drawing
After saying goodbye to Lan—it wasn't really a goodbye, he just opened the door of the inn and walked out, then closed the door. Jiang Nian's heart, which had been hanging in the air, finally settled down.
Although we didn't get the desired result, it was still a step forward.
The design drawings in her bag made a slight sound as she lowered her hand. Jiang Nian paused, put the drawings away, and looked up to see Xiao Yingzhu.
Surprised that he would come here to wait for her, Jiang Nian could not help but quicken her pace. She stopped in front of him, raised her eyes and smiled at him, "When did you come?"
Xiao Yingzhu lowered his eyes and looked at her for a long while before he replied calmly, "Not long after, from the moment you talked about Shouzan."
“…”
His head suddenly buzzed, and Jiang Nian looked confused for a moment, then turned around and looked at Lan's room in disbelief.
He is so good at space control, why wouldn't he set up a barrier?
Is it that he can’t, he won’t, or... he has no intention of blocking Xiao Yingzhu at all?
When he came to his senses, Xiao Yingzhu had already walked forward five or six steps.
Jiang Nian quickly followed and subconsciously lowered his voice and asked, "...Did you hear everything?"
Xiao Yingzhu tilted her head, and her tied-up black hair became even darker like crow feathers in the sunlight, without any trace of light brown.
His beautiful eyebrows and eyes seemed almost divine in the light, but the faint smile on his lips and the viciousness in his eyes were fleeting, and a very faint sense of gloom was also visible, like Satan falling into the abyss.
"He hasn't excluded me. Can I think that I can still share your worries?"
This person is starting to get suspicious again.
At this point, Jiang Nian found that he couldn't be angry at all, he just felt inexplicably funny.
In fact, she did laugh without any concealment.
"Does our Duke Xiao still lack confidence?"
Glancing at Jiang Nian's teasing expression, Xiao Yingzhu closed his eyes and raised his hand to press his eyebrows.
"If I didn't feel you trusted me, I wouldn't have taken the initiative to express my opinion in the first place."
He lowered his eyes and looked at Jiang Nian: "Don't you know yet?"
My temper changes from good to bad.
Jiang Nianke had no time to guess at Xiao Yingzhu's subtle mood; his attention was focused on Lan and his own time travel.
"Lan said that now that she knew I was here, she would investigate the death of the eldest princess."
She paused for a moment and turned to look at Xiao Yingzhu.
"I haven't asked you yet, how much do you know about the eldest princess?"
Just as they walked outside the post station, Qin Lan's coachman was already waiting under a tree not far away.
There was a path from the gate to the tree that was bathed in scorching sunlight. Jiang Nian looked around and then chose the path shaded by the brick fence and walked there first.
The words he was about to answer were interrupted by her action.
Xiao Yingzhu's gaze fell on Jiang Nian's somewhat cheerful figure and paused for a moment. Then she restrained the emotions revealed in her eyes and followed her pace.
It was noon, and cicadas were chirping under the shade of the trees.
Jiang Nian stood outside the carriage, looking up at the interlaced green shadows for a while. He caught a glimpse of Xiao Yingzhu approaching him, then turned around and smiled at him, "There are still cicadas chirping in Cang County. I thought it was a dark city with constant rain."
With her slender fingertips resting on the car door, Xiao Yingzhu glanced at her sideways, with a barely perceptible smile in her tone.
"It's just that the celestial phenomena have been changing these days, and you came at an unfortunate time."
The door of the carriage had been opened by Xiao Yingzhu. Jiang Nian didn't want to stay downstairs any longer, so he turned around and got on the carriage, looking outside through another window.
The situation a thousand years later is still similar to that a thousand years ago.
For example, this corner of the stone, brick and tile wall and the lush trees.
It really looks like her hometown where she used to live.
Seeing the melancholy that flashed across Jiang Nian's face, Xiao Yingzhu knew what she was thinking.
After lowering the curtain, he casually asked, "Do you miss me?"
His words hit home with her, and now her secret was revealed in front of Xiao Yingzhu, so Jiang Nian said "hmm" without any concealment.
“I have this kind of scene in my hometown as well.”
Looking at the familiar scenery, Jiang Nian's eyes flashed with nostalgia: "It's amazing, isn't it? In a place like this that I only visit once, I can feel the feeling of returning home after a long time."
Xiao Yingzhu's eyes moved slightly, and she asked calmly, "Will you go back later?"
"Go back?" Jiang Nian was startled, then subconsciously replied, "If I had the ability, I would definitely go back and take a look."
After all, it is the hometown where I grew up.
But soon, she reacted.
"I won't go back until the mission is completed."
Jiang Nian straightened up, took back his hand that was resting on the window sill, and placed it lightly on his chest. He looked directly at Xiao Yingzhu frankly and said word by word:
"Everything is separate and distinct. I'm not the type to just sit back and do nothing. Once I take on a task, I'll definitely complete it."
"So I won't go back until the whole dispute between Donglan and Huandu is resolved."
Fearing that Xiao Yingzhu might misunderstand her, she quickly added, "Of course, whether there's a way to go back or not, I won't go back."
"And after this?"
Xiao Yingzhu, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke.
He suddenly raised his drooping eyes, and his cold and somewhat vicious gaze looked straight into Jiang Nian's eyes.
"Even if you face death, would you still go back?"
"...Hmm." Jiang Nian opened his mouth, thinking in his heart that it would be better not to talk about this matter at this time. The words of the answer circled in his mind and were expressed in another way.
