and broke into three pieces.

The girl was not very old, with her jet-black hair hanging down and her head slightly tilted to the side to avoid the view. The warm spring sun shone through the shadows of the trees onto half of her face. Her bright eyes were full of spirit, and she looked radiant and beautiful, shockingly beautiful.

For a moment, everyone in the field held their breath.

At this moment, surprise and anger flashed across these beautiful eyes. Wei Hanzhang raised his hand, revealing a piece of his jade-like wrist, and with a "snap", he slapped the stunned person in front of him with a loud slap.

"How outrageous!"

The customs of the dynasty were open-minded and women had high status. There were many noble ladies who rode horses and paraded in the streets in public.

But Wei Hanzhang was different. Since she was ten years old, her beauty became more and more beautiful day by day. The two elders of the Jiang family always told their precious granddaughter to wear a veil whenever she went out. Even some distant cousins ​​in the family found it difficult to see her true face.

Although Wei Hanzhang herself does not like to hide things, it does not mean that she is willing to be offended like this.

After a slap, Wei Hanzhang's fingertips trembled. She raised her eyes to look at the man standing in the pavilion and said coldly, "I don't know which family you are from. Your servants are so unreasonable. You must be well-educated."

The servant with the palm print on his head changed his expression and opened his mouth to scold him. The man on the pavilion raised his arm slightly and said, "Someone go get this girl some wine."

His voice was gentle, like a spring breeze, completely different from the arrogance of the servants below. Wei Hanzhang was slightly startled.

A big man holding a knife nearby bowed respectfully and agreed, then left.

"My servant behaved badly because I failed to discipline him properly. Miss, since you have punished him with a slap, are you willing to let it go?"

The man walked down the pavilion, his eyes on her face were cold, and she could clearly feel the aloofness from him when she got close to him, which made him look noble and elegant. He didn't look like a man who would raise a slave who would lift a girl's hood without permission. Wei Hanzhang was puzzled, but she didn't look afraid of him. She raised her eyes and looked at him, "What if I say I don't want to?"

When their eyes met, no one dared to breathe. Finally, the man lowered his eyelashes, avoided her gaze, and whispered, "What do you want?"

Wei Hanzhang remained silent. She had never punished servants severely before, so she had no idea what to do.

The spring breeze blew by, moving the branches and leaves of the crabapple tree nearby. Wei Hanzhang reached out and plucked a bunch of flowers, put them to her lips and sniffed them. The light floral fragrance blew away her shock and anger, and she suddenly felt that there was nothing to be angry about. She should be magnanimous and forgiven.

The girl's charming voice was as clear and pleasant as jade beads falling on a plate. The master and servant were stunned again.

The man glanced at her sideways, his eyes shining brightly. Wei Hanzhang kept a stiff face and let him look at her.

I have called him a lecher a thousand times in my heart! I must find out who this young man is after I go back. He looks decent, but why is he so arrogant? He can't take his eyes off beautiful women. He must have been married at his age, but he doesn't even know how to restrain himself.

Wei Hanzhang gently gathered her loose hair, which looked really messy. She turned around and was about to leave, but was stopped by someone behind her.

"You don't want your wine?"

"Your majesty is very great, I am afraid I am not worthy of it."

For a jar of wine, she even sacrificed her favorite jade hairpin. It would be better not to drink the wine.

The man also saw the broken jade on the ground, and his eyes darkened slightly.

The servant standing behind him bent his waist even lower.

Wei Hanzhang threw away the crabapple in his hand and left without any reluctance.

"...Wait." The man behind her said in a gentle and warm voice: "Girl, you should go through the main entrance."

Wei Hanzhang: “…”

In the end, she didn't leave the main gate. She went back through the main gate with her hair disheveled, which made Aunt Liu very worried.

He came back from the hole in the wall with a hunched back, empty-handed, and even lost a hairpin, which startled the two personal maids and made them ask all kinds of questions.

Wei Hanzhang said a few perfunctory words and returned to his room. When Luzhu was retying her hair, she asked in surprise, "Where is the jade pendant, young lady?"

Jade pendant?

Wei Hanzhang looked at her waist, which was empty. She didn't know where the jade pendant she had tied on was lost. She frowned slightly and said, "I'm so unlucky today."

"This was the birthday gift sent from the capital on your birthday last year. I'll go back and look for it. It may have fallen on the road."

Wei Hanzhang was about to speak when he heard several footsteps outside.

Jiang Zhiqin opened the curtain and walked in, saying softly, "Ranran, the concierge sent a message saying that there seems to be an emergency at home, and they want us to go back quickly."

…………

After Wei Hanzhang left, the servant who was slapped by her knelt down and apologized: "I acted on my own initiative, please punish me, Your Highness."

The man called His Highness did not speak. He looked at a corner of grass that was faintly visible on the edge of the wall not far away, and walked over.

Without waiting for the servants behind him to move, he personally bent down to pick up the warm jade, gently wiped the dirt off it with a handkerchief, and stared at the patterns carved on it: "Ran..."

The guard who was ordered to fetch the wine came over from a distance. He bowed and said, "Your Highness, there is indeed a jar of aged wine buried at the location the girl mentioned."

Next to the guard was a jar of wine that had just been unearthed and was still wet with mud.

The man turned around and glanced at her, then said calmly, "Send it to the Jiang family next door."

The spring breeze was gentle, and the pink petals drifted down with the wind. He stood there for a long time with his eyes lowered before he turned and left.

(End of this chapter)