The King of Liang, the feudal lords outside the town, and the generals inside

August 23, the first year of Tianshou, is the emperor's birthday and longevity festival. The emperor issued a decree to amnesty the world. A banquet for all officials was held at His Highness Chongming. All states and counties took a three-day holiday. dusk.

The Empress Dowager was unwell and did not attend, so the table in the center of the Golden Dragon Banquet was facing south, and the Empress and Empress sat side by side. Under their left hand were the seats for princes and relatives. There were five red sandalwood tables in a row. The king of the county, and then there are Duke Yongming, several princes, and envoys from various countries who came to celebrate his birthday.

Of course, the most important officials in the court on the right are Prime Minister Shen Qing, and Yan Xun is the second.Yan Zun returned a few days ago and also participated in the birthday banquet.

Bai Yu was deeply favored by the emperor, and he was the only one-word king. During the banquet, many people toasted him and flattered him. Bai Yu drank it with a smile, but his eyes remained as calm as a lake of calm water.

The envoys of Beihuang raised their glasses and said: "The blue bird came with the paper, and announced the arrival of the immortals, and wished ten thousand years with Song. It is really gratifying to congratulate the king of Liang on his return, and the royal family of the Great Zhou Dynasty is flourishing. I wish you all the best. His Majesty the Emperor has a holy life, and King Liang has a thousand years."

The emperor and Bai Yu drank with a smile, and the Beihuang envoy said again: "The minister came this time not only to celebrate His Majesty's birthday, but also to bring the sincerity of our Beihuang monarch to make friends with your country. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of our country is a He is a well-known talent, handsome young man, proficient in poetry, strategy, bow and horse. The king of our country heard that His Majesty has a younger sister who has not yet left the cabinet, so he specially ordered his ministers to come to propose marriage, and the two countries have become good friends."

When Princess Zhaoning heard this, her pretty face immediately turned pale, and she looked at the Emperor and then at Yan Xun in bewilderment.Yan Xun just held a wine glass and looked at the finely carved patterns on it, as if he had never heard of all this.

The emperor thought for a while, but before he could answer, he heard Qingwei's envoy say: "Your envoy has robbed us of our words. Who is here to propose marriage? Your Majesty, my Prince Qingwei's literary and military strategy is by no means inferior. Prince Yu Beihuang."

The envoy of Xi Chu coughed lightly, twisted his beard with one hand and said, "The crown prince is the crown prince after all, and I, the king of Xi Chu, have not made a queen yet."

He also heard Ye Luo's envoy say loudly: "When the monarch of our country was still a prince, he fell in love with Princess Zhaoning when he saw Princess Zhaoning on the first day of the lunar new year. He fell in love with her for a long time, so that she still hasn't made a queen yet."

Only the envoy of Weiyan, Yu Ze, had an impeccable smile on his face and remained silent.

The queen said gently: "This is difficult. The emperor only has one younger sister, and the queen mother is so precious. According to this palace, this matter cannot be settled in a few words. The emperor and this palace have to go back and discuss it with the queen mother." , this is the filial piety of a child. What do you think?"

This remark was impeccable, and several envoys agreed, and they toasted each other and no longer mentioned the matter of marriage proposal.

When the wine was half full, Ye Luo's envoy suddenly said: "This time, I have brought a treasure by the order of the king, and I want to present it to Your Majesty."

The emperor turned to look at him, "Oh? What treasure?"

The envoy Ye Luo clapped his hands, and a person walked in against the light outside the main hall. He was dressed in spotless white clothes, like a banished fairy. The moment they saw his face clearly, many people let out a gasp of surprise, and they couldn't move their eyes. open a cent.

Seeing the obsessive expressions of the crowd, the envoy Ye Luo was a little complacent, and introduced: "His name is Ye Zhiyan, and he is the most precious treasure presented to His Majesty by the monarch of our country."

It is not uncommon at this time that princes, aristocrats and scholar-bureaucrats are masculine, and many aristocratic families have such a few beautiful men.But most of them don't really like men, it's just a kind of freshness and fun, more of a symbol of power and status.

The envoy of Beihuang couldn't help admiring: "Oh, this person is really stunning, only His Royal Highness Liang Wang can compare with him."

Bai Yu and Yan Xun looked at each other, smiled faintly, and did not speak.

Ye Luo's envoy waved his hand and said, "Hey, Mr. Zhao's words are wrong. How can Ye Zhiyan compare with Liang Wang? It's really like comparing fish eyes to pearls."

Both of them have one-in-a-million looks, but compared to Ye Zhiyan, Bai Yu, who is only under the emperor, is naturally proud of his spring breeze, with an inherent nobility in his bones.And Ye Zhiyan was probably because of his humble status, he was like a light cloud in the autumn sky, ethereal and fragile.

Everyone likes to look at beautiful things, the emperor withdrew his gaze, and because the queen was by his side, he just said indifferently: "Well, it looks good."

The envoy Ye Luo said with a smile: "Ye Zhiyan is not only good-looking, but also proficient in rhythm, knows many musical instruments, has read a lot of poems and books, and is a good painter - Your Majesty will gradually know."

