A traitor

Because of the Xuanguo incident, many ministers in the court wrote to the emperor directly, requesting to hold a sacrifice for His Royal Highness Li Chengsi.

Although the emperor was displeased, he couldn't act too much. After all, His Royal Highness Yiwang was willing to sacrifice himself and go to Xuanguo as a hostage, but died unexpectedly on the road, and even the bones have not been recovered. For the royal family, It really hurt the face of their court, so they had no choice but to agree to their request.

So Su Qinglang, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, Sun Zizhong, the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, together with Mei Liusheng and brother Lu Xun, went out of Beijing to the border town by the order of the emperor.

Outside Chang'an City, Su Qinglang rode a white horse and walked slowly at the front of the team, only to hear Sun Zizhong next to him say: "Qinglang, your injury is just right, can you ride a horse?"

Su Qinglang let out a sigh, raised his eyebrows and said, "I'm much better at riding a horse than you, don't believe me, let's compare now?"

Looking at his domineering appearance, Sun Zizhong smiled wryly and shook his head helplessly.

On the other hand, brother Lu Xun, obviously a frail scholar, doesn't know how to ride a horse very much. He sits on the horseback and staggers like a bean sprout. When they got down, something went wrong, and they couldn't explain it to Mr. Pei Yan.

They left the city and walked for nearly a mile, but saw a pavilion built on the hillside not far away, and several people were waiting outside the pavilion.

Seeing that the leader was the butler of Qin Xiangfu, Su Qinglang rode his mount and walked towards the gazebo.

Turning over from the horse, he cupped his hands to the other party and said, "This is in the wilderness, how could Butler Qin be here?"

Butler Qin nodded slightly, saluted him and said, "I heard that Mr. Su is out of the city on business, and the villain is ordered by your son to come to see Mr. Su off."

Su Qinglang looked behind him, but did not see Qin Huan's figure, so he asked strangely, "Why didn't you come?"

The housekeeper was embarrassed for a while, and explained: "Young master...Young master is not feeling well, and he is recuperating in the mansion, so he can't come to see Master Su off."

Hearing this, Su Qinglang sneered secretly, didn't he just do something bad, was caught by his father, and now he is thinking behind closed doors in the mansion?

It's just that he didn't expect that Qin Huan would be so bold that he would secretly send someone to assassinate the court official after learning about Jia Siqi's nonsense in the Mei Mansion that day.

Fortunately, Jia Siqi was fatally ill, but was seriously injured. It is said that he was rescued by a benevolent and kind girl. Otherwise, it would be pitiful for Mrs. Jia to send a white-haired man to a black-haired one at such an age.

The Jia family thought he was responsible for this incident, and Prime Minister Qin ordered people to strictly keep the news, so in the end, Su Qinglang took the blame for others, and it was Qin Huan himself who was punished.

Seeing that the Prime Minister's Mansion deliberately kept it a secret, Su Qinglang pretended not to know, so he smiled: "So that's the case, but it's a pity that the schedule is tight this time, otherwise I would still be able to visit the Prime Minister's Mansion."

After a pause, he said again: "The season is about to change now, if you don't pay attention, you will get sick, please trouble the housekeeper to go back and remind young master to pay attention to your health."

The butler nodded, and heard him say with a slight smile: "However, with your Butler Qin here, I feel relieved."

Hearing this, the housekeeper hurriedly said, "Where is Lord Su, where is the young master... It's not like you don't know that although the young master is gentle on the surface, he is actually stubborn and stubborn, and the villain can't talk to him at all. Fortunately, Master Su is here. If the young master knows, Master Su must be very happy that he cares about him so much."

As he spoke, he lined up side by side, and said to Su Qinglang: "I heard that Lord Su was going to the border town to do some business. The young master was worried that his injury was still unhealed. If he rode all the way, it must be very hard work, so he ordered the villain to send his own to Lord Su. Lord Su, please accept the carriage."

The carriage of Mr. Xiangfu is not comparable to that of ordinary people. Inside the spacious and bright carriage, it is covered with mink fur cushions. On the low table in the center, there are tea sets and chess boards. A tripod of lotus flowers is slowly burning purple smoke on the incense burner. Beads and jade curtains, inlaid with precious stones, the four fragrant horses in front of them are driving side by side, and their footsteps are all one in a thousand miles. On the four corners of the carriage, there are also four strings of golden bells, which make a crisp sound under the breeze.

If he was riding in such a carriage, if he knew it, he would think that they were rushing to the border to meet the remains of His Royal Highness Yi Wang, but if he didn't know, he would think someone was sending him Su Qinglang to marry him.

Su Qinglang's head was full of black lines, and he smiled stiffly: "This...doesn't need to be like this..."

The housekeeper continued: "Master Su's vitality has been seriously injured this time, and he needs to take good care of him. Young Master has already found rare medicinal materials from various places, such as hundred-year-old Ganoderma lucidum, thousand-year-old ginseng, and high-quality deer antler, all of which are placed in the back of the carriage. The method and dosage are all in accordance with the imperial doctor's order, and the medicine list and medicinal materials are written and placed together, so you don't have to bother to look for it again."

After hearing this, Su Qinglang couldn't help thinking, this Qin Huan was punished by his father and thought about it behind closed doors, and he can still think about these things, which shows that the punishment is too little, and the thinking is not enough.

