After being mistaken for a fellow by Long Aotian

After the parade, it was the Qionglin banquet where the emperor entertained the examinees.During the banquet, it began to rain lightly outside the hall again, and the bell rang lingling.

The hall is filled with toasts and cups, so it's very lively.Yan Jia had a thin skin and was poured down with a lot of wine.Even Zhou Xun couldn't refuse the visitor's kindness, and drank several cups in a row, his usually white cheeks were stained with a mist like a flower mist.And Li Miao... Li Miao looks stupid, but he understands these social expressions very well. Compared with Zhou Xun and Yan Jia, his situation is actually better.

It's another glass of wine, Zhou Xun is not good at dealing with such occasions.Fortunately, the rain had stopped, and he claimed to be incapable of drinking, so he went for a walk in the backyard under the pretext of sobering up.Before leaving, he glanced at the throne, the emperor was surrounded by several senior ministers drinking wine, and the bald, kind-hearted scholar was drunk, and was holding the emperor's hand with snot and tears , Feeling that now the emperor is finally diligent.He looked at the emperor with such affectionate eyes that it made people feel flustered, and people even wondered whether he saw the emperor as his youthful self when he was young... and the emperor kept patting him on the shoulder, talking with him Talking, lovingly like a battle-tested old father, and constantly changing postures, to prevent the old minister from spilling his snot and tears on his own royal haute couture skirt.

Zhou Xun felt like laughing again, he thought, the emperor really made him feel like laughing all the time.

There were many beautiful exotic flowers and plants planted in the backyard, Zhou Xun walked a few steps, and leaned against the tree to rest alone.The moonlight was very cool, and he heard the voice of someone coming out behind him. It was the voice of Yan Shangshu and his colleagues. The colleague said: "...The Yan family has double happiness, congratulations."

It turned out that Zhou Cai came back from the northwest with merit alone, and because of matters related to that merit, he had the right to stay in the capital for a year.As for whether this year will turn into two or three years... it all depends on Zhou Cai's own fortune.

I just don’t know if Zhou Cai was looking at him on a certain street when he was parading today—just like he was in the medical clinic that day, listening to the bustle outside and hearing everyone praising the beauty of the new champion like that.

The human voice came to this side, so Zhou Xun walked to the other side.Across the pond was a rockery, and he was about to sit down when he heard a voice behind the rockery: "...Really? I remembered, your sister is getting engaged this month. April [-]th is a very auspicious day. "

"His Royal Highness, Princess Xie." The other voice was Yan Jia's voice, "I still remember that the princess and her sister lived together in the Royal Garden for a few months when they were young, but it was many years ago. No, I didn't expect Her Royal Highness to still remember my sister..."

"That happened when I was ten years old, right? I spent the summer with Princess Qinghe in the other garden. My father was afraid that I would be lonely, so he chose a few noble girls from the capital to accompany us. But how did my father know that Qinghe County and I were together?" The Lord rides horses and plays cuju every day in the Bieyuan, and all the girls he finds are from the scholarly family, and we can’t play with us. We are so tired of these delicate girls who keep their mouths open all day long. "The voice of the eldest princess said, "At that time Princess Qinghe pointed to a horse and said, whoever dares to ride down the hillside, she will leave him behind, and everyone else has to go home. At that time, those young ladies No one dared to move, only your sister got on the horse. The hillside was so steep that even Qinghe was not sure that he could ride down the hillside. But your sister held the rein and rode the horse directly from the hillside down. Everyone else was terrified by her."

Yan Jia's voice paused, and he said: "I was young at the time, and I never heard of this from my father. I never thought that my sister would actually..."

"In your mind, she is a boring girl, right? But you don't know about it, it's normal. Even your father doesn't know about it." The eldest princess said, "She is not as dull as you think, and she is not as dull as you think. Not as heroic as you think. At that time, I rode down to catch up with her and saved her from the horse. Later, when the medicine was given, she kept crying. Qinghe was terrified at that time, and kept apologizing to her. But she I just kept saying not to tell her father about this, if her father found out that she was riding a horse, he would definitely not forgive her. I asked her why she got on a horse when she obviously didn’t know how to ride a horse. In fact, Qinghe just said that she should Knowing that Qinghe was deliberately making things difficult for them ladies. She said that since she was sent by her father to accompany the princess, she must do things well and not go back... She really loves to cry, and she cried for a long time. But then we There is no intersection, only met a few times, and there is no friendship."

She looked pale when she said that.After a while, Yan Jia said, "I wonder if the eldest princess is free..."

"I won't stay in Beijing for too long, and I will leave soon. I probably don't have time to go to your wedding banquet. I heard many people say that she and Zhou Cai have a good story, but unfortunately I have never been interested in these stories of talented men and beautiful women. , and I don’t bother to understand their stories.” The eldest princess said lightly, “Say congratulations to her for me, you are her younger brother and the second place in the list, you should be very talented, and the words you write will always be better than mine. It's even more beautiful when it comes out."

Yan Jia said respectfully, "Yes."

For a while, there was nothing to say between the two of them.Finally, Yan Jia resigned.When he was about to turn around and leave, the princess suddenly smiled.

It turned out that she didn't always have a cold face, she was also very beautiful when she smiled.She said: "Does your sister still cry a lot now? If she still cries so much now, prepare a few more silks for her on the wedding day. A woman's bride should be the most beautiful time in her life, right? Don't let her cry." If the makeup is worn out, it will not be beautiful."

