When Lu Anran came out of Yizhuang, the sky turned dark, and the crescent moon was like a scimitar, hanging diagonally on the treetops.
Two white lanterns at the entrance of Yizhuang were blowing in the wind. It was a lonely night, pale and bleak.
Wu Fang filled a large bucket of water outside. Lu Anran took off her deerskin gloves and washed her fingers carefully. She looked thoughtful and accidentally kicked the bucket, causing the water inside to splash out and wet her skirt.
It doesn't matter if it's water, it's just contaminated with medicinal powder, and the plain blue fabric is a little white.
Lu Anran wanted to take a handkerchief to wipe it, but then she remembered that her handkerchief had been used just now. She looked down at it for a while and decided to just wet it and let the wind dry it.
Wu Fang took a step forward, took out a handkerchief from the innermost part of his sleeve pocket, sucked some water into the bucket and squeezed it dry, then squatted down and wiped off the traces of the powder little by little.
Lu Anran picked up the skirt and helped Wu Fang up, "That's enough, the water stain will dry up later."
Our young lady had been taught etiquette since she was a child, so she couldn't go out disheveled, so the two of them found a clean place to sit down, and waited for their skirts to dry before returning to Yun Mansion.
Wu Fang folded up the wet handkerchief and stuffed it back. Lu Anran caught something from the corner of his eye and held her wrist.
The veil is light and elegant, as thin as a cicada's wing. It is made of the precious green cicada's wing cloth. Although it is not as expensive as gold brocade, it is not suitable for ordinary people.
If you look closely, you will see that the veil is old and one of the embroidery threads has fallen off, just above the word 'Yan'.
As Lu Anran's eyes fell on that word, Wu Fang's eyes flashed and quickly returned to their usual lifeless look.
Lu Anran unfolded it, "wrong stitches, pick flowers, plate gold, shadow gold, all over the floor."
Her embroidery skills were average, but Lu Xun also found someone to carefully train her, and she could tell at a glance the several embroidery techniques used in the embroidery patterns on it.
Wu Fang stood up straight and lowered her eyes slightly. The hot early summer wind could not warm her cold face.
"What's your name?" Lu Anran rubbed the embroidered characters with her fingers, "Very good."
Wu Fang was silent for a long time and replied: "A few years ago, before I left home, my nanny embroidered it."
Lu Anran thought for a moment, this was probably before Wu Fang's accident happened a few years ago.
I don’t know what she has experienced that made Wu Fang what she is today, but before that, she might have been just an ordinary lady.
Just like her name, beautiful and beautiful.
"Nanny..." Lu Anran raised her eyes, "The old man who was implicated by Li He and died innocently."
Yun Qi had told her at the beginning that not only was Wu Fang following her because it was inconvenient for Yun Qi, but also because Wu Fang wanted to repay his kindness, in order for Lu Anran to find out the real culprit for her nanny.
"That's all I have left."
Wu Fang's voice was slightly cold, and there was no change in expression on his face, but Lu Anran could hear a lot of bitterness in these words.
"I also have a relic." After Lu Anran folded the handkerchief, the side with the embroidered words was at the top. She looked up, her dark eyes reflected in the even darker sky, "My mother left me a pair of tigers. Toe shoes, before I was born.”
Wu Fang's head moved and his eyes turned to Lu Anran.
Lu Anran didn't feel much sadness in her heart, perhaps because she had never been in contact with the woman who gave birth to her. She looked at the night sky quietly for a while and sighed softly: "At least I have a thought."
Wu Fang pursed her lips, turned her face sideways, and her chin looked sharp and cold. She thought Lu Anran would ask something along the way.
But it was really just these words. After that, Lu Anran stood up, her skirt was already dry, and greeted Wu Fang to leave Yizhuang.
"Miss, don't you ask me something?" Wu Fang frowned and shouted.
Lu Anran turned around, with a hint of confusion between his brows, "Do you want to say it?"
