Peach Blossom.

After Tao Ye and Wang Jing entered Prince Ning's Palace, the shop owner who sold them noodles finally stopped following them.

However, Wang Jing told Tao Ye that among the refugees in Prince Ning's palace, there must be Prince Yongchang's spies, and it is difficult for them to tell who are they and who are not.

Therefore, they could not openly ask strangers about Wang Yi and could only rely on their own eyes to identify and search for him.

Since Tao Ye had never met Wang Yi, the search for Wang Yi could only be Wang Jing's job.

Although the Ning Palace was large, it housed too many refugees and the original palace rooms were no longer habitable. The local county magistrate was ordered to divide each palace room into several small living rooms.

This reminded Tao Ye of the partitioned houses she had rented in modern times, where the sub-landlords had renovated the originally spacious bedrooms and even the living rooms into simple small rooms.

But modern partition houses at least have walls, although most of them are just wooden walls or thin brick walls.

And this Ning Wang Palace... is it okay to just pull up a curtain?

Even this curtain is for families! If you are a bachelor, you can only sleep on the shared bed...

The former royal palace looks magnificent on the outside, but is a crowded and narrow refugee slum on the inside. The gap is really big!

Fortunately, everyone is quite conscious about maintaining the environment, at least the hygiene is not too bad...

There is a large shared kitchen in Prince Ning's Palace, which should have been the imperial kitchen of the previous dynasty.

There are several people who are responsible for cooking big pots of rice in the kitchen. Every time it is time for dinner, all the refugees will run to the kitchen door with a bowl in hand and spontaneously line up.

That scene always made Tao Ye feel like a beggar!

However, she felt that being a beggar was not bad since she could eat and drink for free openly!

There are so many refugees that even begging for food has to be divided into several groups.

Whenever he was queuing up to beg for food, Wang Jing would secretly glance at everyone's faces to identify whether Wang Yi was in the queue.

However, unfortunately, he and Wang Yi were unable to get meals at the same time in the first three days.

On the fourth day, when Wang Jing was waiting in line for dinner, an old man came up to him and patted him on the shoulder: "Young man, what happened to your foot?"

Wang Jing turned his head and was surprised to find that the man was his father Wang Yi.

Since Wang Jing was the only refugee here who was using crutches, he inevitably stood out. So when the two of them were queuing in the same batch, Wang Yi saw Wang Jing at a glance.

But in front of so many people, Wang Jing did not dare to address him. He just answered as if he was greeting an ordinary passerby: "I got burned accidentally, and I didn't meet a good doctor, so I haven't recovered yet."

"What a coincidence! I happen to have some ointment for treating burns. Which room are you staying in? I'll bring it to you later!" Wang Yi smiled.

Wang Jing then showed his palace card to Wang Yi.

Everyone who lived in Prince Ning's Palace had one palace badge, which served as a pass for entering and leaving the palace. The badge was engraved with the number of the room the person lived in.

Although the rooms in Prince Ning's Palace were crowded and simple, they were not disorganized. No matter it was a large palace where a group of bachelors lived together, or a small room separated by a curtain where a family lived alone, each had its own number.

Wang Yi looked at the number on Wang Jinggong's card, nodded, and went to the end of the line to queue.

Tao Ye didn't recognize Wang Yi and thought he was just a kind-hearted old man. She felt that the old man looked very kind and had a Taoist air, so she couldn't help but look at him a few more times.

After finishing their meal, they returned to their residence, and Wang Jingcai whispered in Tao Ye's ear that the man was his father.

Tao Ye was very happy after hearing this. Finding Wang Yi meant that they should move on to the next stage and they would not have to live here as refugees any longer.

She's had enough of living in this crowded refugee slum!

After nightfall, Wang Yi indeed came to the small room where Wang Jing lived with some plasters.

The area of ​​the small room was only slightly larger than the bed, and there were curtains hanging all around. Three of the curtains were dragging on the ground and were held down by several bricks, leaving one side open for people to enter and exit.

There was no door to knock on, so Wang Yi could only stand outside the curtain and ask, "Can I come in, old man?"

When Wang Jing heard Wang Yi's voice, he lifted the curtain and invited Wang Yi in.

At that time, Tao Ye was sitting on the bed combing her hair because she was bored and trying various hairstyles. When Wang Yi came in, her hair was loose.

Tao Ye already knew that this man was Wang Jing's father, so she couldn't help feeling a little nervous when she saw him again. She really didn't know how Wang Yi would imagine her relationship with Wang Jing when he saw that there was only one bed here.

These days, she and Wang Jing slept in the same bed, but she never dared to have any improper intentions because... the people next door would hear it!

When Wang Yi saw Tao Ye, he just smiled politely.

Tao Ye quickly stood up and asked Wang Yi to sit down.

There is absolutely no privacy in a room with only curtains, and people in adjacent rooms can clearly hear everything each other does.

Wang Yi and Wang Jing sat down together, chatting casually about how to apply medicine to burns and how to rest, but they were actually paying attention to the words they wrote on each other's palms.

Tao Ye stood aside and saw Wang Jing first wrote something on Wang Yi's palm, and then Wang Yi wrote something on Wang Jing's palm. The two of them took turns writing like this.

They both wrote very quickly, and Tao Ye couldn't make out what they wrote.

