Change tactics and try again!
The first day of the first month of the twenty-third year of the Great Entropy Dynasty.
The capital city was brightly decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, and the sound of firecrackers filled the air. The streets were bustling with people, and the aroma of wine and meat mingled with the crisp air. Red couplets adorned the doorways of every household. Children in new coats chased and laughed in the snow, and everywhere was filled with the festive spirit of the New Year.
However, the grand residence of the Prime Minister was shrouded in a deathly silence. The oppressive atmosphere inside was almost suffocating; even the servants who moved about held their breath, not daring to make a sound.
All of this is because of her.
Jiang Wanzhi, the only daughter of Prime Minister Jiang.
"Achoo!"...Who's talking badly about me!
Jiang Wanzhi, who was fast asleep, was suddenly awakened by a sneeze. She opened her eyes groggily, and in her unfocused vision, she suddenly saw two figures standing stiffly beside the bed.
It was her personal maids, Chuntao and Qiuju.
The two men had faces ashen like the bottom of a pot, their eyes filled with weariness and a sense of vicissitude.
Chun Tao fired the first shot, her voice flat and emotionless: "Miss, it's the New Year, please have some mercy and calm down. Don't make this fuss about running away from home again, okay?"
Qiuju quickly added fuel to the fire, seizing the opportunity to say, "You ran away from the manor last night, causing chaos throughout the entire household! The master was so angry... he even canceled the New Year's bonus! Everyone is counting on that little bit of money to get through the New Year!"
"Stop! Stop! Stop! Hold on!" Jiang Wanzhi sprang up with a jolt, enduring her aching back and waist as she sat up, clutching her ringing ears, fuming with anger.
She yelled, "You're all acting like you're wronged?! You're not as wronged as I am?!"
She threw off the covers, jumped barefoot off the bed, put her hands on her hips, and launched into a tirade of grief and indignation at the two maids: "You want me to marry that guy... Zongzheng Hengyu?! He's the biggest villain in the whole book! Whoever wants to marry him can marry him, I don't want to die at his hands!"
"And another thing! Don't mention money! It hurts my heart to even think about it!" She clutched her chest, her face contorted with pain.
“My thousand taels! All the wealth I painstakingly rolled up! I hadn’t even had a chance to enjoy it! It’s gone! Gone! Torn apart! They just gave me ten taels! Ten taels! Not even enough to buy a few strings of candied hawthorns!” She became angrier and angrier as she spoke, her voice rising to a high pitch.
Jiang Wanzhi felt increasingly frustrated. She stomped her foot, turned to the two dumbfounded maids, and said, "No! It seems I have to change my tactics!"
Upon hearing the words "change tactics," the two maids' pupils dilated instantly. They exchanged a glance and saw the familiar despair in each other's eyes!
Here we go again! Here we go again!
Chuntao silently counted on her fingers: "The eighth time? No, the ninth time?"
Qiuju silently mouthed a reminder from the side: "The tenth time! This is the tenth time she's said she wants to 'change tactics'!"
"The result of each tactic was either being surrounded and intercepted by the servants, or being forced to kneel in the ancestral hall by the master."
"The most outrageous time was when the young lady tried to escape by jumping from the second floor using a rope made of bed sheets, but ended up hanging on the old plum tree in the courtyard, and was watched by the whole mansion for a full half hour!"
After the two maids finished their whispered discussion, they both sighed, feeling that there was probably no hope for this year's reward money.
"Tactics?" Chun Tao and Qiu Ju asked in unison, taking a step back in unison, their eyes filled with pleading for their mistress to be spared.
“That’s right! Tactics!” Jiang Wanzhi was like she’d been injected with adrenaline, shaking off her earlier dejection. She paced barefoot around the room, her eyes shining, as if filled with the light of wisdom.
"The previous tactics were just small-scale and immature! This time, I summarized the lessons learned from the previous nine failures and conducted a deep reflection!"
She abruptly stopped, hands on her hips, chin slightly raised, looking at Chun Tao and Qiu Ju with an air of certainty, and said, "The key to failure lies in perspective! Too narrow a perspective! Always thinking of climbing over walls or crawling through dog holes, the goal is too singular, the path too direct, making it easy to be predicted!"
Jiang Wanzhi was excitedly reviewing the events, completely ignoring the incident where she had hung herself on a tree last time.
Chun Tao's lips twitched slightly, and she whispered to Qiu Ju, "Last time, Miss said the key was 'feinting to the east while attacking in the west,' the time before that was 'crossing the Chencang pass in secret,' and the time before that was 'shedding one's skin like a cicada's... "
Qiuju winked and added to Chuntao, "And what happened? They didn't make a sound here or there, didn't manage to shed their shells, and ended up getting stuck in the artificial cave by the master, getting a mouthful of ash."
