Everyone had actually noticed Jiang Xuening to some degree. After all, ever since “he” came out of the prison, “he” had been following closely beside Zhang Zhe. It was just that “his” clothes were worn carelessly, and “his” face was pitch-black and filthy. One could only see that “he” was somewhat small in stature, with features that were vaguely more delicate, but in the dark of night, even with the firelight illuminating things, one could only make out indistinct shadows and couldn’t see very clearly. Moreover, they had to be wary of Zhang Zhe beside “him.”

Even if perceptive people noticed something amiss, they wouldn’t say so aloud.

They only muttered in their hearts: Who would have thought that even in the Heavenly Doctrine there were such people? Those who’ve been officials are certainly particular—even when out mixing in this world, they must have someone by their side. They just didn’t know whether this was a girl in disguise, or one of those fair-skinned, tender young men who sold themselves in pleasure houses and had relations with men.

The people in the temple each had their own thoughts, and no one commented on that small dispute from earlier.

Soon someone actively changed the subject.

Those who could be locked up in the imperial prison by the court each had their own skills. Once they opened up and began talking about their respective experiences, adding a bit of embellishment here and exaggeration there, their stories became like living storybooks, even more exciting than what storytellers under bridges told.

That woman left with her basket after delivering the flatbreads, but the ten-or-so-year-old child listened with shining eyes and simply sat down on the threshold, looking as if he planned to stay right there and listen all night.

The Heavenly Doctrine group didn’t seem to mind him.

Jiang Xuening had actually been somewhat concerned about this child from early on. After all, having a child of about ten years old in such a place was truly unimaginable. Had the Heavenly Doctrine now reached the point where they wouldn’t even spare children?

Listening to these strong men who came out of the imperial prison boast about their experiences before and after imprisonment, Jiang Xuening had drunk enough water. With more than half a bowl remaining, she hesitated for a moment before passing it toward Zhang Zhe.

Even sitting on the ground, his form was upright.

At this moment, he turned his head and received the water bowl. Jiang Xuening’s heart immediately skipped a beat, but he then lowered his eyes and placed the bowl of water on the ground in front of him, his voice very low as he replied to her: “I’m not thirsty.”

In the end, this was still Zhang Zhe—rigid, stubborn, and inflexible!

Jiang Xuening inwardly snorted.

But thinking it over, it was probably precisely because this person was pure and self-restrained that she had fallen so uncontrollably for him. After all, this person was completely different from her, with almost no similarities whatsoever. It was as if he stood in that light, making people raise their heads to look up at him, someone difficult even to touch. If one day Zhang Zhe became like Xiao Dingfei, turning into a frivolous and presumptuous young master, she most likely wouldn’t think much of him anymore.

This unexpected involvement in the prison break truly exceeded her expectations and disrupted her original plans. However, being in the same place as Zhang Zhe, she felt that whatever plans or expectations didn’t matter so much anymore.

This person was right beside her—that was the most important thing at this moment.

But it might not be the same for Zhang Zhe. Since he had such close dealings with the Heavenly Doctrine, he must have some scheme in mind. Her presence here would inevitably have some impact on Zhang Zhe’s plans, so the first thing she needed to do was protect herself and not be a burden. Secondly, she should act according to circumstances. After all, regarding the Heavenly Doctrine…

At least she had the advantage of being reborn and knew a bit about them.

She only hoped that this matter wouldn’t be too complicated.

Unconsciously, Jiang Xuening’s brows furrowed quietly.

In the ruined temple, someone was just recounting his past experiences: “That year I was only in my early twenties. That dog official falsely invoked court laws and collected taxes from the village all the way through the next ten years. I grabbed a butcher’s knife, and when that dog official’s sedan passed by, I stabbed him with one thrust. That fellow’s intestines spilled onto the ground. When I saw I’d succeeded, I immediately ran. I ran for many years. Who would have thought that while eating a bowl of wontons at Five-Li Station, I’d run into someone I knew who turned around and reported me to the authorities, and they actually caught me and threw me in the imperial prison. Hey, but my luck was good—to encounter such an event that let me out again!”

Speaking to this point, he couldn’t help but show some pride on his face.

The child squatting on the threshold couldn’t help but let out an “Ah!” sound, causing everyone to turn and look at him.

But it wasn’t surprise or shock.

It was pain.

It turned out this child was holding half a flatbread in his hand, listening while eating. As a result, he was so absorbed in listening that he didn’t notice he’d eaten to the end of the bread, and with one bite, he actually bit his own finger, crying out in pain.

The people around immediately laughed.

“How can you bite your hand eating a flatbread?”

“Just how hungry are you?”

“Kid, how old are you this year? What’s your name? Did you also join the Heavenly Doctrine? At this hour and you’re still not going home—won’t your parents worry?”

