Chapter 10 Chapter Ten

It was dusk when she returned home, she sneaked into the second gate, and the maid Jinxiang who was waiting for her was already in a hurry, when she saw her coming in, she hurriedly supported her and said: "Madam has asked me several times, but I can't hide it anymore." Just as Linyue was about to follow her, she suddenly remembered something, reached out to touch her belt, and said in a voiceless voice: "My bracelet is missing." Dingzhan had already walked several steps away, and when he heard her say this, he turned around Seeing her pale face, he guessed that she might have fallen in Daming Temple, so he comforted her: "It doesn't matter, I will look for it for you."

After a few days, I finally had the opportunity to see her, and told her while she was not prepared: "I went to the flower garden to search for it twice, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it was left on the road, and it may not be picked up by someone." She replied in a low voice: "I didn't find it—that's all." But there was a look in her eyes that was rare for a little girl, which made people feel infinitely melancholy. When did the little girl who grabbed his sleeve grow up? That day when he and Mu Yuan were competing in the shooting garden in the back garden, he saw her from afar accompanied by Jin Xiang on the bridge, wearing a light yellow single shirt, like the most gentle touch of spring on the soft willows in February, When it hit the eyelids, it was so delicate that it made people feel a little distressed.After Jiji, the chances of meeting him were almost gone, so when they bumped into each other by chance like this, they saluted respectfully: "I met Sixth Brother."

As usual, she held a white fan painted with ink and wash landscapes in her hand, which covered most of her face, revealing a peony with a slanted hairpin on her temples. The petals were delicate and beautiful, trembling slightly in the spring breeze, making her bright eyes still as vivid as in her memory. The eye waves are full of circles, as if the spring breeze blows infinite ripples.He just felt a "thump" in his heart, and there was an endless surge of emotion in the world, which melted into her eyes. He poured another glass of wine for himself, drank it slowly, the sky was full of moonlight like water, and he saw his figure in the pavilion reflected on the red carpet, lonely and desolate.

He turned his face away, with a smile on his face, and said to Meng Xingzhi: "Since Lao Qi is already afraid of that move, this king will simply let him go." Meng Xingzhi said: "My lord, you don't have to be in a hurry, it's not good to lose your composure." He still had that lazy and lazy smile on his face: "We can hold our breath, but some people may not be able to hold our breath." The Emperor's Longevity Day is on May 15th, and because the system is still in place, all celebrations are kept simple.Even so, the director of ceremonies was already very busy in April, preparing banquets and excursions and other matters. In the huge palace, where to receive banquets, where to sing and dance, and where to travel, everything must be done. After arranging them one by one, I was so busy that I turned my back on my back.Unexpectedly, as soon as May entered, the emperor suddenly changed his mind and wanted to visit Donghuajing in advance to celebrate the Longevity Festival in Donghuajing.

Because of the hot summer in Beijing, the emperors of all dynasties were lucky to escape the summer heat in the summer palace in Donghuajing every June, and returned to Luanxi Changjing in early autumn.The emperor always likes the cold and fears the heat. He thought it was because he was afraid of the heat on the road in June, so he moved the summer vacation day forward by one month. Now it was Prince Yu who was in a hurry, because he was in command.The ten-day journey to Donghuajing has always been a long journey, and the palace family members take a boat along the Dongjiang River. Hundreds of civil and military officials, the imperial camp of the internal guards, thousands of retinues, and the post along the way Pavilions, palaces, roads and bridges, and sit-ups everywhere, all need to be surveyed and arranged, and the police must be arranged.

"The time is too short, I'm afraid it will be difficult to prepare, my brother, please think twice." When Yu Qianzuo was right, Prince Yu said: "Your Majesty must be safe and sound." The emperor was very stubborn for some reason. He said, "I'm going on horseback. It's faster." Prince Yu hesitated for a moment, and the emperor said again: "My intention has been decided." Prince Yu had no choice but to bow down to accept the order, and when he was able to withdraw, he immediately ordered people to find Cheng Yuan.Cheng Yuan's usual errands are the most careless, seeing him far away, he bowed and said: "My lord, Wan'an."

