advent
After returning to the Youguan Mansion, Jiang Nian took a short rest after his meal. After regaining some energy, he went to the information room as Qin Lan had instructed.
The information room was noisy and now it was much cleaner than before with all the messy letters on the floor.
But on the contrary, the place where nothing was placed before is now filled with scraps of clothes and fabrics.
According to Qin Lan, her clothes seemed to be half made, and before continuing to make them, she needed to confirm some minor details on the clothes.
Going to Zuihualou only requires a few things. As long as you hide them secretly and move around easily without being discovered by others, it will be fine.
The noisy troops in the distance saw her standing at the door of the information room and hurried over with scissors and some unknown scraps of cloth.
Glancing at the cloth in the soldier's hand that was clearly not his own, Jiang Nian blinked: "?"
As if knowing what she was wondering, the unit explained, "When the Wing Division came here to look for information about Meng Jian, they saw the design drawings of your clothing. Just as they were about to offer some suggestions, the Feather Division's unit also arrived."
"They were arguing with each other and were so divided that they just started making a demonstration for each other...in an attempt to convince each other."
Hearing the helplessness in the other party's words, Jiang Nian looked behind him.
The two soldiers from different departments were drawing something on each other's bodies with mosaic-like cloths, and occasionally other innocent cloths were bounced away during their argument.
In short, it was a chaotic mess.
Having no intention of participating in the fight between the two departments, Jiang Nian's gaze lingered on them for a moment, then naturally ignored them and looked further away.
There was a table over there, and on it were the clothes that Qin Lan had told her about.
Perhaps it was because the Wubu soldiers standing by the table had done their best to protect it, so it had not been affected by their dispute so far.
As if sensing Jiang Nian's gaze, the Wubu soldier raised his eyes blankly and looked towards her.
If the Intelligence Bureau did not have the troops of the Military Department, it would probably fall apart sooner or later.
Meeting his gaze, Jiang Nian gave him an apologetic smile, then turned to the guard beside him and nodded, saying, "I understand. I'll go check if there's anything about the clothes I need to check."
Thinking that the costumes of the maids in Zuihualou would not be that complicated, Jiang Nian carefully walked around behind the quarreling troops and a group of onlookers and stopped in front of the stage.
The first thing that catches your eye is the blackness of the whole thing.
Next, there is a plum blossom-like white pattern from the hem to the waist.
From a distance, it looks like an ordinary landscape painting. Only when you look closer can you see that underneath these plum blossom-like patterns, there are also complex calligraphy patterns hidden under them.
"These fonts are..."
The guard who was protecting the clothes from the quarrels among the guards turned his head, looked in the direction Jiang Nian pointed, and replied: "It is the symbol representing the Wu Mi people."
"This character is written in Donglan font, with complicated strokes. It is difficult to understand without expert deciphering."
"Similarly, only after understanding the meaning behind these characters can we write them in such a way."
Following Bu Qu's instructions, Jiang Nian took a closer look.
The dark patterns under the plum blossoms are so intricate that they are almost dazzling. The horizontal, vertical and diagonal strokes are all blended into the dark patterns and cannot be distinguished clearly. It seems that they were all drawn in one stroke from beginning to end.
"Then the rune on this dress is..."
The Wubu's troops were silent for a moment, recalling and considering something. After a while, they continued to answer, "I wonder if Miss Jiang has heard of the old man who came all the way from Xiaoxiang?"
Is he the one who moved from Xiaoxiang to Cangjun to settle down and repair the map?
Understanding what Jiang Nian hadn't said, the guard nodded and said thoughtfully, "I wonder what connection that old man has with Donglan. He knows some Donglan terminology, so we asked him to help."
Helped with it?
Jiang Nian's gaze lingered on the dark pattern for a moment, not delving into it any further. He nodded slightly and replied:
"I see. Then, your Pavilion Master told me that there are some parts of this clothing that need to be confirmed, where are they?"
Understanding Jiang Nian's meaning, Bu Qu didn't say anything more and simply showed her the cuffs and the lining of the clothes.
"After reviewing the design of the cuffs with you and the Pavilion Master, I added two more versions."
"One version is this detachable one, and one version is like this—"
He showed the hidden strap.
"These strings aren't meant to hide hidden weapons. Instead, Miss Jiang will use the information she received from the Goddess to pierce the string, leaving traces on the ground that only we can discern."
"We'll pick it up then."
Jiang Nian nodded in understanding and pointed to the detachable version.
"Is this for concealed weapons?"
The soldier picked up the hidden cloth bag that had not yet been put on the clothes, turned his wrist, and opened the bag.
The originally long bag suddenly became several times larger.
"Well, it is said that Miss Jiang only needs a fan and the bottle of incense we made earlier when she goes to Zuihualou, so we thought the capacity would not be too large, so we made these."
Jiang Nian reached out and took the item that Bu Qu handed to her, looked down at it, then took the perfume out of her sleeve and tried to put it into the bag.
After being folded several times, the original thickness of the perfume bottle is almost invisible, and when put into the sleeve, the weight does not even increase noticeably.
“!”
Surprised at the exquisite workmanship of the Wubu soldiers, Jiang Nian's pupils dilated slightly, and then he reached out to touch the item hidden in his sleeve, whose approximate location could only be determined by its position.
