Tan Ting did not change clothes anymore, took one last look at his wife who turned around, and quickly left the main room.

However, everyone is still at home today, and Tan Jian and Xiang Yu will not leave home to return to the academy until tomorrow.

As brothers and sisters-in-law, Tan Ting and Xiang Yi had to gather everyone together for dinner no matter what.

Today's dinner was held in the main courtyard.

Compared with the lively banquet on the first day when everyone gathered together, the banquet this time was a little duller. Even the young couple in the second room became depressed and quiet because Tan Jian was about to return to the academy.

However, Xiang Ning's injury improved a lot, and he became familiar with Yang Zhen and the others again. He was a little more cheerful than usual. He even said a word to Xiang Yu after not seeing him for two days.

"Why don't Ayu talk to me anymore? Are you finally able to live alone and feel very comfortable?"

She joked with a smile. Xiang Yu glanced at her speechlessly before whispering.

"I think you feel very comfortable, right?"

Xiang Ning pursed his lips and smiled.

"That's true. But I'm not used to you arguing with me anymore."

She just said this casually, and Xiang Yu couldn't help but look at her twice.

She didn't notice it, but she turned her head and looked at Xiang Yi, her eyebrows twisted up.

"Why is sister's lip broken?"

These words made the whole table fall silent, and everyone looked at Xiang Yi's face.

Tan Ting was also startled, turned to look at his wife, and saw that there was indeed a red scar on her slightly red and swollen lips.

His expression tightened.

Xiang Yi didn't look at him. He just listened to his sister's question and was silent for a moment. Then he said that when he was eating fish, he was scratched by a fishbone.

She half lowered her head and covered up the matter.

After finishing the meal, Xiang Yi didn't stay long. He ordered people to clear away the dishes and saw everyone off, then returned to the room and sat under the window again.

His lips still hurt slightly. Xiang Yi took a sip of tea and wiped his broken lips.

In the sewing basket under the window, there were still clothes she gave him.

She didn't know what was wrong with him, why he was acting so tough just now, but when she asked, he said "it's nothing".

Xiang Yi felt a little sad, but he still picked up the clothes and continued to work.

Unexpectedly, the footsteps of a familiar man sounded at the door of the room again.

Tan Ting opened the curtain and entered the room, then looked at his wife under the window.

Normally she would always look back at him and ask him a question, but today she was sitting with her back turned. When she heard him come in, she just paused the sewing under her hand and continued to work with her head down.

Tan Ting felt a little uncomfortable when he thought that he had broken her lip somehow. When he saw that she no longer ignored him, his heart became sour and heavy.

He walked forward anyway, stood beside her, lowered his head and looked at her, and saw that her lips were still a little red and swollen, and the damaged areas seemed to have been wiped by her. There were no obvious blood marks, but it could still be seen A little.

She still ignored him, but she stopped sewing.

When Tan Ting saw her, he sat next to her, silently took out a white medicinal porcelain bottle from his sleeve and put it on the small table.

The faint scent of medicine emanates from the white porcelain bottle, and you carefully poke your head in the quiet room.

Xiang Yi didn't know what he was going to do. When the peripheral vision fell on him, he saw him reaching out to dip some honey-colored ointment from the porcelain bottle on his fingertips, and then raised his hand to her lips.

Xiang Yi was stunned for a moment, but thinking of how tough he had just been, he pursed his broken lips.

As soon as Tan Ting's fingertips reached her lips, he saw her tilting her head slightly and pursed her lips.

Tan Ting's heart shrank, knowing that she was really angry with him.

It was wrong of him to do what he did just now, but didn't she refuse to tell him anything?

The room was silent for a moment, and neither husband nor wife spoke. One sat sideways and pursed his injured mouth, while the other glanced at her muffledly, retracted his hand and dipped his head down to dip some ointment again.

The scent of medicine floated secretly between the two of them.

Tan Ting stretched out his fingertips again, looked at his wife and said softly.

"Apply some ointment and you'll be fine tomorrow."

After he said this, Xiang Yi glanced at him and then loosened his tight lips.

Tan Ting immediately sat forward and gently touched her injury with his fingertips.

His warm fingertips touched her cool lips, and he slowly applied the honey-colored ointment to her lips.

