Jiang Qing

Famen Temple on the outskirts of the city.

During the years, the blessing red thread tied to the Buddhist tree in the temple by people who worshiped the Buddha was still wrapped around the bare branches and drifted with the north wind.

The man in a tight suit covered by a hood paused for a moment under the tree, squinting his eyes to feel the wind from the north blowing against his face through the hood.

The little novice leading the way paused, folded his palms together and waited, calling out "Sponsor", when the wind suddenly picked up a corner of the veiled hat, revealing a white and beardless face.

Seeing a pair of gloomy eyes, the little novice was startled, and forgot to look away. The woman who followed the man pulled down the veil blown by the wind in time, and took a step forward with an unkind expression.

The man stopped him immediately, and made a Buddhist salute to the little novice, and said softly: "I'm greedy, I'm sorry, little master, please lead the way."

The little novice quickly withdrew his gaze, his heart was still beating, and led him to the back room, turning several turns, and finally stopped at a place so cold that even the trees didn't grow, and pointed to the row of ashes. Pounced on the bungalow and said: "This is the place where Mrs. Cao's cleansing is done."

The man turned his head and thanked the little novice, and after watching him leave completely, he whispered to the woman: "Ah Yuan, stay outside and don't let anyone get close."

A Yuan nodded and stood still in front of the door before the young master opened the door and entered.

The lamp was not lit inside, and in the dark, there was a woman kneeling in front of Guanyin and chanting sutras in a low voice. She didn't wear any beads, her black hair hung down her waist, and she was only wearing a Taoist robe.

The room is so simple that you can see the head at a glance, but it is tidy and neat. A beam of sunlight hits the only window, casting light on the small wooden table with peeling paint. There is a plain long-necked bottle on the wooden table. A few red plums are planted obliquely, the branches have been pruned, and the green skin is exposed cleanly.

This is the only light in the dark room.

The kneeling woman slowly turned her head, glanced at the young man who was still wearing a veiled hat, and called out in a low voice, "Brother."

The young master took off the hood, revealing a face Cao Wanshu hadn't seen for a long time.

"Little sister." The young master sighed, and said in a soft voice: "It's cold on the ground, little sister should pay more attention to your body. I brought you the hawthorn cake that you liked most when you were young. I protected you all the way. It was caught in the wind and snow. My little sister hasn’t been out of the house for a long time, so I guess I’m thinking too hard.”

As he spoke, the young master unwrapped the oil-paper bag himself, and handed it to Cao Wanshu.

Cao Wanshu lowered her head, picked up a piece of pastry and gnawed it slowly. There was no sound in the room until Cao Wanshu ate two or three pieces, then she raised her eyes to look at the faint shadow outside, and said, "Brother still misses mother from time to time. ?"

The young master's hands trembled slightly, and he followed her gaze to look at A Yuan's side face at the door. There was no trace of his eyebrows and eyes that looked like their late mother's.

The young master's eyes slowly showed some bewilderment of being addicted to the past, and he gently pulled the corners of his mouth, revealing an extremely innocent smile.

Like a tacit understanding, the young master and Cao Wanshu's eyes met in mid-air, and they both saw a familiar sense of sight in each other's eyes.

Cao Wanshu and Jiqian were also lively. Whenever they got into trouble and were fined to kneel down in the ancestral hall, it was their mother who guarded the door, and their elder brother came in to deliver food.

Such a scene reflects the past, but it seems like a lifetime away.

Cao Wanshu finished eating the cakes in the oil paper bag, knelt up straight, turned around and straightened her plain clothes and hair, clasped her hands together on her knees, sat upright on her knees, with a calm face, and said softly : "Daddy is not going to let me go, is he?"

"The Eldest Princess came to Famen Temple a few years ago, and seemed to bump into you." The young master put his hands in his sleeves, and gently turned the small jade bottle inside.

"If I said that I ran into it by chance, and the eldest princess didn't see my face, brother wouldn't believe it either?" Cao Wanshu chuckled lightly and said, "If brother doesn't come, I can earn a living for the rest of my life. Now that my brother is here, I won't be able to live so comfortably."

The young master said softly: "You could have lived a good life in a high-ranking family, but you chose a dead end."

"Hahaha." Cao Wanshu changed her ladylike demeanor, and laughed softly, sharp and crazy, "I chose a dead end? What choice do I have as a woman! But if I don't obey my father's wishes, I will die , It's as simple as that. If I had followed my father's advice and married into the White House, I'm afraid I would have died earlier."

