Return to the rumor

In the still gentle and warm embrace, there is a faint fragrance that has never dissipated in memory. This familiar and clear fragrance lingers in Tangci's ears together with Rou Ke's strong self-blame words mixed with a strong nasal voice. As a giant siege tree, he vowed not to give up until he failed to achieve his goal, and slammed into Tang Ci's heart city, which he had never defended and could not close tightly when facing Rou Ke. Suddenly there was a loud bang, and the city wall collapsed.

Tang Ci's stiff and stiff body gradually eased in Rou Ke's arms. She was leaning on Rou Ke's shoulder, her chin resting on Rou Ke's slender back. It's not like she's been so close before, but after many years For the first time, she realized her childish and childlike wish. She was finally able to grow up to be as tall as Rou Ke, stand shoulder to shoulder with her, and smile at her level. Rou Ke, who is short and short and often needs long arms and legs, stops to wait for her little girl.

Tang Ci hesitated and stretched out his hand to gently stroke Rou Ke's waterfall-like long hair that was scattered behind her head. The hair that would have covered half of her waist when she was a child has now flowed down to her waist.She couldn't help thinking in her heart, how long is 12 years? Is it the length of her height, or the length of Rou Ke's long hair reaching her waist, or the length of Chang'an Street, where the bustling crowds seem to never stop, or is it as long as The palace runs through the north-south long street from the Meridian Gate to the Xuanwu Gate?

While wandering around with scattered thoughts, the brocade box containing the scroll fell out of his left hand and fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Moving his eyes to the brocade box that fell on the ground, a thunderbolt and lightning exploded in his mind. The answer that was ready to come out was no longer buried in the darkness. Swinging off all the white flags of disarming and surrendering, when it rode out of the city on a crippled old horse to negotiate with the enemy, it saw the opponent's fresh clothes and furious horses, golden spears and iron halberds, and suddenly realized that 12 years of time seemed impossible even though it was only a blink of a finger. Mountains, rivers, and ravines across domains lie in between, and if you take one step closer, you will be in an abyss, both for yourself and for the enemy.

Tang Ci made up his mind to forcefully push Rou Ke away, straightened his messed-up skirts, picked up the brocade box on the ground, and sneered: "I heard that the princess is a former prince who has no husband and wife after the age of marriage. , Chen Xinsheng admired and often wrote family letters to tell his mother that if he married a wife, he should marry such a loyal woman. Unexpectedly, the princess is such a pious and ostentatious person. Is it fucked up? Or is the princess just such a profligate woman? As a woman, the princess often shows her face and doesn’t care about her own reputation, but at the beginning of her official career, she still hoped that one day she would be honored by the Jiuqing Guangzong, please. The princess raised her hand and chose someone else!"

Rou Ke couldn't help being stunned for a while, blinking her eyes lightly, a few teardrops that she had suppressed for a long time and was delighted by the reunion unexpectedly fell silently by surprise, and the tear mole under the corner of her eye was also faintly covered by the water light and candle light.

She murmured in disbelief: "Yongjia..."

"I didn't know who the 'Yongjia' the princess was talking about before, but now that I know it, I think it's ridiculous." Tang Ci walked a few steps towards the door, leaving only an ordinary and meaningless back for Rou Ke. , the tone is still full of contempt and indifference, "The eldest daughter of the first emperor and Empress Yici? Didn't she accidentally fall into the water and die on the way to Yunzhou 12 years ago? The dead person makes the princess so worried. Maybe there is a thick layer of dust on her ancestral dish in some remote corner? If you can't let it go, why not go to the bank of Yunzhou River to burn more paper money and sacrifice more fruits, fishes and shrimps, maybe someday It can impress the river god and make her reincarnate to continue her relationship with you."

Every word of Tang Ci was like a sharp knife cutting Rou Ke's heart, and before she could take a breather, another sharp knife pierced straight into her heart, gouging out the newly grown pink flesh on the numerous wounds, and so on The cycle went on and on, and the pain that penetrated the bone marrow had already permeated the whole body. She was too tired to say a word, and even the courage to glance at Tang Ci to open the door and leave was gone.

Walking out of Rou Ke's residence quickly, Tang Ci stopped in a rockery adjacent to the lake. There was no one there, except for a lonely full moon in the sky.

She wiped away her tears viciously, she regretted saying such insincere and hurtful words to Rou Ke, but she did not regret taking this opportunity to pour a basin of icy cold water on Rou Ke's head, to wash away her nostalgia Tenderness, kindness and self-blame are all cut off on the way into the abyss of eternal doom.

Ever since she took off her women's clothes and put on men's clothes, since she re-entered the capital city, and since she became an official, Tangci understood that she no longer has so many rights and opportunities to choose from, and she is walking on a road of no return. , a road of no return that even she herself can't guarantee that she has the chance to win, a road of no return that is destined not to implicate innocent people, let alone such a person she cares about so much that she wants to get involved with her wholeheartedly?

But Zhang Ji followed the emperor's order to give Yiyang a few words of advice, but was stopped by Chi Liangjun who was guarding the door.

After Zhang Ji listened to Chi Liangjun's confession and explanation, he took a look through the window and covered his mouth with a smile: "Therefore, it is said that there are no absolutes, and it is not true to say that the country is easy to change, and the character is hard to change. When I was studying in Neishutang, I was daunted by those collections of classics and history at the beginning. Later, the old gentleman in Neishutang retired and returned to his hometown, and was replaced by a young gentleman who explained the truth in simple terms. What kind of golden house and Yan Ruyu are you talking about!"

