mood
There was silence in the room for a moment, and Xiao Yingzhu said slowly, "You ask too many questions."
“—How could that be?”
Seeing that Xiao Yingzhu wasn't particularly resolute, Qin Lan felt there was still some hope of asking:
"You don't trust your subordinates? Or are you not worried that something bad might happen to her? Why are you so confident in arranging her to be a maid?"
Every step taken at this moment is crucial. For example, if one wants to steal intelligence from the enemy, he must be someone who will not betray and must gain Xiao Yingzhu's trust.
It is very intriguing that Xiao Yingzhu trusts Jiang Nian, but places her in the most dangerous place.
According to Qin Lan's understanding of Xiao Yingzhu, as long as he wants to get something, he will generally keep it under his control and will never take the risk of letting his weaknesses be put into the hands of others.
After all, it is most reassuring to keep him by his side.
Therefore, Jiang Nian almost never left Xiao Yingzhu's side along the way.
Her privileges with Xiao Yingzhu have surpassed everyone else, but in Qin Lan's eyes, Jiang Nian seems to be unaware of it.
...I don't know what she thinks her position is with Xiao Yingzhu. Judging from Jiang Nian's attitude in the conversation just now, she is most likely prejudiced against Xiao Yingzhu.
Qin Lan pondered for a moment. Seeing that Xiao Yingzhu didn't answer, he didn't care and continued to ask according to his own thoughts:
"Now it seems you haven't said anything."
He laughed, his tone somewhat amused.
"Aren't you afraid that she might misunderstand you?"
Just last night he agreed to cooperate with her and personally handed her a personal token of his own; today he gave her a task that only someone he trusted could be competent for.
This practice has become very obvious.
Xiao Yingzhu couldn't understand what there was to be misunderstood.
Isn’t this something everyone can understand?
He glanced at Qin Lan indifferently, his tone cold.
"Do you think she is the same as you?" His reaction was dull.
“——”
Qin Lan couldn't grasp the vague disgust and boredom, and was immediately speechless by the question. He had the illusion that he had returned to the sect in a dream and was questioned by Tao Yu.
After being stunned for a moment, an idea suddenly occurred to him, and he asked Xiao Yingzhu with a smile:
"I finally realized that you were unhappy today because she treated you coldly?"
Xiao Yingzhu originally planned to send the gift to Jiang Nian so that he wouldn't have to ask him questions later using the gift.
But now it seems that answering all the time is not a solution. Even if the answer is brief, Qin Lan has a huge imagination and his questions become endless, and he can never finish asking.
In that case, let’s just leave first.
In your spare time, it is better to keep your ears quiet.
Xiao Yingzhu withdrew her gaze and stood up somewhat listlessly.
"Whatever you want, go ahead."
He walked quickly and opened the door and walked out in a short while, completely ignoring what Qin Lan wanted to say next.
Qin Lan looked at Xiao Yingzhu's back, who didn't want to stay here any longer, and slowly withdrew his gaze. His memory drifted back to the two years before he met Xiao Yingzhu.
The former Duke died early and everything after that had not yet been arranged, so at that time, the Duke's Mansion was in the hands of Emperor Changde.
In order to get back the mansion where his parents' belongings were left, Xiao Yingzhu made a lot of efforts at that time.
Unlike him who can get almost anything he wants with just a single order now, Xiao Yingzhu obviously did not have such rights back then.
At first, Xiao Yingzhu was faced with only his grandmother who had left him, an empty house, and the imperial edict that could allow Emperor Changde to take back his mansion at any time.
While being isolated and helpless, there are many hands outside the Duke's Mansion eager to try and get a piece of the pie.
The impression Xiao Yingzhu left on Qin Lan during those two years was like an unpredictable rainy day with occasional lightning and thunder.
Everywhere I looked was darkness, and there was hardly any way out.
He rescued Xiao Yingzhu from the mountain of corpses that symbolized death and the cemetery, but sent him to another hopeless place shrouded in shadows.
At that time, Xiao Yingzhu was still a minor and had no trump cards in his hand. In Qin Lan's opinion, he would not be able to make a comeback.
He couldn't figure out how to take back what originally belonged to him in this difficult situation.
Qin Lan's memory is particularly deep.
In those days, he and Tao Yu sighed:
"The first enemy I faced was His Majesty. This is incredible luck."
Even though the late Duke and Emperor Changde were classmates and close friends, Emperor Changde had no intention of granting Xiao Yingzhu any special privileges.
The late Duke is the late Duke, and Xiao Yingzhu is Xiao Yingzhu.
Even if you are father and son, you cannot prove that you can be as useful as your father.
Then let’s start over again.
If you take a wrong step, you might just break the bridge and fall off the cliff into a bottomless, dark hole. You'd be lucky to die with your body intact.
This is what Emperor Changde meant.
later......
Xiao Yingzhu broke free from the difficult situation and not only won the appreciation of Emperor Changde, but also established a reputation as a cruel and merciless person in the capital.
All those involved in the missions he carried out were killed.
But this terrifying man, with his extremely beautiful face, cruelly captured the heart of a young girl——
Because there was no source of intelligence in the early days, Xiao Yingzhu would go in and out of some mixed places in order to get the intelligence he wanted.
There are many brothels among them.
