Shanglin Night Snow

The women finally left, Guo Kai closed the door behind him, walked back a few steps, and bowed down: "I pay my respects to Your Majesty, Princess."

The two people behind the closet were actually the current emperor Mu Yunqi and the eldest princess Mu Jinfu!

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty?!" Xun Miao suddenly changed color——for a long time, he didn't recognize him!But it's not surprising, it's just a mere eight-rank orthographic character, the last time I saw it up close, it was probably three years ago when the Golden Palace was called.

Seeing him stunned, Guo Kai hurriedly reported: "This is Xun Miao, Secretary Cheng. He and his second brother got acquainted earlier. Today, the two of us passed by here and came to have a look." In the middle, we will not disturb Your Majesty and the Princess to reminisce about the old days, and we will leave first, and we will visit another day."

"Brother Fang came, why did you leave in a hurry?" Listening to the sound, the princess sincerely tried to persuade her to stay, and said, "I must have something important to visit at such a late hour. Erlang went out to buy some fruits, and Silai will be back soon. Brother, wait for a while." Glancing at the absent-minded person playing with the bottle beside him, "Since you are outside the palace, you two don't need to be overly formal, what do the officials say?"

With a vague "hmm", Mu Yunqi raised his head and glanced at Xun Miao with a slightly casual look: "You are the new secretary Xun Miao?"

Xun Miao hurriedly bowed down: "The minister is right!"

Mu Yunqi rubbed his chin, but before he could say anything, he heard Jin Fu behind him "Hey", and turned around to see her staring at him with a puzzled face: "Just now, where did the officials get the plum blossom embellishing jade ointment?" ?”

Mu Yun prayed for a moment, then pointed to a drawer.

Jin Fu was stunned for a moment, then smiled wryly: "Wrong, that's Bai Langui Zhenlu."

Mu Yun begged with embarrassment: "Is it tight? It won't be poisonous, right?"

Jin Fu sighed softly: "It depends on when she uses it." Seeing everyone's confusion, she further explained: "Bai Lan Gui Zhen Lu is used to remove facial makeup and ointment, while plum blossom embellishing jade cream has the effect of whitening and concealing blemishes. I just took it wrong. The lady from shopkeeper Li’s family across the street, you must know that the layer of powder makeup on her face is very thick, if you don’t try it properly, your face at that time..." Liu Mei frowned slightly, "You must know that shopkeeper Li has a heart disease, so don't be surprised... "

Mu Yun Qi heard that his face was slightly stagnant, and asked: "Then, teach someone to change it back?" Yan Jian's eyes have moved away from the dark place, as if afraid that a colorful face will suddenly appear in it.

With a creak, the outer door was pushed open.

"Brother?" Guo Jian stepped into the door with a food box in his hand, and was somewhat surprised to see his elder brother (it was the first time he set foot in this shop since he was promoted back to Beijing), and he was even more surprised when he saw Xun Miao: "Brother Xun, why are you here?"

"Don't say too much now, quickly send this plum blossom ointment to Li's house in exchange for Bailan Guizhenlu, and explain in detail when you come back." Jin Fu stepped forward to take the food box in his hand, and gave it a small jade-colored bottle.

Guo Jian left, the room suddenly fell silent, the atmosphere was weirder than before.Mu Yun prayed and asked Xun Miao a few words, maybe he felt bored, and suddenly went to the backyard to watch the frogs.

Jin Fu stopped her and said: "It's getting dark early, and the frogs are all in the pond. How can I see them clearly? And Erlang will return in a while, and the official's house will sit for a while, while I go to the kitchen to take care of it, and eat some food for a while. Go back to the palace." This statement made sense, Mu Yunqi had no way to refute it, so he could only obey.

After the princess left, there were three other monarchs and ministers in the hall. They were speechless for a while, but each was in a daze.

In the stillness, Guo Kai faintly heard the occasional croaking sound, which seemed to be the cry of frogs.Reminiscing what the princess said just now, it aroused his curiosity: As Shao Jingheng said that day, although the weather is warm, but Yanjing has not reached the time when frogs are singing everywhere, even if there are not many frog shadows in the wild, why is he in such a busy city? In a corner of the powder shop, but you can hear the sound of frogs?Could it be that Guo Jian and his wife also like to gamble on frogs, because they are looking for and raising them in the house?Thinking of this, he suddenly became happy: so, it was a timely help for him!

After making up his mind, he stood up and bowed to the people who were bored playing with bottles and jars: "Excuse me, I just heard that your majesty and the princess talked about watching frogs, but at this time, the frogs around the capital have not yet matured, but at this moment In the midst of the bursts, it really sounded like frogs, so it's not... Did the minister hear it wrong?"

Mu Yun prayed for him and said, "You didn't hear me wrong, it was the sound of frogs, but this frog didn't come from Beijing, but was transported from the south of the Yangtze River." He moved his slender fingers and rolled the small bottle away from the counter. Jiao, "Since I mentioned this, I remembered that you had an argument with Song Xueshi because of this frog two days ago?"

Guo Kai was not surprised that the old man sued the imperial court because of this, but the official mentioned it at this moment, but his intention made him uncertain.After a moment of deliberation, I carefully reported the events of the day.

