accommodate
Youguan Mansion
It was the second night after she went to Zuihualou when she received the message about Jiang Nian from the coachman.
The coachman arrived at the Youguan mansion and saw that in such a big mansion, apart from the busy servants, the only person who could borrow the letter was Xiao Yingzhu, so he gave the letter containing the information to Xiao Yingzhu.
After completing the task, he slipped away.
—
After receiving the letter from the coachman, Xiao Yingzhu was not in a hurry to open it. She first went to the information room.
There were half as many soldiers inside as yesterday. They were sent to investigate the villagers of Qixia Mountain, and to take over with Yu He's subordinates to investigate the route that Lu used to transport the "Witch" back then.
The grass in Qixia Mountain and those who used idols to cheat children and money can all be called witches.
At first they thought that witches only meant people who could make powders that could make people sick.
But now it seems to be just a general pronoun.
While busy, Buqu saw Xiao Yingzhu coming in from outside and immediately straightened his expression.
"Duke Xiao."
Xiao Yingzhu never liked to listen to those who spoke in a long-drawn-out tone and with a lot of polite words, so she often raised her hand to interrupt others before they could start to flatter her.
Over time, these troops became aware of Xiao Yingzhu's habits.
Xiao Yingzhu looked in the direction of the voice, her eyes calm and composed.
"Where did he go?"
The only person Xiao Yingzhu would ask here was Qin Lan, so Buqu immediately answered, "After visiting Commander Yu yesterday, I followed Commander Yu's men to the border that evening."
…
The speed is unexpectedly fast.
The envelope in Xiao Yingzhu's hand was made of rough paper, not as good as the previous documents. Bu Qu had sharp eyes and caught a glimpse of the letter in his hand when he answered.
Thinking that perhaps someone from other places had sent new clues, the most likely person was Jiang Nian in Zuihualou, a little curiosity suddenly arose in his heart.
Miss Jiang has only been gone for one day...and already the information has come in?
The speed is too fast.
Xiao Yingzhu keenly observed the doubts and restlessness emerging from the subordinates in front of him.
Considering that he had witnessed with his own eyes the childlike noisiness of Qin Lan's subordinates during their previous conversation, he pretended not to see it and ignored the other party's emotional feedback.
"Um."
He responded lightly, turned around and walked towards the door of the information room.
Originally, he just wanted to see if Qin Lan had set off. Now that he has left, he can set off in a few days.
Thinking in his heart how to make the next plan more efficient, Xiao Yingzhu ignored the somewhat lost and accusing looks of his subordinates, turned a corner, and his figure disappeared on the window paper of the information room.
There was silence in the data room for a moment. A few soldiers who pretended to be busy with their work raised their eyebrows. When they saw Xiao Yingzhu leave completely, the room suddenly became lively and bustling.
"What did Duke Xiao hold in his hand just now? Did you see it? Did you see it?"
"...I want to know how far along Miss Jiang and Duke Xiao are in their relationship. Why are they doing things at the same speed?"
"If this is really the information from Zuihualou, then we can return to Pingzhou in a few days. I really want to go back there to cultivate my character."
The officer who was talking to Xiao Yingzhu turned around with a dejected look on his face: "You guys don't even dare to glance at Duke Xiao—"
“I didn’t even notice this…”
Under the curious gazes of the other soldiers, the conversation soldier pretended to be sad and wiped away his tears.
"He didn't even bother to show us the intelligence."
"We have been completely isolated from the important clues!"
—
After returning to the courtyard, Xiao Yingzhu was in no mood to sit back in his study to work. Just like Qin Lan said goodbye to him yesterday, he sat on the ground by the corridor.
The letter paper was rough and the handwriting inside was not written by Jiang Nian.
Xiao Yingzhu paused for a moment as she flipped through the letter before unfolding it and reading it line by line.
"The 'fourth party' of the Huachao Society is most likely the young man You who follows the goddess. I will send a letter to you after verification. Also, I want to inquire about the news of the old man Xiaoxiang."
The letter paper paused here for a moment. The person who wrote the letter on behalf of Jiang Nian seemed to be recalling her original words. A few drops of ink fell on it, forming a flower.
"Also, how do you know that the goddess won't kill me immediately even if she knows my identity?"
Xiao Yingzhu's gaze lingered on the last sentence for a moment, then returned to the second sentence.
He lowered his eyes and looked at the letter for a while. The writer was busy with work and wrote hurriedly. He did not have the patience like Jiang Nian, who could write carefully with every stroke and pay great attention to the neatness of the writing.
But through just a few words, her figure appeared clearly in my mind again.
Xiao Yingzhu gently closed his eyes, stood up amid the sound of bamboo leaves, and walked towards the room behind him, which was already boring to him.
—
Zuihualou
After dinner, Jiang Nian took advantage of the fact that the other maids were scattered on the road due to their respective duties, and when the guests had not yet arrived at Zuihualou, she went to the board on the first floor and began to look through the records.
Because there are many pages of paper on the board, a thick stack, they are not changed very often.
Jiang Nian randomly picked up a stack of papers and flipped through them. He did this four times before he got to the first page.
It was August last year.
Exactly one whole year.
She browsed quickly and had a good memory, and the name "Goddess" was highlighted in red, making it particularly eye-catching.
So I just twisted the edge of the paper and turned it over. There weren't many places that could be marked in red.
