Chen Huaixu looked thoughtful. At first glance, the appearance of this woman was not out of place. From the fact that she rescued the girl who sold herself to bury her father, it could be seen that she was kind-hearted and intelligent.
The only thing that didn't make sense was how a weak, injured woman could have the courage to stand up? Didn't she consider that those bullies who dared to force people to buy and sell in broad daylight might have connections in the government?
As his thoughts turned, Shen Huaixu felt that he was paranoid. Perhaps the woman just wanted to take a gamble.
Thinking of this, Jiang Erlang, who had also looked thoughtful just now, spoke again, "Perhaps it's because she's overconfident. She didn't show any fear when facing those four burly men."
Hearing this, Shen Huaixu no longer hesitated and asked, "Second brother, do you know this girl's name? Where does she live?"
The Shangguan family has been quiet for long enough. It's better to arrest the wrong person than to let him go.
"My surname is Bai, my given name is Lan, and I live in the bamboo forest east of the city." Jiang Erlang blurted out.
"I will order someone to find out the origins of this person, don't worry, second brother. If you two are lucky enough to meet again, I hope you can be considerate and not alert the enemy." At the beginning, Chen Huaixu spoke seriously, but later he revealed a bit of sarcasm.
Before, her mother complained to her that her second brother was too serious and worried about his lifelong affairs. If this girl named Bai Lan did not have ulterior motives, she might have fallen in love with her second brother.
Jiang Erlang was stunned, his face flushed, a mixture of embarrassment at being teased and an undeniable bitterness. He tried his best to remain calm and not respond to the question, "If there really are so many coincidences, it only proves that my guess is correct. She's deliberately approaching me, and she must have ulterior motives."
Shen Huaixu stopped teasing and nodded in agreement, not continuing the topic. "There's not much time left before the results are announced. Are you nervous, second brother?"
Jiang Erlang shook his head absentmindedly, "Don't be nervous, what's meant to come will eventually come, I believe in myself."
The brother and sister talked for a few more words, and Jiang Erlang did not stay in the Xuanping Marquis Mansion for too long.
Before parting, he looked at Shen Huaixu's face and couldn't help but recall Ah Xu in the past. She was still very small at that time, but her eyes were large and bright. For various reasons, he became the only one who knew the secret. Perhaps because he was needed to cover up, Ah Xu also consulted with him on everything.
Many things happened later, and he could increasingly feel the difference between Ah Xu and them. This difference contained so many things that at one point he thought Ah Xu was an alien.
They walked side by side all the way, and he thought that he was always different in Ah Xu's heart, until Ah Xu found his biological father, and the gap between them suddenly became like a chasm.
Perhaps it was because he was too obsessed with protecting his family, or because he wanted to catch up with Ah Xu's footsteps, but at this age he accomplished what he had always dreamed of - passing the imperial examination and participating in the Spring Examination.
This should have been something worth celebrating, but his heart was unknowingly shrouded in a shadow of worry.
Ah Xu really treated him as his brother, which made him feel uncomfortable every time he thought about it.
His mind was full of complicated thoughts, but his face didn't show any of them. After a moment, he opened his mouth and said, "Ah Xu, can I talk to you alone?"
"Of course." Chen Huaixu felt strange, but still raised his hand to signal Xiaoman who was following behind him to stop.
Xiaoman took several steps back tactfully and stopped to wait.
"What does Second Brother want to say?" She thought Jiang Erlang had remembered some details and wanted to tell her.
Jiang Erlang stared at the girl in front of him, and after a while he whispered, "I once secretly decided that I must protect my family and you..."
Shen Huaixu was puzzled. It was not that she was nitpicking about the words, but the sentence was a little strange. Could it be that her second brother did not treat her as a family member?
"...Now it's you who's protecting us. There are many things I'm not aware of. If possible, you can tell me your plans and plots, and I can help you share your burdens."
His usually gentle eyebrows became hot, and they seemed real when they fell on my body.
Chen Huaixu's eyebrows twitched slightly, but his expression remained unchanged. "Brother, the disputes in the court are much more cruel than you think. I haven't told you and my parents some things in order to protect you. I hope you can understand that before you have power, you should not be too impatient. You know my abilities well. I don't need anyone to protect me. I can protect myself."
The heat in his eyes faded away, and after a while Jiang Erlang lowered his eyes and said in a hoarse voice: "Okay, I understand."
Looking at Jiang Erlang's departing back, the smile on Shen Huaixu's lips gradually faded, and his handsome eyebrows couldn't help but frown.
She had never noticed before that her second brother seemed to have a strange attitude towards her.
"What's wrong, miss? Did something happen?" Xiaoman walked forward quickly.
"What do you think of my second brother?" Shen Huaixu asked her.
Xiaoman paused, and although he was puzzled, he still said, "Second Young Master Jiang is as gentle as jade, worthy of the term 'zhilan jade tree'."
"What do you do to me?"
"I love and care for you very much."
Shen Huaixu continued to ask: "Is there any difference in how you treat me and Jiang Wei?"
Xiaoman did not answer immediately this time, but recalled the previous situations. The Second Young Master Jiang treated his two younger sisters very caringly. If there was any difference, perhaps the Second Young Master Jiang would sometimes criticize the young ladies of the Jiang family, but he had never spoken harshly to them.
After thinking for a while, Xiaoman could only come up with these. She said it out loud, and then she said curiously: "Miss, what you mean is..."
Shen Huaixu looked strange and walked back, "Nothing, Daddy should be back soon, go to the kitchen and see how the food is cooking."
Returning to his room, Chen Huaixu first called Shuangjiang to ask her to check Bai Lan's identity and suspicious aspects, and then he calmed down and thought carefully, wondering when Jiang Erlang stopped calling her "Little Sister" and started calling her "A Xu".
After brainstorming for a while, I finally gave up.
She really didn't care about such small details.
But what was certain was that she wasn't mistaken... She was speechless for a moment, then glanced at herself in the mirror. It wasn't a bronze mirror that distorted one's face, but a modern mirror. With the afterglow of the setting sun streaming in through the window, every detail was clearly visible in the mirror.
Her current body was only thirteen years old, though she had grown taller in the past two years, making her look slightly thinner. The face in the mirror combined the best features of Shen Su and Shen Tingrui, but the baby fat on her cheeks reminded her of her youth.
If Jiang Erlang realized that she was not her original self during their interactions with her, then it would be fine. Otherwise...
There was no other way. This was her moral bottom line. She still had to talk to Jiang Erlang.
"Chen Huaixu, why are you always looking in the mirror?"
Fu Yin's voice brought Shen Huaixu back to reality from his thoughts.
Shen Huaixu was startled by the sudden voice and almost jumped out of his chair. [Nothing.]
After calming down, she asked, "Have you decided when you will return to Beijing?"
"Yesterday, an imperial edict was delivered to the military camp, ordering us to set off for the capital in early March." Fu Yin paused and asked, "Chen Huaixu, do you have time to join in the fun?"
"It's no harm to join in your fun." Chen Huaixu's unconscious frown relaxed. "When you come back, I'll treat you to dinner at Song Jiao Lou!"
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