The sudden news made Tang Ning unable to sleep for half the night. After finally falling asleep, she seemed to have returned to those dark pasts.
There was a wedding banquet held in the front yard of the Song family. It was full of friends and noisy laughter. The abandoned courtyard that used to be always guarded suddenly became empty. The only remaining woman opened the door and came in cursing. She ate her food as usual, cursing for her. Waste can't go to the wedding banquet.
She complained that she couldn't get the wedding money, scolded her for not going to die, and even kicked her when she was angry. But for some reason, the meal that day made her have a stomachache. He left in a hurry without even having time to lock the door.
Tang Ning escaped.
It's a pity that she broke a leg and couldn't leave the Song family at all.
She was dragged and thrown back into the abandoned yard. Her crippled leg was crushed again, and even the intact one was broken every inch.
When the night wind howled, she was stepped on the ground and held a white silk ribbon to strangle her neck. Desperate suffocation filled the air, and her ears were filled with the cold voice saying that she shouldn't go out.
"Hurry up and deal with it, don't ruin the celebration of Madam and Lu Langjun."
"This is the girl from the mansion..."
"What kind of girl? She's just a disfigured and disabled wretch. She could have lived for a few days, but she was allowed to bother people she shouldn't be bothered by."
Yin and cold words penetrated the ears, and the neck bones seemed to be strangled.
Tang Ning's mind gradually became dizzy, and her vision became blurry little by little. She knew she was going to die. When the pain in her body disappeared, the sounds in her ears became farther and farther away.
The moment she died, she seemed to hear a sudden noise outside, as if someone had opened the door, and a figure came from outside.
"Little Begonia..."
call--
Song Tangning suddenly woke up from her sleep and sat on the bed with cold sweat all over her head.
"Girl?"
When Hua Wu heard the noise outside, she quickly stood up from the couch and walked in quickly.
The curtains beside the bed were opened, and the dark room was illuminated by the candle held in Hua Wu's hand: "What's wrong with the girl? Is she suffering from a nightmare?"
Tang Ning was panting in her throat and her face was pale, but she was sitting on the bed holding the quilt, but the sound of "Little Begonia" that sounded like jade and broken ice, with a hint of anger, was still ringing in her mind.
For a moment, she couldn't tell whether she was thinking about it, or whether she really had that scene before her death.
She actually saw her brother in her dream...
"Girl?" Hua Wu was a little worried: "What did you dream about? You look so ugly?"
Song Tangning murmured: "I dreamed that I was dead and my brother killed someone..."
"Bah, bah, bah!" Hua Wu suddenly turned pale: "The dream is the opposite, the girl lives a hundred years."
She wiped the cold sweat from Tang Ning's forehead with a silk handkerchief. She didn't know whether she was comforting Tang Ning or comforting herself: "The girl will be fine. It's just a dream. Don't be afraid, girl."
Tang Ning was a little distracted while holding the quilt.
Seeing that she seemed uneasy, Hua Wu quickly put down the oil lamp and walked aside. He poured some hot water from the four-legged copper stove not far from the bed and brought it to the bed. After Tang Ning finished drinking, he said softly:
"It's just past midnight and it's still early. Miss, would you like to sleep a little longer? I'll keep you company."
Tang Ning shook her head. The dream just now was a bit scary. After she was awakened, she had no sleep at all. Staying in this dim room made her feel suffocated.
"Go get some clothes, I want to go for a walk."
It was still dark outside, and everything was pitch black.
Tang Ning led Hua Wu to walk slowly in the courtyard for a while, then asked her to help him walk around the verandah and through the backyard, directly to the courtyard wall of the Governor's Mansion.
Tang Mansion and Xiao Mansion are close to each other. Although each has its own gate, they share a dividing wall in the middle.
The high wall completely separated the two mansions, and it was obvious that the opposite room could not be seen at all, but when Song Tangning stood under the wall, the panic in the dream and the panic before death slowly subsided, along with the violent beating of the heart. My heart also calmed down little by little.
"Girl, what are we doing here? There is nothing here?"
Tangning raised her head: "I want to see..."
have a look?
Hua Wu glanced around with some confusion, what is there to see here?
She followed Tang Ning's gaze to the high wall in front of her, and her expression suddenly dawned: "Do you want to see the governor?"
Tang Ning said "hmm" in a low voice, but shook her head after a moment.
She only felt that she was in a daze. The future that belonged to the previous life in her dream had not yet appeared at all. She had returned from Qishan in peace and had almost broken up with the Song family. She would never end up like that in her previous life again. The situation and everything were completely different from what she was familiar with.
So what if she meets Xiao Yan? Can she ask him whether the scene in her dream is true or false, or can she tell her if the person who coldly called her "Little Begonia" when she was about to die was him?
"Forget it, I just fell asleep..."
Tang Ning sighed lowly, and was about to let Hua Wu help her back when she suddenly heard a voice above her head.