After the banquet, everyone dispersed one by one, and the emperor went to the queen's palace as usual.Bai Yu was a little drunk, and Yan Xun stood beside him to protect him, lest he accidentally trip over.Bai Yu remembered what happened just now, and asked with great interest: "What do you think of that Ye Zhiyan just now?"

Yan Xundao: "Beauty is beauty, but there is no soul."

Bai Yu looked at him in surprise, and asked curiously, "Why do you say that?"

"I can't say why, it's just that I have such a feeling." Yan Xun paused and said, "No matter what, no one can compare to you."

Bai Yu smiled, and was about to speak, when suddenly she met a pair of deep eyes, and blurted out, "Yan Shilang?"

It's been a long time since I saw him, Yan Zun seems to be a little thinner than before, and the flirtatious feeling of a playboy at the beginning has completely disappeared, replaced by a calm and restrained temperament.He said: "Brother, can I have a few words with King Liang alone?"

Yan Xun glanced at him lightly, bowed his head and whispered something in Bai Yu's ear, kissed him on the side of the cheek, and left quickly.

Yan Zun didn't seem to have expected that Yan Xun would leave so simply, he was stunned for a long time before recovering.

But Bai Yu smiled and said, "When did Assistant Yan come back?"

Yan Zun said: "Yesterday at noon. I wanted to go to the palace to see you, but something delayed me."

"Oh..." Bai Yu recalled that Yan Zun drugged him and tried to take him away secretly, and his smile faded, "Does Shi Lang have something to tell me?"

Yan Zun met Bai Yu with suspicious and guarded eyes, and said with a wry smile, "I want to apologize to you. You know about that, right? I was wrong, and I shouldn't have done that. At that time, I was only thinking about what if you If you go to Liangzhou, you will face many dangers, so..."

Bai Yu interrupted him and said: "Yan Shilang, the past is over, I am very grateful that you care about my safety, and you really shouldn't do that. But what I want to ask you is, what are you doing for? Really Just because you're worried about me?"

Yan Zun's heart beat violently, but his face remained calm, "Of course."

"Really?" Bai Yu shook his head lightly, "You and that masked man in black also said the same thing?"

Yan Zun was taken aback for a moment, speechless for a while.

"How do you, how do you know..."

Bai Yu looked at him, remained silent for a moment, and said in a low voice: "I have known him for a long time, much earlier than you. So I want to tell you, no matter what he asks you to do or promises you, you'd better not have any more trouble with him." Come and go, so as not to hurt yourself."

Yan Zun's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help saying, "Do you know what he's going to do?"

Before Bai Yu could reply, he denied himself again: "No, you can't possibly know."

Bai Yu didn't ask, he knew that Yan Zun couldn't speak, and even if he did, he wouldn't be able to say anything of value.So he turned and said: "I have always wanted to ask you something, but I never found a chance. Back then you gave my master an ingot of gold. Not long after you left, those officers and soldiers came, saying that someone reported us for stealing. We were caught as thieves and almost killed. What I want to ask is, after you left, did you ever tell anyone about the gold you gave us?"

Yan Zun immediately shook his head, "No. I ran away from home alone, and I don't know anyone. Who can I tell?"

"But at that time, there were only me and Master at home. If you didn't tell anyone about it, who would have reported it?"

Yan Zun was touched by him, and immediately understood what was wrong, "Yeah, how could there be such a coincidence? Could it be that someone hid somewhere and happened to see it, and wanted to steal the gold for himself, so he acted like this ?”

Bai Yu said: "It doesn't make sense. If someone has an idea for gold, since there are only two of us in the family, he can steal it at night, or simply bring a few more people to steal it directly. But if it is reported to the official, the gold will be returned." The government will never get it."

"Then..." Yan Zun pondered for a moment, and said, "Could that person be a member of the government? Isn't that county magistrate, just for greed for that ingot of gold, hastily punished you and executed you?"

"But why did the people from the government come to watch us for no reason? At that time, we lived in the Taoist temple in the mountains. If we didn't pay attention, the possibility of meeting them was really very small."

Yan Zun nodded and said, "Yes, they probably have been staring at you all the time. But what are they planning? Could it be for that ingot of gold that hadn't appeared at that time?"

Bai Yuchang let out a long breath. The feeling of being calculated made him feel both hated and confused, but his face remained calm, "Forget it, it's been so many years, don't think about it anymore."

Yan Zun was silent for a while, and then emphasized again, "I really didn't tell anyone about this. I was only 16 years old at the time, and I only asked about flowers and crickets, and I really didn't know anything."

Bai Yu nodded, "I believe it. It is because I believe that I will ask you."

Yan Zun heaved a sigh of relief, and said, "I've taken note of your warning. I also want to tell you that since you have chosen my elder brother, I will stop wishful thinking. But I hope we are still friends, after all... After all, he is my older brother."

Bai Yu looked at his sincere and calm eyes, and nodded in doubt.