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After saying goodbye to You, I walked towards the stairs. There was a section of the path where I could look up through the crisscrossing stairs above and see the door to the top floor.
Jiang Nian generally doesn't want to stay anywhere outside the room, as that would make her feel insecure.
But there weren't many maids or servants here at the moment, so she had some free time to breathe. She didn't feel any surveillance, either overt or covert, and it was so quiet that only the sound of breathing could be heard.
She looked up and saw that the door of the attic was always closed, with shadows covering the edge of the door frame. If it weren't for the decoration from the outside, it might have been mistaken for a place to store goods.
There is not much difference between mental shackles and physical shackles.
It's like a whole piece of the body is being eaten away by tiny, dense worms crawling up and bit by bit.
You can hear them devouring your spirit or the sounds of pain, but you are unable to take any action to save yourself. Any resistance will be met with cold violence or suppressed until your nerves become dull and numb and you can no longer feel any pain.
Jiang Nian was unable to stop others from making choices about their own lives. She could only watch them go to their respective end, just like passers-by.
If you stare at the top door for too long, you will feel a chill coming from the ground, extending upwards along your skin, strangling your neck and nose until you can't breathe.
Jiang Nian withdrew his gaze and walked down the stairs in silence until the door in his sight was blocked by other objects and he could no longer see it. The heaviness in his heart was relieved and he felt better.
—
Back in the room, she sat in front of the dressing table for a while, staring at her own reflection in the blurry mirror.
Mo Qing landed beside her silently and said softly, "Miss, I think there is one thing I haven't told you yet."
Jiang Nian was already used to these elusive secret guards, so he just turned around and asked, "What's the matter?"
"The Third Prince sent Commander Yu some cargo related to the Wu Mi people along the border transport route, but only Pavilion Master Qin and Commander Yu know what's inside. Do you want me to ask for you?"
goods?
The items sent at this time should be items that are conducive to the spread of the epidemic.
Jiang Niansi paused for a moment and asked, "Who has that batch of goods now?"
"Commander Yu."
Then there should be nothing for her to do.
"Let him handle it. After all, he's known for his impartiality, so he shouldn't make any strange choices."
Recalling Yu He's indifferent face, things about the connection between He and the goddess suddenly popped up in his mind. Jiang Nian paused for a moment, and an inexplicable worry suddenly surged in his heart, but quickly receded until there was no trace left.
In his sight, Jiang Nian's expression was stunned for a moment, as if hesitant to answer. Mo Qing looked away for a moment and asked, "Miss, what are you doubting?"
"......" Meeting Mo Qing's serious eyes, Jiang Nian paused, then shook his head and sighed, "Maybe I'm overthinking it."
The voices died down for a moment, and she remained silent for a while.
"Nothing else for now, wait a moment."
Mo Qing wanted to turn around and leave, looking for a place to laze around, but Jiang Nian called him back. He paused, turned around and smiled at her, "Miss, is there anything else you want to tell me?"
I previously sent a secret guard to the fourth floor to look for the aromatherapy that belonged to her, but he hasn't returned yet.
Now that Mo Qing is here, if he were to go find the secret guards, wouldn't both of them be gone? Wouldn't that be a waste of both money and money?
...It’s better to trust Xiao Yingzhu’s secret guards.
Jiang Nian met Mo Qing's questioning gaze, and his thoughts went around in circles. He couldn't think of any other way except asking Mo Qing for help, so he said, "I have a bottle of perfume on the fourth floor of the pavilion. There are traces of powder on the ground."
She raised her eyes, looked directly at Mo Qing and said, "I sent a secret guard up there earlier. Can you help me follow the powder trail?"
But it has been three or four days, I don’t know if those traces are still there.
Mo Qing didn't hesitate. After giving the order, he left the room directly.
—
After sitting in front of the dressing table in a daze for a while, Jiang Nian temporarily put aside his confused thoughts, carefully marked the third floor on the drawing, and counted the number of floors of Zuihualou.
If I go for a walk with You again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, I will probably be able to finish the task of the talisman formation within this week.
However, apart from the talisman array, there are two other tasks that have not made any progress at all.
Will Princess Qingping’s antidote... be in the hands of the goddess?
Or should he provoke You again to interfere with the goddess's plan and use the information to exchange for the princess's antidote from You?
Jiang Nian lowered her eyes and looked at the paper Ling had given her on the table for a while, then sighed.
If the person in charge did not give her a new task, then after Tongyou completed the rest of the talisman formation, she would have no reason to move freely and could only stay in the room and wait for chaos to occur.
This is not much different from house arrest.
Although she could rely on the secret guards, these kinds of things were entrusted to her after all. If she entrusted them to someone else, wouldn't Xiao Yingzhu and the others just ask the secret guards directly?
After all, it was just because of her identity that allowed her to act openly.
How can I use this identity to find the remaining unobtained information?