After Mu Yun prayed, he seemed helpless, and said: "Since that's the case, you should quickly accompany him with the frog, so that he won't babble with me every day and give me a headache."

Guo Kai received the decree from himself, and truthfully said: "I was planning to teach people to go to the south of the Yangtze River to look for frogs, but it is thousands of miles away, and I am afraid that I will not be able to make it back in half a month. Fortunately, I am here today. I am really glad that I will wait for the minister to say hello." The princess and my second brother borrowed some of them and gave them to the bachelor."

"Borrow?" Mu Yunqi pushed away the bottle in front of him, but this time he looked at him squarely: "Who said this frog belongs to your Guo family?" His eyes were half ridiculed, half proud: "But you don't know No wonder, in fact, these frogs are all mine, but they are fostered here."

"This..." Guo Kai was really surprised, hesitated for a moment, but carefully asked: "I am stupid, Your Majesty forgives my sin. However, Your Majesty knows the current situation of my minister, and it is really difficult to find frogs temporarily. Therefore, can I beg Your Majesty to get rid of the frogs here?" Ten or twenty frogs, let the ministers pay the scholar Song first, and after my family finds new frogs, I will return them as much."

When Mu Yunqi heard this, he laughed as if he had heard a joke: "You have a good plan, but you know how long it will take to go back and forth to the south of the Yangtze River? But you sent people to find frogs and come back. The weather is already warm, but is there still a shortage of frogs here? ? Let’s talk about it, how can the price of this frog at this time be the same as that of a frog in a month’s time?”

Although his remark seemed to be embarrassing, it was not completely unreasonable.

Guo Kai thought for a while, then said: "So, I will buy these frogs at the current market price. I don't know what your Majesty would like?" He raised his head carefully, and his brows trembled imperceptibly: "To be honest, the dispute between me and Song Xueshi is not due to It's a big deal, if you can't fulfill your promise within the time limit, although Yu Chen has to bear the name of "broken promise", according to the reputation of Song scholars, if you want to come to foreign discussions, you may not be too harsh on your ministers, but most scholars are unwilling to let it go. The two jumping frogs made His Majesty's ears dirty, so it's really my fault..." Before he finished speaking, he heard a strange "hiccup" sound from behind.

Guo Kai was stunned for a moment, then he suddenly realized that he turned his head and looked at the red-faced, red-faced man who lowered his head and covered his mouth: just now in the gourd soup shop, he was repeatedly reminded not to add so much garlic to the soup, but he refused to listen, but now he It's getting weird!

"Hic", another strange sound that could not be suppressed burst out from the other's throat.The instigator knew that he couldn't escape, so he had to bow down and confess: "I have disturbed Your Majesty, hope to redeem... hiccup..." Accompanied by a strange sound, a strong smell of garlic wafted around, causing him to cover his mouth and hold his breath in shock.

Frowning, Mu Yunqi waved his hand to tell him not to speak again, so as not to make the smell in the hall more complicated.After thinking about it for a while, he looked back at Guo Kai, and said in a probing tone: "Although you sincerely bought the frog, it is priceless right now, so what should I do?"

Guo Kai said: "Your Majesty is the king and the owner of the property. This price can be freely offered by your Majesty."

As if these words entered Mu Yunqi's heart, the corners of his lips were turned up, his mouth was red and his teeth were white: "Fifty sticks—a frog!"

"Hic—" there was another sound.

After deliberating, Guo Kai nodded, "Yes, but I have to choose this frog."

"No!" Mu Yunqi rebuffed flatly, "You pick the good ones away, what's the use of the weak ones left?"

"Of course, I can't send some weak ones to Song Xueshi, and he will not accept them." Guo Kai refused to budge.

Trading is deadlocked.There was silence for a long time, and only the sound of hiccups could be heard occasionally in the huge hall, sometimes high and sometimes low, long and short, even if the instigator covered his mouth and nose, it would not help.

In the end, it was Guo Kai who broke the deadlock: "I have another idea, Your Majesty will ask if you can. I don't choose - or to be precise, I only choose the small one, but the price must be lowered. Thirty pens and one frog. What does His Majesty think?"

Mu Yunqi snorted coldly: "You are delicate, choose some small ones, raise them for ten days, and they will grow up, and you will save half of the money, so it is worth it! But what is the benefit to me?"

"Nature is beneficial!" Guo Kai vowed, "I believe that choosing frogs is just like choosing people. You must choose good talents and use them. However, how do you know their qualifications for those young frogs? The so-called one in a hundred means that excellent talents must be used." It is a very small number, but I picked out ten or twenty young frogs, how many "talents" are there? On the other hand, your Majesty, it is not a big deal to let go of a mere ten or twenty frogs with unknown aptitude, but it is a net of six hundred. Now, I just know the current market price of leaping frogs in the south, as many as four or five per catty, and as few as two or three. It's only twenty or thirty yuan, even if you want to choose one from a hundred miles, you can still buy good frogs for six hundred. Six hundred (1) pieces, to spend on the way to transshipment, no matter how bad it is, there will be hundreds of them in Beijing, because, if you exchange [-] for a hundred, and exchange the small for the big, and the mediocre for the good, does your majesty say that it is useless?"

