Chapter 4 Four, colored glass
There was the cry of partridges.The weather in June is warm and pleasant, even the wind is as gentle as water, like the thinnest gauze passing by the ears, making people's skin itchy, like the lingering song of a lotus picking girl far away from the water.
In this season when the world is melting, twelve-year-old Huang Zixia heard her father calling her.She turned her head from the water's edge, the sun was shining on her eyes, and the red color like blood or agate covered the world in front of her.
In this strange bright red light, she saw the young man standing beside her father. His old clothes and gloomy expression could not conceal his pale skin and jet-black hair.He looked at her with those lacquered eyes, as dark as the most silent night, seemingly deep and dark, careless, but engraved himself in her heart like a sharp knife, which could never be erased forever.
She stood barefoot in the pond, and all the scorpions in her arms fell on the water unknowingly.
She saw a faint smile in the boy's eyes, and slowly walked over to help her pick up the budding lotus in the water. He must have seen the splashes of mud on her calves, and the grass sticking under the gauze skirt. crumbs, but he just smiled and gave her the flower in his hand.
When he stared at her, the look in his eyes was not her usual look towards a little girl, but a kind of tender gaze from a boy to a girl that she had never seen before.
Sometimes when a girl grows up, all she needs is a look from the other party.
"Yu Xuan..."
Huang Zixia suddenly sat up from the bed, stretched out her hand to grab the remaining scenes in front of her, but found that it was just a dream in the fantasy night.
In the dark night, outside the window is the long wind whistling past, and the chilly spring invades the bone marrow.Huang Zixia embraced the brocade quilt in the dark night, silently watching the dreams of the past passing away at her fingertips.
She forced herself to suppress her breath, lay down slowly, and submerged herself in the silk brocade quilt.Because after breaking the "Four Plans", she is already a celebrity in the capital, so the Kui Palace is really good to her as a little eunuch, and all the daily expenses are very good, even cheaper than when she was the daughter of the envoy's family in the middle of Sichuan. Be taller.
However, lying in the warm and soft quilt, she felt that it was even more difficult to sleep peacefully than when she was trekking in the rain in the wilderness.
She opened her eyes wide and listened to the wind outside in the darkness. After a long time, she finally lifted the quilt, got up, got dressed, opened the door and went out.
Surrounded by shadows of trees, she walked through the courtyards of King Kui's Mansion following her memory.The guards patrolling the road turned a blind eye to her, presumably she, the new celebrity who came to the Kui Palace, was already known by everyone, so she came and went freely and no one controlled her.
When she walked to the Jingyu Hall, she saw the moonlight streaming over the flowers and trees, and there was silence everywhere, but it was four o'clock, Li Shubai was naturally still sleeping peacefully.
Then she suddenly remembered, no matter how urgent she was because of last night's dream, how could he, Kui Wang Li Shubai, get up at night for her, just because of her nightmare?
So she could only find a stone and sit down under the flower tree outside the hall, leaning her face on her bent knees, and was going to sit quietly for a while before going back to wait for his call.
I don't know how long I sat there, the moonlight was dim, and a faint dark blue appeared on the horizon.The spring dew was so thick that it stained her skirt. She was staring at the grass sprouts on the ground in a daze, but saw a pair of black leather Liuhe boots stepping on the tips of the new sprouts.
She looked up along the boots, he was wearing a purple coat embroidered with dark blue dragon patterns, his figure was extraordinarily tall and straight due to the proper tailoring.Around the waist is the purple jade pendant of the Immortal Pavilion, tied with a nine-knotted and eighteen-turned blue silk sash, and the cuffs and neckline are simple square collars with narrow sleeves, which is the style that Beijing and China are emulating.
King Kui Li Shubai's side hat is very fashionable, and the clothes he wears will become popular within a few days.This person, just looking at his appearance, really looks like a son of a royal family who is well-clothed and sensual.
Huang Zixia leaned her face on her knees, looked at him, and thought in her heart.
Li Shubai stood in front of her and looked down at her. Seeing that she was looking at him without speaking, he turned his head to look at the palace lantern on the flower tree, and asked: "The stars are so windy, you little eunuch, what flowers do you come to enjoy in the early morning?"
Huang Zixia said in a low voice: "I had a dream last night, I... I want to ask, what is the task you entrusted to me, and whether I can finish it quickly and return to Sichuan as soon as possible."
Li Shubai glanced at her with the light of the palace lantern, didn't speak, but walked past her and walked to the corridor next to her.
Huang Zixia stood up, followed him to the corridor, and saw him sitting down as if no one was there, but she just stood there waiting for him to speak.
The palace lanterns hanging on the porch flickered, and the night wind was blowing slowly. The silk lanterns painted with the fairy island of Penglai flew obliquely and twirled in the wind. Li Shubai's face blended in the night light and dark, making it difficult to distinguish.
Li Shubai was not in a hurry to pay attention to her, he just raised his head and stared at the palace lantern hanging under the eaves for a long time.Huang Zixia's mood was unstable, she stood under the lamp to accompany him for a long time, and finally felt something was wrong.She turned her head to look at the lamp. It was an ordinary octagonal palace lamp. The finely stitched red lacquered wooden poles spelled out auspicious clouds and thunder patterns, and the white gauze lamp surface was painted with fairy mountains and seas of clouds.
She couldn't see anything special about this lamp, but when she turned her head, she found that Li Shubai was looking at her. Under the dim light, his eyes were as dark as stars in the distant sky.
She touched her face, and before she could ask a question, she heard Li Shubai say slowly: "What a coincidence, just now, I also had a dream, dreaming that I was standing on the Xuzhou city tower, looking down Thousands of houses. When you wake up, you can't sleep again."
Huang Zixia sat leaning on the railing by the water, looking at him silently.He saw her eyes, as bright as stars and moons, as trance-like as waves.
"Over the years, there has been an extremely weird and inexplicable thing about me. I am in it, and I am at a loss, so I have been looking for someone who can help me solve this mystery." He looked at the light on the lamp. Misty Immortal Mountain asked slowly, "Do you know why I said I can only give you ten days?"
Huang Zixia shook her head, looking at him under the flickering light, with a hint of questioning in her eyes.
"Because, ten days later is the day when I choose my concubine. And I, I hope you can help me in this matter." He let out a long breath, and leaned his back on the corridor railing, obviously The dim light was flickering, projecting on him on this spring night, making him look extraordinarily trance.
"Back then, I got a piece of motto in Xuzhou, and I was very concerned about what was written on it."
In Xuzhou, Huang Zixia suddenly remembered a major event that shocked the world back then, and his face couldn't help but move.And Li Shubai also said: "That's right, Xuzhou was the turning point of my destiny. Everyone said that it was my blessed land. But no one knew that I pacified Xuzhou. On the last night before returning to Beijing, I looked down at the whole city from the tower. When I was in the city, something happened that is still fresh in my memory."
Having said that, he finally looked back at her, and took out a piece of paper from his sleeve.
The paper was thick and yellowish, about two inches wide and eight inches long, with a strange cinnabar pattern like a snake and insect on the background, and the words "Widowed, Disabled, Lonely, Disabled, and Disabled" were written in thick ink.Among them, two bloody circles are abruptly printed on the characters "widower" and "solitary", as if the fate bounded by blood looks extremely depressing.
Li Shubai's fingers brushed over the fine cinnabar lines that look like insects and snakes in the background, and said: "This background is insect and snake seal script, and it is written in the horoscope of my birthday."
