The little fox does not want to hide the cub

When Li Ruan woke up, it was already high in the sun.

It was woken up by the noise outside the window.

He sat up in a daze, rubbed his eyes, and turned his head to see the black shadow outside the window.The little tit was squatting by the window, pecking at the window coffin.

He raised his hand, and the window was blown open by a gust of wind.

The little tit flew in.

"Li Ruan, how was last night, did Jiang Shen trust you?"

The little tit landed on the side of the bed, raised its head and said triumphantly, "Is my idea good?"

"But I feel that he didn't really believe it." Li Ruan lay back on the bed, grabbed the quilt and held it in his arms, "He asked me a lot of questions, but I couldn't answer them."

Little Tit: "But if he doesn't believe you, he should drive you away, right?"

"That's right." Li Ruan tilted his head, "He still let me sleep on his bed, so he shouldn't be too suspicious of me."

...I don't remember at all that I pretended to be asleep and refused to answer the question.

Jiang Shen has been away for a while, but the smell belonging to him in the room has not completely dissipated.Li Ruan hugged the quilt that Jiang Shen personally covered him yesterday, and took a deep breath.

Maybe it's because she is pregnant with a cub, now Li Ruan is very dependent on Jiang Shen's smell, and she can't even sleep well without Jiang Shen's smell beside her.The few clothes that Jiang Shen left in his cave had been crumpled by Li Ruan in the past few days, and they were almost unwearable.

But the smell in this room is also very limited, after all, Jiang Shen only arrived at the ancestral temple yesterday evening, and did not stay in this room for too long.

Li Ruan smoked for a while and felt unsatisfied, so she decided to find a real person.

"Do you know where Jiang Shen has gone?" Li Ruan sat up and asked the little tit.

The little tit said: "He was at the altar on the front mountain in the morning, and he seemed to be presiding over some kind of grand ceremony, I saw it."

Li Ruan deliberately waited until late at night to find Jiang Shen last night. At that time, the little tit had already found a branch in the front mountain and fell asleep. After waking up this morning, they happened to meet them holding the ancestor worship ceremony.

"I went to the woods to eat some fruit, and when I came out, I saw that the people in front of the mountain had dispersed." The little tit asked, "Did Jiang Shen not come back?"

Li Ruan was not sure: "Probably not."

Although he had been sleeping deeply, when Jiang Shen left in the morning, he felt a little bit vague.If he came back halfway, he shouldn't be completely unaware.

"But I saw a few trays of snacks in the yard." The little tit flew to the window and pointed outside, "Did he prepare it for you?"

Li Ruan walked over, followed the line of sight of the little tit, and really saw several plates of pastries on the stone table in the yard.

He didn't pay much attention last night, and vaguely remembered that there should be nothing there.

Did Jiang Shen prepare it for him?

"Forget it." The food was far less attractive than Jiang Shen himself, Li Ruan didn't think about it, and transformed back into a little fox.

"Let's go find him."

Jiang Shen was supposed to be back after the ancestor worship ceremony.

According to the procedure, he finished presiding over the ancestor worship ceremony in the morning, and went back to the house in the afternoon to rest and make some preparations.Starting tomorrow, I will go to the Houshan ancestral hall, fast and chant scriptures for three days, and pray for the Holy One.

Therefore, when presiding over the ceremony, he was still thinking about how to interrogate the young man who came to the door rashly last night.

But after the ancestor worship ceremony, something went wrong.

"Going to the ancestral hall tonight?" Jiang Shen looked at the person in front of him who was dressed in court clothes and saluted him respectfully, with a half-smile, "Why so suddenly, that's not what was written in yesterday's procedure."

This person is in charge of the priest of the Ministry of Rites, and he will be fully responsible for the grand ceremony of worshiping the ancestors.

The head priest of the ancestral temple is over half a century old, and he always speaks kindly to others: "It is true that it is so. But I watched the sky with the priests of the ancestral temple last night. Today is an auspicious day, and it is most suitable to enter the ancestral hall to pray for blessings."

