Qiu Shi didn't dare to say anything. ~ He had already been thrown into the water once, so he naturally didn't dare try again. He wiped the water from his face, and a smooth lie came out of his mouth: "I accidentally bumped into He Niangzi, but before I could apologize, Hua'er recognized me as Liu's servant, and for some reason, her mother was furious and grabbed my collar and threw me into the river. I really didn't mean to provoke them."

  It seems to make some sense. Wu San thought to himself, could it be that after Jiang Changyang left, Wu Shi Qi Nian said something unpleasant again, which angered Mu Dan and her three servants? Coincidentally, Liu Chuan had also offended Mu Dan earlier, the He family deeply resented the Liu family, so was Fu Da Niang taking it out on his servant? No, Mu Dan wasn't someone who would trouble others without reason, this kid must be lying.

  Qiu Shi saw Wu San not speaking and hurriedly said: "What I said is the truth, they hate my family's young master." His words were also true.

  Wu San smiled and stretched out his hand: "Come on, give me your hand. You're not in a state to be playing around after catching a cold. What's your name? Wasn't it Qiushi?"

  "Yes." Seeing that Qiushi finally believed him, he secretly let out a sigh of relief and stretched out his hand to Wu San, complaining: "This river in the mansion is really strange, it looks shallow, but the riverbank is built so high, steep and slippery, it's hard to climb..."

  Wu San's mind was elsewhere as he watched his movements: "That's it, I need to find an opportunity to talk to my young master and have him repair it again, make it even deeper this time."

  Qiu Shi had climbed halfway up when he was about to land safely, but just as Wu San's words didn't seem quite right, his hand suddenly loosened and he hastily grabbed the riverbank, only to grab nothing. With a "plop", he fell back into the water again.

  Wu San smiled and looked at him: "Why don't you hold on tight? Come, let's start again."

  Qiu Shi wasn't stupid, he quickly understood what Wu San wanted to do, but he was too afraid to tell the truth, and would rather be ill than be sold by Liu Chuan. He stood in the riverbed, anxiously searching for a place where the riverbank was lower.

  Wu San saw his eyes rolling around, smiled faintly and pointed to the front: "The river ditch wall over there is a bit shorter, go that way."

  Qiu Shi couldn't believe Wu San, he thought it must be even higher on that side. Wu San said in a low voice: "Now it's already deep autumn, the water is getting colder and more bone-chilling by the minute, you either stretch out your hand to me or wait until your young master comes to find you standing here in the water, I'm sure he'll be delighted to have you nurse a long illness. And those things you did just now, I will eventually find out, and when that time comes, I will throw you into the Yellow Canal to feed the fish. But if you tell the truth, it's different, I guarantee no one will know, especially your young master won't know."

  Qiu Shi felt that Wu San's smile was colder than water. He lowered his head, thought for a moment, and still shook his head firmly: "I really didn't do anything."

  Just keep playing then. Wu San turned around and left: "Then wait for me, I alone can't pull you up, I'll go find someone."

  Wu San walked to the back of the Wintergreen Tree, Jiang Changyang had already come out, with Pan Rong and Liu Chuan following closely behind him, each carrying a child. It wasn't a good time for talking, Wu San gave Jiang Changyang a signal with his eyes, gesturing towards the main gate, indicating that Peony had left, Jiang Changyang subtly nodded in response.

  Wu San stepped forward and saluted Liu Chong, smiling: "Liu Temple, may I ask if you have a young servant named Qiushi?"

  Liu Chuan nodded: "Yes, what's wrong with him?"

  Wu San said with a smile, "It's laughable to say that Liu Si saw it, but just now this child said something he shouldn't have said and did something he shouldn't have done. He offended He Niangzi and was afraid in his heart, so he jumped into the river."

  Jiang Changyang furrowed his brow and glanced at Liu Chuan, then shifted his gaze to Pan Rong. Pan Rong saw him looking over and smiled foolishly.

  Liu Chang exclaimed in surprise: "Really? What did he do? Please, Director Wu, tell me so I can severely punish this servant." His expression was very natural, and nowadays he could more skillfully manipulate his facial expressions as needed.

