After the prosperous Tang Dynasty

Regarding Li Wenning's question, Li Tan was noncommittal, paused for a while, and then answered vaguely: "I remembered something?"

"Ah?" Li Wenning felt strange in his heart, so he asked directly, "What?"

"..." After a brief silence, Li Tan said softly, "I just remembered, if I remember correctly, there are still a few months before Xiao Liuniang's 15th birthday."

Li Wenning was slightly taken aback, and suddenly realized, "15-year-old's birthday, and the ceremony!?"

After saying this, she also realized that Li Tan thought of Jiji Li when he saw the hairpin, which is not light, but Li Wenning's own 15th birthday was already five or six years ago. In addition, the people close to me happen not to be in this age group, so I didn't notice this at all before.

Li Tan nodded slightly.

that hairpin

Because Xiao Yansui is a very homely person, she can be said to have always kept a low profile in Chang'an City. However, as the granddaughter of Xiao Song's only direct relative, Xiao Liuniang's identity has always been known by many people.

This time, Xiao Song suddenly returned to his hometown for retirement, and most officials in the court heard about it. It was no secret that Xiao Liuniang, a young girl who had not left the cabinet, returned to her hometown with her grandfather Xiao Song. There are still some amazing things about the derivation, so the news naturally spread more widely.

--Xiao Yansui's move, on the bright side, everyone will praise, this granddaughter is willing to go back to her hometown to take care of her grandfather, which can be called pure filial piety.

But behind the scenes, some people naturally complained about her stupidity, thinking that she, a young girl who has not left the court, left the bustling and lively Chang'an City to return to her hometown. His daughter is not worried about marrying, but after all, there are still a lot of young men who are well-matched and talented. They have already seen each other at various banquets in Chang'an City. Xiao Yansui, who left this social environment early, It is simply excluded from this circle.

Naturally, some people thought that it was inappropriate for Xiao's elders to take care of the elders in the family, so the son and daughter-in-law should accompany them personally.

Although Xiao Song's status is very high, even if he wants to raise a child by his side, he should bring his grandson who will inherit Xu Guogong's mansion by his side to teach him. What is the purpose of bringing back a granddaughter?Especially Xu Guogong's wife, Mrs. He, was still in Chang'an City and didn't go back with her!

After all, although the status of aristocratic women in the Tang Dynasty was quite high, in the eyes of most people, girls should be brought up by their mothers and grandmothers after all.

Like Xiao Song, there are very few people who are quite casual with their juniors from the beginning, and when he really teaches his granddaughter himself, the content of the teaching is never taboo. They gave all their experience together, and there are very few people like Xiao Song who taught his granddaughter.

The aristocratic women of the Tang Dynasty are so tough, but since the Tang Dynasty has been passed down to the present, the only women who really have a strong desire for power and actually put their ideas of controlling the government into action are actually only Wu Zetian, Princess Taiping, and Wei Wei. There are only a few people, such as Empress and Princess Anle, and among the few women, most of them are influenced by each other and mother and daughter inherit each other...

Perhaps when Xiao Song was still the prime minister, he was so careless that most people never studied Xiao Song's thoughts carefully.

However, for the East Palace, even if Xiao Song slipped away early in the morning, he was still facing the prince and grand master after all. Naturally, Li Wenning was very aware of the movements of Xiao Song and Xiao Yansui, the grandfather and grandson, before they left Chang'an City.

Thinking of this, Li Wenning's eyes moved, and he couldn't help but said: "Xiao Liuniang is now in Lanling's hometown with grandfather Xiao Xianggong, maybe she will come back before winter, and there will be time to prepare for the ceremony."

However, Li Tan shook his head, retracted his gaze from the hairpin before, and said to Li Wenning: "I talked to Xiao Wu before, and according to what he said, Xiao Liuniang may not be there again for a while. Back to Chang'an City..."

"Then what about her Jiji ceremony?" Li Wenning subconsciously asked.

"I don't know." Li Tan frowned slightly, but quickly relaxed it like a cover-up, and there was no more expression on his face.

Jiji ceremony is a kind of Jiali ceremony. To put it bluntly, it is actually an ancient coming-of-age ceremony, where a girl's hair is tied up to indicate that she is an adult and ready to marry.

A powerful family like the Lanling Xiao family has always attached great importance to the etiquette of the daughters of the family.Especially since Xiao Yansui is the only girl among Xiao Song's grandchildren, the matter of her being the only one is naturally more important.

However, seeing the hairpin adorned with gemstones from the Western Regions just now was not the reason why Li Tan's thoughts about Jijili were aroused. After all, he had always remembered Xiao Yansui's birthday.

If you really want to talk about it, it's better to say that the gem style on the hairpin is too special.