Huang Zixia looked at the six ominous big characters printed on his birthday horoscope, and the two bloody circles, and felt a faint ominous feeling in his heart.
Li Shubai put the talisman on the railing, pressed it lightly with his hand, and said, "The night this talisman appeared was when I was standing on the city wall of Xuzhou overlooking Xuzhou city. It appeared on the arrow stack next to me. When I got it, there were only six characters on it, without these two red circles. Only a faint red circle appeared on the word '孤'. trace."
Huang Zixia looked at the red circle and fell silent.
His finger was pointing on the word "孤", as if he was caressing his past life: "Lonely when you lose your parents when you are young. At that time, the father and emperor had passed away, but my mother and concubine were still there, so I didn't care about it." , I just thought it was an ordinary curse from my opponent, so I left it behind, and I was going to search among the people around me to see who dared to bring this thing to me. Who knows..."
His eyes turned to the palace lantern next to him. In the quiet night, the palace lantern cast a slightly swaying light. Huang Zixia only felt that at this moment, the whole surrounding became blurred.
"That night, I had countless nightmares, in which the six words 'widowhood, loneliness, disability' were repeated over and over again. When I woke up, I wanted to burn that spell, but when I took it out to look, I found the word 'solitary' On the top, the circle that was just a faint red mark suddenly became heavier and became what it is now." His finger pointed on the word, and under the stars and moon, the red circle was like a strange flower beside his finger. The safflower blooms, and it looks like the traces of blood are blurred, which is shocking. "It was also on that day, at that moment, that there was an urgent message sent from eight hundred miles from Beijing. I opened it and read it, only to find that it said the news of my concubine's death."
On the day when the "orphan" was circled in red, he truly became an orphan without any parents.
Huang Zixia saw one of his hands retracted from the talisman paper, and unconsciously clenched into a fist. His extremely beautiful hands, because they were so tightly clenched, even the joints were slightly white.
She couldn't help comforting him: "Perhaps, it's just a coincidence, the prince doesn't need to think too much."
He only glanced at her, did not refute or affirm, and only let out a deep and long breath.
"After receiving the news of my mother's death, on the way back to Beijing from Xuzhou, I encountered an assassination. I was stabbed in the left arm. Although the wound was not deep, the weapon was poisoned. The accompanying military doctors said, I can't keep my arm, if I want to live, I have to abandon my left arm." His right hand caressed his left arm lightly, as if the pain was still on him, "At that time, I will take the I took out the piece of talisman paper beside me, and saw a bright red circle faintly appearing on it, delineating the character 'remnant'."
The night was silent, and the wind came suddenly. The lantern spun around suddenly in the wind, and the light hit them faintly. The talisman paper with the scarlet circle on it fluttered in the wind, as if it was not paper, but fate. fluctuating.
Li Shubai looked at her with a calm expression that was almost stiff: "You, do you know what I did at that time?"
Huang Zixia stretched out her hand to hold down the talisman paper, stood under the flying palace lanterns, stared at him unblinkingly, and said, "I guess, the lord must have arrested the military doctor and tortured the culprit."
Li Shubai's originally tense face slowly relaxed, and even, under the blushing light, a smile appeared on the corners of his lips.
His face, which had always been indifferent, suddenly showed a soft and clear spring breeze against the background of his smile.Even if that kind of smile is very weak, it can't hide what's coming out of his heart.He said: "Huang Zixia, you are indeed a person who does not believe in fate just like me."
"I have been in Sichuan for several years, and I have handled 26 murder cases, eight of which had rumors of ghosts and gods. But in the end, the truth came to light. They were all just pretending to be ghosts by people with intentions. Another example is the 'Four Plans' a few days ago. , It’s also a pretense of ghosts and gods,” Huang Zixia pointed at his talisman paper with his index finger, and said, “Just like this talisman paper, what the prince said before is enough to reveal the intentions of the people behind the scenes.”
Li Shubai looked at her and said happily, "Why don't you talk about it?"
She raised her hand to touch her sideburns, and when she touched the wooden hairpin on her head, her hand stopped for a moment, obviously remembering the embarrassment when her hair fell loose last time.So she put down her hand, drew a "one" on the railing with her fingertips, and then said: "First, the appearance of this talisman paper can only be done by the people closest to you, so it must be you!" The people around you have plans and quietly put this thing where you are going - on the Xuzhou City Tower."
As she spoke, she drew two more horizontal lines on the railing: "Second, the appearance of the red circle on the talisman paper suddenly changed when the talisman paper was by your side, so this person not only followed you Once you get out of the city tower, you can get in touch with everything about you at any time, so it seems that this person should be the closest person by your side, such as an attendant."
"Third, the disease diagnosed and treated by the military doctor coincides with this piece of talisman, which means that there are not one but two or more perpetrators lurking around you. At least one of them is a military doctor, and the other is your right and left. After finishing speaking, she withdrew her hand, blew on her fingertips, and concluded, "Following the line of the military doctor, we should be able to find the person hiding in the dark."
Li Shubai was noncommittal, and continued: "At that time, the military doctor committed suicide immediately, and I sent all the bodyguards I trained over the years to various places in the future, and I am no longer planning to recall them."
Huang Zixia's eyes fell on the talisman paper: "But on it..." It seems that the red circle on the word "remnant" has faded away again, leaving only a little trace.
"My arm has been saved after more than half a year of treatment, so the red circle on the word 'disabled' has gradually disappeared. But my left arm is now useless, and I can only do some daily things, such as writing and drawing. It’s okay for drawing, but I can’t draw a bow with a sword anymore.” He stretched out his left hand and moved his fingers in front of her, “Actually, I used to be left-handed.”
A left-handed person, after losing his dominant hand, quickly trained his right hand. The hardship involved is probably not understood by ordinary people.
Thinking of his agility in pulling himself out of the carriage, Huang Zixia couldn't help but deeply admire the person in front of him.At least, she felt that she probably didn't have the will to start all over again and train her right hand, which she hadn't used for more than twenty years, to be like this.
"Originally, I thought that after I sent away the original people around me, this matter was over, so I always kept this talisman paper in a secret place, because I still hoped to use this talisman paper to protect the people around me." That dark line was found out. However, just a few days ago, when I heard that the emperor was going to choose a princess for me, I remembered the character 'widow' on this talisman paper, so I took it out and looked at it. The result was I found that a red circle suddenly appeared on this piece of talisman paper, this time, it landed on the character 'widower'." He picked up the talisman paper and pressed his finger on the "widower" circled in vermilion , with a mocking smile on his face, "A man who loses his wife or has no wife is called a widower. It seems that my marriage may suffer some unexpected changes."
Huang Zixia took the talisman paper from his hand and looked at it carefully.The vermilion on it does look newer than the one on "Gu", so the scarlet blood-like color is even more menacing.
"It's unbelievable, it seems like a ghost is haunting, it's predestined. After three or four years, this talisman suddenly bursts with new blood," Li Shubai said slowly, "Everyone around me has changed. Many times, and when I hid this talisman, I handled the important affairs of those military planes more properly, but I never thought that this talisman, which was supposed to be absolutely impossible to be touched by people, finally showed an ominous sign .”
Huang Zixia put down the talisman paper and said, "It seems that this talisman paper may be much more complicated than we imagined."
"Well," he replied, paused for a while, and then said slowly, "Anyway, this time, someone will definitely make trouble with my marriage. If my marriage is used by others, or because of it, someone will make trouble , make a big fuss, such as—"
His eyes rested on her, and the expression on his face was like a smile but not a smile: "I suddenly remembered that Sun Wangyun, the eldest son of Langya Wang's family, seems to be your intended husband-in-law. You don't want to marry him until death." , and even poisoned his family members for refusing to marry him, it is simply the biggest shame in his life..."