When my fingertips touched it, it was completely smooth. I brushed it all over, front and back, and didn't feel any bumps or bumps. It was even seamless. I couldn't imagine that a thick bottle of perfume had been stuffed here.
"How did you do that?"
They are really skillful with their hands.
The soldier shook his head and pointed at Jiang Nian's fan.
"Miss Jiang, would you like to try putting this fan into this pocket as well?"
The perfume was small in size, and the fan was much bigger than the perfume. Jiang Nian was curious about what it would look like after putting it in, so he nodded in agreement.
"Sure, give it a try."
In response to Jiang Nian's request, the soldiers disassembled the bag again, put the fan in it, and folded it in the same way as before.
Jiang Nian took a closer look.
I really didn't notice it at all.
"It's amazing, it's like magic."
After sighing, she hesitated between the two versions and said, "Can't we just store them together?"
Buqu showed a somewhat embarrassed expression: "It's not impossible, but the cuffs need some improvement."
Before Jiang Nian could say, "Is it too much trouble? How about forgetting it?", the officer, seemingly inspired by something, immediately made up his mind and said to her, "It's settled. Miss Jiang, please wait a little longer."
"We will definitely be able to present the most perfect answer before you go to Zuihualou!"
The man in front of him inexplicably mustered up more energy. Jiang Nian blinked. Although he didn't understand the other person's train of thought, he knew that such enthusiasm was a good thing. He nodded again in response:
"Well, thank you all for your hard work. After the matter is completed——"
Before he could finish the rest of the reward, the soldier in front of him narrowed his eyes and smiled.
"The Pavilion Master promised to give us each ten taels of silver as a reward, plus three days of rest."
Is this just empty talk?
—
I don’t know whether I should sigh at the simplicity of the soldiers’ wishes, or at the exquisite craftsmanship in their hands.
Jiang Nian slightly shifted his gaze, nodded, and smiled softly, "That's good. Is there anything else you haven't explained?"
Having said everything he wanted to say to Jiang Nian, Bu Qu shook his head honestly.
After receiving a definite answer, Jiang Nian thought that since he had nothing else to do, he might as well ask Qin Lan about the letter. He nodded politely and said, "Since there is nothing else, I will not disturb you from your work. I will take my leave first."
"Oh, okay, take care, Miss Jiang."
Puzzled by Jiang Nian's sudden anxiety, Bu Qu put the empty bag he had used in the demonstration back to its original place, staring blankly at her departing figure.
Jiang Nian passed by the troops who had just stopped to rest, and soon disappeared from their sight.
—
Birds were chirping outside the window, and the branches of the bougainvillea extended from the window into the room, revealing a corner of the branch.
Ai lowered his head and sat upright at the table, practicing the calligraphy of the Spring Festival couplets with a brush, stroke by stroke.
Yan, who was sitting nearby supervising, was flipping through a book he had found in the library. From time to time, he would look up at Ai to prevent her from dozing off at the table with her eyes closed and a brush in hand.
Qin Lan came out of the kitchen with a fruit plate and knocked on the door.
"I'm coming in."
Ai, who had half-opened his eyes and pretended to be practicing calligraphy, suddenly woke up and immediately regained his composure. He said calmly, "Pavilion Master."
Qin Lan didn't notice Ai's little movement, his attention was on Yan.
After placing the fruit plate on the table, he stared at the book in Yan's hand and asked doubtfully, "What book are you reading?"
Hearing the question, Yan turned around and revealed the cover of the book.
"I saw it in the library before. Because it had the same font as the one the Pavilion Master had before, I immediately asked Duke Xiao for it."
"......" Knowing that his subordinates loved to slack off, Qin Lan just sighed for a moment, then shook his head and let him go.
Then he turned to look at Ai, who was writing calligraphy to make up for his loss.
The atmosphere in the room was silent for a moment. Qin Lan's eyes fell on the three big words. Just as he was about to say something, a servant knocked on the door.
"Master, Miss Jiang said she wants to discuss something with you and is waiting outside."
Jiang Nian?
Anyway, everything Jiang Nian needs to do now has no clear connection with him. Did something else happen when she came to him at this time?
Qin Lan turned around beside Ai, stepped out, opened the door, looked at the attendant and said:
"No problem, please invite her in. We have some fruits here, you can invite her to enjoy them with us."
After receiving the order, the servant leaned forward, turned around and walked outside.
Yan, who was sitting in the corner of the room, looked up from his book and looked at Qin Lan: "Is Miss Jiang coming?"
Qin Lan turned his head, glanced at the book in his hand, and replied, "Yeah."
The sound of book pages closing was heard immediately. Yan adjusted his body and suddenly remembered something.
"Although what happened to Meng Yao later had no direct connection with Miss Jiang, but regarding Princess Qingping—"
"Will Pavilion Master inform her later?"
Previously, when dealing with Meng Yao's affairs, a woman who called herself "Yu" came to look for Princess Qingping.
However, given the current situation, Qin Lan chose to avoid answering her questions.
When Qin Lan met Yan's gaze, he also thought of Yu.
——She seems to have some connection with Xiao Yingzhu.
Thinking of the news about Princess Qingping that his subordinates brought back when they were tracking Meng Yao recently, Qin Lan nodded slightly.
"Yes, I will tell you all about this later after I finish dealing with Miss Jiang's affairs."
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