then Li Sao

Luoping has been extremely busy these past few days. The officials here are congratulating and surrendering, the county magistrates in various places have made a lot of movements invisibly, and the magistrate of Tongfang has been suspended... It is all his handwriting, both openly and secretly.

Although Yang Zhizhou wanted to intervene, he was powerless, because Luo Ping acted too vigorously, often before he heard the news, he was already tied up with evidence and brought to the court.As a result, those who didn't pay attention to him and King Yue at the beginning also began to reconsider the issue of standing in line. After all, no one wants to lose their black hat for no reason.

So Luo Ping was busy with all kinds of entertainment all day long.Mr. Zhang’s new painting appreciation, Mr. Sun’s poetry writing meeting, Li Qianhu’s full moon wine, Mr. Zhao’s birthday banquet...for a while he became the most popular staff member in Yuezhou.

Some entertainments he could push off, but even so, he was still busy.And Zhou Tang has been missing recently, except for certain occasions when King Yue has to show up, basically he rarely appears in front of people, and even Luo Ping can't grasp his whereabouts.

Back at the palace, dinner was eaten alone again. Luo Ping sighed and put down the bowls and chopsticks, and called the almighty Butler Cheng: "Old Cheng, the prince is still at the Nanshan Camp if he hasn't returned home so late. Have you ever eaten?" After dinner?"

Steward Cheng bowed his head and answered: "Mr. Luo, please rest assured, I have sent someone to deliver meals to the prince, and I replied that the prince will stay in Nanshan temporarily tonight and will not come back."

"What about Fang Jin?"

"the same."

"Where's Ting Ting?"

"Ting Ting came back early in the morning, saying that she didn't want to eat and was resting in her room."

"Well, I see." Luo Ping nodded, "Old Cheng, go get busy."

After eating something hastily, Luo Ping went back to the room and sorted out the recent cases. Feeling a little impetuous, he wanted to find some idle books for entertainment, but unexpectedly found a novel by Mr. Xu—— Steps are as cool as water".

He froze for a moment, shook his head and smiled.

Xiaotang left the book with him again, but he didn't know whether it was on purpose or not.

It's strange to say that Zhou Tang never read these novels about love between children, but he himself, who was a scholar at that time, had a lot of sentiments and read Mr. Xu's novels all over.

These are all books that he has read before, so he doesn't need to read again to know what is said in the book.It's just that I don't know why Zhou Tang is fascinated by Mr. Xu's novels in this life, and often persuades him to read them together.Luo Ping thought, maybe it was because he was always nagging him about national policies and tricks, which made him feel bored.

The sky is as cold as water.

He can still remember that this is a story about a woman in a tall building and a boy who looks up to her.The boy said that when he returned with a full load of military achievements, he would step on the heavenly steps to pick her up and take her to travel thousands of miles of rivers and mountains.

It's a pity that when he was fighting on the battlefield, the woman was already lingering on the sick bed, and soon died of illness.When she was dying, the woman asked the maid to light a lamp in front of the window, and it would not go out day and night, waiting for the man's return.

The young man became famous, saw the bright lights on the tall building in the middle of the night, and went up the stairs with a generous dowry the next day, but he didn't know that there was nothing at the end of the stairs.

Luo Ping flipped through it casually, and it was that sentence——

The floors are like buildings, and the steps of hundreds of miles are as cool as water; the lonely lamp is like a dream, and young people don't know the taste of love.

Very cheesy story.He suddenly laughed.

All right, why did I feel resentful too.

Putting down the book and stepping into the garden, the night breeze is blowing, and my mind is much clearer.

Luo Ping knew that Zhou Tang and Fang Jin were also very busy recently. Although he did not participate in the suppression of bandits in his last life, the name of "Nanshan Army" was well-known in Yuezhou back then, and he had heard of it.

Only a thousand people, not even a formally organized army, wiped out more than 30 cottages, large and small, in Yuezhou.Such a fierce and elite team must have suffered a lot to train.

Therefore, when he learned that Zhou Tang and Fang Jin were going to Nanshan to recruit troops, he guessed that they were already preparing for the establishment of the "Nanshan Army".He made a slip of the tongue last time, and he said the word "Nanshan Army", which shocked Zhou Tang. It must be that they hadn't figured out what name to give this team at that time.

