After examination by the imperial physician, Alan had no other injuries and no signs of poisoning. Therefore, Alan's death was determined to have fallen into a well and the case was left unresolved. Her family received fifty taels of silver as compensation.
Fifty taels of silver is not a small amount of money, enough to buy several slaves. When people outside heard about it, they all said that Princess Nanzhao was kind-hearted and compassionate. Even Alan's father was grateful to the princess.
The servants in the palace did not think so. Although the imperial physician determined that Alan's death was an accident, everyone secretly thought that it was the princess who did it, because Alan exposed the eldest princess in public, ruined her reputation, and caused the eldest princess to be punished to kneel in the ancestral hall, and fell out of favor with the prince.
How could the princess keep such a servant in the palace to be an eyesore
Alan was carried away by his family and buried hastily. Everyone in the palace was terrified for several days, fearing that they would become the second Alan if they were not careful.
After the initial shock, Xie Nanjia had no choice but to accept this fact and acted more cautiously.
She didn't know if she was overthinking it or if everyone in the palace could act. These past few days, neither the Nanzhao King and Queen, Madam Ning, or even the two princes had any suspicious behavior. The palace was so quiet that she even suspected that everything that had happened before was just her illusion.
This was not a solution, so after discussing with Zhao Jingyu, she decided to take the initiative and lure the snake out of its hole.
Song Huai's injury has healed. Xie Nanjia went to find him and said that so many bad things had happened to her recently and she wanted to go and worship the Buddha. She asked Song Huai which temple nearby was effective and whether he could take her there.
Song Huai agreed without a second thought, saying that Jingyun Temple in the west of the city was the most popular temple, and ordered the servant to prepare the carriage and take her there immediately.
Xie Nanjia asked him, "You agreed so readily, aren't you afraid of encountering danger again?"
Song Huai said calmly: "Life and death are determined by fate, and wealth and honor are determined by heaven. If a person is unlucky, he can choke to death even when drinking water. I am the type who will have good fortune after surviving a disaster, so you can rest assured!"
Xie Nanjia admired his optimism very much. It was rare for a person who had experienced countless dangers since childhood to have such an open-minded mind.
When Madam Ning heard that Song Huai was going out, she hurried over to dissuade him: "Your injury hasn't healed yet, why are you running out again? Don't you know how dangerous it is outside? What if something happens to you again? How can I live?"
Xie Nanjia was observing her silently from the side. The concern in her expression didn't seem fake at all. It was exactly the reaction of a mother who put her son first.
For a moment, Xie Nanjia couldn't tell whether she was acting or expressing her true feelings.
Song Huai said: "It's okay, I will be more careful this time. You can't let me stay in the mansion forever just because of the possible danger!"
Madam Ning couldn't persuade him, so she had to obey him and sent them out of the house, repeatedly reminding them to be careful and come back early.
"Your mother must be terrified." Xie Nanjia asked in a roundabout way in the carriage, "You have encountered so many dangers in the past. Does your mother know about it?"
"Some of it is known, some is unknown." Song Huai said, "She can't hide anything in the mansion, and she won't tell her anything outside if she can avoid telling her."
"It's not easy for her either." Xie Nanjia said with emotion, "I'll go get her an amulet later so she can wear it to ward off evil."
Song Huai expressed his gratitude: "Although I don't really believe in these supernatural things, I still want to thank you. You are the first person besides me who is truly kind to my mother."
"..." Xie Nanjia was secretly ashamed and smiled awkwardly, "That's not right, is it possible that the prince is not good to his wife?"
Song Huai paused and said vaguely, "Father is too busy and has too many people to care about. My mother is only a small part of his life."
"All wealthy families are like this. There's nothing we can do about it," said Xie Nanjia.
"Of course there is no way. In the end, it's just that men are too greedy." Song Huai said, "If I get married in the future, I will never take a concubine. I will only stay with that one person for the rest of my life."