"Don't talk about death when you are young, it's unlucky." The young master knelt down, leveled with her, stroked her black hair, and said, "The Bai family is the nobles of the court chosen by my father. , if it weren't for some affection, the Cao family might not have been in the eyes of the Bai family, so why are you not satisfied?"

"Contentment?" Cao Wanshu said in a low voice: "Is contentment to be an ear of Daddy's in Bai's house, taking my life? I just want to live, I just want to live!"

"Since ancient times, any married girl must not miss her natal family in her heart. Even if your father asks you to hear some news, it is normal. In this city, which family is not like this?"

The son said softly: "At the beginning, you shouldn't have been allowed to set up a women's school with the eldest princess. You have become ambitious, but you have lost your courage. After watching a dark marriage lawsuit, many dark ghosts appeared in your heart. It is really not worth the loss. No wonder The elder brother is not in the house and did not raise the younger sister well, which resulted in today's results."

Those who don't know are fearless, suddenly bumped into her father's hands and feet in the ghost marriage case, and glimpsed his shadow at the tip of the iceberg, how could Cao Wanshu remain indifferent and act recklessly?

"Of course my brother knows much more about what daddy has done and what he has to do. After seeing the whole picture, how can my brother continue to do it?" Cao Wanshu said sadly: "My mother said before she was alive that there is always something unfinished in life. Why should my brother pursue what he was born to be unable to get, and willingly be his father's puppet!"

"Shut up!" The young master was furious after being poked in his heart. He squeezed Cao Wanshu's chin fiercely, gritted his teeth, and said, "What do you mean you can't get it at birth? It's because you can't get it at birth. I haven’t even dared to name the Cao family all these years! If I wasn’t...not born with a handicap, Bai Bingchen’s current position should be mine, and you don’t have to commit yourself to him, sister. The reason for all this is because of him My sister should be of one mind with me, my sister should be of one mind with me! But my sister escaped this marriage under the guise of being frightened and foolish, do you know how much my father and I have sacrificed for this?"

If Cao Wanshu hadn't made a mistake here, Bai Bingchen and Mei Shao would have drifted further and further apart, and the rift would have deepened. Civil servants and generals would never be as harmonious as they are in the court today.At this time, if you lose the Marquis of Nanyang, the Marquis of West Jin, and the Marquis of Ping, Li Guo's military and government will no longer be completely in Mei Shao's hands, and it will be a mess. Such a good situation, which should have been a good situation, will be completely destroyed. In the hands of this woman!

Yes, it was destroyed in the hands of this woman!

The son's eyes were bloodshot, and he tightly pinched her neck, as if he wanted to strangle her to death.

Cao Wanshu struggled desperately, pulled out the wooden hairpin on her head with difficulty, and stabbed fiercely at the young master's arm.

The young master was in pain and let go. Cao Wanshu covered her throat and coughed lowly. Her eyes were red, and she cursed in a broken voice: "That's because you are incapable! You can't fight others, and you still have to be a stone with the arms of a mantis. Still have the face to blame on women? If you have the ability, you should go directly to kill Bai Bingchen, Mei Shao, and everyone who ruined your affairs. If you can't do it, you come to gag me, just because I am a woman, Is it because I'm weak and bully?"

"I just want to live, to live as a person, I don't want to be like those girls in the dark marriage, to be you, to be at the mercy of my father and brother, am I wrong!" The hairpin, resist the young master's approach.

The young master looked at the scar on Cao Wanshu's neck as if he had just woken up from a dream, as if he didn't believe that the bruise was done by himself. He slowly approached Cao Wanshu, directly forced her to the incense table, and grabbed the scar from her hand suddenly. Throwing the wooden hairpin aside, she gently stroked Cao Wanshu's face, and kept touching the wound on Cao Wanshu's neck, with a look of unbearable expression in her eyes.

Cao Wanshu was trembling all over, her back was pressed against the incense table, her eyes were full of hatred and defense.

The young master covered her eyes and said guiltily: "Sister, forgive me, you know that I am a disabled person, I am abnormal, I don't really want to hurt you. You are a woman, you don't understand that a man is alive, if you don't If you don’t have authority in your hands and no relatives to care about you, you may not be able to live easily. I’m not all for my father, I’m also for myself.”