"Your Highness is here to pray for His Majesty. If you can enter the ancestral hall one day earlier, you can let the ancestors and the heavens see His Highness's filial piety and determination, so..."

He spoke slowly, hearing that Jiang Shen was impatient, he raised his hand to interrupt: "Then according to my Highness, there is no need to wait until tonight, how about going now?"

The head priest of the shrine was taken aback.

"Isn't it to let the ancestors and God see my determination? I entered the ancestral hall half a day earlier. Is this determination enough?" Jiang Shen's lips curled up, but there was no smile in his eyes, "Go get ready."

He didn't give anyone a chance to argue, so the chief priest of the shrine had no choice but to salute him again, and took orders to do it.

After the person left, Yu Xiu stepped forward: "Your Highness, this..."

Jiang Shen raised his hand to stop his voice, and said softly, "Follow me into the room and change clothes."

The ancestor worship ceremony had just ended, and Jiang Shen was still wearing a sacrificial gown, a dark purple crown robe that was bulky and heavy, making it quite inconvenient to move.Jiang Shen led Yu Xiu to the Nuan Pavilion next to the altar, and immediately a maid stepped forward to change his clothes.

He took off the heavy robe, leaving only the lavender uniform inside.

The rules of fasting and praying for blessings are different from those of the ancestor worship ceremony. He needs to keep everything simple and go alone.

When the maid took off the hair crown for him, Jiang Shen ordered: "Everyone go down, I have something to talk to Commander Yu."

The palace maid saluted and took her leave, Yu Xiu followed to check the door, back and window, then heard Jiang Shen say leisurely: "Some people can't wait for three days."

Yu Xiu: "Your Highness, do you really want to enter the ancestral hall now?"

"Didn't you hear that the head priest of the shrine has said all that? If I don't go, wouldn't it appear that I have no filial piety and no determination?" Jiang Shen took a wooden hairpin from the dressing table and tied the scattered strands of hair. Alright, with a mocking smile, "Those old guys are just waiting to catch me, so naturally I have to be more sincere."

The so-called sacrificing ancestors and praying for the Holy One was naturally not Jiang Shen's original intention.With his temperament, he would rather go to the people to search for famous doctors several times than believe that reciting scriptures in the ancestral hall and eating vegetarian food for a few days can make the Holy Majesty recover from his stubborn illness.

However, the court has always paid great attention to etiquette, and he doesn't believe in it, but today the emperor, the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, and the people of Liming all believe in it.

In order to win the hearts of the people, he had to act in this one.

Now that it has been acted, it must be performed beautifully, so that there are no flaws in it.

But after Jiang Shen said this, he sighed again: "It's really delaying things."

Originally, I wanted to go back and interrogate that little guy.

Now it takes at least three days to go to the ancestral hall.

trouble.

Yu Xiu worried: "But the safety of His Highness..."

There are many rules in the ancestral temple. The prince cannot bring any guards into the ancestral hall, and no one can approach there except the steward who goes to deliver the vegetarian food every morning and evening.

If someone has evil intentions, this is the best opportunity to take advantage of.

Originally according to the procedure, Jiang Shen would only enter the ancestral hall tomorrow, and Yu Xiu still had time to set up defenses near the ancestral hall, but now...

"Everything should go according to the original plan, so don't worry." Jiang Shen thought for a while, and said, "There is just one thing that is a little troublesome, you have to do me a favor."

Yu Xiu: "Your Highness, please give me instructions."

"You send someone to make some snacks and send them to the yard where I lived last night. Just put them in the yard and don't go into the house."

Yu Xiu: "..."

Yu Xiu treats Jiang Shen loyally, but he is not a fool.He was silent for a moment, then asked hesitantly, "Your Highness, the hypothesis you mentioned this morning..."

Jiang Shen turned his head and looked at him for a moment.

His expression was calm, with a hint of innocence.

Yu Xiu bowed his head: "It's just a hypothesis, the subordinate understands."

The ancestral hall is a large hall at the end of the ancestral temple. There are many courtyard walls, glazed blue tiles, surrounded by green shades, and it is extraordinarily clean.

