White Fence Dream

Chapter 216 Ignorance
"Old slave, old slave, did you remember it wrong?"

Mrs. Li stammered, looking at the alley, then at this courtyard, her eyes were panicked and her vision became increasingly blurry.

Did I take the wrong path? Or did I misunderstand this whole month?

"Who are you ladies looking for?"

The woman's voice came again, full of curiosity.

Mrs. Xue smiled and said, "Nothing, just a kiss..."

Before the relative could say anything, the wife of Dongyang Marquis had already taken over the conversation: "The one who owed me money."

What are you talking about? Madam Xue glared at her. She saw that the wife of Marquis Dongyang had a stern face and had just kicked open the door. It was definitely not the attitude for visiting relatives.

The young woman suddenly understood: "So that's why, no wonder Madam looks so unhappy."

Then smile.

Others were unhappy, but she still smiled. Lady Dongyang looked at the young woman, this young lady, humph, she couldn't help but glare at her. In fact, she was not a person who would be rude in front of others, but today, she seemed to have no scruples, seemed to let it go, seemed to be used to it.
"Yes, I am angry," she said, looking towards the deserted yard again.

The afternoon sun was dim and the courtyard was quiet and empty.

"Young lady, is it true that no one lives here?" Mrs. Xue asked again.

The young woman nodded: "It has been abandoned for a long time."

Mrs. Xue winked at the wife of Marquis Dongyang and whispered, "Let's go."

The wife of the Marquis of Dongyang looked around. Except for the woman standing outside the next door, no one else came out. The alley was quiet.

"There are not many people living in our alley." The young woman's voice continued.

The wife of the Marquis of Dongyang looked at her and said, "Young lady, have you seen anyone behaving strangely in the neighborhood recently?"

The young woman smiled and asked, "What kind of weird behavior?"

"For example..." Mrs. Dongyang Hou was about to speak.

"Okay, stop talking." Mrs. Xue interrupted her, gave her a warning look, and said in a low voice through gritted teeth, "You want to make everyone know about it? What good will it do?"

After saying that, he smiled at the young woman.

"Thank you, young lady. Sorry to bother you."

He pulled the wife of Marquis Dongyang away.

The wife of the Marquis of Dongyang followed Mrs. Xue outside. When they reached the entrance of the alley, she could not help but look back and saw the young woman still standing at the door, staggering with a smile on her face.

What are you laughing at? It's so weird. Lady Dongyang Hou snorted again in her heart, but could not help wanting to take one more look. The next moment, Madam Xue pulled her around the alley, blocking her sight.

As her sight faded, the dim light in the alley floated, twisted, and rippled, as if a painting was opened, showing the same alley and house on the screen, but the position of the woman standing in the picture had changed.

It was not next door, but right at the door of the deserted courtyard, and the deserted courtyard was no longer deserted.

Jiang Yun stood by the door with his hands hanging down, his eyes alert but his expression a little stagnant. In the kitchen, a maid sat making a fire, and in his stagnant sight, the fire kept flickering.

The nanny raised her hands to hang the washed diapers out to dry, while keeping herself bent over.

Mrs. Zhuang held the child in her arms and patted him gently, with a faint and frozen smile on her face. The next moment, the woman standing at the door pinched her fingers and broke a stick of incense in her hand.

Suddenly the air in the yard became lively.

"Madam, it's time for the girl to feed." The wet nurse turned around and said.

Mrs. Zhuang smiled and nodded, handing the child to her.

"Madam, the water is ready. Do you want to make tea now or wait a while?" The maid poked her head into the kitchen and asked.

"Wait a moment." Madam Zhuang said, and walked to Bai Li, saying softly, "It's a good thing you are here, otherwise I would have to let them sleep in the yard."

She had some incense that could make people fall asleep, but this was not a perfect solution. If someone fainted, they would not lose their memory, and it would be even more troublesome to wait for them to wake up.

It is more perfect to be like Bai Li, who pulls people into a dream, allowing them to come and leave without finding themselves.

"It's just luck." Bai Li said, turning his eyes to look at Jiang Yun.

