Born short-lived

"Well, it's really fragrant." Jiang Huaiwen nodded sincerely.

"This is the best. The petals were sent to dry yesterday." Aldan smiled, and reached out to pick up the exquisite small porcelain cup, "Dedicated to the distinguished guests."

"It's disrespectful." Jiang Huaiwen stretched out a hand, as if to pick up a cup, but suddenly stopped halfway, then gently picked up the cup with both hands, put it on his lips and took a sip, "Good tea."

This scented tea is different from Hua Xu's tea, it does not have the bitterness and mellowness, the scent of flowers is wrapped in a trace of sweetness, and the taste is as smooth as silk.

Wang Yun, who was kneeling beside him, hesitated for a moment, but still picked up his teacup and took a sip, his expression moved slightly.

"Some of us here like to add some milk to the tea. If you want to try it, I'll get someone to prepare it." Aldan took a sip of scented tea, as if recalling some rare delicacy, his expression seemed intoxicated, "You Hua Xu Do people drink milk?"

"I also drink it, but people in Northwest Xinjiang drink it, and people in the Central Plains mainly drink goat's milk."

"Then do you drink scented tea?" Aldan continued to ask.

Jiang Huaiwen didn't think too much, and replied casually: "Only princes and nobles, rich businessmen and big businessmen drink."

Immediately, Wang Yun's face turned cold, and he gave Jiang Huaiwen a calm look.Jiang Huaiwen was stunned for a moment, and immediately realized that she wanted to slap herself in the face.

"Oh? It turns out that our Sanhua Silan has such a status in your country, how lucky it is." Aldan smiled inexplicably, and took a sip of scented tea with lowered eyes.

Jiang Huaiwen felt uneasy for a while, she moved her lips but didn't know what to say.

The flower used to brew scented tea is called Si Lanhua, which has the same name as Sri Lanka because the people here regard it as a sacred flower.It only grows in the land of Sri Lanka, and it must not be taken away by foreigners, but the local people will use it to make scented tea after it withers, which is regarded as the nourishment of the people by the holy flower.

Over the years, many people have been doing business with Silan, but as a vassal state, Silan is inevitably at a disadvantage. Many powerful and powerful people are so inflated that they want to pick off the stars and use them as grinding stones. Naturally, they will not let Silan go. Orchid's holy flower, when they were full and had nothing to do, they made things difficult for those Muslims, and they just "bought" their holy flower back.

It's just that Silan is Huaxu's vassal state. In the eyes of those arrogant Huaxu people, they are all uncivilized barbarians. Although they all know about this sacred flower, they seldom take it seriously.

Jiang Huaiwen has never dealt with Muslims, and no one in his hometown has this good habit, so he inevitably overlooked it.

"Your Majesty may have misunderstood a little," Wang Yun, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly said, "How could the scented tea we drink there be made from the holy flowers of your country? It's just that those rich and noble people drank too much bitter tea and raised some gold and nobles. It's just a change of words, but I don't know why the king suddenly thought of coming here?"

This time, Jiang Huaiwen breathed a sigh of relief calmly, thinking how could he be so reckless.

However, the person next to him acted so calmly, without blushing or heartbeat from the beginning to the end, which is really admirable.

Aldan was pushed back by a sentence, his expression was gloomy for a moment, and then he changed into a calm smile: "I was wrong, I made a slip of the tongue."

After saying this, Aldan stopped talking, and only looked at them with a half-truth and half-fake smile on his face.The host kept silent, and the two of them as guests had no choice but to stay silent. The atmosphere was so awkward that it almost froze.

Finally, the carriage drove into the Chengguan, and the outside of the carriage began to gradually become noisy.Jiang Huaiwen gently raised the curtain, wanting to see what the legendary city of Silan looked like, but when she raised her eyes, she was shocked by the scene in front of her.

Not because of how prosperous it is, the reality is quite the opposite...

The streets are full of crowded dilapidated earthen houses. Although Silan is not cold in winter, it is also very windy. Those dilapidated houses with the size of a child's fist in the cracks in the walls know that there must be air leakage from all sides.The windows of many houses are covered with cloth strips, and when the wind blows, they shake like sifting chaff.

This is pretty good. Some houses haven’t even finished sealing the roof. I don’t know if they have no money to seal them or they were washed away by the rain. They just absorb the essence of the sun and the moon like this.

It was rare to see a few shops on the street, and even the cloth for the shed was mended again and again. The colorful patches fell so that the shed wanted to stick to the head of the small vendor.

The people on the street are crowded, wearing all kinds of coarse linen clothes, in different shades of gray, most of them are yellow-skinned and thin.From time to time, some unkempt women in ragged clothes can be seen standing by the side of the road with their children on their backs, looking around blankly.

At that time, Jiang Huaiwen didn't know what these women were waiting for. Later, I heard from the Silan people that they were all old women. They were old and yellow, no one bought it, and they accidentally conceived a child, so they could only stand outside. street.Helpless, most of them are homeless and unaccompanied. They go out to make money by themselves and their children are left unattended, so they have to take them with them. When doing business, let their children watch by them. Fortunately, the people who choose them are not very picky. ...

As the carriage was walking, I saw a gray-faced little boy running past the carriage with bare feet. The boy had a muddy leg, and his clothes were so tattered that it was almost useless to keep out the cold. The big black eyes are extremely bright.In his right hand he was holding a crudely made wooden figure, also covered in mud.

He seemed to have rarely seen such a big golden carriage, so he couldn't help but stop to look at it, but accidentally bumped into Jiang Huaiwen's sight. Jiang Huaiwen just wanted to smile at him, but the child was already frightened He lowered his head and ran away without touching the ground.

In the corners of the streets and alleys, you can see yellow and thin beggars everywhere, some of them are skinny and skinny, and their bodies are naked, curled up in the corner like a shrimp, motionless.

How could this be?

Jiang Huaiwen frowned in disbelief and thought, then turned to look at the jeweled Aldan in the car, suddenly feeling a little unreal.Jiang Huaiwen's throat rolled, and he swallowed what he wanted to say, then turned his body around and stopped looking out.

I saw that Aldan didn't make a statement, but his expression became more dignified, and he remained silent.

Naturally, Wang Yun also saw the scene outside the car, and just continued to drink his tea without saying a word, and glanced at Jiang Huaiwen from time to time, until Jiang Huaiwen couldn't stand being watched by him, so he replied His eyes indicated that he was fine.

If the capital is like this, what about the border?

The gleaming golden carriage passed through the crowded and dilapidated streets, looking absurd and abrupt, like a golden ball rolling through a cesspit.

While the rich wine and meat smell, the road with frozen bone.