The hairpins and pearls and jades of people at that time mostly imitated real auspicious objects, supplemented by exquisite designs. Moreover, considering the preference of Chinese civilization since ancient times, and because of the limitation of cutting techniques, most of the gemstones in Tang Dynasty were only roughly polished and carved. , and then inlaid on gold and silver ornaments, the overall style is characterized by roundness and arc, occasionally square, but also with slightly arced edges and corners, full of complicated engravings such as auspicious clouds and rare animals.

Like the hairpin just now, the Western Region gemstones on it seem to have been cut and made into an extremely square and sharp-edged appearance. To be honest, it doesn't look like it conforms to the mainstream aesthetics at the time. If it can't be sold, it will be a normal.

However, seeing those sharp-edged gemstones from the Western Regions, Li Tan couldn't help but think of Xiao Yansui, and the small drawings she used to scribble casually.

From those patterns, it is not difficult to guess that Xiao Yansui seems to like things with regular shapes and sharp edges, which is obviously different from the mainstream aesthetics at the moment.

After falling into Li Tan's eyes about Xiao Yansui's tiny characteristics and preferences that are different from others, the more he thinks about it, the more confusing he will be, and then he can't help but think about her, wanting to understand More things about her...

Because of the distance, even he himself hadn't been keenly aware of it, and those uncontrollable curiosity turned into likes like this.

After leaving Chang'an West Market, Li Tan and Li Wenning met a few more acquaintances on Zhuque Street before they walked a few steps.

Liu Tan, who was riding out with a few friends, couldn't help but be the first to tighten the reins when he saw Li Wenning, and his lips couldn't help moving slightly, "Princess."

They were not familiar faces to each other, no matter whether any of these people were opposed to Dong Gong, at least on the surface, both of them greeted each other with smiles.

Seeing Liu Tan's rare embarrassment and shyness and eagerness to look at Li Wenning, Li Tan couldn't help lowering his eyes slightly, but he didn't show the slightest hint.

After this small chance encounter, the two sides said goodbye to each other quickly. Li Tan and Li Wenning went back to the East Palace together. When the elder brother Li Chu came back, Li Wenning naturally talked about Xiao Yansui and Yan Li on the road The matter told Li Chu.

"Now there is still plenty of time, brother might as well inform Aye in advance, so that there is a charter." Li Wenning said softly to Li Chu.

——The implication of Li Wenning's words does not need to be repeated.After all, although Xiao Song left Chang'an City, many people in Chang'an City will not forget him.

What's more, just because Xiao Song has been far away from the court, his speech and attitude will no longer directly affect the court situation. Therefore, as an old minister who took the initiative to become an official, has no love for power, and has a close and harmonious relationship with the saint, this kind of Objectivity, on the contrary, will make him more trusted by Xuanzong...

After glancing at Li Tan, Li Wenning quickly added another sentence: "The third brother also said that according to Xiao Wu's words, Xiao Liuniang was probably not in Chang'an when she was 15 years old, and she didn't know about Xu Guogong's residence. How do you plan to arrange this..."

Li Tan sat on the side steadily, and seemed to be listening to his elder sister Li Wenning's words quite seriously.

Little did they know that at Xu Guogong's mansion that the three of them were talking about, as a mother, Pei Shi, who knew that her daughter really did not come back this year to celebrate the New Year and hold the wedding ceremony, would only be more worried than them.

It was still midsummer, and Mrs. Pei had already started ordering her maids to pack up the new autumn clothes for her daughter, and planned to send them together when the next letter was delivered.

"Talking to me all day about how she is going to build a new house, why doesn't Liu Niang know how to tell her mother that she has grown taller and gained weight recently?" Mrs. Pei frowned. Raising the distant mountain eyebrows, it was both funny and helpless to talk to the maid beside her.

·

A few days later, when Li Tan passed by Chang'an West Market alone again, he couldn't help but think of the hairpin again, as if by accident, Li Tan didn't think about it at all, so he went directly to the jewelry store that deals in pearls, jade and gemstones. In the hands of the merchant, he bought the hairpin with unique gemstones.

After getting it in his hand, Li Tan sat in the study, looking at the hairpin on the table, he was still a little dazed for a while.

He can't use the woman's hairpin. Li Tan didn't even think about what to do with this hairpin. He was distracted for a while. When he came back to his senses, the hairpin had already been bought. Hold it in the palm of your hand...

Without the brilliance of other jewelry gemstones around, this gemstone that has undergone a simple cutting process is more prominent on the desk table in the study.

After a rare moment of hesitation, Li Tan lightly touched the sharp-edged hairpin with his fingers, remembering Xiao Yansui's random scribbles, and the way she would bend her eyes when talking to him.

Facing the crystal clear and cool texture of the beautiful Western Region gemstones on the hairpin, Li Tan was almost taken to his heart by it. He thought about it too much, and before he knew it, there was another burst of trance throbbing ...