Although the paper flowers cut by Zhou Jingrong are different from the traditional paper-cutting methods, she did cut paper, but people couldn't say anything, so this stubble was also lifted.

Zhou Jingrong experienced such two experiences, and she really felt that today was not an auspicious day for her to go out, and she was instantly excited.

Gan Tang was also in a bad mood because of what happened just now, so the two hit it off and planned to go home first.

Fu Raohua hadn't had enough fun, so Fu Chunhua stayed with her. Zhou Jingrong asked Shifeng to follow the two sisters to protect their safety.

Zhou Jingrong and Gan Tang walked out of the plum garden together, and saw a group of people standing at the head of the bridge from a distance, shouting something.

Curiosity made Zhou Jingrong pay attention frequently, and when she saw the woman who was surrounded in the middle, she couldn't help but tremble slightly, it was Qi Ruyan!

Zhou Jingrong was a little strange, according to Fu Yunshen's intelligence, the fifth prince locked up Qi Ruyan, and even outsiders didn't want her to come into contact, and even forbade her to go out, how could she appear here?

Zhou Jingrong pretended not to care, but slowed down when she walked through the crowd, and understood the general situation of the matter in people's words and me.

It turned out that Qi Ruyan accidentally bumped into a noblewoman, and a hairpin on the noblewoman's head fell off and fell into the lake, unable to be found.

The noble lady asked Qi Ruyan for compensation, and Qi Ruyan agreed.

But the hairpin was worth a lot of money, and Qi Ruyan didn't have so many silver taels on him, so he promised to send someone to send the money to the lady's mansion when he went back.

The lady asked Qi Ruyan which family she was, and it was good to inform each other of their identities.

But Qi Ruyan is the outer room of the five princes, and the relationship is not enough for outsiders, so he can't tell the truth.

When the noble lady saw that Qi Ruyan refused to tell her true identity, she felt that she was suspicious and distrusted her even more, so she forcefully demanded that she lose money on the spot.

But Qi Ruyan didn't bring any money, so the two sides fell into a dead circle and stalemate.

Zhou Jingrong originally didn't plan to take care of this matter, after all, the relationship between her and Qi Ruyan should not be exposed in front of people, if they were detected by the five princes, it would be unfavorable to them.

But the noble lady not only clenched her words, but also insulted her words, and intimidated and threatened them by relying on the strength of the crowd.

Qi Ruyan's thin figure trembled in the crowd, looking really pitiful.

Zhou Jingrong really couldn't look at it, she had already walked over with Gan Tang, and asked Gan Tang to wait for her for a while, and she turned back.

Zhou Jingrong walked up to Qi Ruyan and said to the noble lady in a cold voice: "How much should she pay, I will pay for her." ”

The lady looked at Zhou Jingrong incredulously, looked at her, and asked in disbelief: "What is your relationship with her, why do you want to help her lose money?" ”

Zhou Jingrong glanced at her impatiently: "You don't care what our relationship is, anyway, you are asking for money, I just give you money." ”

Zhou Jingrong said and stretched out his hand back.

Xian Ge hurriedly took out a stack of silver tickets and put them in Zhou Jingrong's hand, and Zhou Jingrong took advantage of the situation to draw two of them and handed them to the noblewoman.

The lady looked at the silver ticket in her hand that far exceeded the amount of her claim, and was in a good mood, so she didn't care who had a relationship with whom, and left satisfied after receiving the money.

After the lady left, Qi Ruyan thanked Zhou Jingrong: "Thank you to this lady for helping me out of the siege, dare to ask where my lady's home is, I will go back so that someone can send the silver that Mrs. advanced for me to the house." ”

Zhou Jingrong knew that the face work still needed to be done for outsiders to see, so she replied with her words: "Vermilion Bird Street, Fu Mansion." ”

After Zhou Jingrong finished speaking, she was about to leave, but she heard Qi Ruyan stop her: "Madame, don't you ask who I am?" ”

Zhou Jingrong was slightly stunned, not knowing why Qi Ruyan wanted to say more, so she said, "I just saw that you didn't seem to want to reveal your identity." ”

Qi Ruyan smiled slightly, approached Zhou Jingrong, and said in a somewhat mysterious tone: "So, is the lady pretending to know me?" ”

Zhou Jingrong's heart sank, and she suddenly remembered that she and Qi Ruyan had met in the Fifth Prince's courtyard, and it stands to reason that she should not treat each other as strangers.

