Peach Blossom.

Surprise and pain made Tao Ye scream instinctively.

In a panic, Wang Jing stood up, stood in front of Tao Ye, and lowered his head. Most of the stones hit his back.

"Second brother!" Tao Ye screamed, unable to express how heartbroken she was.

She also quickly stood up and tried to protect Wang Jing.

Wang Jing hugged Tao Ye tightly, making her unable to move.

This was the first time they hugged each other so tightly. Tao Ye felt Wang Jing's heartbeat in his chest and the warmth of his arms. It seemed that there was no warmer place in the world than this.

While Wang Jing was protecting Tao Ye, he shouted to the people throwing stones from behind: "Stop it! Can't you just talk it out nicely?"

Wang Jing had his back to the world and could not see who was throwing the stones, but Tao Ye was facing Wang Jing and she could see that the people throwing the stones were the refugees who lived in the Ning Palace.

Apart from these people, it couldn't be anyone else.

The refugees threw stones and cursed at the same time, and the deafening noise drowned out Wang Jing's shouts.

"Stop! I beg you to stop!" Wang Yi rushed in from outside, and two young men accompanied him, and together they pushed the refugees who were throwing stones to the sides.

Wang Yi has lived in the Ning Palace for almost a year and is familiar with many refugees. He is a kind-hearted person who likes to help others. In his spare time, he has also taught many children to read and write, so he has some prestige here.

When the refugees saw Wang Yi, they gradually stopped.

Wang Jing finally had a chance to take a break. He slowly let go of Tao Ye, turned around, and saw the refugees who had hit him, as well as Wang Yi who had squeezed out from the refugee group.

Wang Yi walked quickly to Wang Jing's side and saw that Wang Jing's back was covered with blood and his wrinkled eyes were almost about to shed tears.

"Why are you hitting him?" Wang Yi looked around at the refugees around him. They were all carrying small buckets or basins, and the buckets and basins were full of stones.

The refugees did not know the relationship between Wang Yi and Wang Jing, and they all expressed their dissatisfaction:

"Meng allowed his nephew to be greedy and take over our entire village's fertile land, forcing us to leave our homeland!"

"My two brothers were beaten to death by the servants of the princess's mansion!"

"All the children of the Meng family are officials. They receive salaries without any merit, and they judge cases based on which family gave more money!"

"He is the current emperor's consort! He is the son-in-law of Queen Mother Meng! He is definitely not a good person!"

……

Everyone was chattering non-stop, as if there were so many bad things related to Queen Mother Meng and Princess Si Yao that they could never finish talking about them.

Wang Yi felt dizzy after hearing this and had to shout, "You are talking about the Meng family! But we are the Wang family!"

The refugees looked around at each other, all a little confused.

"He was forced to become a royal consort! Can't you see that his legs are crippled because of this?" Wang Yi looked around at everyone again, his voice choked with sobs.

In the crowd opposite, someone asked Wang Yi: "Who is this old gentleman to him?"

Wang Yi sighed slightly: "I am his father."

The refugees suddenly realized what was going on and began to make all kinds of guesses. They looked at the father and son differently.

Wang Yi then said to Wang Jing: “We are not real refugees, we should not live here.”

Wang Jing nodded. He remembered what Princess Si Rong had said about him pretending to be a refugee and living here. It would be too shameless to continue living here.

He packed all his belongings into the large wooden box he had brought with him, and the pain all over his body made him tremble with every movement.

The two people following Wang Yi, one carried a large wooden box and the other carried Wang Jing on his back. They walked out under the gaze of everyone.

Tao Ye followed closely.

When Wang Yi, Wang Jing and others reached the gate of Prince Ning's palace, several refugees chased after them and apologized: "Please forgive us, old sir. We were just deeply harmed by the Meng family, so we excluded everyone related to the Meng family and we really can't tell the good guys from the bad guys."

Wang Yi just smiled and nodded without saying much, and led Wang Jing, two followers, and Tao Ye out of Prince Ning's palace.

While walking on the road, Wang Yi told Wang Jing the names of two followers, one was Chongqiu and the other was Qiongju, both of whom were close confidants of Wang Jing's uncle Wang Xiao.

After walking for a long time, they didn't find a suitable place to rest. It was getting dark, and there were no lights around. They couldn't see the road clearly, so they stopped by the roadside and leaned against a few large rocks to rest.

Wang Jing asked: "Can you find an inn?"

Wang Yi shook his head: "I have never seen an inn in Yongchang in all these years."

Tao Ye sighed in her heart after hearing this. Yongchang County is not a small place, but there is no inn?

Wang Yi sighed again and said to Wang Jing, "Yongchang has been abandoned by the Great Qi State for too long. It is full of exiles and refugees who have left their homes. There are very few travelers living here, so naturally no one would run an inn."

Wang Jing asked again: "Or which farmer's house should we stay at? Tao Ye and I stayed at one a few days ago. Although they were poor, they were very considerate to us."

Wang Yi smiled and shook his head again: "There are few exiles in Yongchang who don't hate the Meng family. Now that your identity has been exposed, if you go to stay with me again, I'm afraid you might be in danger of your life in the middle of the night!"

Tao Ye was even more puzzled. She leaned between the father and son of the Wang family, looked left and right with an embarrassed smile and asked, "I really can't understand. Since Queen Mother Meng can become the Queen Mother, she must be very capable. How dare she cause such complaints from the people? Doesn't she even understand the principle that 'water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it'?"