"If you want to see me, why don't you go over there?"
Tang Ning's heart skipped a beat. She looked up in shock and saw an unknown figure on the high wall.
The clouds were disappearing and the moon was rising. In the thick darkness, he was wearing a white gown and a belt that outlined his strong yet thin waist. The moonlight shone on his figure, dragging a long silhouette on the wall.
"Ah...Brother?" Tang Ning looked at the person standing on top in astonishment, a little at a loss: "Why are you here?"
"Practice martial arts."
"So early."
Tang Ning couldn't help but glance at the sky. Did he get up to practice martial arts in this pitch black sky?
Xiao Yan stood at a high place and looked down at her: "It is natural to practice martial arts diligently, otherwise it will be difficult to improve. But you, since you want to see the governor, why don't you go through the main entrance."
Tang Ning was immediately embarrassed when she heard this. She didn't expect that what she just casually said to Hua Wu would be overheard by Xiao Yan, and she always felt a little weird coming to squat against the wall of the Governor's Mansion so early in the morning.
"I……"
She opened her mouth with an expression on her face, wanting to say that she didn't expect to see him either, but she felt that this explanation was even weirder. Her little face tensed up a little bit, and at the same time she became increasingly blushing with embarrassment.
Before she could figure out how to explain to Xiao Yan, she listened to him.
"Now that you're awake, come over and have breakfast."
"ah?"
Tang Ning was stunned when she saw Xiao Yan jumping down. Before she could react, he jumped over the wall with Renxu in his arms, and along the way, he also reached out to carry Hua Wu over.
After landing, Xiao Yan immediately let go and backed away, with some avoidance.
"Let's go."
…
When Tang Ning was led into the dining room by Xiao Yan, her expression was still in a daze.
The people in the Governor's Mansion weren't too surprised when they saw their master coming back from a trip to the backyard with a little girl beside him. On the contrary, Cang Lang stepped forward with a familiar face.
"The kitchen has made breakfast. What would Miss Song want to eat?"
"I'll just follow my brother."
"Then you can't just follow suit." Cang Lang suddenly smiled.
Tang Ning was confused when he heard this.
Xiao Yan glanced at Canglang: "Go and ask the kitchen to make some meat porridge, add some side dishes and oil cakes."
Canglang accepted the order and retreated. Tangning was particularly confused about what he had just said. It wasn't until a while later when she saw the person below bringing up a red breakfast that she understood what Canglang just meant when he said she couldn't follow him.
"Brother, do you eat something so spicy when you get up early?"
She knew that Xiao Yan liked spicy food. When the two of them cooked the mutton pot that day, he mixed the red dipping sauce alone, but she didn't expect that he even ate like this for breakfast.
Canglang saw her shocked expression and said with a smile: "This is not an ordinary spicy soup. In the early years, the governor suffered from cold in his body and his meridians were blocked. Although he warmed up a little later, eating spicy food regularly is good for the body. Lady Qin said Too much spicy food can hurt your stomach, so I prepared this four-flavor soup for the governor, and it looked like it was spicy but actually it was medicinal food."
Seeing Tang Ning blinking, Xiao Yan explained: "I have to be on duty in the palace during the day, and there are not many opportunities to eat in the palace. I have to eat this medicinal meal every two days, which is not like every day. You happened to meet me today. ”
When he approached with the soup bowl, Tang Ning smelled a strong medicinal smell.
Seeing Xiao Yan take it without changing his expression, she frowned slightly and said, "Brother, how can you catch cold? Is it serious?"
"It happened a long time ago, it doesn't matter anymore."
"oh."
Tang Ning saw that he just casually said that he didn't want to mention it, so he wisely stopped asking, and just held the oil cake in his hands and ate it absentmindedly.
After she woke up from the dream, she had many things on her mind. She had suppressed them after walking around the backyard, but they popped up again after seeing Xiao Yan.
Tang Ning was a little distracted while holding the oil cake in her mouth.
"Are you worried?"
Seeing her looking up blankly, Xiao Yan picked something with chopsticks and put it in her bowl.
"The chef in the house has always been proud of his unparalleled cooking skills. If he sees you eating the oil cake he made so hard to swallow, he will kill himself with a knife."
Tang Ning quickly swallowed the oil cake in her mouth.
"Don't think about things while eating, and choke carefully."
Xiao Yan had a stern face on his side. He didn't look at her when he spoke, but he calmly scooped up a bowl of porridge and placed it in front of her, then put the spoon in the bowl. His indulgent and unsullied expression made people inexplicably reassured.
Tang Ning couldn't hold back the oil cake in her hands: "Brother, can I ask you a question?"
"explain."
"If you hadn't met me on Qishan Mountain and someone had pretended to be me with a dragon-patterned pendant and found you, would you have discovered it?"
"Why do you ask this?"
