Gu Qingci

Galloping on horseback, I compressed the original ten-day journey into seven days, crossed the Huai River in the early morning of the eighth day, and entered Rongcheng.

The city guards and guards in the capital seem to have changed, and they are all unfamiliar faces. I don't know them, and they don't know me.

The horse entered through the north city gate, headed straight for Yan Mansion, and finally stopped at the gate of Yan Mansion and snorted, looking exhausted.

I wanted to enter the mansion, but was told by the guard at the door that Lord Yan and his wife were not in the mansion.

"Then where are they?"

The guard looked at me up and down, saw that my hair was a little disheveled and my clothes were uneven, and said with a smile: "They have been sent into the palace by the emperor for several days, if you need help, you can wait and come back another day. "

The guard was a bit snobby and unreasonable, so I got on my horse again and ran towards the palace.Although he was anxious to see them, if they were in the palace, he had to see Liu Yueying first.

Holding the gold medal and galloping all the way, no one dared to stop him, so he got off the horse in the inner palace.

Looking at the familiar and unfamiliar jade railings, marble floor tiles, and dragon and phoenix stone carvings, I took a deep breath.His chest was full of magnanimity, without any hesitation, coyness, or timidity.

The supervisor of ceremonies guarding the gate of the inner palace moved my horse away, and a father-in-law came up to welcome me.He looked at me carefully, and said uncertainly, "Are you... Prime Minister Yang?"

"Exactly."

When he saw the gold medal in my hand, he understood: "You just came back from Qingzhou?"

"Yes, I want to see the emperor."

"It's a coincidence that the emperor just came to the morning court, but he didn't go to the government hall today, and now the imperial driver is listening to music in the theater."

Listen to music?That's right, now that she is in control, the canal is open to navigation, and General Xiao Chu takes the initiative to attack on the grassland, gaining the limelight, so she has time to relax and relax.

The father-in-law took me around the inner palace for a long time, and finally walked to the entrance of the stage.Chang Shi stood guard outside and was surprised to see me coming.

"Prime Minister Yang! When did you return to Beijing?"

"I just came back. Is the emperor listening to the Dong Xiao music in the theater building?" I thought she was watching a play, but when I stood at the door, I heard the low-pitched music coming from inside. It was the Dong Xiao.

"That's right, are you going to see the emperor now? The servant is going to give you a message—"

"No, no, no," hurriedly stopped him, "I want to give her a surprise, do you think it's okay, waiter?" Whispered a few words in his ear.

"This... the servant thinks it's worth a try."

==

Liu Yueying casually listened to the flute ensemble on the stage, the repertoire was rotated one by one, very boring.

Pianqiu brought up the freshly brewed tea, took a sip, and the tune just changed on stage.

As soon as the prelude came up, I knew which song it was, "Pingsha Luoyan".

Those who can play the flute in the palace are all the best in Daxing, but this little song still doesn't suit the emperor's wishes.

Obviously, it should be a distant and vigorous autumn river scenery in nature, but I always feel that I am being blown into a stickler.

Frowning without leaving a trace, he lowered his head and was distracted.

After a while, an extraordinarily stable flute sound joined in. It was not in a hurry, and gradually took the dominant position, leading the group of flutes.

The sand flow is washed by the clear and shallow water, and the boundless sky and clouds are thousands of miles away. A few wild geese fly past, seemingly solemn, hiding vitality.

Who captured the charm of this piece?Liu Yueying withdrew her scattered thoughts, raised her head and looked at the stage—she seemed to see someone who shouldn't be here, and frowned again, as if she had hallucinations.

Disregarding his manners, he gently pressed his eyes with his index finger, trying to make himself see clearly, and Pian Qiu who was on the side seemed to have noticed something, and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, does the person who leads the flute look like Prime Minister Yang?"

It's more than a resemblance, it's exactly the same, even there is a mole at the end of the crescent eyebrow on the left.

The magnificent scenery of the autumn river is magnified and flattened by the sound of the flute, unfolding completely and heartily, and then slowly dissipating.

The song ended, but this time the stage didn't change the song in time. The master flute player standing in the middle slowly walked down from the stage and walked in front of Liu Yueying.

"Your Majesty, I'm back."

"Xiao, worry?" When we reunited after a long absence, I suddenly realized that she pronounced my nickname so nicely.

One ascending tone, one descending tone, like a poem in the cold voice.

"It's me. My humble minister to the emperor..."

Before she could finish her sentence, she stood up holding on to the handle of the chair to stop my movement. She grabbed my hand suddenly, and then tightened it along the waist.

I haven't seen her for a year and a half, but I haven't had such close contact with her for two years, and I feel a little uncomfortable for a while.

Originally, I thought that when I saw Liu Yueying, she was still as deserted as before, and she dismissed this period of time with disapproval.

But now, she hugs me so tightly, it makes my waist hurt.

All the musicians on the stage left after I came down, but now, Pianqiu lowered her head without saying a word, and walked away along the gravel road, and the attendants around her also followed her out.

Liu Yueying just put her arms around my waist at first, and then pressed her chest to my chest tightly, with her chin resting on my shoulder without leaving a single gap.

She hugged me so tightly and with such force, I could feel her slightly trembling body, her strong heartbeat, and the fragrance that suddenly burst into my nostrils—the smell of light plum blossoms mixed with sandalwood.

I don't know how long it took, maybe the lotus in the pond opened a few petals, and then she slowly opened a little distance from me, looked up at me, and opened her red lips lightly.

"Are you finally willing to come back?"

