Growth
Qin Lan picked up the paper on the table, flipped through it a few times, and put it back.
“This child…?”
"It would be difficult to survive if you were captured by the Wumi people."
The outcome was already decided, and sighing was useless. Qin Lan quickly turned his attention to the explosion in the basement of the statue.
"Yan and Yan mentioned earlier that they saw traces of gunpowder burns in the basement."
"Now it seems that it has been confirmed that it was man-made."
He flicked the letter thoughtfully, controlling the force so lightly that it seemed to pass by in vain.
"Since the goddess will be making moves in the next two days, what about those people in Zuihua Tower?"
Xiao Yingzhu said calmly, "There's been some friction between Lu and the Goddess, and I've been observing their movements recently."
If the goddess wanted to escape from that area as Jiang Nian said and eliminate the plague, the matter between her and Lu would also have to be written off.
After all, if the threat of Lu is not eliminated, the Wu Mi people will react faster than before the goddess escapes.
"What about Xizhen? Is he at Zuihualou now?"
Qin Lan looked around, subconsciously trying to find Xizhen.
"He has gone."
Xiao Yingzhu put down the teacup, his brows and eyes cold.
"Let's wait and see what reply Mo Qing gets from Jiang Nian in the next two days."
—
Zuihualou
Jiang Nian reached out to a maid returning to the corridor and blocked her way.
Worried that she wouldn't be able to find You and would delay her journey for the next few days, she didn't care about those rules that were not in line with common sense in ancient times.
If we were a little late, it would be bad if an epidemic broke out in Cang County.
Meeting the questioning gaze of her personal maid, she smiled slightly and said, "Excuse me, did you see where the extraditionist went?"
"Sir Extraditionist?" The maid blinked and stared at Jiang Nian. "Sorry, I don't know."
…
A personal maid who looks unfamiliar.
Is this the first time she's seen it?
The maid shook her head at her and continued walking forward.
Jiang Nian stood there, watching her walk to one of the doors, then reached out and opened it.
“…”
The sound of a door closing was heard immediately, and the white light and shadow on the wooden floor was closed, reflecting its original color.
The look in the maid's eyes... was as if she was seeing her for the first time. Apart from the confusion in her eyes, there was no other emotion.
Jiang Nian frowned slightly, and the sound of the windlass was heard again at the end of the corridor.
She turned her head and immediately met familiar eyes.
It's water chestnut.
Her expression was indifferent. She wanted to ignore Jiang Nian and not linger in front of him any longer. However, thinking of the goddess's 'favor' towards Jiang Nian, she patiently looked at her and asked, "What's the matter?"
Jiang Nian got straight to the point: "Where is the extraditionist now?"
"..." Ling was silent for a moment, her gaze suddenly becoming ambiguous, and she said in an unpredictable tone, "On the top floor of Zuihua Tower."
"There's a wooden ladder that leads to the eaves."
"Thank you."
Jiang Nian also didn't want to have too much involvement with Ling. After nodding hurriedly, he put aside the matter of the strange personal maid he had just seen and went straight to the windlass.
—
After staying in Zuihualou for a few days, Tongyou walked through it once, and then walked through it again to verify the talisman formation.
Although she had never been to the place Ling mentioned, she had an impression of it.
After going up the stairs on the side of the top pavilion, you can see a hidden corner when you look back. If Jiang Nian had not come up to observe it out of curiosity before, he would not have noticed this place without anyone telling him.
No one knew how much time had passed from the time Ling met You to the time she talked to her. She wondered if You had already left.
Jiang Nian reached out and grasped both sides of the wooden ladder and shook it.
It looks a bit old, but the foundation is still solid and not loose at all.
Jiang Nian glanced at the hem of the maid's dress, then lifted a corner of the hem and began to climb up.
The closer you are to the ceiling, the stronger the wind will be on the roof.
Standing at a point where her head was almost touching the top of the door, she tilted her head back and pushed against the door.
She pushed the edge of the downward-facing eaves, and before Jiang Nian could react, the tile seemed to have some misunderstanding that it could break away from the eaves, and it fell to the wooden floor with a "click".
The wind was whistling above his head, and Jiang Nian felt that something was wrong, so he lowered his head and glanced down.
Oops, she had knocked the roof tile to the ground—and what was even worse, it was cracked!
...Is she really that strong?
Jiang Nian hesitantly withdrew his hand and stared at the palm of his hand in a daze.
It can't be that he has been dealing with talismans and other things that don't exist in modern times every day recently, and has mutated into something?
It was really funny. Jiang Nian pursed his lips and looked up again.
A shadow now fell on the sky, which was so blue that it was almost white.
Messy hair and a somewhat surprised look appeared in her sight.
“——”
Along with the sound of the wind, You's confused voice came from above: "Why are you walking here?"
—
Under You's guidance, Jiang Nian finally climbed up the wooden ladder on the other side.
I don’t know if the method I learned at the Flower Festival has been passed down to Ai and his followers. Now, facing the strong wind from above, climbing up the vertical 90-degree wooden ladder without any safety measures, Jiang Nian’s legs are shaking a little.
When her head was about to appear outside the eaves, You, who was sitting outside the eaves, finally couldn't bear it anymore and stretched out a hand to her.
"Let me pull you up."
"......good."
There was no time for hesitation now. Jiang Nian felt that all his strength had turned into courage. He looked up at the sky that seemed to be getting closer and closer to him, and then lowered his head to look at the wooden floor that seemed a little small. His hands holding the wooden ladder began to lose strength.
