Just as Tang Ning was questioning the system's favorability rating for her last target and was filled with surprise, He Lanruo, who was walking beside her, suddenly pointed to the left front and said, "Look there, there are a lot of people gathered there. Shall we go and take a look?"
Upon hearing his words, Tang Ning subconsciously looked up in the direction he was pointing. Before she could even reply, He Lanruo casually grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the left front.
As she ran, Tang Ning made a point of subtly glancing at the spot where Situ Yin had just been standing.
Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, the last target, who had been standing with bright red characters above his head, completely disappeared.
Tang Ning didn't care too much about this, after all, meeting the other party was inevitable, and there was no rush. However, the appearance of Situ Yin had given her a good opportunity.
Thinking of this, and looking at Helan Ruo beside her still chattering away, Tang Ning smiled sweetly.
It was as if a sweet feeling had instantly warmed Helan Ruo's heart.
Most importantly, when he took Tang Ning's hand, she showed no intention of pulling it away.
What does this tell us?
He Lanruo's hand tightened slightly, but she controlled the force appropriately, so that Tang Ning did not feel any discomfort.
After that, the two of them strolled hand in hand through the streets of the capital in a completely natural manner.
Because it snowed the day before yesterday and the weather was very cold, the roofs of the houses on both sides of the road were covered with a thin layer of snow. In some alleys that people don't walk around much, there were even a few cute little snowmen built by naughty children.
Tang Ning couldn't help but smile, her eyes crinkling with laughter.
Tang Ning smiled, and He Lanruo naturally smiled along with her.
But after a short while, Tang Ning was eager to go and see the North District. After all, it was already incredibly lively there on ordinary days. She couldn't imagine how lively it would be during the Lantern Festival.
When Tang Ning arrived in the North District, she truly witnessed what it meant to be bustling and crowded. Although the city's roads were wide enough, they couldn't accommodate so many people eager to join in the fun, and the whole way was extremely congested.
Therefore, Helan Ruo carefully protected Tang Ning, who was walking beside him and wearing a white veil, almost completely shielding her in his arms.
After walking for a while, they finally met in an alley next to a brothel called Chunhonglou, and one of them couldn't help but laugh.
She had barely chuckled twice when Tang Ning's shoulder was suddenly bumped hard by a short woman carrying a child who hurriedly walked past her.
"hiss."
She instinctively gasped.
He Lanruo immediately grabbed the woman.
"Hey, wait a minute, what's wrong with you? You hit someone and didn't even apologize?"
He Lanruo was somewhat displeased.
Upon hearing Helan Ruo's rebuke, the woman seemed to be startled. Then, she revealed a sorrowful and aged face to the two of them, and, filled with fear and panic, she held the child and bowed repeatedly to them, saying, "I'm sorry, Madam, I... I was in such a hurry just now and didn't see you. Please forgive me, Madam!"
She said this timidly.
But in an instant, his short body seemed even smaller, and the wrinkles on his face were as deep as dried orange peel.
Seeing that she looked like she was about to cry, Tang Ning immediately tugged at He Lanruo's sleeve, "Alright, Zichu, I'm fine, let her go."
Hearing Tang Ning's gentle voice and seeing the pitiful look on the woman's face as she held the child, He Lanruo frowned slightly before casually waving her hand and letting the woman go.
In the blink of an eye, the other person hugged the child tightly in their arms, and after leaving the alley, they disappeared without a trace, like a fish entering the water.
"They run pretty fast."
He Lanruo whispered something.
Just as the two turned around, Tang Ning suddenly reached out and grabbed He Lanruo's arm. "Wait, Zichu, did that woman look like someone who could afford to buy gold anklets for her child?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the two of them immediately looked at each other.
kidnapper.
He Lanruo immediately turned around and was about to chase after him, but after taking two steps, he stopped and looked back at Tang Ning, who had a worried expression on her face.
"Go quickly! I'll wait for you here. I'm not going anywhere else. Don't worry about me, hurry and chase after them!"
Tang Ning, who could tell at a glance what Helan Ruo was hesitating about, immediately said this.
After hearing her words, Helan Ruo left without looking back, saying, "Okay, then wait for me!"
Fortunately, the woman carrying the child had short legs, and there were many people on the road, so they reacted quickly enough. Helan Ruo only chased after her for a short distance before catching up with the woman carrying the child and walking very fast.
She subdued the woman immediately, snatched the child away, and disregarded the wailing woman and the strange looks from those around her. Helan Ruo directly opened the tattered cloth bundle wrapped around the child, revealing the fine silks and satins worn by the sleeping child and the large golden longevity lock hanging around his neck.