There is a halo in her eyes, full of affection, with a glance of ten thousand years.

"I... I'm afraid of causing trouble for you, and I'm even more afraid that you don't want to see me."

She sighed and said nothing.We tacitly stopped this topic and talked no more.

"When did you come back?" she asked again.

"Crossing the Huai River this morning, I just arrived."

"You entered the palace in such a hurry?"

"...Well, I heard that you brought Xiaozhi and Yanxi into the palace." Although it's not good to mention others just after meeting her, she is still very worried about Yangzhi.

"So, you are in such a hurry to enter the palace because you want to see Yangzhi, eh?" Liu Yueying raised her willow eyebrows, "Then you still have time to play the flute for me? The dignified prime minister is actually free to do what a musician can do?"

She was really angry.

Helplessly squeezed out a wry smile, blamed her and said: "You still blame me, it's not that you have been hiding it from others, and let me know about Yangzhi a few days ago. Speaking of it - you have been unwilling to say, why? Let me know all of a sudden?"

"If you don't release the news to you, when will you come back?"

Whoops, she tricked me again.

However, what she said made some sense, and I was at a loss for words.

"How are you doing?" She restrained the out-of-control look on her face, like a flash in the pan.

This time I understood that she was by no means as calm as the surface.

"It's pretty good. Besides, you know how I'm doing. I don't have any news about how you're doing."

"You blame me?"

"Don't dare." She has always kept something bad from her, and she doesn't want to tell me more.

"...I'm not having a good time." Liu Yueying said such words to me for the first time.

"Well, getting rid of Hu Zhongli's chronic disease may sound simple to outsiders, but only you know how many things have been done, how many bureaus have been deployed, and how to make his party members dare not act rashly."

"No, that's not the reason." She looked me in the eyes calmly, and said calmly as usual, "Because you're not here."

The most numb and hard part of her heart was touched, and her words swept across her heart like a feather, shaking like an earthquake.

"Blame me for being too incompetent at the beginning. Not only could I not help you, but I also caused you trouble. It must be uncomfortable for you to face Hu Zhongli alone."

"Little worry, I have a question for you."

"Ok?"

"When Hu Zhongli was dismantled, he secretly united with the Nanman, but the Nanman suddenly changed. Did you do it?"

When I mentioned this, I laughed lightly: "Yes, I thought of a way. I read a spice called Luanhunxiang in ancient books before. It is useless to humans, but as long as livestock ingest this, no matter how docile All animals will go crazy. After Wu Xia made it, I let Sha Yu fall into the water source in the dense forest. I wanted to kill two birds with one stone, but it was a pity that I couldn't kill the leader of the Nanman directly."

Liu Yueying grabbed my hand again and interlocked my fingers.

"Xiao Li is so smart, it really helped me a lot. At that time, Hu Zhongli colluded with the rich merchants in Jiangnan. If Nanman attacked, the entire Jiangnan County would be lost, and he would directly threaten Jincheng, the accompanying capital. Fortunately, you dragged his right arm .”

"He lacks such a powerful weapon, how dare he do it?"

"Because Hu Zhongli underestimated the strength of the Nanman. He just wanted to borrow troops at first, and he didn't understand the ambition of the leader of the Nanman. What's more, he was worried that the night would be long and dreamy. If he gave me too long to prepare, the situation would be unfavorable to him." Liu Yueying reached out and touched my face.

"You are in Qingzhou, do you have a lot of contact with Sha Yu? According to the rumors in the world, she is a beautiful woman who ranks first on the list of beauties."

"...Not much, not much," the head shook like a rattle, "I rarely contact her, she's full of bad things, I don't like her anymore."

"really?"

"Really! By the way, there are beauty lists in Jianghu? I've never heard of them. Who is No.2?"

"Zhen." She looked at me without changing her face, and I was about to suffocate when I heard this answer.What a mouth!Curious about something!

"Then, this, it must be because His Majesty lives in seclusion, and those idiots in the Jianghu are not lucky enough to see the sky, so they don't know how beautiful His Majesty is, so they are bewitched by Sha Yu! I, I also have a question to ask you!" Try changing the subject.

"What?" She was happy when I told her, stars could be reflected in her peach blossom eyes.

"I heard that Hu Zhongli's intelligence line in Jianghu was completely destroyed at that time. Who did it?"

"Why, didn't your master tell you?" Liu Yueying looked at me with interest, her eyes were glued to me for too long today.

"Did Master use his connections in Jianghu?"

"Well, on Yan Shoufu's big day, I made such an agreement with your master. He promised to help me solve Hu Zhongli's eyes and ears, on the condition that I don't touch Sha Yu."

It all made sense, so it turned out that Liu Yueying had figured out all of Hu Zhongli's trump cards early in the morning. His failure was inevitable, and it was an accident that I was the only one involved without resistance.

"Okay, you go to see your sister, she and Yan Shoufu are in Xiangliang Pavilion." She knew that I was always worried about Yang Zhi, so she took the initiative to let me see her.

"When she gets better, I'm going to make her a first-class imperial wife."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." As soon as the words finished, Liu Yueying frowned again - it seemed that I could easily affect her emotions.

"When no one is around, don't be so restrained." She didn't let go of my hand, moved closer, and whispered: "Today, don't go out of the palace."

The words enter the brain from the ears, listen to the sound, nod and say: "OK."

I understand what she means, we are tacit.

Neither she nor I mentioned the previous incident, because it was wrong to say anything, so let's put it aside for the time being and don't think about it.

People, look ahead.