Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

Clouds gradually rose in the sky, and there seemed to be silver dragons twinkling in the clouds. The wind suddenly passed through the houses, blowing the flags hanging in front of the shop up and down, fearing that heavy rain was coming.Qingping covered her face with her sleeves and walked against the wind for a certain distance. Along the way, the bamboo basket was rolled up by the strong wind and passed her by. There were thunderstorms above her head, urging people to hurry. She lowered her head and walked for a certain distance. out of breath.

There was a sound of horseshoes from the intersection, she looked up, and there was a person coming from the corner of the street, the horse was frightened for some reason, it neighed, raised its front hooves and ran towards Qingping, Qingping subconsciously dodged to the side, But the store door was closed without any shelter, she rolled a few times on the ground to avoid the step, the man also reacted very quickly, pulled the rein to pull the horse away, and tried his best to comfort the frightened horse.

Qingping climbed up from the ground with lingering fear, and the wind dropped bean-sized raindrops, densely packed from the sky, and she hid under the eaves in a hurry, just a foot away from that person.Seeing that the rain is coming more and more, I think I can't go, so I might as well wait here for a while, and leave when the rain stops.

It's just that the eaves of this shop are relatively short, enough for a person to stand on. The water flowed down the tiles and splashed at her feet. The wind brought the rain into the eaves and wet her clothes.

Qingping looked at the dark sky silently, but didn't know when the rain would stop.But it was getting late, and the thorny ground was full of puddles when it rained, and it was very muddy, so it would be a lot of trouble to go back.She sighed in her heart, feeling very helpless, she could only hug her arms tightly to prevent the rain from getting her clothes wet.

The man on the horse just now calmed the horse and stood holding the rein. Her head was wrapped in a long cloth, so her face could not be seen clearly.Just as Qingping was about to look away, the man seemed to feel her sizing up, turned his head, and the two looked at each other. Even though the sky was dark and the light was dim, Qingping could still see clearly the pupils of the man, with a slight blue luster.

It turned out to be a foreigner, and she has seen many foreign merchants since setting up the market, but such blue eyes are very rare. She nodded as a signal, and turned her head to continue to worry about the water flowing from the eaves.

It was dark and raining, and it was almost impossible to see anything.Only the sound of pattering rain was heard between heaven and earth, Qingping leaned against the wooden door, feeling the cold and wet feeling of her drenched outer robe sticking to her body, she sat down along the door panel as if losing strength, let the water splash on her shoes, tiredly close your eyes.

Countless images flashed through her mind, and those memories she thought she had forgotten were quietly remembered along with the heavy rain.It seemed that it was also on such a rainy night, she followed Chu Jun all the way south in a hurry, and didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to Wu Ying.Although she was very preoccupied before the exam, she also felt that it would be better if she stayed in Le'an like this.If Chu Jun never came back, she really planned that, just like that...

When people are weak, they always recall the past, as if they can go back to the past through memory and make up for all the regrets in the past, but they clearly understand that this is just a self-deceiving idea, and memory is a road with no exit. No matter how you go, there is no end.

Feeling that the light in front of her eyes was suddenly blocked, she struggled to look up. The man came to her side at some point, stared at her condescendingly for a while, narrowed his blue eyes, and then squatted down after thinking about it, and She looked up.

Under her surprised gaze, the man took off the cloth, revealing the straight bridge of the nose. She has deep facial features and thick eyebrows, obviously different from the Central Plains people, but she is an extremely beautiful woman.

She asked, "What's the matter with you, are you hurt? Did my horse scare you?"

Her Chinese is unexpectedly fluent, except for a slightly weird pronunciation.Qing Ping said: "Thank you, it's fine."

The man looked at her face very carefully, turned his head and glanced from top to bottom unscrupulously, her blue eyes were fixed on her, like a wild beast, making Qingping uncomfortable, she turned to the side After moving, he frowned and said, "What are you going to do?"

The girl looked closer and closer, the pupils of her eyes gradually turned dark blue due to emotion, Qing Ping didn't understand it, but thought it was very strange.She stood up suddenly, feeling a little dizzy, the woman supported her and said, "Don't you recognize me?"

Qingping realized that she had recognized the wrong person, and stretched out his hand to tug at his sleeve, only to find that she was very strong, she wrestled with her for a while, then shook his head and said, "I have never met you before, how did I recognize you?"

The woman looked at her suspiciously, and spoke a long sentence in a language that Qingping had never heard before. Qingping looked at her blankly, unable to understand a single syllable. The woman changed to Chinese, He said it again: "Don't you remember me? In Hezhou, I used to—"

The thunder rumbled, and a bolt of lightning split the chaotic night, illuminating their surroundings, and then a series of deafening thunder rolled in, covering the woman's words. After the thunder passed, Qingping suddenly heard someone shout: "Lord Li!" ! My lord, where are you?"