"Who says it's not?" Chi Liangjun glanced at the two shadows holding the scrolls in his hands, pulled Zhang Ji along and said, "Our Highness feels uncomfortable after not reading for a day. Just now, after returning from the banquet, he took a bath and burned incense. Your Highness is a character who can't rest after being exhausted from traveling between the two places. I was thinking of ordering someone to pass on a bowl of soothing soup, but she ordered me to bring Master Lu here to read a few poetry collections with her, and try to sleep peacefully. I I waited outside for a while, but it was quiet inside. It seemed that the shadow hadn’t moved for a long time, and I didn’t know if it had rested, so I didn’t dare to let you in to disturb it. The father-in-law also came by coincidence, and there was still rain and dew accumulated on the branches this morning. The next one, you take it home to make tea and drink it to ensure it is fresh and moist, and it is right to be the reward for the exhaustion of this errand."

inside the room.

The sound of reciting the psalms softly disappeared without knowing when, and was replaced by the sound of even and gentle breathing.

Lu He put down the manuscript in his hand, and saw Yi Yang across from him had fallen asleep on the table, half holding a dilapidated collection of poems in his hand.

Obviously you couldn't fall asleep and forcibly called me here, who was already asleep, to come here to hypnotize you with reading. How come you left me and fell asleep before cutting the lanterns a few times?

Lu He shook his head helplessly, stood up and blew out the candles on the tall lamps in the room one by one, leaving only two lamps next to the bed to reflect each other alone.

Walking to Yiyang's side, she couldn't help hesitating - should she be carried back to the bed or simply ignore her?Or... go out and call the palace maid to serve her to rest?

"Mother Concubine... don't go..." Yi Yang, who was sleeping, suddenly whispered in his sleep.

Lu He heard the sound but couldn't hear it clearly. Out of curiosity, he leaned down and listened closer. Unexpectedly, after a while, it returned to silence.

Just in a strange moment, when he turned his head, he collided with Yiyang's pair of pure and natural jet-black pupils, but the surroundings of these eyes were dyed a faint red circle.

Yiyang glanced at Lu He in confusion and wonder, read the pity in her eyes, and quickly turned away to rub her red eyes, muttering: "When did I fall asleep? You didn't find a piece of paper?" Put the cloak on with me? Give me a nightmare."

Thinking of the few words that Chi Liangjun said to himself in his spare time in recent days: Since the age of five, His Royal Highness has entered Beijing in accordance with the ancestral family law, and served as the attendant of the former prince with the princes and princes of various vassals. Discord.In the past when he was in the Qizhou Palace, there was not a single playmate of the right age in the entire palace. His Highness Yiyang was not in good health when he was a child, so he only stayed with the princess all day long, so the relationship between mother and daughter is unusual. It is much better to wait for people, but after all, I have not developed a temperament that is easy to get acquainted with people after always being around the elders and not going out for a walk.A few days before today's ascension to the throne, the concubine passed away suddenly. Since then, His Majesty has been ashamed of the concubine and doted on His Royal Highness Yiyang. It is inevitable that he will be used to being arrogant and harsh. From what I have seen all these years, she is actually very good in her bones. Yes, Mr. Lu can let go of the previous rift in his heart and get close at ease. To say something presumptuous, it is right to regard it as sisterhood.

Lu He coughed a few times in embarrassment, his face was a little flushed, and he said nonsense following Yiyang's words: "Well... the minister was reading quietly before, immersed in the sea of ​​books and couldn't extricate himself, it was the voice of being screamed by His Highness in a nightmare Wake up your mind. Just now he was hesitating whether to wake up His Highness, after all he didn’t have the guts, that’s why..."

"Don't you have the guts? Are you too timid?" Yi Yang chuckled a few times, but it sounded like he was in a good mood, "Dare to sit with me on the first day of the lecture, and dare to drink my tea on the second day. On the third day, they dared to sit in my seat so that I had nowhere to sit. On the fourth day, they dared to punish me for copying books. On the fifth day, they dared to scold me..."

If you don't interrupt at this moment, you don't know how the facts will be distorted. Lu He lowered his head a little bit to show humility: "On the first day, I was punished by His Highness to kneel several times because of my own self-indulgence, and my knees were tired. The cyanosis was in pain, and I had no choice but to overrule. On the second day, when you were giving a lecture, Your Highness, you thought the cup of tea served by the minister looked better, and you drank it in one gulp without telling the minister. The minister was thirsty and had no choice. I just drank the tea from His Majesty by mistake. Could it be that on the third day, His Majesty ordered his ministers to sit in a high position, and you served tea as a gift to all my teachers and apprentices? Although the fourth day was a copy of the book, it was you who wanted to offer it to His Majesty Didn’t you also order the ministers to copy a few copies of the Buddhist scriptures? On the fifth day..." Lu He sighed softly when he said this, with a wry smile on his lips, "I respect my master, if His Majesty knows Your Highness, you took advantage of the minister's nap to draw a bastard on his face, and ordered everyone in the mansion to keep quiet, so that he would make a fool of himself when he returned home. I'm afraid it's not as simple as scolding?"

Yiyang was hit by this barrage of rebuttals, causing a few clouds to fly across her face. She also coughed a few times, and was looking for something that could save her from this embarrassing topic. He looked at Lu He, raised his eyebrows and asked, "How much is your monthly salary now? Are you so poor that you have no money to buy a new book?"