After much thought, I decided to go into the top chamber first.
But the goddess is in the attic almost every day, how can we lure her out?
Unless there is a guest looking for it.
But this was not something she could control.
His fingertips rubbed the paper for a while, and Jiang Nian's eyes fell on the lines of words.
Yesterday I was supposed to go to the top pavilion to dress up the goddess, but the goddess dismissed her personal maid.
…
It would have been nice if I could have gone and found out what was going on.
It’s no use regretting what you didn’t do yesterday. You can only seize the opportunities in the future and not miss them.
Jiang Niansi tapped the table with a pen in her hand. The slightly dull sound from the table pulled her back from her thoughts.
"Knock, knock."
……!
Someone is really knocking on the door!
Jiang Nian's heart tightened, and a string in his mind was taut. He quickly scanned the room and didn't see anything that would reveal his whereabouts to others. Then he lowered his head and glanced at his clothes.
Everything was arranged perfectly, without any mistakes.
She adjusted her mentality and suppressed her heart that was beating fast due to nervousness.
There was a light sound of shoes stepping on the floor, and when the ring of the wooden door was lifted and opened, the sour sound of the wooden door and the face of the person standing outside the house, looking at Jiang Nian expressionlessly, came into view.
This time Ling didn't say anything, but just handed the paper in her hand to her.
Ling seemed to have heard some information from somewhere else, and her eyes were a little complicated. When he put the paper in her hand, the pressure of his fingers increased a little.
"The goddess trusts you, so do your best."
"If I get a reward..." Ling's eyes deepened, and the lingering fragrance once again rushed towards Jiang Nian, rushing into the half-open door.
"Don't forget the guide."
“…”
Jiang Nian still remembered the Cui family's daughter's personality, so she lowered her eyes and said timidly, "Thank you for your care, Master. I will keep it in mind and will never forget it."
Looking at Jiang Nian's neither humble nor arrogant appearance, Ling just glanced at her, and even though she didn't want to stay outside the room for a moment, she turned and walked to the other end of the corridor.
The door closed again, blocking the wind that was trying to get into the room.
Jiang Nian held the piece of paper with the task written on it in his hand. After the slight commotion outside the corridor subsided, he sat back in his original seat and began to carefully read the contents of the note.
The above explanation is that the goddess dismissed everyone yesterday because she was not feeling well and did not want to make it public, so she came to tell everyone after she had recovered.
Therefore, yesterday's visit will be postponed to this afternoon, and the maid is required to prepare.
The rooms of the other personal maids were connected, except hers.
I guess Ling wanted to tell other people instead of telling her verbally, so she asked someone to write a letter to tell her.
After reading the contents of the paper over and over and making up his mind, Jiang Nian stood up and walked to the bed, ready to take a nap and then take this opportunity to take it one step at a time.
—
Qixia Mountain, foot of the mountain.
Ai and the others played the role of peddlers coming from the border, passing through the sparse houses, knocking on the door along the way, while the guards beside them shouted the words prepared in advance, and she used them to observe the movements on both sides of the house.
Most of the residents just stood inside the windows, silently, cautiously, or timidly looking at them. A few of them directly closed the doors and windows, making it clear that they did not want to see the guests.
Because the village is large and the houses are far apart, they plan to change the words they shout when they are almost halfway along the road.
Perhaps it was because the area of Qixia Mountain was remote and there were not many good things to buy there on a regular basis, so when the soldiers shouted out some medicinal herbs and formulas, the surrounding residents became a little agitated.
This mountain is also under the jurisdiction of Guicang County, and they are more or less aware of the serious epidemic in the civilian area.
But medicine was expensive in the city, and they might not be able to buy it there, or they might not be able to afford it, and they might even get sick. So they could only stay in these houses and pray that the plague would not cross the mass grave and come to them.
Ai pretended to be one of the sisters who was pretending to be a peddler. She was about fifteen or sixteen years old, tall and thin. Although she usually didn't like to show any expression, her smile had a bit of the sweetness of a green apple.
She turned around and saw an old woman sitting in the yard. There were not many things in the yard and it was very empty. Only when her servants were hawking their wares did she move her cloudy eyes and look at them.
“…”
Meeting the old woman's gaze, Ai felt an inexplicable chill. It was like the water in a cold autumn pond, reflecting yellow, unable to see what was inside. A stone struck the water, and the ripples spread to his ankles, sending a chill through him.
The soldier walking forward noticed that Ai was absent-minded for a rare time. He didn't listen to Ai's shouting, but his eyes followed Ai's gaze.
The old woman was still sitting on the bamboo chair.
There were only a few layers of sand and dust on the bare ground, and weeds grew in the corner of the yard.
For no apparent reason, while standing under the sun, the troops suddenly felt a chill in their hearts, as if they had been drenched by a rainstorm.
They seemed to be seen through.
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