The voice was somewhat familiar, and after careful identification, Qingping realized that it was the long follower calling her, she couldn't help but cheer up, and said loudly: "Long follower, I'm here!"

The footsteps came from far to near, and the long attendants hurried forward in the rain with their rain gear. Qingping was about to go out but was pulled back. Then she remembered the foreign woman just now, and said: "I am not the person you are looking for, I have to go Already!"

The woman seemed to want to say something, Qingping broke free from her hand, ran out against the rain, and met the long follower on the street, the long follower smiled and said: "My lord, I came at the right time, right?"

Qingping was worried that the strange person would catch up, so he hurriedly dragged her away from another street. The heavy rain covered their tracks very well. The woman didn't expect Qingping to break free, and when she reacted, she was already out of sight. their figures.

The rain washed over her whole body, and it didn't take long for her to get completely wet.Standing in the rain, she wiped the rain off her face. She heard the sound of chaotic footsteps, and a group of people rushed over after a while. The leader saw the woman anxiously saying something in the language just now. With the rain running down his face, he turned around and said something to her, and then repeated it in Chinese: "Find her."

Qingping narrowly avoided a puddle, held the handle of the umbrella and said, "Chang Sui, how do you know I'm here?"

Chang Sui said: "Originally I went to find my lord for something, but I didn't expect to go later, and my lord has already been released. On the way back, I ran into Mr. Wu, and she said that you might not come on the way. I bought two sets of rain gear and came out to look for adults."

"Thank you very much," Qing Ping said sincerely, "If you hadn't come today, I'm afraid I'd have to stay there all night."

Chang Sui smiled honestly, the rain gradually subsided, and the two finally walked to Qingping's residence. The lantern in front of the door illuminated Chang Sui's attire. With a move, he asked, "Are you married?"

The long follower might as well ask her this question, she immediately blushed, lowered her head and said: "Not... not married yet, just engaged."

Qing Ping smiled and said: "Congratulations first, when is the wedding date?"

Chang Sui didn't know where to put his hands and feet, his face flushed impatiently, and he stammered: "Your Excellency, don't make fun of me."

Qingping pushed open the door to let her in, put away the umbrella and put it by the door while walking, she was a little surprised that she was so innocent, so she couldn't help teasing: "Why do you look like this, you are more shy than that groom?"

The long follower hurriedly said: "Don't talk about it, my lord, the wedding date is set in September, I must invite my lord to drink at that time!"

Thinking of Qingping's inability to drink, he added: "Of course I don't ask people to drink my lord indiscriminately, so you don't have to worry about it."

Qingping took the handkerchief with her, and wiped his face with one himself, feeling a little strange, as the first married person around her, the long follower made her a little curious, she asked: "Have you seen your unmarried man?" Sir?"

Chang Sui blamed and said: "My lord is like Hu lord, asking all kinds of incomprehensible questions. I... see that I have met a few times!" Seeing Qingping's narrow expression, he couldn't help but said: "My lord will ask you in the future. They want to get married too, don't you know when the time comes!"

Qingping was slightly taken aback, the word "marriage" aroused her hidden melancholy, it is humane to start a family and start a career, and when she walks in the officialdom, she naturally needs a family member to manage the backyard.When she thought about this, she couldn't help but think of Chu Jun. As a prince, according to the etiquette system, she has a husband and four servants.It's just that her filial piety period has not yet expired, and the Holy Majesty never mentioned marriage.But this problem is unavoidable, neither she nor Chu Jun can escape the shackles of secular ethics.

Although I said not to think so much, as long as I am happy day and night, the long-term togetherness is so out of reach, behind the beautiful flowers and the full moon is everything unknown, and what awaits her may be the cold and hideous reality.

Seeing that she lost her smile for some reason, the chief follower asked a little nervously, "My lord, what's wrong with you?"

Qing Ping shook his head, pulled himself together and said, "You came to see me, is County Chief Sun, do you have anything to explain?"

Although the long follower was puzzled, he also knew that he should not ask more questions, and said: "My lord asked me to tell you that the envoys for the Xirong peace talks have already entered the pass, and the envoys sent by the imperial court will arrive in the ancient city in a few days, please go back for a while. trip."

Qingping asked: "Are you going to talk about peace, in the ancient city? Who will host it?"

No one is willing to accept this kind of thankless task. If it succeeds, everyone will be happy. If it fails, they will have to bear the responsibility, which is really not worthwhile.

The long follower paused, and said: "The imperial decree has arrived, and the person in charge of this matter is the University of Yan, but His Majesty specifically instructed His Royal Highness Wang Xin to go together and discuss this matter in detail."

The author has something to say: the woman who appears in this chapter is the foreign girl who met Qingping again at the beginning of Chapter 30