  Wu San sighed with difficulty: "Those words are not worth mentioning... it's just that I hope Liu Temple won't take offense, earlier this humble one had pulled him, but perhaps due to his fear, his hands and feet were shaking and couldn't get on."

  "This useless slave, really made me lose face, is he over there?" Liu Chuan pretended to be very angry and embarrassed, walking towards the riverbank, while secretly rejoicing that Peony was driven away and remembered it in her heart.

  He has recently made the most progress in figuring out the private affairs of various important government offices in Beijing. Now, Zhu Guogong has not taken any action yet, but what about in the future? Who knows if he is thinking like this privately? Jiang Changyang, this son of Zhu Guogong's, has always been remembered in his heart, and until now, he still hasn't decided to make Jiang Er Gongzi the heir, can't this explain the problem? Especially after the news that Wang Furen was going to remarry came out, Zhu Guogong would definitely not allow Jiang Changyang to be free outside anymore. Liu Chuan thought of this, and then thought of Li Yi's example, and his mood became elated.

  Just as Qiuzi crawled out of the ditch, Liu Cheng kicked him with a gloomy face: "You dog slave, what good deed have you done? Hurry up and tell me, I'll spare your life."

  Qiu Shi knelt on the ground and cried: "Young master, I really didn't mean to."

  Liu Chong glared at Jiang Changyang and shouted angrily: "If you want to save your life, quickly tell me the good things you've done."

  Qiu Shi repeated what he had said to Wu San again.

  Jiang Changyang looked at the two masters with disgust, gesturing to Pan Rong to follow him aside: "Either you settle it yourself, or I'll do it for you."

  Pan Xiang put away his smile and said with difficulty: "Indeed, I didn't think it through, but he's my best friend and has helped me out... At that time, his family was having a banquet, and you were also brought over by me. He treated you warmly too. Now the city gate is already closed, and you're asking me to drive him away like this? I can't do it. Give me some face, okay? After all, we've been friends since childhood, and I haven't done anything to wrong you." Seeing Jiang Changyang unmoved, he gritted his teeth and pulled out his trump card: "You should at least consider my brother's face, just this once."

  Jiang Changyang's lips were pursed tightly as he stared at Pan Rong in silence.

  Pan Xiang saw his expression and secretly let out a sigh of relief, knowing that this matter was settled. On the surface, she made a playful face: "Don't mention my brother, it's all my fault, okay? However, Cheng Feng, I'm telling you, just pretend for one night and let him stay again. I guarantee he'll leave early tomorrow morning. Just one night, and it won't do you any good to offend another person. He's always been with us, the one who doesn't know better is his servant. Why not take out your anger on that servant? He would also feel very humiliated."

  "I don't understand what's so good about him that you're treating him like this." Jiang Changyang looked at Pan Rong steadily and said in a deep voice, "Pan Er Lang, remember, I'm not a three-year-old child who can be deceived by you. And I'm not one of you, why did I hit that little guy?"

  Watching Jiang Changyang's tall and majestic figure quickly pass through the evergreen tree cluster, across the bluestone square brick ground, out of the gate, taking over the reins handed by the young servant, mounting his horse and leaving, Pan Rong's smile on her face gradually faded away, her shoulders also softened and drooped down, expressionlessly staring at the cobblestones under her feet. Pan Xuan felt his father's low mood, uneasily lightly shook his hand, and called out in a soft voice: "Father?"

  Why is Liu Chang good? Jiang Chengfeng naturally didn't understand, because the two of them are birds of a feather. Pan Rong's smile suddenly lit up, he squatted down to touch Pan Xuan's face, pointing at the goose egg stone on the ground and laughing: "Son, do you think this goose egg stone is beautiful or not? Look, this one is still colorful, it's called red, red."

  Pan Ling only knew that his father was playing with him, and he also squatted down to poke the pebbles under his feet with his fingers. Then he frowned and thought for a moment, saying: "Red?" Pan Rong burst out laughing and looked at Wu San: "I bet he doesn't even know what red is yet, do you believe me? Otherwise, let's make a bet!"

