If you want to enter the palace, you must first leave the palace

Chapter 35 The Country where Red Cotton Blooms

After looking at the flower-shaped jade pendant for a while, Bei Juse shook his head and said with certainty: "I haven't seen it before."

Concubine Yun asked back in disbelief: "I really haven't seen it?" She pushed the jade pendant forward a few minutes, "Look carefully!"

Bei Juese still replied with certainty: "I haven't seen it."

"Haven't you seen it?" Concubine Yun stared at Bei Jue Se while repeating these words, as if she wanted to see something from his face, but in the end she didn't see anything wrong, she was disappointed Take the jade back and hold it lightly in your palm.

Seeing her strange look, Bei Jue Se couldn't help asking curiously: "Concubine Yun, why do you ask this slave if you have seen such a jade pendant? Does it have any special meaning or use?"

Concubine Yun sighed softly, slowly opened her palm, staring at the jade pendant lying quietly on her palm.After a while like this, she raised her head to look into Bei Jue Se's eyes, and asked softly, "Do you know what kind of flower this is?"

Not understanding why Concubine Yun asked such a question, Bei Juese was startled, then shook his head and said, "I don't know." I have seen Western Chang Bai embroider the snow lotus from the Western Regions, the cherry blossoms from Fusang, and the poppies from the Dayue Kingdom, but I have never seen Western Chang Bai embroidered the kind of flower that Concubine Yun asked.

Concubine Yun looked at the flower-shaped jade pendant and said: "This kind of flower grows on a tree called 'red cotton', and its name is 'red cotton'. It is bright red, big and thick. The red cotton tree is the national tree of my home country, and the red cotton has naturally become the national flower. Because of the red cotton, my home country was named "South cotton" at the beginning of the founding of the country. In the southern cotton country Every household in the village plants red cotton trees, and you can see red cotton trees in the streets and alleys of Nanmian. Every spring when red cotton is in full bloom, the whole Nanmian is full of dazzling red; in summer When the red cotton tree bears fruit, the cotton fluff fluttering in the wind floats over the head and brushes around from time to time. Everything in the red cotton country in spring and summer looks so beautiful, so beautiful that it is unreal.” Speaking the truth, Concubine Yun stopped and raised her eyes to look at the far distance outside the window, she gradually lost her mind, as if she was caught in the memories of the past.

Bei Jue Se, who was listening carefully, couldn't help calling her softly: "Concubine Yun?"

Concubine Yun came back to her senses, she smiled apologetically towards the north, and continued: "In Nanmian Kingdom, the place where you can see the most beautiful scenery is the highest Feifeng Pavilion in Nanmian Palace; the best jade can be picked. The best place is Qianlong Mountain in the north; the jade craftsman who can make the best jade is the Ning clan who has lived on Qianlong Mountain for generations. I don’t know, Little Bei Gonggong, have you heard about these things about Nanmian Kingdom?”

Bei Jue Se shook his head and said: "The slave never knew about the country 'Nanmian', so how could he possibly have heard of things related to this country?" All the time I just shook my head.I really couldn't figure out what kind of medicine was sold in Concubine Yun's gourd, so I called him over and kept asking him some questions that he couldn't answer. What kind of red cotton jade pendant? What does she want to know from herself?

"Haven't you heard of it?" Concubine Yun smiled lightly, and turned her gaze back to the jade pendant, "I still remember that that year was the time when the kapok was in full bloom. From the Feifeng Pavilion down to the , the city of Nanmian is hidden in a sea of ​​red flowers, and it is extremely gorgeous. On that day, the best jade craftsman of the Ning clan came to present jade to the Nanmian King who was the prince at that time. It was a pair of almost identical red flowers. The cotton-shaped jade pendant is carved from the blood-colored emerald jade that is a specialty of Qianlong Mountain. The most brilliant and beautiful blooming posture of the red cotton is vividly displayed between the red emeralds. The prince was overjoyed and rewarded the jade craftsman, and even The pair of red cotton jade pendants were given to two people respectively, one was his new wife Princess Yuehua, and the other was me who was as close as brother and sister to him. Princess Yuehua loved the jade pendant so much that she kept it As far as I know, the jade pendant never left her even on the day she was killed. But later, when we found her body, not only did we find that the child in her womb was gone, the flower-shaped jade pendant The pendant has disappeared."

