Gongshang Confidante

Su Muxue couldn't laugh or cry, the two felt that they were helping each other, she raised her hand to brush the dry grass on Ning Xiaobao's head, and said, "Don't talk nonsense, how can you suffer?".

Ning Xiaobao suddenly grabbed Su Muxue's hand on top of her head. In the night, her eyes sparkled and her tone was casual, "She is now Princess Zhaoning of Dazhou, but she is no longer the Chao'er you held in your hand before." ", Su Muxue was stunned, and then looked at Ning Xiaobao, but she blinked, yawned, put Su Muxue's hand on the tip of her nose, sniffed, and said with a smile, "Mu Xue, your hands are so soft Fragrant",

"Nonsense!", Su Muxue gestured to withdraw her hand, Ning Xiaobao held on to her, squinted at her, and said jokingly, "It tastes better than roast chicken, I want to take a bite", Su Muxue raised her other hand , knocked hard on her forehead, Ning Xiaobao let go of the pain, rolled on the grass with his head in his arms, and looked at Su Muxue mournfully.

"Xiaobao, you've learned to be so bad at such a young age, Aunt Ning must clean you up." Su Muxue looked at her with no sympathy, raised her foot and kicked her leg,

"Aunt Ning is reluctant to hit me." Ning Xiaobao turned over and got up, patted the grass clippings on his body, and tried to pull her, and said, "Will you sleep with me tonight?", "Dirty, don't", Su Muxue held up her skirt, holding a plate in one hand, and Shi Shiran walked back.

Ning Xiaobao stood by the fire, the flames reflected on her face, the light and shade were uncertain, she frowned slightly, her piercing eyes followed Su Muxue's leaving back, and the corners of her mouth twitched, "That savage, willful My princess, I don’t know what’s so good about it, hum! From childhood to adulthood, you are the only one who can’t see her city.”

After walking for several days, they finally arrived at the nearest town. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and could take a rest to wash away the fatigue of the past few days. "Stop", suddenly they heard someone shouting loudly, followed by some commotion in the team, whispering The voice of whispering, and the scream of the woman, Zhou Chiyu was about to open the curtain, "Your Highness", Xia Hua was pulling the curtain outside, his voice trembled, as if he was a little frightened,

"What's the matter?" Zhou Chiyu gestured to lift the curtain and went down, "Your Highness, Your Highness, there are corpses on the side of the road..." Before Xia Hua finished speaking, Zhou Chiyu had already walked down, and Su Muxue followed her, whispering worriedly, "Chi Yu ...".

"Mu Xue, don't come here, there are many bones on the side of the road..." Ning Xiaobao ran over from the other end, grabbed Su Muxue's hand, and sent her in, "Xiaobao", Su Muxue shook off her hand hand, followed Zhou Chiyu.

Ning Xiaobao scratched his head, and shouted from behind, "Then don't blame me for not reminding you...they are all newly corrupted... unrecognizable..." Before she finished speaking, Su Muxue's face turned pale and she wanted to gag, Raising his hand to pull her ear, "It hurts, I'm doing it for your own good..." Ning Xiaobao said while protecting her ears.

On both sides of the road, there are many corpses scattered in strange poses, with their knees on the ground, kneeling on the ground, kneeling in the same direction, like some kind of sacrificial ceremony, some new flesh of the corpses is still there, mosquitoes Flies were flying, and some were rotting into white bones, which looked very strange.

Zhou Chiyu raised his sleeves, covered his mouth and nose, and said, "I don't know why, but there are dead bones on the road here, and they can't be buried?" She looked around, and occasionally people passed by, but they all turned a blind eye, and couldn't help feeling angry Meaning, Dao, "Promoting literature and knowing etiquette are the people's customs of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No matter what the reason is, letting the bones be exposed to the wilderness is absolutely inadmissible!".

"Yu Feng, go and find out, and then order someone to bury these bones," Zhou Chiyu ordered. Yu Feng led the order, and several guards went towards the bones. Before they could get close, they saw a group of people He came in a hurry, shaking his hands high, signaling not to move.