"I didn't kill my parents and family members." She bit her lower lip and said every word, "If you want me to help you, don't bring it up in front of me."
He looked at her playfully, and said, "It's just relaying what everyone said. Wouldn't it be too unwise for me to cooperate with a female murderer?"
She bit her lower lip and asked in a low voice, "Do you really believe that I didn't kill my family?"
He didn't answer, stood up and walked across the winding bridge over the water.
Along the dimly lit path, they walked deep into the brightly lit pavilion.And the sky began to appear dark blue, and the dawn really came.
Huang Zixia followed behind him and heard him say slowly: "Yes, because I have seen your palm and I can see that you did not kill anyone."
She was startled, and then immediately picked out the flaws in his words: "The last time you looked at my palm, you clearly said that you could tell from my palm prints that I poisoned my relatives, so you deduced my identity! "
"I lied to you."
"Then how did you find out my identity last time?"
"You don't need to worry about this." He stopped all topics with one sentence, "You just need to help me uncover the mystery behind this talisman paper, and your mission is over."
"Then, if you just check the palm prints of the people around you one by one, can't you find out everything?" She still asked relentlessly.
"Not interested," he said without turning his head, "because, compared to looking at other people's palm prints, I still prefer to see people pretending to be eunuchs."
Therefore, Huang Zixia, the little eunuch who was sadly urged by the Kui Palace—no, it should be Yang Chonggu, followed the prince into the palace for the second time, went to the Penglai Hall of Daming Palace, and participated in the selection of Kui Wangfei. Although it is already April, the peaches and plums in full bloom in the imperial garden still cannot drive away the coldness that shrouds the palace. "It's so strange. The Daming Palace is obviously built on a high place facing the sun, but why does it seem to be a little bit colder than the city?" Li Shubai listened to Huang Zixia's muttering to himself, and replied casually, "Because this is the inner palace, the most noble place in the world, and also the place where sunlight is hardest to reach." At this time, they were standing on the high platform of Penglai Hall, overlooking the Taiye Pool below. In the hunting wind, the flowers and trees beside the Taiye Pool swayed and undulated like a huge sea of flowers, and the pink and white waves surrounded the blue Taiye Pool. Such a beautiful scenery, but not pleasant at all, just feel cold. "Nine out of ten ladies from all families have already come, how about the prince go into the palace to see what they are talking about?" Huang Zixia asked. Li Shubai glanced at her sideways, unhurriedly: "What's the hurry?" Huang Zixia had no choice but to suppress her desire to see beautiful women in the capital, and waited for him to speak.But I heard him ask: "Is the token okay?" "Very good." She opened the brocade box she had been holding in her arms and took a look.Everyone in the palace is guessing what kind of precious gold, jade or rare treasures the token of Prince Kui will give to the future princess, but they don't know that what she holds in her arms is a branch of Qi Liuli that is in full bloom, more beautiful than Yao Huang Wei Zi. A rare species of peony. Huang Zixia stared at this extremely delicate crimson peony, and said: "This morning, I followed the prince's order and cut it off at the moment when it opened. As a result, Gardener Liu jumped in without knowing it, and cursed me for a long time! He said that he was digging a tunnel for himself. After more than two months of gentle fire and charcoal, this peony finally bloomed. Once this flower is cut, there will be no flowers to see for the rare Qi Liuli this year." Li Shubai said indifferently: "Comfort Liu Huajiang when you go back." "Using peonies as tokens, the prince is really elegant." Huang Zixia covered the box and held it in his hand. Seeing Li Shubai's calm expression, showing no joy in accepting a concubine, Huang Zixia couldn't help but think to himself, good flowers don't bloom often, and they wither in a short while, how could such a smart person as King Kui Li Shubai not think of this level?Probably because the other tokens can be kept properly, and if you want to go back on your word later, you must not look good when you ask for the tokens back. Holding Peony in her arms, thinking of the spell she saw a few days ago, she couldn't help feeling deeply sympathetic to the woman who was about to be chosen as Princess Kui.
Not long after, the female officer next to the queen came over and said that the number of people is complete, please help the prince. Li Shubai signaled Huang Zixia to follow her into the inner hall. According to the practice of this dynasty, when the prince chooses his concubine, the general candidates are the daughters of important officials in the court or the daughters of aristocratic families. They are all noble women, so naturally people will not let people examine and choose one by one.Before choosing a concubine, although everyone knew it well, they would not say it out loud. They only held a banquet in the front hall, and the prince watched secretly through the screen in the back hall.If you are interested, you can tell others, and that lady will be invited into the apse, and will be given a token from the prince himself. After asking her name and identity, she will not say anything else, but everything is settled. Huang Zixia followed Li Shubai into the side hall.I saw heavy curtains hanging in the middle of the hall, and the door between the front and back halls was closed, but there were carved auspicious patterns on it, and the red organdy gauze was pasted on it.He could clearly see everyone in the front hall from the door, but the people in the front hall could only vaguely see his outline. Probably felt that he was standing behind watching, the movements of all the ladies were a bit unnatural, only a girl sitting on the queen's right hand was calm and at ease, without any restraint. Huang Zixia's eyes fell on Queen Wang.She was wearing a red dress decorated with clouds and clouds, her face was extremely beautiful, her pair of alert and clear phoenix eyes were raised slightly, and there was a kind of radiance that seemed to come out of her body in Gu Pan, which was really radiant. She is the second queen of the Langya royal family. After her sister died, she entered the Yunwang mansion at that time, and was established as the queen after King Yun ascended the throne.She should be in her early twenties, but she looks to be in her early twenties. The women in the hall were all deliberately dressed up, and they were clustered around the table like flowers in brocade clothes, but no one could take away the brilliance of the queen.Huang Zixia admired, thinking, when she entered the palace to meet the queen three years ago, she was just a child who didn't know what it means to be a country and a city, but now that she is getting older, she finally understands that the charm of a beauty can be so powerful s. And the girl next to Queen Wang should be her clan sister, the daughter of the Langya Wang family named Wang Ruo.Wang Ruo and Queen Wang sat together, although they were cousins, they were nothing like each other.The person lives up to his name, the queen's boudoir name is Wang Shao, and the splendid scarlet clothes are like peonies and peonies, which are indescribably precious and gorgeous.And Wang Ruo is wearing a lotus-colored skirt today, which looks like peaches and plums in comparison, charming and charming. Although it is not as good as Queen Wang's color and temperament after all, she is young and tender after all, with a naive and romantic cuteness and charm. Apart from these two, although the rest of the women are not bad, they are all pale in comparison.Huang Zixia found a girl in the concubine Xiang Yuehua dress among the crowd. She had plump cheeks and a pair of beautiful almond-shaped eyes, but her chin was always raised slightly, showing outstanding temperament, which made her body have a kind of Natural arrogance - Huang Zixia thought, this must be Princess Qi Le, who everyone in Beijing said was trying to marry King Kui. Princess Qile comes from the lineage of the king of Shu, and she already has a weak blood relationship with the royal family. Because her father has made great contributions to the court, she was granted the title of King Yi, so she also secretly named the princess.Concubine Zhao is now in charge of the palace. It is said that Princess Qile once bribed the palace people to let her go and help Concubine Zhao copy scriptures, just to be able to speak in front of Concubine Zhao, and betrothed herself to Prince Kui. People in Beijing made fun of it. Huang Zixia was thinking in her heart, but she saw that Li Shubai had already waved for the female officer Changling to come over, pointed at Wang Ruo, and said, "That's her." Huang Zixia was surprised, this was too fast, how could he settle on such a lifelong event as choosing a princess with just a glance? But she can only ask: "Will the prince stop thinking about it?" Li Shubai's tone was flat: "It's just choosing someone from a group of people I don't know at all to spend the rest of my life with. Do you need to think about it?" "But the woman who can be chosen by the prince must have something unique." He turned his face and glanced at her, the corners of his lips slightly raised, as if he was smiling, but there was no joy in his eyes, and he said lightly, "That's right, she is the most beautiful among all the candidates." Huang Zixia was stunned by this undisguised reason, and after a long time said: "Perhaps... the prince should be more careful?" "This is the most prudent choice. Anyway, family background, character and virtue have already been chosen for me, so I just need to choose the one that looks the most pleasing to