"I have to make sure I won't die first, right? Otherwise, I'll just go back and face death... and I won't be able to see my family and friends."
"It's better to stay here and take care of the pharmacy business."
Jiang Nian felt nervous and didn't want to look at his frightening gaze, so she had to look away. After a moment, she said another sentence.
"It's still early. It won't be too late to discuss this topic after we finish working with Meng Zheng, right?"
Is it an illusion?
Why did she feel that Xiao Yingzhu was particularly concerned about whether she would return to her original era?
After answering a few words, the other party's gaze was withdrawn indifferently.
After a moment of silence, he whispered again, "Really?"
The tone is leisurely.
The light in the carriage was bright and sufficient. The cloud-edge pattern on his light grey uniform was elegant and contrasted extremely plainly with his black hair.
He took off all the decorations he had worn in the past. He was just traveling on a day off, so he didn't bring any sharp objects and didn't carry any aggressive intent.
However, Jiang Nian saw coldness and darkness in him.
It seemed as if beneath that flawless and pure appearance, there lurked a ruthless and bloodthirsty beast.
As if sensing Jiang Nian's slightly confused gaze, Xiao Yingzhu slowly turned her head, gently curled her lips towards her, and smiled slightly, "What's wrong?"
Ice cold.
Cold and eerie.
Her whole body seemed to be covered with ice, and frost flowers exploded layer by layer, blooming layer by layer until her entire body was covered, freezing her until she could no longer break free and turned into a lifeless doll.
Jiang Nian blinked and shook his head obediently, "Nothing, I was just distracted."
She smiled softly and then changed the subject.
"Let's continue with the topic we were discussing. In order to expedite the investigation of the Princess's case, do you have any clues?"
Xiao Yingzhu looked at her with deep eyes, very calmly, and then looked away.
"My only meeting with her was when we were children."
"At that time, my mother often visited the Princess's residence, and she took me there."
Jiang Nian nodded slightly, then reacted.
"Is that mansion the one we went to before?"
Xiao Yingzhu nodded lightly and replied calmly, "Yeah."
No wonder he didn't seem to be unfamiliar with the way when he was walking around the mansion.
So this is where you often played as a child?
Thinking of everything about the mansion, Jiang Nian immediately recalled the expressions of Meng Zheng and Xiao Yingzhu when they entered the room together.
"That mansion... is it also a memory for Meng Zheng?"
He was also very familiar with the mansion.
But I don’t know if I’m familiar with it because I’ve lived here recently, or if I was familiar with it before.
Xiao Yingzhu had no intention of hiding anything and said directly, "Yes, he was here before, but it was a year or two later than when I was here."
"One or two years?"
"Um."
Xiao Yingzhu had a calm expression and a flat tone.
“I stopped going there after my mother died.”
"That's when Meng Zheng went to the Princess's residence."
Not knowing if this question would involve Xiao Yingzhu's silence, Jiang Nian was silent for a moment before softly saying, "...I'm sorry, I overstepped my bounds."
Xiao Yingzhu simply closed his eyes and said calmly, "It's okay. It's all in the past."
Unable to find any words to change the subject, and comfort and guidance seemed pale, Jiang Nian could only nod slightly, leaving a space for silence.
The wheels rolled forward, and the afternoon breeze, carrying the scent of sunshine, spread warmly into the carriage, filling the air.
Not wanting to disturb Xiao Yingzhu's rest, she looked at the scenery outside the window for a while, then took out the drawings she got from Lan.
There are still handwritings on it that Shouzan wrote when he designed Zuihua Tower.
When designing the Shouzan, he was afraid of making mistakes - perhaps because the late emperor only gave him this one piece of paper, so he drew it with a pencil.
“…”
There were pencils and so many medical books.
Shouzan must have mistaken Ran for Doraemon.
Fortunately, the force with which he wrote the words was not light, and after many years, apart from the yellowing and some mold spots on the drawings, there was no damage at all.
The reflection of the tree passed by the car window repeatedly. Jiang Nian took advantage of the slightly dazzling sunlight to read the drawings.
The design of the rooftop of Zuihua Tower is not complicated.
Shouzan originally planned to use this room as a storage room, so the roof was designed to be low and a skylight was opened on top to increase the lighting while also providing ventilation to prevent the accumulation of debris and cause a fire.
In order to facilitate the storage of miscellaneous items, the top cabinet is not designed with hidden compartments.
But the middle of the floor of the top pavilion is hollow.
Jiang Nian looked at the concise annotations next to the drawings and finally understood the reason.
In order to take into account both the beauty and practicality of Zuihualou, he incorporated some load-bearing columns into the floor of the entire building.
The purpose is to enhance the structural stability of the pavilion and to make the roof appear more transparent and spacious so that it will not be noticed from the outside.
Can someone hide in this floor?
If she is discovered by the goddess, where should she hide in such a small space?
……wrong.
When I went to Zhuyu Pavilion before, I saw Zuihua Tower from afar.
The roof of Zuihua Tower that I saw at that time was slightly different from the one in the drawing in front of me.
At least visually, it is not as small as it appears in the drawing.
Yes, since the goddess lives in the top pavilion, why wouldn’t she renovate it?
Besides, so many years have passed, it is normal to have some adjustments.
Jiang Nian rubbed his aching head and closed the design drawings.
Well, it's too unrealistic to expect to get all the latest structural information about Zuihualou from this blueprint.
After returning to the Youguan Mansion, give this blueprint to your followers for study.
It's not her professional concern, so there's no point for her to worry about it.
This kind of thing should be left to professionals.
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