Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

The snow fell endlessly. At the beginning, Qingping felt that the green tiles covered by the white snow, and the green bamboo lining the snow were particularly poetic, but he also lost his appreciation in the cold wind day after day.

It was so cold, Qingping wrapped her cotton coat tightly, the study was dark and cold, and there was no fire, so she simply took a broom to sweep snow in the yard.

In such a cold day, no one cleared the snow on the road leading to the old study. I don't know if I forgot or did it on purpose.Xingming stepped on the snow and came over to take a look, saw Qingping sweeping the snow in the courtyard, and shouted outside the courtyard gate: "Qingping, just sweep it casually, we have to continue today!"

Qingping nodded with difficulty, still slowly sweeping away the snow.It's also cold in the room. If I don't exercise, I'm afraid I will freeze.Seeing that she was still cleaning hard, Xingming admired her a little.Since Qingping was dispatched to this old study, Xingming also came to check it every day. Qingping was the only one guarding this deserted and empty study, and it was cleaned every day.Except for rainy days, the inside and outside of the yard are also sprinkled and cleaned every day.It snowed all day in the twelfth lunar month of winter, but she was still unmoved, sweeping snow every day.Xingming thought, if there is an opportunity in the future, he must praise her in front of the eldest lady, so that there are not many servants who can endure loneliness and do everything arranged by the master well, and they are worth cultivating!

Qingping spent the whole morning clearing snow in the yard, and she piled the snow in a corner, which did not affect the appearance.After a whole morning of physical labor, her body also became hot. Qingping went to fetch well water to wipe the bookshelves. After finishing this, she leaned on the third bookshelf and took out a book that she hadn't finished reading yesterday.

Because it was snowing, no one passed by this remote courtyard, and the garden was also quiet, not a single bird chirping could be heard.In the blink of an eye, it was almost the end of the new year, and the entire palace was preparing for the arrival of the new year, and no one had time to notice her.

After reading more than half of the books on the bookshelf one after another, Qingping finished flipping through the last page of the book and carefully put it back in order.She felt a little unspeakably lonely, and this kind of step-by-step life every day was like clear soup with little water, which made people feel uninteresting.In addition, after reading those books, she had an inexplicable yearning for the outside world. The scenery described in words could no longer satisfy her. Qingping even wanted to visit the places mentioned in the books. She dreamed more than once that she was in Yunzhou. Looking down on the vast and boundless prairie from the dilapidated beacon tower; sometimes dreaming of looking up at Tianliang Mountain in Chenzhou to see the huge red moon hanging high in the night sky, the strange moonlight made the stars lose their color; In Lancheng, the nearest city in Linhai, the eaves of the houses are hung with bronze bells. Before the high tide month is coming, the wind will be mixed with the smell of sea water, blowing from the distant sea, patronizing this city in advance , tens of thousands of copper bells rang in unison in the wind, like the opening of a grand dance...  

The six states and eighteen counties are so real that they can be felt and seen.In the travel notes that have been handed down to this day, how many people have devoted their pen and ink to this river and mountain, and they will spend their entire lives pursuing it.Qingping put the books away and brushed them lightly, as if through the thin spine of the books, he could touch the arrogance of this era.

Waking up from a dream is a dream after all. When she woke up, she was still in this narrow bookshelf. The cherry blossoms in Qiongzhou never fell on her fingertips, and the enchanting dancers also dispersed when she woke up.Qingping had no choice but to sigh deeply, opened the hidden silver coins and counted them over and over again, sighing with emotion as the days flew by day by day, and calculated the countdown time by the way.

There is still a long time before ten years, the more clearly I remember this number, the more uncomfortable it is.Qingping can only optimistically think that maybe one day she memorized all the books in this study, and the steward was surprised to find that there was a forgotten servant here who had expired when she checked the deed of sale. Fei, she is a good citizen again!

