Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

Linglong said hesitantly, “I still can't leave the palace. Even if I could, how would I go? I've never left home before.”

“That's true,” Fang Zheng nodded in deep agreement. “But if you really want to go, I can think of a way for you. Actually, it's not that difficult.”

“Aren't there often merchant caravans going to the border towns? Just go with them. Once you get to the border town, follow a Great Jing caravan.”

“How do I follow a Great Jing caravan... I don't know anyone,” Linglong said blankly.

Fang Zheng smiled, unfastened his waist tag, and seemingly casually placed it on the table. “That's just a matter of a word from me. You take this tag, and anyone can take you along.”

Linglong's eyes narrowed as she looked at the ivory waist tag on the table.

The back of the tag was facing up, with intricate patterns carved on it. It looked very delicate and valuable.

“This… Sir Fang, are you kidding me? This waist tag must be very precious, right?”

Precious? It was more than precious. If an ordinary person dared to touch this waist tag, losing their head wouldn't be an overstatement.

Fang Zheng said with a relaxed expression, “It's nothing. I have many tags like this.”

“Seeing the tag is like seeing me. My subordinates often use it when they go out on errands, so it's not considered precious.”

“You take it to the border town, find the officials there, and have them arrange things for you. It's very convenient.”

Linglong struggled inwardly for a moment, then shook her head. “Thank you for your kindness, Sir Fang, but I can't leave Pantai City.”

“Why?”

“According to the rules, if I leave the post house, I have to return to the palace.”

Fang Zheng looked at Linglong calmly and shook his head. “Nothing in the world is impossible if you set your mind to it. You've been with me for so long and have worked hard. I think the National Preceptor would easily let you leave the city. Your refusal only means you still don't want to go.”

After Fang Zheng finished speaking, he slowly retrieved the waist tag in front of Linglong and reattached it to his waist.

Seeing the waist tag being taken back, a trace of regret flashed in Linglong's eyes, and she felt a sense of disappointment in her heart.

Fang Zheng said regretfully, “Speaking of which, it's quite a pity. Linglong, a smart and studious girl like you should go and see Great Jing. At your age, I couldn't speak two languages.”

“But when I was young, I really liked traveling and studying, going around to admire the scenery and traveling to many places. Because my mother told me that a person should have at least two impulses in their life: one for a love that is reckless and selfless, and one for a trip that is taken on a whim. A trip on a whim is life's most beautiful luxury and its most brilliant freedom.”

“If you were born in Great Jing, you should become such a woman: not flaunting, not arguing, but being a learned woman; not empty, not impetuous, but being a rich woman; even if life withers, aging gracefully, rather than being an unknown in the palace.”

How could I not have thought about such a life, but how dare I hope for it?

A bitter expression appeared on Linglong's face, and her eyes dimmed again.

“I… I don't dare to go, and I don't have money.”

Fang Zheng's eyes gradually softened. “Dreams are not a luxury, as long as you bravely take the first step. I think since you want to, you can spend a few months to take a look, to see the scenery of Great Jing, to personally experience the Goddess Festival, and even study at a girls' school for a period of time, giving yourself a different life.”

Linglong still shook her head, but her emotions were visibly worse.

Fang Zheng was not in a hurry. “It doesn't matter. It's your own business. Go if you want to, don't go if you don't want to.”

“But I can see that you are a woman with dreams and ideals. As long as you want to go, I can definitely help you. I have plenty of money here. Those troubles you mentioned are nothing. I can even talk to the National Preceptor.”

“Linglong, in a few days, I'm afraid I'll be busy with official duties and won't have time to return to the post house. You can think about it carefully these two days. After the day after tomorrow, I'm afraid there won't be time. I have something to say to Qinghan, so you should go back and rest early. Come and find me anytime when you've made up your mind.”

Linglong hurriedly got up, gave Fang Zheng a grateful look, and, gathering her skirt, said, “Thank you, Sir Fang, then I'll go back and think about it.”

As soon as she left the room, Chu Qinghan immediately asked, “Will she agree?”

Fang Zheng pondered for a moment and said, “Hmm… hard to say, but I feel like she will agree because she has awakened!”

Chu Youyi slowly opened her cherry lips. “What awakened? She awakened after talking for a few days?”

Fang Zheng rolled his eyes.

Otherwise, what? Does she have to suffer all kinds of hardships, have a loved one die, and give you a Super Saiyan transformation on the spot to count?

“If she had never seen the sun, she could still endure the darkness. Great Jing is so good, what reason is there not to want to go? You ask yourselves, if you two lived in the Jin Kingdom, would you want to go to the Great Jing I described?”

“Want to go,” the two sisters said in unison.

“That's right, this is awakening. What's so complicated about it? Just ask yourself, who am I? That's enough.”

“She just wants to take back the rights that should belong to her as a human being and see what kind of life she should have originally lived.”

Chu Qinghan's pretty face was full of admiration. Fang Zheng's set of arguments had unknowingly changed many of her views.

Chu Youyi had always listened to it as a joke. She was here for the snacks.

“The decision will be made in these two days. If she agrees, we must prepare in advance.”

As Fang Zheng spoke, he walked to the table, pulled over paper and pen, and wrote quickly.

Soon, a piece of paper filled with dense small characters was written. He shook the paper and handed it to Chu Qinghan.

“Qinghan, aren't you good at needlework? Embroider these words onto a handkerchief for me, try to embroider it into a pattern. If Linglong really agrees to go, then let her take this handkerchief, along with some other gifts, and say that you are bringing it to a friend in the capital. Send it to Xie Xian at the Banshan Newspaper Agency. As long as she gets to the border town, we will have succeeded!”

Chu Qinghan took the letter filled with content and looked at it, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion.

【 w ǒ b è ik ù nz à ij ī ngu ó .... 】

“What is this?”

“A kind of writing,” Fang Zheng said.

Many people in the county understand Hanyu Pinyin. Xie Xian, as a part-time teacher, knows it even better. In Great Jing, it is an encrypted text that only people in Taoyuan County can decipher.

Chu Qinghan frowned and pondered for a moment, and said: "Although using a handkerchief to send a message is hidden, what if your waist tag is exposed? Wouldn't Linglong be in danger?"

“No.” Fang Zheng took out the waist tag again and revealed the front.

The nine small characters of Fang Zheng, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, were engraved on it. He stroked it twice and said, “The guards at the city gate are just ordinary soldiers and have no culture. If I rub off the words on the front, this tag will become an ordinary ornament, and no one should recognize it when worn.”

“In recent years, trade between the two countries has been frequent. I have seen that there are still many Great Jing products on the market in Pantai City. It is not surprising that she wears this ornament.”

“The Embroidered Uniform Guard's waist tag has a special shape, and the internal communication has already understood it through letters. The Great Jing border officials can recognize that this tag is mine through the pattern. If Linglong takes the waist tag to find the border officials, as long as they are not stupid, the rest will be easy.”

......