Pour the glass

Thirty miles outside of Lin'an, the door of the rice warehouse of Xue's family was closed, as if it was going to close for a few days, waiting for the chaos to pass.

After a night of wind and rain, when the dark clouds dissipated, the faint morning light fell into the room, bringing a little autumn coolness, which made people feel chilling.

When Ziyuan woke up, she found that she was lying in a warm place, her wet clothes had been changed, and even the wounds on her hands had been given medicine, and she was in pain.

"This is……"

"Wake up, wake up, Miss Jiu is awake!" the servant girl said excitedly, and came over, "Does Miss Jiu want to eat? The kitchen has prepared all kinds of porridge, which one would Miss Jiu want to eat?"

"Nine...nine girls?" Ziyuan was slightly startled, hearing this familiar call, she felt that everything in front of her was so familiar.

"Ninth Miss, what's wrong with you? I'll call the sixth son to see you first." After speaking, the servant girl has already left the room quickly.

"Sister... Sister..." Zi Yuan subconsciously looked at the sweat towel in her hand, but found that the sweat towel had disappeared. She anxiously rolled down from the bed and kept looking for the sweat towel in the room. whereabouts.

"Sister, what are you looking for?"

A familiar voice sounded, Ziyuan's body trembled, and she stood there immediately, feeling a sour feeling welling up in her heart.

The person who came was a fan-holder wearing a green shirt. He had a little beard on his lips, his eyes were smiling, and there were tears in his eyes. It was Xue Zifeng, the sixth son of the Xue family who was in charge of the rice business.

"Go back to bed and rest." Xue Zifeng stepped forward and pulled Ziyuan to sit on the bed, looking at her lovingly, "Since I received the legend of my seventh brother Fei Ge saying that I found you in Lin'an, I drove away from Chuzhou Come here, it’s okay, it’s okay, there’s still time for everything.”

"Six...sixth brother..." The sudden warmth of relatives made Zi Yuan choked up and called out, she held his hand tightly and shook her head, "I...how am I here?"

Xue Zifeng looked at the maid on the side, "Qingyao, I remember you said that a woman carried her sister here last night, and said to inform our Xue family immediately that the real Ninth Girl is back."

Qingyao nodded, "Yes, the girl was covered in mud, and the servant couldn't see her eyebrows clearly. I thought she was talking nonsense, but she found the purple jade pendant from the nine girls' arms. Believe what she says."

Xue Zifeng turned his head to look at Ziyuan, "Lin'an has undergone tremendous changes, Sixth Brother thought he would miss you again, but unexpectedly, our Nine Girls are really lucky, and finally came back."

"The woman...is Ah Ling, it must be Ah Ling!" Ziyuan suddenly asked excitedly, "Where is she now?"

Qingyao shook her head and said: "She let go of you, Miss Nine, and left in a hurry."

"She didn't say anything?" Ziyuan asked anxiously.

Qingyao thought for a while, and said: "It seems that I said something, what I said... what I said... let Miss Jiu take your responsibility, and she will take hers..."

"She's always like this!" Ziyuan cursed angrily, and was about to struggle to get out of bed, "I promised my sister, I can't let her do it, I can't... my sister..." Thinking of Su Zhexue, Ziyuan's heart ached. There was another pain, and he quickly asked, "Have you ever seen that sweat towel in my hand?"

Qingyao smiled and said: "Ninth girl, don't panic, all the clothes and things on your body have been washed, and they are drying now." Saying this, Qingyao couldn't help but praise, "I really didn't expect that nine girls were It's Dayun's Imperial Guard Captain Qi, the captain's uniform is worn on the girl, not to mention, she is really handsome."

"It's good to be here...you can help me get the sweat towel first." Ziyuan shook her head wearily, "Where are the other things on my body? Sixth brother, can you see a cup?"

Xue Zifeng nodded, motioning for Qingyao to bring everything over.

Not long after, Qingyao came in with the Changshengzi cup and sweat towel, "Ninth girl, look, there are a lot of things."

"No, there is one thing missing." Xue Zifeng said, took out the purple jade pendant from his bosom, and put it in Ziyuan's hand, "This is a token of the Xue family, don't lose it, it's fortunate that there is this jade pendant this time." The jade pendant is here."

Ziyuan clenched the purple jade pendant tightly, but her eyes fell on the longevity cup. She felt a chill in her heart, and said to herself: "Aling left the longevity cup to me to save the family. She doesn't have the real longevity cup in her hand. How can I finish it?" The agreement with Emperor Jin?"

Xue Zifeng looked at the sadness on Ziyuan's face, and said softly: "In the past three years, my sister must have suffered a lot. It will be good to come back this time. Sixth brother will definitely escort you all the way back to the Moling Ranch, mother I will be very happy to see you back safely."

"No, I'm not going to Moling, I should... I should go to Hanxiguan." Ziyuan shook her head fiercely, "I promised my sister that I have a very important person to protect, I don't have a sister anymore, I can't And..." The voice stopped suddenly in the middle of speaking, and she raised her eyes to meet Xue Zifeng's suspicious gaze, "Sixth brother, there are some things, let me explain to you in detail later, the most important thing now is that you can't Let Ah Ling mess around again!"

