A discarded pawn
"Ha, how dare you hurt Little Prince Ning! Wait till tomorrow, you'll see what happens to you!"
"What? Didn't Yuanguo care about you? Why is there no one in this mansion?"
"Hey, he even hurt the young prince. He's so audacious. Could Yuan Nation even reach out to Chen Nation to protect him?! I'm afraid he's become a discarded pawn..."
The laughter of the young men rang out in the sunlight ahead. Across the wall, Jiang Jingyuan stood in the alley with his head lowered.
Most of his face was buried in shadow, a thin ray of light falling on a pair of eyelashes, which fluttered and blinked slowly in the shadows. Jiang Jingyuan's face was calm, expressionless, his dark eyes, still and silent, melted into the shadows, and it was unknown what he was thinking.
Amidst the laughter, a voice shouted angrily, "Our Highness doesn't have one! We have no idea where that cat came from! It was Young Prince Ning..."
“Bang!”
After a crisp sound, the outside of the wall suddenly became quiet.
"You're just a servant, who told you to speak?" A young man said coldly, "You dare to mention Young Prince Ning? How audacious! Are you planning to mention Young Prince Ning..."
"Snap!" Another crisp sound.
"Have you lost your mind? How dare you speak nonsense here? Go and get punished." The familiar voice sounded faintly. He said calmly, "The servant is unruly. It is my fault for not disciplining him properly. However, the matter of Prince Ning has not yet been investigated. How can you, the young masters, bypass the Imperial Court and directly convict me?"
Finally, he said with a sigh, "Oh, I forgot, your fathers were all important officials in the court of Chen State..."
"Ha..." The young men were instantly furious, but after a few moments, they let out a mocking laugh. "As expected of a useless person sent here as a hostage. Just to satisfy their momentary desire for a verbal blow, they dare to make irresponsible remarks about our internal affairs."
Jiang Jingjian chuckled. "What am I talking about? Is it that you gentlemen didn't come to me today to tell me I'm guilty? Or are your fathers not important officials in the court? It's just something that everyone knows, so how can it be called talking nonsense?"
He sighed, "Before I came to Chen Country, I had no idea that the people of Chen Country could only keep their mouths shut and keep their eyes out."
"Nonsense! When did our Chen country become like this?!" In front of the mansion, several young men glared at him.
Jiang Jingjian's expression remained unchanged. He raised his eyelids and glanced at them coldly, his lips curled. "Didn't you, the young masters, just now rebuke me for accusing me of discussing the internal affairs of the court by stating that your fathers were officials?"
“When did we say that?!” Several young men’s faces turned pale.
Jiang Jingjian didn't want to bother with them anymore. He said lightly, "I've learned a lot today," and turned to walk towards the mansion.
"Hehe...hehe, you are worthy of being the abandoned child sent by Yuan Country, you just know how to act crazy and stupid!" A young man said with a distorted face and gritted teeth.
"Isn't it? If he wasn't an abandoned child, why would they be willing to send him as a hostage?"
"I wonder how long you can be so arrogant. A discarded child is destined to be a discarded child. Even if you can leave Chen Country, you will die in Yuan Country!"
"Humph, I'm afraid no one expects you to come back."
Ahead, a young man in white, who was about to step into the mansion gate, stopped. In a place where no one could see, his face darkened for a moment, then he turned and smiled at the young men behind him, "I was exchanged as a hostage with the Crown Prince of Chen State. I am a pawn, how can I be exchanged for a pawn...
"What is it again?"
Hearing this, the faces of the young men instantly turned ugly.
Jiang Jingjian said with a smile, "I am in Chen Country, and the crown prince of Chen Country is in Yuan Country. You say I am a discarded child and no one expects me to return to Yuan Country. I wonder...how do you think of the crown prince of Chen Country, who is in the same situation as me?"
As he wished, he saw the faces of several people in front of the mansion gate turn pale. Jiang Jingjian smiled, turned around and walked into the mansion gate.
The heavy door of the mansion made a muffled sound and slowly closed.
The lips of several people in front of the mansion moved.
In the alley across the wall, a ghostly figure in white turned around and left silently.
…………
The next day, early morning.
A girl in white walked out of the inn. Her face was pale, with a faint blue under her eyes and a few faint bloodshot streaks in her eyes - it was obvious that she did not get enough rest last night.
Jiang Jingyuan was not surprised at the mess in his mind.
She walked slowly on the street, taking bites of the snacks she bought on the street. Her eyes sometimes looked blankly at the street scene in front of her, and sometimes stared thoughtfully at the stone road under her feet.
She had mustered up the courage to go find Jiang Jingjian yesterday, but the situation was a bit awkward, so she thought about avoiding him for the time being... As a result, she retreated until now and started to waver again.
She felt that even if she waited until today to go, Jiang Jingjian would still be able to tell at a glance that she had seen what happened yesterday... If Jiang Jingjian knew that she had seen his situation in Chen Kingdom, he would be very upset...
People are weird.
When faced with suffering and injustice, people can remain calm, even indifferent. But when someone who knows the situation points it out and offers comfort, even the strongest person can't help but choke up and cry, half moved and half ashamed...