Xiang Yi raised his eyes and glanced at him again, while Tan Ting also couldn't help but look into his wife's eyes at this moment.

Her usually clear eyes turned faintly red, and when he looked over, she lowered her eyes a little.

Tan Ting's heart felt tight, and she regretted that she should not have been impulsive, hurting her, and making her unhappy.

But thinking that she refused to say anything to him, and instead talked to Taoist Gu alone for a long time, made her feel complicated and unspeakably uncomfortable.

But at this moment, she spoke.

"What's wrong, uncle?"

Her voice was very soft, but she was the one who spoke and asked him first, with questions and concerns in her gentle voice.

With just one question, she softened Tan Ting's complicated and sour emotions.

He looked at his wife beside him.

She still cares about him a little, right?

But why wouldn't she tell him anything?

It's just that although she asked him this way, but he said that he just said what he thought, could she tell him?

I'm afraid I still can't, otherwise he would have said it when he asked me many times before.

Since it can't be done, there is no point in breaking the window paper.

Tan Ting sighed inwardly and looked at her silently for a few times.

"I'm just too tired these days."

Don't worry about it so much, just live in a daze, as if it's nothing.

The next few days were uneventful.

Xiang Yu and Tan Jian both returned to the academy. No one sent any strange letters, and there was no news from Gu Yansheng for the time being.

Tan Ting took a day off and went to the office as usual. The relationship between the two returned to a seemingly normal state.

However, Yang Zhen gradually got used to the pregnancy and regained her vitality. Tong Xiangyi mentioned one thing.

She said that her mother's family had two younger brothers from her uncle's family. Although the families were separated and they were not from the uncle's family, they were still from the Yang family. They also had titles in the military and they were not yet married.

She asked Xiang Yi, "Sister-in-law, would you mind letting sister Ning marry into a military family like ours?"

In the past few days, Xiang Yi was sorting through his father's belongings, trying to find any clues about the relationship between his father and the Lin family. Unfortunately, there were still no clues. Since he had no clues, he had no time to think about his sister's marriage.

But when Yang Zhen mentioned it, her heart moved.

The Xiang family has a bad reputation. If Xiang Ning marries into a noble family, then as Xiang Yu said about Zhao Jia before, most people will be willing to marry Xiang Ning because they see her as the wife of the Tan family. But once Xiang Yi is no longer If the wife of a clan, or the common people of aristocratic families are incompatible with each other, such a marriage will be extremely unstable.

There are not many military families like the Yang family in Beijing. They don't care so much about the conflicts between the common people. If Xiang Yu can win the imperial examination in the future, it will be the icing on the cake for them. If he doesn't win, it won't matter. The commotion has little to do with them.

He was born as a direct descendant of the Zhongqing dynasty, and with his status as Ning Ning, he was indeed a high-ranking person, but he was not considered a descendant of the uncle's dynasty.

Xiang Yi agreed immediately. Yang Zhen had a fiery temper, so he sent someone back to Yang's house that day. In the evening, he told her that the two younger brothers were both at home. Tomorrow, everyone would go to the temple in the city to offer incense, even if it was just to see each other. .

Because the news came late, Xiang Yi did not mention it to Xiang Ning in detail, and took her and Yang Zhen to the Hongxiang Temple in the city early the next morning.

There were not many people in the temple. Most of them went to the Wenchang Temple a street away to pray that they would be on the list when the list is released tomorrow.

Yang Zhen's two younger brothers arrived early. They were similar in stature and appearance, and both had the heroic spirit of children from the military service.

Xiang Yi thought everything was fine, nodded secretly, and found an opportunity to ask Xiang Ning.

"Ning Ning, how do you feel about meeting those two young masters of the Yang family today?"

"Ah?" Xiang Ning finally came back to his senses.

She was at a loss for a moment. Seeing that Xiang Yi was serious, she suddenly thought about it for a while.

But she couldn't think of a reason after thinking for a long time, so she finally said something awkward.

"Eldest sister, are you going to show me your love now? But Ning Ning hasn't seriously thought about getting married yet."

Seeing her confused expression, Xiang Yi could only sigh.

Before she could say anything more, Tan Jian suddenly appeared.

