Zi Ning's heart hung in her throat, she held her breath for a long time, and when she heard the people in the house walking away, she exhaled a long breath and coughed violently twice. Raising his hand to touch the cold sweat on his forehead, he couldn't help but say to himself, "I'm scared to death." "I heard that the king of Huajun had fallen on his horse, but he didn't know how badly he was hurt. These are not things for her to worry about, the top priority is to leave here first, and before being discovered, quickly flee back to the big courtyard outside the second gate.

She didn't dare to act rashly, for fear that there would be a maid still guarding the courtyard. After waiting for a stick of incense in the box, there was no sound of people around, and he thought: "The prince is injured, the county lord and Miss Hongying went to visit, and the frost geese and those people followed to the Zunhua Courtyard, and there must be no one in this courtyard." Her limbs moved slowly twice, and suddenly she pulled the wound, which made her grin in pain, and she broke out in a cold sweat.

Zi Ning quietly lifted the lid of the box and opened a gap, looked outside vigilantly, and saw that there was no danger, so she climbed out of the box. Slowly stretching her sore, numb and painful muscles, the cold wind outside the window blew, she suddenly shrunk her neck and shivered.

She was robbed from the house early in the morning, wearing only a close-fitting coat, and she was barefoot, and she didn't even wear shoes and socks. Thinking that he couldn't run out like this, he hurriedly took a set of skirts from the clothes box and put them on, and tied a palace silk around his waist, so he barely tightened his clothes.

The skirt was made of pale cyan satin brocade, light and soft, with wide sleeves, which was often worn by young ladies in the boudoir. Zi Ning's hair was casually draped, and she looked nondescript in her skirt, she didn't care about looking in the mirror to dress up carefully, turned around and went to the couch to find a pair of embroidered shoes to put on, and tried to fit just right. He then pulled up a cloak and wrapped it around his body, and covered his head tightly with his cloak and hat, covering half of his face tightly.

She is delicate and delicate, about the same size as the little county lord, and her cloak is not eye-catching. Quietly went out of the house, and the courtyard was really empty, and I didn't see a maid.

The courtyard of the Cailan Pavilion is arranged very quietly and elegantly, with rockeries and flowing water, lush trees, spring flowers and green willows against the background of pink walls and green tiles, which has a unique charm. Zi Ning took a cursory glance and saw that there was no one around, so she hurriedly strode out.

No matter how beautiful the scenery here is, she has no leisure to appreciate it, and it is more dangerous to stay in the inner mansion for a few more moments, so she just wants to give birth to two more legs, and she hopes to escape back to the second gate as soon as possible.

With a cold wind and drizzle blowing in her face, Zi Ning tightened her cloak and hat with both hands, covered one face, and only showed a pair of eyes, lowered her head and trotted for a while, leaving the Cailan Pavilion as soon as possible.

I didn't go far out of the Cailan Pavilion, and suddenly found that I was lost, and I saw that there were flowers and green trees everywhere, and the pavilions and pavilions overlapped were all about the same, and I couldn't tell the southeast and northwest, and I didn't know where to go. Zi Ning thought secretly: "Oops, it's not a way to break in like this, I can't find my way back, and I can't get out when I get dizzy in the inner mansion." ”

She was so anxious that she turned around in circles, but she couldn't think of a good way, and the worst thing was that she didn't know where the second gate to go to the outer house was, and what direction it was. In such a big palace, there are countless doors in the courtyard, and she can't look for them all from room to house.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming behind me, and a crisp voice shouted, "Slave and maid to the county lord to say goodbye." ”

Zi Ning hurriedly turned around and saw a little maid with a bun holding an umbrella in her hand, saluting her, and then looking up at her with a smile.

She panicked, and immediately covered her face more tightly, waved her hand and said, "Excuse me!" Thinking that this little maid probably saw the clothes and cloak she was wearing, and mistook it for the little county lord. Zining's heart was pounding, she didn't know what to do, she could only calm down at the moment, maybe the little girl couldn't recognize it, so she fooled it. If you are nervous and trembling, and your speech is slurred, it will make people suspicious.

This little maid is not the slave maid serving in the Cailan Pavilion, Zi Ning asked her to be exempt, she didn't doubt it, she looked up and said: "The slave maid heard that the prince was injured, and the grandmothers rushed to Zunhua Courtyard, the county lord went to see the prince, didn't the sisters follow the umbrella?"

Zi Ning said "um", covered her face tightly, and didn't look at her eyes, the little maid didn't know what she meant, thinking that the county lord was sad and crying, and hurriedly persuaded: "The county lord should not be sad, the prince must be safe." Let the slave hold an umbrella and send the county lord to the Zunhua Courtyard. As he spoke, he raised a hand to support Zi Ning's arm and slowly walked forward in the rain.

Zi Ning could only bite the bullet and follow her all the way to Zunhua Courtyard, secretly complaining in her heart, I don't know how far Zunhua Courtyard is from the second gate, and now I lost my direction, and I can't go back. The Zunhua Courtyard must be full of people, in case she meets the little county lord, she doesn't have to continue to pretend, she will be beaten to death directly by a stick.

The more she thought about it, the more anxious she became, her hands trembled slightly, and the little maid thought that she was worried about the prince, so she hurriedly said: "Don't be anxious, the county lord will go to the Zunhua Courtyard." Looking ahead, I saw a hazy house in front of me in the dense rain curtain, presumably it was the Zunhua Courtyard.