Yan Jia left, and there was only the sound of stagnant water falling from the treetops under the rockery.The eldest princess closed her eyes, she seemed to be a little tired suddenly, and the cold mask that was once worn on her face disappeared.At this moment, she is not beautiful, not only is she not glamorous, she even looks mediocre due to fatigue, ordinary and ordinary.

And when a drop of water fell on her forehead, she heard a voice behind the rockery: "If you really don't care and are not familiar with it, how can you remember the day of April [-]?"

The voice was actually very soft, but it had an indescribable taste.The eldest princess turned her head vigilantly in an instant, but she didn't see the figure of the man, only the rockery and tree shadows.She said coldly, "Who is there?"

"It's very strange. I remember a small incident ten years ago so clearly, but I said that I have no friendship with her." The man continued, "Is the jade plaque on the princess's waist a jade plaque bestowed by the late emperor?"

"Jade card?" The eldest princess was even more chilled, she sneered, "So what?"

"Is the one carved on the jade tablet a peony?"

"...What does this have to do with you?"

"It has nothing to do with me. It has something to do with Miss Yan's fiancé, Zhou Cai. Miss Yan's fiancé also has a jade plaque. That jade plaque is made of the same piece of jade as the rest of them. It was carefully carved by the same master, so the pattern is similar. The jade tablet of Miss Yan's fiancé was given to him by the emperor, with lotus flowers engraved on it."

"What do you mean?" the eldest princess snapped.

She stood up, her skirt was stained with muddy water.She looked around, trying to find where the speaker was.But there are trees and shadows all around, and the rockery forms an intricate maze around her.For a moment, she felt as if she was in a very weird puzzle, and the answer was buried in the puzzle.The silk thread to solve the puzzle was held by a person.

The person was unhurried, talking slowly and putting the thread on, but the exhaustion on her face collapsed.Following the voice, she finally found the direction of that person, so she walked quickly towards it.

She walked faster and faster, and the man's voice became faster and faster: "Two years ago, Zhou Cai was a hero who saved the beauty and saved Miss Yan. You are not interested in hearing the stories between them, but this story That's how it happened. Miss Yan went to the temple to seek marriage, maybe her father Yan Shangshu thought it was time for her to find a good family. She got on the carriage, entered the temple, and burned incense, but met I got on a gang of bandits. The carriage overturned, and she fell into the water. She was rescued by a man. The man sent her back to the temple, but unfortunately he seemed to have something urgent to do. After putting her in the temple , and left in a hurry. But when she was half asleep, she only saw that man was wearing men's clothing and had a jade plaque on his body. The jade plaque seemed to be a pattern of flowers..."

The eldest princess walked faster and faster, until she almost ran.She went through one corner after another, she didn't know what she was chasing after running so fast?Do you chase that person's words?Chasing this suspicious person?Follow this story?Still chasing... a story that was supposed to be over, but she couldn't catch up?It was as if she had caught up with that voice, that person... could she also catch up with a certain missed rain?

"... When she woke up, she came out of the guest room and saw Zhou Cai who came to offer incense with Zhou's mother that day. The Zhou family has always had the habit of donating merits in the temple, and she saw the piece A jade tablet, a jade tablet engraved with a lotus flower, the lotus flower is very similar to the peony, isn’t it? With the harshness of the Yan family and the reputation of the daughter’s family, if she is seen wet, she must marry this person What's more, paper can't wrap fire, and her father knew about it that day. So a gifted man and a beautiful woman make a perfect match." The person was still speaking slowly, "and the other person in this story, he saved the day that day. Why didn't he stand up for Miss Yan? Maybe he had to leave Beijing that day because of an urgent matter. Maybe he heard the news, but he didn't think that the 'man' in that story would be himself. Maybe...she was originally A woman in men's clothes. She never thought that the protagonists in that story could be not a pair of talented men and beautiful women, but a family member and herself."

The eldest princess finally stopped.She stepped over a rock and saw the young man standing behind the rock.With the moonlight shining on his jade-white face, he looked very indifferent, like a piece of jade.The absurd story just ended in his mouth. His appearance is somewhat similar to someone in the eldest princess's memory, but the temperature is completely different.

She remembered!She had seen this man upstairs.The man immediately noticed that she was looking at Yan Jia, and met her eyes in the air.

The eldest princess stared at him blankly, and the man stopped talking.She opened her mouth, and what she said was this sentence:

"My uncle fell ill in the frontier fortress, and the emperor forbade me to visit. That day I went out in men's clothing with everyone on my back, and went to the temple to burn incense and pray for my uncle. The city gate will be closed soon. Go out at closing time, so..."

"I put her down and left. In order to hide the truth from the emperor, I told the servants in the princess' mansion that I was recuperating in the mansion and no one would be seen. When the emperor came to ask and found out that I had left Beijing, I said I left the capital that day." She said blankly, "When I arrived at the frontier, I couldn't get through letters. I knew she was going to get married, and it was already four months later. From the capital to the frontier, it took less than a month to travel with a letter. That's enough. But there was a plague and a drought on the road, and the messenger fell ill. It took a long time for the letter to reach me. It was sent in summer, and it was almost winter when it arrived. There were mildew spots on the envelopes of the letter, summer mildew spots. My uncle recovered, and I opened the two letters. I just found out that she was engaged four months ago, and it was love at first sight..."

"...Tell me, when I was on my way to the frontier fortress," she looked at Zhou Xun with a look of crying and laughter, "has she ever come to the princess mansion to look for me?"