Wang Yi also smiled. He looked at Tao Ye with a loving look in his eyes. "Miss Tao, you don't know that Meng is not an educated person. The tricks of competing for favor in the harem are far inferior to the great plan of stabilizing the country. Moreover, if Meng wants to consolidate her power, she will inevitably use as many members of the Meng family as possible. With so many people, she can't even recognize them all, let alone control them. As the queen mother, she must live in the deep palace. In fact, she may not know the actions of the people in her mother's family."

Wang Jing nodded and continued Wang Yi's words: "So most kings in the past do not want the harem to interfere in politics. If the king cannot control the real power, the government will inevitably be in chaos. Since the Zhao brothers rebelled, the Great Qi Kingdom has been in turmoil, and each generation is really worse than the previous one. If Prince Yongchang can sit on the throne, there may be hope to restore the country. Otherwise, one day..."

Having said this, Wang Jing stopped talking and Wang Yi sighed.

Tao Ye looked at Wang Yi, then at Wang Jing. Both father and son had worried expressions on their faces, worried about the country and the people. She couldn't help but yawn.

Compared to these national affairs, she was more concerned about how to sleep tonight: "We...are not going to sit here all night, are we?"

Wang Jing looked around, but he really didn't know where to go. He didn't expect that after leaving Prince Ning's Palace, he wouldn't even be able to find a place to live!

The attendant Qiongju said to Wang Yi and Wang Jing, "Master, sleeping sitting or lying down may not be the most important thing, but the second young master was injured and has many wounds, so we must treat them as soon as possible."

Wang Yi nodded repeatedly. He also knew that it was windy at night and if he took off his clothes and wiped his wounds here, he would definitely catch a cold.

"I do have a suggestion, but... it's really a cheap suggestion..." Tao Ye once again leaned between Wang Yi and Wang Jing, grinning foolishly.

Wang Yi smiled and said, "Miss Tao, please feel free to speak."

Tao Ye smiled awkwardly and said in a low voice: "We...we can go to...stay at Chen Ji's house for a night..."

Wang Jing suddenly frowned: "What's your idea?"

Tao Ye lowered her head and lowered her voice even lower, humming like a mosquito: "I'm worried that your wound will get inflamed and you'll catch a cold. There are five of us now. Even if we stay here, an ordinary farmer's house won't be able to accommodate us. Chen Ji has many houses, so maybe he'll give me some face..."

Wang Jing sneered, "If you have a lot of face, then go ahead! Don't involve us!"

Wang Yi patted Wang Jing on the shoulder and smiled calmly: "Jing'er, don't be jealous yet. I think Miss Tao's idea is very good."

Tao Ye couldn't help but feel complacent when she heard Wang Yi's words. She didn't know whether she was happy that Wang Yi praised her for her good idea, or that he was "jealous"...

But Wang Jing's face still looked ugly and he looked very uncomfortable.

Qiongju asked, "Master just said that if you stay at a farmer's house, you're afraid of being killed in the middle of the night. Aren't you afraid if you go to Chen's house?"

Wang Yi smiled and said, "As long as the location of the eighth vault remains a secret, Chen Ji will not take action against us."

Tao Ye suddenly realized something: "Then... Prince Yongchang took the maps of the seven vaults but didn't ask about the location of the eighth vault. Could it be that he wanted to protect us?"

Wang Yi smiled and nodded: "Miss Tao is indeed smart. Prince Yongchang has seen countless people, so he is very accurate in judging people. Chen Ji's father is an old friend of Prince Yongchang, but Chen Ji has not been reused for so long in Yongchang, probably because Prince Yongchang thinks he is too violent."

Tao Ye touched her forehead in embarrassment. She felt that it was fine to praise her for other things, but the word "smart" didn't seem to suit her...

Wang Jing was reluctant to knock on Chen Ji's door, and even less willing to have too much communication with Chen Ji, because every time he saw Chen Ji, he would think of the death of his first wife.

However, Wang Yi was convinced that they would definitely work with Chen Ji in the future, and might have to assist King Yongchang together for a long time, so they had to overcome the problem of facing Chen Ji.

After his father's repeated persuasion, Wang Jing had to agree.

So, Qiongju picked up the luggage again, Chongqiu carried Wang Jing on his back again, and they found their way to Chen's house.

Tao Ye looked at Chongqiu who had never said a word. She thought he must be very tired walking with Wang Jing on his back. She wanted to use magic to make everyone fly together... However, in order to avoid scaring anyone, she gave up.

When he ran to the gate of the Chen family's small courtyard, it was already past the second watch and the Chen family was completely silent.

It was Tao Ye who went forward to knock on the door. After a short while, a guard opened the door.

The guard recognized Tao Ye and hurried to call Ma Da.

When Mada heard that Tao Ye had come, he was very surprised, but he really didn't dare to make any decision on his own, so he had to disturb Chen Ji who had just fallen asleep.

Chen Ji was shocked, so he put on his clothes and went out to see, and sure enough, he saw Tao Ye outside the door, and then... there were four people standing behind Tao Ye, and he recognized them all!

Tao Ye smiled shamelessly at Chen Ji and said, "We are here to stay overnight!"

"Want to stay overnight?" Chen Ji couldn't help laughing, and his laughter was very exaggerated.

He laughed for a while, then put on a serious face and said, "Of course you can stay here. But I don't accept people with the surname Wang!"