Yangyue

In the bustling market in the capital, the horse-drawn carriage of the Hou Mansion to pick up Lord Hou was passing through rows of shops and stalls. Qi Zhu was sitting in a spacious sedan chair, and two servant girls were helping him with fans and pouring tea.

The window of the sedan chair was kept open, and Qi Zhu saw street vendors yelling and selling some women's favorite headgear. Although the stalls did not sell any expensive things, they were still exquisite and interesting.

Qi Zhu asked the maid on the side: "Do you know which is the best shop selling women's jewelry in the capital?"

The two servant girls looked at each other in surprise, and one of the servant girls said, "Master Hou, I have heard from other sisters that the Peiyunxuan in South Lane sells very good jewelry. Yes, the things they sell are exquisite and luxurious, not inferior to those made by the imperial court, and many wives and young ladies of big families like to buy them there."

Qi Zhu: "Really? It's still early, let's go to Nanxiang instead."

"Yes."

The carriage diverted to the south alley of the capital, and stopped at the door of the leading shop named Pei Yunxuan, Qi Zhu got off the car and walked into the shop, followed by two servants.

The two servant girls stayed in the car, and one of them blushed with admiration: "Is it true that Hou Ye fell in love with a young lady, so he bought jewelry for her? Is there a headed wife in our house soon?"

Another older servant girl who answered just now tapped the young servant girl's forehead lightly, and said: "Don't guess, you don't understand, the aristocratic family is very particular, you have to ask the matchmaker to check the horoscope first, the etiquette is set. How can it be so fast?"

Famous families have always had many rules, and it is not polite to give gifts to ladies from other families in private, but any lady who has strict family rules and has not been out of the court dare not accept it. Maybe the Lord Hou met someone else in the fireworks and willow alley? Girl, give something to please.

But in whose hands this gift will end up in, no one can guess except Qi Zhu.

The Xiao Mansion is located in a garden in the north of the city, and most of the people who can build houses here are dignitaries and relatives of the emperor.The mansion of the Xiao Mansion was bestowed upon Henry Zhang by the Emperor back then, and it is luxurious and dignified everywhere.

Henry Zhang spends most of his time in the duckweed pavilion mansion, and only three or five days in a month will he live at home.

On the evening of the day when he returned from the Ministry of Punishment, Henry Zhang went back to the mansion. After dinner, he heard a rumor from someone outside that a gift from the Hou mansion had been delivered.

The master of the Hou Mansion is only Lord Hou, and the one who can give gifts in the name of the Hou Mansion is naturally only Lord Hou.

The servant girl of the Xiao Mansion was serving Xiao Yangyue to change clothes. When Xiao Yangyue heard the pass from the servant outside, she looked slightly surprised for a while, and replied: "Bring it in."

Two servants walked in carrying a dark blue brocade box of two feet in length and width. The brocade box was stamped with various flower patterns and cloud patterns, which was very gorgeous.On the top of the brocade box, there is also a letter attached.

The maid placed the brocade box on the table in front of Henry Zhang, opened the brocade box, and inside the brocade box were neatly arranged a complete set of cloisonne sapphire red gold phoenix mouth with pearls on the head and face, long hairpins, hairpins, hairpins, step shakers, earrings, The forehead, necklace, and bracelet are all neat, embedded in the red brocade lining, shining brightly.

Henry Zhang stared at the jewelry in the box, and then opened the letter. The handwriting on the letter was chic and elegant: "The trip to the southwest has been taken care of by the master of the pavilion. I don't know what the master of the pavilion likes. It is a well-known jewelry shop in the capital, so I chose a box to give to the master of the pavilion, and it is a little bit of heart. Qi Zhu."

Xiao Yangyue picked up a hairpin in the box, and looked at it carefully by the candlelight of the glazed candlestick, with a few gleams of light in her eyes.The jewelry is gorgeous and high-profile, yet without losing style and style. It is indeed exquisite in workmanship, which is not inferior to royal craftsmanship.

Most of the things that Xiao Yangyue used in his daily life were rewarded by the emperor, or sent to buy by the maidservants in the mansion who specialize in serving his clothing and jewelry.Although the emperor knew that he liked these things, he would not reward them too extravagantly. After all, he was not a woman, let alone those concubines in the harem, no matter how much he rewarded, he could not surpass the concubines.

The maidservant who was standing by the side praised: "Young master, this jewelry is really beautiful, it suits you very well."

These maidservants have served Henry Zhangyue in the Xiao Mansion for many years, and they call him young master on weekdays. They have already figured out Henry Zhang's temperament in this aspect, and another maid followed suit: "Yes, look at this cloisonné sapphire. It is lined with red gold, luxurious and majestic, just suitable for the young master, the Marquis has a heart."

Although Xiao Yangyue knew that these maids were only saying nice things to make him happy, but this gift was indeed in line with his wishes, so she said: "Put it away."

"Yes, where is the letter from Master Hou?"

"Put them away together."

"Yes."

Four days later, it was the queen's birthday banquet.

The empress was the first wife of the emperor when he was still the prince. After the emperor became the king of a country, although many newcomers were added to the harem as usual, the empress' status still could not be shaken.The two couples are deeply in love, and it has become a good story in the imperial city.

On that day, Henry Zhang got up and changed his clothes.For the queen's birthday, he couldn't dress too extravagantly, so he just asked the servant girl to prepare a simple light-colored jade brocade and pearl dress.

The maid stood behind Xiao Yangyue and coiled his hair for him, and asked: "Master, today's body, the blue and golden hair are the most suitable, how about using the cloisonne hair that Lord Hou sent a few days ago?"