The pro-vassal has a noble position, above all officials, even the chief assistant has to bow down, not to mention a small internal official in front of the imperial court.Prince Yu ordered: "Get up", and Cheng Yuan hurriedly said: "Thank you for your kindness." He put his hand on Prince Yu's elbow, helped him to sit down on the stone bench under the tree, and said: "If you have anything to do, just do it. Just ask someone to come and give orders to your servants." He also ordered someone to brew a new cup of tea and serve it to Prince Yu himself. Prince Yu just now had a lot of things to do in the prelude to the imperial court, complicated and troublesome, and now, with a little cool breeze in May, it felt very comfortable on his face, and he took another sip of the tea, feeling full of saliva in his mouth, and couldn't help saying: " Sure enough, he knows how to serve people, and he is indeed the one trained by Lao Zhao." Cheng Yuan laughed and said, "It's also cultivated by the prince." Prince Yu said: "I don't have anything to do, I just want to ask you, the emperor has been around for a while. Is it still quiet?" What kind of person Cheng Yuan is, he laughed immediately: "My lord's words can't be understood by servants." Prince Yu's smile faded, and he said coldly: "Even your master dare not stand in front of me. Pretend, do you dare to try it?"

Cheng Yuan said anxiously: "I don't dare, my servant has the courage to fool the prince. It's the master who doesn't let me say it outside, but the servant never dares to hide it in front of the prince—" He lowered his voice: " Long live Lord and Miss Mu these days seem to be not quite right." Prince Yu let out an "oh" and asked, "What is it for?" Cheng Yuan thought for a while, and said: "I don't know what's going on, this servant and maid. If you say something disrespectful, it seems that Miss Mu is not very happy, so she shows her face to the Lord Long Live." This sentence is incredible, I'm afraid Since the beginning of the dynasty, no concubine dared to show the emperor's face, let alone a court lady with an ambiguous identity.However, Prince Yu recalled that day when she caught a glimpse, her whole body was carved out of ice jade, and there was a faint sense of arrogance, clearly not paying attention to everything in the world.When he said that she dared to be arrogant and arrogant, he believed it somewhat.

Cheng Yuan said: "Long live Lord has nothing to say to Miss Mu, give him what he wants. It's a pity that Miss Mu has a bad temper, and she has been making troubles these days. Lord Long Live is angry and loses his temper when he sees her. He lost his temper even more." He said with a sad face, "Not to mention the slaves, even the master is worried." So it turned out that Prince Yu was worried, but he didn't show it on his face, he only asked: "Then this time around Donghuajing, is she following her?" Cheng Yuan said: "I don't know." He added: "When Miss Mu is mentioned, the emperor will lose face. The master ordered not to make the Lord Long Live angry, so none of the slaves dared to ask."

In this way, it lasted until the third day of May, and he was about to leave on the second day. Seeing that Zhao Youzhi couldn't make it through, when he was waiting for the emperor to change his clothes at night, Fang bit the bullet and asked: "I'm going to drive tomorrow, are the servants following?" To serve the Lord Long Live?" The emperor has been grumpy recently, so he glanced at him lightly and said, "I see that you are tired of this job." Zhao Youzhi has often been blamed these few days, but he is an internal official who has embraced the emperor since he was a child. He has understood the emperor's temper, and he followed him closely, saying: "That is, the slaves and maidservants follow the emperor." The emperor said: "People who don't matter Let her take the boat." Obviously still a little angry, Zhao Youzhi answered "Yes" without any expression.

