Fear
But reality is always more bleak than expected.
Jiang Nian's vague worries yesterday finally came true.
According to Emperor Changde's original decree, the roads she appeared on should lead directly to the imperial court. However, when she followed the people indicated by Emperor Changde and moved along the road, the scenery around her was different from what she saw yesterday.
It is getting closer and closer to the nearby mountains and forests.
"?"
There was no one else in the carriage where Jiang Nian was except herself.
The scenery outside the empty carriage passed by, and Jiang Nian looked at the road outside the window. The direction he could see was heading straight out of the capital.
Xiao Yingzhu...
She reached out and touched the pocket hidden in her sleeve. The items inside were safely placed, which made her feel much more at ease.
The current situation is completely different from the path that Emperor Changde mentioned, so we can only find ways to get rid of the situation of being controlled by others.
There was no place to hide, and if she forced herself out of the car, she would probably face the worst possible outcome. The only thing she could do now was to understand the motives and intentions behind Emperor Changde's actions before the upcoming developments.
The fragments of his previous trip to the capital flashed through his mind, and Jiang Nian carefully recalled every word and action he had heard from Xiao Yingzhu and Meng Hao.
According to the current situation, Emperor Changde wanted her to lure out the spies lurking in the capital and then eradicate them completely, rather than letting her take risks. All the roads should be within the capital, but the carriage now seems to be driving outside the capital. There must be a link that has been swapped.
But Xiao Yingzhu was nowhere to be seen at this time. It shouldn’t be that he didn’t notice the changes, but that he was also sent away?
The only person who could have transferred Xiao Yingzhu from his original place was Emperor Changde.
There must be clues in the several hypotheses that can connect them together, but Jiang Nian's mind is very confused now. That clear thread is looming among all the chaotic thoughts. The sound of horse hooves in his ears is urging him, and Jiang Nian can only feel that his heart is beating faster and faster.
What exactly was Emperor Changde thinking when he treated Xiao Yingzhu?
If he wanted Xiao Yingzhu to die, he should have wiped her out on the battlefield that year. However, he let Xiao Yingzhu and Qin Lan talk to each other and achieved what they wanted.
And judging from Xiao Yingzhu's summary of his experience a few days ago, Emperor Changde gave Xiao Yingzhu the position of Duke against all odds, considering that the former Duke was his former classmate and confidant, and was the hero who helped him ascend to the throne, and thus handed the Duke's Mansion back to Xiao Yingzhu.
The emperor's thoughts were hard to guess. The scenery inside and outside his eyes gradually changed into trees that blocked out the sun. Layers of trees overlapped each other, but the vast sky behind these lights was no longer visible.
Jiang Nian blinked slowly, but couldn't calm his violently beating heart. He could only put these confusing thoughts behind him, leaving only the simplest and clearest thoughts in his mind.
——Before Xiao Yingzhu came, she should try her best to solve or find out what the intentions of these people in front of her are and where they want to take her.
The carriage heading towards the woods continued to move forward without stopping. There was no one following behind the carriage, but the carriage was moving faster and faster.
Jiang Nian took out a pill from her sleeve that could cause a person to fall into a coma after use. This was the pill Tao Yu had given her earlier.
While listening to the noise outside, he put the pill into his mouth and pressed it under his tongue, waiting for someone to come, then pretending to be unwell and unconscious.
She had never been to this forest before, and Jiang Nian's sense of direction was as bad as ever. She couldn't tell where she was in Huandu from the route, the surrounding scenery, and the sky.
But since her identity this time is bait.
Then the most likely scenario at the moment is to go to the border between Huandu and Donglan, and then enter Donglan.
Meng Hao had previously said in a letter that Dong Lan's target this time was still her.
Could it be possible that the spies in the capital also knew that this operation was to bring them to justice, so they took the risk and took her out of the capital?
This gap is too big. Under the nose of Emperor Changde...
Jiang Nian was halfway through her thoughts when the hastily moving carriage suddenly stopped. Her body tilted, and she suddenly came back to her senses. She supported herself on the wall of the carriage with both hands and raised her head to look outside.
It seemed like someone was approaching from outside the carriage, standing outside and whispering something to the driver.
The noise outside alerted Jiang Nian. She was hesitating whether to take the pill in her lip right now, when the whispers outside the car entered the car:
"How are the people in there? Are they still conscious?"
"I don't know... Lord Lu said he wanted to take the girl directly to Donglan. I was just the driver transporting her there, and I don't know what happened to the girl inside."
The person outside was silent for a while, then took a few steps towards the carriage. He wanted to lift the curtain to see what was going on inside, but was stopped by the driver.
"Wait! Don't act rashly, or Lord Ru might get angry... He might hold us responsible."
