Binding Spring Love

After returning to Xiuyan Pavilion from Fuhetang, Jiang Xingjian's anger lingered in his heart and could not be dispelled for a long time.

Song Wan's resistance to him was so obvious that it bothered him greatly.

"Simplify procedures?"

Lin Jiayue weakly got out of bed, put on her embroidered shoes, and sat down beside him. Seeing Jiang Xingjian's solemn expression, she cautiously asked, "Is something the matter?"

The deaths of Jiang Jing and Aunt Zhou had a huge impact on her. Now, Lin Jiayue has finally curbed her flamboyant nature, but she has gone from one extreme to another.

"Did I do something to make you angry again?"

Jiang Xingjian pinched the bridge of his nose and said calmly, "No."

Lin Jiayue suddenly felt a sense of panic. She could feel the other person's coldness, and this aloofness made her feel cold all over and her heart sink. She didn't dare to ask, and could only murmur softly, repeating herself over and over.

Annoyed by her nagging, Jiang Xingjian told her that Song Wan would rather injure her own hand than take over the management of the Marquis's mansion.

"But...but it's just a hand injury, it won't stop me from managing the household."

Jiang Xingjian lowered his eyes, feeling disappointed. He was impatient to talk about these things anymore and asked about firearms again.

"I will take you to see the power of that firearm the day after tomorrow."

After saying that, Lin Jiayue lowered her head, covering her eyes with guilt: "How about... how about telling Consort Jiang? She's probably eager to know the situation too."

That was her only trump card. Since Consort Jiang had given birth to a prince, she would definitely value this weapon more than Jiang Xingjian.

Lin Jiayue lowered her head, clutching the hem of her clothes, too afraid to speak.

"I sent a letter to the palace."

Lin Jiayue exhaled deeply, relieved.

Three days later, early in the morning, she got up to change and wash. After she was ready, Qianbi handed her a light gauze hat. Lin Jiayue stared blankly at the veil that covered her waist for a long time before finally giving in and putting it on.

The moment the carriage drove out of the Marquis's residence, Lin Jiayue felt her eyes burning and almost burst into tears. She had only been in the Marquis's residence for a little over a month, but it felt like half a lifetime had passed.

The carriage curtain was gently lifted by the wind, and Jiang Xingjian saw Lin Jiayue bow slightly with a devout expression and lean close to the window, carefully inhaling the air outside.

Seeing her like this, he suddenly felt a little soft-hearted.

The man raised his hand and lifted the carriage curtain, and Lin Jiayue could no longer hold back and called out "Brother Xingjian".

"When we get to the barren mountain later, I'll get out of the car and we'll go for a walk."

Lin Jiayue pursed her lips and after a long while, she finally said "thank you".

Several pale-faced, beardless men stood atop the desolate mountain. They were thin and had high-pitched voices. Upon seeing the two, they all came forward to bow. Lin Jiayue stood behind Jiang Xingjian, not daring to speak, afraid that she might do something that would affect others or be a matter of life and death.

"It's alright, there's no need to avoid suspicion in front of the eunuchs."

Jiang Xingjian had a large box brought out of the carriage, and Lin Jiayue opened the box and began to examine it carefully by herself.

She had each item custom-made separately, and each one had a pattern on it that no one in the world except herself could understand.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Jiayue quickly assembled it.

Jiang Xingjian and the other eunuchs watched as she put some unknown things into the bamboo joints, then took out some yellow paper to wrap around them. After working for most of the hour, Lin Jiayue made two enormous, clumsy paper boxes.

She bit her lip and lowered her head, saying, "Now that I don't have the professional tools, I can't make anything more ingenious. I can only show Your Majesty the prototype of this firearm."

Lin Jiayue nervously wiped the sweat from her palms, had someone carefully move the cardboard box to a distance, and then stood blankly to the side.

She didn't know if the thing would explode.

Before she met Jiang Xingjian, she lived in a remote mountain village where wolves would occasionally appear.

