Lava

Kapitel 195

"Tang Ling?" Mo Yan was startled, but smiled and said, "She was standing with the sisters today. I think she is petite and doesn't look like a northerner. She should be from the Song Dynasty."

"Who knows where she's from? His Highness went hunting before the New Year and brought her back after a short while. Nobody knows where she came from." The maids didn't seem to like Tang Ling very much.

Mo Yan feigned surprise and said, "So you're saying she's not a maid?"

"Of course not, we don't know her either. She used to know how to keep a low profile, but now she just sticks to His Highness's side all day long, sometimes pretending to be a guard, sometimes a maid to please him." The maid who spoke clearly disapproved of Tang Ling's behavior.

“These past two nights, I’ve seen her stay in His Highness’s tent and not come out.”

Mo Yan chuckled dryly: "She can disguise herself as a guard, so she must know some martial arts, right?"

"Does she know kung fu? I can't tell." Several maids shook their heads.

Seeing that further questioning would likely yield nothing more than jealousy and rivalry, Mo Yan made an excuse to leave. Before leaving, she spoke kindly to the maids, asking them to come to her if they had any further questions about dressing and grooming, and that she would explain everything to them in detail.

At that moment, a woman's voice came from outside, not loud, but rather high-pitched: "Send a plate of tea and fruit to His Highness's tent! And be quick!" After she finished speaking, footsteps could be heard walking away.

The maid curled her lip and said to Mo Yan, "Look, it's that Tang Ling! She really thinks she's the master, ordering us around."

"That's Tang Ling's voice..."

Mo Yan seemed to be lost in thought, but quickly came back to her senses. Just then, she found a few drops of incense in her purse. Although these were not worth much in the capital, they were suddenly worth a hundred times more here. She took them out and gave them to them, and the maids thanked her profusely as they saw her off.

On the way back to camp, she walked much slower because she was lost in thought, strolling leisurely forward.

Tang Ling, she speaks with a Sichuan accent, and if she also knows how to use poison... Could this woman actually be from the Tang Clan of Sichuan? Although the Tang Clan is a major sect in the martial arts world, it has never had any connection with the imperial court. How could it be involved in this treasonous matter? This is something she just can't understand.

After traveling for a while, she heard the sound of horses' hooves coming from behind, and she quickly moved to the side of the road to let the horses pass.

The person slowed down and called out to her, "Girl, why are you wandering around here all alone?"

Mo Yan turned around and saw Ning Jin, followed by Wu Zichu, and then a large group of guards. Wild geese and pheasants were hanging on their saddles, suggesting that they had just returned from hunting by the water.

"The princess and His Highness Yelü caught quite a few fish, so I'll send some bean paste over for them to steam," Mo Yan said to Ning Jin.

“It’s freezing cold,” Ning Jin frowned. “You’ve just recovered from your illness, and you’re just making yourself suffer here, walking so slowly. Come on up, I’ll take you back!”

"No." Mo Yan quickly refused. "It's not far. I can walk there in a few steps. It's windy on horseback, and it's warmer to walk."

This girl always has a set of reasons. Although Ning Jin was a little annoyed, he couldn't do anything about it. He turned to look at Wu Zichu, then dismounted and said, "Zichu, lead my horse back for me. I'll walk around a bit... to warm up."

"Your subordinate obeys."

After the group had walked away, Mo Yan looked at Ning Jin with a puzzled expression: "Why didn't you say you wanted to walk earlier? Then I could have ridden the horse."

"Didn't you just say that riding a horse is windy, while walking is warmer?"

"I was just saying," she said with a bitter face.

Ning Jin was filled with anger.

Mo Yan walked ahead nonchalantly, and he could only purse his lips and follow.

It was the dead of winter, and the scene on both sides was desolate and bleak. Ning Jin sighed and said, "These past few days, I've noticed that Xiao Yu'er seems to be in a much better mood than before. You should persuade her to eat more and take care of her health. Otherwise, I don't know how I'll explain this to my brother when I get back."

"Oh..." Mo Yan responded absentmindedly, her mind still preoccupied with Tang Ling's matter.

“From what I’ve seen these past few days, Yelü Hongji has treated her fairly well…” Ning Jin said.

Upon hearing the name Yelü Hongji, Mo Yan glanced at Ning Jin, thought for a moment, and then said to Ning Jin, "Today, Yelü Hongji invited the princess to go fishing. I saw that one of Yelü Hongji's maids looked like a woman from the Song Kingdom. Later, after asking the other maids, I learned that the woman was someone Yelü Hongji had specially brought with him."

Ning Jin said "Oh" and didn't say anything.

"Why aren't you saying anything!" Mo Yan asked curiously. "Isn't this a threat to the princess?"

"Even if this doesn't happen now, it will definitely happen in the future," Ning Jin said calmly. "Xiao Yu'er will learn to face these things sooner or later. Right now, she's just a favored concubine, which doesn't pose much of a threat to her."

"But……"

Ning Jin smiled and looked at her: "What do you want me to do? Do you think I can go and confront Yelü Hongji? Besides, I can't stay in Liao with her for the rest of my life. At most, I can give him some pointers and tell him not to neglect Xiao Yu'er."

That's all?

"What else can I do? Things can't go too far, otherwise if I leave, Xiao Yu'er will be the one who suffers."

Mo Yan glared at him in annoyance. She couldn't tell Ning Jin the truth, so she couldn't say anything more and had to give up.

Ning Jin tilted his head and looked at her for a while, then suddenly said, "Xiao Qi, do you know that you've been acting a little differently lately?"

"Huh?" Mo Yan paused, stopped, rubbed her face, and laughed, "You mean your face is red and rough from the cold? The wind in the border region is really fierce."

"no."

Ning Jin smiled and shook his head, then continued walking forward.

"What's the difference?" Mo Yan asked curiously, pressing for an answer.

Ning Jin turned around, looked at her for a long time, and then said, "Your smile is a little different. It's like you've gone back to how you were a few years ago when I first met you."

"...Is that so?"

Mo Yan was taken aback. Over the years, as a head constable handling cases, she had developed many habits, including the ability to naturally judge people's words.

Ning Jin's words sounded quite ordinary. But she knew that unless one cared deeply for someone, they would never notice any difference in her smile. Compared to the many things he had done for her, his simple words moved her even more.

She really wanted to say something to Ning Jin, but after thinking for a long time, she realized that it would be superfluous to say anything, so she simply stomped her feet and followed him.

"I see you've hunted quite a few pheasants and geese; you can have a good meal tonight." She casually changed the subject, "Making some beggar's chicken would be nice."