In the afternoon, Jiang Shen took a shower and changed his clothes. He removed all foreign things from his body and entered in plain clothes.

The furnishings in the ancestral hall are also very simple. The main hall in front is enshrined with tablets and three futons are placed for people to worship and chant scriptures.There are warm pavilions on both sides of the main hall for rest.

The steward closed the door and left. Jiang Shen stood in the hall and looked up at the tablets ahead.

This hall is dedicated to the past emperors and several heroes who founded the country.Although Jiang Shen doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, the dead are the most important, and he still has a heart of awe in front of the tablets of his ancestors.

He lit a few sticks of incense, bent down and knelt on the futon in front of the memorial tablet, and worshiped three times respectfully.

Then he sat down at the table next to the main hall.

Although the so-called fasting and praying is just a play, it doesn't mean that Jiang Shen just shuts himself up in this ancestral hall for three days and everything will be fine.During these three days, he had to copy the scriptures by himself to show his filial piety.

The transcribed scriptures will be submitted back to the capital three days later, to be reviewed by the Holy Majesty, and then made public.

Copying the scriptures was a trivial matter for Jiang Shen. He studied the ink and picked up the pen with a bored look on his face, but the handwriting he wrote was neat and elegant, with all the sharpness.

Just after copying two pages, I heard a knock on the door.

knock knock knock.

knock knock knock.

The movement was very light, but it was clearly heard in this empty hall.

Jiang Shen tapped his pen and knew who it was.

The originally sleepy expression immediately changed to one full of interest, even Jiang Shen himself didn't notice that a smile appeared in his eyes unconsciously.

But he didn't get up, as if he didn't hear, he continued to write with his head down, and even his back straightened up.

The knock on the door followed a familiar rhythm, knocking lightly from time to time.

Ordinary people may give up after knocking on the door a few times and no one answers, but the visitor is obviously a bit stubborn, Jiang Shen should not answer the door, so he keeps knocking like this. until the door opens.

Jiang Shen originally wanted to leave him alone for a while, waiting to see if there was another move, but he didn't expect this person to be so persistent, if he continued to knock like this, he might alarm the guards outside the hall.

Helpless, I could only get up and go to open the door.

Pulling the door of the hall open a gap, one of the young men holding on to the door lost his footing and almost fell in with an "ouch".

Jiang Shen picked her up.

The young man is slender, but the feeling of hugging him is extraordinarily soft.The sun was just right at noon, and he stood in the yard for a while, his body was warmed by the sun, and he still had the fresh breath of vegetation.

Jiang Shen liked the feel of this hand very much, he was not willing to let go for a while, but he put on a look of blame on his face: "Why did you come here?"

Li Ruan is much more frank.

He buried his head in Jiang Shen's arms, took a comfortable breath of the other's scent, and said, "I'm here to find you."

The voice is soft.

Jiang Shen sometimes felt that the boy behaved like some kind of small animal, the most clingy one, the one who couldn't leave his master for a moment.

He barely suppressed the smile on his lips, carried the boy into the hall with a straight face, and closed the door.

"This is the ancestral hall." The young man looked around curiously, "I feel so boring, do you want to be locked up here for three days?"

The ancestral ancestral hall has always been like this. There are only tablets and incense stands in the hall, so it is naturally not interesting.

But Jiang Shen has never met anyone who dares to say this.

Jiang Shen asked: "These are all the ancestral tablets of the royal family of the current dynasty. Are you not afraid of offending the undead if you speak so rudely?"

"They have been reincarnated long ago, so they won't hear about it." Li Ruan didn't take it seriously, "Even if they didn't reincarnate, they would go to heaven and become immortals, and they wouldn't care about the affairs of the world. Happy to come back?"

Jiang Shen was stunned.

The boy looked young, and even looked a little stupid. He didn't expect that this boy would have such a clear idea.

Jiang Shen's eyes narrowed, he didn't say any more, and turned his head back to the table: "So, you just came to the ancestral hall to look for me without rules? You don't know that the ancestral hall does not allow outsiders to enter during the period of the crown prince's fasting and praying. ?"