Looking at the child's attire and the woman's emaciated appearance, the onlookers could easily tell that she was clearly a kidnapper.
Anyone with children at home has always despised child traffickers.
Sure enough, the woman, realizing the situation was turning against her, didn't even have a chance to escape before being pinned to the ground by the angry crowd around her, letting out a pig-like scream.
In the end, worried about Tang Ning being alone, He Lanruo handed the female kidnapper and the child she had snatched over to the city guards who were on patrol, and hurriedly ran back to the alley where he had parted ways with Tang Ning.
The more he ran, the more panicked he became, and he even started to regret it.
The North District is so chaotic, how could he leave Tang Ning alone in such a remote alley? So what if he's a kidnapper? So what if someone else lost their child? If he causes anything to happen to Tang Ning because of this, he could die a thousand times over and still not make up for it.
If he had known this would happen, he should never have brought Tang Ning to this chaotic northern district. No, he should have listened to his mother from the beginning. No matter how much Tang Ning begged him, he should not have softened and taken her out of the mansion.
With such mixed emotions, panting heavily, Helan Ruo immediately ran to the alley she had been in before.
Then--
He stared at the empty alley, and his heart sank.
Extreme panic instantly swept over him.
Tang Ning, Tang Ning, Tang Ning...
Didn't we agree to stay here and wait for him, and not go anywhere else? Didn't we already agree on that?
He Lanruo's fingers trembled uncontrollably. Standing at the alley entrance, he suddenly turned around, his eyes blank and anxious as he looked at the crowd coming and going on the street, wishing that Tang Ning would appear in front of him immediately.
The man's breathing grew heavier and heavier as he took heavy steps into the crowd.
Only when He Lanruo, her face pale, reached the Chunhong Building did she hear a heavenly voice ring out behind her.
"Zichu!"
The call had barely faded when hurried footsteps approached, followed by a gentle tug on his sleeve. "You're back so soon? How did it go? Did you catch the person? Did you find the child? I was waiting for you in that alley, but as soon as you left, a few men with suspicious eyes walked by. I got scared and came out of the alley. Standing in a crowded place made me feel much better! What's wrong? You look terrible. Did you not catch the child? Or what…"
Before Tang Ning could even finish speaking, He Lanruo immediately reached out and pulled her into her arms without any regard for her feelings.
Tang Ning, who was a little dazed from being hugged, suddenly widened her eyes, but she quickly realized that the two of them were standing on the street. Even if they were husband and wife, it would be so embarrassing to be seen by others.
Tang Ning immediately began to struggle violently.
"Zichu, what are you doing? This is the street, please let go of me! I feel... I feel so embarrassed... Everyone's watching us..."
Tang Ning blushed and said this in a soft voice.
She had barely finished speaking when, whether Helan Ruo took her words to heart or not, he slowly released his embrace, took her hand, and silently walked out.
Still somewhat confused about what was wrong with the other person, Tang Ning could only quickly take steps to catch up with them.
Unexpectedly, just as she rounded a bend, Tang Ning wasn't paying attention and bumped into someone again.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
After hastily leaving behind only these words, Tang Ning was pulled along by He Lanruo and continued walking forward.
"So, are we going back to the manor now?"
After apologizing to the black-clad man with a blue face and fangs who she had bumped into, Tang Ning asked He Lanruo beside her with a reluctant tone.
But she didn't notice that the man she had just bumped into only took two steps forward before stopping abruptly and turning around.
Unfortunately, they met in a narrow alley, and the woman who had accidentally bumped into him was nowhere to be seen.
At this moment, another masked man walking beside the man in black saw this and hurriedly bent down to ask, "Master, what's wrong...?"
The moment the eunuch's soft voice rang out, the man shoved him aside and chased after him in disbelief.
But when he chased after her, there was no trace of the woman who had bumped into him on the street.
Seeing this, he even pushed aside the crowd blocking his way because he was annoyed.
Unfortunately, all they got were complaints and annoyance from these people. No matter where they were, they couldn't find the woman from before.
Therefore, Situ Yin clenched his fists tightly, looking at the crowd of people packed in front of him, and that violent and bloodthirsty impulse resurfaced in his heart.
He hadn't felt that relaxed in over a decade.
Ever since he was drugged with the Beauty Fragrance, his mind had never been as relaxed as it had been just now.
Even with beautiful women by his side and even with medicine specially prepared for him by the imperial physician, his headaches from then on were only divided into two types: severe pain and mild pain.