Those people rushed over, knelt down in front of the bones, kowtowed, "Masters, don't move around here", Yu Feng led his men to protect Zhou Chiyu, and said loudly, "Why did you do this?" ,

The leader, who was about fifty years old, had a goatee, and his lips were a bit torn, he kowtowed heavily and said, "Yuzhou is suffering from drought, the fertile fields are dry, and there is no harvest. The people are starving. The temple was entrusted by the gods to save the people from water and fire, so they gathered and excavated the dead bodies that had not been buried for a long time, and after the coffins were broken, the bones were thrown out in the sun to drive away the drought.”

I didn't expect the folk customs in the northwest to be so ignorant and rude, "It's ridiculous to be ignorant! Letting the dead not be buried, such a rebellious act, can't bring back the virtue of heaven's good life." Zhou Chiyu's eyes were angry, and he signaled Yu Feng to expel these gangs people.

But Yu Feng and other guards were allowed to attack with knives, the group knelt on the spot, refused to leave, and kept kowtowing.

Su Muxue slowly walked forward from behind Zhou Chiyu, and said softly, "Old man, the one in front of you is Princess Zhaoning, Zuo Sijian before the imperial court, you stand up now, it depends on human effort, the drought in Fengzhou has eased, and digging up human bones is definitely not the way to cure the drought." .

The goatee knelt in front and refused to get up, crying with tears and snot, and said, "The fertile fields are dry, the grains are not harvested, the rice and wheat are not available in the market, and the old family is desperate. There is really no other way. Please help the princess." The lives of the people of Yuzhou".

Zhou Chiyu took a look at Su Muxue, and said in a slow tone, "The emperor has heard about the drought in many places this year. He ordered the northwestern states and counties to open warehouses for relief, tax exemption and land rent of thousands of stones... Listen to Master Zuo Sijian. A cure for drought?",

"Master Zuo Sijian, please help!" Goatee led the crowd to kowtow, Su Muxue stepped forward to help him up, and said, "Old man, there are many ways to cure drought, such as planting trees, digging ditches, farming in dry land, watering waterwheels, etc. , I dare not speak nonsense, and after the situation in Yuzhou is ascertained, we will discuss the method of drought control."

The goatee was dubious, but he didn't dare to stop him. After all, it was Her Royal Highness and the officials in front of him, who led the crowd to stand up, and stepped back respectfully, watching the bones being put into the coffin.

The crowd settled in Yuzhou City, and Zhang Tian, ​​the prefect of Yuzhou, rushed to meet him, but Zhou Chiyu avoided seeing him, and Su Muxue talked with him for a long time, asking about the situation in Yuzhou.

It wasn't until late at night that Zhang Tian left in a hurry. Su Muxue sat in front of the desk, spread out the paper, and wrote with a pen. Fortunately, she heard Aunt Qing talk about some ways to cure drought, and when she was in Fengzhou, she still went to Fengzhou with her wounds. I saw the shafts, culverts, open channels, etc. that Qingsheng led.

Zhou Chiyu pushed the door open and entered, watching her writing vigorously in front of the case. Under the light of the candlelight, the crimson official uniform made her look like black eyebrows dyed gold, and her skin was like white jade. , a little more perseverance and determination than before.

A few strands of hair fell from her temples, her face was exquisite, her lips were slightly pursed, it was undeniable that Su Muxue, who was focused and dignified at this moment, made people stop and stare.

Zhou Chiyu stood quietly by the door, looking at her, his deep eyes flickering in the dancing firelight.

"Don't come in even if you're here", Su Muxue didn't look up, she kept writing, and traced on the paper, "I'm afraid I'll disturb you", Zhou Chiyu said softly, walked to her side, looked at the densely packed small characters on the paper, and some patterns , which is the general appearance of a waterwheel...

"I didn't expect Mu Xue to know how to cure drought?" Zhou Chiyu said. Su Muxue put the pen back into the pen holder, laid the paper aside to dry, took out the paper and laid it again, and said, "Indiscriminate farming and grazing, Daxing In construction work, the fields are exhausted and the land is exhausted, and the land is exhausted and the mountains are not harvested. Planting trees and afforestation, promoting water conservancy, dredging waterways, and dredging deep canals will prevent floods from being submerged. This cannot be done overnight, but it can fundamentally cure drought".