There was no room for hesitation.
Lu Anran smiled lightly: "Then why should I talk too much."
After walking for a while, Wu Fang tightened his grip on the sword and said, "The prince must have told you something about me. The part that cannot be told will not affect my loyalty to the lady."
Lu Anran stopped, looked at Wu Fang for a long time, put his hand on her shoulder, and said in a particularly solemn tone: "You are an independent person, Wu Fang, of course you can decide anything of your own."
Surprise flashed across Wu Fang's eyes. She had been with Lu Anran for a while and believed in Lu Anran's character, but there had never been a moment when she felt lucky.
"They all say that there is no big deal except life and death, but you and I have seen that death is only an instant. The soul is separated, leaving only a broken body in the world." Lu Anran and Wu Fang walked slowly, and their voices were calm and slow: "Actually, Living is even more difficult. No one can fully understand another person's state of mind, so any good or bad must be digested alone in the end. But do you know the difference between talking and not talking?"
Wu Fang didn't say anything, just looked at him with doubtful eyes.
The breeze floated, and the masked brocade cloth on Lu Anran's face undulated with it, like the rising waves of blue waves. Her eyes were quiet and dark, shining with keen light, "True indifference is not hiding."
Wu Fang's mind was shaken, and his eyelids dropped to cover his eyes.
After that, neither of them spoke again, but there seemed to be an invisible thread that brought them closer little by little. They were not repaying their kindness, nor were they masters and servants. Everything returned to the simplest starting point - just the intersection of hearts.
—
Back at Yun Mansion's annex in Diqiu, Lu Anran wanted to tell Yun Qi what he had discovered in Yizhuang, but the secret guard who stayed on duty said that Yun Qi had come back and then left.
"He came back with the young Marquis of Feng Mansion. Later, people from Feng Mansion picked up the young Marquis, and our prince went out with a girl."
Lu Anran's eyebrows twitched, but before she could ask, a voice interrupted and asked enthusiastically: "Where did the girl come from?"
Lu Anran turned around, and Lu Taotao jumped in from the courtyard wall, grabbing an oil paper bag in his hand, and his lips were purple-red, as if he was suffering from poisoning.
Lu Taotao pinched a mulberry in his mouth, and when he bit it, the whole mouth was filled with purple-red. His big eyes flashed, and he pulled the secret guard and asked happily: "Did Yunqi be seduced away by the little goblin?"
The secret guard waved his hand quickly, "No, no, that girl looks like a serious person. The prince seems to have asked to help her find someone."
"What girl? Is another girl hooking up with our prince?" Mo Yan came back after finishing his work, listened to what he said, looked around and asked.
If the secret guard hadn't covered his face, he wouldn't have been able to hold on any longer. He thought to himself, "Who are these people?" "Guard Mo, isn't it..."
"No girl?"
"Yes, yes..."
"That's it."
Secret guard: "..." There is nothing to say.
It was Lu Anran who took action, glanced at the two of them, and successfully silenced them, and said to the secret guard: "Tell me more."
The secret guard breathed a sigh of relief. He arrived in Diqiu County first and did not go with Yunqi, so he did not know Hehe. He only gave a rough description of Hehe's appearance and said: "There is a white cloth wrapped around the neck, as if he has been injured. "
Lu Anran took another look at him and thought that he was indeed a secret guard and knew how to focus on key points.
Lu Taotao immediately lost interest and waved his hand, "Tsk, who was I thinking? The little village girl collecting herbs."
Mo Yan looked around, "Where's Xunqing?"
"I went out with the prince."
Mo Yan smacked his lips, "It turns out no one is hooking up with the prince." He glanced at Lu Anran, feeling a little disappointed.
Wu Fang glanced over coldly, Mo Yan shrunk his shoulders and jumped to the side, right next to Lu Taotao, "Hey, why did you come back alone to watch the moon?"
