Within ten miles of the capital, the places had already become more prosperous than the towns they encountered along the way.
This place was called Beiguan. It was full of shops and everywhere was crowded.
Miss Jun led Liu'er and the horse through it. Liu'er's two eyes couldn't see everything, and she was trying her best to maintain the decency of the eldest girl of an official family, so as not to be laughed at as a bumpkin.
"It is said that this is the best dried meat in the capital." Miss Jun shook Liu'er's hand and looked in one direction.
Liu'er saw a stall in a corner of the street, flying a fancy banner with the word Dong written on it.
"This is…" Liu'er said, lowering her voice again, "Is it marked on the painting?"
The lady said that this map of the capital was illegal, so she didn't refer to it directly.
What a sensible child, Miss Jun nodded approvingly to her.
Liu'er smiled and straightened her back.
"However, Miss, you remember very clearly." She said in a low voice again.
Aside from taking a look earlier, the lady hadn't taken out the map again.
That map was densely packed with words and pictures.
It was normal for the young lady to remember the inns, banks and so on, but how come she also remembered the humble snack stalls?
Was her Miss hungry?
Miss Jun pursed her lips and smiled.
"I just have a good memory," she said.
Of course, she also liked to eat.
Although there was never a fixed time or place to eat, her master liked to peddle his services for food. A handful of grass and a pheasant could be made to seem beautifully attractive by him.
She followed her master for six years, and she dared to eat anything she was offered, and she loved to eat it all.
She had also heard Lu Yunqi's introduction to which restaurants in the capital were good, and which kind of snacks were good. It's just that this Dong family pork jerky was not among them.
It seemed that this was added due to Zhu Zan's taste.
She just don't know if his taste was popular.
Miss Jun looked at the people surrounding the Dong family's dried meat stall. It was obvious that most of them were foreigners with dusty faces and curious and novel appearances.
Presumably everyone also had this map of the capital in their hands.
"Don't worry, don't worry, that's it."
The busy, sweaty boss reassured the waiting people. He very neatly baked the meat and put it in a paper bag.
"Is it really delicious?" The waiting people kept asking.
"Of course it's delicious. I've been selling here for 20 years." The boss replied, "If you don't believe me, go to the capital to ask about it. Who doesn't know?" Р
A young man took the meat that was handed over.
"I don't know what people in the capital say, and I don't have the time to inquire. The map says yours is good, so I'll try it out." He said, "It's not that you bribed them to exaggerate, right?"
The boss looked bewildered.
"Map? What map?" he asked.
The young man wanted to say more but the person next to him had already coughed and stared to give him a reminder.
After all, the map of the capital was banned. Although the government turned a blind eye, you couldn't blatantly take it out.
The young man smiled shyly, took a bite of the meat, and raised his brows after chewing it twice.
"Yeah." He sighed vaguely.
Before he could express his impressions further, the crowd that couldn't wait had already squeezed him out.
"Boss."
"Boss, I want two."
After waiting for a while, Liu'er also squeezed out with the meat she bought and handed it to Miss Jun who was waiting on the side.
Miss Jun took it and ate it, and also nodded in satisfaction.
"It's really delicious." Liu'er said repeatedly.
It was really delicious, but it was probably not true to say that the boss didn't know that his dried meat was marked on the map of Beijing.
Miss Jun looked as the boss saw off another wave of guests and greeted them with laughter.
She didn't know what Zhu Zan's cut would be.
It was certainly not a small sum of money once accumulated over time.
And this was not the only place to eat, drink and play on this map.
Miss Jun bit the crispy and fragrant dried meat, a little amused and a little curious.
How did Zhu Zan come up with this way of making money?
He was not from the capital, yet a person living in the north actually made money from the capital.
Was Duke Cheng very poor?
Because of the horror and painful memories left by the war that forced the capital to be relocated, whether it was the imperial grandfather, the father, or the current emperor, they all favored Cheng Guogong, who was stationed in the north to ensure the stability of the country, and they all provided money and other things without ever being harsh.
How could Duke Cheng raise a son who was so greedy for money?
