After finishing the work and returning to the main courtyard, Yaoyao was staggering towards him: "Daddy!"

Lin Yuxuan bent down to pick up his daughter, and suddenly found that she was holding a strange object in her hand - it looked like a mechanism but not quite.

“Where did this come from?”

Yaoyao blinked her big eyes: "Brother, give it to me."

In the distance, Hanhan was sitting quietly under a mat with seven toys in front of him. Upon closer inspection, they were arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper.

"Our Hanhan will definitely be an expert in astronomy in the future." Lin Yuxuan smiled and stuffed the small mechanism into the brocade bag. Yaoyao immediately stood on tiptoe and hung the brocade bag around her brother's neck.

The little girl has been particularly fond of imitating adults lately. At this moment, she is wrapping a piece of osmanthus cake in a silk handkerchief and putting it to Xinxin's mouth: "Sister, it smells good."

Suddenly there was a commotion coming from the front yard.

"You damn black-hearted man! You treat my husband like an animal!" Chen Dali's wife, Wang, stood on the stone steps with her hands on her hips, and the jade pendant on her waist jingled as she stomped her feet.

Behind her were two women with fat faces, who came with documents from the government office to ask for "medical expenses".

Gu Qingyan leaned against the vermilion lacquer column and sneered, the silver darts on his fingertips flashing coldly in his palms. "Madam Wang just held a full-moon banquet for her daughter yesterday, and now she has the money to hire a shrew?"

"Bah!" Wang spat on the complaint, "You, the Su family, treated the servants harshly and caused my husband to vomit blood. You can't let this go without fifty taels of silver!" She deliberately shook off Chen Dali's blood-stained undershirt, but did not notice that Lin Yuxuan, who was holding the child in the corner, had a suddenly cold look in his eyes - the bloodstains were clearly cinnabar mixed with chicken blood.

Yaoyao suddenly broke free from Liang Junze's arms and staggered towards Wang.

Amidst everyone's exclamations, the little girl fell down in front of the stone steps with an "Ouch", and the wound on her palm oozed blood.

Lin Yuxuan was about to step forward, but Liang Junze held his wrist - their master was staring at the hem of Wang's skirt that his daughter was holding, and half a packet of seductive fragrance fell out of the fabric.

"Officers, please look!" Liang Junze suddenly raised his voice. "Madam Wang has trespassed into a private residence with illegal drugs from a brothel. Is she trying to frame the imperial court ladies and their families?"

He slowly unfolded Su Yue's examination papers. The official emblems embroidered with gold thread stung the eyes of the yamen runners in the sunlight.

Wang sat down on the ground with a pale face.

She didn't understand why her legs felt weak in front of these men.

Until Gu Qingyan casually mentioned the huge debt she owed at the gambling house last month, and "happened" to mention that she had secretly pawned her ancestral land.

Lin Yuxuan gently coaxed Xinxin in his arms, but he said something that made her hair stand on end: "I heard that Madam Wang has been having nightmares recently? Would you like to try my new calming incense?"

Liang Junze was the most direct, placing a stack of IOUs on the stone table. "Either take your people and get out now, or let everyone in Yangzhou know tomorrow that you forced your husband to steal to pay off your gambling debts." His slender fingers tapped lightly on the table. "I heard your mother values ​​family traditions the most?"

When Wang fled, Yaoyao was imitating her fathers and wiping her brother's face. The little girl's movements were clumsy but serious.

For the first time ever, Hanhan took the initiative to kiss his sister, which made Yaoyao giggle.

Xinxin was sleeping soundly in the cradle, completely unaware of what was happening.

"Mom said that a biting dog must have its teeth pulled out." Lin Yuxuan squatted down to bandage Yaoyao's wound. The little girl took the opportunity to stuff the blood-stained handkerchief into Hanhan's hand.

As dusk deepened, three men sat in the flower hall and checked the accounts of the medicine fields.

Yaoyao lay on Liang Junze's lap and learned how to use an abacus, Hanhan leaned on Gu Qingyan to study the Nine Rings, and Xinxin slept in Lin Yuxuan's arms with her little face flushed.

In the stillness of the night, Lin Yuxuan looked at the sleeping children and whispered, "Yuer is right. We can't change the world, but at least we can protect this little world."

