The man who stood up for Song Jinyin just now stood back behind Cang Lin, and he was clearly one of the Xuanwei.
Pei Yanzhou didn't move until he saw Song Jinyin regaining her composure, walking to the end of the alley and pushing open the door. Then he uttered two words in a hoarse voice.
"killed."
Xuanwei disappeared again and caught up with the gangster who had just tried to bully Song Jinyin.
It's getting dark.
Cang Lin looked at the people in front of him, and from the excitement of seeing Miss Jin Yin, he felt a faint impatience in his heart.
If you continue to stand like this, the master's body will collapse again in a day at most.
Remembering Doctor Mu's advice, Cang Lin finally took a step forward and broke the silence.
"Master, do you want me to knock on the door? Miss Jinyin thinks she has been wronged. Maybe when she sees the master at this time, she won't be as resistant as before."
The shadows in the alley seem to swallow people up.
After a long time, light came out from inside, but it was too weak to illuminate the space.
Pei Yanzhou just looked at the darkness there.
Thinking of her confusion and forced composure just now, the silence in her eyes was broken, and scarlet spread under the darkness. After a long time, she spoke hoarsely and said no.
Mostly due to timidity.
After thinking about her for so long, he finally saw her figure, but he didn't dare to take a step forward.
And he also knew that knocking on the door would just force her to leave again.
At this moment, Pei Yanzhou once again saw the huge gap between him and Song Jinyin that could not be filled.
Ever since she first entered Zhuyayuan, over the years, it has been slowly cracking, and then getting deeper and deeper.
He was obviously aware of it, but he ignored it and finally pushed the person away completely.
The lights in the small courtyard finally turned on again.
Pei Yanzhou also had an impulse growing in his heart and wanted to push the door open regardless.
But when he thought about the resistance she might have, and when he thought about the silence and emptiness in those beautiful eyes after giving up in the inn that day, Pei Yanzhou was overwhelmed by the dull pain and felt a rare hesitation and confusion.
He thought that even if he forcibly trapped someone by his side again, Song Jinyin would probably never be the same again.
While my thoughts were wandering, the winter rain became heavier again.
Kurin held up an umbrella and spoke again.
"Master, if you don't recuperate, I'm afraid you won't be able to come see Miss Jin Yin in the future. Your subordinates have sent people to guard this place. They will never let what happened just now happen again. Why don't you... Come back tomorrow?"
In fact, he couldn't understand that his master had been looking for him for so long, and now that he was right in front of him, the man who always acted decisively stopped.
But he also knew that if he didn't speak, the person in front might stand there until dawn.
"hold on."
The man finally responded, but if he waited for this sentence, it would take another two hours.
At this time, in the prefect's mansion, the prefect frowned and completely forgot about Xin Na's concubine.
"Master, what are you doing?"
The eunuch's wife was also on tenterhooks. She was laughing at the neglected Hu Meizi in her heart, and at the same time she was worried that something would really happen in the house.
"A noble man has come to the city. Keep an eye on those at home these days."
"Your Excellency? Could it be that you are from Kyoto?"
"Um."
The prefect responded in a deep voice, remembering the identity of the prince again.
If he could establish a relationship with the famous man in front of His Majesty, he would save a lot of trouble. However, he had no idea how to establish this relationship.
"The prince who has come to Kyoto to look for someone must not be offended. Please tell them to restrain themselves and not act in a showy way, so as not to be noticed."
"Your Majesty?"
The eunuch's wife was startled and did not care about stabilizing her identity. "Luo City has always been peaceful. How could the prince find him here when he is looking for someone?"
"I don't know. I heard that I am looking for a girl, but the prince is not married yet, so I don't know..."
At this point, the prefect suddenly stopped talking and looked at each other with his wife.
There are several girls in the family, all of whom are good-looking, and this relationship is stable, so how can we go beyond getting married.
"If I can marry a daughter and become the heirloom concubine, I'm afraid not many people will dare to openly pressure me in my official career."
"Then I can no longer be partial to your old sweetheart's daughter. If you want to be the Crown Princess, she must be our eldest girl no matter what."
The prefect was in a good mood and followed the words of the person in front of him.
"You can be the concubine of anyone? Naturally, you have to be the legitimate daughter. In the past few days, I have been thinking of ways to invite this prince back to my house."
...
Early the next morning, Xiuxiu and another embroiderer went to the prefect's mansion again.
The prefect's wife and several girls were sitting in the front hall, smiling more kindly than yesterday as if there was some big happy event.
"The embroiderers in your embroidery shop are indeed better than those elsewhere. I seem to like all of these styles, especially these ones."
The maid placed several pieces of embroidery selected by the prefect's wife in front of them, and Song Jinyin's flower arrangement was placed first.
"Thank you for the compliment, madam."
Xiuxiu looked around, but there was no trace of her craftsmanship in it.
But before she could let go of her clenched silver teeth, she heard the eldest girl from the Prefect's Mansion next to her speak and point to the group of flowers.
"This looks good. I used to think that this kind of majestic and calm style should only appear on mothers. Now that I look at it like this, the crane inside actually has a bit of playfulness, which is quite innovative."
After a pause, the eldest girl in the mansion looked at Xiuxiu who was saluting in front of her again, with a bit of condescending arrogance in her eyes, "Is this the craftsmanship of the old embroidery ladies in your embroidery workshop?"
Xiuxiu's expression became increasingly ugly, but she still smiled and met the big girl's eyes.