Yang Zhen couldn't believe it when she saw him. Suddenly she saw that it was Tan Jian who was back, and she laughed in surprise.

"Why are you back?"

Tan Jian smiled with his eyes and eyebrows. He took his wife's hand and said to them, since the results will be released tomorrow, many students and teachers in the college are thinking about the results, so they might as well take a three-day holiday. .

After Tan Jian finished speaking, he said, "Brother Yu and I heard that you were at Hongxiang Temple, so we came directly."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Yi's eyelids jumped, and in a blink of an eye, he saw his younger brother who had just walked over.

He was wearing a bamboo-green robe today. The childishness of the boy was fading day by day. He emerged from the robe into a tall manly figure and walked forward from the crowd, like bamboo and pine. Several women passed by around him. They all looked at him several times.

As soon as he appeared, Xiang Ning laughed and waved to him.

"A Yu!"

Xiang Yu's eyes lit up when he heard her voice, fixed on her face, and walked over quickly.

In front of everyone, Xiang Yi couldn't say anything. Instead, Tan Jian discovered the two Yang family brothers-in-law and said it was a coincidence that they asked them to go to a restaurant for dinner together, which was quite like a brother-in-law.

Yang Zhen covered her mouth and snickered. Tan Jian didn't notice it yet, but Xiang Yu was stunned for a moment when he saw the two of them.

Xiang Yi almost saw with his own eyes that his younger brother's face suddenly dropped from the smile before, and then became extremely wary. He even heard that Tan Jian was going to ask everyone to go to a restaurant for dinner, so he turned around and asked Ning Ning One sentence.

"Are you still feeling good on your feet? If you're tired, can I take you back first?"

Xiang Yi's heart sank.

Before Xiang Ning could speak, she called Xiang Yu aside.

"Are you tired? Why don't you go back first?"

When she said this, Xiang Yu's eyes widened, and there was a hint of stubborn grievance in his voice.

"How did the eldest sister know that the younger brother is tired?"

Xiang Yi felt sad when she heard her younger brother's voice, but she still took a deep breath, spit it out heavily, and said only one sentence to Xiang Yu .

"Brother Yu, you need to know that Ningning's surname is Xiang, and she is the daughter of our Xiang family. I am her eldest sister, and you are her twin brother." As

soon as the words fell, the entire Hongxiang Temple seemed to fall silent.

The Bodhisattva in the main hall of the temple stood on a high lotus platform, overlooking the faithful men and women passing by at his feet, with compassion in his eyes.

Xiang Yi called his brother who was stunned.

"I see you're really tired. Go home first."

...

Xiang Yu left suddenly. Everyone was surprised, but Xiang Yi found an excuse for him and made things right.

As soon as he left, Xiang Ning's mood changed slightly.

Xiang Yi felt that he had been negligent in the past and had left them alone together for too long.

She was thinking about letting Xiang Yu live in the academy from now on, and Damu Xiu would not need to come to Tan's house, so that the two of them could be separated.

When he didn't want to leave the restaurant and go home, he passed by the clinic of the doctor who treated Xiang Ning for night blindness.

The doctor was standing at the door to take a rest, when he saw Xiang Yi and his carriage stopped on the connecting road.

Xiang Yi walked over to ask for advice and heard the old doctor talking to her. He secretly asked some colleagues in the capital and heard that there was a town in the capital where there were several families who were born with night blindness.

He said, "Coincidentally, there is a Xinglin family near that town. Because they live close by, they have seen a lot about this night blindness disease and thought about it deeply. Although it cannot be cured, it can be improved a little or two. If it is convenient, madam, it would be best Can you take the girl to see her eyes in person?"

Upon hearing this, Xiang Yi's heart moved.

This disease must not be cured in a day or two. If Ning Ning stayed there to take care of the disease for a year and a half, he would be separated from his brother Yu.

Xiang Yi secretly felt very good.

But she thought of her father's previous instructions.

What the father meant was that the mother's old friend didn't want to keep his daughter with him at all at that time, so he entrusted her to the pregnant mother. He simply said that they were twins and left her daughter in the Xiang family.

Ning Ning's identity was a very secret matter. The old friend was very worried that her daughter's identity would be exposed, so she never contacted Xiang's family again, or simply cut off contact.