It had been half a day since the emperor set sail before the fleet of palace family members weighed anchor from Shangyuan Wharf.The mighty boats are connected with each other, countless Jinfanlou ships are connected end to end, mixed with large and small internal officials and ships guarding the imperial camp, winding for more than ten miles, slowly flowing down the East River, it is a magnificent sight. spectacular.In early summer, the water is full, the river is wide, and the boat travels very smoothly.The weeping willows on the green embankments on both sides of the bank, the houses in the ruins in the distance, and the outline of the green poplar village nearby, are like an endless scroll, slowly laid out outside the cabin window. Rushuang is not a concubine, so she is not qualified to use a boat alone, but the head of the inner palace still treats her differently, and allocates a large boat to take her with her.The two maids she was used to were originally from the imperial court, and they all left with the king early this morning, so Concubine Hua temporarily assigned two maids to take care of them on the boat here.Rushuang got up very early today, so she was able to get on the boat, the boat sailed very smoothly, the afternoon was long and she was tired, so she took a deep sleep in the cabin, and when she woke up, the sun was already slanting towards the west. Without calling anyone, she took a fan with lacquer gold and peony patterns on the cover, and used an ivory handle with apricot-colored tassels to lift the fan handle. She pushed aside the gauze curtain on the cabin window and looked out of the window.But seeing the afterglow reflected on the surface of the river, like ten thousand golden snakes dancing wildly, the sparkle is dazzling.There are building boats going down one by one from the beginning to the end, and countless slanting brocade sails meet the setting sun, which is gorgeous and dazzling.The embankment is like a winding emerald belt, and the hanging willows are embroidered with embroidered patterns, slowly retreating from the front of the eye, and it makes people dizzy if you look at it for a long time. "So the girl is awake." Rushuang lazily looked back at the crisp voice, it turned out to be one of the two maids temporarily assigned to the ship, named Qian'er.Jian'er said very attentively: "I'll fetch a basin of water so that the girl's face can be evened out again." The meticulously painted eyebrows gradually became clear in the makeup mirror. She reflected back and forth, boasting: "Girl's hair is really nice, so dark and thick." When I was at home, combing hair was usually Xiaohuan's job, and every time I finished combing, I always held up the hand mirror like this, reflecting it on the makeup. Let her see for herself in the mirror. In the mirror, there is a little bit of water and light, and the red gold phoenix hairpin is inserted between the hair as thick as a dark cloud. The phoenix has nine tails, and each tail is decorated with pearls, and the bottom is decorated with golden beads. swaying.After staring at it for a long time, I felt dizzy as if I was seasick just now.There are two large boxes of red sandalwood and Luodian in hand, which are full of pearls and emeralds. Since entering the palace, she seems to be very fond of these things. The emperor ordered the inner treasury to search all the essence and send them to her. .She opened the box, picked up a pearl the size of a longan, and looked at it in the dim light of the cabin at dusk.Jian'er boasted: "This pearl is really good. Even though I have served the imperial concubine, I have never seen such a big and round pearl." Rushuang didn't say a word, she raised her hand lightly, before Jian'er exclaimed, she watched helplessly that she had thrown the pearl out of the window, and Jian'er went to grab it with her body, but she couldn't get it.There was only a soft sound of "dong", and the pearl had already fallen into the river, but seeing the surging blue waves, a little white pearl light sank quickly, and disappeared in an instant.Such rare treasures are rarely seen in the palace, who would have thought that she would throw away waste like this without hesitation.Jian'er was so frightened that he didn't even dare to say anything.Rushuang casually picked up the glittering pearls in the box, and casually picked up a jade pendant, the jade was white and flawless, exquisitely engraved, and tied with two concentric ribbons underneath.Jian'er was afraid that she would throw it into the river again, so he hurriedly closed the window.Seeing her close the window, Rushuang didn't say a word, played with the jade pendant in her hand for a while, then suddenly stretched out her hand and said, "This is for you." It was the first time that Jian'er heard her speak since boarding the ship, her voice was rough and unpleasant, she gave Jian'er a jump, and after a while she hurriedly laughed and said, "Thank you for the reward, Miss, slaves dare not accept such precious things." .” Rushuang stared at her for a while, and finally said two words from her lips: "Open the window." Jian'er was startled again, and hurriedly said: "Girl, girl, the servant will accept it." After taking it, he gave another gift: "Thank you, Miss Mu." Rushuang also looked dispensable, got up and walked to the window, through the gauze curtain, you can see a horse team galloping on the embankment from a distance, it is the imperial army under the command, galloping