About every few days, she has to cheer herself up like this, so that she doesn't feel so hopeless.

The leaden gray clouds in the sky approached the ground densely, and it didn't take long for it to snow as Xing Ming said.Feather-like snowflakes fell on the ground that Qingping had spent the morning cleaning, and soon it was covered with a thin layer of white.

The snow fell harder and harder, and only the sound of falling snow was heard between the sky and the earth. Qingping's morning work was in vain. The snow fell heavily and quickly, and it didn't take long for it to accumulate a thick layer, completely covering the ground.Qingping seemed to hear the sound of someone walking by, but that also seemed to be an illusion, who would pass by in such a heavy snow. There was a soft "click", as if the heavy snow had broken the bamboo branches in the backyard.

Qingping stood under the eaves and reached out to catch a snowflake. The white snowflake quickly melted in her palm, leaving a crystal clear hexagonal crystal, which finally turned into a drop of water in her palm.

If he turns into a bird at this moment, can he fly away from this place under the cover of the vast snow?

She leaned against the door and watched the dense snowflakes fall, enclosing the yard, and it was like a small sealed space at this moment.The environment was so peaceful that Qingping felt very sleepy. She put her head on the door and slowly closed her eyes.

Liu Zhen followed Chen Jun and walked in the snow step by step. Most people would not want to come out in this kind of snowy day, but her young lady always had some special hobbies, so she chose to hang out in the backyard of the palace at this time.

Chen Jun wore a black cloak, she rejected Liu Zhen's proposal to walk with an umbrella, and walked slowly in the snow wearing deerskin boots.

"Miss, are you going to Merlin? That forest is right here." Liu Zhen tried to follow her.

Chen Jun exhaled, her face was a little red from the cold, but there was no sign of shrinking in her dark eyes: "It's right here? Then go and have a look."

Liu Zhen followed her, and when she reached the edge of Mei Lin, she realized that the snow had started to fall heavily. She was a little worried and said, "It's not suitable to stay in the snow for a long time. Miss, why don't you go back to your room before the snow falls heavily. It’s not good when you get cold.”

Chen Jun picked a plum branch and played with it for a while before nodding.Liu Zhen breathed a sigh of relief, if Wang Jun Wei found out about this, she might be punished too.

Chen Jun suddenly asked, "Why is it green over there?"

Liu Zhen looked in the direction she pointed, and said hesitantly, "It looks like bamboo."

Chen Jun shook the falling snow on her body, and walked towards the green area. It was indeed a piece of bamboo, some branches had been broken in the heavy snow, and she saw a familiar window on the wall behind the bamboo.

It turned out to be an old study.

That was the study she had used for 15 years. She spent most of her time in the palace in this study.This study room was very meaningful to her in the past, but to her now, it is just a place with poor lighting, so you can change it as soon as you need it, there is no heartache.

She used to numb herself through various travel notes and essays in this study, so as to avoid those complicated and difficult gazes, Wei Wangjun's silent stare, or Wang Hao's lectures that she hates iron.

Chen Jun felt that she didn't need this study room anymore... because she was no longer that cowardly child, she didn't need to hide in the study room, and couldn't look directly at her powerlessness.

But at this moment, there was a tiny pain in her heart, like a needle prick.She took a deep breath, let the cold air enter her lungs, and walked towards the study.

As if in the shadow leading to the past, the memories of the past kept churning in her mind for a moment, and everything she thought she could let go of was clearly remembered at this moment. In fact, there is no let go in this world, only a long time brings Forgetting, diluting those heavy memories, rather than really letting go.

so what?Chen Jun sneered in her heart, these things could no longer make her suffer any more, she was like a cold-eyed bystander, even if the memories were turbulent, it did not prevent her from being calm.

The courtyard gate was approaching, heavy snow covered their footsteps, suddenly Liu Zhen stopped at the gate, she hesitated to say something.Chen Jun stood at the door, from which one could directly see the study room, and a girl was standing by the door, wearing a servant's padded coat, reaching out to catch a piece of falling snow.