Henry Zhang: "Yeah."

The maid took the brocade box, opened it, and carefully took out a hairpin from it, and compared it to Henry Zhangyue's hair, Henry Zhangyue nodded slightly.

Several little maids who were serving outside were sitting on the steps outside the hall and talking. These little maids were all just at the age of Ji, and it was the time when they were longing for the marriage.

Maybe it was yesterday that these little maids got together to read some marriage scripts or listened to some stories, and they whispered excitedly, their faces flushed slightly.

A little maid said: "...and I heard that there is such a custom in that place, men give jewelry to women to express their love for marriage. Her jewelry expresses that she is also in love with men, and this marriage will be completed."

"So that's how it is. My sister has reached the age of Ji this year, right? I heard that the eldest son of the housekeeper of Prince Shun's mansion is very fond of my sister, and people come to inquire about her every day or two."

"Oh, don't talk nonsense..."

Henry Zhangyue has clear ears, and he listened to the words of these little girls.These little maids chatted to the point of excitement, their voices were confiscated, and for a while even the maids around Henry Zhang heard some small voices.

The eldest servant girl frowned, got up and went to the outer room, and shouted: "You little girls are really losing your rules! The young master doesn't like making noise the most, how dare you make such noise!"

After the big girl taught her a lesson, she could no longer hear the little girls muttering.The maid who waited on Henry Zhang's clothes arranged his hair for him, and was about to take out the cloisonne pearl hairpin from the box to wear for Henry Zhang, but Henry Zhang said: "Change another one, it's not advisable to be too extravagant today, use that It must have been a reward from the Emperor of Japan."

The maid promised, put away the brocade box, and brought back a new set of hair in a cloth box inlaid with gold embroidered dragon patterns, and arranged hair for Henry Zhang.

On the way into the palace, Henry Zhang happened to meet Qi Zhu who had just got off the carriage.

Qi Zhu is wearing a white dress with lake blue patterns today, and the neckline, cuffs and hem are all inlaid with simple and luxurious silver patterns.There is an indigo blue python-patterned silver silk belt around the waist, under which hangs hollow sapphire and burnt blue sachet, and a sapphire is embedded in the white jade hair crown, the whole person is elegant and handsome.

Seeing Henry Zhangyue, Qi Zhu smiled and said: "Good morning, Lord Pavilion Master."

Henry Zhang: "Master Hou."

Qi Zhu's eyes accidentally fell on Henry Zhang's hair accessories, noticing Qi Zhu's movements, Henry Zhang thought he was doing this intentionally, and said: "Today is the Queen's birthday, and it is not appropriate to wear fancy clothes."

When Henry Zhang said this suddenly, Qi Zhu didn't understand what he meant at first, but then he recalled that Henry Zhang was explaining why he didn't wear the jewelry he gave him.

Qi Zhu smiled slightly, a little surprised in his heart, after he sent the gift that day, he didn't receive a reply from Henry Zhang, and Henry Zhang didn't care about these human relations if he wanted to come.He didn't expect this at all today, but he got Henry Zhang's explanation by accident, which is really rare.

Qi Zhumu looked at him with a smile: "Speaking of which, I haven't asked Lord Pavilion Master for his opinion. Do you still like the gift I sent that day?"

"Master Hou has a heart." Henry Zhang paused, "The gift is very good."

"That's good." Qi Zhu unfolded the white folding fan he always carried with him, and shook it with a smile, "Let's go in together."

Henry Zhang stared at the fan in Qi Zhu's hand, his eyes sank slightly: "Master Hou likes fans very much?"

Qi Zhu's hand shaking the fan stopped slightly, and his face remained unchanged: "Indeed, I am a fan lover. I like to find some ancient fans from all over the world in my free time, and I have a lot of them at home."

Folding fans are almost essential items for literati, and many people like to carry fans with famous inscriptions and paintings, but the one that Qi Zhu carries with him is pure white and spotless, except for a white jade pendant at the end of the fan. Tassels, without any decoration.

"I only saw Master Hou used this one." Henry Zhang said, "Why don't you inscribe and draw on the fan?"

Qi Zhu closed the fan, rubbing the bones of the fan slowly with his fingertips: "This folding fan was given to me by a deceased friend of mine. He told me that everything can be contained without words or pictures."

Henry Zhang stared at Qi Yi for a while, then looked away and fell silent.

On the night when the birthday banquet ended, a secret letter bearing the official seal of Dali Temple was delivered to the chopping board in the emperor's study.

The content of the secret letter is the result of deciphering the paper fragments that Qi Zhu brought out from the Sanfengshan Tunnel that day. Dali Temple tried its best to restore and piece together the secret order paper that was not completely burned, and then according to the "Compilation of Dacheng Characters", the characters were deciphered one by one. List it out.

Because the paper was burned, most of the deciphered sentences are incomplete, but it can be vaguely seen that the head of the Hongyue Society passed a large number of kidnapping civilians, spreading court rumors, assassinating the emperor and court officials, and expanding the sect to his sect disciples. member etc. instructions.

In addition, there is a four-character command that appears many times on these papers alone: ​​against Zhu Shewu.

Against the emperor's interference in martial arts.

The imperial surname of this dynasty was "Zhu". Hongyuehui hated the court's interference in martial arts extremely, and then played the slogan of "anti-Zhu Shewu", taking the assassination of the current emperor Zhu Yinzhun as a major sect gist.

After reading the secret letter, the emperor lit the letter paper on the gold-thread coiled dragon candlestick, and said: "Continue to investigate and wipe out the remnants, leaving no one behind."

Henry Zhang who was standing at the table heard the words, nodded and said: "Yes."