Li Ruan pursed her lower lip guiltily: "No... I don't know."

He knows.

Just now when he changed back to his original form and heard about it when he was looking for Jiang Shen in the ancestral temple with Little Tit, that's why he knew that Jiang Shen was here and that he was going to stay here for three days.

But three days is too long.

It was hard for him to see Jiang Shen again, and he didn't want to be separated from him for so long.

Jiang Shenquan saw the boy's little trick, and said deliberately: "Then you know now, why don't you go quickly?"

Of course it was impossible for Li Ruan to leave, not only did he not leave, but he even lingered to stick to Jiang Shen's side.

"Actually, I don't want to bother you, but I haven't eaten since morning. I'm so hungry." Li Ruan sat down by the table and looked at Jiang Shen pitifully, "I'm pregnant with your baby." Babe, I can't be hungry, how can you leave me alone?"

Jiang Shen shook his hand, leaving a drop of ink on the paper.

For some reason, the young man firmly believed that he was pregnant. Jiang Shen thought about it, and gave up continuing to argue with him about whether the man could be pregnant.

He put down the pen, tore off the page, crumpled it up and threw it away, and said calmly, "I sent someone to bring you food, didn't you see?"

Li Ruan blinked.

Turns out it was really for him.

Even if Jiang Shen doesn't recognize him now, and doesn't trust him very much, he is still worried that he will go hungry.

Li Ruan suddenly became happy.

But he still said: "I didn't see it, I came to you directly after I woke up."

Little liar.

Jiang Shen lowered his eyes, and finally couldn't help showing a little smile.

Still a little liar who doesn't know how to lie.

He cleared his throat and said: "That's unfortunate, I've been fasting in the ancestral hall for the past three days, and only someone will come to deliver food in the morning and evening every day. You're waiting here for food...I'm afraid you have to wait for two hours."

"Ah..." Li Ruan was a little surprised, and then showed a trace of sympathy, "It turns out that being a prince is so pitiful, no wonder you didn't want to come back before."

Jiang Shen: "?"

Li Ruan said seriously: "Then I'll accompany you to starve, I don't care."

Jiang Shen: "..."

It's all about what.

The young man's words made Jiang Shen speechless, and he simply stopped copying the scriptures pretendingly, and looked up at the young man: "Since you don't want to leave, we can continue talking about what we didn't finish last night. ?"

This trick is very useful.

Jiang Shen clearly saw that the young man's expression became evasive again, but he probably knew that he couldn't dodge, as if he made up his mind: "What do you want to ask, you can ask."

If Jiang Shen still had [-]% doubts in his heart when the boy fell asleep in his room yesterday, then after this night, the doubts have dropped by half.

This young man can't hide his emotions, whether he's happy or sad, whether he's telling the truth or lying, it's all very obvious.

Jiang Shen knows countless people, and he can see clearly at a glance.

But that doesn't mean that everything the boy said is true.

Those who should be tried still need to be tried.

"Now you want me to trust you, so why am I the one asking?" Jiang Shendao, "You have come all the way to the ancestral temple to find me, isn't it just to convince me that you are my benefactor? There should be evidence that I can trust."

"If you can't give it, how can I trust you?"

"Evidence..." Li Ruan scratched her hair.

He came too hastily, and didn't bring what Jiang Shen left behind. If he wanted to talk about evidence, he really couldn't give it.

Moreover, Jiang Shen has no memory now, even if he told everything that happened between them in those three months, he would not remember it.

What evidence is there...

"I thought of it!" Li Ruan suddenly thought of something, looked up at Jiang Shen, "I have evidence."

Li Ruan said: "You used to tell me stories about the court, I still remember some of them."

Most of what Jiang Shen told him at the beginning were the secrets of the court and the royal family, and even the ministers of the court may not know all of them, let alone ordinary people.

But Li Ruan was completely listening to the story at the beginning, even if he listened to it, he didn't remember it completely.He tried his best to pick out some impressive words from the depths of his memory, and Jiang Shen's expression gradually changed.

