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The wind makes the forest rustle.
The path that Qin Lan walked on was once again covered with fallen leaves.
Once the door to the courtyard is closed, it will be quiet here again.
Xiao Yingzhu lowered his eyes and straightened his sleeves.
On the table in the room behind him, the letter from the person who mentioned the insect repellent recipe has not been touched yet.
Perhaps it was because I usually processed letters too quickly, and now I had some hesitation in my heart, so this letter was put aside for much longer than before.
He wanted to hide some of his worries, but instead his inner conflict gradually became apparent.
In a few days, the time for meeting with Emperor Changde will come, if there is no reply to this letter.
It will be easily noticed by others and become a weakness.
The time was approaching, Xiao Yingzhu closed his eyes slightly and stood up from the corridor.
It's time to pack some things for the journey.
This is no longer the place where he should stay.
—
Zuihualou
Jiang Nian took the broom and rag from the maid, glanced at the maid who was waiting for her orders with her head lowered, and the secret guard who was still kneeling on the ground, and immediately understood the arrangement.
It turns out that the secret guards that Xiao Yingzhu mentioned are also involved among the maids?
But...how did she avoid those incense?
As if she saw through Jiang Nian's thoughts, the maid produced another rag from somewhere and began to clean the dust from her bed and every corner while speaking:
"Because you, my lady, are the one who will move freely before the goddess, you will inevitably receive the 'baptism' of that layer of incense."
"But I'm just an ordinary person. I can't get close to the goddess on weekdays. I'm even just a dispensable maid who cleans a corner of Zuihua Tower. Naturally, the extraditioner won't personally ask about me."
Jiang Nian was stunned for a moment: "Are there two different ways to dye aromatherapy?"
When the maid heard Jiang Nian's question, she immediately turned around, put her hands in front of her, lowered her eyes, pretended to be respectful, and replied:
"That's right. You are the goddess' personal maid, and your status within the Drunken Flower Tower is considered high-ranking. Naturally, you must be personally examined by the extradition officer."
"And we maids can't get close to the rooftop. We can only clean the corners inside the building and the area below..."
She laughed sarcastically, "I won't let the extraditionist take a second look."
It turns out there is such a distinction.
So, did the maid who led the way at that time already know that she, whose family had fallen into poverty and become a "slave", would be able to obtain the position of the goddess's personal maid, which they would never be able to achieve in their entire lives.
So you seem unhappy?
Jiang Nian paused for a moment, then placed the rag on the dressing mirror and continued wiping: "I see, I understand."
—
The secret guard beside him was still kneeling silently, as if waiting for Jiang Nian's decision.
Jiang Nian wiped the table for a moment, then turned to the secret guard and said, "There's nothing else to do. You hide first. I'll call you if I need you later."
Compared to her tall appearance, if she were caught, it would be easier for this maid and secret guard to make up a lie and get away with it.
One secret guard is enough here.
The huge and stubborn secret guard stood up, agreed very sincerely, and immediately disappeared.
With one less person in the room, the sense of oppression instantly lessened.
Jiang Nian silently cleaned the chair and rested for a while with his hands on his shoulders.
The floor they were on was extremely quiet, with almost no sound of footsteps or talking. The faint sounds of stringed instruments that they could hear on the fourth floor seemed to have been muted here, and not a single sound could be heard.
I can only hear the howling of the wind outside the window.
The howl was sharp and mournful.
Jiang Nian sat on the chair for a while, looking at the maid who was busy running around with a cold face, and then spoke again:
"So, the mission you came to Zuihualou to handle in the first place—"
Her tone hesitated for a moment, she was a little hesitant about whether to ask.
If it touches upon the content of Xiao Yingzhu's own job, it would be a bit offensive.
The secret guards can come to help her now only because she is Xiao Yingzhu's partner.
Jiang Nian blinked: "Is there anything that cannot be mentioned here?"
The maid casually brushed the dust off her sleeves with her fingertips: "If it's Miss, then it's fine."
"The master's order is simply to find out the tunnel under Zuihua Tower."
typical?
Hasn't the Buqu already explored this?
The maid didn't pay attention to what Jiang Nian was thinking at this moment. She just threw the rag aside, leaned against the bed next to her, and said lazily:
"The tunnels beneath Zuihua Tower took three to five years to build. Most of them are only accessible to people inside Zuihua Tower, so I dressed up like this."
Jiang Nian responded with understanding: "So that's how it is... Did you find anything?"
—
These tunnels are probably what Qin Lan mentioned before, in preparation for the impending chaos.
Did the goddess have already decided to do these things all those years ago?
What on earth was her purpose in doing this, and why did she create such a mess? She seemed to be unafraid of being punished.
Jiang Nian lowered his eyes and thought about the goddess's motives, while wiping the four legs of the table and chairs inside and out.
——The goddess doesn't seem to be a loyal person. Since her personal maids are killed after a certain period of time, almost no one who can get close to her comes to see her. Instead, she seems to be heartless.
The person who helped her reach this position has no name or surname, and it is even impossible to trace him. Maybe he was killed by the goddess because he had something on her.
As a result, there are too few ways to understand the goddess's thoughts. Even if there is a relevant clue, it is difficult to use a reference to determine whether the clue is true or false.