The child slowly withdrew the finger he’d just bitten, rubbed his head, looking somewhat shy, but his speech was extremely forthright as he said: “Just turned thirteen. No father, no mother, and no one gave me a name either. Everyone calls me ‘Xiao Bao,’ so you big brothers can also call me ‘Xiao Bao.’ Don’t look at my young age—I’ve been in the Doctrine for three or four years now!”

Everyone was immediately surprised.

Xiao Bao probably also felt it was quite respectable to be watched by so many people, and even his back straightened a bit involuntarily, his face also showing a smile. However, just as he was about to open his mouth to say something more, following the motion of straightening his back, his stomach very uncooperatively gurgled loudly. The sound was quite resonant, and quite a few people heard it.

“Ha ha ha…”

Everyone laughed again.

At his age, he was right in the middle of a growth spurt, and three meals a day weren’t enough to fill him.

Moreover, he’d only just nibbled half a flatbread.

Xiao Bao felt somewhat embarrassed, his face reddening all at once. With a single tuft of hair tied up pointing straight toward the sky, he buried his head down to his knees.

However, at this moment, a somewhat rough and hoarse voice sounded nearby: “Want more?”

Hearing this, Xiao Bao raised his head and saw half a broken flatbread being offered right in front of him.

The hand holding the bread couldn’t be considered clean. The palm was very wide, the finger joints were also large, and even covered with jagged new and old scars, only most of them were concealed by dirty marks, making them not very visible.

Following this hand upward, one saw clothes that were similarly filthy prison garments.

He was sitting just a little bit beside Xiao Bao.

Even though more than half of his body was in shadow, one could tell at a glance he was a man with a burly and tall physique. However, it wasn’t until the moment he spoke that everyone noticed there was actually such a person here.

Xiao Bao was usually quite clever and had a good memory, yet at this moment, he couldn’t help but freeze.

Because even he had absolutely no impression of this man.

Perhaps because he’d been imprisoned in the imperial prison for too long without the opportunity to speak with others, his voice was like a rusty knife scraping against a whetstone, making it unpleasant to hear.

His hair was also too long, covering his face.

At first glance, one couldn’t discern his depth—a very unremarkable feeling.

Xiao Bao instinctively took the flatbread he handed over and thanked him.

Zhang Zhe still had his piece of bread in hand and hadn’t taken a single bite. He seemed about to hand it out, but at this moment, with a turn of his wrist, he silently withdrew it. His gaze, however, fell upon that man who had not previously attracted others’ attention.

Jiang Xuening first glanced at Zhang Zhe, a trace of a smile emerging at the corners of her lips, before turning her eyes to look again toward Xiao Bao’s side.

However, when her gaze fell upon this child’s fingers, she couldn’t help but pause.

Xiao Bao sat in a position relatively toward the outside. The ruined temple had fire pits burning, but earlier the light hadn’t really reached his area. But when he reached out to receive the bread from that man’s hand, he was just illuminated by the leaping firelight.

Jiang Xuening caught a glimpse of his ring finger.

To the left side of the fingernail on that finger was actually a small patch of dark marks. But it was quickly obscured by his other fingers, and in that brief moment, she couldn’t determine whether it was a blood blister rubbed raw, a birthmark, or some mark picked up from who knows where…

She gently lowered her brows, looked at her own ring finger, and what instantly surfaced in her mind was when she and the other companion students were studying and practicing calligraphy at the Yangzhi Study, using their ring fingers to support the brush shaft. Because their skills weren’t yet accomplished, that side would always accidentally get stained with some ink marks.

Looking at this Heavenly Doctrine child’s appearance in coarse cloth, he didn’t seem like someone who read or wrote.

Her eyes shifted, some thoughts arising in her heart, but for now she suppressed them, neither inquiring nor making it public.

Instead, that man in the corner had finally attracted others’ attention because of the bread-giving incident.

Wearing prison clothes—he must definitely be someone from the imperial prison.

But right now in this ruined temple, apart from the Heavenly Doctrine people who came to break the prison, everyone else had come out of the imperial prison, yet they had absolutely no impression of such a person and completely didn’t know where he’d popped out from.

Someone was curious and cupped his hands, wanting to respectfully ask his name.

Unexpectedly, the man who had earlier mocked Zhang Zhe for being effeminate about drinking water and wiping the bowl opened his eyes wide and stared at that disheveled person for quite some time. His originally rather robust body actually couldn’t help but tremble!

The flatbread he hadn’t finished eating fell to the ground.

His voice was full of terror as he stood up directly, pointing at that person and saying: “Meng, Meng, Meng—you’re Meng Yang!”

Meng Yang?!

These two words, once spoken, could truly be called shocking to all present!

Those who knew this name almost all sucked in a cold breath simultaneously. The other criminals who had come out of the imperial prison and hadn’t paid attention when sitting next to Meng Yang felt their hair stand on end even more. They almost couldn’t control that moment’s instinctive action and retreated backward.

