Between the vast sea of ​​clouds

The candlelight reflected an ambiguous light through the red tent.There is a fragrance floating in the air, which makes people feel unspeakable throbbing. Li Yan can only feel her heart beating faster, her face and breathing seem to be a little hot, she uses the movement of drinking tea to hide her distraction, and the words she wants to say come to her lips , but could not speak anyway.

I don't know how much time has passed, the sound of silk and bamboo in the building seems to be quieter, the tea in Li Yan's hand is already cold, she drank the cup of cold tea absent-mindedly, then turned her head sideways in a strange way, and sat on the other side of the table The person on one side rested his chin with one hand, and half closed his eyes while holding an empty cup. Li Yan's breathing suddenly became heavier, and even she herself didn't understand the reason for the accelerated heartbeat.

She couldn't help but feel angry. Among the same imperial examinations, she has always been a steady and calm leader. She has always been praised by teachers and admired by her classmates. A moment of confusion.

The young man was used to being prudent and mature, so he quickly suppressed the turbulent emotions in his heart and calmed down.She thinks that she should admire this lord, and she admires her determination and perseverance to implement the new law. This is a very dangerous road, and if one step is not careful, it will lead to an abyss and bear eternal infamy.

All the thoughts in her heart dissipated, and she glanced back at Qingping who was leaning against the table, as if she was looking for a weak lamp in the slowly dark night.

Since Qingping went to the banquet hosted by Chen Kaiyi in Xiaoyao Building, Director Chen felt that she was still a good person, and she often went to and from office in the government office, unexpectedly creating a harmonious atmosphere.

On this day, the tributes sent from Chen and Minzhou arrived in the capital, and the Ministry of Rites made a book for registration as usual, and the Palace of Internal Affairs also sent people to inspect it. Wen Tianfu was too old to run around, so he handed it over to Qingping and Chen Kaiyi. take full charge of.

The two led a group of officials to work until the evening, and there were still many things in the treasury that had not been registered. Seeing that it was getting late, it was time to go down to the government. Now, Chen Kaiyi clapped his hands, and said to Qingping with a little apology: "It's all my fault that I forgot in a hurry, and I almost missed the job."

Qing Ping said: "I haven't asked Director Chen yet, what is the matter between this Taimiao Order and Feng Changlai's Ministry of Rites?"

Chen Kaiyi ordered his men to go down to open the treasury to pick up things, and said to her, "Naturally, I came here for this batch of tributes. It's normal for Li Shizhong to not understand this. Some of the tributes were returned to the palace treasury. , some things are specially for the Taimiao to pick up, and the Ministry of Rites will also make a register, but the palace doesn't care about these things, and they are all left to the Taimiao order and Fengchang."

Qing Ping smiled and said, "Thank you Director Chen for your enlightenment."

Chen Kai smiled, at this time the master bookkeeper came over to salute, bowed and said: "My lords, the things have been taken out of the warehouse, and they have been filed according to the rules."

Qingping turned his head to look, two small officials were carrying a pitch-black wooden box, the box contained something, it looked rather heavy.

The head book took a look at Qingping, seemed to be avoiding her, and asked Chen Kaiyi for instructions: "I wonder if my lord should open the box for inspection, or should I invite the two adults, Taimiaoling and Fengchang?"

Qingping wasn't curious and didn't ask too many questions, looking at the situation, presumably this kind of affairs had been included in the duties of servants in the past.Chen Kaiyi likes to play with power, and takes all the power into his arms, not feeling too much at all.Since this is the case, Qingping is unwilling to compete with her, and it is better to have one thing less than one more thing.

Chen Kai said: "Let's invite those two adults to come over." Turning around and sighing, he said to Qingping: "Li Shizhong thinks it's a bit strange, what exactly is this, and the Taimiao order has to bring it to the Chang Shang Ritual Department to pick it up. "

In fact, Qingping has no interest at all, he just wants to let Ya go back to the mansion and rest.She followed Chen Kaiyi's words and asked: "Director Chen is really careful, before he asks for advice, he first solves people's doubts."

Chen Kai smiled and said he didn't dare, he just said: "I'm not talented, I just became a matchmaker once, haha."

As she spoke, she went to open the box. The outside of the box was covered with a layer of wax to seal the contents tightly. A box of brown powder, she said: "Li Shizhong is from Qiongzhou, I wonder if you have heard of this cold sandalwood that is hard to buy?"

Qing Ping clenched his hands tightly in his sleeves, paused, and then said with a smile: "Li is ignorant. I have never heard of such precious things, please enlighten me, Director Chen."

Chen Kai stretched out his hand to pinch a handful of spices, and then let go, the cold sandalwood fell from her hand, without even a single bit of it sticking to her hands, she said: "This incense is extremely rare, it is only produced in the sea of ​​Minzhou, its fragrance is clear It can repel mosquitoes, snakes and ants, and the fragrance lasts for a long time. And there is no smoke when burning. Taimiao often uses this spice mixed with other things to make tribute incense, which is specially used for worship. Therefore, when the tribute comes to Beijing, The Taimiao Order led Feng Chang to fetch the spices."

Qingping smiled lightly, and said: "It really is a rare thing, the vulgar people have never heard of it, and Director Chen laughed."

Chen Kaiyi said quite complacently: "It's nothing, Li Shizhong will see more in the future, so he will naturally gain more knowledge."

As soon as these words came out, the several civil servants present all bowed their heads and did not dare to say anything, wishing they could run away, Qingping remained unchanged, and cupped his hands and said: "In that case, Director Chen should go to busy with business, and I am very anxious to come to the Taimiao Order , otherwise I wouldn’t step on this point to enter the Ministry of Rites.”