the eye, what do you think?" She could only say: "Congratulations, my lord, for finding a spouse." He stretched out his hand in front of her without saying a word. Huang Zixia didn't know what he wanted for a while, but when he turned around and saw Wang Ruo had come to the back hall under the guidance of the female officials, he suddenly realized. There was a small commotion from the front hall. It turned out that Princess Qi Le saw Wang Ruo got up and went to the back hall with the maid, and obviously understood Li Shubai's choice. The cup in her hand trembled, and a cup of warm soup was poured into it. Beside Liu Taifu's daughter. She quickly grabbed her handkerchief and wiped it for Miss Liu, and said, "Oh, I accidentally..." Before she finished speaking, her eyes suddenly turned red and she couldn't continue speaking. Tears were about to flow out. She bit her lower lip and turned her head, snatched the jade basin from the hand of the maid behind her, pretended to rinse her mouth, and forcibly held back her tears. Huang Zixia didn't have time to care about her anymore, so she hurriedly opened the brocade box in her hand, took out the branch of beautiful colored glaze and handed it to Li Shubai. With her head down, Wang Ruobi walked up to Li Shubai with a slight blush on her cheeks. She is only sixteen or seventeen years old, with a slender figure, half a head taller than the maids around her.The dress is embroidered with plump begonia flowers, the goose yellow drape has intricate cloud patterns, and there are six rows of gold hairpins on the head, dangling steps, and the precious light of the wreath.But such gorgeous and gorgeous clothes made her look a little immature, with a kind of incomprehension of the world. She came step by step, lowering her head shyly, not daring to look at people. Li Shubai waited for her to walk in front of him, and handed her the peony flower in his hand, his voice finally revealed a kind of gentleness that should be said: "Your name is Wang Ruo?" Her body trembled violently, as if struck by lightning. Huang Zixia saw her clenched her hand, then raised her head in shock and excitement, and looked up at Li Shubai.In her eyes, a thin layer of water vapor quickly condensed, the whole person seemed to be in a trance, her slightly trembling hands tightly grasped her neckline, but she couldn't say a word. Huang Zixia looked thoughtfully at Li Shubai who was opposite Wang Ruo.The Penglai Hall is located on a high platform, and he stood by the window of the apse. The sunlight slanted in from the outside, shining through his whole body, like a son of god made of glass, pearls and jade.The crimson peony in his hand was in full bloom, but it couldn't take away any brilliance from him, on the contrary, it made him look more and more handsome and handsome. Huang Zixia thought in her heart, it seems that even if it doesn't make people fall in love at first sight, at least it shouldn't scare any girl. Li Shubai obviously also noticed Wang Ruo's obviously strange reaction, but he didn't say anything. Only then did Wang Ruo feel her strange emotions, she raised her hands to cover her lips, and even stuttered in her panic, "Prince Kui...it's really...it's really you." Li Shubai raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not speak. "I... I didn't expect that I would be so lucky, so, so I lost my temper today, please forgive me..." She spoke incoherently, completely at a loss, when she looked up and saw that Li Shubai didn't respond, tears welled up in her eyes, Seeing tears are about to come out of my eyes. Li Shubai didn't speak, but the expression on his face obviously softened a lot. He handed her the Qi Liuli in his hand and said, "It's okay, I think you must not adapt to such an environment when you live peacefully at home every day. It's me. Unauthorizedly startled you." Wang Ruo nodded and smiled with tears in his eyes, and bowed deeply to him as a salute, then stretched out his hands to hold the branch of colored glaze, and hugged the flower tightly in his arms, his face flushed like a newly bloomed crabapple. Only Huang Zixia saw that a tear fell on the peony flower, causing the petals to tremble slightly, then splashed and dissipated into fine mist.
"That Wang Ruo, what do you think?" On the carriage back, Li Shubai asked Huang Zixia. Huang Zixia hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'm just a little eunuch in the palace, so I don't dare to talk about the prospective princess." Li Shubai turned a deaf ear to it, picked up the small glass bottle on the car, stared at the red fish swimming slowly inside, and didn't even bother to refute her. Huang Zixia could only say, "There seems to be a problem." "It seems?" He flicked the glass bottle wall with his fingers, his tone was flat, "When she didn't see me, that kind of ease and calmness was absolutely from the bottom of my heart - she didn't even care whether I was caught by me or not. Chosen to be the princess." "However, after she was invited in by the lady officer and saw your face, she completely changed. The shock and joy were too strong and made people suspicious." "Well," Li Shubai nodded, and finally shifted his gaze from the fish to her, "Also, when I left the Penglai Temple, I exchanged Geng Tie with her, and on it, I found some things that people care about. The place." He took out a red note from the drawer of the small table in the car, pressed it on the small table, and pushed it in front of her. Huang Zixia took it and looked at the words on it. But few figures.She read it, calculated it in her heart, and returned the red note to him, saying: "This post is fake." He nodded slightly: "You can see it too?" "Yeah. The leap October in the sixth year of Dazhong has only twenty-nine days, not thirty." "That's right," Li Shubai finally raised the corners of his lips and said, "Could it be that you, like me, are good at remembering all the days over the years?" "I don't have the memory of the prince. I just have a way to calculate the time of the leap month. This day can be calculated, so it's a bit crude to fake it." She said, read the Geng post again, and said, "The character for leap is slightly smaller, According to the general way of writing Geng posts, there should be a space between the year and month, but there is no space here, obviously the word 'leap' was added later, I don't know why." "Because October 30th is the anniversary of my mother's death, so it's unlucky." He said flatly. She nodded: "So, in order to avoid this, I temporarily modified it, intending to get away with it." "It makes sense in theory, but according to the procedure, there are more doubts," he pressed his finger on the red note with a cold expression, "the birth date Geng post must be deduced by Tai Shiling first, if he sees it It's October 30th, and it will definitely be mentioned that it's my mother's concubine's death anniversary, so she can't be selected, so even if someone helps her to make a fake, she will definitely not make such hasty revisions, resulting in a big mistake. If it was submitted at that time, it would be October 30th , then when Tai Shiling deduces the inauspicious birthdays of the candidates, he will immediately find that that day does not exist, and it is even more impossible for this Geng post to appear in front of me." "So, this Wang Ruo might not have been among the candidates at all, and she hadn't been reviewed, but she stood in front of us in the end," Huang Zixia guessed, "Maybe it's because she is the queen's sister, so the queen specially asked her Bypass all red tape and do things conveniently.” "Perhaps. But I'm not worried about Wang Ruo herself, it's just a pawn. What I care about is who sent her to me and what is hidden behind it," Li Shubai pondered for a long time, and finally said slowly , "Perhaps, grass snake gray line, the choice of concubine this time has a lot to do with the spell I got back then." Huang Zixia nodded, recalling Wang Ruo's shocked expression when he saw Li Shubai, and the tearful smile on his shy face.As a woman, she always feels that emotion is far beyond what chess pieces can possess.But what it is, she can't say for sure now. Seeing her thinking silently, Li Shubai said: "It seems that the situation you have to face about my concubine is much more complicated than you imagined." "The more complicated the inside story, the more loopholes will be leaked, allowing us to catch more threads. Therefore, complexity is not a bad thing." Huang Zixia said. Li Shubai stared at her, there was no trace of hesitation on her face, she was silent and calm, it was a kind of self-confidence that fully understood her own ability and unconsciously emanated, no matter what others did, she couldn't question it.He felt a slight beating somewhere in his heart, which made him involuntarily dare not look her in the face, so he could only cover up the car curtain and look back. The concubine selection was over, the ladies went back to their homes, a group of chariots and horses left the Daming Palace, and were walking into Chang'an City. Last year's weeds are still beside the road, but this year's new grass is only two or three inches long, withered yellow mixed with mottled green. When the wind blows, one layer of gray-yellow and one layer of light green slowly change. Behind them was the carriage of Langya Wang's family, and an old servant was driving two strong variegated horses at a leisurely pace. He lowered the curtain and said, "The carriage of the Wang family is right behind." Huang Zixia thought for a while, stood up and opened the car door, and said, "I'll go down first when we get to the intersection ahead." "What's the hurry, I don't have a time limit." "Of course I'm in a hurry. It would be nice if I could go back to Sichuan one day earlier!" She said, seeing that she had reached the intersection, she slowed down when the carriage turned and jumped off. Li Shubai looked across the curtain, saw her staggered and stopped, then lowered her head and only looked at the little red fish in her hand.