With this person as the center, a circle immediately opened up.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Xuening’s eyelids jumped.

The name “Meng Yang” was truly unfamiliar to her—she’d never even heard it before. But at this moment, there was no need to have heard it. Just looking at the reactions of these people around her, she knew this person was definitely no good character!

One must know, these people had all come out of the imperial prison.

Which one didn’t have lives on their hands?

Yet seeing this person was like seeing a malevolent star or fierce deity, and they even faintly revealed a kind of fear born from the depths of their hearts!

Just how terrifying must this person be?

Zhang Zhe’s gaze had been on Meng Yang from earlier, and who knows if he’d already recognized him before. Hearing others speak his name, he showed no reaction.

The others were completely different.

Those bandits who had just been boasting about their deeds of murder and robbery earlier now all fell silent as if someone had slapped them, even bringing a bit of respect as they cupped their hands toward the man still sitting sprawled in the corner: “Earlier we didn’t know that Meng, Meng the Righteous Hero was also here. Truly disrespectful, disrespectful!”

When calling him “Meng the Righteous Hero,” there was obviously a moment’s pause in their speech.

One could guess they didn’t know how to address him.

Righteous Hero?

If carrying a monk’s knife back from a Buddhist temple and then chopping up one’s entire family of more than fifty people from top to bottom until they were all dead could also be called “righteous,” then in this world, no one would dare call themselves an “evildoer”!

Meng Yang seemed to make a snorting laugh in his throat. He leaned his body backward, didn’t bother to push aside the hair covering his face, and directly leaned against the broken door panel. Closing his eyes, he had not the slightest intention of acknowledging these people.

Everyone immediately felt somewhat awkward and somewhat fearful.

Even in the imperial prison, there were hierarchies of size. Good people had no way to establish seniority, but having committed evil to Meng Yang’s degree, even among evildoers, he would rank first.

Fortunately, at this time, the Heavenly Doctrine Incense Master Huang Qian, who had gone out to speak earlier, returned. Only his complexion wasn’t very good. He surveyed everyone with a glance, his gaze ultimately falling on Zhang Zhe as he said: “The Doctrine brothers who took the East City Gate route still have no news, and those sent along the way to look haven’t seen anyone arrive here either. I’m afraid something has happened. Huang has just discussed with the Doctrine brothers. Since we have Lord Zhang here, we’re not afraid of the court sending people to pursue us afterward, so we’ll rest here for the night. Early tomorrow morning, people from the Doctrine will arrive to meet us, and then we’ll go together to the Tongzhou branch headquarters. It’s safer there. The valiant men who came out of the imperial prison can also take water routes from there to various places. What do you all think?”

The crowd who came out of the imperial prison all remained silent. Some instinctively looked toward Zhang Zhe, while others instinctively looked toward Meng Yang.

Under someone else’s roof—they had no say in the matter here.

Meng Yang leaned back without moving in the slightest.

Hearing the words “Tongzhou branch headquarters,” Zhang Zhe knew this trip would surely yield gains. He nodded, saying impassively: “Since we’ve left the capital, we’ll follow completely with whatever the Doctrine Leader plans.”

Thus everyone rested on the spot.

Only the place was truly cramped and inconvenient in many ways.

This ruined temple’s back hall had a wall separating it, but there were still two small rooms. In one of them, half a bed could barely be made usable. Zhang Zhe then spoke extremely calmly, requesting it.

Everyone’s gazes thus naturally gathered on him and Jiang Xuening.

No one objected.

Only when he led Jiang Xuening to the back, everyone turned their faces to exchange glances, all carrying a bit of knowing ambiguity: At a time like this, still not forgetting about that matter—truly blessed with romantic fortune!

In the desolate village’s ruined temple, there had probably been other people who had stayed here before, or perhaps earlier Heavenly Doctrine people had lingered in this place. Although this small room in the back was simple, the bed could actually barely be lain upon.

It was just somewhat messy.

Zhang Zhe said nothing and bent down to tidy it up.

Watching him, Jiang Xuening suddenly felt somewhat dazed.

When Zhang Zhe finished tidying up and turned around, she remembered she still hadn’t told him about Xiao Bao. So she spoke up: “Lord Zhang, just now I—”

Zhang Zhe gently shook his head at her.

He raised his hand and pointed toward the outside. One could still faintly hear the voices of people talking outside.

Jiang Xuening understood—walls have ears.

She felt somewhat troubled. After thinking for a moment, she extended her right hand, pointed at the left side of her ring fingernail at that small area, then made a motion of holding a writing brush. Next she gestured before herself at a height shorter than her own by quite a bit, and finally held up one finger on top of her head, mimicking a tuft standing straight up.

This series of gestures was rather difficult to understand.