Zhou Jingrong was very puzzled, she didn't know why Qi Ruyan wanted to break this relationship, today's matter was bound to reach the ears of the five princes, wasn't she afraid that the old matter would be brought up again, which would arouse the suspicion of the five princes?

Anyway, Zhou Jingrong can't recognize it, although everyone knows about the kidnapping of her by the fifth prince, but she can't announce it, she can only pretend to be confused: "Have we seen it?" ”

Qi Ruyan chuckled and said: "Madame is really a noble person who forgets things, but it doesn't matter, Madame helped me today, I will write down this kindness." It's just that I didn't expect Madame to trust a stranger so much, what if I didn't admit it and relied on the money? ”

Zhou Jingrong felt that Qi Ruyan's behavior that had been pestering was a little strange, but she didn't know what she wanted, so she could only continue to reply: "The reason why I help you is just that I can't get used to people bullying others, and I don't ask you to be grateful, just for my own peace of mind." Besides, this bit of silver is nothing to me, even if you don't pay it back, I don't care. ”

Qi Ruyan sighed imperceptibly, and said quietly: "Madame treats people with sincerity, and she should be reciprocated sincerely." It's a pity that not all sincerity in the world can be exchanged for sincerity, and the closer you are to someone you trust, the more likely you are to stab yourself in the back! ”

Qi Ruyan's words seemed to mean something, and Zhou Jingrong looked at her steadily, trying to distinguish her intentions from her eyes.

Qi Ruyan covered her lips and smiled, and said in a brisk tone: "But don't worry, Madame, I'm not such an ungrateful and clever person, I will definitely send someone to send the money to Madame's mansion tomorrow." ”

Qi Ruyan deliberately accentuated the words "ungrateful" and clever words, and next week Jingrong was even more sure that Qi Ruyan was indeed sending her a message.

But she couldn't ask openly, and she couldn't understand it for a while, so she could only go back with a stomach full of questions.

After Zhou Jingrong went home, he told Fu Yunshen about it.

Fu Yunshen also felt strange, if Qi Ruyan wanted to deliver the news, the safest way was through the secret stake he arranged.

Besides, today's incident was just a coincidence, without careful planning, why did she risk direct contact with Zhou Jingrong?

Fu Yunshen put aside this question for the time being, and analyzed Qi Ruyan's intentions: "Qi Ruyan is not very literate, and her thoughts are simple, do you remember the distress message she passed to us before?" What she said and did may only be on the surface, not to think deeply. ”

Zhou Jingrong thought for a while and guessed: "She repeatedly emphasized ingratitude, stabbing or something, maybe she wanted to remind me that there are disloyal people around me?" And this matter is urgent, so she took the risk to talk to me, but I don't know who she is! ”

Zhou Jingrong was a little distressed, and she couldn't figure it out after racking her brains.

Fu Yunshen couldn't figure it out, so he comforted Zhou Jingrong and said, "It's okay, I'll send someone to get in touch with her tomorrow, and everything will be clear." ”

Zhou Jingrong's heart was a little calm, and she fell asleep in Fu Yunshen's arms.

But the next day, when Fu Yunshen came back, his expression was solemn, and there was a depression lingering between his eyebrows.