  Wu San smiled respectfully: "Young Master, the young master is still young, one day he will understand."

  Pan Xiang gently patted Pan Xuan's head, sighed and said: "Yes, he is still young, so young that he can cry when he wants to cry and laugh when he wants to laugh." He stretched out his arm and picked up Pan Xuan, walking towards Liu Shuang, saying: "Zi Shu, forget it."

  Liu Chuan turned around and saw that Jiang Changyang was no longer by his side. He easily understood what had happened and said bluntly, "I'm leaving right away."

  Pan Rong furrowed her brow: "Where can you go at this time?"

  Liu Chang said lightly, "As long as there's money, there are plenty of places to stay." He wasn't so down on his luck that he had to rely on others' charity and cling to someone else's home. Leaving this place was just an opportunity to go out and take a look around.

  Pan Xiang fell silent for a moment, then said seriously: "Zi Shu, listen to me. It's already come to this point, let's just drop it. Think about what we've said before, don't provoke him, okay?"

  He wasn't afraid of him. Liu Chuan pursed his lips and didn't respond to Pan Rong's words, only saying: "I'll leave first, remember to find me when you return to the city." The people watching the play had already left, there was no need to continue acting, he called Qiu Shi to get up, nodded towards Wu..., and the two master and servant walked out one after the other.

  Wu San loudly ordered someone to bring out Liu Cheng's horse, and Qiu Shi looked at Wu San with a timid expression, not knowing if Wu San would really let people throw himself into the Yellow Canal to feed the fish after he knew. But Wu San didn't even give him an extra glance.

  Another one left. Pan Rong stroked his chin, thinking that he should be very angry and express himself like Jiang Changyang, bullying his friends is bullying him, and then follow Liu Cheng away with a lot of style. But he knew he couldn't do it. So he had to turn around and look at Wu San smiling: "Today's dishes are not bad, I heard from Cheng Feng that they were all bought by you?"

  The sun had just been obscured by the distant mountains, and the long star hung in the dark blue sky, twinkling as if laughing at being driven out without mercy. But what's the difference? Anyway, he wasn't innocent either, and to achieve something, one must pay the price. Liu Can threw his cloak to Qiushi, who couldn't help but let out a loud sneeze in the evening wind: "Well done, go back and find the manager yourself, tell him I said so, and increase your monthly allowance by one tael of silver every month. Make two more good dresses."

  Qiu Shi tightly hugged the brocade cloak with the precious fragrance that Liu Chang had given her, and tearfully said: "Young Master, where are we going now? Why don't we find a village? Generally, the homes of villagers are quite dirty, not good to live in."

  Liu Chang raised his eyes to look at the surrounding harvested rice fields and the winding road ahead, letting his horse walk slowly, saying in a low voice: "Just follow the road forward. Wherever we go is wherever."

  Qiu stood by and watched him, thinking that the young master actually didn't know where to go either.

  Jiang Changyang let the horse run wildly, and after not running for a long time, he saw Mudan and her two servants riding slowly in front of him. Mudan sat elegantly on the back of the dark red horse, with the double golden hairpins between her black hair bun shining brightly in the twilight, making her hair bun look even more jet-black. Her slender waist swayed rhythmically with the movement of the horse, and she walked at a moderate pace, occasionally chatting with Feng Dainiang and Shu'er.

  Jiang Changyang sped up to catch up, and the three people in front heard the horseshoe sound, all turned their heads to look at him. Jiang Changyang carefully observed Peony's expression, she smiled at him, pulled the reins to stop the horse and wait for him, looking very normal, not like an angry look, so he returned her a big smile.

  He stopped exactly a horse's head away from Peony, trying to make his voice sound casual: "Dan Niang, why did you leave without saying a word?"

  "Seeing you're busy, I didn't want to disturb you, so I asked Manager Wu to convey my thanks instead."

  I don't know if it's psychological, but Jiang Changyang felt that Peony's words were not pleasant to hear, and her smile was also somewhat different. He couldn't pick out any flaws, and he looked at her in some dismay: "I'll send you back."

