Brocade tears

In the small courtyard on Chengxian Street, the door to the west wing was closed, and the charcoal stove was still hot in the hot weather.Bai Yuyin took off her upper body clothes, revealing the tattoo pattern on her back.A long table was placed behind her, and Sui'er cooperated with Meng Yan to unfold a long scroll, and transcribed the pattern behind her on the scroll page.

Although Meng Ai knows a little about painting, his brushwork is not as good as Sui Er's skill in fine brushwork, so he paints very slowly.She was exhausted after only half a picture, her eyes were sore and swollen, and she couldn't lift her hands.At that time, Sui Er had already painted half of the painting.Seeing that she was tired, Sui'er advised her to take a rest, and she came to finish the rest.

"Sister Xiaosui, you are really good. How long have you practiced your eyesight and brushwork?" Meng Yan said as he sat aside and tapped his left shoulder with his right hand.

Sui'er didn't look up, and continued to paint, while replying: "This is a child's skill. My mother taught me to divide the colored thread and pinch the paintbrush when I was three years old. She is not very literate, but she has excellent skills in fine brushwork. "

Bai Yuyin became interested when she heard the words, and couldn't help asking: "This is the first time I've heard sister Sui'er mention mother, is she also a embroiderer?"

The room suddenly fell silent, Meng Yan looked at Sui'er, she was not easy to answer this question, it was up to Miss Xiaosui to make up her own mind whether to tell Bai Yuyin about her life experience or not.When Sui'er heard Bai Yuyin's question, she paused for a moment before answering:

"Yes, my mother is an embroiderer, and she was selected by the Ouchi Weaving and Dyeing Bureau from the people to Beijing, and she went directly to the palace and became a court lady."

"How could the maid..." Bai Yuyin was confused.

"She is not my biological mother, but my adoptive mother. I still don't know who my biological mother is. I can only roughly judge that she is not a Han Chinese. She may be a foreigner from the Western Regions, and she is from far away Samarkand. My biological father is very old. The most likely possibility would be the first emperor." Sui Er said frankly.

Bai Yuyin was so startled that she couldn't speak. Sui'er's life experience was simply unimaginable to her, which made her feel like a fantasy for a while.After a while, she digested Sui'er's brief statement just now, and said:

"Sister Sui'er's experience is really bizarre and tortuous. Does no one else know about your life experience? Didn't Zhang Juzheng's first assistant know about it?"

"It's hard to say. I think he knows it, but he doesn't tell me. Now that he has passed away for many years, it's pointless to worry about it. There is actually one person in this world who knows my life experience, and that is the Empress Dowager Li , but now it is impossible to ask her." Sui Er sighed.

As she said that, she put down the pen, and all the tattoos on Bai Yuyin's back had been copied.Although Sui'er moved extremely fast, but looking at the sky outside, it was already dark.She said: "The painting is finished, Sister Bai, put on your clothes quickly." As she walked to the window, she opened a small slit slightly, and looked out worriedly.

At this time, there was a knock on the door outside, and it was Han Jiaer who brought dinner:

"Is it convenient to come in?" she called outside the house.

"Come in, the painting is finished." Meng Yan went to open the door.

As soon as Han Jiaer came in, Sui'er came forward and asked, "Meng Kuang and the others haven't come back yet?"

Han Jiaer shook her head, put the food box on the side table, opened it to get food, and said:

"Jing Shi told me just now that finding the whereabouts of Guo Dayou will not be that simple. They may have been delayed by something outside. He told me not to wait, and invite you to dinner first."

Sui'er's face showed worry, she was worried about Meng Kuang.Thinking of her, Sui'er couldn't let it go.Meng Kuang's attitude before leaving showed obvious alienation and avoidance. Her second brother must have talked to her, and she had shaken her trust in herself.Sui'er was eager to ask what she was thinking, eager to show her sincerity.She concealed Meng Kuang's matter about Ma Chengye, and she didn't have any bad intentions.It's just that this matter is really important, and she can't say it lightly, because it involves Zhang Juzheng.