The man stood at the door and kept lifting the curtain. Jiang Nian stared at the finger that had already hooked into the car. After a moment of silence outside, the man retracted it.
"Really? But what if she's still conscious and runs away? We can definitely catch her, but it will cause a lot of unnecessary trouble."
The driver paused for a moment and said with a smile, "That's what you said."
Jiang Nian maintained his drowsy look for a moment, crushed the pill in his lips, and just as he was assuming the posture of fainting in the carriage as seen in modern TV dramas, the curtain that blocked the outside light was instantly opened.
The man suddenly lifted the curtain and observed her for a long time. His gaze was fixed on Jiang Nian's face for a long time before he moved away. Jiang Nian closed her eyes, waiting for the gaze that was fixed on her face to move away a little. Only then did the rustling sound of clothes could be heard in the silent woods.
He was about to take out the medicine that could make her unconscious.
Fortunately, she had taken precautions in advance.
The two people outside the carriage probably wouldn't have thought that such a little girl would prepare medicine and pretend to faint. The boss ordered that time was very tight. The person who sprayed the coma drug thought he had confirmed that it was correct, so he didn't observe Jiang Nian for any longer and left the carriage directly.
The door that was emitting a dazzling white light was closed again, and the curtain was lowered. After a while, the carriage parked on the side of the forest road started to move slowly again, heading towards the border of Donglan.
—
The light in the carriage grew dim as the sky darkened.
Jiang Nian woke up from his closed eyes in the same position as when he fainted a few hours ago. Looking at the bumpy ceiling of the carriage, he took out a powder that could be used to mark the way, tore a hole in the package slightly, and placed it next to the carriage door. As long as the carriage kept moving forward, the powder would be blown by the wind onto the road, leaving behind a white light.
Although this light was obvious, to the uninformed, it would be mistaken for some tiny, unknown residue and not be given much attention. It was considered an improved version of the powder that Jiang Nian had previously given Xiao Yingzhu.
I didn't expect that the items I bought just in case would actually be used by me.
Afraid of being discovered by the driver in front, Jiang Nian moved carefully. After placing the powder bag in an inconspicuous place, he put his posture back into a coma.
The dirt road in the mountains becomes more difficult to travel on as you head towards Donglan. It is a bumpy ride all the way, with occasional lonely bird calls from the trees, making one's heart shiver uncontrollably.
We have arrived at a deserted place.
How far is it from the capital? Jiang Nian is a little confused.
The sunlight outside the window rose and fell, fell and rose again. He didn't know what had been mixed into the intoxicating aroma of the person who had knocked him unconscious a few days ago, but he didn't even feel hungry anymore.
Jiang Nian is not the kind of person who has a craving for food. Since her body did not give any hunger signals, she didn't have to rely on willpower to get through this period of wakefulness.
However, she didn't know how harmful this drug was to the human body.
The wheels rolled forward on the ground, and the moonlight outside the window occasionally shone into her soft eyebrows, making her face gentle.
She was filled with worries, but she kept trying to guess what she was about to face. She had no clues to think about, which only increased her troubles.
Jiang Nian raised his eyes and watched the moonlight shining through the window above the carriage, passing by a light shadow along with the shadows of the trees.
When she let her mind wander, the warm embrace she had felt a few days ago would reappear like a shadow, and on the cold night, the illusion of warmth made her feel a little better.
Now she could only wait quietly in this carriage and figure out some things. As for the rest...she could only leave it to this powder that could leave traces.
The fan handle, which had previously felt stable when touched, was not brought out by her this time.
The person who ordered her to be arrested was Ru, but Ru did not know her as well as the goddess did. Now he only regarded her as a special person to the goddess, and they had not even met a few times.
The only two times he had seen her face to face were the first time he came to see if there was anything wrong with her, and the day he helped the goddess stab her a few times when she escaped from Zuihualou.
Jiang Nian's gaze moved slightly as he thought, and fell on the powder bag in the corner.
Is the reason why he wants to arrest her now in order to prove his loyalty to the Wu Mi sect leader?
Or was he looking for her to settle the score for wanting to kill him earlier?
Both ideas were very possible, and Jiang Nian found it difficult to choose the most likely one for a moment. His thoughts were scattered, and after a moment, the carriage suddenly stopped.
The sound of the waterfall next to him rang in his ears. Jiang Nian's expression froze, and he instantly adjusted his posture back to the way it was when he was unconscious.
The moment they fell into darkness, the curtain that blocked the view was lifted up again. The cold wind blew past her ears, and a sense of desolation crept up Jiang Nian's skin exposed to the air. Soon, the gazes from outside fell on her again.
Jiang Nian closed his eyes, but a familiar feeling came to his brow, but along with it came a terrifying sense of danger.
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