Concubine Yun paused for a moment, raised her head to look at Bei Jue Se, and continued, "When I saw you at the birthday banquet, I came up with such an inexplicable idea that you look exactly like Princess Yuehua. You are probably the child in the womb of Princess Yuehua, or some miracle happened, you were rescued, and the person who saved you took the jade pendant away."

Although Concubine Yun's idea is not necessarily [-]% impossible, but to Bei Juese, Concubine Yun's idea is as nonsensical as a fairy tale, and it is difficult for him to agree.Firstly, he absolutely believed the life experience that his master said; secondly, he had never seen the flower-shaped jade pendant in Concubine Yun's hand, let alone the "red cotton", the national flower of Nanmian Kingdom.

Being stared directly at Concubine Yun made him feel uncomfortable, he moved his head to one side, not daring to make any eye contact with Concubine Yun, after thinking for a while, he said, "Or, or...not to say, Yue Was Princess Hua killed by bandits? Maybe she, her valuables and the jade pendant were searched by those bandits."

Concubine Yun looked at Bei Jue Se's eyes excitedly, and said, "Do you know about the robbery of Princess Yuehua?"

Afraid of causing unnecessary misunderstandings, Bei Juese hastened to explain: "I, the servant, only found out about it last night. Eunuch Bai from the Farming Academy told the servant."

Concubine Yun withdrew her gaze, and said in a positive tone: "It is impossible to be searched by bandits. In the disaster that year, everyone except me, not only all the entourage of Princess Yuehua, even all The thieves are also dead."

"They're all dead?" Bei Jue Se raised his head in surprise, "Even all the bandits are dead? How could this be?"

Concubine Yun took a deep breath and said: "That day, our convoy was surrounded by thieves. The thieves were not only fierce, but also all of them were skilled in martial arts. It didn't take long for the accompanying guards and maids to be killed. Seven seven eight eight. Under the crisis, Princess Yuehua and I abandoned the car and fled under the protection of my brother-in-law, but after a short time, Princess Yuehua separated from us in the chaos. My brother-in-law asked me to escape first Go to a safe place to find rescuers, and then go back to find Princess Yuehua.

I ran desperately, I don't know how long I ran, and finally I ran into a caravan.With the help of those businessmen, I quickly reported to the government, and the government immediately sent all the officials to follow me to the place where the incident happened.

When I got there, I didn't see anyone who was still alive, only eyes full of blood and corpses all over the ground.On that day, Princess Yuehua died, and my righteous brother also died.They died terribly, and the horrible scene still appears in my dreams from time to time to this day. "

Concubine Yun closed her eyes, opened them again after a long while, and continued: "Later, it was discovered that all the accompanying luggage remained in place without any trace of being taken away, and the corpses of those bandits at the scene were fatally injured. They were all wounds on the throat. And my righteous brother's unique skill was "sword sealing the throat", so I believed that the righteous brother had exhausted his last bit of strength and died with the thieves. It's a pity that even the righteous brother I sacrificed myself, but I couldn’t save Princess Yuehua from those vicious gangsters.” Concubine Yun paused again, with tears in her eyes, “It’s all my fault, if I could have Run faster and find rescuers earlier, Princess Yuehua and Yixiong may not die."

Speaking of this, tears welled up in Concubine Yun's eyes, and soon, she was sobbing uncontrollably.

Bei Juese looked at her who was crying and didn't know how to comfort her. At this moment, someone from Gong Su came forward, handed Concubine Yun a handkerchief, and said softly, "Concubine Yun, it's been so many years. It wasn't your fault, so why do you have to keep worrying about it and blame yourself?"