Liang Junze put on his coat, and Gu Qingyan silently sprinkled medicinal powder around the courtyard wall - that was a "little thing" that could make intruders feel itchy all over.

The moonlight shines through the window lattice onto the three children.

Yaoyao held her younger brother and sister's toys in her arms, Hanhan rested his head on his favorite Luban lock, and Xinxin's little hands grabbed the corners of her fathers' clothes.

The leaves in the corner of the yard were slightly illuminated by the moonlight, as if guarding this home that was out of tune with the world.

Three days later, before the morning mist had dissipated, three specially made carriages had stopped in front of the Su Mansion.

Liang Junze was carefully checking the anti-vibration mechanism on the shaft of the carriage, which he had improved according to the drawings left by Su Yue - the bottom of the carriage was padded with thick cotton, and there were spring iron sheets hidden in the interlayer, which could reduce the suffering of the children during the long bumpy ride.

"Daddy!" Yaoyao, wearing a newly made rabbit fur cloak, pounced on Gu Qingyan who was counting the luggage like a snowball.

The little girl has been particularly clingy recently. She seems to know that we are going on a long journey. She even stuffed her favorite rattle into her sister's swaddling clothes.

Lin Yuxuan came out of the inner courtyard holding Xinxin, who had just woken up, followed by two servants carrying medicine boxes.

He specially prepared various pills these days - those for preventing wind and cold, stopping diarrhea, and calming the nerves. They were all packed in the sealed glass bottles left by Su Yue. There was a crooked note stuck on the bottle, which was a "flower" painted by Yaoyao with rouge.

"Everything is arranged." Gu Qingyan took Xinxin and gently pressed a finger on the wall of the car. A secret compartment opened, revealing a hidden arrow mechanism that flashed with a cold light. "The Shadow Pavilion has dispatched twelve female guards, all of whom are trustworthy confidants."

As he spoke, he glanced at a few idlers who were peeking around the street corner, and they immediately retracted their heads.

Liang Junze was moving the last box into the car when Hanhan suddenly grabbed his sleeve.

The little guy had climbed onto the shaft of the cart at some point and was pointing at a raised pattern on the saddle.

Liang Junze leaned over to take a closer look, and it turned out to be a hidden sign! His eyes flashed, and the thin blade in his sleeve was already against the driver's waist: "Where did this horse come from?"

The driver was so frightened that he fell to his knees: "Yes, it's a good horse from the Western Regions that the horse company has just arrived..." Before he finished speaking, Gu Qingyan had already opened the horse's mouth and took out a wax pill from under its tongue.

Lin Yuxuan quickly pried it open with a silver needle, and inside was Zhang Caoyun's route map.

"It seems someone doesn't want us to reach the capital smoothly."

As the sun rose higher, the convoy finally set off.

Yaoyao leaned against the car window, pointing her little hand at the stall selling candy figures in the distance and shouting.

Hanhan sat quietly in the specially made cradle, fiddling with a jade chess piece in his little hands - it was the one Liang Junze found from the secret compartment this morning.

Xinxin slept soundly while sucking her fingers, completely unaware of the serious expressions on the adults' faces.

When they reached Shili Pavilion on the outskirts of the city, they were suddenly stopped by a group of women in red.

The leader wore the Imperial Censor's badge, but kept glancing into the carriage: "I am ordered to inspect the customs documents!"

Gu Qingyan held down Liang Junze who was about to explode, and handed him the document with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, sir." A copper coin in his sleeve slipped silently into the other's palm.

When the censor felt the word "shadow" engraved on the money, his face suddenly changed and he hurriedly made way.

When the carriage passed the corner of the official road, Lin Yuxuan lifted the curtain and took a last look at Yangzhou City.

The city walls are still majestic in the morning light, but I don’t know when I can see them again.

"Don't worry." Liang Junze held his slightly cold hand, "Yu'er and the others are waiting in the capital."

Xinxin, who was sleeping soundly in his arms, suddenly smiled sweetly, as if she had dreamed of her mother.

The wheels rolled over the newly melted snow, leaving deep ruts.

On a dead branch by the roadside, a golden-red bird flapped its wings and flew towards the north. Wherever its wings passed, bits of starlight fell.

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