However, she could probably guess that they must have told each other some old things and planned what to do next...

It was not appropriate for Wang Yi to stay here for too long. The father and son simply briefly informed each other of some important matters at the moment, and then Wang Yi said goodbye and left.

The next day, just after dawn, Tao Ye was woken up by the noise from next door.

Sleeping until waking up naturally is one of the greatest pleasures in Tao Ye’s life. Besides, living here is too leisurely every day, which is perfect for sleeping!

But there are no walls here, so there is no sound insulation. The neighbors next door are really annoying and make a lot of noise every morning.

Tao Ye was very upset. She sat up suddenly and wanted to say something in the direction of the noise!

Just as she was about to speak, she seemed to hear the kid next door say, "There's a candied haws seller at the palace gate. They look delicious!"

Candied haws?

Tao Ye didn't seem to be very angry anymore.

She took out a few copper coins from Wang Jing's box and said to him with a smile: "I...I'll go to the palace gate to take a look..."

Wang Jing was thinking about what to do next, and hurriedly pulled Tao Ye: "Don't run away easily."

Tao Ye knew that Wang Jing was afraid that Tao Ye would be followed as soon as she went out.

"But... I haven't had sweets for a long time!" Tao Ye pouted, her face full of grievance, as if begging: "I'm just going for a while, just to buy a few things, it's okay!"

Wang Jing shook his head and sighed helplessly.

Tao Ye just strolled out.

Sure enough, there was a vendor selling candied haws outside Prince Ning's palace. Tao Ye bought a string, held it in her hand, and ate it as she walked back.

Suddenly someone patted her on the shoulder.

Tao Ye was startled and turned around to see that it was Chen Ji.

Chen Ji grinned: "Girl, long time no see, I missed you so much."

Tao Ye ate too fast and was frightened by the food, so she accidentally spat out the hawthorn syrup that she had not yet completely chewed in her mouth.

Chen Ji looked at Tao Ye helplessly. He thought, although the two sentences he just said were a little corny, they were not enough to make people vomit, right?

Tao Ye looked up and glared at Chen Ji. The words "I miss you so much" coming out of his mouth were simply a joke!

Tao Ye couldn't help but spit out curse words: "Bullshit! If you miss me, how come I can't contact you all of a sudden? I've been knocking on the mirror all day, and it's almost broken! Where the hell have you been?"

Chen Ji felt much happier when he heard Tao Ye scolding him like that.

He lowered his head and sighed, with a trace of regret in the corner of his eyes: "It's a long story... I accidentally lost the mirror..."

"Lost?" Tao Ye widened her eyes. She had never thought of this statement before.

She was a little skeptical: "How could you lose something so important?"

Chen Ji smiled and asked softly, "Where's your mirror?"

"I... I fell into Jiankang Palace." Tao Ye didn't know that Xiaowan had stolen the mirror. She just thought that she left the palace in a hurry and didn't have the chance to go back to get it.

However, Chen Ji knew that the mirror was already in Xiao Wan's hands, so he dared to question it, so as to make himself look reasonable: "Isn't that the same as losing it? If you can lose it, why can't I?"

Tao Ye couldn't argue with Chen Ji, so she stopped arguing about it. Anyway, she didn't need the mirror now.

Chen Ji smiled brightly, his eyes full of tenderness: "Little girl, I really miss you. After the mirror was lost, I was worried about your safety every day, so I took the risk to go to Jiankang to find you...but I didn't expect that you had already run to Yongchang to find me."

Tao Ye felt even more disgusted after hearing this. The servants of the Chen family witnessed her setting fire to the small courtyard and running away with Wang Jing. How could Chen Ji not know about this?

"Don't flatter yourself! Who would come all the way to find you?" Tao Ye rolled her eyes and glanced at Chen Ji with disdain.

Speaking of "thousands of miles away", Chen Ji remembered that the last time he and Tao Ye said goodbye was at Guishan, thousands of miles away.

It was a romantic night. He and Tao Ye sat in front of the campfire and chatted for a long time.

He still clearly remembered that he had proposed that Tao Ye go with him and come to Yongchang together.

But Tao Ye refused, and the reason for her refusal was very real: "I am afraid of a life of displacement. The kind of life where you don't know where you will be tomorrow makes you feel insecure..."

Chen Ji believed it completely at that time, so he promised: "I will create the life you want for you, a stable, prosperous life, where you will not be bullied by anyone and you don't have to look at anyone's face. When the time comes, I will come to pick you up."

But he didn't expect that Tao Ye finally overcame her fear of "wandering" and came to Yongchang, but for another person!

Thinking of this, Chen Ji could no longer laugh.

He raised his head and slowly glanced at Tao Ye: "Are you in love with him?"

Tao Ye continued to eat the candied haws and replied lazily, "Isn't this asking even though you already know the answer?"

"So what about our original agreement?"

"What agreement? I never promised anything..." Tao Ye knew that Chen Ji was referring to what he said when he talked all night with Guishan, but she didn't think that was an agreement.

But she still felt a little guilty.

After all, she didn't clearly express a rejection at the time.

Chen Ji smiled coldly: "He is really my nemesis! Why do the women around me always run to him?"

"Because you are dark and ugly, your heart is even darker and uglier!" This is Wang Jing's voice.

Chen Ji turned around and saw Wang Jing standing behind him.