Shanglin Night Snow

The evening glow envelops the setting sun and hangs on the palace wall, and the afterglow stirs up the cicadas, and the cicadas come and go one after another.The breeze passed through, and the willow branches were blown to cut the water lines on the lake.

"You... don't chase me!" The tranquility in the twilight was broken by the sudden noise.Following the sound, two small figures chased along the lake one after the other.

The path by the lake was uneven, the little man in blue who was running ahead staggered and almost fell, when he turned around, the girl was about to catch up.

"Throw that thing away, or I will tell the empress (1) to drive you out of the palace!" The little man clenched his fists and raised his chest, with a fierce look on his face, but stepped back step by step.

The girl shook the blue-skinned bulging-eyed monster in her hand, and refused to listen to him, so she approached him a few more steps, and smiled maliciously: "Go! Your Majesty doesn't like me at all, but I still live here in the palace." For a long time? But it’s good if Daddy loves me. He scolded you for being cowardly the day before yesterday, if he knew that you are afraid of even frogs, he would hate you even more, maybe he will kick you out and let Yun Che (2) be the prince!" After saying that, he clapped his hands and laughed.

The little man's face turned red: "You're talking nonsense! Your Majesty said it, no one can take away the crown prince!"

The girl made a grimace, shook the frog in her hand and continued to approach, seeing the little man's face turned pale, but he was still carefully holding his fierce face and stepped back step by step, then put his hips on his hips and laughed: "If you are really scared, call me loudly!" Sister, I threw the frog away."

"No!" The little man gritted his teeth and puffed out his chest, "I am the prince, if you don't call me Your Highness, why should I call you Eldest Sister?"

"Because I am one year older than you!" The girl was confident.

"It's half a year old!" Angrily retorted, the little man took the opportunity to turn his head and run away, but the people behind him were already prepared, and caught up with him in two or three steps, lifting the frog above his head, as if to stuff it into his collar.The little man resisted with all his strength, and after a struggle, he finally broke free, but because of his panic, he staggered and ran towards the water's edge in a crooked manner.

"Ah Qi, be careful..." The girl was startled, and she opened her mouth to remind him, but the little man became more panicked, his legs trembled and he slipped into the water, struggling desperately for a while.The girl came back to her senses, ran forward and grabbed one of his arms and pulled it up with all her strength, but the man struggled violently again, and was about to drag her down with her.

At the very moment, a long and powerful arm suddenly stretched out from above, passed through the armpit of the child in the water, and with a light lift, he lifted him ashore.

Down-to-earth, the little man was stunned for a long time, obviously frightened, until he was lightly touched by the girl, and then he sat down on the ground as if he had just woken up from a dream, biting his lip hard, but the big tears still came out of his eyes.

"Ah Qi, are you... are you okay?" The girl was also quite frightened, at a loss what to do, her panicked eyes were full of begging to look at the boy who was beside her two ends taller.

"Your Highness, don't be afraid, the water just reached your waist. If you hadn't just struggled at that time, it would have come up by itself." The young man smiled slightly, stepped forward to help the little boy who was sitting on the ground, and to prove that what he said was true, he took his hand to put on his shirt. Touch it, "Look, it's still dry here." After saying that, he wringed out the water on his clothes and pants.

The little man was stunned for a while, then touched his chest in disbelief, his face became hot, he bowed his head and remained silent.

"Cousin, I..." Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, the girl had no choice but to brazenly step forward and tug on the boy's sleeve, and hesitated to speak.

Sighing, the boy's face was full of helplessness: "Princess, have you caused trouble again? Why don't you apologize to Your Highness soon."

The girl pouted her lips and bowed her head: "Jinfu is wrong, Your Highness forgive me."

The little man snorted and turned to look elsewhere.

The water on the clothes had been wrung dry, the young man straightened up, patted the puffy boy on the shoulder, and said persuasively: "Your Highness, the princess has admitted her mistake, a gentleman, please repay her grievances with virtue, Your Highness will forgive her." See He didn't say a word, but after pondering for a while, he turned to the girl, and questioned in his voice: "The princess's actions today are really out of line, just play around, but how dare you take the prince to this lake to play? If the water is deeper, At that time, no one was around, what should I do? Speaking of this matter, if the Queen Mother and the officials are taught to know, what will be the consequences?"