"...And there is the matter of you arresting the governor of Huguang." Li Ruan said, "You asked your subordinates to pretend to be you, and deliberately lured the governor of Huguang to the bait. You said at the time that the governor of Huguang was sent to test you Abandoned son, there are only two roads left before him, either inform you about the real culprit of the assassination, or assassinate you. But he chose the latter."

"Also, the confidential letter you burned at that time—"

Li Ruan's voice stopped abruptly.

The secret letter was retrieved by Li Ruan using magic to help Jiang Shen, and this cannot be revealed.

Jiang Shen didn't interrupt him until now, when Li Ruan stopped talking, he slowly said, "What's wrong with the secret letter?"

"Secret... secret letter... I don't remember the secret letter."

Lying again.

Jiang Shen let out a sigh of relief.

Because Li Ruan didn't remember many things clearly, and he didn't understand many of the stories himself, so the stories he told were unavoidably confusing.In what he just said, there are actually several mistakes and omissions.

But he was also right in many ways.

And there are many things that only Jiang Shen knows.

Where did he know this?

Did he really tell him?

Jiang Shen looked up at the boy, doubting himself for the first time.

How could he tell such an important secret to an outsider in just three months?

Jiang Shen closed his eyes and asked again: "When I told you this, didn't I tell you not to tell others?"

"You said it." Li Ruan said, "You said that many of these things are top secret. If it is spread out, it may cause a big mess and be silenced. But you don't want evidence, I can only say it all .”

"Besides, you are not an outsider."

Jiang Shen was silent.

irrefutable grounds.

He asked again: "What about the secret letter?"

The fake secret letter that tricked him into Beijing is still stored in his palace.

But in his memory, after receiving the secret letter, he personally burned it.

His memory during this period was extremely chaotic, and he thought it was a mistake in his memory before, but the young man accidentally mentioned the secret letter just now.

Is there really something hidden in this?

Li Ruan stopped talking.

After a long time, he whispered: "...can you stop asking?"

In the hundreds of years that Li Ruan has memories, the total number of lies he told is less than these two days.

He doesn't lie, and doesn't want to.

But he really didn't know how to explain it to Jiang Shen.

"There are some things I can't tell you yet, but I don't want to lie to you, so... can you stop asking about these things first?" Li Ruan reached out to grab his sleeve, and whispered, "I've said everything I can say. , you just trust me, okay? I really just want to come to you..."

Jiang Shen's heart trembled slightly.

Indeed, if he just wanted evidence that the boy knew him, what he just said was enough.Jiang Shen has set up a contact network in the capital city and even the entire Central Plains in the past few decades. The network is intertwined and kept secret from each other. There are some things that, apart from him, even Yu Xiu would not know so clearly.

But the boy can count them one by one.

Although he didn't know why he would tell such a confidential matter, but he did say it, and only he could say it.

At least during those few months, he seemed to really have no reservations about the boy.

If he really liked him so much before, not only had he completely forgotten about him now, but he was forced to tell all the secrets of the past to prove himself.

This is so unfeeling.

It turned out that he owed others.

and……

Jiang Shen took a deep breath, apart from all rationality and hesitation, he felt the most real thoughts now.

He didn't want to force him, and he didn't want to see him wronged.

That's it.

When it's time to know, you will know it naturally.

The young man has already suffered a lot of grievances, why bother to press him so hard at this time.

Jiang Shen made up his mind, and asked again: "You...what's your name?"

"Li Ruan." Li Ruan replied, "But you used to call me little fox."

"Little fox?" Jiang Shen suddenly remembered the fox jade pendant that was left beside him, and asked, "So, you gave me that pendant?"

"The pendant?" Li Ruan was stunned, "Yes, I gave you a pendant, which was transformed into—" He paused, "It's pink, carved into the shape of a little fox, right?"

"That was the day you returned to Beijing. You refused to leave anyway, but you asked me to make it to coax you."

"...You haven't already thrown it away, have you?"

In fact, throwing it away is not a big deal, Li Ruan can make a lot of that thing with a flick of a finger, it's not a rare thing.