However, he is extremely obsessed with mysophobia and hates anyone who wants to get close to him. Even if he wants to obtain information, he will only rely on his self-consciously good looks and ambiguous words to win the favor of women.
And if any woman wanted to attack him gently, she would be frightened by the sharp sword he carried with him.
But perhaps Xiao Yingzhu pretended very well, and those women never saw the disgust in Xiao Yingzhu's eyes until they died.
Just like a moth flying into a flame, it will eventually wither away.
Obviously, among those women, there are many noble ladies with great prospects in the future.
It's a pity that it ended there.
Maybe it's because they are all cynical and moody.
Qin Lan was puzzled and finally came to this conclusion.
—
Coming back from his thoughts, he straightened up and stretched lazily.
The door that Xiao Yingzhu had just opened was closed tightly again. Looking out through the window paper, there was no trace of his presence.
Time flies.
Who now can associate the current careless and unapproachable Xiao Yingzhu with the person who often visited brothels in the past?
I'm afraid Miss Jiang doesn't know about his past.
His arm was stretched out and then retracted by the owner with a sigh. Qin Lan rubbed his neck and suddenly had an idea.
——What if I exaggerate the fact that Xiao Yingzhu used to “like” to go to brothels and tell Jiang Nian about it?
Life is dull and boring like clear soup, so it is better to find some fun for yourself in the occasional free time.
Qin Lan really thought so, but as to whether he would actually do it, that was not certain.
After all, saving your life is important.
The warm sunshine outside the window gradually faded away, and some of the coolness in the evening breeze spread into the room.
Someone outside the house knocked on the door and asked tentatively in a low voice:
"Sir, the car is ready."
Qin Lan stood up, glanced around, and didn't see anything missing, then walked towards the door.
"I understand."
The wooden door blocked out the subsequent inquiries from the guards, and only a few fragments of Qin Lan's words could be heard.
"Lock him in the basement beneath the mansion—interrogate him later."
Xiao Yingzhu's attitude towards others today has returned to the gloomy look of the past, but it doesn't seem intentional.
Although Qin Lan had just made a joke related to Jiang Nian, he didn't think that Xiao Yingzhu would change her usual behavior because of Jiang Nian.
He is not someone who can be changed so easily.
The only one who can change him is himself.
Compared to the fact that Xiao Yingzhu’s bad mood was caused by Jiang Nian, Qin Lan was more inclined to other reasons.
It was as if something about his parents that hurt him deeply in the past had touched upon him, causing him to subconsciously express this attitude.
Qin Lan's thoughts drifted here, and he frowned when he thought of the two rooms in the State Guesthouse that Xiao Yingzhu mentioned that he had never heard of.
The guards were following behind him with their heads bowed and no words spoken. Qin Lan paused and tilted his head towards the attendants and said:
"Go check the relationship between this State Guest House and His Majesty."
Buqu had been with Qin Lan for many years. Hearing the implication of these words, he paused for a moment and then replied in a low voice:
"As you command."
—
"Miss--"
"Miss?"
Jiang Nian walked forward without saying a word. The road in front of him was flat. The lotus flowers beside him had been ravaged by several nights of rain, and many of them had withered.
She was so immersed in her own thoughts that she didn't even hear Ai calling her several times.
Until someone touched his sleeve lightly.
Jiang Nian blinked his lowered eyes, then turned his head and looked at Ai a little confusedly.
"What do you want?"
Ai walked a little faster, looked directly into Jiang Nian's eyes, and asked bluntly: "Miss Jiang - are you angry?"
Although he couldn't tell anything from her temperament, from the tone of Jiang Nian's question just now, Ai felt as if he saw Xiao Yingzhu.
Is it true that if you spend a long time with someone, you will gradually be assimilated by him?
Ai observed Jiang Nian's facial expression calmly, but Jiang Nian was acting out of character, as if he had not expected her to ask such a question.
"Why do you think so?"
She smiled at Ai.
"You think Xiao Yingzhu's assignment of me as a maid is inappropriate, so you're worried that I'll be angry?"
Ai was silent for a moment and nodded.
This is not difficult to understand.
Jiang Nian's ability to protect himself must be weaker than those of them who have been practicing since childhood and surviving for this reason.
Xiao Yingzhu knew this, but still asked her to go.
It felt a bit like asking her to die.
There was no one else around, and the air was filled with the fragrance of flowers.
Jiang Nian tilted his head slightly and looked down at the lotus pond beside him.
The flowers in the pond were blooming luxuriantly, showing no signs of being weighed down by the heavy rain.
Her reflection in the water was zigzagging, softening the expression on her face.
The sunlight refracted at a perfect angle, falling on her earlobe and bringing warmth.
The pitch-black pendant was revealed from her neck and black hair, and the bright color flashed in Ai's eyes.
Ai's pupils dilated slightly.
Jiang Nian seemed to want Ai to see it intentionally.
She stopped, turned around, lifted her drooping hair, and revealed the single-sided pendant.
"—Perhaps this way you will know."
Being the goddess's spy was a crucial task in all the complicated chain of events, and Xiao Yingzhu even gave her the pendant.
Rather than thinking about Xiao Yingzhu wanting her to die.
It would be better to say that Xiao Yingzhu was protecting her in another way.
Something that Xiao Yingzhu could not avoid began to happen quietly.
And he wanted to put her in the goddess's Zuihua Tower just to make it clear.
The most dangerous place is also the safest place.
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