"Let her go," Jiang Lan said casually, glancing at the County Lieutenant's guards.
The mute girl was slight and frail, dressed in coarse hemp clothes covered in patches.
Before this, she had clearly been bullied by villagers afraid of being implicated; even her clothes were soaked through.
Her hair was a tangled mess, strands plastered to her face, its color tinged yellow from malnutrition.
She looked like a startled quail, shivering uncontrollably from the cold.
Even after being released, she still did not dare lift her head.
"Can you understand what I'm saying?"
"Don't be afraid. I won't make things difficult for you."
Jiang Lan spoke, his voice calm and gentle.
Perhaps his voice was too gentle. The girl timidly raised her head and glanced at him, then nodded. She stretched out a thin finger and pointed to her mouth, seemingly trying to tell him that she could not speak.
Looking into her clear, black-and-white eyes, Jiang Lan smiled. "It's enough that you can understand me. I know you can't speak."
Mute girl Xiao Ya stared blankly at him. It seemed to be the first time she had ever seen such a handsome man—fair as jade, dressed in spotless white robes, like an immortal who had stepped out of a painting.
"Do you know who I am?" Jiang Lan looked at her.
Mute girl Xiao Ya shook her head, her clear eyes filled with confusion.
In truth, she did not even understand why the people in the village had seized her, cursed at her, and splashed her with water...
Jiang Lan smiled and asked again, "Then do you know the Prime Minister's Manor?"
The girl still shook her head in confusion.
"Lin Fan has caught a chill and is severely injured. A little girl like her alone cannot save him."