She had never been afraid of heights in modern times, but now she looked so scared that she was shaking. Could it be that the original owner was afraid of heights?
Jiang Nian tried his best to look upwards and not divert his gaze downwards at all.
Finally, with the help of You, he successfully reached the top floor of Zuihualou.
Looking down from here, you can see Akamon in the distance across the river.
Jiang Nian knelt on the bricks and tiles, turned his head to look at the building that looked like a small pavilion not far away, and then looked at the person sitting leisurely on the seat in the pavilion, with not even a hair out of place.
"...Is there any place to sit here?"
When she had dinner with Xiao Yingzhu and the others at Zhuyu Pavilion, she was standing at the gate and could only see the height of about the third or fourth floor of Zuihua Tower. She didn't expect that after entering Zuihua Tower, she found that it could be even higher.
Shouzan is really capable. He wouldn't have brought cranes and other things here, would he?... Is Zuihualou the tallest building of this era?
Jiang Nian didn't have much energy to complain at the moment. She felt like her whole body was wrapped in the wind. If the wind was stronger, she would be blown away in the next second. She felt weak in her heart.
After trying to prop himself up with his hands several times without success, Jiang Nian finally couldn't hold back his pride and asked, "Should we go downstairs and talk?"
Don’t think that you can do whatever you want just because you know some martial arts or martial arts skills and can make your hair defy gravity and stay in shape!
You saw her embarrassment and just chuckled. He stood up, picked up her collar and put her inside the pavilion.
Jiang Nian was already accustomed to the methods used to arrest people in Zuihualou. He sat down in the pavilion and straightened his collar which might be messed up again in the next second. After a few seconds of silence, he still felt that he could not bear it.
"us--"
Before he could finish his words, You raised his finger and gently placed it against his lips.
He glanced down at the pavilion and motioned for her to look down.
"Did you see that? That civilian area."
"Um."
Jiang Nian resisted the waves of empty heart palpitations, raised his hand to hold back his messy hair, and looked down.
"That will be the breakthrough point for my sister's cage."
"Some children who have been lost for many years will return home and find their parents."
"Miss, why don't you take a guess? Among those parents, how many cherish their children's return like treasures, and how many harbor hatred and resentment?"
“——”
Jiang Nian's pupils shrank for a moment, and he immediately recalled the strange "personal maid" he met when he went out just now.
The suspicion in her heart made her speechless for a long time before she found her voice again: "You want to -?"
"Using those children as—this epidemic?!"
This goes against common sense.
Those people of Wu Mi.
Maybe it was because the floor she was on was too high or her clothes were too thin, but she was shivering from the cold.
You seemed to be completely unaware of Jiang Nian's change and continued to smile, "Perhaps Miss doesn't know that these children were also taken away by Lu back then?"
"I wonder if those parents who sent their children to be sacrificed during this period of time ever felt any remorse?"
He relaxed his brows and looked visibly pleased, as if he was looking forward to something that would happen in the future.
"But whether it's repentance or fear, those children..."
"They will all be taken to hell."
You's pupils suddenly contracted because of joy, and his cold white skin seemed to have some blood color. He imagined everything that would happen in the future, and was about to say something more, when he seemed to catch a glimpse of Jiang Nian sitting opposite him.
“…”
He fell silent, the joy in his eyes faded, leaving only a cold and dry ash.
"Yes, young lady, you may not know this yet, but I was one of those children at that time."
Jiang Nian watched him raise his hand and press it on the place where his heart was beating.
"But I was lucky, because my sister felt sorry for my situation and rescued me from those children who were about to treat me as a 'plague'."
"Ah, I remember that my biological father wrote several letters to persuade my grandmother to send me and other pitiful children to the mountains."
You sighed, tilted his head in a playful manner, and looked at Jiang Nian: "You are not still foolishly thinking that the children who were sacrificed in the mountains were only in the village at the foot of the mountain, right?"
“——”
Jiang Nian opened his mouth but didn't say a word.
What she had received from her followers were merely fragments left in the basement of the statue.
The earlier data may have been destroyed by the group of people disguised as "Lu" before the statue collapsed.
On this point, she couldn't refute a single word of questioning, and any words she said were just pale consolation in the face of worry.
Even though he has now become a villain who does all kinds of evil.
Jiang Nian turned his eyes away, not wanting to make himself look bad here.
He felt endless sorrow in his eyes, and she seemed to have noticed it. He lowered his brows and adjusted his chaotic state of mind. When he spoke again, he was much calmer and resumed his usual tone.
"Miss Jiang, do you have any other questions? Feel free to ask."
"I already know this is not a place where I can stay. Ask all the questions before I get too kind."
After learning that the plague launched by the goddess was caused by humans, Jiang Nian resisted this answer from the bottom of her heart. There was always a warm liquid that wanted to flow back from her stomach and intestines into her throat, making her feel nauseous and want to vomit.
However, being on a high floor, the cold wind here was completely different from that on the ground. It blew on the face extremely fiercely, as if it was going to cut the skin and leave blood lines. The uncomfortable and dizzy feeling came and went quickly, and was suppressed by the coldness in a moment.
Jiang Nian lowered his eyes to look at his clenched hands before him and asked, "How did those children manage to carry the 'plague' for such a long time?"
You was not surprised by her question. As if he was tired of staying here, he stood up and said, "Miss Jiang, you want to know? Then let's go meet those good kids."
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