Her crow-feather-like black hair lined her face with shocking whiteness, like a doll made of ice and snow.She lowered her head to look at the snowflake in her hand, a look of hope appeared on her face, which was replaced by a look of confusion.Then she leaned against the door and looked at Luo Xue, and slowly fell asleep.

Chen Jun stood and looked at it for a while before realizing that it was Qingping. She almost forgot that such a person existed.Liu Zhen on the side thought something was wrong, but that day she heard that the eldest lady personally charged Qing Pingan with sly talk.Now that Qingping fell asleep in the study room, wouldn't he be punished heavily again.She was nervous for a while, and looked at Chen Jun's face, but she didn't see anything.

For a moment, Chen Jun felt as if she saw herself in the past. She also retreated from the servants and stood alone at the door to watch the snow when it was snowing heavily in winter.The servants murmured in puzzlement about this strange and unfavored eldest lady. Snow happens every year, so what's so interesting about it.

The mood at that time had already disappeared in the long river of time, but it suddenly surfaced on this snowy day. At that time, she really wished that she was a bird, riding the wind, leaving here, and never returning.

Seeing that her expression was normal, Liu Zhen turned around and left the door, "Go back, it's going to snow heavily." When she heard the young lady say this, she was a little surprised for a moment.

"Is that Qingping?" Chen Jun asked casually.

Liu Zhen replied cautiously: "Yes, she has been in this study for almost four months."

Chen Jun shook the snow on her body again, and said: "Xing Ming will come to visit every day, saying that she is very honest and takes good care of this study."

Liu Zhen couldn't guess what she meant. She didn't know whether the eldest lady wanted to punish Qingping or what.

Chen Jun just said: "Let's wait and see, if she is really innocent, I will call her back to be on duty." After she finished speaking, she smiled coldly, as sharp as a sword drawn out of its sheath, "At first I thought she was It was sent by that person, but after a few days of careful inspection by Wan Shu, there is still a mouse in this group of people who has not been caught, and what happened that day may not be Qingping's work."

Liu Zhen understood that what she was talking about was that time when the third young master Chen Hui discovered the forbidden book in the study. Chen Jun began to think that Qingping was a pawn sent by others to insert|beside her, and deliberately designed it to gain her attention. Otherwise, how could Qingping respond so freely?

But according to the report from the people she arranged near the study, she had never seen Qingping contact with any outsiders, so Chen Jun was skeptical.Later, one day, Wan Shu discovered that a servant was carrying a piece of paper for her calligraphy practice in the room, and was about to sneak it out of the house.Chen Jun wondered if there was still a "nail" by her side, and then she checked Qingping's records after entering the mansion, and summoned Aunt Wang, who Qingping had worked with before, and the old servant pledged her life to guarantee that Qingping would not betray her. The heart of the Lord, let me say that this son is indeed born intelligent, he judges the situation and the situation, and is extremely calm.

Ching Ping was afraid that someone else had blamed her, but Chen Jun didn't take it too seriously. It's been a few years, and there is still a top priority in front of the adults in the capital.

There are three female emperors today, all of whom were not descended from the emperor.The Emperor Qin's friendship with the Empress was very strong, but the Emperor was born weak, difficult to conceive, and also thought too much, so he passed away early.The empress was deeply grieved, and despite the objections of the ministers, she suspended the position of empress lord and vowed not to establish an empress emperor again.

As the three imperial daughters grew older, the matter of establishing a princess was also put on the agenda, but these three were not descended from the direct line, and they were established based on their seniority, and there were many voices of opposition among the courtiers.But the Empress was unwilling to talk about this matter at all, only said that the three empresses are relatively young and still need to be considered.

That's it, the forces behind the three princesses have already started a silent confrontation. Chen Jun looked up at the sky and squinted his eyes at the leaden gray clouds. Cliques formed, and Chang'an, the capital, had become a place where they could not stay for a long time.