Li Yan was not here today, and Qingping was followed by Yan Shuling, who thought he would be able to stand out in front of Shangguan, but he never expected to meet this kind of Shura field, standing on the side sweating, his voice was like a mosquito: "My lord, I have already arrived at the lower yamen It's time..."

Chen Kaiyi jokingly said: "Since Li Shizhong really abides by his responsibilities, his subordinates also know the rules very well."

Yan Shuling immediately fought with each other, Qing Ping glanced at them, and said: "It's not like Director Chen is busy with business, but the list of servants to be selected in the future will be reported to the Ministry of Rites, so I want everyone to take advantage of these few days to rest and work hard." Only by combining with Yi and Yi can we do a better job in official affairs.”

Chen Kai's expression froze slightly, remembering that his aunt's nephew was of the right age, and he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to choose a servant in the palace to try his luck, if not, he could have more conversations when he came out to discuss relatives, thinking of this She had no choice but to pinch her nose and said: "What Li Shizhong said is also true, I have been educated."

After finishing speaking, he cupped his hands and said, "It's fine if there are more than one witnesses, but how about inviting Mr. Li to go with you?"

Qing Ping smiled slightly and said: "Then respect is worse than obedience."

The two of them hadn't arrived at the office, when they heard the sound of commotion, Chen Kaiyi frowned and said: "Who is presumptuous in this department, dare to make such a loud noise."

Yi Shuli hurriedly came out and said: "Responding to Mr. Chen's words, it is the Taimiao order and our secretary order who had a dispute, saying that the spices in the tribute palace last time were much less."

Chen Kaiyi snorted coldly and said: "Nonsense, why did my official cleansing department take any spices from her? She didn't open the box to check every time. Why did she still want to frame the official cleansing department when things came to an end?"

After a few words of persuasion from Qingping, Chen Kaiyi said contemptuously: "Lord Li doesn't know, although these things are tributes to the palace, there are always some defective products left in the end, which should be stored in the inner treasury for other purposes, but There are always those guards and self-thieves who replace the defective products with the lowest ones, and what's more, they don't even have a replacement, and directly sell the rest on the black market..."

Qingping's heart moved slightly.

Speaking of reaching the door of the secretary's room, the little official went in to interpret, and the quarrel inside gradually weakened. The Taimiao Ling sat on the chair aggressively. When he saw Chen Kaiyi and Qingping coming, he didn't even get up. He sneered and said: "Master Chen is so big Guanwei, your company's demeanor is really eye-opening!"

Chen Kai chuckled, and said: "What are you talking about? I heard from a long way away that there are people yelling here. This department has always strictly disciplined its subordinates. Changyue, you really don't know, do you?"

The Taimiao Ling said with a serious face: "In the past, when the cold sandalwood arrived at the Ministry of Rites, it was registered and sent to the Taimiao. Why is the rule changed today? Could it be that your department can't allocate manpower to do such things?"

Chen Kaidao: "I forgot for a while, and I will support you, so you came to the door by yourself. It's not as good as being so conscious earlier, and it saves a lot of trouble."

The Taimiao Ling said angrily: "Chen Kaiyi, don't bully people too much! If it weren't for the people from your Ministry of Rituals to tamper with the tribute, how could there be no enough royal incense when His Majesty came to the Taimiao to worship the ancestors when he ascended the throne!"

"I'm deceiving people too much?" Chen Kai said expressionlessly, "What a joke, you are the order of the Taimiao, and every time you take away the spices, when you are worried, you still have to take the spices by the scale Said, did the Secretary say anything? Now you just say that this thing is short of weight, isn’t it a joke? Afterwards, it fell on our Ministry of Rites, and it was completely wiped out... Why don’t you go back and check your subordinates? , are there two or three rats?"

Feng Chang came out to smooth things over and said, "Director Chen, Master Chang didn't mean that. It's just that at the beginning of this year, His Majesty came to the Taimiao to worship. Because there was not enough royal incense, he almost missed the big event. But last year's newly made imperial incense obviously still has a lot of frost left. Sandalwood, I don’t know why I couldn’t find it, so I have some doubts, if there is something wrong, please forgive me.”

Chen Kai waved his hand, beckoning the person carrying the box outside the door to come in, and said: "This year's new tribute, please take a closer look at it, before you leave the door of the Rites Department, first weigh this thing. Understood, otherwise, I don't know where to go to Minzhou to find some cold sandalwood for you to make up for!"

Qingping watched the farce in front of him silently, and moved his eyes to the box.

At night, Qingping sat at the desk and opened Yuan Sui's reply——

"... Master Li asked me about the cold sandalwood. I knew very little about it. I was involved in Hezhou in the past, so I know a little about it. This incense is specially used for Taimiao, and it is one of the main ingredients of imperial incense. Its own fragrance is weak, it has the effect of invigorating blood and benefiting the essence, and benefiting the blood. Chenzhou people are best at blending fragrance, and mixing it with other things can be used in a wide range of places, and it also has the effect of aphrodisiac..."

There is a thumb-sized incense pill on a white paper in her hand. This is the daily incense used in her room. It is mixed with powder, and it is impossible to tell what spices are in it.

"... However, cold sandalwood is precious and hard to find. There is a saying that there are so many uses for so little you can get. If you want to know where this spice is used, you need to ask the perfumer, but most of them just follow along. Living next to the Jiaofang is a lot of inconvenience, and the case of the destruction of the Chenzhou Prostitution Temple a hundred years ago involved so many things that no one would dare to disclose it."