Zhou Chiyu nodded and said, "Can Aunt Qing's method of diverting underground water in Fengzhou be used in Yuzhou?" Su Muxue shook her head, but said with a smile,

"Although there is no groundwater in Yuzhou, there is Yongchuan River. The river is irrigated by overturned carts, and the fields are irrigated. Those with more water carts will irrigate more than [-] mu of land. They are placed along the river, supplemented by deep plows and drains. The hoe and other farm tools can solve the urgent drought in Yuzhou, and..."

Zhou Chiyu bowed his waist and looked down at Su Muxue's writing carefully. She got a little closer, Su Muxue froze, and didn't know what to say. Zhou Chiyu was a little tired from reading, so he put his chin on her shoulder, lightly Asked lightly, "What else?",

Su Muxue lowered her head, raised her hand and brushed her hair from her sideburns, revealing half of her small earlobe, which was about to drip red, and hesitated, "Also, I have to go to Yongchuan River tomorrow, it may take some time ...",

"But the [-]th day of next month is the big wedding day of the Guhe clan. It's only [-] days away, and there are still [-] days' journey from here, so there will be no delay..." Su Muxue's temples were blown by Zhou Chiyu's breath. The hair on the side was fluttering in the wind, she regained her childlike innocence, and blew it lightly, and the strand of hair danced lightly around her white neck.

The warm fragrant wind blew over her neck, and her hair touched her skin, making it itchy. Su Muxue tilted her head, not only her ears, but also her neck turned red, and she snorted, "Chi Yu, don't make trouble...",

As soon as the words came out, the tone was so gentle and lingering, trembling slightly, and the voice plucked, Zhou Chiyu straightened up, looked at her sideways, tapped her neck with his fingertips, and said with a light smile, "Mu Xue's skin is like cicada's wings , suddenly red",

Su Muxue straightened up her collar, looked at her reproachfully, "Don't mess around", Zhou Chiyu looked at her with his hands behind his back and said, "Imperial Father gave you the title of Zuo Sijian, there is a real meaning in it, you are sympathetic to the common people, and read a lot of books." It is indeed a blessing for the common people to follow Aunt Qing to learn the skills of farming, forestry, fishing and farming",

"Stop praising me. Since there is not much time left, I have to write out the drought control method as soon as possible and submit it to Zhang Zhifu. Tomorrow, let him gather all the manpower to build the overturned car, and then go to Yongchuan River to paint." Su Muxue smiled at her With a smile, the eyes flow like waves, the eyebrows are picturesque,

Zhou Chiyu stepped back towards the door, saw her pink dimple and dizziness, and said with a smile, "Master Zuo Sijian, she is a woman who is unparalleled in both talent and beauty",

"In terms of both talent and appearance, it is the Queen Mother. How can Mu Xue dare to compete with the sun and the moon, and don't talk nonsense." Su Muxue dipped her pen in ink and said, "It's getting late these days. If you are tired, take a rest earlier."

Zhou Chiyu raised his sleeves to cover his face, yawned, turned around and walked outside, and said, "You should rest earlier too", Su Muxue agreed, buried her head in writing, occasionally stopping to think.

The night was getting darker, Su Muxue rubbed her forehead, it seemed that she was going to stay up all night, the tea in her hand was already cold, and the servant girl was so sleepy that she fell sideways by the door, she couldn't bear to wake up, changed the paper, and continued writing.

The lantern under the eaves, the candles flickered, and then there were a few slight sounds above the head, as if a cat had climbed up the roof. Su Muxue stopped writing, and a small stone rolled down from the eaves, just hitting the crooked On the head of the maid by the door,

"Hmm..." The servant girl rubbed her eyes, woke up with sleepy eyes, looked up at the sky, and muttered, "Is it raining?" The servant girl turned her head and saw Su Muxue was still buried in the case, and hurried into the room In the middle of the night, he asked, "Has your lord not gone to bed yet? The tea is cold, and the servants are going to boil some hot water, and then twist the veil to wash your face",

The servant girl rushed out the door in a hurry, a slight laughter came from the roof, she hurriedly covered it with her mouth, and then, there were a few sounds from the tiles, and then there was no more sound, she seemed to be lying down, Su Muxue shook her head , ignore her.

Ning Xiaobao crossed his legs, put his hands behind his head, and looked at the bright moon in the sky, the silver light sprinkled on the tiles, like a layer of icing sugar.