Just now, when he accidentally caught a whiff of the scent of the woman who had bumped into him, he finally rediscovered a peace he hadn't felt in over a decade—a peace so profound that it even caused him to momentarily lose his composure. By the time he came to his senses, the woman had vanished.
Situ Yin, who stood motionless, closed his eyes.
The chief eunuch, who had hurriedly chased after his master from the alley, saw him standing by the roadside. After a moment's hesitation, he cautiously approached and respectfully asked, "Master, are you... not going to Chunhong Pavilion?"
"Hmm."
Behind the mask, Situ Yin replied indifferently.
Upon hearing this, a hint of surprise flashed across the chief eunuch's eyes. No one knew better than him how much His Majesty anticipated that Persian beauty. Why did he suddenly choose not to go in after they had already gone downstairs? What was going on?
Then he discovered that their Emperor Situ Yin not only refused to enter the Chunhong Pavilion, but also immediately dispatched his secret guards to search the entire capital for a woman in yellow with a white veil and almond-shaped eyes.
As soon as news of Situ Yin's secret guards being mobilized reached the capital, officials from all sides, whether they had something to hide or not, hid at home trembling with fear.
After all, the last time this wise and mighty emperor mobilized his mad dog-like secret guards was when he was purging the faction of the late emperor's concubine. Those days were truly a time of bitter tears. The high-ranking officials of the court were almost scared like quails by those secret guards. After all, these people had almost wiped out the entire Situ royal family under the orders of Crown Prince Situ Yin. Moreover, each of them was extremely skilled in martial arts and was unstoppable when they did things.
Even the General Zhennan, who was on par with General Qin at the time, was able to take the heads of thousands of soldiers, let alone these civil officials who were powerless to even kill a chicken.
It can be said that, for a time, apart from the ignorant common people who were still enjoying their lively Lantern Festival, the mansions of the major officials in the capital were already as quiet as chickens. Not only were the lanterns extinguished early, but if the younger generation in the family cried, they would only be slapped by these elders without any explanation.
Even worse, some have already started writing confessions overnight, thinking that if they can escape this calamity tonight, they will never do anything corrupt or bribery again. They are scared, really scared, sob sob.
Tang Ning, who was completely unaware of this, immediately removed the red ghost mask from her face and made a frightening ghost face as soon as Situ Yin's figure disappeared into the alley.
Unfortunately, Helan Ruo was not frightened by her; on the contrary, her expression seemed to become even more serious.
Seeing this, Tang Ning, though unaware of what she had done wrong, immediately put down the demon mask, took He Lanruo's hand, and gently shook it while whimpering, "Okay, okay, it's all my fault, I did something wrong, please don't be angry, okay? You're scaring me so much, I... I'm about to cry..."
As she spoke, she pretended to let go of her hand, covered her eyes, and made a crying gesture with her little shoulders trembling.
Seeing her stealing glances at him while crying, and not a single tear after crying for so long, Helan Ruo was both amused and exasperated. Although his heart was still pounding, he couldn't bring himself to be angry with her at all.
Meanwhile, when Tang Ning saw He Lanruo smile, she immediately stopped pretending, put her hand down, and reached out to grab his hand with a grin. "Haha, you smiled. Smiling means you're not angry, and not being angry means you're happy, right?"
Hearing her say that, Helan Ruo let out a deep breath and said helplessly, "Yes, yes, you're right. I'm happy, I don't know how happy I am."
"Hahaha……"
Seeing his soulless and perfunctory attitude, Tang Ning couldn't help but burst out laughing.
With her laughing so happily, how could Helan Ruo possibly hold back? She also started laughing along.
After laughing, he took Tang Ning's hand and, without thinking about taking her to the lantern festival, headed straight for the Duke's mansion.
"You're not allowed to leave without saying goodbye again, understand? I get really worried."
"I know, it won't happen again next time."
"There will be a next time?"
"No next time, I promise there won't be a next time! So, are we going back now? But we still have so many places to visit!"
"I'm not going to shop anymore. If we do it again, you'll scare me to death. Besides, we snuck out. If our mother finds out, the consequences will be unimaginable!"
Well, the unimaginable consequences came. The two tried the same trick again, preparing to climb back over the wall they had climbed over at dusk. However, Helan Ruo, who had sent Tang Ning in first, had just jumped down the wall and hadn't even had a chance to smile when she was caught red-handed by the Princess who had been waiting there.
Meanwhile, Tang Ning, who had entered earlier, had already huddled against the wall, trying to minimize her presence.
The consequence of being caught was that Helan Ruo was forced by the eldest princess to kneel alone before the ancestral tablets on the second day of her marriage.
They said they had to kneel for three hours before they were allowed to return to their rooms.