Huang Zixia watched the carriage of King Kui's Mansion drive towards Yongjiafang, while she turned around and walked towards Anxingfang. 王家的马车果然缓缓在她身旁停下来，车上有个中年妇人掀起车帘，问：“你不是在夔王爷身边伺候的那个小宦官吗？这是要往哪里去？” 她抬头对她笑道：“多谢大娘关心，我要去西市买点东西。” 妇人回头和车上人说了几句，便笑道：“我们到光德坊，正在西市旁边。若小公公不嫌弃的话，正好可以带你一程，不知意下如何？” 黄梓瑕推辞道：“不好吧，怎么可以与贵人同车……” “哎呀，以后就是一家人，你是王爷身边的人，我们见面的机会可多呢。”那妇人笑得眉眼弯弯，一副可亲模样，不由分说就开了车门，让她上车来。 黄梓瑕上车后，见王若果然在车内，她赶紧见过未来的王妃，又谢了那妇人。妇人年纪已有四十多模样，却另有一种婉转风韵，纵然眼角略有皱纹，也只为她平添了一种妩媚，可以想见年轻时必定是个美人。 黄梓瑕坐在靠车门的座上，低头用眼角瞥着王若。她的坐姿十分优美，双手交叠轻轻按在左腿上，藕荷色绢衣的广袖下，露出她的一双柔荑，纤细而柔美，雪白指尖上是粉红指甲，被修成完美的形状。 黄梓瑕看着那双手，心想，以前在蜀地的时候，自己虽然是使君家的小姐，却每天净想着和哥哥还有禹宣一起出去骑马踏青，甚至连击鞠、蹴鞠都玩得比男人疯，哪曾这样保养过自己的手呢？ 正在走神时，忽听到中年妇人问她：“小公公是一直在王爷身边伺候的吗？” 她赶紧摇头，说：“也只几天而已，之前都是其他公公在服侍着，不巧这次，王爷近身的几位公公都染上病了，就临时将我调来使唤几天。” “那也是小公公做事稳重，所以才得王爷信任，”妇人笑着，又打听问，“那小公公可了解王爷的日常起居？” “日常……也不是特别了解，”她诚实地说，“我笨手笨脚的，也并不会服侍人，只偶尔跟王爷出来走走。” “毕竟是王爷身边人，定是深知的，”妇人眉眼笑开了花，“小公公，你跟我们说一说，夔王爷喜欢什么颜色，爱吃什么口味，身边侍女多是什么性情？” 黄梓瑕忽然发现自己陷入了一个前所未有难以应付的场面：“夔王爷他……不太喜欢别人老跟着，经常一人独处，至于侍女什么的……没见过。” 有严重洁癖，性格冷清，很难对付。她在心里加上一句。 “大娘。”王若终于忍不住，低低唤了她一声。 黄梓瑕才发现王若已经快要将头埋到衣服中了，晕红的脸颊如同浅醉，有种说不出的动人。 “哎呀，我家姑娘真是的，既然已经收了信物，早日了解王爷，也是理所应当对不对？”妇人赶紧搂了王若的肩笑道。 黄梓瑕这才从她那一连串的问话中得空，说：“姑娘也不必担心，夔王是很好相处的人，而且姑娘是琅邪王家的千金，又生得如此容貌，王爷既然在这么多人中一眼看上了你，必定爱逾珍宝，白首不离。” 王若抬眼望着她，低低地说：“多谢小公公，希望能……如你吉言。”说着，她唇角绽出僵硬的笑容，脸上又蒙上一层惶恐，“我……我一见到王爷，就完全不知怎么办，连走路都是僵硬的……你也看到了，我想我这种模样落在夔王的眼中，他一定会觉得我傻乎乎的，我就越来越紧张，怕他对我不满意，可又不知道自己到底该怎么办，连后背都渗出汗来了……” 黄梓瑕听她越说越是语无伦次，忙安慰她说：“别担心，王爷不会介意，他定是懂得你的。” 妇人立即附和说：“是呢，能嫁给夔王爷，是京城多少女子的梦，我家姑娘也是自小对王爷仰慕有加，这种患得患失的心，小公公定会了解。” 黄梓瑕点头道：“是，奴婢自然晓得。” 王若深深吸气，然后轻声说：“多谢你了。” 此后，她再也没说一个字。
马车到了光德坊附近，黄梓瑕再谢了她们，下了车。 旁边不远就是西市，她觉得马上回王府去似乎不妥，于是便一个人走进西市拐角处一家汤饼店。 汤饼就是汤面，小店里面十分狭窄，和她凑一桌的是一对母女，女儿不过七八岁，坐在胡凳上脚都够不着地。母亲用筷子将长长的面条夹成短短的一段一段，喂给女儿吃。 黄梓瑕看着，隐约恍惚。母亲见她一直看着自己，便不好意思地笑了笑，说：“孩子小，面太长了吃起来不方便。” “嗯，是啊。”她应着，眼眶却在瞬间热热地烧起来。 她想起十来岁的时候，母亲也是这样帮她夹短面条，坐在对面的父亲摇头说：“都这么大了，还不是被你宠坏了，到现在还要你动手。” 哥哥坐在她左手边，一边呼啦啦大口吃面一边嘲笑她：“羞，羞，这么大了还要人服侍，将来得找个会伺候人的夫君，出嫁后接替娘服侍你。” 她那时气得丢下筷子就跑回自己房间，赌气不肯吃饭。但过了一会儿，母亲还是端了面过来，细声好语哄她吃下。她吃了几口，抬头看见父亲远远站在窗外张望着她，见她抬头，装作只是路过，缓缓地在后园的卵石小路上踱着步离开了。 当时那么细微平常的事，如今想来，却历历在目，连那时父亲脚下卵石排列的花纹、窗外树枝投在母亲手上的影子，都一一呈现在她眼前，清晰无比。 因为这一点记忆的波动，搅动她心口的忧愁与愤恨深深交织。直到她咬紧了自己的双唇，颤抖着抑制自己的呼吸，才能将那悲愤连同眼泪一起硬生生地忍回去，吞进自己肚子，深深埋在自己血脉中。 父亲、母亲、哥哥…… 她一点一点吃着面条，和着眼泪将其吞到自己肚子中。 现在所有的冤屈和血泪，总有一天，她要回到蜀地，亲手讨回来。
Notes:
Therefore, Huang Zixia, the little eunuch who was sadly urged by the Kui Palace—no, it should be Yang Chonggu, followed the prince into the palace for the second time, went to the Penglai Hall of Daming Palace, and participated in the selection of Kui Wangfei. Although it is already April, the peaches and plums in full bloom in the imperial garden still cannot drive away the coldness that shrouds the palace. "It's so strange. The Daming Palace is obviously built on a high place facing the sun, but why does it seem to be a little bit colder than the city?" Li Shubai listened to Huang Zixia's muttering to himself, and replied casually, "Because this is the inner palace, the most noble place in the world, and also the place where sunlight is hardest to reach." At this time, they were standing on the high platform of Penglai Hall, overlooking the Taiye Pool below. In the hunting wind, the flowers and trees beside the Taiye Pool swayed and undulated like a huge sea of flowers, and the pink and white waves surrounded the blue Taiye Pool. Such a beautiful scenery, but not pleasant at all, just feel cold. "Nine out of ten ladies from all families have already come, how about the prince go into the palace to see what they are talking about?" Huang Zixia asked. Li Shubai glanced at her sideways, unhurriedly: "What's the hurry?" Huang Zixia had no choice but to suppress her desire to see beautiful women in the capital, and waited for him to speak.But I heard him ask: "Is the token okay?" "Very good." She opened the brocade box she had been holding in her arms and took a look.Everyone in the palace is guessing what kind of precious gold, jade or rare treasures the token of Prince Kui will give to the future princess, but they don't know that what she holds in her arms is a branch of Qi Liuli that is in full bloom, more beautiful than Yao Huang Wei Zi. A rare species of peony. Huang Zixia stared at this extremely delicate crimson peony, and said: "This morning, I followed the prince's order and cut it off at the moment when it opened. As a result, Gardener Liu jumped in without knowing it, and cursed me for a long time! He said that he was digging a tunnel for himself. After more than two months of gentle fire and charcoal, this peony finally bloomed. Once this flower is cut, there will be no flowers to see for the rare Qi Liuli this year." Li Shubai said indifferently: "Comfort Liu Huajiang when you go back." "Using peonies as tokens, the prince is really elegant." Huang Zixia covered the box and held it in his hand. Seeing Li Shubai's calm expression, showing no joy in accepting a concubine, Huang Zixia couldn't help but think to himself, good flowers don't bloom often, and they wither in a short while, how could such a smart person as King Kui Li Shubai not think of this level?Probably because the other tokens can be kept properly, and if you want to go back on your word later, you must not look good when you ask for the tokens back. Holding Peony in her arms, thinking of the spell she saw a few days ago, she couldn't help feeling deeply sympathetic to the woman who was about to be chosen as Princess Kui.
Not long after, the female officer next to the queen came over and said that the number of people is complete, please help the prince. Li Shubai signaled Huang Zixia to follow her into the inner hall. According to the practice of this dynasty, when the prince chooses his concubine, the general candidates are the daughters of important officials in the court or the daughters of aristocratic families. They are all noble women, so naturally people will not let people examine and choose one by one.Before choosing a concubine, although everyone knew it well, they would not say it out loud. They only held a banquet in the front hall, and the prince watched secretly through the screen in the back hall.If you are interested, you can tell others, and that lady will be invited into the apse, and will be given a token from the prince himself. After asking her name and identity, she will not say anything else, but everything is settled. Huang Zixia followed Li Shubai into the side hall.I saw heavy curtains hanging in the middle of the hall, and the door between the front and back halls was closed, but there were carved auspicious patterns on it, and the red organdy gauze was pasted on it.He could clearly see everyone in the front hall from the door, but the people in the front hall could only vaguely see his outline. Probably felt that he was standing behind watching, the movements of all the ladies were a bit unnatural, only a girl sitting on the queen's right hand was calm and at ease, without any restraint. Huang Zixia's eyes fell on Queen Wang.She was wearing a red dress decorated