Tang riddles

Tonight, the clouds are thin and the moon is waning, the breeze is blowing, and the day is dry.Outside the window, cicadas sing intermittently, as if humming a ditty, quite rhythmic.

Shen Sui and Zhang Ruohan hugged each other at the door of the guest room.After Shen Sui answered "Yes", the two fell into silence, and neither made any further moves.

The momentary panic in his chest subsided quietly, and Shen Sui slowly raised his drooping hands to wrap around Zhang Ruohan's shoulders.How long has it been since she hugged her?It's been a month, and she really lost a lot of weight.

Thinking of this, Shen Sui's lips trembled subconsciously.

"You've lost weight..." Zhang Ruohan whispered in her arms.

The tip of Shen Sui's nose was slightly sore, he tightened his arms, and replied: "How can you accuse me..."

"Chishi, let's stop thinking about those things, shall we?" Zhang Ruohan raised his head from her arms, his clear eyes shining brightly in the moonlight.

"I can promise you..." Shen Sui bowed his head, "but I'm not sure when I will be able to fully digest this matter."

"It's okay, let's give each other some time, if you don't want to talk about it, we won't talk about it."

"Ah."

"Then, Western Regions, are you still willing to go?" Zhang Ruohan asked cautiously.

Shen Sui promised Zhang Ruohan to accompany her to Suiye City, build a Buddhist temple, and build a pagoda to house the ashes of relics.Right now, Zhang Ruohan is not sure if she will do this again.

Shen Sui raised his hand, stroked her cheek, and said:

"I will do what I promise you."

There were tears in Zhang Ruohan's eyes, Shen Sui couldn't help but kissed her on the forehead, and said:

"I'm sorry, Lotus Maid, it's my fault."

Zhang Ruohan finally broke into a smile: "I will only forgive you this time, if this happens again in the future, I will definitely not forgive you again."

Shen Sui curled the corners of his lips.

"Let's go into the house." Shen Sui said.

Zhang Ruohan nodded. Just as the two were about to enter the room, they suddenly heard a call from not far away:

"The lotus maid? But the lotus maid?"

Both Shen Sui and Zhang Ruohan were taken aback, looked towards the place where the sound came from, and saw three men standing in the courtyard not far away.The first one is dressed in a crimson red robe with a round collar and a soft head with hanging feet. He has a long beard and handsome features. He is thin and straight, unspeakably elegant.Looking at the age, it is already over fifty, and Fengyi is excellent, which weakens the feeling of oldness brought by age.

On his right hand side stood a gentleman in green robes. He stood at a young age, his facial features were very similar to his, with a short beard, his physique was more youthful and resolute, and his demeanor was calm and capable.

These two people looked very familiar to Shen Sui, but his mind seemed to be glued together, and he couldn't recognize their identities for a while.

As for the other gentleman on the left hand side of the leading man in red robe, Shen Sui Wangzhi was also stunned.Since she was a child, Shen Sui has never seen such a man who can make her look hard to leave.This gentleman is already indescribably handsome, he is just like the moonlight at night, wearing a moon white robe with wide sleeves and cross collar, with picturesque eyebrows, soft and delicate bones, and a gentleman.He held a sandalwood folding fan in his hand, and the red fan hung down by his waist, standing like a cedar, blending with the moonlight in the courtyard.Looking fixedly at Shen Sui and Zhang Ruohan, there were burning and complicated emotions in those eyes.

While Shen Sui was in a daze, Zhang Ruohan suddenly took a step beside her, out of the shadow of the corridor, and the moonlight shone on her side.Shen Sui looked at her, and saw that the expression of incomparable surprise flashed across her face, and then there was a mixture of sadness and joy.

"Father! Big brother!"

She lifted the hem of her skirt and ran quickly, walked around the corridor and down the steps.On the other end, the red-robed man and the green-robed man also hurried towards her.The three met in the corridor, and the red-robed man at the head held Zhang Ruohan's hand tightly, almost crying.

"Lotus maid, you... How are you?" He asked in a trembling voice.

"I'm fine, father, you... why are you here?" Zhang Ruohan was so excited that his words were incoherent.

"It's a long story... a long story..." Zhang Jiuling sighed again and again.

At this moment, Shen Sui couldn't care less about looking at the man in white, he just felt a thunderbolt running through his mind.She rushed over in a hurry and strode to Zhang Ruohan's side.

"My son-in-law, Shen Sui, has seen Mount Tai and brother-in-law." Shen Sui lowered his bow and bowed loudly.