"..." Xie Nanjia stared at him in a daze, and thought of Zhao Jingyu unconsciously.
If Zhao Jingyu really inherited the throne in the future, there would inevitably be three palaces and six courtyards. She didn't know if she could be magnanimous and turn a blind eye to them.
Perhaps, the only way to achieve this state is to remain detached.
If you don't get emotional, you won't get hurt.
But it seemed too late for her.
When they arrived at Jingyun Temple, Song Huai took Xie Nanjia to the Main Hall and patiently accompanied her to burn incense and worship Buddha, pray for talismans and ask for divination, and listen to the monks recite several chapters of scriptures. He did everything he could, but Xie Nanjia was still very interested and said that it was still early and it was a rare visit, so she might as well walk around the temple.
Song Huai naturally followed her, and the two of them strolled leisurely along the stone path planted with green pines and cypresses.
Xie Nanjia looked up at the sky from time to time. Song Huai asked her what she was looking at, and she said she was looking to see if it would rain.
Song Huai couldn't help but laugh at her: "The sky is clear, how could it rain? You are really worrying about nothing."
Xie Nanjia pursed her lips and asked, "What should we do if it really rains?"
"We are not afraid of the rain." Song Huai said, "If it rains lightly, we can have a carriage. If it rains heavily, we can stay here for a night. My family donates a large sum of money to Jingyun Temple every year, so they dare not neglect it."
"That makes me feel relieved." Xie Nanjia said.
Song Huai felt that she was a little strange, but he couldn't tell what was strange about her. Just as he was about to ask, he suddenly heard a "click" and a bolt from the blue exploded in his ears.
"..." Song Huai looked at Xie Nanjia with wide eyes, "Did you just consecrate your mouth in the hall?"
In the time it took to finish this sentence, a strong wind blew up, sand and rocks flew everywhere, and the sky, which had been cloudless just a moment ago, was instantly covered with dark clouds, which merged into one and swallowed up all the sunlight.
People had no time to dodge before the heavy rain came down on their heads.
In a hurry, Song Huai quickly took off his coat to help Xie Nanjia block the rain. The guards following behind immediately ran over, took off their coats and put them on Song Huai. Everyone hurriedly ran to the nearest hall to take shelter. In a short while, everyone was soaked.
"Well, you're right." Song Huai said, shaking the water off his head.
Xie Nanjia spread his hands, looking innocent.
When the abbot of the temple learned that the little prince of Nanzhao Palace was here, he sent a young monk to bring them clean monk robes for them to change into first, and told them not to worry, because if the rain continued, the temple had superior dormitories for them to stay in.
Song Huai expressed his gratitude and asked Xie Nanjia to change clothes inside first. Then he and the guards also changed clothes. A group of people wearing monk robes of the same color and style sat in the hall waiting for the rain to stop.
Xie Nanjia let his hair down and wiped it with the extra robe he had.
Song Huai had a guard to help wipe it, and seeing this, he said to Xie Nanjia, "I should have brought Zhu'er here earlier."
Xie Nanjia smiled indifferently: "You forgot, I used to be a maid. I can take care of myself."
Song Huai said with emotion: "Your experience seems like a legendary story to me. I always feel that there is something magical about you."
"Haha..." Xie Nanjia couldn't help laughing out loud, "What legend? To put it bluntly, I suffered a lot, but I'm lucky enough to be alive."
"Yes!" Song Huai nodded, agreeing deeply, "A person who can survive all the hardships is really lucky."
Rainy days are especially suitable for chatting. The two of them felt like they were "fellow wanderers in the world". It was a rare opportunity to speak so freely, so they started chatting enthusiastically.
In fact, there was no wine in the temple, otherwise the two of them would have drank a lot of wine together.
The rain showed no sign of stopping. A young monk came to serve vegetarian food and snacks. After everyone had their meal, they saw that the rain was still not stopping, so they followed the abbot's instructions and went to the dormitory to rest.