But Jiang Shen didn't know this, and hurriedly said: "Of course not. I left that thing in the capital, and I want to find its owner... Of course I can't throw it away."

Li Ruan blinked: "Are you looking for me?"

Jiang Shen: "...um."

The young man had been sitting at the desk talking to him, with his chin resting on his hands, his head slightly tilted, and his eyes staring at Jiang Shen with a brilliance that ordinary people don't have.

After hearing this sentence, he suddenly laughed happily.

Li Ruan smiled and said: "Then you have found it now."

Even though he had no memory, Jiang Shen did not give up looking for Li Ruan's whereabouts.

Li Ruan felt that Axue was right.

He shouldn't underestimate mortals, they have left so many traces between them, even if Li Ruan doesn't come to the mortal world today, Jiang Shen will find it sooner or later.

Retrieve Changming Mountain, retrieve that erasing memory.

Jiang Shen didn't continue to press, Li Ruan was finally able to relax.But after relaxing, my stomach is even hungrier.

gollum...

Above the silent hall, there was a strange noise.

Jiang Shen paused and turned around.

The boy curled up on the soft mat behind him, with his eyes closed, as if he had fallen asleep.Half an hour ago, he was eager to accompany Jiang Shen, but he didn't know how to write, so he sat beside him and helped him grind ink and pour water.

In the end, he didn't last long, so he ran to the side and dozed off.

gollum...

This time Jiang Shen heard it clearly, it was indeed coming from the boy's stomach.

Even in the dream, my stomach is still growling, it seems that I am really hungry.

Jiang Shen put down his pen, estimated the time, got up and pushed open the palace door and went out.

During the time when the prince prayed, no one was left inside or outside the ancestral hall.Jiang Shen walked through the courtyard with three doors in front, walked outside the courtyard wall, and finally saw the guard.

"Hey, Your Highness the Crown Prince!" The person in charge rushed forward, "Why did you come out, you can't come out during the blessing period, you..."

Jiang Shen interrupted: "My Highness is hungry, go get me something to eat."

"But the rules of fasting..."

Jiang Shen glanced at him lightly.

The steward quickly changed his words: "Yes, it's getting late now, it's almost time for dinner, so let's prepare for the little one."

Jiang Shen responded, and ordered with a stern face: "Remember to get some more food, I'm very hungry."

After explaining, he turned around and went back to the ancestral hall.

The boy still maintained the posture before he left, sleeping unconsciously.

Dinner will be delivered later, but no one can see this little guy sleeping here.

There are many rules in the ancestral temple, and even the concubines who are below the rank cannot easily enter the ancestral hall, let alone this young man with no name or distinction.Moreover, if others knew that the prince was fasting and praying in the ancestral hall, he brought people with him.

He couldn't tell.

Jiang Shen walked up to the young man, lowered his head, but did not rush to wake him up.

The closer the distance, the more it can be seen that the young man indeed has an extremely bright and moving face. Even with the most critical eyes, it is difficult to pick out any flaws on the young man's face.

Jiang Shen was a little distracted, stretched out his hand, and rubbed the boy's side face with his fingertips.

"Honestly, are you seducing me?" he asked softly.

Jiang Shen really couldn't think of what it was that made him lose all vigilance a few months ago and knew everything about this strange boy.

Telling all the secrets is really not like what he would do.

"I want to seduce you." Probably because of hunger, Li Ruan didn't sleep deeply.He opened his eyes in a daze, before he was fully awake, he answered Jiang Shen's words first, "But I can't hook it anyway."

Jiang Shen laughed: "You look like you didn't catch it?"

If what the young man said was true, the self he was a few months ago would probably be completely lost.

Li Ruan was still a little sleepy, too lazy to move, and his voice was tired: "Maybe it was hooked later, I don't know. But... I know other things."

Jiang Shen: "What?"

"You're so close to me." Li Ruan smiled at him, with cunning in his eyes, "You...do you want to kiss me?"

Jiang Shen used to look like this every time he wanted to kiss him.

The same.