Tangled
Qin Lan was flipping through the latest intelligence from Chimen. When he saw Ai coming up from below, he knew without hesitation that it was Xiao Yingzhu's order.
The fog was thickest above the boat, and the air contained so much moisture that just walking a few steps on the platform outside made my clothes a little wet.
Ai raised her hand and shook her slightly damp long hair, then walked into the room with a calm expression. The piece of paper in Qin Lan's hand was too conspicuous, and she saw it at a glance.
"Pavilion Master."
Qin Lan raised his eyes: "Hmm?"
"The harvest at the beginning of summer in Chimen was poor, and some evil people were causing trouble in the city, trying to plunder the property of outsiders. The county magistrate was incompetent and repeatedly failed to catch them..."
The view outside the window was all white, and neither inside nor outside could see each other. The natural color was like a natural barrier, turning the room into a secluded place. It seemed that no matter what was mentioned here, it would not be discovered by outsiders.
Qin Lan held the letter paper in his hand, paused for a moment on the words "Recent epidemic in Cang County", looked up at Ai, and squinted his eyes casually.
"Now too?"
Ai shook his head.
Considering the time it takes for outsiders in Pingzhou to travel from Cangjun to Pingzhou, a hint of darkness flashed in Qin Lan's eyes. After concealing his expression, he suddenly smiled.
"It seems like the net is closing in."
As for who is helping those foreigners, and what kind of arrangements and decisions the emperor in the court will make for the upcoming battle, the complicated and turbulent positions of each party will soon be revealed.
The 'ferry' travels fast and can reach Chimen in just three or four days. Now that the final answer is about to be revealed in the county town, Qin Lan is feeling a little excited.
Once his emotions cleared up, the worry and concern he had just felt for Xizhen dissipated a little, and he calmed down.
Xiao Yingzhu looked calm and focused on drinking tea before leaving the Duke's room, which meant she must know something.
But why don’t you say it?
You do have some thoughts in your mind, but you haven't seen any evidence to support them yet. They can only be verified in Cang County, so why don't you say it directly?
Xiao Yingzhu usually does things based on clear evidence. Keeping people in suspense has never been his style. Another possibility is that the source of the news he heard was not so serious, so he might just smile and not answer.
Having worked with him for so many years, Qin Lan knew that he had some confidence in his ability to guess Xiao Yingzhu's thoughts. He leaned back in his chair, listening to the sound of Ai pulling a chair over and sitting down. He raised his head to look at the beams in the room and spoke in a muffled voice.
"Going to see your senior sister?"
After Ai finished speaking, he pulled a chair and sat down in a daze. His dark pupils turned to Qin Lan, his gentle eyes were calm, and he didn't say much.
"Um."
"Has she said anything to you yet?"
When she first met Xiao Yingzhu, Tao Yu invited her to celebrate the New Year with them at the sect. However, ever since she met Xiao Yingzhu that year, she has never mentioned the 'must-know sect event' as often as before."
On the contrary, her view on the 'Must-Know Events of the Sect' had also changed significantly, from superficial praise to an unconcealable loneliness and indifference.
It was as if her usual agility and vitality had been drained away by this "incident". From then on, even her interactions with Tao Yu became less frequent.
Tao Yu and Qin Lan naturally noticed such a huge contrast, but Tao Yu couldn't ask, and Qin Lan had no right to speak. Even if he did, his senior sister would immediately know that he was asking on Tao Yu's behalf.
Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, the most suitable person to ask is Ai, who is not on guard against by the senior sister.
Qin Lan rubbed his neck and tilted his head to look at her expectantly.
Meeting with the sparkling gaze, having stayed in the sect for a few days and also been worked as a hard laborer by the senior sister for a few days, all that Ai could recall in his mind were the lush green vegetation and herbs, and the conversations he had with the senior sister were at most about how to plant them and when to harvest them.
...I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint the Pavilion Master.
Ai was silent, his sitting posture still straight, but he slowly and quietly looked away.
Although he couldn't resist the Pavilion Master's star-like gaze, as long as he didn't look at him, he could still say the words that would kill his hope.
"Senior sister said that I am very good at preparing the recipes for taking care of the herbs."
“…”
The chess piece that had been placed beside the senior sister for so many years was still being used as cheap labor by her as usual. His proficiency in using herbs was getting higher and higher, but the progress on the most important task assigned to him had not made any progress at all. Qin Lan's heart was cold and warm, warm and cold again.
Qin Lan felt alternating between cold and warm in his heart. His eyes were dull for a moment, then he smiled self-deprecatingly as if to comfort himself.
"It's okay. At least I've learned a lot of techniques for growing herbs. That's good."
It's just that her major is not suitable for her. Whenever Ai goes out, she only delivers important information and kills suspicious people. She has no use for her skill of growing life-saving herbs.
Qin Lan sighed indescribably, and tapped his hands on the table again out of boredom. He tilted his head and thought for a while. A hazy white mist passed before his eyes, and the information changed its light under his shadow.
The white paper brought by Xiao Yingzhu appeared in his field of vision. It looked very familiar but he couldn't remember where he had seen it. Qin Lan shifted his gaze and fell on the book. He raised his lip and thought of some interesting things on the boat. He stretched out his hand and pulled the book over.
The book was covered in a shell, with only the top and bottom sides open. The book seemed to be divided into two volumes, tightly stuck together, hiding in the shell in a daze.