here from the sidewalk Exchange messages.Seeing her staring at the imperial cavalry on the river bank, Jian'er smiled and said, "I don't know how fast the cavalry is going. How many stops have we reached? But the palace officials are all on board." Rushuang didn't bother to answer her, especially the last sentence was superfluous, holding a fan against her chin, just silently counting the distance.Every 12 li is a station, and each station has a place for sharpening. Every 50 li, there is another palace.Thousands of civil and military officials and imperial battalion officers and soldiers surrounded the big chariot, and they were mighty and full of ceremonial staff, and they could only travel tens of miles a day.I'm afraid I can only rush to Lechang Palace to stay before dark tonight. Although the boat travels smoothly, the river turns round and round, which is much farther than the detour.Fortunately, the buildings and boats are comfortable. At night, the boats are moored and connected end to end to form a palace, and the palace family members all sleep on the boat.Seeing that the darkness was getting darker, the leading ship first lowered its sails, hung a string of bright lights on the mast, and immediately blew the horn.Following that, a ship behind also blew its horn, and the sound was transmitted to the rear, and the small boat of the imperial camp rowed to the rear to respond. This horn was the message of anchoring. Countless iron cables were thrown out, and the iron cables at the bow of the ship were hooked to the pins at the stern of the front ship, and then put on the springboard, and each ship was connected together like this.As the night darkened, the lights in the cabins of each ship gradually brightened up, like a dragon of lights, lying quietly on the water.From a distance, I can see the bright lights in the buildings and boats, just like the crystal-clear Qionglou Yuyu, each floor is full of bright light, poured into the water and reflected on the river, like countless meteors passing through the water, the stream is shining, and there are court ladies. The internal officer carried a lantern and walked slowly across the springboard. The star was a gigantic star, which suddenly crossed the dazzling star curtain, and was blown by the wind and shattered into thousands of finer stars, jumping on the top of the waves. flow. Rushuang had slept for a long time after noon, and was not tired at this time. On both sides of the embankment, countless stars gradually dispersed, and some of them meandered into a long dragon of torches. It was the imperial camp for night watch, and the way for people to come and go. Calling soldiers, the rumble of hoofbeats was mixed with the crisp sound of luan bells, which could be heard very clearly in the quiet night of the wilderness. Jian'er and another court lady, Li'er, tidied up the bed, unfolded the thin quilt, put down the smoke-colored shark gauze tent for her, took the fan and drove the tent carefully to make sure there were no bugs or mosquitoes, so they could tuck it in. She came out of the tent and said to Rushuang: "Miss must be tired today, besides, it's already up, the night on the river is cool and windy, so you should rest earlier." Rushuang was trying her best to distinguish the ringing of Luan's bell from the clutter of hoofbeats, and she was in a daze. Qian'er had heard that she had a weird temper, so she didn't dare to say any more, so she turned on the light for her, and she and Li'er retreated to the outer cabin silently up.Rushuang heard that the Luan's bell was approaching gradually, the ringtone was clear and distant, no matter how far away it was, it could be heard clearly, only the Luan bell made of Zijin had such a crisp sound.Her mind was spinning like a wheel, turning over several thoughts in a flash, hearing the luan bell approaching gradually, it was clearly on the embankment not far from her own boat, she made up her mind, and blew out the light with a "chi" , but did not move, sitting quietly by the table. There is no moon this night, but the sky is full of good stars. Through the silk veil on the window, the starlight is dimly reflected in the cabin, and everything is outlined in the hazy darkness.The tall one is the cabinet, and the short one is the desk. On the table at hand is a thin white porcelain vase, which contains several green willows with clear water, which she folded at the pier before boarding the boat.The elegant breath of the willow leaves, together with the incense in his sleeves, was almost too faint to be smelled.But bathed in this kind of night, everything became soft and clear, and the sensitive and untouchable thoughts in my heart floated up one by one with clarity.Where to go, it is not up to her to decide, but in the wilderness, the starry sky is thousands of miles away, the sound of the waves below the boat swallows softly, and all human voices are out of reach. Hanging gauze curtains, heavy gauze curtains fluttered suddenly in the wind, like flimsy butterfly wings fluttering.The painful and bloody horror of the past finally retreated for a moment. At the moment when she lost her mind, a tall figure suddenly flickered outside the window, it was clearly the figure of a man.The internal officer should have a crown, but the figure outside was clearly reflected on the window paper. This person did not have a crown. After thinking about it, she immediately opened her mouth and shouted: "Come on, there are assassins!"