"It's not like that!" The girl became anxious when she heard the words, tears welled up in her eyes: "I didn't bring Ah Qi here, I met him here, and he was alone...don't tell daddy. "

The young man looked back at the little man in surprise: "Your Highness, you really came here to play in the backyard by yourself?"

The little boy was startled: "I..." Clenched his fists, his upturned face was full of unwillingness: "But if she doesn't chase me, I won't fall into the water!" Shaking the wet trousers, "My clothes are all wet now!" The palace servants found out that it is necessary to report to the empress, and they will not be reprimanded!" The more they spoke, the more anxious they became, and they stomped their feet and looked at the opposite side bitterly: "It's all her fault!"

The girl lowered her head and wiped her tears.

The young man pondered for a moment, and suddenly seemed to have a flash of inspiration, pulling the two of them closer, and said: "This matter is considered to be the first offense by His Majesty, and it is also an unintentional mistake by the Princess, so I will think of a way to prevent the palace people from knowing. Guaranteed, next time will not be an example!" Seeing the two nodded hurriedly, they said the way.

Although the little man was reluctant to hear this, but in order to avoid punishment, he could only nod his head and let the young man undress him.The girl ran away blindfolded, and she had to go back to the palace to send a message: The prince is discussing knowledge with his cousin, so it is inconvenient to disturb at this moment...

The wet trousers and shoes and socks are taught to take off, and the child puts on the boy's coat, watching quietly as the latter hangs the wet clothes on the branches to dry.It was still early in the day and the sun was still strong, and it would have dried up within half an hour. Even if the shoes and socks were still slightly damp, it would be fine if you accidentally stepped into a puddle of water.

"Why did Your Highness come to the back garden alone?" Seeing the prince's silence, the young man casually searched for something to say.

Pushing the loose clothes to his chest, the little man lowered his eyes and whispered two words: "Boring."

The teenager wondered: "Wouldn't it be more boring to play alone?"

Raising his eyes to look at him, the little boy's voice was cold and cold: "No one is playing with me. The palace people are all boring, Yun Che is too young, Jin Fu doesn't know the rules, and the empress doesn't allow me to play with her." After a pause, he turned his eyes to stare at Looking far away: "You only accompany Yun Che..."

The young man was stunned: "Your Majesty summoned me into the palace today to accompany the Second Prince..."

The little man curled his lips: "I didn't say I wanted you to accompany me, I just like to play alone."

But hearing this, the young man suddenly seemed displeased, and a sly smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Your Highness, you will be punished for lying, look behind you—"

Seeing how he dared to expose him, Xiao Tong was annoyed at first: "Who says I'm lying? I'm not afraid..." He turned his head, but immediately stared——

The lake, which was calm just a moment ago, is now surging with waves. After a while, a big crack opened on the water surface, and two round objects were exposed. With an earth-shattering shriek, a huge green-skinned bulging-eyed monster leaped out. On the surface of the water—it turned out to be a giant frog!

"Ah!" The little man jumped up, but the foreground was suddenly blurred.

Opening his eyes suddenly, Mu Yun prayed for his throbbing chest and gasped for breath. After a while, he realized that this was just a dream.

Sitting on the head of the bed and resting his eyes for a while, he ordered someone to fetch the box on the outer table, opened it, stared at the contents for a while, then touched it with his hand, but frowned and sighed, full of resentment: What did you say? He is afraid of one thing, but he can gradually eliminate his fear by seeing and touching it often. However, he has seen this wood frog for ten years and touched it for nine years. Hot limbs, cold eyes, dizzy heartbeats!In the end, it was Shao Jingheng who saw that he was a bully when he was young, so he used a piece of wood to prevaricate, but he believed it. Touch it once, and you won't be afraid of that living creature anymore...

It was the resentment, so I heard that the Huangmen came to report: the princess of the state of Jin asked to see her.Thinking that she would not enter the palace if she had nothing to do, Mu Yunqi was a little worried for a while, so he got up in a hurry and hurriedly ordered to announce.

After a while, the two met in the outer hall.Fortunately, Jin Fu didn't look different, so Mu Yunqi let go of his heart, and said with a smile: "You rarely go back to the palace on weekdays, so I may have something urgent to see you this morning."

Jin Fu also joked: "As the folk saying goes, the most afraid of rare guests coming to the door suddenly is either to have bad news or to borrow money. Did the officials think that I came here this morning to borrow money? If so, then next time I'm afraid they will I turned it down."

