The Siyu Nunnery was truly a suitable place to live. Although it was located deep in the mountains, it was not a primeval forest, and there were few venomous insects and wild beasts. Coupled with a clear stream flowing by, it was elegant and unique.
Zhao Luoning gave some instructions and ordered Qiuling to arrange the things properly.
After all, it wasn't just her moving in, but also her mother.
To keep it a secret from everyone, neither she nor her mother could bring many waiting maids. All the utensils had to be rearranged.
Everyone got busy at once.
Zhao Luoning didn't want to disturb them anymore, so she followed Dou'er to the stream beside the nunnery.
Dou'er pulled Zhao Luoning and introduced the fish in the stream.
After all, she was just a child and still full of playfulness. She gave each fish a name.
They were all innocent and laugh - inducing names.
Zhao Luoning even joked with Dou'er.
"Dou'er, when you gave so many names, did you ask if the fish like them?"
Dou'er pouted and replied.
"When I named them, they didn't shake their heads, so I took it as their agreement."
"But they must have wagged their tails."
"I don't care. If they didn't shake their heads, it means they didn't object."
Dou'er's words made Zhao Luoning, who usually didn't show her emotions easily, burst into laughter. The red charcoal light shone on Dou'er's slightly embarrassed face, making her look extremely adorable.
Looking at the so cute and innocent Dou'er, Zhao Luoning's eyes softened.
She didn't know what was going on these days.
She seemed to have become extremely gentle.
Not only towards Dou'er, but also towards Jianxue, Jianwen, and even Huier, Zhao Luoning couldn't help but take a few more looks.
She hadn't been so fond of children before.
Zhao Luoning didn't think much about it. She just assumed that as she got older, her heart had softened, so she would especially like the little babies.
On the other hand, the news of Zhao Luoning's disappearance quickly spread to the capital.
The Capital
After all, traveling with the army was not as easy as when Zhao Luoning and the others traveled in a small group of two or three.
Ji Shisu and the others were half a month late in arriving at the capital.
The emperor treated the Ji family very well. Although it wasn't as comfortable as in the Ji Mansion, they weren't mistreated either. They had a single - family courtyard and were served by palace maids. Their treatment was quite unique.
Actually, Ji Shisu was also aware that the emperor had detained his family members back then, mainly hoping that he and Ji Shijian would fight hard on the front line.
After all, in Huangcheng, Ji Shisu and Sima Yi had a rather 'pleasant' relationship.
The emperor was suspicious. Keeping the Ji family members as hostages was his way.
This was also the reason why Ji Shisu had destroyed Zhao Luoning's identity in order to send her out of the mansion.
If they really lost the war, he, Ji Shisu, could live and die with the Ji Mansion.
This was what he, as a descendant of the Ji family, should do.
But Zhao Luoning couldn't.
Ji Shisu couldn't let the innocent her get involved in a war that had nothing to do with her originally.
Although fate played a cruel joke on them, and Zhao Luoning was eventually involved.
But it was better for her to be by his side than being far away in the capital, making him worry.
However, the carrier pigeon message from Huangcheng made him start to worry about his wife who never listened to the arrangements obediently.
Gui Su and Jing Su actually lost track of her?!
Although in the carrier pigeon message, Jing Su only reported the result and said nothing about the process of losing her, based on his understanding of Zhao Luoning, he could guess most of it.
His mischievous wife was full of tricks. Even he himself sometimes couldn't handle her, let alone Jing Su and Gui Su.
It would be effortless for Zhao Luoning to shake them off.
Ji Shisu's premonition was indeed correct. Since Chen Chuliu had visited Zhao Luoning in Panzhou, Zhao Luoning's behavior had become strange.
"My lord?"
Yu Chi was quite surprised that Ji Shisu didn't fly into a rage after hearing this news but instead fell into deep thought.
Not only was the lady acting abnormally, but his lord also seemed a bit out of sorts.
Was he driven crazy by the great blow?
Yu Chi thought this way because as soon as he heard the news, he had already prepared a lot of words in his heart to plead for Gui Su and Jing Su.
Unexpectedly, not only did his words go unused, but Ji Shisu didn't even lose his temper.
Did he not care about his wife anymore?
It was obvious that this was impossible.
Sure enough, before this thought had time to fully form in his mind, he saw Ji Shisu put down the letter in his hand, crumple it into a ball, and then give instructions.
"Since Ning'er took action only after arriving in Huangcheng, she must not have planned to leave Huangcheng. It's unlikely that she's at the Zhao Mansion. And we definitely won't find any news from the Yujing Silk Shop or the pharmacy. Send people to search around Huangcheng to see if there are any new wealthy families with unknown origins."
Although he was far away in the capital, he knew Zhao Luoning's movements like the back of his hand. Truly a couple! If his lord claimed to be the second most familiar person with the second young mistress's habits in the world, no one would dare to claim the first.
"Since Ning'er wants to leave, there must be her reasons. I'll deal with these when I get back."
Ji Shisu was so confident for a reason.
Since Caixue and Feixing left, Jing Su and Gui Su had taken over the task of serving Zhao Luoning.
Ji Shisu knew very well that Zhao Luoning hadn't found anyone to replace Caixue and Feixing yet, so it was impossible for her to completely abandon the business of the silk shop and the pharmacy.
As long as these two shops were there, Zhao Luoning wouldn't go too far.
"Tell them not to disturb Ning'er. Just conduct an undercover investigation. Ning'er did this for a reason. If Jing Su and Gui Su find her, just report to me. They must not act rashly."
Yu Chi nodded and firmly remembered his words. He originally wanted to ask a few more questions, but seeing Ji Shisu's gloomy face, he suddenly realized that his lord wasn't as calm as he seemed.
In fact, his lord was the one who suffered the most from this incident.
Thinking of this, Yu Chi swallowed his words and quietly left the room.
With a 'bang', Yu Chi closed the door.
The originally bright room suddenly became much dimmer.
Ji Shisu's expression was hidden in the shadows.
In the shifting of light and shadow, he took out a wisp of black hair from his bosom.
The hair was black and shiny, carefully combed and tied with a red thread.
Since it was cut from Zhao Luoning, he had always kept this small wisp of hair with him.
This was also the only time he had taken something from her without her permission.
On the night when she had voluntarily become his woman, he hardly slept all night. As he watched the flexible hair jump between his fingers again and again, somehow, two ancient poems came to his mind.
"Knot our hair as a token of our marriage, and grow old together hand in hand."
He truly wished to grow old with her hand in hand.
So he had taken her hair without permission.
However, Zhao Luoning had been trying to escape again and again.
Ji Shisu knew that when Zhao Luoning married into the Ji family, she had made two - way preparations.
She was always ready to escape from the Ji Mansion and from everything.