He had a bitter face: "I'm already healed, why bother to do such a thing? And it's a long way from Chang'an to the border town, how long does it take to take a carriage? You just take these things back, and I will meet with the young master." explained."

"This..." The steward hesitated for a moment before hesitatingly said: "Since your lord was injured, you have been worried. Now that your lord is out of the city to handle errands, you can only do these things for your lord. I hope you can I understand, so that the son can feel at ease."

Having known this butler for so many years, Su Qinglang only discovered today that this person is of brown candy, and once it gets on it, he can't get rid of it.

Brother Lu Xun who was not far away saw Mr. Su talking to someone all the time, but there was no sign of getting out of it, and he seemed to be entangled by the other party.

So he lowered his voice, and said to Mei Liusheng who was beside him, "Hey, isn't that the butler of Qin Xiangfu?"

Mei Liusheng looked at the two figures with deep eyes.Then, he turned his head away and said in a muffled voice, "I don't know..."

Seeing Brother Lu Xun looking at the incomparably luxurious carriage, he couldn't help admiring: "I heard that Mr. Qin and Mr. Su have a very close relationship. When I saw you today, it's really so."

Hearing the words, Mei Liusheng followed his gaze, and saw Master Su with his hips akimbo, posing with a sincere attitude, dealing with the butler of the prime minister's mansion, and then looked at the carriage that was going to be given to Su Qinglang , caring, thoughtful and complete, what I know is to say goodbye to my friends, but what I don’t know, I think it’s an old lady sending my daughter off to get married.

Thinking of Jia Siqi's words that day, and the scene of seeing Qin Huan in the Su Mansion on the day Su Qinglang was assassinated, Mei Liusheng only felt a tightness in his chest, as if blocked by a stone.

Seeing that he was silent, Lu Xun tentatively looked at Sun Zizhong in front of him, and saw that the other party hadn't noticed them, so he lowered his voice again and said, "Eh? It is said that Mr. Su and Young Master Qin are good friends who have known each other for many years. But... ...Can even friends be able to do this?"

Mei Liusheng gave him a slanted look, didn't speak, and rode his horse forward with a cold face, and stopped beside Sun Zizhong.

Just as he pulled the reins to stand still, he saw Sun Zizhong was silent for a moment, got off his horse, and walked in the direction of Su Qinglang and Qin Butler.

When he came to him, he first said to Su Qinglang: "Qinglang, we should go."

Su Qinglang looked at Sun Zizhong, twitched the corners of his lips, and then looked at Butler Qin, obviously asking him to settle this trouble.

Only Sun Tzuzhong sighed: "Steward Qin, we have the emperor's life on our trip, and we are not going to visit the mountains and rivers. Please go back and tell Mr. Qin that Qinglang has already received his wish, but it is not convenient to take it with you." , Since we are friends, we should consider each other.

Instead of imposing his will on others under the guise of caring, if he really thinks Qinglang is good, he should think more about the impact of his words and deeds, and don't embarrass Qinglang. "

Since Sun Zizhong is Su Qinglang's good friend, Qin Butler has naturally come into contact with him before, and knows that although he is a gentle and elegant scholar on the surface, he is actually very difficult to get along with.

In fact, speaking of Qin Huan and Sun Zizhong, they used to be considered friends. When they were in the Imperial College, the two even lived together. They also get along very well, so although the relationship between them is not as good as that of Su Qinglang, they still have the friendship as classmates.

But what is strange is that since five years ago, that is, after the rebellion case ended, the relationship between Su Qinglang and Qin Huan has not changed, and Sun Zizhong and Su Qinglang have not turned against each other.

On the contrary, due to the previous promise to Xie Yu, the two of them had closer contacts than before, but Qin Huan and Sun Zizhong completely broke off contact.

Su Qinglang once thought that it was Sun Zizhong who misunderstood Qin Huan, thinking that Qin Huan was the one who initiated the treason case and that he was being persecuted, but later he felt that this was not the case.

Many times, Sun Zizhong didn't hate Qin Huan in a complete sense, but also had a kind of fear out of protecting him.

Was he aware of Qin Huan's abnormality, so he deliberately blocked and isolated him, or did he already know about their relationship, but pretended to be deaf and dumb, and kept calmly caring?

About this point, Su Qinglang didn't know, seeing that Sun Zizhong didn't mention it to him, nor did he reveal it, so he continued to pretend to be stupid with apprehension.

Seeing Sun Zizhong frowning with disgust on his face, and seeing Su Qinglang sighing and helpless, Qin Butler finally compromised and took the Xiangfu people to leave.

Seeing the people in the prime minister's mansion go further and further away, Su Qinglang and Sun Zizhong were still standing in front of the gazebo and did not come back. Brother Lu Xun approached Mei Liusheng again and asked him: "Hey, I heard that Jia Siqi made a big fuss at your house earlier. I talked about the relationship between Mr. Su and Mr. Qin, is it true?"

Mei Liusheng almost collapsed, looked at brother Lu Xun with a heavy heart, and sighed: "Lord Lu, when riding a horse, you can't whisper to each other, let alone be distracted, you are not good at riding a horse, if you accidentally fall, what should you do?" good?"