Zhang Zhe even said that she remembered her birthday.
Jiang Xuening only felt that it was the most peaceful time between the two of them in their previous life, and this person had never treated him so kindly before. After a moment of hesitation, he felt uncontrollable joy in his heart.
However, in a flash, his brows and eyes slowly lowered again.
It is not appropriate for the Tianjiao to stay here for too long. Once things are settled, they will take everyone away.
There are not many horses.
But Zhang Zhe had basically gained the trust of the Tianjiao, and he said that he represented the people of Dujunshan, and he dared not neglect at all, so he also gave him a horse.
Xiao Dingfei was riding a horse when he came here.
At this moment, he sat on the steed and held out his palm to Jiang Xuening, and said with a somewhat frivolous smile: "It's a long way to Tongzhou, for a girl as delicate as you, let me take it for a ride?"
He actually invited her to ride with him.
Jiang Xuening knew that this person was an apprentice who only looked at people and faces, and at the moment she was suddenly in a bad mood, so she glanced at him and didn't bother to talk to him.
Xiao Dingfei raised his eyebrows: "Do you want to ride with your 'brother'?"
Jiang Xuening said sleepily, "What are you doing?"
Only these four characters reveal some edges and corners, without the softness that the girl's facial features gave people before. However, Xiao Dingfei was born with low bones, the more flowers in the thorns, the more eager he was to try. Hearing this, he was not discouraged at all. Zhang Zhe is leading a horse in the distance.
Zhang Zhe: "..."
He didn't speak, just lowered his eyes to straighten the saddle.
After a while, when everyone was about to set off, he stretched out his hand towards Jiang Xuening, his Adam's apple rolled slightly, he seemed to hesitate, and then slowly said: "Get on the horse."
Xiao Dingfei was right, the road to Tongzhou is not too short, although he will be able to reach the town in a short time, but it is impossible to have a carriage. Jiang Xuening is a boudoir lady, do you want her to go on foot?
Therefore, although there are many incompatibility with etiquette, we have to act cheaply.
Seeing this, Jiang Xuening smiled lightly, passed her hand, and was supported by Zhang Zhe onto the horse. She raised her eyes and met Xiao Dingfei's unhappy gaze, so she deliberately returned a provocative look.
Xiao Dingfei has always had a way of coaxing women, let alone relying on this skin to win everything in the Qin Lou Chu Pavilion. He has never seen such a person who does not give him face. Looking at this cover again, the face is dull, without any emotion, just like the evil judge who tried the dead in the palace of the king of hell, which normal girl would like such a person?
It's really irritating the more you think about it.
He gritted his teeth slightly, and only snorted a strange sound from his nose: "Hmph, brothers and sisters!"
But in the end there was no more irony.
Xiao Dingfei just looked at Zhang Zhe's seemingly unmoving face and smiled, flicked his horsewhip, regardless of others, and galloped up the mountain road outside the dilapidated temple first.
Everyone else fell behind him.
Only then did Zhang Zhe get on his horse.
He sat behind Jiang Xuening, holding the saddle in front of him with both hands, as if he naturally held her in his arms.
The clear aura that belonged to him easily surrounded her.
Jiang Xuening's body was a little stiff, and she couldn't see Zhang Zhe's expression behind her, but could only see the unattractive pair of hands in front of her. The fingers are very long, with distinct joints, and one cannot help but think that the owner of these hands is by no means a pampered person, and must have suffered.
Not daring to lean back on her, she gripped the edge of the saddle in front with a little force.
The horse went forward and followed the crowd.
In the mountains in winter, there is a kind of biting silence.
Everywhere is wilderness.
There was no sound of birds, only the sound of the wind whizzing past, and the sound of horses' hooves trampling on the slush.
Riding with Zhang Zhe is completely different from Yan Lin.
That young man was blazing and proud. He had practiced martial arts since he was a child, and he was determined to run on the wide road in the capital, as if nothing could stop him in front of him, and those who passed her sight quickly were all the bustling world.
But the person behind him is restrained, taciturn, and the winding mountain road is full of rugged and dangerous obstacles. From here, the end of the sky cannot be seen at a glance, the green trees and grasses have lost their color in the wind and snow, and only the person behind him seems to be in the cold wind. There is still a touch of warmth in the embrace that has not been embraced.
Jiang Xuening's mood gradually calmed down.
Zhang Zhe behind him also couldn't see her expression.
However, she felt that she was unusually quiet.
The gesture of silently watching the front reminded him of the situation and demeanor on the night of her birthday in the previous life, so he finally remembered the rumors about her life experience in Beijing in the previous life.