Mu Yun asked with a smile and scoffed: "What's the point of borrowing money? The Guo family is a wealthy businessman in the capital, but I am still afraid that you will not pay back your debts?"

After talking and joking, let’s get down to business. Jin Fudao brought Mu Yunqi’s favorite Maochunlou dim sum into the palace today. Because there are many people buying there on weekdays, there is little time to wait. It happened that Guo Jian went out early this morning. When he passed by, there were few people, so he went I bought some and sent them to him while it was good time.Just as he was talking, he heard that the servant came to report, saying that Song Yan had come.Mu Yunqi's expression turned gloomy at the moment.

Jin Funahan even teased: "Isn't the official afraid that the Song scholar will come to borrow money?"

With a sigh of embarrassment, Mu Yunqi shook his head: "You must know that this old man came back and talked for half a day, but it was nothing serious. It was nothing more than gambling with others, being bullied by others, coming to me to complain, and even slandering Rather than someone who is at odds with me, I really feel helpless. Fortunately, I haven’t seen him in the past few days, and if I think about it, I’m just taking advantage of the opportunity to bet on frogs. Fortunately, my ears are clean for a while, but I don’t want to come again this morning..."

That's the way it is said, but people have already arrived in front of the palace, so they can't see each other.Mu Yun prayed for a while, and then ordered Jin Fu to accompany him, thinking that this move might make the old man more interesting, so he resigned as soon as possible.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as Song Yan entered the room, there was no one else chattering, talking about trivial things, within a moment, Mu Yunqi was already drowsy, all the palace people were also frowning, and Jin Fu tried to be patient, but what he said When I was excited, I even spoke words of relief.Besides, although the old man was confused, he didn't understand it. After a long while, seeing that Mu Yunqi was speechless, he stopped chattering and expressed concern: "The old minister has not been with you for the past two days. What trouble does your majesty encounter?" thing?"

Mu Yunqi was taken aback, but he was inexplicable.

The old man saw that he was silent, but he thought he could see what he wanted, so he squinted his beard and squinted his eyes for a while: "I heard that two days ago, Fan Jina was in the palace again, accusing his majesty of being addicted to gambling and enjoying leisure, so that he slack off the state affairs, so that he can't do anything. His Majesty left in a huff! Is it because of this that Heaven's heart is displeased?"

Mu Yunqi's ears warmed up, and his words were vague: "This, it's not like that..."

The old man ignored the embarrassment of the emperor, but expressed his anger: "according to the old minister, your majesty is too kind, and it is tantamount to connivance to such arrogant people who claim to be upright and upright. I have nothing to worry about, and I am extremely insulting to His Majesty!" He straightened his back and snorted: "Your Majesty occasionally gambles, but it's just for leisure and entertainment, to relieve fatigue, how can it be distorted like that for no reason? It can be seen that all the fanatics have intentions to fight with you. Your Majesty is in trouble! In the opinion of the veteran, you should relegate this dry person!"

Mu Yun prayed for support: "The so-called rewards and punishments have reasons, rewards and punishments are clearly defined, and punishments are imposed without reason. How can we convince the public?"

The old man disdains: "Isn't it a crime to fabricate the truth, spread rumors, and insult Your Majesty?" He stroked his beard, and a sly light flashed in his dim eyes: "Besides, people are not sages, so why is there no fault? It's not difficult. But those who call themselves virtuous officials and gentlemen, who know how embarrassing they are in private? Your Majesty still remembers Xu Yuan, who used to boast of himself as an upright gentleman when he was in court, and Fan Qi, Kang Shihuan and others, surrounded him. The attendant spared no effort to promote it, but in the end, such incest|sex scandals broke out, isn't this enough to make His Majesty see the true face of this 'honest gentleman'?"

Mu Yunqi sighed: "The so-called chaos | ethics is just a one-sided statement, but there is no real evidence for Taiwan's impeachment, so it has to be speculative. Besides, Xu Yuan has never pleaded guilty, and the voices of grievances for him are still coming and going in the court."

The old man sneered: "However, he is still relegated from the capital by teaching, so he has to go to the poor mountains and rivers, but he feels wronged."

"That's because..." Mu Yunqi smiled wryly, but didn't say anything more.