She still didn't want to say too much to her. Mrs. Zhuang lowered her eyes and said no more. Just as she was about to walk towards the kitchen, she heard Bai Li's voice.

"…I will take them back to the ship now, you go and tell the prince."

She was going to take her away. Madam Zhuang pursed her lips, walked briskly into the kitchen, and whispered, "No need to boil water, just put out the fire."

……

.......
"When we found Mrs. Li and her wife, they were already outside the alley."

Jiang Yun described Zhou Jingyun, and thinking back, he still felt a little nervous.

"I said I would find a way to scare the horses and take them away."

"Miss Bai said no, she can come."

When he told this story, Jiang Yun's face showed confusion. He didn't know what he could do at the time. Should he deal with the lady directly?
Although there had never been any scandal involving concubines in the Dongyang Marquisate, there were many such cases in the capital. Concubines were the most despicable and the most intolerable. Very few were acknowledged, and even if they were acknowledged, the mother would be killed and the son would be kept, such as the case of Shangguan Fu Ma.

If the lady really wants to take this young lady, who will he help? Or maybe just knock them both out?
Jiang Yun was thinking wildly, and then...
"She walked forward and opened the door. When Madam, Madam Xue, and Mrs. Li saw her, they suddenly stood still, then turned around and left..."

Looking back now, his expression became even more confused.

What's going on? It's like a dream.

Hearing this, Zhou Jingyun breathed a sigh of relief, reached out and patted Jiang Yun on the shoulder. Jiang Yun trembled slightly and came back to his senses.

"Don't worry." Zhou Jingyun looked at him and said, in order to prevent Jiang Yun from getting stuck and not being able to tell the difference between reality and illusion, he explained to him, "Miss Bai knows how to bewitch people. She must have caused hallucinations in my mother and aunt at the time, clearing up their suspicions, and they went back."

This was a trick of bewitching. He was not unfamiliar with it, Jiang Yun suddenly realized. He had experienced it several times when he was staring at and taking Madam Zhuang away.

No wonder it seemed that Miss Bai and Madam Zhuang were old acquaintances, it turned out they were from the same kind of people.

Now that he knew what was going on, he was no longer confused.

"Prince, it's my fault. I didn't notice Mrs. Li's snooping in time." He blamed himself.

Zhou Jingyun shook his head: "I don't blame you." Then he smiled and said, "There is no wall that is impenetrable in this world." Nothing can be kept secret forever, especially since he goes there so frequently.

If anyone is to blame, it's him.

"You can find an excuse to go home. This matter ends here."

Jiang Yun responded by retreating.

Zhou Jingyun stood in the room and sighed softly. He no longer needed to go back to that home.

In that case, he will just hang out on the flower boat from now on.

Thinking about it this way, he was indeed quite funny now, and Zhou Jingyun couldn't help laughing.

"What makes the prince so happy?"

Suddenly a voice came from outside the door.

Zhou Jingyun looked up and saw Zhang Ze standing outside the door.

"The Zhongcheng is becoming more and more elusive." Zhou Jingyun said.

Zhang Ze said with a half-smile: "If you don't do anything wrong, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking on your door."

Zhou Jingyun smiled, "Then I am not as good as the Zhongcheng." He picked up a roll of account books on the table and said, "Please excuse me while I go to see His Majesty first." He smiled again, "After all, not all cases can be handled like the Zhongcheng. We still need real evidence to convince the world."

Zhang Ze looked at him coldly as he walked past him and headed towards the palace.

"He's been acting strange lately," he said to the entourage behind him, "His reputation has been ruined like that, but he's still happy."

The attendant asked, "Did he do it on purpose? To make the queen dislike him and not use him?"

Zhang Ze shook his head, looked at Zhou Jingyun's back, and ordered his followers: "Keep an eye on him."

The attendant responded, and watching Zhang Ze step out of the imperial city, he hurriedly reminded him, "Zhongcheng, the queen wants to see you. She said that Princess Jinyu has been increasingly favored by the emperor recently, and several officials she recommended have been appointed. She can't just stand by and watch."

