Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 136 Fighting for Marriage
Late at night, there was a knock on the door, and Feng Niang inside the room said, "The door is not locked, come in."

Gu Jingnian pushed the door open and saw Feng Niang sitting on the couch soaking her feet.

The hem of her skirt was lifted above her knees, revealing a pair of flawless calves as white as jade. Her toes moved slightly in the basin of water, causing a few ripples.

Gu Jingnian looked away.

Feng Niang pursed her lips and smiled, saying leisurely: "I rubbed against a place I shouldn't have rubbed against in the evening, so I came back and washed it quickly."

If her movements under the table during the Nuanju banquet had seemed somewhat provocative and overly intimate, these words now diluted that frivolity and made her seem somewhat distant.

If Yin Yucheng had been treated like this by Feng Niang, he would have been unable to resist and would have suspected that he had done something wrong again. He would have gone forward to please her and ask questions, only to be manipulated by her.

Gu Jingnian didn't buy it and asked casually, "Really?"

He seemed even more distant than Feng Niang.

Feng Niang then hooked her finger and asked, "Want to go together?"

"what?"

"Sit down, and get rid of your fatigue. The water is still hot."

In the basin, a pair of white jade feet swayed gently twice, and the toenails were dyed red by the flower juice, as if flower petals were floating in the basin.

However, Gu Jingnian saw the mischief in Feng Niang's eyes and knew that if he really went over, he would just be pouring water for her feet.

"Stop messing around and get down to business."

"Give me that handkerchief."

"this?"

Gu Jingnian picked up a handkerchief hanging on the screen. He knew it was made of silk, a very expensive material, and spotlessly white.

"You wipe your feet with this?"

"I like it, what's your business?"

Gu Jingnian then handed over the handkerchief.

Feng Niang smiled with her beautiful eyes. She glared at him and said angrily, "Turn your back."

Gu Jingnian turned his back and said, "I've been to the East Palace, and I didn't feel Ying Yao nearby."

"You were only concerned about Ying Yao. What I said at the time was that Huang Hu might have been taken away by Donggong."

"Really?" Gu Jingnian said, "I didn't feel Huang Hu was in the East Palace either."

"Maybe he was taken somewhere else."

"If we use the wind-controlling technique to find it, many of the Yin family's disciples are good at this."

"No." Feng Niang said, "I have found out recently that the one who hurt Luoxia was Fei Yuanpeng, a guard beside Yin Jinggeng. He appeared in the Old Market Town."

"How did you find out?"

"Of course she sold her body and used Yin Yucheng to find out."

"Is the news reliable?"

"Aren't you jealous?"

"You want to rely on him for information, and you need to sell your body? Isn't it just a finger-wagging?"

Gu Jingnian finally said something that satisfied Feng Niang.

She then smiled and said, "Turn around."

Gu Jingnian then turned around and saw Feng Niang had already crawled into the bed and hooked her finger at him.

In this situation, this action was quite misleading, but Gu Jingnian still leaned over to listen.

I only heard Feng Niang say, "Go, help me pour out the water for washing my feet."

"You still have the time to tease me?"

"I see you are enjoying yourself in Yong State, surrounded by beauties. I'm afraid you forgot that Yingyao's whereabouts are unknown and I'm getting married soon."

"I will find Yingyao and take you to Woye."

"I believed your lies."

Feng Niang grumbled again and said that she didn't believe it, but in fact she still believed in Gu Jingnian.

"Let's go." Gu Jingnian said, "Contact me again when there is confirmed news."

He turned around and left the house, and found Gao Changgan squatting in the kitchen eating noodles with Lao Hei and Yan Er.

The three were talking and laughing when they saw Gu Jingnian coming over. Gao Changgan slurped up his noodles and suddenly asked, "Will you and the shopkeeper get married?"

"will not."

"why?"

"Do you know how to write the word 'marriage'? Marriage only happens when a woman makes you dizzy."

Gu Jingnian picked up a piece of charcoal and taught Gao Changgan to recognize a word, which greatly broadened the horizons of this dull man and made him admire him very much.

Soon, the two disappeared into the kitchen.

Lao Hei grabbed a piece of firewood, burned it into charcoal, and smeared the word "marriage" on the ground, saying, "Sooner or later, the shopkeeper will make him dizzy."

In the main house over there, Feng Niang was about to fall asleep peacefully after receiving Gu Jingnian's promise that he would take her to Woye, but she suddenly sat up in shock.

She looked solemnly and looked around vigilantly, then opened the window and called a bird in.

However, the bird did not see any strangers around.

But a voice still reached her ears.

"Do you think that if you escape to Yong State, the Northern Court will be unable to do anything to you?"

Feng Niang looked up at the sky and asked in the deserted area, "Who are you?"

"Do you trust Gu Jingnian very much?"

"Who are you?" Feng Niang asked again.

The other party probably didn't hear her voice and continued talking to himself, so the next sentence was passed to her ears.

"I might as well tell you that Gu Jingnian is a spy sent by the Kaiping Division to Yong State. Has he told you about this?"

Feng Niang frowned, called over more birds, and soon released them again.

However, the alley was also quiet at night.

Only in the distance, a figure wearing a bamboo hat had already walked away.

--------

Gu Jingnian pushed the door open and walked out of Gao Changgan's house. There happened to be two servants cleaning outside the courtyard. When they saw him, they greeted him politely.

Living under such surveillance, Gu Jingnian was very calm.

This calmness probably came from his experience of breaking the jar and throwing it all away in Sweden. He had the courage to overturn the table at any time, and was not afraid of facing all kinds of hostility.

When he returned to the main house, Pei Nian had already changed his clothes and was sitting on the couch combing his hair.

Gu Jingnian then remembered that he had forgotten to say something.