with clouds and clouds, her face was extremely beautiful, her pair of alert and clear phoenix eyes were raised slightly, and there was a kind of radiance that seemed to come out of her body in Gu Pan, which was really radiant. She is the second queen of the Langya royal family. After her sister died, she entered the Yunwang mansion at that time, and was established as the queen after King Yun ascended the throne.She should be in her early twenties, but she looks to be in her early twenties. The women in the hall were all deliberately dressed up, and they were clustered around the table like flowers in brocade clothes, but no one could take away the brilliance of the queen.Huang Zixia admired, thinking, when she entered the palace to meet the queen three years ago, she was just a child who didn't know what it means to be a country and a city, but now that she is getting older, she finally understands that the charm of a beauty can be so powerful s. And the girl next to Queen Wang should be her clan sister, the daughter of the Langya Wang family named Wang Ruo.Wang Ruo and Queen Wang sat together, although they were cousins, they were nothing like each other.The person lives up to his name, the queen's boudoir name is Wang Shao, and the splendid scarlet clothes are like peonies and peonies, which are indescribably precious and gorgeous.And Wang Ruo is wearing a lotus-colored skirt today, which looks like peaches and plums in comparison, charming and charming. Although it is not as good as Queen Wang's color and temperament after all, she is young and tender after all, with a naive and romantic cuteness and charm. Apart from these two, although the rest of the women are not bad, they are all pale in comparison.Huang Zixia found a girl in the concubine Xiang Yuehua dress among the crowd. She had plump cheeks and a pair of beautiful almond-shaped eyes, but her chin was always raised slightly, showing outstanding temperament, which made her body have a kind of Natural arrogance - Huang Zixia thought, this must be Princess Qi Le, who everyone in Beijing said was trying to marry King Kui. Princess Qile comes from the lineage of the king of Shu, and she already has a weak blood relationship with the royal family. Because her father has made great contributions to the court, she was granted the title of King Yi, so she also secretly named the princess.Concubine Zhao is now in charge of the palace. It is said that Princess Qile once bribed the palace people to let her go and help Concubine Zhao copy scriptures, just to be able to speak in front of Concubine Zhao, and betrothed herself to Prince Kui. People in Beijing made fun of it. Huang Zixia was thinking in her heart, but she saw that Li Shubai had already waved for the female officer Changling to come over, pointed at Wang Ruo, and said, "That's her." Huang Zixia was surprised, this was too fast, how could he settle on such a lifelong event as choosing a princess with just a glance? But she can only ask: "Will the prince stop thinking about it?" Li Shubai's tone was flat: "It's just choosing someone from a group of people I don't know at all to spend the rest of my life with. Do you need to think about it?" "But the woman who can be chosen by the prince must have something unique." He turned his face and glanced at her, the corners of his lips slightly raised, as if he was smiling, but there was no joy in his eyes, and he said lightly, "That's right, she is the most beautiful among all the candidates." Huang Zixia was stunned by this undisguised reason, and after a long time said: "Perhaps... the prince should be more careful?" "This is the most prudent choice. Anyway, family background, character and virtue have already been chosen for me, so I just need to choose the one that looks the most pleasing to the eye, what do you think?" She could only say: "Congratulations, my lord, for finding a spouse." He stretched out his hand in front of her without saying a word. Huang Zixia didn't know what he wanted for a while, but when he turned around and saw Wang Ruo had come to the back hall under the guidance of the female officials, he suddenly realized. There was a small commotion from the front hall. It turned out that Princess Qi Le saw Wang Ruo got up and went to the back hall with the maid, and obviously understood Li Shubai's choice. The cup in her hand trembled, and a cup of warm soup was poured into it. Beside Liu Taifu's daughter. She quickly grabbed her handkerchief and wiped it for Miss Liu, and said, "Oh, I accidentally..." Before she finished speaking, her eyes suddenly turned red and she couldn't continue speaking. Tears were about to flow out. She bit her lower lip and turned her head, snatched the jade basin from the hand of the maid behind her, pretended to rinse her mouth, and forcibly held back her tears. Huang Zixia didn't have time to care about her anymore, so she hurriedly opened the brocade box in her hand, took out the branch of beautiful colored glaze and handed it to Li Shubai. With her head down, Wang Ruobi walked up to Li Shubai with a slight blush on her cheeks. She is only sixteen or seventeen years old, with a slender figure, half a head taller than the maids around her.The dress is embroidered with plump begonia flowers, the goose yellow drape has intricate cloud patterns, and there are six rows of gold hairpins on the head, dangling steps, and the precious light of the wreath.But such gorgeous and gorgeous clothes made her look a little immature, with a kind of incomprehension of the world. She came step by step, lowering her head shyly, not daring to look at people. Li Shubai waited for her to walk in front of him, and handed her the peony flower in his hand, his voice finally revealed a kind of gentleness that should be said: "Your name is Wang Ruo?" Her body trembled violently, as if struck by lightning. Huang Zixia saw her clenched her hand, then raised her head in shock and excitement, and looked up at Li Shubai.In her eyes, a thin layer of water vapor quickly condensed, the whole person seemed to be in a trance, her slightly trembling hands tightly grasped her neckline, but she couldn't say a word. Huang Zixia looked thoughtfully at Li Shubai who was opposite Wang Ruo.The Penglai Hall is located on a high platform, and he stood by the window of the apse. The sunlight slanted in from the outside, shining through his whole body, like a son of god made of glass, pearls and jade.The crimson peony in his hand was in full bloom, but it couldn't take away any brilliance from him, on the contrary, it made him look more and more handsome and handsome. Huang Zixia thought in her heart, it seems that even if it doesn't make people fall in love at first sight, at least it shouldn't scare any girl. Li Shubai obviously also noticed Wang Ruo's obviously strange reaction, but he didn't say anything. Only then did Wang Ruo feel her strange emotions, she raised her hands to