Wait a little longer, Chen Jun said to herself in her heart, now is not the time, she must return to the court at the best time, if she wants to make a hit and eradicate dissidents, there is no room for a single mistake.

When Qingping returned to the room at night, Hezhen was lighting the charcoal in the oven.

Seeing Qingping enter the door tremblingly, she smiled and said, "Is it cold? I'll light this stove later and it won't be cold."

Shizuka also pushed the door in at this moment, and Hezhen shouted: "Close the door quickly, don't let the wind blow in, this fire is about to go out!"

Shizuka closed the door, and said painfully: "The study room is warm. When you come out from there and come to our place, it's like a hole in the ice! Have you turned on the stove, why is it still so cold!"

"Isn't this lighting a fire?" He Zhen looked at the tiny spark and said, "I don't know what happened to this carbon, it just can't get up."

Shizuka squeezed her away, looked at the charcoal with a wooden stick, and said: "It's strange, this is not the charcoal I brought from home, the charcoal in my house is easy to burn."

Shizuka brought in a small bag of charcoal privately. Although the servants in charge would distribute charcoal every day, she insisted that her own charcoal was best burned.

He Zhen whispered: "Be careful, don't bring these things in next time. If Manager Chen finds out, you will be kicked out of the mansion tomorrow, do you understand?"

Combustible materials such as carbon can easily cause fires, and the palace also distributes them to the servants according to the amount every day. Someone must be present at the place where the carbon is burned, otherwise it will be punished.It is a big taboo to bring private items into the house. Shizuka somehow brought a bag of carbon in, but fortunately no one found out. Just like what He Zhen said, if people found out, they would definitely be beaten. Driven out of the house.

Shizuka didn't take it seriously, but said strangely: "This is the last point, sister Hezhen, don't be alarmist." She thought for a long time and murmured: "Who changed my carbon, that's all."

Qingping also squatted down to study the dark carbon with her. Qingping asked: "How do you see the difference between these carbons? Aren't they all black?"

Jingxiang giggled and said: "You don't know about this, right? My mother is in charge of purchasing this carbon outside this courtyard. This carbon is very particular! Different firewood burns different carbon, master The heater is made of silver charcoal, without any ash or smoke; the incense is naturally made of Lingxiang charcoal produced in Yunzhou, this charcoal can smoke out the aroma, and the price is extremely expensive... ..."

Seeing her proud face, Qingping found it very interesting, she followed Shizuka's words and said: "Then what kind of carbon did you bring from home?"

Jingxiang said: "It's the red charcoal produced in Qiongzhou. It's warm when burned, just like burning firewood! Didn't you say it's warm a few days ago? It's the charcoal that was burned. It's the charcoal that is easy to leave black after being handled, and it is difficult to wash. Remove traces."

Shizuka pulled out a remaining piece of red charcoal, and pointed it to Qingping: "There is a little bit of dark red on this red charcoal, and you can see it if you look closely. But look at this piece, it's black, there's nothing there, This is not my carbon!"

He Zhen said helplessly: "Okay, okay, how many days will the ones you bring last burn? I'm afraid I won't know when it's finished, so let's use this charcoal first, start a fire quickly, and panic because of the cold."

After busying for a long time, Shizuka and Qingping finally lit up the charcoal in the stove. Zhuang Yan opened the door and walked in, walking towards his bed without saying a word.

Hezhen was busy making the bed, Qingping and Pingxiang didn't talk to Zhuang Yan. I don't know when Zhuang Yan changed back to that taciturn look. There seemed to be a tacit understanding between her and Jingxiang. A seemingly peaceful situation was maintained, but there was nothing extra to say.

Qingping woke up a bit late the next day. She slept against the door for a while yesterday, and then woke up from the cold. Now she found that her nose was blocked. She thought it was cold, so she lay down in bed for a while .

