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The crow flapped its wings and flew into the window. Yan raised his arms, and its black feathers fluttered on his shoulders in the wind.
The crow flapped its wings and flew into the window. Yan raised his arms, and its black feathers fluttered on his shoulders in the wind.
Dried crimson bloodstains were stuck to its feet, and the tightly closed mailbox lid was particularly conspicuous. It moved its wings, tilted its head while looking at the person behind Yan, opened its mouth, and let out a shrill cry.
The birds in the old forest outside the house were startled and flew away. The sudden flapping of their wings disturbed the other crows in the house.
As if feeling uneasy about the unfamiliar environment, the usually docile and quiet crows also became restless.
Xuan frowned, turned around and gently comforted them as if they were children.
Xizhen's beautiful face was dim in the dark light. The crow on Yan's shoulder noticed Xizhen. After the mailbox on its leg was taken off, it flapped its wings and flew over affectionately, and its calls became slightly slower.
There was no doctor in the cabin, so the crow landed on Xizhen's lap and jumped. Finally, it turned around on its own and scratched the wound under its feathers to show him.
This is the crow that previously delivered the message to Mo Qing.
Xizhen lifted a corner of the feather, paused with his fingertips, and slowly raised his eyes.
"A day and a half."
Outside the window, the sky darkened, the blue sky turned gray, and a mass grave was located a few dozen miles away. When the crows were let out for some fresh air, that was where they liked to fly the most.
Yan listened to what was said, turned his head away as if he didn't want to listen anymore, and closed his eyes tiredly.
"——The new Tongzhi has taken office."
Before coming to Cang County, Xiao Yingzhu handed the document with the seal to Xuan Gui just in case.
However, even if there is a token that can verify that Xuan Gui is the Duke's man, judging from the current situation, people who have a clear eye and understand the court will reconsider.
The progress could have been faster, but the familiar colleague was replaced.
Xizhen lowered his eyes to look at the crow's injuries, dipped some water in it and wiped off the dried blood on its feet, as if he had heard of this for the first time.
He paused slightly and raised his head again.
"Why do you want to change people at this time?"
A few crows in the corner of the wooden house had their feathers smoothed by the purring sound and were huddled together in a sticky manner.
Leaving the black little animal, Xuan's gentle expression turned cold again.
"The plague is dead."
“…”
Xizhen didn't like the feeling of waiting there. He had been forced to rest for a day and a half and was really tired. He picked up the crow that was leaning on him and put it on the table, then stood up and put on the double blades.
Yan followed his movements calmly, leaning against the wall, and finally asked, "Where are you going?"
The double-edged sword had been repaired several times by the armorer. The blade was as cold and solemn as the autumn moon and lake water, and the cold hilt was exposed from the sword hook.
Xizhen gently placed her hand on the weapon, stroking the handle with her fingertips, her tone soft and gentle.
"Go meet the commander."
—
Tao Yu got some porridge made from herbs from his junior fellow apprentice. Just as he was about to give Jiang Nian another dose of medicine, he pushed the door open and saw the fragile girl who had fainted as soon as she entered the sect standing in front of the bed in a daze.
Following Jiang Nian's gaze, all I saw was a round table and a few pots and cups.
“…”
Noticing that the door that had just been closed was pushed open again, Jiang Nian paused and then turned his head back to follow the sound.
Seeing her surprised expression, Tao Yu raised his hand and held up the medicine bowl as a gesture. His clear black and white but not sharp gaze concealed a deep meaning of inquiry.
"I'm here to deliver medicine. Miss Jiang, please go back to your bed for now."
Jiang Nian didn't feel that he was ill, but he suddenly fell into a coma yesterday. To others, it looked like he had fainted, so it was normal for others to mistakenly think that there was something wrong with his body.
But why would I have that modern dream?
She couldn't even quite call it a dream.
Although all five senses were blocked at that time, the feeling of that space was so real to her that her body seemed to have the memory of having been there, as if she had really been there.