The sound fell for a long time, and there was no echo, and even the hiccup stopped at some point.Guo Kai turned his head and saw the people behind him frowned and pinched their fingers. He should be calculating, so he couldn't help laughing secretly; looking back and sitting down, the officials seemed to be thinking about it, but Guo Kai guessed that this was just a gesture.

Sure enough, when I was young, the person in the seat clapped the case: "Come on, you are sincere, and I can't bear to see you and Song Xueshi turn against each other because of a frog, so I will follow what you say. But when you take the frog, I must be present. !"

Guo Kai has everything he can do.

But because of the matter of begging for frogs, after a long time, the monarchs and ministers are not as unfamiliar as before, and the atmosphere in the hall gradually becomes warmer and more harmonious.Seeing the situation, Guo Kai made a decisive decision and bowed upward again: "Your Majesty, I have a request, please allow Your Majesty."

Mu Yunqi was curious: "What's the matter?"

Then he heard him say: "Tomorrow, the Infantry Division will start the trial of the generals involved in the Hanshi Rebellion. However, I am worried that such a closed trial will easily attract questions from outsiders. Because it is for your majesty, please send your ministers to the Infantry Division to hear the trial." , and record the whole story of each case, the prisoners' defenses, the evidence presented in court, etc., and return to the palace to present before the imperial court, so as to judge whether the court judges are fair."

Mu Yunqi pondered for a moment, and then sighed: "I heard that Guo Qing is upright and strong, and has always been fearless, but I don't think that there will be such times of looking forward and backward, panicking and worrying! No matter, since you have concerns, I will bring this case back to the front of the palace. The trial will be fine."

Guo Kai was taken aback, never expecting such a result!He said anxiously: "Your Majesty, I will report that this is not my intention. It is just that if I try the case behind closed doors, and the culprit is a general of our division, I cannot bear the heavy sentence at that time, but I am afraid that others will think that I am favoritism. Embarrassing." In a moment of desperation, he actually revealed the truth in his heart.

Unexpectedly, when the official heard this, his face turned cold, and he flicked his sleeves: "If you are upright, why are you afraid of criticism?"

Startled as if struck by lightning, Guo Kai was speechless.

Just at this moment when Guo Jian came back, and the princess had also made her debut, dinner was ready, so Guo and Xun knew they had fun and said goodbye.

It's still early to get out of the powder shop.

Walking all the way, I didn't realize I had reached Nanzhou Bridge.When we were about to part, Xun Miao seemed hesitant to say anything, hesitated for a long time, and finally grabbed Guo Kai, his eyes showed eagerness: "Next time, I will meet you but I have time, can you go to the vegetable market with me? Those meat, vegetables and fruits, I would like to go to the market." But when you bargain with others, you are always looked down upon, and today you know——it’s just an incoherent argument! So..."

Guo Kai held his forehead with a wry smile.

The two said goodbye.

Guo Kai went all the way along the Hebei Province of the state, facing the night wind that made his thoughts clear from time to time: After this night, on top of the doubts piled up in his mind, new questions were added.

I thought I was estranged from the princess today, but what I saw today is not like that, but with the naked eye, it is really hard to see any gap between the two, it will never happen, all this is just a pretense?Furthermore... Looking up at the dark night sky in the north, thinking of the imperial city that had already been closed and locked on the other side, Guo Xieshi wondered: If it is so late at night, if the emperor wants to open the palace gate with great fanfare, would it not be a waste of time for the emperor to go out at night? Everyone knows?How can he resist such a group of people in the court to discuss it? ...

at the same time.

A few miles to the north, in a mansion near the imperial city, it is quite different from the busy city not far away, and it has already fallen into silence.On the other hand, in the seemingly cold side courtyard to the west, the flickering candlelight in the main room reflected two figures obliquely on the window.

All around are silent, but I heard the voice of people whispering in the room.

"We made careful arrangements, and after a lot of hard work, we ended up teaching Guo Kai, a fisherman, to reap the benefits!... You repeatedly prevented him from being promoted, but now he is still leading the infantry with the post of Marquis of Duyu. You add revenge...why didn't you dissuade Jinshang that day?" Listening to the sound, the speaker was not fair.

The other person was indifferent: "Dissuade? Then I have to be a prophet, and practice the dice-throwing skills as well as him! Otherwise, I will give another remonstrance?" Paused, "For these small things, let him take two steps It doesn't matter. After all, the criticism against us in the court is getting worse. If it is not necessary, there is no need to cause public anger. When it is time to restrain yourself, you should restrain yourself... Guo Kai is a martial artist, he has no chest, and Zhiping is not talented. Let him take over. Military Commander, I feel at ease..." The words stopped abruptly, and they turned to a low voice: "Who is outside?"

The door of the room was pulled open suddenly, and the two stepped out quickly.

Under the moonlight like water, the open space in the courtyard was pale.It was quiet all around, not to mention people, not even a cat or dog was seen, only the breeze passed through, shaking the shadows of trees and whirling, quite a bit scary.