The carriage swayed forward, and Tang Ning nestled beside Xiao Yan, holding his palm and whispering to him about the academy. When the noise outside started, she vaguely realized that something was wrong, and opened the curtain curiously, I saw the carriage had arrived at the city gate.
It was still early in the morning, and there was an endless stream of people going in and out of the city gate. When they saw carriages with official badges approaching, pedestrians gave way.
Tang Ning turned around: "Brother, where are we going?"
Xiao Yan said softly: "I will take you to meet someone."
After the carriage left the city, it moved faster. There were fewer and fewer pedestrians on the outskirts of the city, and the roads gradually changed from wide to dense.
It was a hot summer day, and the curtains of the carriage were raised. Tang Ning was lying by the window, looking at the lush greenery in front of her eyes. Suddenly, she remembered the trance she had just returned from Qishan Mountain. Once upon a time, she was trapped there. The small and dilapidated courtyard has disappeared from the sky, and she never thought that she would have the opportunity to do it again.
"What are you thinking about?" Xiao Yan suddenly said.
Tang Ning turned around: "On that day when I was thinking about Qishan, was I embarrassed in front of my brother?"
She rested her arm on the edge of the car window and leaned her cheek against it. When she turned her head, she squeezed out a trace of tender white soft flesh. The look made Xiao Yan itchy and wanted to poke it.
"It's quite embarrassing." Xiao Yan lowered his long eyelashes and smiled: "Howling and crying unreasonably, his nose and tears were mixed into a ball, and his body was covered with blood and water, like a clay pot rolling on the ground. Yes, the one who still cries loudly..."
"Brother!"
Tang Ning immediately regretted asking him, thinking that he must look ugly.
Xiao Yan blocked her and swung his hand, grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him: "It's quite cute."
"fraud."
"I did not lie to you."
Xiao Yan circled the little girl and said warmly: "At first, I thought you might be an assassin sent by someone, but then I thought that assassins wouldn't be so stupid."
These were not derogatory words, the voice stained with laughter seemed to be recalling that day.
"At that time, I was thinking, whose cat is lost, cold, hungry, and trembling with fear, but it still stretches out its claws and looks fierce..."
Cowardly, but pitiful.
At that moment, even if he didn't see the dragon pattern pendant, he probably wouldn't kill her.
The sudden silence in his arms made Xiao Yan lower his head: "What's wrong, are you angry?"
Tang Ning's voice was a little dull: "No."
As if she felt Xiao Yan looking at her, Tang Ning pressed her chest against his and nuzzled: "Brother, if I hadn't met you that day, I would have really fallen off the cliff, ruined my face and broken my legs. The Song family's Before the incident broke out, the dragon pattern pendant was taken away by others. Will you treat others as well as you do to me now..."
Xiao Yan said flatly: "No."
He didn't know why, but when he heard the girl in his arms say this, his heart felt a dull pain subconsciously. Even though he knew it was just a casual comment, his heart still seemed to be grasped by something forcefully, and he couldn't help tightening his grip.
"The dragon pattern pendant only means that I am Aunt Xue's old friend. You are you, different."
Madam Rong found him with a dragon-patterned pendant and saved his life. When he saw someone holding a dragon-patterned pendant, he would naturally protect him, but that was all.
He is no longer the young man who had never seen the darkness and was full of sincerity. If he hadn't been the child he met when he was young, if that person hadn't been Tang Ning.
He will never pour out his feelings, he will not indulge himself in them, and he will not turn his back on them. He is willing to let them become his weakness, allowing his heart to collapse without saving himself.
Xiao Yan said in a soft voice: "We only have one little Begonia."
Even if she didn't have the dragon pattern pendant, he would still recognize her sooner or later, no matter what she looked like.
Tang Ning's eyes were sore, and she suddenly remembered the dream she had once had. In that dream, the figure strode towards her under the bright white moonlight, and the "Little Begonia" that sounded in her ears when she was on the verge of death. .
Tang Ning hugged his waist tightly and buried her head in his arms.
Xiao Yan noticed that her mood was not right and lowered his head: "What's wrong?"
Tang Ning said in a deep voice: "Why didn't you meet my brother earlier?"
Xiao Yan couldn't help but laugh: "How do you know we haven't met? Maybe we have met a long time ago."
Tang Ning only thought he was comforting her, mumbling and burying her head deeper.
Xiao Yan rarely saw her acting so coquettishly. He stretched out his long arms to gather the little girl into his arms and stroked her hair.
He didn't know why Tang Ning was uneasy, nor what she was worried about, but he could faintly notice that she seemed to be particularly obsessed with "what would happen if the dragon pattern pendant fell into the hands of others."
It was obviously something that had never happened, but she mentioned it again and again.
She asked him once in Prince Cheng's Mansion, and now she asked him again.
Xiao Yan lowered his eyes, thoughtfully.
…
The carriage headed towards the outskirts of the city, going further and further. When it passed through a large forest and stopped in front of a village, Tang Ning recognized that this was the place where Xiao Yan stayed overnight when he rescued her.
She had calmed down now, and was only a little surprised as to why Xiao Yan brought her here.
After the two entered the village, they were greeted by Madam Qin not long after.
"Sister Qin?" Tang Ning was surprised.
Madam Qin smiled and said, "We haven't seen you for a few days, and Tang Ning looks good again."
Tang Ning glanced at Zhuang Zi and then at Madam Qin. Madam Qin was always in a hurry when she went to Jiuyun Lane several times before, and every time she checked on her aunt, she left directly. When asked, she only said that she wanted to do it for her. Other people were seeing the doctor. Could it be that the patient that Sister Qin mentioned lived in Xiao Yan's village?
Tangning was confused and followed the two inside.
Xiao Yan asked Madam Qin, "Is the old lady feeling better?"
"It's better. I can eat and sleep, and I can talk to people a few words. Even though I still can't recognize people or remember things." Madam Qin glanced at Tang Ning: "But the old lady likes pretty girls. After meeting Tang Ning, Definitely happy."
Before entering the main courtyard, I heard someone coaxing me softly.
"Old madam, it's time for you to take medicine. Today's medicine has been used up. I have poria cake to eat."
"If you don't take medicine, it will be bitter!"
"Good medicine tastes bitter..."
"No medicine, no medicine!!"
There was a voice full of resistance from the old: "I hate you, go away, I want to go to Yan'er, where is my Yan'er?"
When Xiao Yan and the others entered, they saw an old woman in brocade clothes staring unhappily, and standing in front of her was Ayane, whom she hadn't seen for a long time.
Ayane lost her usual cheerfulness. She held the medicine bowl in her hand and looked at the crying old woman at a loss. She turned around and saw the person coming in from the outside and said quickly: "Lord Governor."
Xiao Yan crossed Ling Yin and walked to the old man in a few steps: "Grandma, are you looking for me?"
The old woman stared blankly at Xiao Yan, her cloudy eyes filled with unfamiliarity and a hint of resistance.
Xiao Yan lifted up his sleeves to reveal the red rope hanging on his wrist. There was a small golden gourd on the rope. As if he recognized what was on the rope, the old lady suddenly grinned.
"Shang Yan, are you here?"