Zhang Jiuling and Zhang Zheng returned the gift respectively, and then looked at Shen Sui.Seeing that this young man has a handsome appearance and a clear demeanor, although there is some gloomy look in his brows and eyes, but he doesn't feel gloomy when he looks at it, on the contrary, he adds a bit of melancholy charm, so he can't help but feel a little satisfied.

"It turned out to be the good son-in-law, Bo Zhao. Today, our son-in-law, Weng, met for the first time. My father-in-law, I am really ashamed." Zhang Jiuling said with emotion.

Shen Sui hurriedly said: "My son-in-law and Ruohan got married, and I couldn't go to see Taishan and brother-in-law beforehand, it's because my son-in-law is too rude."

Zhang Jiuling waved his hands and said with a smile: "Lingnan is too far away from Luoyang, so it doesn't matter if you don't follow the etiquette. The family can meet sooner or later, don't care about it."

When he was talking to Shen Sui, he quickly got rid of the excitement that he hadn't seen his daughter for a long time just now, and the elegant temperament of Tsinghua University bloomed little by little in the gestures and jokes.A father suddenly turned into a famous official of a generation, those deep spring-like eyes seemed to have the power of baptism, making people feel comfortable and amiable for no reason.Zhang Ruohan's eyes are really inherited from here.

It is indeed the No. 1 style of today, no wonder even the saints are fascinated by him, and ordered the civil and military officials of the Manchu dynasty to sew wat bags similar to it.Shen Sui secretly admired in his heart.

In Shen Sui's memory, Zhang Jiuling's appearance was already very vague to her.She vaguely remembered that she had met Zhang Jiuling once, but it was still far away and she couldn't see clearly.When they were young, Zhang Jiuling seldom stayed at home, and spent all day in the palace writing and writing history, and there were many literati poetry meetings to attend on holidays.Shen Sui went to play with Zhang Ruohan countless times, but he never met Zhang Jiuling once.The only time was on the first day of a certain year, when Zhang Jiuling went home for the first time, and gave some calligraphy, paintings and writings from Shangguan and friends, and brought some candies and toys for the children. Played with Zhang Ruohan in the inner courtyard in the afternoon, and when I returned home in the evening, I saw Zhang Jiuling once from afar, still under the dusk and night.

Zhang Jiuling was a very familiar stranger to her.Until today, it was the first official meeting.The father of a friend who was a classmate in the past has turned into his Taishan father-in-law. This feeling is really strange.

Shen Sui exchanged greetings with Zhang Ruohan's elder brother, Zhang Zheng. This [-]-year-old man was of medium build, but he was much stronger and his skin was quite dark. Zhang Jiuling is in the same line.Zhang Zheng has been working as an official in other places since he got the first place in Jinshi Ke.Until last year, he was the official residence of Yique Ling, and he was actually the county magistrate in Yique County not far from Luoyang.But at the beginning of this year, his term of office expired and he was transferred to the north again. He just came to Youzhou and worked in Youzhou Governor's Mansion, so Shen Sui was not surprised that he appeared in Fan Yang's Li's mansion .

However, at the beginning of the year, it was already rumored that Zhang Jiuling would be transferred back to the Eastern Capital.What Shen Sui didn't expect was that their old Mount Tai actually crossed thousands of mountains and rivers, and arrived in Youzhou before Shen Sui and others.It should be known that from the Lingnan area in the extreme south to the Youzhou area in the extreme north, each of them is separated by thousands of miles. It is really extremely difficult to walk all the way, and it is normal to walk for more than half a year.Zhang Jiuling should have started his journey at the beginning of the year, was stopped halfway, and then turned to Shuobei, and arrived in Youzhou almost recently.This is still the result of a relatively fast pace.If it weren't for the order of the sage, how could Zhang Jiuling travel such a long distance.

Zhang Jiuling was originally "Lingnan No. 1", how did the saint transfer him to Youzhou?Shen Sui didn't think it through for a while.Zhang Jiuling didn't intend to talk about this now.

Behind him, the handsome man in the moon white robe stepped forward slowly, Zhang Jiuling noticed him, and Shen Sui observed a flash of guilt on Zhang Jiuling's face.

He stretched out his hand to call the man in white to come forward, and introduced to Shen Sui:

"Bo Zhao, let me introduce you. This is Li Changxue, the second son of Fan Yang's Li family's fourth wife, whose name is Xueqing, Xingjiu. Your elder brother and I were invited by him just now to go to Qing to discuss the matter. Xue Qing sent us back again, and met you and the maidservant Lian."