"What else is there to eat, miss?"
Liu'er had already finished eating, and asked without hesitation, interrupting Miss Jun's daydreams.
Looking at her flushed face. Miss Jun smiled and led the horse.
"There are a lot of them," she said. "Let's go to the inn, freshen up and rest, and then eat them one by one."
Leading the happy Liu'er and the horse, they continued to walk along the street.
Miss Jun looked up in the direction of the capital. It had only been half a year since she died and now she had returned, and she was only half an hour away from where her relatives and siblings were, and she was also close to her enemies.
She felt that she should have a profound thought, but at this moment there was nothing in her heart.
No ideas.
It was only the distance that had narrowed. The mountain of identity and status was still difficult to overcome.
Still out of reach.
The night was dark, and now there was no curfew in the capital. The night market was still noisy and lively, but the tall courtyard walls of the academy were lined with ancient trees to block the noise.
There was no stagnant water in the quiet, and countless lights were twinkling in the dark, which were the students studying hard.
Ning Yunzhao's long table was illuminated by two lamps using high-quality lamp oil. The fragrance was not smoky, and it would not hurt the eyes.
But Ning Yunzhao wasn't studying hard at the desk. The unfolded scrolls were displayed on several tables, but he leaned on the chair and closed his eyes and seemed to fall asleep.
This sleeping man suddenly laughed again.
When he opened his eyes, they were not sleepy, but shining like stars.
"I really didn't expect it, it turned out to be so," he said, looking at the scattered letterheads under the scroll.
It was sent at noon, and he didn't need to read it any more. The content of the letter was already memorized in his heart. Naturally, it was about Miss Jun's skillful and exquisite arrangement.
It was a fake marriage.
"Even if you don't marry Young Master Fang, I think the Fang family will take good care of you."
He remembered what he had said to her in before.
She was a little embarrassed at that time, and he thought her embarrassment was because of the accusation in his words.
Accusing her of being the kind of person who didn't trust her grandfather's family so she wanted to exchange benefits.
Of course he didn't mean it like that. She really wasn't that kind of person.
"Young Master Ning is worrying too much." She said with a smile at the time, "It's unnecessary to talk about this now."
It turned out that what she wanted to say at that time was that he was thinking too much.
This was the exquisite qi game she arranged. At that time, she was arranging troops and couldn't talk to outsiders, so she could only implicitly tell him that he was overly concerned.
But he didn't think much of it at the time.
He only noticed that she said it was unnecessary to talk about it, thinking that she meant it was a done deal and therefore useless to talk about.
Turns out she didn't mean it that way.
What an exquisite game of qi.
Ning Yunzhao stood up and walked a few steps back and forth involuntarily. He felt both surprise and joy in his heart. He only felt that the sultry summer night had become pleasant.
That's what she does.
The woman who played blind qi under the tree and had fun with him, and gave a lamp to him.
She was like that, just as he thought she was.
The marriage was fake.
She was crazy, rambunctious, vulgar and ridiculous, and abandoned her engagement.
Just for the sake of righteousness, to lure the enemy.
The marriage was fake.
Ning Yunzhao paced back and forth in the room.
Although everyone was a student in school, they were born differently. Ning Yunzhao was rich and a son of the Beiliu Ning family. The house he lived in was the best around, not as cramped as other students.
There was an inner room in the house and a separate study room, and he took a dozen steps back and forth.
But he still felt that it was not enough and he wanted to go further.
To be able to walk in front of her and listen to her talk about qi with his own ears would be clearer than the storyteller's exaggerated handwritten descriptions.
One could ride north from Yangcheng overnight.
How about from Beijing to Yangcheng?
Moreover..
Ning Yunzhao stopped and looked at the scrolls across the desks.
The letter said that she was not in Yangcheng now.
Where was she now?
In the dark of the night, Miss Jun opened her eyes, looked dim-sightedly at the misty green bed coverings of the inn, and listened to the noise outside.
For a moment, it seemed that she didn't know where she was.
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This Chapter is thanks to Davicat <3<3<3
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