Jiang Jingyuan is usually distant and cold to others, and doesn't say a word unless necessary. If she really faces Jiang Jingjian crying, she will be at a loss and her face will just freeze there, right?
"Should I go find him or not..." Jiang Jingyuan was frantic, feeling that the snack in his hand was bland and tasteless.
But if she were to leave immediately, she would feel reluctant even though she had already come this far.
"Forget it, let me just walk around first." Jiang Jingyuan thought, and walked forward with the crowd.
Under the faint hazy sunlight, the wind blew with the lingering coolness of last night.
Jiang Jingyuan unconsciously wandered around in the streets and alleys. When she came to her senses, she found herself standing on an unfamiliar and deserted street that had not yet become lively.
She looked up and saw that the pedestrians in front of her stopped for a moment at one place, then looked back in that direction as they walked. Jiang Jingyuan walked forward curiously.
Five or six middle-aged women half-surrounded a woman in plain clothes who was slumped over on a straw mat. The woman raised her hand and covered her face with her sleeve, revealing only a pair of dark eyes filled with glistening tears. One by one, bean-sized tears silently slid down from the corners of her red eyes.
When the wind blew, her body trembled, which immediately made the aunties beside her feel distressed: "Oh, my dear girl, don't cry! The wind is so strong, if you get sick, won't it be like those evil people's wishes come true!"
The woman in white wiped her tears, her voice soft but a little hoarse, "Thank you, Auntie, I'm fine... I really have no other choice. I can't find where those people are. I can only wait here on the street..."
"Silly children, those people just want to starve you two silly children to death. How can you trust them?" said an old lady with great heartache.
The woman in plain clothes sobbed softly, her whole body shivering with cold. She didn't respond, but choked out a sob and said, "Auntie, it's okay. You guys go first, Auntie. Don't let them see you."
"Why should we be afraid of them?" An old lady waved her right fist fiercely, looking very disappointed. "My dear daughter, don't believe them. We will take you two to the clinic!"
"Yes, yes, they just don't want you two to live. You can't trust them!" Several other aunties and several people who stopped by echoed.
The tears welled up in the eyes of the woman in white when she heard this. She said, "Dad is missing, Mom is dead, my aunt brought the three of us children all the way here, my brother jumped into the well, and my aunt is also missing. Now it's just my brother and I left. Without their permission, how can we survive?"
She said, "They claimed to be relatives of my father's clan, and under the pretext of helping us, they sent us all the way to the capital, only to harm us at every turn. Now that we're the only two left, we still don't know who they are, and there's no such family in the capital... They're so terrifying, where can we escape to?"
As she spoke, she couldn't help crying out loud: "We can only beg them here! A'di is still young, as long as he can survive, it's enough!"
"Oh my, oh my, you can't say such things!" Several aunties suddenly became anxious and frantic, not knowing what to do. "Pooh, pooh, pooh, you can't say such unlucky words, my dear girl! They are hiding their heads and showing their tails, they are just a bunch of cunning little rats, how can you beg them? The aunties will take you to the clinic!"
The woman cried and shook her head: "We've been there! The clinic wouldn't even let us in!"
"This, this..." Several aunties and passers-by were suddenly speechless.
An old lady gritted her teeth and said, "Then we'll take you to Baiwen Tower! Baiwen Tower won't be intimidated by those people!"
"We can't afford to go to Baiwenlou..." The woman shook her head and burst into tears. "And when I arrived in Beijing today, I heard that Baiwenlou... is closed..."
"this……"
Everyone gaped, speechless. For a moment, the only sound on the street was her low, melodious sobs, drifting away on the wind.
Jiang Jingyuan, who was passing by, listened and turned his gaze. Only then did he notice that behind the woman there was a straw mat with a motionless short figure covered with a quilt.
"Everyone passing by, please take a look at these two poor children! It doesn't matter how much help you can give, at least don't let these two children go hungry!" An old lady suddenly shouted to the passers-by on the street.
The others also came back to their senses and said, "Yes, yes, it's not easy for these two children to come all the way to the capital!"
Amidst the shouting, two women bent down to comfort the woman in white on the straw mat, saying, "Don't be afraid, we're all very kind people here! Don't be afraid, no matter what, I'll take you to the inn later. Sleeping outside in the open air won't be good for either of you! Hey, don't refuse like that! Your brother is injured and can't move, so we must find a place to take care of him!"
The woman in white was crying and wanted to refuse, but when she heard the old lady's last words, she bit her lower lip and looked hesitant.
The two ladies breathed a sigh of relief and smiled: "That's right, it's more important than anything else to take care of you two first!"
A few older women who were explaining the situation to passersby turned around and grinned at her. Not far away, another older woman hurried over with a smile and handed her a glass of water: "Hurry, drink some water, don't get sick from exhaustion."
The woman in white was so moved that her eyes welled up with tears. "Thank you, Auntie..."
Just when the atmosphere on the street was harmonious, a hoarse, old voice suddenly laughed out loud: "Silly, silly."
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