Xiang Yi couldn't figure out why, but according to what the old doctor said, there were many local night blindness patients who were born hereditary. If my sister went there directly, she would not rule out the possibility of meeting a blood relative, which would be equivalent to being exposed. Her identity was finally found by the Xiang family and the Tan family, which completely went against her biological mother's wishes.

Xiang Yi wanted to see a doctor for his sister, but also didn't want her identity to be exposed. After thinking about it, he thought of someone.

When it comes to hiding one's identity, probably no one is better than his adopted brother.

Those officials in the court who opposed the Taoist priest of the East Palace have not yet been able to find out the identity of the sworn brother.

Let the sworn brother cover up Ning Ning's identity, and then send her over to see a doctor, so that she can be separated from Brother Yu, and the matter will be a matter of course.

And after she sent Ning Ning there, settled her down, and then came back, she could focus on investigating the affairs of her father and the Lin family.

There have been too many recent things...

Xiang Yi thought it over and breathed a sigh of relief, then asked someone to send a letter to his sworn brother and made an appointment to meet the next day.

The past few days have been relatively stable, and the unspeakable annoyance in Tan Ting's heart has also subsided a bit.

But when he was leaving the office that day, he heard a piece of news from Xiao Guan.

"Sir, Madam also went to see Taoist Gu today."

Tan Ting was stunned.

It had only been a few days before she went to see Gu Yansheng again?

"Did Gu Yansheng find her?"

Xiao glanced at his uncle and shook his head in embarrassment.

"It's Taoist Master Gu who Madam is looking for."

After Xiao Guan said this, he heard his uncle chuckle for some reason. He looked over and saw an extremely indifferent smile on the corner of the uncle's mouth, and he didn't know where his eyes were. at.

Under such circumstances, Xiao Guan did not dare to speak nonsense, and only said softly.

"Sir, come home."

Before anyone could finish his words, he heard his uncle ask.

"Go home? Does anyone at home care?"

Xiao Guan wanted to say that the madam cared. Just when he came to pick up the uncle from the office, the madam looked at the dark sky and it was going to rain, and asked him to bring an umbrella... .But

before he said anything, he saw his uncle turned around and walked in the opposite direction of the mansion.

There were several rumbles in the sky, and pedestrians on the sweltering streets under the black clouds began to walk faster.

Tan Ting walked on the street as before, his steps were heavy but did not speed up.

There was another rumble, and the moisture in the air suddenly became heavier.

In the next breath, big raindrops fell down.

Pedestrians screamed and ran away, and the street suddenly became empty, except for the rain hitting the mud in the cracks of the stones and splashing everywhere.

Tan Tingli did not move in the pouring rain, and Xiao Guan opened his umbrella anxiously.

"Master, please go home quickly. Don't get caught in the rain here!"

The man didn't respond. He just stood silently for a long time in the pounding rain and went to a nearby restaurant without saying a word.

...

When Li Chengyun arrived in the rain, he thought something big had happened.

So when he entered the private room of the restaurant, before wiping the rain off his face, he asked, "What did Yuan Zhi call me for?"

After saying that, he saw his old friend's handsome face as cold as ice, and he took an empty wine glass. , filled him a glass, and then replied with two words.

"Drink."

"Huh?"

Li Chengyun was a little confused and looked back at Xiao Guan. Xiao Guan shook his head in embarrassment.

Li Chengyun looked at the two empty wine bottles placed aside, while the expressions of the people sitting at the table did not change, and he felt a little guilty.

He swallowed and asked, "What's wrong with Yuan Zhi?"

"It's okay."

Tan Ting picked up the wine cup, raised his head and drank it.

Li Chengyun asked again.

"At the Lin family's spring banquet, you refused to drink a drop of wine. What are you excited about now?"

Tan Ting was not prepared to pay attention to his words, but when he heard the words "Lin family's spring banquet", he suddenly He thought of something inexplicably and frowned.

But at this moment, someone came from the side and asked.

"Are the uncles of the Tan family and the second master of the Li family here?"

Tan Ting was not interested in who was coming, so he poured himself another glass of wine.

Li Chengyun went over to take a look and unexpectedly saw someone.

"What a coincidence, Miss Cheng is also here?"