It's already the hour of Hai (9-11 PM), and if they really kneel for three hours, they'll probably be kneeling until midnight.
You should know that Helan Ruo hadn't eaten anything all evening except for a candied hawthorn outside. Tang Ning, who hadn't been blamed by the princess, was about to plead for her when Helan Ruo gave her a look that stopped her.
In the end, only one person could kneel before the memorial tablet, while the other was led away by her mother-in-law with a smile to eat bird's nest.
About fifteen minutes later, with a creak, the door of the ancestral hall was suddenly pushed open from the outside. He Lanruo, who was sitting cross-legged on the prayer mat, was immediately startled and quickly changed to a kneeling position.
He only turned around abruptly when a soft thud sounded behind him. He then saw Tang Ning standing in the doorway with her back to the light, holding a red lacquered food box in one hand and a silver fur cloak in the other, smiling at him.
"How could you..."
Startled, Helan Ruo's voice was too loud, so he quickly lowered his voice and asked again, "Why did you come here?"
Upon hearing his question, Tang Ning first quietly closed the ancestral hall door, then walked to He Lanruo's side with the things in her hands. "You didn't eat anything last night, how could you kneel for three whole hours? I stole some food for you from the kitchen, there are chicken legs, abalone and a bowl of bird's nest, they're all warm, take advantage of the fact that no one is around now and eat a couple of bites!"
As she spoke, Tang Ning placed the food box beside Helan Ruo and unfolded the silver fox fur cloak in her hand. "Put on the cloak too, and don't move. Why isn't there any charcoal burning here?"
“Normally, no one comes here except for the old lady. Now, she even finds it too cold to chant sutras here and hides in her room to do so. How could she possibly burn charcoal?”
He Lanruo said with a smile.
"It's all my fault. If I hadn't encouraged you to take me out to play, Mother wouldn't have punished you by making you kneel before the ancestral tablet!"
Tang Ning looked remorseful.
"How can I blame you? I'm not a child anymore. I didn't just act impulsively after your encouragement. It's mainly because I wanted to go out and play. Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. I'm starving. You can eat all of this, right?"
"Of course, I brought it for you! Eat it quickly, or your stomach will feel uncomfortable if it gets cold."
"good!"
"How is it? How does it taste? I've tried them all, and I only brought them to you because I thought they tasted good!"
"Mmm, delicious!"
"hey-hey……"
He Lanruo's current favorability rating: 95.
Meanwhile, outside the ancestral hall, the eldest princess looked through the crack in the door at her son wolfing down his food, and Tang Ning sitting beside him, smiling as she watched him eat. The corners of her mouth immediately turned up in a wide smile.
Because Tang Ning left early, Situ Yin, who had been busy all night but had gained nothing, sat on the dragon throne, his eyes slightly lowered as he looked at the guards who were kneeling in neat rows, and closed his eyes.
That fleeting glimpse was far too brief, especially since the woman was veiled. In such a vast capital city, finding such a woman was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
Situ Yin frowned slightly, then opened his eyes again as if recalling something.
Back to the manor?
If he remembered correctly, the woman seemed to have said those three words.
In the house.
If he wasn't mistaken, this woman was very likely from the household of one of the officials, high or low, in the capital. After all, the gold hairpin she wore was something an ordinary family couldn't afford.
So--
"Wenrang, pass down the order that a Spring Festival banquet will be held in the palace in three days. All officials in the capital must be invited to attend with the women in their families. Remember, all of them."
Situ Yin gave these instructions to his personal eunuch.
Since no empress has been appointed in the harem yet, the female guests at the so-called Spring Festival banquet could only be received by Princess Qingping.
It can be said that Situ Yin's sudden banquet, which left everyone with little time to prepare, almost turned the entire capital upside down.
The officials below were filled with fear, panic, and dread.
After all, this man had recently released his group of secret guards to roam around. Who knows if this Spring Festival banquet was a trap? Several ministers were so frightened by Situ Yin's unusual behavior that they developed a fever that very night.
"The Spring Festival Banquet? Am I going too?"
Upon hearing Princess Qingping's instructions, Tang Ning pointed to her nose in surprise.
"Of course, you're my daughter-in-law, so naturally I'll go."
Princess Qingping replied with a smile.
"Really? I've never been to the palace before!"
Tang Ning looked on with anticipation.
Author's Note: Tang Ning: I've never been to the palace before! [Looking forward to it!]
Situ Yin: Now that you're here, don't leave!
He Lanruo: ...
[No face swapping, no face swapping, no face swapping! I'm saying it three times because it's important!]
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