Zhang Ze frowned and said, "Tell Wang Degui that Your Majesty should just stay with the Emperor and take good care of the children, and don't worry about other things." After saying that, he walked out.

There is actually a difference between passing on a message and saying it in person. The follower felt helpless, but there was nothing he could do but go and reply to Wang Degui himself.

.......
.......
As night fell, the maids gently lit the lights in the room.

Mother Xu walked in and saw the wife of Marquis Dongyang sitting by the window in a daze.

The lady has been in this posture ever since she came back from a quick trip out in the afternoon.

After the maids lit the lamps and left, Madam Xu stepped forward and whispered, "Madam, don't think about it. I saw it with my own eyes. It was Mrs. Li who was mistaken."

Although she did not tell anyone else when she hurried out in the afternoon, after she came back, Lady Dongyang Marquis told Mother Xu and Mother Huang about it.

Mother Xu and Mother Huang absolutely did not believe it. "The prince is not that kind of person!"

"But Mrs. Li is not so old that her eyesight is blurry," said the wife of the Marquis of Dongyang, sitting up straight. "If she had evil intentions, she shouldn't have made such a mistake."

What good would it do for her daughter, who was the Crown Prince's concubine, to falsely accuse the Crown Prince of having a mistress? Wouldn't that make the Crown Prince dislike her?
Are you looking in the wrong place?
Before Madam Xu could say anything, a maid outside said, "The prince is here to pay his respects."

Although the wife of the Marquis of Dongyang did not want to see her son, Zhou Jingyun never missed the morning and evening visits, and the maids would also say hello outside the door.

As in the past, you would just say it and it would be over. The lady wouldn't ask any more questions, let alone let you in.

But this time, just as the maid was about to tidy up the lanterns in the corridor, the voice of the wife of the Marquis of Dongyang came from inside.

"Let him in."

The maid was stunned for a moment, suspecting that she had misheard. It was not until the other maids urged her that she was sure that the lady wanted to invite the prince in. She hurriedly ran out holding her skirt. The prince greeted her as usual and left.

……

……

The room is filled with blooming flowers and tender leaves, which are full of vitality under the lights and full of spring.

Zhou Jingyun looked around the room. It had been a long time since he last came to his mother's room, so it felt a little strange.

The wife of the Marquis of Dongyang sat by the window, lowering her eyes and looking at the tea in her hand.

Mother Xu was standing aside, and there was no one else.

"Mom, are you okay?" Zhou Jingyun asked.

The wife of the Marquis of Dongyang raised her head and looked at him.

"Rather than listening to others and guessing on my own, I might as well ask you directly." She said, and smiled here, "After all, you told me the truth about such a big thing before."

Mother Xu pricked up her ears. She knew that the prince had said something to the lady, which caused the lady to stop seeing the prince, but the lady never said what it was...

"Yes." Zhou Jingyun said, "Since that incident, I no longer lie to my mother."

Madam Dongyang Marquis nodded: "Okay, then let me ask you, do you have anyone else outside?"

Zhou Jingyun thought, Madam Zhuang was his prisoner, the little princess was her lord in distress, and Bai Li was just a companion who helped each other, none of them were his relatives.

He shook his head: "No."

No, Mother Xu breathed a sigh of relief and said happily to the wife of Dongyang Marquis: "I told you it's impossible..."

Lady Dongyang Hou looked at her son standing in the room. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she last saw him. It shouldn't have been long, but she felt that he looked a little strange, perhaps because of the faint smile on Zhou Jingyun's lips, or his slightly raised eyebrows.

Mrs. Xue's words suddenly rang in her ears. "I think he is indeed in a much better mood, with a smile on his face."

Why are you in such a good mood?

Why are your eyes so bright and beautiful?
The wife of the Marquis of Dongyang asked, "Do you have someone in your heart?"

Zhou Jingyun was startled and slowly clenched his hands hanging by his side.

Is there anyone in your heart?
He seemed to hear his own heartbeat in his ears.

He should have said no...
but…..
For some reason, he didn't want to say that.

"I." He looked at the wife of the Marquis of Dongyang and nodded slowly, "Yes."