Xiao Yan was surprised for a moment, but still replied: "Although this thing is Aunt Xue's relic, not everyone can pretend to be Aunt Xue's old friend with it. Even if the Governor mistakenly recognizes the asylum one or two, the fake one is still fake. , is there any reason that cannot be discovered?"
Although he told Song Tangning that he recognized her as his adopted sister because of the dragon pattern pendant, in fact it was more because she was the child he was back then.
The two of them have long been bound together. If this jade pendant falls into the hands of others, although he will be deceived for a while, he will not be stupid enough to keep mistaking it.
Seeing the little girl opposite with her thick eyelashes hanging down and wondering what she was thinking, Xiao Yan said, "Is it the Song family's affairs that make you uneasy?"
Tang Ning pursed her lips: "Song Tan's concubine came to see me last night."
Xiao Yan knew this.
Tang Mansion and Xiao Mansion were separated by a wall, and the gates of the mansions were in the same alley. In addition, almost all the people on the other side passed by the Governor's Mansion, so naturally he couldn't hide anything going on next door.
When the concubine of the Song family came over last night, Xiao Yan already knew about it, but he never asked about it, and he didn't want to make the decision for Song Tangning. Moreover, he also knew that Hang Li had crippled Song Tan, but since the person had already If given to Song Tangning, the rewards and punishments will naturally be decided by herself.
Tang Ning saw that Xiao Yan only looked at her without speaking, so he hesitated and said, "The third sister is different from the rest of the Song family. If the Song family is destroyed, she..."
She would definitely not forgive Song Tan, but if what she guessed was true, Song Ru would be kind to her.
Song Ru is the daughter of the Song family. If something happens to the Song family, she will not be able to escape.
"I know that the third sister is innocent, and she came to me last night out of concern for her sisterhood. She is different from the Song family, but I can't let the Song family go for her sake."
After she finished speaking in a low voice, she couldn't help but glance at Xiao Yan, "Brother, am I too cruel?"
"If you were cruel, you wouldn't care about her."
"But..." Tang Ning hesitated.
Xiao Yan understood her knot, his eyes softened, and he spoke slowly.
"Song Ru is a concubine of the Song family, but she has no status in the Song family. Not to mention that her biological father doesn't care about her. Your brother, who is always full of benevolence, justice and morality, treats this concubine less than a concubine who has been in the house for less than half a year. female."
"Song Ru is a disgrace to the Song family, and it is a stain that Song Tan wishes she could erase. Her situation in the Song family is even worse than yours."
"If the Song family is well, she may not be fine. If the Song family falls, she may not be fine either."
As long as he wants to investigate the matters in Beijing, nothing can be hidden.
When he sent people to the Song family to investigate Tang Ning's affairs, the people he sent almost turned the Song family upside down, and naturally among them was this concubine of the Song family who had no sense of existence.
Xiao Yan raised his eyes and looked at Tang Ning: "You should know why Hang Li hurt Song Tan last night. Your concubine looks timid and timid, but she may not be like that in her heart."
"Cowardice is a coat of self-protection that she has worn out through years of suffering. This is the only way she can survive. But if she is given a chance, she might be bolder than anyone else."
Tang Ning was stunned for a moment after listening to Xiao Yan's words. He remembered that in the previous life, Song Ru secretly pointed out the way out for Hua Wu, and that she had been secretly "helping" her for a long time. Even later on the day Song Shulan got married, the woman who suddenly had a bad stomachache... The opportunity to escape that seemed like a miracle would be impossible for any cautious concubine.
Song Tangning, who was originally panicked, suddenly calmed down: "I understand, thank you, brother."
Xiao Yan said to her: "The people sent by King Cheng to Anzhou are about to return. They will reach the capital in half a month at the latest."
Tang Ning was stunned for a moment: "That aunt..."
"The person Princess Cheng is looking for has also arrived in Suyun Town. According to that person's abilities and footsteps, he should follow the people from Prince Cheng's Mansion back to the capital."
Xiao Yan looked at her as he spoke: "The current situation of the Song family is extremely bad. If Song Jinxiu wants to return to the Holy Father, the only way for the Song family to restore its reputation is by looking at you, and the Lu family has suffered a big loss at my hands." , maybe they will use you to plot against me through the Song family's affairs."
People from the aristocratic family have always been shameless and despicable. He is not afraid of anything but that Song Tangning will be plotted against.
Tang Ning's face tightened: "I will be careful."
You must not hold me back!
Xiao Yan saw that the face of the little girl across from him had lost the previous gloom and uneasiness. Instead, she was full of fighting spirit and her eyes lit up. He raised the corner of his mouth and pointed on the table.
"Can we eat now?"
"able!"
Tangning quickly stuffed the oil cake into his mouth, his cheeks bulging and his black eyes dull.
Xiao Yan laughed: "Eat slowly."