To scare away wolves, the village has passed down the recipe for making firecrackers for generations. Her family was supposed to take the firecrackers to the mountains to hang them up for half a month, but since they were busy farming every day, the job was left to her.

She had suddenly arrived in this godforsaken place where no one could hear her cries for help, so she had no mind to care about firecrackers or wolves.

Too lazy to move, she hid all her belongings in the cellar of her house.

Then one day, she heard from the villagers that a pack of wolves had entered the foot of the mountain and a young man from out of town was trapped. Only then did she get so scared that she ran down the mountain with the firecrackers she had been saving for a long time.

Upon seeing Jiang Xingjian, she tied all the firecrackers together, lit them, and threw them at him.

The firecrackers in the village weren't very lethal, but the sheer number of them made up for it. That day, when a whole bundle of firecrackers was thrown out, Lin Jiayue felt a deafening roar, as if the sky had been cleaved open.

A thick plume of black smoke rolled by, the wolf pack scattered, and Jiang Xingjian himself was knocked unconscious by the shock.

She took care of him for a long time. Later, when Jiang Xingjian woke up and asked her what she had used, she casually said that she came from a reclusive clan in China and that the thing she had just used was a peerless firearm she had made, capable of stopping thousands of troops and having enormous destructive power.

She never imagined Jiang Xingjian would believe it, just as she never imagined Jiang Jing would lose his life because of reading a few romance novels.

Lin Jiayue looked at the cardboard box in the distance and bit her lip.

She collected this from several firecracker workshops. Although it was just a huge firecracker with a modified gunpowder ratio, she added some bamboo flour to the cardboard box and two barrels of tung oil to the other one.

She didn't know if it would explode, but she had no choice but to gamble.

"It's done, but it's a bit rough and the time was a bit rushed. If the effect is not good, I will improve it again next time."

Jiang Xingjian nodded, and the eunuchs watched with great interest until Lin Jiayue could no longer stop them and said that someone needed to detonate it with a rocket.

"Bring me the bow."

The eunuch brought over a lit arrow, and Jiang Xingjian drew his bow and released the arrow in one smooth motion, shooting it straight into the paper box.

The paper box burned, but nothing changed.

Just as Lin Jiayue was about to offer some explanation, everyone heard a loud bang, and a shower of fire erupted from the sky. The fire was tung oil exploding in the air, burning fiercely even as it landed on various surfaces. A splatter of tung oil landed on another cardboard box, which soon exploded into a blaze of flames.

"Fire! Fire!"

A middle-aged eunuch shouted in a high-pitched voice, and the barren mountain quickly caught fire.

Looking at the towering flames, Lin Jiayue suddenly burst into maniacal laughter.

It took a long time before the fire was extinguished by the Red Army soldiers who rushed from nearby.

Looking at the desolate mountain burned to the ground, Lin Jiayue couldn't stop smiling.

"Congratulations, Your Excellency! Congratulations, Your Excellency! You are truly the reincarnation of the Thunder God, a celestial being descended to earth."

A eunuch in the distance rushed forward and kept congratulating Jiang Xingjian. Even though everyone knew that these things came from Lin Jiayue, no one called her a single word.

"If His Majesty were to learn of the divine power of this thing, he would surely bestow great praise upon the Marquis."

"Your Majesty?"

Lin Jiayue murmured to herself, and Jiang Xingjian said, "How can such firearms be in the hands of aristocratic families? We must report this to the Emperor."

After helping Lin Jiayue into the carriage, he slowly spoke again: "With this, His Majesty should transfer me to the Divine Pivot Camp."

Lin Jiayue stared blankly at Jiang Xingjian, unsure of what to say.

This item was originally her self-protection item in the inner quarters. She had thought that Consort Jiang would definitely want to possess it, to lay the foundation for the Fifth Prince's future ascension to the throne. In this way, as long as she held onto this formula, she could remain carefree in the inner quarters of the Marquis's mansion.

But now it involves the emperor...

If, as Jiang Xingjian said, the emperor would transfer him to the Divine Pivot Camp, wouldn't that mean she would have to hand over her protective charm?