"I'm squatting as a yaksha in the deep mountains and old forests." Lu Taotao chewed mulberries and pouted, "It's all mosquitoes. I won't do it anymore."
Mo Yan opened his mouth: "Are you really going to squat?" He thought that the prince gave this order just to fool Feng Qing, why did Guanyue just take a walk and come back.
Lu Taotao half-squinted his eyes and said with a sinister smile: "Have you forgotten, ghosts only come out at night?"
Mo Yan suddenly felt a cool breeze blowing on his neck and quickly crossed his arms.
—
Lu Anran changed her clothes and came out. Lu Taotao had finished eating her mulberries, and she and Mo Yan were holding a bowl. The rich smell of fried onions wafted out of the bowl.
"Miss, would you like a bowl?" Qiu Chan was cleaning the courtyard. When she saw Lu Anran, she came over and said, "Just now, Guard Mo and Miss Lu said they were hungry, so I mixed a bowl of noodles for each of them."
Lu Anran originally thought it was okay, but when the smell spread through his nose, he suddenly felt hungry and said, "Sorry to trouble you."
Qiu Chan smiled and said, "It's no trouble. The noodles are all mixed and the sauce is prepared in advance. You can just put it in the pot. It doesn't take much time."
Lu Taotao quickly shouted: "Give me another bowl!"
Mo Yan bit his chopsticks and shook his head: "You won't grow if you just eat. Don't waste food."
Lu Taotao stepped on his foot, "Do you think you are so powerful, little bastard!"
The two started fighting over a disagreement, while the noodle bowl was still firmly in their hands.
When Guanyue came back, he saw the noodles in Mo Yan's bowl flying out. He leaned back and took the noodles into his mouth.
Lu Taotao sat cross-legged on a branch. When he saw Guan Yue, he said hello: "Silly man, why are you back?"
Guanyue walked directly to Lu Anran, "Isn't the prince here?"
"I went out with Hehe."
Guan Yue hissed in her heart, isn't the Crown Prince half-hearted and having a different love?
He silently observed the changes in Lu Anran's eyebrows, but accidentally met her dark eyes that were looking over calmly, and he immediately looked away awkwardly.
Guan Yue covered her lips and cleared her throat, "Oh, um, Shi Shui, who is next to the prince, came to inform him that there is a gangster leader hiding in that area. Let the few of us get out first, so as not to alert the enemy."
Putting aside the identity of the prince, it is more practical to catch the gangster than Yaksha, who is vague and uncertain about the truth and falsehood.
Mo Yan finished sucking the last noodle, wiped his mouth, and said happily: "That's good. If a yaksha appears, either it will eat the gangster, or the gangster will kill it and reap the benefits."
"Are you stupid?" Lu Taotao threw chopsticks and hit him on the head. "Yaksha's magic power will increase greatly after he eats a few ordinary people. He is not even afraid of the Three Pure Ones. If he swallows ruthless bandits again and the evil energy merges and penetrates him, that is not heaven." Underground, I am the only one who dominates.”
Guanyue held back the corner of her mouth from twitching, "How do you know that?"
Lu Taotao also had a fallacy, "The ghosts and ghosts are so evil that it's hard to stop them. Otherwise, you wouldn't have noticed that there isn't even a single wild beast within a few miles of the forest where Yaksha appears."
They walked around in the woods for a long time today. They didn't feel it at first, but gradually they felt something was wrong.
Logically speaking, there should be some animals in such a deep forest, but not to mention ferocious beasts like tigers and bears, even rabbits are rare, which is really strange.
Mo Yan wiped off the sauce on his forehead from the chopsticks, rolled his eyes and said, "What's this? Yaksha just eats it. It can even eat people and let small animals go?"
Guan Yue couldn't figure it out and didn't want to think about this problem for the time being, "Mo Yan, what did you gain from going to the county office today?"
Mo Yan leaned against the tree with his head on his hands, picked a leaf and chewed it, "I really found something."