Before Jiashan was brought into Zhang Juzheng's mansion in Jingzhong, Sui'er knew about Ma Chengye's existence from the servants of Zhejiang inspector Wang Fude.Wang Fude followed Ma Chengye's instructions to find Sui'er in Jiashan, not because he heard any rumors about Jiashan child prodigy.This shows that Ma Chengye and Sui'er's mother are old acquaintances.Later, Sui'er found a servant's money book among the old documents accumulated in Zhang's library, and saw Ma Chengye's name on it, which proved that this person was also related to Zhang Juzheng.In other words, Sui'er's mother, Li Minghui, smuggled her out of the palace, which is very likely related to Zhang Juzheng.

Sui'er has deep concerns in her heart. Her life experience may be very complicated, and she will not reveal what happened to Ma Chengye unless it is absolutely necessary.Meng Kuang had always shown disbelief to her in Beijing before, and Sui Er, on the other hand, did not dare to tell her the most core secret involving her life experience.It was not until before they left the capital that they finally established their relationship. But at that time they were involved in an incident related to Bai Yuyin, and the city was so chaotic. They fled all the way from the capital to Nanjing. It was the right time to tell Meng Kuang about this matter.

Sui'er was in a daze, and Meng Yan and Bai Yuyin were already staring at the tattoo on Bai Yuyin's back that she had just transcribed.

"Sister Bai, do you know what this painting really means? It's too messy to have so many weird animals coiled together." Meng Yan asked.

Bai Yuyin pointed to the picture scroll and explained: "Look carefully, is there any animals and flowers in this picture? There are many kinds of animals, seven in total, including wolves, jackals, bears, tigers, leopards, pythons, Jiao. There are also seven kinds of flowers, namely lilac, crape myrtle, rose, hibiscus, hibiscus, rose, and peony. Each is divided into three colors, red, white, and yellow, lining up among beasts. In fact, these images have special symbols It means that each animal corresponds to a special local powerful family, and flowers are where their treasures are hidden or owned. The varieties of flowers are distinguished by size, corresponding to the wealth of the treasure. Red, white and yellow, three colors, White stands for silver, yellow stands for gold, and red stands for the armed forces in my hands. The tattoo behind me describes the powerful and powerful families who colluded with or were associated with King Lu, as well as the court and retired officials, directly or indirectly attached to He absorbs the people's fat and people's ointment."

"So that's how it is!" Sui'er suddenly realized, hurriedly stepped forward, leaned in front of Bai Yuyin and asked, "Do you still remember which powerful families and officials these patterns correspond to?"

"I remember it, but it will take time to recall it, so I have to write slowly." Bai Yuyin said.

"Then there's no rush... Let's eat first. Write after eating. After finishing writing, let's check it with the picture of animals and flowers. Maybe we can reveal part of the content in advance." Sui'er excitedly said.Before leaving the palace, she re-drawn a smaller version of the huge picture of animals and flowers that she had drawn in the palace. It was only about the size of a four-foot paper. She carefully applied a thin layer of wax and rolled it up. Wrap it in oilcloth and keep it in a close-fitting bag.Before falling into the water, a lot of luggage was scattered, but the painting is still there, right now.

Several women sat down to eat, Bai Yuyin picked up the bowls and chopsticks, but looked at Sui'er aside.She seldom saw the excited look on her face just now.It seems that she has indeed been troubled by the picture of thousands of beasts and flowers in the center for too long, and now she finally has a way to decipher it. She can still calm down and sit down to eat first, which is already very strong.

"Hey, Miss Xiaosui, why don't you eat it? This duck leg is so fresh." Meng Ai who was at the side suddenly heard that it was the duck leg she had given Sui'er, but she put it back on the plate.

"I won't eat... leave it to your brother and the others to eat when they come back. They are running outside and exhausted a lot of energy, so they want to eat meat." Sui'er said.

"Hey... Which brother are you talking about? Second brother or third brother? Yo, I don't have a third brother yet, I only have a third sister, hehe." Meng Yan deliberately teased Sui'er.

Sui'er blushed immediately, pursed her lips, and did not refute, just took a small bite to eat.

"Sister Xiaosui, you eat, and what else, you won't lose to Sister and the others." Meng Yan smiled.