Zi Ning stood still, and the little maid asked strangely, "What's wrong with the county lord?"

She hurriedly lowered her voice, pretending to have just sobbed, and said in a low voice: "I was in a hurry when I came out just now, and I forgot to bring my usual handkerchief, you go to the Cailan Pavilion to find the silver cicada and get me a handkerchief." She is now learning and selling, imitating the tone and tone of the little princess, although not very similar, but there is also a look. It's just that I'm very nervous, and I'm sweating all over my body after saying these words.

The little maid was a little stunned, and secretly wondered why such a big thing happened, why didn't the silver cicada follow the county lord closely, why did she stay in the Cailan Pavilion, but she didn't dare to ask more, nodded and agreed: "The slave will go here, the county lord is careful of the slippery road alone." As he spoke, he handed the oil-paper umbrella to Zi Ning, made a salute, and hurriedly ran into the rain to go back to the Cailan Pavilion to get the handkerchief.

The figure of the little maid turned behind the rockery and soon disappeared again. Zi Ning stretched her neck to take a look, quickly raised her umbrella, picked up her skirt and ran towards Zunhua Courtyard.

As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest, at this time there must be people coming and going in the Zunhua Courtyard, taking advantage of these people to make a mess, not paying attention to other things, she first found a room to hide, and then went out to find the way until dark. Zi Ning thought to herself: "I don't believe it, no matter how big the courtyard of the palace is, it takes a night of work, and I can't touch the courtyard wall of the second gate!"

It didn't take long to run, and a high hanging flower gate appeared in front of him, connected to the continuous courtyard wall, and the three big characters of "Zun Hua Yuan" appeared in the rain on the door. Seeing that there was no one in the door, Zi Ning hurriedly dodged and ran in, only to see a long corridor leading straight to the main courtyard, with neatly arranged wings and corridors on both sides. There is a row of bird cages hanging under the porch, and all kinds of colorful birds are jumping around in the cages, but there is not a single figure in sight.

Presumably, because the king of Huajun was injured, the maids and slaves of the Zunhua Courtyard rushed to serve, and at this time the rain was heavy and urgent, and even if someone was there, they all hid back in their own houses.

The courtyard and the cloister are empty, it seems very deserted and spacious, the bluestone slabs are washed by the rain and are unusually clean, revealing a dark cyan moist and bright light, and the eaves of the houses on both sides are warped, shrouded in the hazy mist in the rain, there is a sense of mystery and ethereal.

Zi Ning ran all the way, got into the corridor to avoid the rain, then put the umbrella away, shook the raindrops on the umbrella fiercely, stomped on the spot, stepped back and forth a few steps, and stepped on the water stains on the soles of his shoes. Seeing that there were no obvious footprints on the bluestone ground, I was relieved.

Hiding behind the pillars of the cloister for a while, seeing that there was really no one around, he became bold, and walked lightly along the cloister carefully to the main courtyard, the wings on both sides were unusually quiet, the lattice windows were closed, and it was dark inside.

The "crackling" raindrops under the eaves suddenly sounded, Zi Ning walked half a column of incense, from the corridor to block the rain into a small full moon gate, and bypassed a large corridor in the middle of the carved stone screen, to a square courtyard. Standing in the corridor, she saw two begonia trees on the left and right sides of the courtyard, and the pink and green flowers and leaves were extremely delicate and bright in the rain.

There was still no one around, she turned around in a half circle, looked behind her, a large house with carved beams and paintings appeared in front of her, and suddenly looked up, and saw the three words "Jing Xin Zhai" written on the horizontal plaque, and the large gold characters on a black background were vigorous, especially solemn.

Zi Ning thought to herself: "This house is probably a place like a study, the prince is injured, no one will come to the study to read in the next few days, I will go in first to hide." He leaned his ear close to the door, listened carefully for a while, and made sure that there was no one in the house, and then quietly pushed the door open.

There was a soft "squeak", and as soon as the two doors were pushed open, a faint scent of ink greeted him. Zi Ning carefully walked in with her feet up, making sure that she didn't leave any footprints, and then turned around and closed the door tightly.

Looking carefully at this meditation fast, I saw that the left and right walls were lined with layers of rosewood bookshelves, with volumes of books and bamboo slips, and a few cases were placed on the floor mat in the center, with pen, ink, paper, and inkstones readily available, and there was a extinguished incense burner standing next to it, sinking thick incense ash.

On the empty wall behind the cases hangs a square ink painting, the ink is light and slightly dyed, and the painting is a ink lotus.

Zi Ning looked around, this is really a study, along the left side of the bookshelves walked over, see that the bookshelves are not a little dust, the corners of the rosewood rubbed brightly, obviously someone often takes the scrolls on the shelves. Secretly sighed that King Huajun was really erudite, reading so many books every day, accumulating over time, even the bookshelves were smooth.

She turned and looked around, unable to find a place to hide. It's a pity that there is no other furniture in this room except bookshelves and a few cases, let alone cabinets and boxes, where is she going to hide?

I couldn't help but feel a little anxious, and when I looked up at the roof, I saw two thick wooden rafters, which was a good place to hide. She reached up and tried to probe on tiptoe, but the rafters were too tall and the pillar too smooth for her to climb. I looked at it in disappointment for a while, thinking that even if I climbed up, I couldn't get down, so I could only shake my head when I thought about it.

After walking around the study twice, I found that the only place to hide was on the last shelf. Zi Ning knocked on her head and came up with a clever idea. ————