  "Never mind, it's still early and we're not far from the Fragrant Garden. The villagers around here all know us, so it's very safe. Your farm has guests, leaving them behind wouldn't be good, let's hurry back."

  Jiang Changyang instinctively felt that Mudan was unhappy, so he furrowed his brow and looked at her, saying bluntly: "I heard Wu San say that Liu Chuan's servant did something improper?"

  "Peony smiled slightly: 'He was a bit rude, so he was thrown into your family's river ditch by the Great Aunt, causing you trouble.'"

  "No." Jiang Changyang shook his head: "Will you come over tomorrow? Tomorrow you won't see the person you don't want to see."

  "Over the next few days, I'll be very busy, with a lot of work to do and not much time to spare. And I also need to send a few clever young men to learn from Master Li," she said sincerely, thanking him: "Master Li is really great, just the kind of person I was looking for, thank you."

  The more she thanked him, the stiffer Jiang Chang's smile on his face became. He fell silent for a moment and stubbornly said, "I'll send you back."

  Peony looked at his expression, did not show any opposition, turned the horse's head and continued to move forward slowly.

  The road was short and they arrived quickly, but it seemed long because they couldn't find anything to say and could only be silent. One didn't want to speak, the other wanted to speak but didn't know how.

  The big gate of the Fragrant Garden appeared in sight, and Peony turned her head to smile at Jiang Changyang: "You go back first, I'm safe here. You have guests to entertain, so I won't invite you in."

  Jiang Changyang nodded and gazed into her eyes, saying in a low voice: "Dan Niang, are we still friends?"

  "Of course. What's wrong?"

  Seeing her expression, Jiang Changyang felt disappointed. She wouldn't tell him about today's events, although he could find out through other channels. He had hoped she would tell him personally, but that was clearly impossible. Everything seemed to have reverted back to the starting point. He wanted to tell her that he didn't care about what Liu Chuan said; he had his own eyes and ears. But they were still far from being at that level of closeness, just like today when he wanted to express his concern and goodwill but could only do so within a suitable range. So for now, he could only force a wry smile: "Alright then, go ahead and enter."

  "Be careful on the road." Peony smiled and waved goodbye, then urged her horse forward, rushing towards Fragrance Garden with Madame Feng and Xu'er close behind. They soon disappeared behind the wall of Fragrance Garden, which was surrounded by willow trees.

  Jiang Changyang turned his horse's head and leaned back. On the way, he met several villagers who greeted him, and he returned their greetings one by one, absent-mindedly looking at the whitening road ahead. The sky grew increasingly hazy, and two small black dots appeared in front of him, slowly growing larger - he recognized them as Liu Chong and his servant.

  Liu Chuan stared steadily at Jiang Changyang in front of him. Jiang Changyang sat upright on the tall and majestic purple horse, one hand holding the reins, the other grasping the whip with a familiar yet firm gesture, his eyes gazing deeply from across, colliding with Liu's gaze in mid-air. There were no women present, nor any mutual friends, so neither of them intended to back down.

  The two people stared at each other for a while, neither of them blinking. Liu Chuan felt his eyes getting sore, his eyelids twitching, as if they would close involuntarily if he wasn't careful. He told himself he couldn't lose, his eyes were sore, Jiang Changyang's must be too. He forced his eyes wide open and glared fiercely at Jiang Changyang.

  Jiang Changyang didn't intentionally make his gaze more ferocious, nor did he glare at Liu Chuan with all his might. He simply looked at him silently. Liu Chuan was dressed as elegantly and refinedly as ever, with a high horse and colorful saddle, standing within twenty steps of the surrounding area, which was filled with fragrance. By his side followed a sly and timid little servant, who was no different from any other young master of a powerful family in the capital. The only difference was that he had been Peony's ex-husband, a vicious man who had publicly humiliated his wife, driven her to desperation, and then entangled himself with her in a mess of troubles. He was childish and ridiculous, pitiful and selfish, not worthy of Peony. Apart from being lucky, he was useless. Jiang Changyang had already made up his mind about Liu Chuan.