Shen Sui stepped forward to greet him:

"Shen Sui, I met brother Xueqing."

"Don't dare, Brother Bo Zhao is older than Li Mou, Li Mou should call him Brother Bo Zhao." He raised his fan and bowed in a dignified manner.With a soft voice, he suddenly seemed like a talented scholar from a water town in the south of the Yangtze River, not a gentleman who has lived in a bitter cold place for a long time.

This Li Jiulang is actually a celebrity in the circle of aristocrats and celebrities in the Tang Dynasty, not an unknown person.Although he didn't have any official position and never took the imperial examination, he wrote good poems.He began to travel around the world at the age of 12, and has traveled almost all over the Tang Dynasty. He has also written countless poems that lament the famous mountains and rivers. He is the representative of the current landscape and pastoral poetry.Zhang said that he had the legacy of Mr. Jingjie (that is, Tao Yuanming's world name).Although Shen Sui didn't pay much attention to these elegant and famous people, but she controlled the world's number one intelligence network, so naturally she would not be ignorant of Li Jiulang's existence.This time in person, she realized that it was such a person.

She secretly sighed, after all, it is a family that can cultivate such talents.

After greeting Shen Sui, this Li Jiulang saluted Zhang Ruohan again, saying:

"Miss Zhang San, we met five years ago, and now we finally meet again."

Zhang Ruohan smiled slightly, and said back: "Lao Li Jiulang is concerned."

Shen Sui raised his eyebrows: The lotus maid actually knew him?But I don't know.

She asked Zhang Ruohan with her eyes, Zhang Ruohan just glanced at her quickly, and then turned away.Shen Sui pursed his lips, knowing that Zhang Ruohan meant to talk to him later, so he put his doubts aside.

After exchanging greetings and greetings, Li Changxue knew that he should not stay for long, so he took his leave first and left.Zhang Ruohan reunited with his father and elder brother, so naturally they had to have a good talk, with Shen Sui accompanying them, the four of them went to the guest room where Zhang Jiuling was currently staying.

"Father, why are you here?" Zhang Ruohan asked hurriedly as soon as the four of them took their seats.

Zhang Jiuling sighed and said:

"At the beginning of the year, I received an imperial edict asking me to return to Beijing to report on my duties. I guessed that Brother Dao Ji recommended me as a bachelor of Jixian Academy again, and I was finally recognized by the saint. So I set off in mid-January and traveled nearly In four months, when I was about to enter Luoyang, a new transfer order suddenly came, asking me to set off for Youzhou immediately to serve as the inspector of Hebei Road and take the post of Yushi Zhongcheng. The order was issued very urgently, and it was stipulated that I You must arrive. I couldn’t even enter Luoyang City in time, so I hurried all the way to the north and came to Youzhou. Fortunately, your elder brother is in Youzhou, so I have a support at least.”

"The sage's edict was issued in such a hurry, but it was because of the remnants of Goguryeo's rebellion in Hebei Province at the beginning of the year?" Zhang Ruohan asked with a frown.

"It's not just the remnants of Goguryeo, but also the Dongying people. They are plotting to take Hebei Road and use it as a base to fight back to Silla." Without waiting for Zhang Jiuling's answer, Zhang Zheng said.

Zhang Jiuling took over the conversation and continued: "Originally, the Goguryeo remnant party did not have such arrogance. After being wiped out, they have always kept their own place. They have lived in the Heshuo area for some years. But since a group of Dongying people boarded in Jiaozhou, An, after contacting them, for some reason, they became malicious and began to conspire to restore the country. This group of Dongying people are also quite strange. They don't believe in Shintoism or Buddhism like other Dongying people, but they believe in something Nestorianism spread the Nestorian teachings among the remnants of Goguryeo and incited the hearts of the people."

Shen Sui heard the words and replied: "It's not Nestorianism, but Zoroastrianism. In fact, it's not Zoroastrianism, but an extreme sect derived from Zoroastrianism, which incorporates some Nestorian teachings."

Both Zhang Jiuling and Zhang Zheng looked at her in surprise, Shen Sui bowed slowly and said with a smile:

"Son-in-law, it's for this purpose."

The author has something to say: Post it first, catch bugs later.

In fact, it is not easy to write about two rational and calm people. Even if there is an emotional quarrel, it will not last long. They are all understanding people.

Li Jiulang appears in this chapter, and this person is also a key figure.