"Is there any more? Then... I'd better leave it for her to eat, I'm afraid she won't have enough."

"Sister Xiaosui...why do you feel that you are absent-minded? Didn't we count the number of duck legs together in the morning, and we agreed to marinate them one by one. Is my sister bullying you again?" Meng Ai sensitively asked.

"No...she didn't bully me." Sui'er said, the grievance welled up in her heart once she said that, her eyes became hot and she couldn't hold back her expression.

"Okay! She bullied you again! I will settle the score with her!" Her expression fell into Meng Yan's eyes, and the little girl became angry immediately.

Seeing this situation, Bai Yuyin and Han Jiaer on the side quickly persuaded her. Sui'er also repeatedly explained that Meng Kuang did not bully her, but she was in a hurry when she left, and he was a little worried about her.Meng Yan finally agreed not to be impulsive, but Bai Yuyin took another look at Sui'er, wondering if it was Meng Lang who said something to Sister Qing?She decided to wait for Mencius to come back and ask.

……

"Ah!" Meng Kuang turned his head away, covered his nose with his elbow, and sneezed.Ban Ruhua beside her hurriedly said:

"Did you catch a cold in the rain? Go and wash your body with hot water and change into dry clothes. I have clean men's robes here."

"It's okay, I don't want to trouble you. The clothes you have here are the clothes of other customers. If I wear them, I will force you to make them again." Meng Kuang said hastily.

"Then... I'll light a stove for you, so you can warm yourself up. Ah!" He was about to stand up, but he forgot that he hurt his leg, and almost fell again.Meng Kuang's eyes were sharp and his hands were quick, so he hurriedly got up to support her:

"Oh, don't be too busy, I'll do it myself."

As he spoke, he helped her to sit down, and went to move the charcoal stove to light the fire by himself.

It was at the beginning of the third year of May, and it was already completely dark.After Meng Kuang sent the injured Ban Ruhua home, he stayed at her home and hadn't left yet.The reason is very simple, because when Ban Ruhua heard that she was going to find An Xifan, he told Meng Kuang very funny that An Xifan lived in the yard opposite her, and they were neighbors.This is all right, Meng Kuang doesn't have to go to Nanjing to find An Xifan, he just stays at Ban Ruhua's house and waits for the rabbit.

Ban Ruhua was trained by a famous teacher in Hangzhou. She is an excellent embroiderer. In addition to receiving wages in the Nanjing Weaving Bureau, she often takes business outside.The princes and nobles in Nanjing, the courtesans in brothels, all had extraordinary skills, and she earned a lot of money.Therefore, she can buy an exquisite house with landscape scenery in this good location, be neighbors with officials from the six ministries and five mansions, and invite two or three servants to take care of the housework for her.It's just that the Dragon Boat Festival is approaching recently, and she sent people home for the festival, and she was the only one left at home.

After roasting for a while, Meng Kuang's clothes were completely dry.The room was silent, Ban Ruhua didn't speak all the time, Meng Kuang was not good at words, and now he found it difficult to speak, so he could only respond in silence.

"Do you have someone you love?" Ban Ruhua asked suddenly.

"I... do have someone I like." Meng Kuang didn't lie, he told the truth.

"Is she a man or a woman?" Despite this question, Ban Ruhua actually believed that Meng Kuang would like women.

"...It's not important." Meng Kuang didn't answer directly.

"Is it a woman?" Ban Ruhua asked.

Meng Kuang sighed and said, "Miss Ban, I only confirmed my intention with her recently, and I'm really sorry that I haven't had time to be with you Wutongye in the future."

It really is a woman... Ban Ruhua bowed her head. Although she likes women, she is not herself.

Ban Ruhua was in a trance, but Meng Kuang suddenly stood up.With her keen hearing, she heard the movement outside. It was the return of the man from the opposite house, and it must be An Xifan.Meng Kuang grabbed the dagger and carried it behind his back, and said:

"I'm going right now, and I'll come to see you some other day when I have time. Miss Ban is a baby girl, so Meng Mou will leave." After saying that, she ran out quickly.Ban Ruhua couldn't get up and chase her, so he could only watch her disappear from sight.