"Who is Ah Ling? Who is the elder sister you're talking about?" Xue Zifeng pressed Ziyuan's shoulders, "Also, why did the seventh brother suddenly disappear? Do you know where he went?"

"Brother Seven..." Ziyuan choked up for a while, "I'm afraid... I'm afraid he won't come back again."

"What?!" Xue Zifeng couldn't believe what he heard.

Ziyuan raised her tearful eyes and looked at him, "I know that you have all drank the wine of loyalty and bravery, and I also know that if you are rebellious, you will definitely be killed by the emperor's gu, and seventh brother...seventh brother is... just because of the emperor's gu. Backlash... died on the outskirts of Haoling."

"He set up another plot to assassinate Princess Huangling? Wait! The Ah Ling you are talking about is Princess Huangling Xiao Chanxue?" Xue Zifeng suddenly thought of this.

Ziyuan didn't answer his words directly, she already acquiesced.

"Seventh brother..." Xue Zifeng trembled slightly, his eyes turned red, he gritted his teeth and said, "Oh... If mother knows... I don't know how sad it will be."

Ziyuan stretched out a hand and held Sixth Brother's hand, "Sixth Brother, you promise me that you won't have the heart to assassinate Xiao Zhanxue again, okay?"

Xue Zifeng laughed at himself and said: "What's the use of assassinating her now? The Emperor Gu has found a new host, she is just a poor homeless person." After speaking, Xue Zifeng shook his head, "The overall situation is settled, Our Xue family can only follow the trend, keep this family business first, and then plan other things in the future."

"Do not……"

"Don't say anything. Xiao Zhanxue is in trouble now. What she wants to do, don't say you can't control it. Even if you can control it, you can't control it." After finishing speaking, he gave Qing Yao a wink, "Hurry up Look at Jiu girl's medicine, is it ready?"

"Yes." Qingyao put the Changshengzi cup and sweat towel in her hands on the table, turned around and retreated.

Xue Zifeng looked at Ziyuan sadly, "Take good care of your body. When you get better, Sixth Brother will take you home together. These days, don't run around. There are notices everywhere outside to arrest you. Be careful."

"..." Ziyuan lowered her head without looking at her.

"Hey, Brother Six went to write a letter to tell mother that I have found you safely, and I will report the family's safety. You will take medicine later and rest for a while." After Xue Zifeng finished speaking, he got up and left the room.

Listening to Xue Zifeng walking away, Ziyuan still stood up from the bed, looked down at the purple jade pendant in her palm, and then at the snow-white sweat towel and Changshengzi Cup on the table.

Vaguely, my sister's voice appeared in my mind——

"Promise my sister... from now on... take good care of yourself... and take good... take care of the Lord..."

Tears welled up in the corners of the eyes, but Ziyuan held back them.

"Sister, what I promised you, I will definitely do it, I will definitely..." Tears still fell down, Ziyuan put down the purple jade pendant in her hand, carefully put the longevity cup and sweat towel into her arms, and said with a wry smile, " But sister, don't go too fast on Huangquan Road, remember to wait for me..."

When Qing Yao walked back to the room with the decoction, she found that Zi Yuan had disappeared, and she couldn't help but exclaimed: "Sixth Young Master, it's bad, it's bad! Miss Nine is gone!"

Hearing the call, Xue Zifeng walked in quickly, and when the purple jade pendant appeared in his sight, he couldn't help but feel sore, "This silly girl...why don't you listen to persuasion! You think that if you leave the jade pendant, the Xue family will leave you alone." Does it really have nothing to do with you?"

"Sixth Young Master, what should we do?" Qing Yao couldn't help asking.

Xue Zifeng pondered for a moment, and said: "Issue the Qilin order, notify the shopkeepers of the major commercial firms, secretly help Nine Girls along the way, and then notify my five brothers, Han Xiguanju."

"Yes."

Seeing Qingyao retreating, Xue Zifeng sighed, "Dayun has changed, so is my Dajin also going to change, Xiao Jiu, you dead girl, you are really... really just like your father back then... stubborn! "

At noon, on the outskirts of Lin'an City, the fires in the ruined temple had already been extinguished.

Zi Yuan, who was pretending to be a woodcutter, tore off the fake beard on her face, threw away the firewood that was casually placed on her shoulders, and ran quickly into the ruined temple.

The dilapidated temple was empty, except for the blood stains from last night on the ground, the old man was gone and there was no trace of him.

"Sister..." Ziyuan knelt down facing the blood stains on the ground, her eyes were red, and she sniffed, "Ah Ling must have found a good place to bury you, please forgive the idiot, I can't go to worship you for a while. "As she said, Ziyuan raised her hand and rubbed her teary eyes, and said firmly, "But sister, don't worry, I will definitely do what I promised you. Let her become the Empress of Jin!"

After finishing speaking, Ziyuan kowtowed heavily, got up and walked to the entrance of the ruined temple, picked up the firewood on the ground, glued on her beard again, and ran quickly towards the mountain path.

The mountain road is rugged, the fallen leaves occasionally fall, and the muddy ground is slippery everywhere.

The sunlight is weak, falling on the ground through the gaps in the trees, and the mottled road ahead is full of thorns.