She was originally the concubine daughter of Mrs. Jiang Boyou's Meng family, but on the day she was born, she was secretly exchanged by a concubine who had an enmity with the Meng family in the back house and her own daughter. He was expelled to the farm, and was raised by him for fourteen years, and he returned to the capital after going through hardships.
Many people said that her sharp and tricky temper, which was incompatible with a lady, was taught badly by that concubine.
At first, not many people knew about it.
Even the Jiang family said to the outside world that she just had bad luck, and she must be fostered outside for fourteen years to get rid of the disaster. Unexpectedly, after she became a queen, all kinds of rumors and rumors about her life experience spread like wildfire, and spread all over the streets and alleys in the capital.
So, every birthday, what does Jiang Xuening think of?
Girls are always petite compared to grown men.
Even sitting in front of him, the head is barely touching his chin, a small part of the delicate neck is exposed, and the skin is as white as snow, but in this kind of barren mountains and mountains, it gives people a particularly fragile feeling .
Zhang Zhe suddenly felt as if something had hit his heart.
There is a faint pain.
For a moment, he really wanted to hug her into his arms without hesitation, but he let the horse's hooves step forward through the mud. He didn't move, but used his wide sleeves to silently block the oncoming people for her. The cold wind is coming.
Tongzhou is only fifty miles away from the capital, and if there are good horses, it will be there in half an hour.
But now not everyone in this group has horses, and many of them are fugitives with criminal records. They don't even have to change into clean clothes, and they don't dare to swagger into the city at the fastest speed.
The Tianjiao people obviously took this into consideration.
On the way, they stopped outside a small village near the river.
It was the middle of the day, and the sun was shining, dispelling a bit of the chill. There were thatched huts built in the village. Occasionally, the dogs of several families could be heard barking, and the smoke could be seen slowly rising from the outside.
Huang Qian blew his whistle outside the village, but he didn't know what to do, and a few young men in rough clothes and rags came out of the village.
The two sides started talking over there.
Jiang Xuening got off the horse with Zhang Zhe's hand, and saw this scene when she raised her eyes. Seeing that everyone around her stopped to rest, or talked to other people, or looked around, she didn't notice them, so she lowered her voice Ask: "Master Zhang, what's going on?"
She had wanted to ask a long time ago.
It's just that she was mostly with everyone along the way, and she really didn't have the opportunity to communicate under the noses of everyone. Even if she had doubts in her heart, she couldn't find a chance to ask.
Zhang Zhe knew that what happened to him this time was a risk to himself, and he also wanted to explain the whole story to her, but just as he was about to speak, he saw the wrinkled face of Feng Mingyu, who was in charge of Tianjiao. With a smile, she walked towards him.
So he took back the words that came to his lips.
He looked at Feng Mingyu: "The people in the village here are trustworthy, can they settle down?"
Feng Mingyu said with a smile: "My Heavenly Sect has members spread all over the world, and there are brothers everywhere, and our people have been arranged here to support them. These wicked people who came out of the sky prison, if they don't change their clothes and disguise themselves , I’m afraid I won’t even be able to enter the city. You can eat some food here later, rest for a noon, and then set off.”
Zhang Zhe nodded and said, "Very good."
Feng Mingyu said a few more words of concern, and even asked about Jiang Xuening's situation before leaving.
Everyone is resting outside the village.
The villagers actually brought out their own lunches, some richer and some simpler, and they were as affectionate as brothers to the "heavenly religious rebels" that the imperial court called.
Everyone didn't eat anything last night, let alone most of them lived on prison food?
It was a pleasure to eat now.
Jiang Xuening also just ate some.
Those villagers also prepared some clean ordinary clothes, but they obviously didn't expect that there was a girl here, so they turned around and asked a woman in the village to bring her some clean clothes.
The others were big men who were used to informality, and there were not a few of them who changed their clothes on the spot.
Zhang Zhe's complexion was not very good-looking.
Naturally, Jiang Xuening couldn't be like them, so she only talked to Zhang Zhe, then found a nearby woods, went deep and changed into a robe.
It's just that she went there for a long time and didn't come back.
Zhang Zhe frowned slowly.
After waiting for a while and still not seeing anyone, he said to Huang Qian and Feng Mingyu who were on the side: "Please wait a moment, I'll go and have a look."
Huang Qian and Feng Mingyu naturally didn't dare to say anything, who knew if something happened to a girl's house in this wilderness?
But they dare not look at it.
The man was brought by Zhang Zhe, so naturally Zhang Zhe should look at it, and no one suspected anything.
The woods in the mountains and fields in this winter are not particularly deep, but it's hard to see what's going on inside under the heavy cover.