Zhou Jingrong had a bad premonition, chuckled in his heart, and asked, "But what happened?" ”

Fu Yunshen's mood was a little low, and there was a chill in his eyes: "The secret pile I arranged by Qi Ruyan's side, if there is no important matter, I won't contact it, so I didn't know until today that it turned out that as early as a few days ago, the people close to Qi Ruyan disappeared and couldn't get in touch, I'm afraid that something bad has happened." ”

"What?" Zhou Jingrong was shocked: "Could it be that the identity of the five princes has been revealed?" Because there is no dark pile, Qi Ruyan took the risk to get in touch with me? ”

Zhou Jingrong didn't worry about Qi Ruyan, although the dark pile was dealt with, she could still go out, which shows that the fifth prince did not suspect her.

Fu Yunshen said: "I still have people in the outer courtyard, but now the situation is abnormal, and I can't rashly get in touch with Qi Ruyan." But according to what he said, the fifth prince treated Qi like smoke as usual, except for the strange thing that all the people who served around her were suddenly replaced. ”

Zhou Jingrong frowned, puzzled: "If the fifth prince didn't suspect Qi Ruyan, why did he remove all the people around her?" ”

Fu Yunshen sighed: "This matter is still unclear, we can only hold our troops for the time being, and then slowly figure it out in the future." ”

Zhou Jingrong still has a heart hanging, not only for Qi Ruyan's situation, but also for her unfinished words that day.

What did she mean by that?

*

The Five Princes' Annex.

Qi Ruyan sat quietly in the room, his eyes were empty, he didn't know what to think, but he was so engrossed that he didn't even notice that someone walked in.

"What are you thinking?"

The fifth prince hugged Qi Ruyan from behind, his voice was extremely gentle, and there was a bloody aura coming from his body.

Qi Ruyan stiffened, almost nauseated, and a seeping coolness surged from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

Her heart was turbulent, but her face was extremely deferential: "I didn't think about anything." ”

The fifth prince asked: "The person who helped you out of the siege on the day of the Flower Dynasty Festival was the wife of the official of the dynasty, were you surprised to learn her identity?" ”

Qi Ruyan didn't speak, and the fifth prince asked himself: "You met her here before, and you had a dispute with her, I really thought that you were jealous for me, and I was very happy." But then I think about it, you just think that she is imprisoned here by me, just like you, so you pretend to be jealous so that I can let her go, right? ”

The fifth prince met Qi Ruyan after she left Puhe County, and he didn't know her relationship with Zhou Jingrong.

It was because he only regarded Qi Ruyan as kind-hearted, and he wanted to rescue Zhou Jingrong, who was imprisoned here like her.

Seeing that Qi Ruyan still didn't speak, the fifth prince didn't hold on to this topic, but instead talked about it with great interest: "There will be a poetry meeting in the Qingyin Pavilion the day after tomorrow, it will be very lively, do you want to go and see it?" ”

Qi Ruyan's emotions that had just eased were tense again, her body was even stiffer, and her face was pale: "No, I'm not going." ”

The fifth prince was puzzled: "Oh? Why? Haven't you always wanted to go out? ”

Qi Ruyan bit her lip tightly, her face became more and more ugly, and she said for a while: "The concubine is unwell." ”

The fifth prince smiled, that smile seemed gentle, but it was wrapped in endless crazy paranoia: "Oh, then stay at home." By the way, the people who accompanied you out on the day of the Flower Dynasty Festival were useless, so I changed a few more for you. ”

Qi Ruyan was like a fish in his throat, and he couldn't say a word.

She had spoken, cried, and begged, but it was useless, and he still killed all the subordinates who had served her for a long time in front of her.

The first time she was allowed to go out, she was still very happy, but when she came back, he smiled and told her that those subordinates were useless, and she had to be replaced, and then those people died one after another in front of her eyes.

Her freedom once came at the cost of so many lives.

Such an uncertain, murderous and cruel person, Qi Ruyan stayed by his side for one more day, and he felt painful and tormented.

She wanted to run away from him, as soon as possible.

So she knew that the lives of these people were in her hands, so she went out for the second time and went to see Zhou Jingrong.

I don't kill Beren, but Beren dies because of me.

Qi Ruyan showed a bitter smile, there was no blood on her hands, but her sins were equally heavy.