"So!" Jiang Wanzhi clapped her hands sharply, her voice loud and clear, "This time, we're going to use a two-pronged approach! Combining the real and the unreal! To create a perfect 'Golden Cicada Shedding Its Shell PLUS' plan!"
She yanked open the bottom drawer of the dressing table and, from beneath a pile of messy cosmetics and storybooks, pulled out a tattered, stained map of the capital.
Chuntao and Qiuju's eyelids twitched simultaneously.
Jiang Wanzhi carefully laid the map out on the table, picked up a burnt charcoal pencil, and drew two huge, crooked circles on the map with a flourish.
“Look! Plan A!” She pointed to one of the circles, her face showing an expression that said the plan was brilliant.
"Make a feint! Create unprecedented chaos! You all say there's an assassin! Make all the servants and maids run rampant throughout the mansion, drawing at least 80% of the firepower!"
"And then!" Jiang Wanzhi slammed her charcoal pencil heavily into another circle. "Attack the West! While everyone was in chaos and disarray, I..."
She puffed out her small chest, smiled smugly at the two of them, and continued, "I'll be carrying minimal equipment, mainly silver notes, although I only have nine taels, nine mace, and four fen right now! I'll sneak out from that dilapidated wall in the northwest corner of the backyard, overgrown with ivy and even cats avoid it, without anyone noticing!"
Chun Tao looked at the location on the map that was marked with three exclamation marks, and hesitated to speak.
"Perfect!" Jiang Wanzhi was very satisfied with her plan, completely immersed in her own brilliant image of being a master strategist.
"This time, we'll definitely pull off a successful deception and escape unscathed!"
She rubbed her hands together excitedly, her eyes sparkling with a sense of freedom: "Chuntao! Qiuju! You are my right and left arms! The implementation of Plan A depends on you!"
Spring Peach and Autumn Chrysanthemum: "..."
The two men were expressionless. It was over. Not only was their reward money gone this year, but their monthly allowance was probably going to be deducted as well!
Chuntao and Qiuju exchanged a glance, both seeing deep despair and a numb resignation in each other's eyes.
"Freedom! Here I come!" Jiang Wanzhi gave herself a thumbs-up in front of the bronze mirror.
Just then, a voice came from outside the room.
Chuntao and Qiuju went to open the door to find out what was going on, and discovered that it was Yan Cheng from the Hengwang Mansion, who must have been sent by His Highness Hengwang.
Jiang Wanzhi was facing the bronze mirror, giving herself a "Long live freedom" gesture, her eyes shining brightly as if she could already see the vast world beyond the capital.
"Freedom! I'm really coming!" she roared, trying to bolster her courage.
Just then, three clear, steady knocks, carrying an air of unquestionable authority, suddenly rang out.
It was just the right moment, neither too light nor too heavy, perfectly timed to coincide with her moment of boundless pride.
"Who is it? Are you trying to kill me!" Jiang Wanzhi shouted angrily at the door after being interrupted while casting her spell, her tone as irritable as a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
Early in the morning, just as her escape plan was getting underway, some foolish person came along to cause trouble.
There was a moment of silence outside the door.
Immediately, Chun Tao's deliberately lowered voice, tinged with panic and disbelief, came in, along with a hiss of gasping for breath: "Miss...it's...it's someone from the Prince Heng's Mansion!"
The three words "Hengwang Mansion" were like three cold steel needles, precisely piercing Jiang Wanzhi's heart, which had just been ignited with ambition!
...
Jiang Wanzhi suddenly recalled what happened last night and felt a chill run down her spine (a wave of nostalgia):
It was the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month, the midnight of New Year's Eve, in the twenty-third year of the Great Entropy Dynasty.
The snow fell heavily, blanketing the world in white.
The biting wind whipped up snowflakes that stung my face.
At the foot of the high walls of the Prime Minister's residence, a petite figure landed with a "plop" and hadn't even stood up properly when the whole residence erupted in chaos!
The servants shouted at the top of their lungs, "It's terrible! Miss has climbed over the wall and run away!"
Jiang Wanzhi's heart skipped a beat: I'm doomed! I've been exposed!
Without saying a word, she took off running!
To shake off any potential pursuers, she wandered aimlessly through the maze-like alleyways like a snake, turning and twisting until she was almost dizzy.
Finally, the view opened up before me.
Wow! Goodness gracious!
A brightly lit, bustling night street suddenly appeared before her eyes!
The colorful lanterns illuminated the snowy night as brightly as day, and the shouts of vendors, the aroma of food, and the laughter of pedestrians mingled together, creating an incredibly lively atmosphere.
"My God..." Jiang Wanzhi stared wide-eyed, almost forgetting that she was running for her life.
The world in this book is amazing!
It's midnight on Chinese New Year, and the streets are still so lively!