Zhang Zhe watched her for quite a while and actually roughly understood her meaning, nodding his head.

It wasn’t convenient to talk at the moment, but seeing him nod, Jiang Xuening strangely felt that the person before her had definitely understood what her gestures meant, and so she smiled in response.

Only there was just one bed here.

Looking at it, she felt somewhat awkward, somewhat at a loss for what to do.

Zhang Zhe’s voice was very low as he only said: “Second Miss sleeps here. I’ll be at the door.”

In the dim room, his brows, eyes, and voice were all kept very low. On his silent, reticent, cold countenance, one couldn’t see anything else at the moment—only a lean profile illuminated by the three-tenths of moonlight streaming through the broken window, carved like a knife into the depths of Jiang Xuening’s heart.

It had been the same in her previous life.

They had finally found lodging with difficulty. But she was the Empress, and he was an outside minister. Naturally, only she had a place to sleep.

At that time, she had absolutely no good feelings toward this person.

She went inside to sleep on her own, not caring at all about whether this person outside lived or died. When one was exhausted, one slept wonderfully through the night until dawn. When she opened her eyes, she saw the pale morning light streaming in through the window.

She stretched lazily and pushed open the door.

Then she saw him at a glance.

That stubborn man was sitting on a chair against the wall, his eyelids lowered. His dark official robe was stained with the morning mist, seeming to make the color even deeper, as if it had been soaked by morning dew, carrying a bit of chill.

She had thought he was asleep.

Who would have thought that the moment she pushed open the door, Zhang Zhe’s slightly closed eyelids also lifted, looking toward her. He must have sat stiffly like this all night? Even his eyelashes had condensed some water droplets, yet the depths of his dark eyes were clear, his pupils reflecting her figure.

That truly was an exceptionally beautiful morning.

The mist was ethereal.

The dawn light was faint.

She, noble as an Empress, stood in the eyes of this minister, yet the walls built high in her heart collapsed with a thunderous crash at that moment. Something gently seized hold of her, never letting her break free again.

In the darkness, Jiang Xuening gazed at him with unprecedented boldness, unafraid of anyone glimpsing the secret she kept deeply hidden.

She opened her mouth, not wanting him to endure another sleepless night.

Yet what came out was: “Then could you wait until I’m asleep before going out, my lord?”

“…”

Zhang Zhe ultimately couldn’t refuse.

She lay down with her clothes on, facing the wall, her back to Zhang Zhe. Her heart was faintly swelling, feeling her mind filled with chaotic thoughts spinning about.

She thought she might as well sleep for a while and have Zhang Zhe wake her, then let him sleep instead.

But too many things had happened this night, and it had made her too tired—exactly like that night in her previous life. She was truly somewhat in a daze. The moment her head touched that old pillow, her consciousness became drowsy.

Zhang Zhe sat beside her, hearing her breathing gradually become even.

She was already fast asleep.

Only in her sleep, the young girl curled up her body, probably feeling somewhat cold. So he removed his outer robe, his footsteps soundless as he walked forward, gently covering her with it.

The somewhat coarse edge of the robe inadvertently touched the young girl’s neck hollow.

She unconsciously reached up and lightly grasped it, extremely naturally turning over halfway.

A sweet, fresh fragrance suffused the air.

Zhang Zhe still maintained that motion of covering her with his outer robe. At this moment, borrowing that bit of light streaming in, he could see clearly this person so close at hand—her lowered eyelids, her small delicate nose, her soft lips.

How could someone like her, who feared pain, feared bitterness, and feared death, dare to harm herself for him…

He so wanted to ask her: Did it hurt?

But he didn’t dare.

In this instant, all the accumulated waves in Zhang Zhe’s chest surged up, converging like a scorching fire, making his heart and lungs ache together.

A voice whispered temptation in his ear.

He gradually drew closer to her, closer, his cheek almost touching hers, his lips almost descending to her lips.

However, at that moment of almost touching but not yet touching, it was as if a great bell tolled loudly in his mind, striking his spirit into unease, suddenly making him retreat!

In the darkness came the sound of restrained, labored breathing.

Only in that instant of withdrawing did he realize what he had just been about to do. He couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat, a solemn feeling rising from the depths of his heart: How dare he harbor such transgressive thoughts!

Zhang Zhe’s chest heaved violently. He left this room, and when he walked outside, he gave himself a slap across the face.

A light “smack” sounded.

He closed his eyes slightly. Only when the wind outside blew against him did he finally regain a bit of clear-headed rationality and calmness.

At this time, the people outside had also all curled up in corners to sleep.

All around was silent and still.

Only that Meng Yang was actually sitting by the fire pit. Hearing the movement, he turned his head to look at him. When he glimpsed the finger marks left on Zhang Zhe’s cold face, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, his expression becoming somewhat strange.