cover her lips, and even stuttered in her panic, "Prince Kui...it's really...it's really you." Li Shubai raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not speak. "I... I didn't expect that I would be so lucky, so, so I lost my temper today, please forgive me..." She spoke incoherently, completely at a loss, when she looked up and saw that Li Shubai didn't respond, tears welled up in her eyes, Seeing tears are about to come out of my eyes. Li Shubai didn't speak, but the expression on his face obviously softened a lot. He handed her the Qi Liuli in his hand and said, "It's okay, I think you must not adapt to such an environment when you live peacefully at home every day. It's me. Unauthorizedly startled you." Wang Ruo nodded and smiled with tears in his eyes, and bowed deeply to him as a salute, then stretched out his hands to hold the branch of colored glaze, and hugged the flower tightly in his arms, his face flushed like a newly bloomed crabapple. Only Huang Zixia saw that a tear fell on the peony flower, causing the petals to tremble slightly, then splashed and dissipated into fine mist.
"That Wang Ruo, what do you think?" On the carriage back, Li Shubai asked Huang Zixia. Huang Zixia hesitated for a moment before saying, "I'm just a little eunuch in the palace, so I don't dare to talk about the prospective princess." Li Shubai turned a deaf ear to it, picked up the small glass bottle on the car, stared at the red fish swimming slowly inside, and didn't even bother to refute her. Huang Zixia could only say, "There seems to be a problem." "It seems?" He flicked the glass bottle wall with his fingers, his tone was flat, "When she didn't see me, that kind of ease and calmness was absolutely from the bottom of my heart - she didn't even care whether I was caught by me or not. Chosen to be the princess." "However, after she was invited in by the lady officer and saw your face, she completely changed. The shock and joy were too strong and made people suspicious." "Well," Li Shubai nodded, and finally shifted his gaze from the fish to her, "Also, when I left the Penglai Temple, I exchanged Geng Tie with her, and on it, I found some things that people care about. The place." He took out a red note from the drawer of the small table in the car, pressed it on the small table, and pushed it in front of her. Huang Zixia took it and looked at the words on it. But few figures.She read it, calculated it in her heart, and returned the red note to him, saying: "This post is fake." He nodded slightly: "You can see it too?" "Yeah. The leap October in the sixth year of Dazhong has only twenty-nine days, not thirty." "That's right," Li Shubai finally raised the corners of his lips and said, "Could it be that you, like me, are good at remembering all the days over the years?" "I don't have the memory of the prince. I just have a way to calculate the time of the leap month. This day can be calculated, so it's a bit crude to fake it." She said, read the Geng post again, and said, "The character for leap is slightly smaller, According to the general way of writing Geng posts, there should be a space between the year and month, but there is no space here, obviously the word 'leap' was added later, I don't know why." "Because October 30th is the anniversary of my mother's death, so it's unlucky." He said flatly. She nodded: "So, in order to avoid this, I temporarily modified it, intending to get away with it." "It makes sense in theory, but according to the procedure, there are more doubts," he pressed his finger on the red note with a cold expression, "the birth date Geng post must be deduced by Tai Shiling first, if he sees it It's October 30th, and it will definitely be mentioned that it's my mother's concubine's death anniversary, so she can't be selected, so even if someone helps her to make a fake, she will definitely not make such hasty revisions, resulting in a big mistake. If it was submitted at that time, it would be October 30th , then when Tai Shiling deduces the inauspicious birthdays of the candidates, he will immediately find that that day does not exist, and it is even more impossible for this Geng post to appear in front of me." "So, this Wang Ruo might not have been among the candidates at all, and she hadn't been reviewed, but she stood in front of us in the end," Huang Zixia guessed, "Maybe it's because she is the queen's sister, so the queen specially asked her Bypass all red tape and do things conveniently.” "Perhaps. But I'm not worried about Wang Ruo herself, it's just a pawn. What I care about is who sent her to me and what is hidden behind it," Li Shubai pondered for a long time, and finally said slowly , "Perhaps, grass snake gray line, the choice of concubine this time has a lot to do with the spell I got back then." Huang Zixia nodded, recalling Wang Ruo's shocked expression when he saw Li Shubai, and the tearful smile on his shy face.As a woman, she always feels that emotion is far beyond what chess pieces can possess.But what it is, she can't say for sure now. Seeing her thinking silently, Li Shubai said: "It seems that the situation you have to face about my concubine is much more complicated than you imagined." "The more complicated the inside story, the more loopholes will be leaked, allowing us to catch more threads. Therefore, complexity is not a bad thing." Huang Zixia said. Li Shubai stared at her, there was no trace of hesitation on her face, she was silent and calm, it was a kind of self-confidence that fully understood her own ability and unconsciously emanated, no matter what others did, she couldn't question it.He felt a slight beating somewhere in his heart, which made him involuntarily dare not look her in the face, so he could only cover up the car curtain and look back. The concubine selection was over, the ladies went back to their homes, a group of chariots and horses left the Daming Palace, and were walking into Chang'an City. Last year's weeds are still beside the road, but this year's new grass is only two or three inches long, withered yellow mixed with mottled green. When the wind blows, one layer of gray-yellow and one layer of light green slowly change. Behind them was the carriage of Langya Wang's family, and an old servant was driving two strong variegated horses at a leisurely pace. He lowered the curtain and said, "The carriage of the Wang family is right behind." Huang Zixia thought for a while, stood up and opened the car door, and said, "I'll go down first when we get to the intersection ahead." "What's the hurry, I don't have a time limit." "Of course I'm in a hurry. It would be nice if I could go back to Sichuan one day earlier!" She said, seeing that she had reached the intersection, she slowed down when the carriage turned and jumped off. Li Shubai looked across the curtain, saw her staggered and stopped, then lowered her head and only looked at the little red fish in her hand.