This level of prosperity is definitely a super-sized version of the Tang Dynasty!
She sniffed, her gaze immediately drawn to the dazzling array of food stalls lining the street: glistening candied hawthorns, sizzling grilled meat skewers, steaming wonton stalls...
Jiang Wanzhi's stomach was rumbling with cravings, and she subconsciously reached for her purse, only to find that besides a thousand-tael silver note, she didn't even have half a copper coin!
"Looks like I need to go and exchange some loose silver first," she muttered to herself.
My gaze fell on the pawnshop on the street corner with the sign that read "Connecting the World".
She patted the snow off her body and prepared to cross the long street.
"Make way! Quickly!" A hurried shout, accompanied by the rapid sound of galloping hooves, suddenly burst out from the dark alley beside them!
A jet-black steed charged forward like an arrow. The man on horseback wore a dark, close-fitting outfit, his black hair half-tied up with a plain silver hairpin, fluttering wildly in the wind and snow.
The man reacted quickly, suddenly tightening the reins. The horse neighed and reared up, its large iron hooves almost grazing Jiang Wanzhi's nose!
The immense impact startled Jiang Wanzhi, causing her to instantly fall to the ground, tears welling up in her eyes from the pain.
In her mind, she was screaming like a little devil: Are all the paper-thin characters in this Great Entropy Dynasty road hazards?! Are they all this arrogant?!
After hitting someone, he acted like he was nailed to a saddle?
how?
Did you get super glue on your butt?
Do you even know what it means to help me up?!
She struggled to get up, and when she looked down at the silver note in her hand, that thin one-thousand-tael note had been mercilessly torn in two during that earth-shattering fall!
Half of it lay pitifully in her palm, while the other half was mercilessly trampled into the snow by the horse's hooves!
Jiang Wanzhi felt her heart break as well. She suddenly looked up and glared at the culprit on the horse.
The man stood tall and straight like a pine tree; even seated on horseback, his narrow waist and long legs were clearly visible. His face was partially obscured by the shadows of the snowy night, but his features were distinct, his jawline taut, and his good looks were undeniable!
She won't fall for that; she can't forgive even a handsome guy!
He hit someone, tore up the ticket, and yet he remained completely calm, his eyes expressionless, not even raising an eyebrow, let alone dismounting to help the person!
This attitude completely ignited Jiang Wanzhi's anger!
"Hey!" She endured the pain and jumped up like a cat with its fur standing on end. She rushed to the front of the horse in two steps, grabbed the man's clothes hanging by his side, and pulled them down forcefully!
With his other hand, he held the two tattered silver notes high, almost shoving them against his high nose bridge. His voice rose sharply with anger, echoing across half the street.
"Pay up! One thousand taels! Not a single coin less!"
The man seemed to have not expected her to be so strong. Caught off guard, he was pulled and his body swayed. His brows finally furrowed almost imperceptibly.
He glanced down at the two halves of the silver note, then looked up at her, his voice low but carrying a matter-of-fact distance: "I don't have a thousand taels of silver on me. Where is your residence? I'll have someone return it to you tomorrow."
The man's brows furrowed slightly as he looked down at her. The moonlight outlined his sharply defined features, and his deep eyes were as unfathomable as a cold pool.
Jiang Wanzhi's eyes widened as she quickly scanned him from head to toe: the fabric of his clothes looked good, but the style was simple, without any fancy accessories, and he had an ordinary leather pouch hanging from his waist. He didn't look like a nouveau riche carrying thousands of taels of silver.
"It's a scam! It's definitely a hit-and-run stunt!" Alarm bells rang in her mind.
"Don't give me that!" Jiang Wanzhi gripped his collar even tighter, as if afraid he would run away. "Trying to get something for nothing? No way! Give it to me now! Right now! Immediately!"
The man seemed speechless at her fierceness; his lips twitched slightly, and his tone carried a barely perceptible hint of disdain.
"Ha," he scoffed, "You're certainly unconventional, young lady. Who else would act like you, casually carrying thousands of taels of silver and parading around town like that?"
"Show-off?!" Jiang Wanzhi was almost laughing in anger. This guy's ability to turn the tables on her was quite something!
"I'm showing off? You were the one who rode your horse blindfold and bumped into me! You tore up my money! And you're blaming me for having too much money?!"
"Let me tell you, not only will you have to pay money for what happened today, you'll also have to bow down and apologize to me!"
Jiang Wanzhi gripped his clothes even tighter, her fingertips turning white. "Pay me now!"
Unable to look directly at her, the man finally gave in and dismounted, his movements swift and decisive.
He steadied himself, casually unfastened the inconspicuous leather money pouch from his waist, and slapped it directly onto Jiang Wanzhi's hand, which was still gripping his collar. He said impatiently, "I only have ten taels of silver on me. I will definitely return the rest tomorrow."
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