In the past few days, when investigating the affairs of several towns around Tongfang, Luo Ping heard that bandits often harass the people there, and the trend is getting worse.Within Zhou Tang's jurisdiction, he couldn't ignore it, so he wanted to discuss it with Zhou Tang today, but he didn't find a chance.

Luo Ping accidentally strolled to the courtyard where Ting Ting was located, saw that the lights in Ting Ting's room were still on, and thought of the "Heavenly Stairs Are Cool as Water" that he had just read, he couldn't help laughing, and on a whim, he walked towards the candlelight, wanting to go Look at Ting Ting.

Knocking on the door lightly, a muffled voice came from inside: "Who is it?"

"It's me, Luo Ping."

"Mr. Luo!" Ting Ting seemed very happy, and hastily opened the door, with disheveled hair and no shoes, clearly just crawled out of bed.

Luo Ping was startled, and said apologetically: "Looking at the light on here, I thought you were still awake, so I disturbed you."

"No, no, I didn't sleep at all." Ting Ting pulled Luo Ping into the room, for fear that he would run away, "I can't sleep, Mr. Luo, please talk to me."

"Okay, it just so happens that I can't sleep either." Luo Ping said with a smile.

Ting Ting pinched Luo Ping's wrist, frowned and said, "Sir, have you lost weight?"

"Really? Maybe it's because I've been too busy recently..."

"It's my fault. I should take good care of my husband." Ting Ting was full of guilt. "I'm obviously my husband's servant, but I know how to play tricks all day long. It's really shameful. Please punish me, sir."

Luo Ping deliberately said with a straight face: "Yes, you should be punished, how should you be punished?"

Ting Ting blinked: "Well... my small body is already useless enough, and it will be even more useless if I get beaten. Or, tell Butler Cheng not to feed me, anyway, I used to I'm used to being hungry, so it doesn't matter if I don't eat a few meals."

"..." Luo Ping couldn't help laughing, "I haven't seen you for a few days, but you have learned a lot about Xiaotang's skill of pretending to be pitiful."

"Hmph, who learned from him! I don't want to learn Kung Fu from him anymore! I won't go to Nanshan to find them again!" Ting Ting suddenly became excited, her face turned red.

"What's wrong? Did you quarrel?"

"I wouldn't argue with someone like him!"

Seeing him lose his temper, Luo Ping found it quite interesting, as if he was looking at the young Zhou Tang.

Ting Ting's identity in the mansion is a servant, but in fact no one regards him as a servant.

Although he was down and out when he first came, he always had a kind of pride and resilience in him, unlike ordinary vagrants who bowed their knees.He is very "close" to the prince, so he is rarely asked to do heavy chores in the mansion, and even Steward Cheng doesn't give him much support.

Over time, some servants would even call him "Young Master Ting", not deliberately mocking him, this title was acquiesced by King Yue, because Ting Ting was his fellow apprentice no matter what.

Luo Ping saw the cold food on the table, guessed that Steward Cheng sent someone to deliver it to Ting Ting, but it hadn't been touched at all, the bed was in a mess, and he could tell a child was rolling over it at a glance.

It's really like, these two children.

"Tell me, how did Xiaotang bully you?" Luo Ping asked softly.

"He, they are too much! They actually..." Ting Ting stopped abruptly, glanced at Luo Ping in a panic, and murmured, "...No, it's nothing, it's just that I competed with him today and lost .”

"Oh, is that so?" Luo Ping narrowed his eyes, and Ting Ting shrank his shoulders.

Ting Ting is not a child who can't afford to lose. If he loses the competition, he must study hard and practice hard before going to Xiaotang for the competition, and he will not hide in the room and sulk.

He was lying, Luo Ping could tell at a glance.Just seeing him flustered like this, he had a bad premonition in his heart. Obviously, something was hiding from him.

"Tingting, did Xiaotang humiliate you again? It's shameful for him to bully his junior like this. If you feel wronged, I will go to Nanshan to reprimand him now."

Luo Ping deliberately made a cliché, pretending to leave.Ting Ting really panicked, grabbed him and said anxiously: "Sir, you can't go!"