Tao Yu saw that Xiao Yingzhu had put the chair he had just taken care of for her back on the table. He freed the hand holding the medicine bowl, lifted the curtain with the back of his hand, and lowered his eyes to ask tentatively.
"Can I sit on the edge of the bed?"
Jiang Nian himself was not very used to the strict rules of ancient times, so he moved his body to the side to make some space and gently patted the sheets.
"Yes. Sorry to bother you Miss Tao."
Tao Yu nodded, took a chair from the round table, and sat down without any hesitation. The white towel was soaked in water, and when it was lifted up, there was a pool of green.
Drops of translucent green water dripped down one by one. Jiang Nian tilted his head to watch Tao Yu's smooth movements, recalling what Xiao Yingzhu had just said. His gaze shifted slightly, and after a moment of hesitation, he turned his eyes back and asked:
"Has the water here in the sect been frozen by time?"
"Frozen in time?"
Tao Yu wrung out the towel, applied it to her neck, withdrew her hand, and paused with a look of surprise.
"Why do you ask?"
“…”
Jiang Nian herself felt that the question she asked was very strange, and it would be strange if she continued to answer it. She shifted her gaze a little uncomfortably and tilted her head.
"Because the boiled water I drank just now was green."
"And... Xiao Yingzhu said this was a reflection of the mountains and water?"
Hearing Jiang Nian's uncertain tone, Tao Yu stared at her face for a while, as if he thought of something interesting, and smiled.
"Then he must be teasing the girl."
The location of the dormitory seems to be isolated from other places. In addition to the fear of disturbing the guests, another reason is that no one else is allowed to enter the sect.
Therefore, there are mountains and rivers in front and behind, to prevent distinguished guests from mistakenly entering other prohibited areas.
As for the green water quality, she thought it was due to excessive phytoplankton, algae or other microorganisms, but she couldn't believe that other tap water was drinkable.
"The water I gave you to drink yesterday was made from herbs. Once the herbs are filtered, the water will turn green. Don't worry, young lady."
Tao Yu looked at the pot and cup on the table, and was reminded of the past.
"These herbs were once used by the people living down the mountain. For some reason, the servants who served the visitors back then, perhaps because they explained it or perhaps because they didn't, believed that the sect's water was green and came from the sky. No matter how we explained, we wouldn't listen."
"After they had provided relief, they came down the mountain and immediately boasted about drinking the holy water. Over time, the rumor spread, and the potion became known as the holy water, claiming that drinking it would make one immortal."
"With the subsequent disasters of famine and war, this rumor spread among the suffering people... People who wanted to become immortals from the sect began to flock to us. Even when we went down the mountain to provide relief, we were surrounded by them. This led to some unsavory transactions and caused a lot of trouble.
"Because it was so disturbing, the sect closed the door at the back and hardly anyone was allowed in."
…
Jiang Nian paused, she didn't expect that this kind of thing would be involved. It had been a long time, and she had never participated in such things, so she had no empathy and could not persuade the person to the point. She could only offer a few words of comfort and let it go.
Once the topic related to this matter was over, they stopped talking. Jiang Nian's thoughts drifted back to Xiao Yingzhu.
He spoke indifferently yesterday, as if he was talking casually and leisurely, not caring about her reaction at all. After she answered, he looked at her with a half-smile.
It turned out that they were setting a trap for her to jump into.
He clearly had evidence to determine whether he was "Jiang Nian", but he still wanted to test Doudou again.
Recalling that he even half-believed and half-doubted questions like "Why doesn't water change color when it boils", Jiang Nian suddenly felt a dull and belated sense of death.
Tao Yu noticed the subtle change in Jiang Nian's expression: "What's wrong? Miss Jiang."
Jiang Nian felt it was hard to put it into words. His eyes wandered for a moment, then softened and he shook his head quietly.
"nothing."
"—This rumor."
When she met Tao Yu's gaze, she paused for half a second, exhaled lightly, and showed a little helplessness on her face.
"Was it a long time ago?"
Tao Yu propped up his chin and calculated the time: "Not too long ago, only about eleven or twelve years before the sect closed down."