Qin Lan bent his fingertips and tapped on the book. Just as his fingertips touched the top of the book, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs from outside the door.
The footsteps were quick and brisk, pausing for a moment in front of the door of the Duke's room. Then, the door, which was not closed tightly by Ai, was pushed open by an external force.
Jiang Nian appeared in Qin Lan's field of vision with a calm yet somewhat alienated look. He was stunned for a moment, then glanced at Xiao Yingzhu following behind him and suddenly laughed out loud.
He wanted to move the book in his hand to see what was inside, but he turned around with familiarity. He raised his hand and handed it to Jiang Nian, whose face still had a hint of coldness, and smiled:
"Miss Jiang, are you looking for this book? I just got it and was about to give it to you."
Jiang Nian was slightly startled by not expecting Qin Lan and Ai to be in Jue's room. Naturally, he would not pass on his bad mood to others at the moment. After a change of mind, his face returned to its usual gentle and sweet expression, and he slightly raised his eyebrows and curved his eyes.
"Thank you, Mr. Qin. I'm really sorry to bother you."
She reached out to take it, lowered her eyes to look at it carefully, then picked up one side of the book with both hands and hung it in front of her.
—
This book was originally placed in a conspicuous place on the table.
Where Jiang Nian couldn't see, Xiao Yingzhu raised her eyes coldly, her expression relaxed, without any displeasure.
As if he didn't feel the momentary coolness on his face like an invisible knife cutting him, Qin Lan withdrew his hand with a particularly pleasant expression, accepted her gratitude very calmly, and then leaned back in his chair with a sense of contentment like a hero, and crossed his legs lazily.
There were only four people in the room. As soon as Jiang Nian came in, he saw the book in Qin Lan's hand. He walked up to him and took it naturally. He happened to be standing in the middle of the room.
She could feel the vague gazes of the other two people on her face. She automatically ignored the one behind her, turned her head, put the book away where Xiao Yingzhu couldn't see, relaxed her brows and smiled at Ai Tiantian:
"Why is Xiao Ai here?"
“…”
Jiang Nian's words in his ear overlapped with the slightly cold gaze from the opposite side. Ai withdrew his eyes from Xiao Yingzhu's face, which was vague and emotionless, and answered quietly.
"He told me to come back here."
Miss Jiang looked at her and the Pavilion Master with a bright expression and a soft tone, which was completely different from the way she looked at Xiao Jun.
So amazing.
—
Xiao Yingzhu asked Ai to come here?
An unknown emotion seemed to be flowing in his heart. Jiang Nian suddenly thought of the closed door and the quiet room. His unhappy mood suddenly became subtle. He paused for a moment, turned his eyes away, and replied after a moment:
"...Is that so? Okay."
She could still see the corner of Xiao Yingzhu's clothes out of the corner of her eye. Her mood had improved, but the weight of the book was still in her hand, and she was still worried about Xiao Yingzhu collecting the book.
She couldn't get angry, but she couldn't calm down and face Xiao Yingzhu immediately.
After pondering for a moment, Jiang Nian didn't plan to keep an extra angle to look in the direction of Xiao Yingzhu. No matter what, he had to maintain his current cold face, otherwise he would feel strange and embarrassed no matter how he thought about it later.
Her mind was tangled with mixed thoughts. She turned her head and saw that there was nothing else to mention, and she picked up the book in her hand again.
Now she could go back to the cabin and open the book to see what book Miss Tao gave her. Just as she was thinking about this, Jiang Nian turned around and was about to walk out of the room when a warm and cool hand rested on her shoulder.
She paused and turned to look back.
Xiao Yingzhu's expression was unsettled, and it was difficult to discern his emotions. Seeing Jiang Nian pause, he slowly lowered his hand, his gaze fixed on her face for a moment, not knowing what he was thinking. He stared at her for a moment longer, then looked away and said calmly,
"Qin Lan just got the information, take a look."
He noticed a hint of nonchalance in his actions and tone, but couldn't tell where this subtle change from before came from. Now that he said so, he couldn't just leave without appreciating it. Jiang Nian immediately looked away from his face and responded lightly.
"where?"
"Hey, here, here."
Qin Lan reached out and gave her the information about Cang County, then withdrew his hand and put his arm on the back of the chair.
"Take a look at what you don't understand, and I... no, Xiao Yingzhu will explain it to you."
"Um."
The Duke's room itself is used to observe the enemy situation and command the battle, so there are not many chairs.
Xiao Yingzhu took the last chair from the side and placed it naturally behind Jiang Nian, leaning aside casually.
His gaze fell indifferently on the paper in front of him. Jiang Nian's fingertips felt a little hot when they touched the thin paper. She moved her fingertips calmly, lowered her eyes and read silently.
"The mining continues, but Yu He hasn't returned yet. There's been an epidemic in Cang County lately, and the number of travelers is sparse. Yan's information will be delayed for another day."
The writing strokes are extremely sharp, and the paper is clean without any impurities.
Jiang Nian turned it over, paused at the blank back for a moment, then raised his head: "Anything else?"
Meeting her inquiring gaze, Qin Lan looked at Ai.
Ai came to his senses belatedly after being in a daze, and suddenly found that everyone's eyes were turned to him. His pupils suddenly shrank and then slowly calmed down. He repeated what he had just said to Qin Lan.
“…After being repeatedly evaded, he disappeared.”
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