Hezhen and Shizuka had already left, and Qingping lay on the bed for a while, then slowly got up and dressed.The room was very dark, and she extinguished the candlesticks when she and Jane left. She groped for a while to sort out her coat and coat, but she heard the door open and someone came in gently.

The person who came deliberately slowed down, walked to a place and rustled through something, Qingping stopped putting on his clothes, and held his breath, the person seemed to be looking for something.After a while, she seemed to have found it, and then gently closed the door and left.

She sat quietly in the dark for a while, making sure that the man would not come back, then got out of bed and lit the candlestick, looked around, and found nothing missing.Suddenly she was stepping on something beside Jingxiang's bed, and when she looked closer, it was a piece of carbon.

The charcoal was slightly dark red under the candlelight, which was exactly the red charcoal that Shizuka said. Qingping lifted the curtain of Shizuka's bed, opened the pillow, the mattress...she slowly leaned over Under the bed, there was a bag of black cloth, on the bed frame inside.Qingping dragged out this generation of things, opened it, and saw that there were faint red spots on the black carbon, which turned out to be a bag full of red carbon!

Qingping broke out in a cold sweat immediately, Shizuka had already said that the red charcoal she brought had been used up, so where did she get so much red charcoal!She hugged the bag of carbon and tied the opening tightly to prevent the carbon from falling out.But how can such a large bag of carbon be disposed of quietly?There are eyes staring everywhere in this palace, Qingping thought for a while, he simply opened the stove and poured the charcoal in, there was still some charcoal in the stove that had not been burned, but because the stove was small, only half of it could be put down, Qingping was in a hurry Blow on the stove, wanting it to light up quickly.

Suddenly the door opened, Qing Ping was startled, Zhuang Yan came in, she didn't expect to see Qing Ping, she was also startled, she suppressed her voice: "Why are you still here?"

Qingping glanced at her, and said as if nothing had happened: "I just came back from the study, and I suffered from the cold yesterday, so I asked for leave with Sister Xingming."

Zhuang Yan was taken aback when she heard her say that: "Really? Then you should take a good rest."

After speaking, she took the basin and fetched water outside, not knowing what she was washing.Qingping asked: "Why are you back again, don't you have to be on duty today?"

Zhuang Yan didn't look back, just washed something behind her back, and after a while Zhuang Yan said: "Just now when I was collecting charcoal for Manager Xia, I stained my clothes. I was afraid that my masters would see and offend them, so I came back and changed my clothes." Outfit."

Qingping leaned over to look at the stove, there was a little red light, and it was already on.But there is still half a bag of carbon on her bed, so what to do with it.

Suddenly Zhuang Yan turned around, Qing Ping saw some obvious black spots on her white hands, wasn't she washing her hands just now, why hasn't the blackness been washed off after washing for so long?In a flash, Qingping understood something, she looked at Zhuang Yan in disbelief, that guess made her unbelievable.

She lay down numbly, with the thorny bag of carbon at her feet, Zhuang Yan said through the bed curtain: "Then I'm going out."

Qing Ping agreed, and heard Zhuang Yan close the door and leave.Red carbon tentacles are easy to leave marks, so few people in this palace use them.So Shizuka brought some privately.Besides, who can skillfully find Shizuka's bed in the dark, remembering Zhuang Yan's usual reticence, all of this seems to have the answer.

Qingping took a fan and fanned it fiercely at the stove, the red charcoal was quickly ignited, and the fire was bright.Qingping sat by the bed and waited for the fire to slowly dim, opened the cover and pulled the charcoal with wooden sticks, watching them burn to ashes.She turned her head to look at the half bag of carbon beside the bed, and suddenly had an idea.

The author has something to say: It’s so hot, it’s so hot, can we have a good summer! ! !

The stupid author is already crazy in front of the computer, please leave a message and collect it, thank you~~~~