After a while, Concubine Yun slowly calmed down.She wiped away her tears with a handkerchief, sighed again and said to Bei Jue Se: "I'm sorry, I made you a joke, little Eunuch Bei."

Bei Juese quickly shook his head.

Concubine Yun returned the handkerchief to Su Gongren, and then said: "Look at me, after inviting Mrs. Bei to come over, I kept talking non-stop on my own, and didn't even pour you tea. It's really rude." After finishing speaking, she motioned for someone from Palace Su to pour tea.

Bei Jue Se quickly said: "The slave is not thirsty, so don't bother."

Concubine Yun didn't insist either, but said: "Eunuch Xiaobei hasn't had lunch yet, right? I don't have any delicacies from mountains and seas here, only some ordinary home-cooked snacks from Nanmian Country. If Eunuch Xiaobei doesn't mind, it's here. Go back after lunch." She pushed the bowl of light yellow liquid mixed with some crushed chili peppers on the table to Bei Jue Se, "Dipping these small dots with it can best taste the flavor of Nanmian Country. .”

As soon as the bowl of unknown liquid approached, a sour, sweet, and slightly fishy smell went straight into his nose. This was a smell that he had never smelled before, and Bei Juse couldn't help but frowned slightly. lower eyebrows.

Concubine Yun saw his reaction, and said, "This is fish sauce boiled with chili, sugar and vinegar. In Nanmian, every household uses fish sauce as seasoning."

"Fish sauce? What is fish sauce?" Bei Jue Se looked at Concubine Yun shamelessly.

Concubine Yun explained: “Fish sauce is Nanmian people’s favorite seasoning for meals. It is made from fish. During the peak season of fish production every year, people clean the fish without scales and viscera, and then add appropriate amount of it. The salt is then filled into a large wooden barrel, and a small tube is placed at the bottom of the barrel, and the other end of the tube is connected to another empty barrel. In this way, after three or five days, the empty barrel will be filled with the fish that flows from the large wooden barrel. Then the fish juice was poured back into the big wooden barrel, and then the fish juice was left out again. After this process was repeated many times, the fish juice that finally flowed out was the original fish sauce. Put this original juice into the urn or Put it in a wooden barrel and expose it to the sun for about 20 days, and it will become fish sauce. The whole process of making fish sauce will take about five to six months, and the finished fish sauce will be stored in a cool place, and it will last for many years. bad."

Made from fish?No wonder it smells fishy.Bei Juese looked at the bowl in front of him that was said to be boiled fish sauce. According to Concubine Yun's explanation, the fish had to be kept in the bucket for an unknown number of days before the fish sauce rotted out.He has never liked to eat fish, and he doesn't have much affection for fish. He just thinks about the scene of a lot of fish suffocating in a bucket, and he can't help getting pimples.

Concubine Yun enthusiastically pushed those Nanmian home-cooked dots to Beijuese, and said, "Try it."

A few drops of cold sweat couldn't help but burst out, Bei Jue Se's mind flashed, and he quickly found an excuse for his reaction this time: "You are welcome, Concubine Yun, the servant came after eating, and he is still full."

Immediately afterwards, before Concubine Yun could reply, he made another excuse: "Before this slave comes out, the emperor ordered to go early and return early. If Concubine Tai has nothing else to do, this slave will leave first."

Originally, he wanted to ask Concubine Yun more about Princess Yuehua, but the bowl of fish sauce, which smelled and thought was disturbing, made Bei Juese dispel this idea.I was afraid that Concubine Yun would continue to enthusiastically invite him to try the fish sauce, so I had to quickly find an excuse to slip away and ask about the matter, let's do it later.

Concubine Yun didn't seem to notice Bei Juese's strangeness, she said: "Since that's the case, I can't keep little Eunuch Bei here any longer. Su Yun, send little Eunuch Bei out."