He put down his hand, revealing Cao Wanshu's still resentful eyes, and he closed them again, over and over again, trying to cover up, deceiving himself over and over again.

Gradually, Cao Wanshu's body stabilized. She held the son's wrist, moved his hand firmly, and looked at him calmly, "My brother and I are not the same way. My brother doesn't understand my pain, so naturally I won't understand it either. Brother, what's the use of talking so much? What does Daddy want you to do? If you want to kill me, please do it."

The young master glanced at the hand that was opened by Cao Wanshu, stopped in mid-air for a moment, stood up slowly, and said mockingly: "When the girl grows up, she has more thoughts, and I can't listen to what my brother has to say."

"Forget it." The young master took a long sigh, took out a bottle of medicine from his sleeve, and handed it to Cao Wanshu, "This is what Daddy means, as long as you drink it, you can continue to live here and live a peaceful life."

Cao Wanshu looked down at the medicine and said, "Father didn't reward you with poison?"

"It's a drug for dumbness." The young master withdrew all his out-of-control expressions just now, and said indifferently: "Father is ready to do something, and he is afraid that you will spread the news, so he will be relieved if you are poisoned and dumb."

"Don't worry? I can't speak, but I can still write. Can father worry about me?" Cao Wanshu laughed at herself.

"Afterwards, I will send someone to watch over you. You will not have the opportunity to contact other people, and you will not be able to step out of this Famen Temple." The young master replied.

Cao Wanshu laughed at herself, without a trace of trust in her eyes, she drank the bottle of medicine with her neck up, and slowly leaned against the incense table.

Seeing that she drank the medicine, the son lagged behind a little, turned around and wanted to leave.

"Brother." Cao Wanshu called him, "I want puff pastry milk."

The young master's fingers trembled slightly, he didn't turn his head, he just stood there and coaxed softly: "Okay, brother will bring it for you next time."

"Okay." There was a soft sound, and there was no other sound.

The young master said to himself: "In addition to the puff pastry milk, I will bring you steamed puff pastry with sugar and plum blossom cakes next time..."

"I'll bring it to you... I'll bring it to you." The young master said as he walked, as if he was emboldened by himself, but the few steps away from the door were staggered by him for a long time.

"Squeak—" The door opened, and the light hit half of his face.

The young master smiled slightly at A Yuan, and actually called out "Mother" softly, and tears rolled down his face.

"Sister, she is asleep, mother will visit her later."

-

Halfway up Cangshan Mountain, the white mist has not cleared.

Cao Boshen walked up the mountain step by step, surrounded by fog like a ghost, never leaving left and right, he walked in it like a ghost, dangling and climbing up.

After turning a few more turns, a road suddenly appeared out of thin air in the originally roadless mountain shade. Cao Bai walked up that road, and was deeply trapped in the thick fog.

Not long after, a Tongtian Pagoda reaching straight into the sky stood in front of Cao Bai. He adjusted his official uniform at the door and knocked on the door.

No one was there and the door opened from both sides. Cao Bai straightened his hat, and after walking in, the door closed automatically again.

There is a hole in the inside, there is a water dragon spewing beads in the middle, and the fine mist in the sky is actually a courtyard. There is a lake under the rockery. It’s just that there are fish in the water last time, but now it’s like a lake of dead water. It’s not surprising. waves.

Cao Bai didn't dare to look too much, just glanced at it for a while, and went to the west building.

The building was empty, devoid of any human spirit, and full of ghosts, Cao Bai entered through the side door, opened a hidden compartment, turned in, and with the sound of chains rubbing, he led him to the upper floor.

After about five or six breaths, Cao Bai stood still, the wooden door opened in front of him, and he walked in with his head down.

As soon as he went out, the air was filled with strong ambergris, and the light in the room was extremely dim. There were all kinds of Taoist spells and even Buddhist scriptures piled up in disorder around him according to the circle of the sky. Together, revealing a strange harmony.

Turning around a two-meter-high incense burner, Cao Bai saw a figure behind the incense burner.

He is tall and tall, dressed in fine clothes, with his back facing Cao Bai, his head is full of white hair, and his hands behind his back have no wrinkles.Just a back view makes people dare not look directly at the majesty emanating from it.

Cao Bai took a deep look at the purple robe, and kowtowed with excitement in his voice.

"Veteran Cao Bo sees Your Majesty!"