He picked up the bundle containing his clothes and said, "Since we have moved to a new house and there is enough room, I will sleep in the side room."

Pei Nian glanced at him and said, "There are so many spies outside." "The spies can't control where we sleep."

The two were able to communicate smoothly in the secret language, so Pei Nian asked, "It seems that you and Feng Niang are together? You don't care about the job anymore."

"No."

"Why is that? I need to know the reason."

Gu Jingnian disliked two things about Pei Nian: he always asked questions and he always treated himself as his superior. Pei Nian must also hate his self-willed and undisciplined behavior.

Such moments of confrontation have occurred more than once or twice since the two men set out on their journey west.

But this time, Gu Jingnian was rarely willing to explain a few words to Pei Nian.

"Ok."

There was a slight sigh in his voice, as if he had finally succumbed to Pei Nian's dominance.

"It's hard for me to sleep next to you every day."

"what?"

Pei Nian didn't understand and thought he didn't learn the language well enough.

Gu Jingnian said frankly: "Because of you, I am always not calm at night, but I have to calm down. Pei Jishi's punishment is unbearable for me."

"you……"

Pei Nian understood, but was a little confused.

An expression she had never had before appeared on her face: surprise, embarrassment, and suspicion that she had heard it wrong, but also certain that she had not heard it wrong.

Seeing that she didn't answer, Gu Jingnian said more bluntly: "If you don't understand, let me put it this way, I..."

"Are you teasing me?"

Pei Nian asked in a very unpleasant tone.

"No." Gu Jingnian shook his head.

With questions and answers, the strange atmosphere quickly dissipated.

However, Gu Jingnian continued, "I am just stating the facts. I sleep in the same bed with you every day, as a ..."

"That's enough." Pei Nian stopped him, "No need to say more."

"You always like me to tell you the truth."

"on purpose?"

Pei Nian felt that he was being teased and glared at Gu Jingnian coldly.

Gu Jingnian smiled politely, took his bag and went out.

But Pei Nian's heart, which had always been as stagnant as water, finally began to stir as if a stone had been thrown at it.

That night, she tried to fall asleep as usual, but found that she couldn't fall asleep.

She recalled that when they were sleeping in the same bed a while ago, Gu Jingnian turned around and hugged her several times, but she pushed him away.

In fact, Gu Jingnian's breathing was a little disordered at that time, and she could hear it.

It turned out that he was pretending to be asleep and deliberately taking advantage of me.

Deep in her mind, the memory that she had deliberately forgotten resurfaced.

In the dim cell of Kaiping Division, the two struggled and collided, and Gu Jingnian bit him...

"Pei Nian? Pei Nian?"

The next day, Pei Nian came to his senses and found that he had been distracted in Mingde Hall.

The one who woke her up was her classmate, nicknamed "Zhaoer".

"What are you thinking about?" Zhao'er whispered, "This is the first time I see you like this. Is there something wrong?"

"fine."

"You can't hide it from me."

Pei Nian felt overwhelmed when he met someone who was just as inquisitive as he was, so he could only say, "You can't help with this kind of thing."

"The Four Books and the Five Classics, astronomy and geography, what haven't we talked about? Tell me, I can help you figure it out."

"It's okay."

"Ok."

Pei Nian originally thought that the matter would just pass like this.

By the next day, she was indeed calmed down, no longer thinking about those things, and was able to concentrate on her classes.

But unexpectedly, Zhao'er suddenly leaned over to her ear and said something.

"I heard that you and your sweetheart slept in separate rooms."

"what?"

Pei Nian was very surprised. He turned around and met Zhao'er's eyes, realizing that this girl was not simple.

Zhaoer smiled and said, "I treat you as a friend, so I tell you the truth. I am not afraid that you will guess my identity."

--------

Gu Jingnian still did not go to Yuewei Academy today.

He specially prepared a gift and went to the East Palace to visit Yin Yuhe on the pretext of returning the favor, but he was unexpectedly turned away.

Yin Yuhe even sent someone to remind him tactfully that as a hostage, he should not hang around in Yongjing and make friends with the powerful. His Majesty allowed him to go to Yuewei Academy because it showed his respect for him. If he didn't want to go, he could just study hard at home.

Gu Jingnian couldn't understand why Yin Yuhe's attitude had changed so much, and suspected that it might be related to Ying Yao.

What also troubled him was that Yin Shu's attitude had also undergone some subtle changes. She came to his house for two consecutive days, but she never mentioned helping him elope with Feng Niang. Instead, she seemed to be pursuing him.

It was almost evening. The two of them were sitting in the courtyard, looking at the servants in the distance. Gu Jingnian said, "The servants who are watching over me as a hostage were arranged by the East Palace, right?"

"Don't be afraid of them. In Yong State, the Eastern Palace is not the only dominant force yet." Yin Shu responded domineeringly yet gently.

Gu Jingnian recalled the last scene when Yin Yuhe left that day and asked, "Do you know King Zhao?"

"Well, if you want to listen, I'll tell you in detail."

Yin Shu naturally sat next to Gu Jingnian, leaning against him.

"Before Yin Jinggeng was born, no one thought that Third Uncle could give birth to such an outstanding son. At that time, he was not yet the crown prince, but he had some reputation among the people..."

Suddenly, Zhang Xiaofang's voice was heard not far away.

"Is the young master here? Miss Pei is back with her friends."

Zhang Xiaofang probably saw Yin Shu's maid and wanted to remind Gu Jingnian.

But when Yin Shu heard Pei Nian was coming, she pulled Gu Jingnian and deliberately asked, "Who did she bring back?"

The next moment, Pei Nian appeared in the courtyard.

Yin Shu was not afraid. She turned around and looked at him with a look that showed the intention of declaring war...

(End of this chapter)