Just as Jiang Nian was pondering the goddess's motives, he heard the maid's undisguised reply:
"How could that be? This is why the Master asked the young lady to be the goddess' personal maid."
She was holding a broom and leaning over to look under the bed.
"Although it's easy to sneak into Zuihualou, it's very difficult to become the goddess's personal maid. Ordinary low-level maids and personal maids are completely two different types of people here."
"Maidens at the lower levels usually do menial jobs.
Basically, it's just cleaning the tables and chairs in Zuihualou, the decorations in the corners, the lattice patterns on the door frames, the caisson inlaid in the ceiling, and other messes."
After a few conversations, the bed in front of him, which looked extremely gray and old when he first came in, has become shiny, as if it had just arrived and been unpacked.
Jiang Nian looked at it silently and sighed to himself.
I have completely become a cleaner.
Oh, so much resentment.
After casually putting the broom aside, the maid turned around and glanced at her:
"As for me, apart from cleaning, I'm busy all day long with these tasks and the intricate, dark tunnels. I don't even have a chance to get close to the rooftop."
She paused for a moment, thinking about something, and then continued, "Even if there's a chance, it's not easy to get close."
"I tried it once before, and it felt like every time I got closer to the top, there would be another pair of eyes watching me. Even if I hid, it wouldn't work. Ordinary methods wouldn't work, so this special method..."
Seeing that Jiang Nian was still listening, she followed her gaze and met her lively eyes. The maid pursed her lips and said with a forced smile:
"Perhaps only the young lady can do this."
"You must be special to both the goddess and the master."
"This mission seems to be tailor-made for you."
Wait, what does "special for the goddess" mean?
When I stopped the spell formation this morning - was it discovered?
Jiang Nian was just about to speak to the maid when he saw that the room in front of him suddenly looked brand new. It didn't look like it had been uninhabited for years at all. Everywhere he looked was a bright spot.
The maid in front of her took back the broom and the rag from her hand, then waved her hand in annoyance. She no longer looked respectful as she had in her first sentence.
"Since you have asked everything you wanted to ask, I will be leaving now."
Seeing the maid turning around and leaving, Jiang Nian's heart tightened and he immediately shouted:
"Wait!"
Before he finished speaking, the maid in front of him disappeared, as if she had never appeared.
?
Is this the characteristic of Zuihualou?
Why do I feel like everyone I met today is talking to themselves?
Jiang Nian's thoughts lingered on the words "special to the goddess", and he was a little confused for a moment.
When I first arrived at Zuihualou, many clues were zero.
If you don't have any ideas for the time being, just put it aside for now.
—
He memorized this incomprehensible sentence in his heart and was thinking of finding a free time to call the maid out to question her.
The door of the room, which had just been quiet for a short while, was knocked again.
Looking around, apart from the dazzling house layout that might arouse some suspicion, there was nothing else that would make the newcomers feel suspicious.
Jiang Nian retracted his gaze, lowered his head and quickly glanced at himself to see if there was anything that shouldn't be there, then quickly stepped forward and opened the door.
The one coming is Ling.
She stretched her hand forward, twisting a piece of paper between her fingertips.
The door of the house opened from the inside, and Jiang Nian's timid face appeared.
She raised her hand and handed the paper to Jiang Nian, leaning forward.
The smell of rouge and powder immediately hit his face. Jiang Nian took a step back and looked up at Ling's expression.
Perhaps because she was included in the list of personal maids despite having no ability, the maid had no patience for her. After sizing her up with drooping eyelids for a few seconds, she looked at her expressionlessly and said indifferently:
"These are your duties. I thought that as a personal maid, you should be aware of what you should and shouldn't do."
"But since you don't have it, the goddess has mercifully given you this piece of paper."
He paused for a moment, as if he had already imagined her foolish end.
Ling suddenly lost her indifference and straightened up abruptly. She pursed her eyebrows and glanced at her, saying softly, "But it would be best if you could accept this mercy."
“…”
Jiang Nian maintained the persona of Cui's daughter and timidly watched her disappear into the corridor with the scent of sandalwood.
Then he lowered his eyes to glance at the contents on the paper, suddenly closed the door, turned around and went back to the dressing table.
—
It seems that the people in Zuihualou are not mentally normal, or they feel like they are under mental oppression.
This made her feel very uncomfortable.
Now that she was sure that no one would disturb her anymore and she could have some free time, Jiang Nian opened the wooden box that had been placed in front of the dressing mirror and laid out the items inside one by one.
When Qin Lan handed over the list of maids she had introduced, she had mentioned that the Cui daughter would develop skin allergies and rashes and a high fever if she used her things. Therefore, until now, no one in Zuihualou had opened her wooden box to check it.
Afraid of getting sick.
......This will make her feel more comfortable.
She wouldn't have to think about what might be mixed in the things prepared for her in Zuihualou, and she would be less wary.
After moving the sheets and quilt covers out of the wooden box, and disinfecting the original quilt in the room inside and out with the disinfectant he had prepared himself, Jiang Nian finally lay down on the bed exhausted.
I went to Zuihualou today and did nothing, but I felt exhausted.
After reading the list given to her by the maid, she decided to take a shower and take a nap.
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