After flipping through most of the book, Jiang Nian came to a conclusion.
During this year, the goddess only went out of Zuihualou once, when she convened a missionary meeting to spread the Wumi people's crow-worshiping ideology to the outside world, and she never went out again.
“…”
Ninety-nine percent of the time in a year, I stayed in Zuihualou.
Then……
Jiang Nian turned the page of the book back in disbelief and took a quick glance at it.
I stayed in Zuihualou to greet guests only seven or eight times.
You can even count them on one hand.
This is the business hours book provided to customers to see the geishas. It records who has the most and who has the least, except for the goddess, so that customers can make their own judgments.
But apart from this use, it is also an indicator used by Wu Mi Zhongli to judge whether the geisha has passed the assessment.
After all, we rely on them to make money. If they don’t work hard, where will the money come from?
Without money, how can we decorate Zuihualou and attract more customers?
Jiang Nian didn't want to stay here for too long. After making up her mind, she lowered her head, mixed in with the personal maids who were returning to their rooms, stood on the windlass, and prepared to return to her room.
While waiting for the windlass, the whispers of her personal maid beside her drifted into her ears.
"Have you heard? This afternoon...the goddess got really angry."
"Oh, I know. It seems the extraditionist was even punished!"
The people around heard the key words in the conversation and cast their eyes towards them.
The two men lowered their voices slightly before continuing, "I heard from the maid who went into the pavilion to clean the room for the goddess this afternoon that the extraditionist seemed to have done something he shouldn't have done without permission, and was therefore punished by the goddess."
"What shouldn't you do?"
"Eh, I don't know, but today... a maid passed by the tea room and seemed to hear the extraditionist and another adult arguing inside."
"Is that all? But I feel like even though the goddess' temper is a bit unpredictable, she treats the extradited person so well, she wouldn't get angry easily. Besides... that man and the goddess have been at odds for a long time."
The maid beside her echoed.
“That’s true. There are two factions in the pavilion. The other lord’s faction sometimes forces people to take sides.
I don't know where he got the nerve from. After being driven out by Dong Lan, he was like a stray dog. The goddess accepted him, but he didn't know what was good for him. Not only did he keep asking for more, he even wanted to get ahead of the goddess?
If this were a popular storybook, I'm sure that within a few chapters, that gentleman's head would be torn apart..."
A low chuckle came from the windlass. The sound was a little low, but it sounded a bit harsh, a bit like scratching a piece of glass, which was very easy to cause discomfort.
Jiang Nian stood beside the windlass with his head lowered. He didn't want them to notice him, so he didn't say a word.
Then they continued to talk about the extraditionist and the topics that interested them. The windlass just reached the third floor. Jiang Nian had no intention of listening and went straight back to the room.
—
The room remained as she had left it.
Although she knew that those people hated her and were afraid of the "case history" she made up on the maid's list, and that it was unlikely that they would risk their lives to run into her simple room to search for things, the doors of the rooms in Zuihualou could not be locked, preventing others from opening the door.
Therefore, Jiang Nian would check every time before returning to his room.
However, because the wooden box was custom-made, she was not worried that the things inside would be forcibly opened and checked.
After closing the door, Jiang Nian looked at the sky outside the window which was gradually turning orange and sighed softly.
Once the people at Youguan Mansion answered her questions, she would be able to fully understand the ultimate purpose of the goddess in causing this chaos.
Judging from the travel records written on the first layer of the notebook, she must be a person who stays in the top pavilion for a long time and does not talk to others.
One is to ensure the mystery of the goddess.
After all, it is a mascot created by the Wu Mi people at great expense. If it talks to people frequently, it will seem cheap.
Moreover, she knew too many things. If she accidentally let something slip, the sword hanging over her head and pressed against her neck would chop her head cleanly, separating her head and hiding other secrets forever in the unspeakable darkness of death.
Second, the goddess herself is a very suspicious person.
Jiang Nian didn't know if being suspicious was her nature, but judging by Xi Zhen's reaction when she mentioned her, and the relationship between Yu He and her...
Before being forced into the Wumi tribe, the goddess was probably not such a suspicious person. It was just that the environment she lived in broke her bones and shattered them, reshaping them into the appearance the leader wanted.
Now... I have already gone down this same path and there is no going back to the past.
Jiang Nian sat back at the dressing table and subconsciously wanted to take out a notebook to record the current clues. When he opened the drawer, his hand felt empty. Then he suddenly remembered that he was no longer in the Youguan Mansion.
“…”
Looking up and meeting his own gaze in the mirror, Jiang Nian suddenly felt a little confused.
Doesn’t the goddess want to escape?
Doesn't she want to leave the Wu Mi people?
…
The series of plans in front of her include the chaos she wants to cause in the future.
Is it for this freedom?
Without the information from Youguan Mansion, Jiang Nian didn't dare to draw too firm a conclusion.
She sighed, looked at herself in the mirror for a moment, and finally lowered her eyes in a daze.
The depressing atmosphere in the attic was palpable.
The goddess's skin was intact, but her insides... were in tatters.
Jiang Nian sometimes feels that he is too kind.
The goddess was clearly an enemy character, yet she actually empathized with them.
…
Some ideas are unsolvable when they come from the bottom of your heart.
Now she can't change anything. She can only adjust her mindset before the final moment comes and accept it with the most determined attitude.
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