She counted the time in her mind, then turned to Jiang Nian and asked, "Miss Jiang, don't you know? I thought everyone knew about this."
"After all, the sect used to provide relief when natural disasters or man-made calamities struck. So when the sect announced its closure, many people within the sect complained. That's why there was such a commotion at the time."
More than ten years.
Everyone in the world knows it.
Recently, there seem to be more and more loopholes in my identity concealment, and they always appear in unexpected places.
Jiang Nian didn't know what words to use to describe his mood at the moment.
Vests always fall off in unexpected places.
He had gotten away with Xiao Yingzhu's intentional or unintentional probing before, but he didn't expect that his reaction would eventually expose him.
Once she was looking at the moon and thinking of her hometown, and the other time she didn't react and thought Xiao Yingzhu was blackmailing her.
As early as when she was bargaining with Zhao the blacksmith in the blacksmith shop, she should have realized that Xiao Yingzhu was not only unpredictable, but also had some unintentional and seemingly unconcealed demeanor.
Although his heart was filled with complexities, Jiang Nian still managed to put on a good front:
"Not really. I'm just a little surprised to hear the full version of the rumor for the first time."
The smile on her face was as gentle as a spring breeze. Tao Yu did not doubt it, nodded, and then stood up.
"I have to go. Some people might not like it if I stay here any longer. You should get some rest."
Tao Yu moved the chair back to its original position, picked up the medicine bowl, and just as he was pulling the towel from Jiang Nian's neck, Jiang Nian, who was thinking of something else, pulled his sleeve again.
"?"
Tao Yu paused and turned to look at her in surprise.
"What's wrong?"
Jiang Nian didn't pull her sleeve hard. Seeing Tao Yu stop, he withdrew his hand. Wen Wan smiled apologetically and asked the question in her heart:
"Miss Tao just said that the sect was established more than ten years ago. Did the difficulty in entering and finding the sect also occur during the same period?"
Grasping the key point in Jiang Nian's words, Tao Yu shook his head.
"No, the Sect Master used to be very supportive of relief, so he let those outsiders in. It wasn't until something happened and the Sect Master was gone that we closed the door ourselves."
Jiang Nian looked bewildered: "Sect Master?"
"Yes, the Sect Master is the founder of the sect. He was the one who chose this location."
Tao Yu paused and turned to look at Jiang Nian.
"Before he died, he wrote down some rare folk remedies specifically for preventing those plague diseases."
“…”
Jiang Nian fell silent for some unknown reason.
Tao Yu tilted her head: "What's wrong?"
Some thoughts flashed through his mind, but he couldn't find the hidden thread among them. Jiang Nian pondered for a moment before softly replying: "Nothing, Miss Tao, please go ahead and do your work. I'm really sorry to bother you these past two days."
Seeing that she looked tired, Tao Yu said nothing more and said goodbye.
As soon as the dormitory door was closed, Jiang Nian leaned back on the pillow and fell into deep thought.
The sect has now severed its ties with the imperial court, so it seems to have no impact on her pharmacy business at the moment. It is like a line of separation as soon as it crosses.
But according to the history she had learned, clan members of all generations lived in society and needed to communicate and interact with the outside world in order to obtain resources and protect their rights...
But the sect here actually broke away from the imperial court and survived on its own.
What could be the reason behind this? Could it be related to the patriarch?
Because of overthinking, my head started to ache again, as if it were being pricked by needles, and the familiar tinnitus came back.
Apart from the power struggles and the pharmacy, she also had to investigate the affairs of the sect... Jiang Nian always had a premonition that there were some things in the sect that she needed to know but was still unaware of.
What's more, his time travel seems to be inextricably linked to the sect. If he lets it go without investigating, he will feel like he has been kept in the dark.
...When I thought of this, I felt more stressed and my head hurt more, as if it had been hit by a hammer.
But the issue of time travel is not the top priority after all. There is no point in dwelling on it too much right now. It is better to complete the most important thing first.
Jiang Nian lay down tiredly, followed Xiao Yingzhu's instructions, and closed his eyes again to conserve his energy for the meeting that was about to begin.
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