Huang Zixia watched the carriage of King Kui's Mansion drive towards Yongjiafang, while she turned around and walked towards Anxingfang. 王家的马车果然缓缓在她身旁停下来，车上有个中年妇人掀起车帘，问：“你不是在夔王爷身边伺候的那个小宦官吗？这是要往哪里去？” 她抬头对她笑道：“多谢大娘关心，我要去西市买点东西。” 妇人回头和车上人说了几句，便笑道：“我们到光德坊，正在西市旁边。若小公公不嫌弃的话，正好可以带你一程，不知意下如何？” 黄梓瑕推辞道：“不好吧，怎么可以与贵人同车……” “哎呀，以后就是一家人，你是王爷身边的人，我们见面的机会可多呢。”那妇人笑得眉眼弯弯，一副可亲模样，不由分说就开了车门，让她上车来。 黄梓瑕上车后，见王若果然在车内，她赶紧见过未来的王妃，又谢了那妇人。妇人年纪已有四十多模样，却另有一种婉转风韵，纵然眼角略有皱纹，也只为她平添了一种妩媚，可以想见年轻时必定是个美人。 黄梓瑕坐在靠车门的座上，低头用眼角瞥着王若。她的坐姿十分优美，双手交叠轻轻按在左腿上，藕荷色绢衣的广袖下，露出她的一双柔荑，纤细而柔美，雪白指尖上是粉红指甲，被修成完美的形状。 黄梓瑕看着那双手，心想，以前在蜀地的时候，自己虽然是使君家的小姐，却每天净想着和哥哥还有禹宣一起出去骑马踏青，甚至连击鞠、蹴鞠都玩得比男人疯，哪曾这样保养过自己的手呢？ 正在走神时，忽听到中年妇人问她：“小公公是一直在王爷身边伺候的吗？” 她赶紧摇头，说：“也只几天而已，之前都是其他公公在服侍着，不巧这次，王爷近身的几位公公都染上病了，就临时将我调来使唤几天。” “那也是小公公做事稳重，所以才得王爷信任，”妇人笑着，又打听问，“那小公公可了解王爷的日常起居？” “日常……也不是特别了解，”她诚实地说，“我笨手笨脚的，也并不会服侍人，只偶尔跟王爷出来走走。” “毕竟是王爷身边人，定是深知的，”妇人眉眼笑开了花，“小公公，你跟我们说一说，夔王爷喜欢什么颜色，爱吃什么口味，身边侍女多是什么性情？” 黄梓瑕忽然发现自己陷入了一个前所未有难以应付的场面：“夔王爷他……不太喜欢别人老跟着，经常一人独处，至于侍女什么的……没见过。” 有严重洁癖，性格冷清，很难对付。她在心里加上一句。 “大娘。”王若终于忍不住，低低唤了她一声。 黄梓瑕才发现王若已经快要将头埋到衣服中了，晕红的脸颊如同浅醉，有种说不出的动人。 “哎呀，我家姑娘真是的，既然已经收了信物，早日了解王爷，也是理所应当对不对？”妇人赶紧搂了王若的肩笑道。 黄梓瑕这才从她那一连串的问话中得空，说：“姑娘也不必担心，夔王是很好相处的人，而且姑娘是琅邪王家的千金，又生得如此容貌，王爷既然在这么多人中一眼看上了你，必定爱逾珍宝，白首不离。” 王若抬眼望着她，低低地说：“多谢小公公，希望能……如你吉言。”说着，她唇角绽出僵硬的笑容，脸上又蒙上一层惶恐，“我……我一见到王爷，就完全不知怎么办，连走路都是僵硬的……你也看到了，我想我这种模样落在夔王的眼中，他一定会觉得我傻乎乎的，我就越来越紧张，怕他对我不满意，可又不知道自己到底该怎么办，连后背都渗出汗来了……” 黄梓瑕听她越说越是语无伦次，忙安慰她说：“别担心，王爷不会介意，他定是懂得你的。” 妇人立即附和说：“是呢，能嫁给夔王爷，是京城多少女子的梦，我家姑娘也是自小对王爷仰慕有加，这种患得患失的心，小公公定会了解。” 黄梓瑕点头道：“是，奴婢自然晓得。” 王若深深吸气，然后轻声说：“多谢你了。” 此后，她再也没说一个字。
马车到了光德坊附近，黄梓瑕再谢了她们，下了车。 旁边不远就是西市，她觉得马上回王府去似乎不妥，于是便一个人走进西市拐角处一家汤饼店。 汤饼就是汤面，小店里面十分狭窄，和她凑一桌的是一对母女，女儿不过七八岁，坐在胡凳上脚都够不着地。母亲用筷子将长长的面条夹成短短的一段一段，喂给女儿吃。 黄梓瑕看着，隐约恍惚。母亲见她一直看着自己，便不好意思地笑了笑，说：“孩子小，面太长了吃起来不方便。” “嗯，是啊。”她应着，眼眶却在瞬间热热地烧起来。 她想起十来岁的时候，母亲也是这样帮她夹短面条，坐在对面的父亲摇头说：“都这么大了，还不是被你宠坏了，到现在还要你动手。” 哥哥坐在她左手边，一边呼啦啦大口吃面一边嘲笑她：“羞，羞，这么大了还要人服侍，将来得找个会伺候人的夫君，出嫁后接替娘服侍你。” 她那时气得丢下筷子就跑回自己房间，赌气不肯吃饭。但过了一会儿，母亲还是端了面过来，细声好语哄她吃下。她吃了几口，抬头看见父亲远远站在窗外张望着她，见她抬头，装作只是路过，缓缓地在后园的卵石小路上踱着步离开了。 当时那么细微平常的事，如今想来，却历历在目，连那时父亲脚下卵石排列的花纹、窗外树枝投在母亲手上的影子，都一一呈现在她眼前，清晰无比。 因为这一点记忆的波动，搅动她心口的忧愁与愤恨深深交织。直到她咬紧了自己的双唇，颤抖着抑制自己的呼吸，才能将那悲愤连同眼泪一起硬生生地忍回去，吞进自己肚子，深深埋在自己血脉中。 父亲、母亲、哥哥…… 她一点一点吃着面条，和着眼泪将其吞到自己肚子中。 现在所有的冤屈和血泪，总有一天，她要回到蜀地，亲手讨回来。
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