The abbot said that with such heavy rain, even if it stopped, the way down the mountain would be difficult to walk, so it would be better to stay overnight and go back tomorrow when the weather is clear.
Xie Nanjia and Song Huai each had a separate room, and eight guards lived in two rooms, with two people in a group taking turns to stand guard for Xie Nanjia and Song Huai.
It got dark quickly and there was nothing else to do in the temple except reading scriptures, so everyone went to bed early.
Not knowing how long he had slept, Song Huai was awakened by a loud noise. He stood up and listened carefully. It seemed that someone was fighting outside, and there was also the sound of weapons colliding.
Song Huai jumped off the bed with a start, put on his shoes in the dark and ran out.
Xie Nanjia lived next door, and he was worried that she might be in danger.
Because he was not familiar with the layout of the room, he knocked over a chair in his confusion and almost fell to the ground.
When he steadied himself and was about to go out, the door suddenly opened, a dark shadow flashed in, and then closed the door again.
Song Huai was secretly shocked. He held his breath and picked up a chair. He wanted to knock the man down with the chair before he got used to the darkness.
Unexpectedly, just as he swung the chair up, the man suddenly said, "Don't move, it's me!"
"Xiu'er?" Song Huai stopped suddenly and broke out in a cold sweat.
If she was a little bit later, his chair would have been swung out and what would have happened if it hit her.
"Xiu'er, how did you get in? What's going on outside?" He put down the chair and walked over to ask.
"There's a group of assassins outside, but don't worry, they're almost all dead." Xie Nanjia's voice sounded unusually calm in the darkness, and there was even a hint of a smile.
"..." Song Huai was puzzled, "What kind of assassin is so easy to deal with? There are only eight of us."
"You'll know in a moment." Xie Nanjia lit the tinder, and a smiling face was reflected in the faint light.
She was indeed smiling!
And he smiled with confidence.
Song Huai rubbed his eyes and looked at her in surprise: "Did you know this a long time ago?"
"Well... I guess so!" Xie Nanjia found the candlestick, lit the candle, and explained with a smile, "I felt that it was not a good thing for you to be plotted against all the time, so I wanted to help you find the person hiding in the dark and root them out. I'm sorry for using you as bait without your consent!"
She didn't tell Song Huai that today's rain was not predicted by her, but was calculated by Zhao Jingyu.
Zhao Jingyu followed Hu Qianshan to learn a lot about astronomy, geography, the five elements and gossip. Xie Nanjia didn't have much hope for him at first, but she didn't expect that he was actually quite capable.
Yes, today's trip to Jingyun Temple was planned in advance by her and Zhao Jingyu. Even if it didn't rain, she would find another excuse to keep Song Huai on the mountain.
The reason why she didn't bring Zhu'er with her was to let Zhu'er stay in the mansion so as to avoid revealing her and Song Huai's whereabouts.
The unknown opponent was hiding too deeply and was too cautious. He was waiting in the palace for an opportunity and it was unknown when he would succeed.
Of course, she couldn't guarantee that the opponent would come. It didn't matter if he didn't come this time, she had other tricks waiting for him.
"…" Song Huai was stunned for a while, and his eyes slowly turned red, "Why didn't you tell me earlier, so I could bring more guards with me."
"No need, I brought it." Xie Nanjia said.
"You brought them? Where did you get the guards?" Song Huai asked puzzledly.
As he was talking, the sounds of fighting outside gradually died down, his door was opened again, and Xie Nanfeng walked in, covered in rain and mist.
"Master Nanfeng?" Song Huai exclaimed, "Why are you here?"
"He is my bodyguard!" Xie Nanjia said with a smile.
"There were twelve assassins in total, eight of them died and four were captured alive." Xie Nanfeng reported to Xie Nanjia while wiping the water off his face.
"Twelve people? That's so many?" Song Huai murmured, "It seems like they are determined to kill me this time!"
(End of this chapter)