Brother Donggong

He pushed open the door and stepped over the threshold.

I lowered my head and saw his autumn-colored robe hanging over the shoes. The shoes were recently made. I saw him wear them a few times, but the soles of his shoes were brand new, and the new ones were almost spotless.

It was actually the first time I entered Xiaolian's house.It was extremely clean and smelled a very unique fragrance. It smelled like summer in Yongjing, coming early.

There is a small clay stove on his wooden table, warming the fire, and a small casserole is placed on it, and ginger soup is actually boiled in it.

As soon as I got to the edge of the deck chair here, before I sat down, he came over, grabbed my arm, and wanted to take off my clothes.

I covered my neckline, "Ah, Xiaolian, your hands are too cold!"

"My lord, don't call me that. There are people from His Royal Highness around here. If they heard this, they would think that I have done something to you."

I,"……"

Xiao Lian took off my coat and let me sit on his recliner with a thin quilt around me.

It's cold in his room.

It was colder than outside.

Xiao Lian said, "Don't you know, my lord? A few days ago, before the Qingming Festival, Manager Huang talked with me several times. He didn't tell you about this."

I was taken aback and nodded, "No. What did he say?"

Xiao Lian smiled, and took the small casserole off the clay stove with a thick gauze pad, and poured it into the thin porcelain lotus flower cup next to her. Then he said, "Actually, it's nothing. It's just that I'm still used to eating in Yongjing." Are you still used to living here? Is there anything you particularly want to eat, is there anything you particularly want, or..."

He brought me ginger soup.

"Or, is there any place you want to go?"

Wow!

The thin porcelain cup is very hot.

My fingers seemed to be on fire, and when I couldn't hold the ginger soup and wanted to let go, he took the porcelain cup away.

……

This Xiaolian, what does he want to do today?

Xiao Lian, "My lord is a noble person. I heard that people who are naturally delicate have thin fingers and thin skin. They are afraid of cold, hot, and pain. I didn't care about it before. I want to try it today, and my lord really does. "

He put a brocade pad on the outside of the porcelain cup, put it on my lap, and brought a spoon for me to drink.

I didn't drink, and I didn't speak.

Xiao Lian, "Why didn't the lord ask me, did I tell the truth, or was it a lie? Or, what Mr. Huang said was originally what the lord wanted to ask? Chengyi, do you want to drive me away?"

"No." I shook my head seriously, "I never thought of doing these things. If, I say if, I want you to leave, I will say it myself."

Xiaolian, "Is it like today?"

I,"……"

Xiao Lian continued, "I know what you are thinking, and I know what you want to say. You have been fidgeting outside for an hour, and I have been watching you here. Chengyi, what do you want to say to me?"

Me, "...I have said everything I wanted to say..."

Xiaolian, "Oh? Is that the sentence 'as long as you have a bite of rice, you won't let me drink gruel'? It's really touching. The prince was able to say this sentence, and he thought about it for a long time, right? The prince is involved between us, everything will not be so easy after all, this, I know."

I said awkwardly, "If you don't feel comfortable living here, you can go anywhere you want. I'll ask Li Fang, the supervisor of rituals, to write a letter for you. No one will make things difficult for you wherever you go."

The letter approved by the Supervisor of Rituals is equivalent to the imperial decree!

With that thing, Xiao Lian's status is equivalent to that of the emperor's relatives, not to mention the local yamen, even the snow eagle guards who ride on the crown prince, or the guards, and the troops of the governors will not embarrass him.

Xiao Lian said with a smile, "My lord is actually a kind and righteous person. I haven't been in Yongjing for a long time, less than three years; I also haven't been in Guanzhilou for a long time, only a year. The people I met, I didn’t know too many people. It’s just that the business of that place is to welcome and send people, so the people I saw and the stories I heard were many.

People like us are naturally looked down upon by others, even if we go to the shore from a good life, we don't see a few of them end up safely.Either they were sent around, or they were full of dirty diseases. After death, they would be burned by wildfire and buried in the ground, fearing that the land would be dirty.

Your lord, you despise me, and you are eager to get rid of me. At this time, you are still planning for my future. If I am not satisfied, I will be too ungrateful. "

"My lord, why don't you speak?"

I took down the porcelain cup on my lap and went to hold Xiaolian's hand.

His hands are so cold, like his eyes, they seem to be covered with a layer of ice.

"Little Lian, that's not what I mean. I don't want to get rid of you, I just want you to live more comfortably. Whether you like it or not, if you enter my door, we are considered a family. I am older than you How old are you, I should take care of you."

Xiao Lian didn't shake my hand away, "My lord, don't say that. Your parents are complete, brothers and sisters are deeply affectionate, full of royal blood, noble and extraordinary, that is your family. When the lord cares about me, I am you When the male concubine is not rare, I am a poor shoe."

I grabbed him tightly, "What do I have to say before you can understand, I didn't mean that?"

Snapped!

He shakes my hand away.

"My lord doesn't need to say anything, because that's what you mean.

The prince must think he is very good to me.When I was in Guanzhilou, you were willing to spend money on me, five taels of silver for the meal, ten taels of silver for wine, and the scattered silver taels for rewards. During those days, you would spend on me no matter what I paid several hundred taels of silver.I'm not a top card, not a celebrity, and I'm worthless in Guanzhilou. Only with a benefactor like the prince taking care of my business can I not be angered.

Your lord, you are kind to me.

Then, the lord saw that I was getting old, so he spent a lot of money to redeem me from there. In the palace, there were delicious food, good food, good hospitality, even the mansion of Qi Wang, where the city of Yongjing would be shaken to ashes by stomping its feet. The chief manager, Huang Congchang, was kind to me.Doesn't it all depend on the prince's face, so he only waits to see me?

Your lord, you are truly a rare kind of love. "

I stuttered and couldn't figure it out, "...you, what's wrong with you? How do you say this?"

Xiao Lian's eyes are extremely pale, like blue glass beads, unable to reflect his emotions.

His voice was as light as his eyes, "Chengyi, you never asked me if I would like to do your business, if I would like to stay by your side, if I would like to leave you.

I have never seen such a hypocritical person like you, who wraps his sincerity, indifference, and even hatred layer by layer, and wraps it in sweet honey, ostentatiously, and offends those who have been scratched by the world and are covered in scars Everyone wants to get it, but no one can get it.Because those people don't know that your goodness is just a mirror image, no matter how pure and true you are, you can't take it seriously. "

He picked up the porcelain cup, filled the spoon with the soup, and brought it to my mouth.

"My lord, drink ginger soup, it's almost cold."

I drank the ginger soup he fed me dully, it was mild.But when I drank it into my mouth, it was cold, just like the rain in Yongjing at night, it was cold to the bone.

My clothes were still damp, so Xiao Lian took out one of his robes and put them on for me. It was too big for me to wear, and the robes could drag on the ground.He held up an umbrella, "It's raining heavily outside, I'll take you there."

"I'll just go back by myself."

I want to take the umbrella from him, from here to the attic where I live, it's only a quarter of an hour's journey around the lake, since he hates me so much, I'll avoid it first, don't add fuel to the fire , When his temper has passed, I will have a good chat with him.

He raised the umbrella up to prevent me from taking it, and said softly, "I'll take you there."