But when he went deep, he didn't see anyone, and within a few steps, he saw the light in front of him become brighter, he had already passed through the woods, and then he saw Jiang Xuening standing outside at the moment.
There is actually a river outside the woods. There is no water source in winter, and they all lie peacefully on the sunken river beach.
The sun shines down from high places, and the mist flies away from the forest.
The water surface reflects the white sunlight, which in turn covers and flows onto people.
She had already changed into the rather simple peasant girl's clothes, and the changed robes that belonged to him were placed on a big rock by the river. The light blue cloth wrapped her body, and there was no style or color at all, and it really didn't match this pretty face.
There are some women in the world who seem to be born in a wealthy town.
But Jiang Xuening herself was very calm, she didn't have any complaints about the clothes, as if she had expected that he would come over, she winked at him and smiled: "Now is the time to talk?"
Zhang Zhe was slightly taken aback, then understood.
I also know that Jiang Xuening, a woman, avoids everyone to change her clothes. The others have no relationship or reason with her, so it's hard to tell what's going on, so I can only let him come and look for it.
And he will definitely come.
It's just that he was concerned about chaos just now, but he didn't expect to go to this level.
Jiang Xuening asked, "Why is Mr. Zhang here?"
Zhang Zhe said briefly: "Tianjiao colluded with King Pingnan to rebel against the party and violated the Holy Majesty's taboo. When the court wiped out Tianjiao, it killed a leader of Tianjiao named Gongyi Cheng. After knowing some news about Tianjiao, he Let me make a plan to pretend to be the Dujunshan native of the Tianjiao, whose identity is rarely known, and investigate the situation inside the Tianjiao, so as to wipe it out. I also knew about the prison robbery early in the morning, but I didn’t expect Jiang The second girl was also there at that time..."
Of course, Jiang Xuening went to visit Yan Lin.
She thought that the affairs of the Yongyi Hou Mansion were not small, and she would feel uneasy if Zhang Zhe was involved, and Zhang Zhe didn't ask, so she didn't open her mouth to explain, but just looked at him like this, as if she wanted to get away with it look.
In fact, Zhang Zhe had already thought about it last night.
Who else would allow Jiang Xuening to venture into the dungeon wearing a black cloak in the middle of the night?
Probably still Yan Lin.
Zhang Zhe didn't pursue it, but said, "Master Jiang must be worried about your disappearance for no reason. Besides, this road is really dangerous. Zhang should have saved the second girl Jiang from danger as soon as possible, but the village here is also a place within the Heavenly Sect, so I dare not Leave you here. Tianjiao has an important sub-helm in Tongzhou, which is their largest stronghold in the north. When they find their lair, there will be a fierce battle. The Yongding Medicine Store in Tongzhou City is the place where the imperial court responds. So I asked the second girl to pretend to be sick at that time, so I can use this as an excuse to send the girl out of danger and return to the capital."
Jiang Xuening's heart trembled when she heard this, but her eyes crossed the vast water and looked out at the vast and vast world outside, and a thought that had been circling in her heart suddenly appeared—
Why do you want to go back to the capital?
This is simply a golden opportunity bestowed on her by God!
After being reborn, everything she voluntarily or was forced to do was to leave the capital and avoid the prison of her previous life.
The four high walls of the palace had really become her nightmare.
How many times did she dream back in the middle of the night, she just wanted to become the flying bird she saw when she was sitting under the leaky eaves when she was young, flying over the nine palaces, the nightmare in her previous life, going to the place that You Fangyin visited in the previous life, and the place that Yan Lin talked about in this life Those rivers, lakes and seas, are they free?
Now she has left the capital.
If she doesn't go back and just flies away, who will know her whereabouts?
Although he didn't have much money with him, he could go all the way to Sichuan, and there were also You Fangyin and Ren's Saltworks, at least he didn't have to worry about making a living. Where to go in the future, you can think about it later.
She doesn't want to go back.
Not at all.
She lowered her head and looked at the flat river beach in front of her. She didn't know how to respond to Zhang Zhe's words. She felt a little bored, and after a long time she said in a low voice, "But Mr. Zhang, what if I don't want to go back?"
Zhang Zhe was stunned.
Jiang Xuening finally turned her head and looked straight at him, saying without any shyness: "The life in the palace and the life in the capital are not pleasant, I don't want to go back."
Whoever said this is shocking.
Girls in the boudoir, young ladies, who are living outside, don't want to go back, but are willing to wander outside?
But Zhang Zhe was speechless.
Her bright eyes seemed to plunge into his heart, making him feel like he was going crazy.