  Qiu Shi was shrinking to one side with caution, his nostrils were always itchy, he wanted to sneeze, but didn't dare to, after enduring for several times, he finally couldn't bear it and let out a loud sneeze.

  This sudden and loud sneeze startled Liu Chuan's eyelids, which had been struggling to stay open, and they jumped wide awake. He blinked first. Liu Chuan saw a flash of smile in Jiang Changyang's dark eyes, and he hated it so much that he wanted to die. It was all because of Qiushi. He endured for a few moments before he didn't lash out at Qiushi with a whip, but instead put on a smile to cover up the awkwardness: "Brother Chengfeng, where did you come from?"

  Jiang Chang smiled faintly: "Brother Zi Shu, where are you headed?"

  He is no longer a guest of Jiang Changyang, nor is he sandwiched in the middle like Pan Rong, who can do whatever he wants. Liu Cheng feels that he can laugh more naturally: "Just take a walk."

  Jiang Changyang also said: "I'm just taking a casual stroll."

  It was clear that he had gone to chase after He Mu Dan, Liu Chuan felt unwilling and resentful, and glanced in the direction he came from with a scowl. He took the initiative to invite him: "Since we're both just taking a stroll, it's too lonely for one person to travel alone, why not travel together?"

  Jiang Chang nodded and said: "I was thinking of doing just that."

  They rode along the dirt road, their horses' hooves pounding out a dull "thud" on the hard earth. Perhaps intentionally, perhaps unintentionally, but all of them sat up straighter than usual.

  Liu Chuan was annoyed to find that he wasn't as tall or sturdy as Jiang Changyang... He was just a roughneck who only knew how to ride horses and slash people. What's the use of being tall and sturdy? Cows are even more robust than that. Mastering the six arts is what's truly worthy of praise. Liu Chuan cursed under his breath, then found some psychological balance and habitually put on a smile: "I met with Duke Zhu recently, and he asked about you, Brother Chengfeng. He's very concerned about you."

  Jiang Changyang faintly said "oh" and then fell silent.

  Liu Chuan continued: "My younger brother, Er Lang, has also had drinks with us. He's got a good writing style and is quite passionate, and he values loyalty, just like his father and older brother."

  Jiang Changyang nodded again.

  Liu Chang was neither anxious nor worried, and his smile grew even brighter: "I heard some news, I should congratulate Cheng Feng first here."

  "What brings you joy?"

  Liu Chang turned to him, smiling and said: "I heard that Zhu Guogong petitioned the Emperor to make Cheng Feng brother as the heir, after he passes away a hundred years later, and also asked for a noble lady from a prestigious family to be the heir's wife. Isn't this great joy? Double happiness at the door!"

  Jiang Changyang seemed to understand what Qiushi and Mudan had said. He turned his head to look at Liu Chuan, and asked seriously: "Liu Temple's small path news is really a lot. Where did this news come from? How reliable is it?"

  Liu Chang put away his smile: "Brother Jiang, don't you know about this? I just want to kindly remind Brother Jiang that a man's future should be taken seriously, and not ruin it himself."

  Jiang Changyang was taken aback, then burst out laughing: "My future doesn't need Temple Liu to worry about, Temple Liu just take care of your own family's future and that's enough! Do you have anything else to say?"

  Liu Chang naturally added, "I've heard that you're a man of loyalty and righteousness. Although Dan Niang and I are already divorced, I still hope she can spend the rest of her life in peace. She's a proud person who can't bear to be wronged..."

  Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Changyang shouted "Stay away from her!" and pointed his whip at his face: "If you're still a man, stay away from her!"

  ——*——*——*——*——

  Thanks for the likes, subscriptions, rewards and comments. Still seeking more likes. It's the weekend, so I'll spend a bit more time writing code. If the likes can be obtained, I can update more.

  Everyone, don't spend money on evaluation votes for now. After subscribing to this book and reaching 10 yuan, the system will give one away, so let's vote then.