"I don't dare to compare them with the seniors in the embroidery workshop. To be honest with you, eldest lady, there are several powerful embroidery girls in our embroidery workshop who are quite famous in Kyoto. If eldest lady doesn't pick and choose, you might be able to see someone you like more. "
The implication is that even embroidering Song Ci in this style is nothing more than that.
But when the words fell into the ears of the girl in front of her, they had another meaning. She just thought that Xiu Xiu was being self-effacing.
The eldest girl narrowed her eyes slightly, looked her up and down, and said hesitantly: "Is it possible that you embroidered this?"
Xiuxiu was about to shake her head when she saw the prefect's wife suddenly became interested. A pair of eyes fell on her, a little more interested than when she usually saw her.
Xiuxiu's heart moved, she lowered her eyes and pursed her lips, smiling. Although she didn't speak, her expression responded.
"I never noticed in the past that you have such skills at such a young age."
"Madam, you are so complimentary, but it's just the female master who taught me well."
"Then you must be able to handle this."
The prefect's wife nodded frequently, and then glanced at the maid, "The things I sent yesterday are very suitable for me. I appreciate it."
Xiu Xiu's eyebrows were filled with joy, and she quickly knelt down to thank her. Without any hesitation, she completely regarded this embroidered pattern as her own craft.
The Xiu Niang who came with her was stunned on the spot. Finally, Xiu Xiu stretched out her hand and pulled her, giving her a warning look.
When leaving, the prefect's wife stopped the two of them again, and her admiring eyes paused on Xiuxiu.
"This year I have made a lot of winter clothes for the girls in my house, but your skills are really good and should not be wasted. I like the pattern of the pattern just now, and the stitching skills are not as usual, so you will follow the pattern of the eldest girl in my house. I will make another spring shirt and send it to you."
"But no matter how many craftsmen and embroiderers work together, you must be the master of this stitching method. As for the money, just do it. Your reward in private will definitely not be less."
Xiuxiu was surprised and happy, and immediately nodded and accepted the job.
It wasn't until the two of them got on the carriage that she recovered from the joy of being valued by the prefect's wife, and turned to look at the people who came to the mansion with her.
"If you don't mention this matter more, I will definitely share some of it with you when I receive the reward. But if this matter is known to others... you should have heard about my relationship with Xin Xiuzhang. two."
"But, but, how can Sister Xiuxiu embroider with the same technique as Song Ci? As long as ready-made clothes are made, they will inevitably be discovered..."
"What are you afraid of?"
Xiuxiu glared at her fiercely, "When the embroidery masters know that the prefect's wife wants to make clothes, they will definitely arrange for someone to come with them. Then I will call Song Ci!"
"But in this case, when the prefect's wife asks about it..."
"I will naturally find a way to ask someone familiar to take over this job. As for Song Ci..."
Thinking of Song Ci's situation when he first came to Luo City, Xiu Xiu paid less and less attention to it, and sneered disdainfully: "As the wife of the prefect, you can see her whenever you want? With Song Ci's status, you can't even control the gate of the prefect's mansion. Come closer! When the spring clothes are given away, who will mention this matter?"
The girl sitting next to her struggled in her eyes, but in the end she lowered her head under Xiuxiu's coercion.
...
When Song Jinyin went out to the embroidery workshop, her eyes were still a little swollen.
What happened last night frightened her, so she brought the drugged embroidered handkerchief Li Wanqing gave her before going out.
If something like this happens again, this small courtyard may not be able to live in anymore.
Song Jinyin sighed in her heart and wrapped her coat tighter.
It was still cold and drizzling today, but there was no accumulation of water in the alley from yesterday. The bluestone road was clean, and not even a trace of muddy moss could be seen in the corner.
Song Jinyin felt weird, but she gave up her thoughts after hearing the sound of jujube cakes being sold outside.
This place is not very lively, there are very few food vendors on weekdays, let alone such steaming jujube cakes.
Recalling the taste she had at Qian Lai Inn yesterday, Song Jinyin walked a little faster. She didn't speak happily until she saw the person clearly.
"What an old man! I want two pieces of jujube cake!"
"Then you have to eat it while it's hot. Are two big pieces enough?"
"Enough is enough!"
Song Jinyin paid the copper coins and walked away with her things in her arms, feeling her depression dissipate a little.
And it wasn't until her figure completely disappeared that the old man selling jujube cakes stopped selling and walked to the corner.
"Your Excellency, this is the copper coin that the girl gave me just now. It is only sold here. It cannot be steamed. The jujube cake will get cold easily..."
"You just have to sell it to this girl until she doesn't want to eat it."
Cang Lin directly asked someone to put a lot of money in his basket. When he saw the basket sink instantly, he turned and left.
In addition to the jujube cake seller, he had to find other food, otherwise the master lying in the inn might not be able to drink the medicine.
"Master is awake? What does Doctor Mu say?"
Seeing Xuanwei coming, Cang Lin stopped and saw the person shaking his head.
"The prefect came again and sent a message saying that he was going to host a banquet for the master. The subordinates did not dare to reveal the news that the master was unconscious, so they only said a few perfunctory words."
"I took over the position of Governor Qian, but I couldn't handle Governor Qian's affairs. It's all out of some crooked ideas. I really thought that my master was easy to talk to."
Cang Lin thought of the current prefect and frowned impatiently, "We will discuss everything after the master wakes up. The master is focused on the girl and will probably ignore her."