"Why can't you go?" The uneasiness in my heart is getting bigger and bigger.

"Because... because there are bandits over there..." Ting Ting's voice became smaller and smaller.

"Bandits? In Tongfang territory, under King Yue's eyes, how could there be bandits? What's more, there is no Nanshan Army there..." Luo Ping suddenly stopped, his expression a little stiff.

He remembered the rumors that bandits were disturbing the people around Tongfang.

Ting Ting's shoulders trembled, as if he couldn't bear it anymore, and complained with red eyes:

"There is no Nanshan Army! There is no Nanshan Army at all! Zhou Tang lied to you!"

"They are bandits! Bandits who burn, kill, and loot all kinds of crimes!"

"I hate bandits the most in my life, so I don't want to get along with them!"

----

Lang Yue Shu Xing.

In the camp on the top of Nanshan, two people could not sleep and were talking at night while holding candles.

Zhou Tang put down the mountain topography map of Yuezhou, and drew a dozen small circles on the map with a Chinese ink brush, which were all the strongholds of the Red Scarf Village. Seeing the large area of ​​red, he sighed worriedly.

"The power of the Red Scarf Village is at its peak. If we want to be on an equal footing with them, my lord, we can't wait." Fang Jin said.

"You know that's not what I'm worried about."

Fang Jin laughed and said, "How could a bandit like Fang know what you are thinking, my lord?"

Zhou Tang glanced at him: "It's true that black and white can get twice the result with half the effort, but is it really right for us to do this? Let alone Ting Ting, we just pretended to cause trouble, and he went back in anger. The little master wants me to make meritorious service in suppressing the bandits, if he knows that I did not prepare for the suppression of the bandits, and instead set up a bandit village, he will die of anger."

"Brother Mu Quan himself said that the matter of suppressing the bandits will be left to me. The prince and I have already made a detailed plan. Even if he is angry, he will not intervene now."

"But he always thought that we had set up some kind of Nanshan Army. I don't understand how he was so sure of it. You know, every time he mentions the word 'Nanshan Army', my eyes are full of tears." It's all appreciated."

"Actually, he didn't think wrong. We originally wanted to establish the 'Nanshan Army'. It's just that such a regular mercenary team is too restrained. We need the reputation of the people, the approval of the government, and we have to raise funds ourselves. , will inevitably become the target of all the bandits, it is more convenient to occupy a mountain and become a bandit on our own. In fact, we are not far from his expectations now, but we are called 'Nanshan bandits'."

"Nanshan Bandit?" Zhou Tang murmured, the difference between good and evil is not equal to one word.

"What's more, your little master is really powerful. He dealt with those fat officials and profiteers on the surface, and secretly got us so much money. Let alone supporting these 'bandits', it is more than enough to fake one or two looting operations. Yes. If he hadn’t been so capable, I wouldn’t have changed my mind temporarily and changed the poor and impoverished teacher of justice into a wealthy bandit. You see, the brothers in the cottage don’t have any objections, do they? You can see my How popular it is." Fang Jin comforted him shamelessly.

"I understand what you said, but..."

"But you still want to hide it from him." Fang Jin shook his fan and sighed, "My lord, lord, do you really think you can hide it? Paper can't cover fire. How could a man as keen and sophisticated as Brother Mu Quan not Suspicious?"

"I know, I know everything." Zhou Tang had a headache, "Now that Ting Ting is back again, that kid clings to him, and his mouth is not strict. I guess he will come to Xingshi soon to question his guilt."

Fang Jin joked: "Is the prince afraid?"

Zhou Tang smiled wryly: "How should I put it, in fact, I also miss the way he was angry with me."

After being silent for a while, Fang Jin said, "Forgive me for being bold, but I want to ask the prince a question."

"ask."

"What kind of feelings does the lord have for Brother Mu Quan?"

"..." Zhou Tang froze for a moment, not knowing how to answer.

"A teacher or a student? A friend? Or a subject?"

Zhou Tang shook his head with a smile, his eyes glistened with youthful enthusiasm and slight embarrassment, but his words were very calm:

"My feelings for him are too complicated, and I can't figure it out myself. It's just that, since my first wet dream, he was the only person in the dream."