Seeing that he was silent, Jiang Xuening thought that he felt that she was being disrespectful and acted indiscriminately, so she lowered her head and said, "I'm just joking, Mr. Zhang—"
"If you don't want to, don't go back."
Before she finished speaking, Zhang Zhe's voice came over faintly.
Jiang Xuening raised her head in astonishment: "Master Zhang?"
She met Zhang Zhe's gaze, but Zhang Zhe looked away uncomfortably, and said, "No one in Tongzhou knows your identity, so you can find an opportunity to hide after you get there, and it's the same when you leave the city before the imperial court encircles and suppresses Tianjiao. "
Jiang Xuening's astonishment suddenly turned into surprise.
It was as if the dark clouds above her head cleared away, and her mood was like the flat river water on the river beach, which immediately became clear and bright, and she was really indescribably happy.
She almost jumped up and laughed: "Master Zhang is so kind!"
The brows and eyes that were originally frowning were stretched out, and a palm-sized face without makeup was more radiant than before. Taking advantage of the rippling waves refracted on the river surface, it made people dazzled.
Zhang Zhe looked at this scene with almost admiration.
No matter in previous life or in this life, I have rarely seen her be so carefree...
Jiang Xuening was in a good mood. When she stepped on the river beach, she saw a few stones that had been flattened by the river all the year round. She remembered something, so she turned her head and tugged at his sleeve, and blinked shrewdly: "Zhang My lord, do you believe that this stone won't sink immediately if I throw it down?"
Those stones are flat and relatively thin, so it may be more appropriate to say they are "stone flakes".
He saw it, but his eyes dimmed slightly, and he didn't speak.
Jiang Xuening only pretended that he didn't believe it. After all, he didn't really believe it when he teased him so much in his last life.
She raised her hand and really threw the thin stone out.
This is a game she used to play with her friends when she was a child.
In the countryside, it is called "float in water".
The flat stone flew out from between the fingers, touched the water surface, and instantly made a "pop" sound, splashing some water, but did not sink immediately, but flew forward again after touching the water surface, where "Papa" floated on the water twice before sinking into the river exhausted.
On the originally calm winter river surface, three groups of ripples slowly bloomed from far and near.
Overlapping.
Wrinkled and shimmering in the lake.
Jiang Xuening thought that she hadn't played hand raw for a long time, and she didn't want to still have the ability to dominate the countryside back then, so she felt that she was good. Turning to look at Zhang Zhe again, he snickered and stuffed the remaining two stones into his hand: "Master Zhang, do you want to try?"
The two stones fell on Zhang Zhe's dry palm.
Still stained with a little sand.
He glanced at it silently, picked up one of them lightly, paused when he raised his hand, and then threw it out.
"Gudong" sound.
The stone fell into the river as if he was drunk.
Seeing Jiang Xuening, she secretly smiled and almost got angry.
Although Mr. Zhang is not from a good background and can suffer, he doesn't know anything about having fun, let alone the games played by the ignorant children in the countryside.
In the previous life, even if he taught him for a long time, he would not know it.
Zhang Zhe didn't really want to learn.
But she couldn't stand that she was the queen, so she wanted to see his jokes and make fun of him to relieve boredom. Even if Zhang Zhe didn't want to, he had to put on his ugly face and let her mess around.
Seeing this scene again after two lifetimes, Jiang Xuening felt indescribably satisfied, but seeing Zhang Zhe looking down at the remaining stone in his palm, he seemed to have no interest in it in his previous life, and was not interested in it. Glad, he finally stuck out his tongue and restrained himself a bit.
Just then someone shouted from the other side of the woods.
Probably because both of them disappeared, which made the Tianjiao gang a little worried.
Jiang Xuening shrugged her shoulders, knowing that it would make them suspicious if she came out for too long, so she said: "I'll go back first, just say I'm on the other side, I didn't see you."
After speaking, he picked up the robe on the ground and walked back.
Zhang Zhe watched her figure enter the forest, gradually disappeared, and then slowly lowered his head back, looking at the stone in his palm.
The distant mountains are covered with snow.
The noon sun shines on the river.
He stood among the rocks on the river beach for a long time, without any ups and downs of emotion on his face, holding the flat stone with his slender and bony fingers, and threw it lightly towards the river surface, and the stone rubbed against the river surface Float three or four times, then sink to the bottom.
Ripples spread out and piled up into lines.
When I hold the stone, it feels heavy in my hand; but when I throw it away, I feel empty again.
The river gradually calmed down.
Zhang Zhe looked at it for a while, then wiped off the dirt on his palm little by little, turned around and walked back.