Chongzhen Sunset Song

?one

At noon, the sun is warm.As soon as the door and window of the prison supervisor opened, the sunlight quietly diffused into the window, bypassed the people by the window, and fell on the blue brick floor of the room, reflecting a large bright spot of light.

"For the time being, the emperor should be back soon."

Standing in front of the window, Wang Chengen was feeding the starling, and said in his mouth.Li Quan was copying the decree of the ticket at the side, listened to Wang Chengen's question, thought it over, and replied: "Today is 28, it stands to reason that the emperor should return in two days."

"Yeah." Wang Cheng'en brushed off the millet slag from his hands, and tapped on the birdcage, making the mynah jump up and down on the bar. "In the future, you have to explain to those bastards. The emperor is coming back. Take care of me these two days. What should you do? Don't disappear all day long, let our family catch you again, be careful of him salary."

"Yes." Li Quan agreed, reaching out and dipping the pen into the ink.

"Where is the stack of memorials to be presented to the emperor?"

"Just put it in the second drawer of the sandalwood cabinet in the back room. Eunuch wants to see it?"

"No need, as long as you know where it is. When the emperor comes back, send it to the South Study Room."

"Yes." Li Quan answered, paused, and added: "Master Wen asked his father-in-law to co-sign the note last time, and it has also been placed on the father-in-law's case."

"En." Wang Chengen didn't look back, and responded casually without saying much.

Seeing Wang Chengen's indifferent attitude, Li Quan rolled his eyes and asked, "If the villain thinks it's right, the father-in-law doesn't seem to care much about what Master Wen entrusted this time?"

"It's not my own business, why bother to care about everything." Wang Chengen stopped teasing the bird, turned around, walked to the armchair at the back of the room and sat down. "It's not good for us to sue Zheng Yan together with Mr. Wen. It's just a troublesome thing for nothing. Mr. Wen wants to eradicate the future troubles, so let him do it himself. It's not righteous to help him. Jie Jinlan's brother, there is no need to go all the way to Hei with him."

"Eunuch is right." Li Quan nodded and said with a smile, "Before, my subordinates were worried that Eunuch and Mr. Wen would get too close, and one day they would be dragged down for no reason. Now it seems that Jiang is still old and spicy, The father-in-law is far more sophisticated and considerate than his subordinates."

"Hmph." Wang Chengen twitched the corners of his mouth, and did not respond to Li Quan's compliment, but continued to say: "If you want to talk about this Zheng Yan, no matter what he used to be, he is just a commoner now, but Mr. Wen said nothing. Let alone joining the cabinet, he can't even become an official. How much trouble can he cause? This time Mr. Wen was also instigated, and he was determined to put him in a place of eternal doom. This kind of thing that does not accumulate virtue, Why do you have to do this?"

"Instigating?" Li Quan stopped writing, thought for a while, and showed doubts, "Grandpa is saying that Mr. Wu...?"

"Who else but him?" Wang Chengen sneered, grabbed two walnuts and twirled them in his hands, making rattling rubbing sounds.

Li Quan frowned slightly: "It's strange for you to say, I heard that Wu Zongda, Mr. Wu is Zheng Xing's clan uncle, and the relationship between uncle and nephew is already very close. Why did Mr. Wu want to kill him instead?"

"Hey, it's not my uncle." Wang Chengen waved his hands and said, "Zheng Fu's mother died early, and Master Wu's cousin is Zheng Fu's stepmother."

"Oh... so it's such a relationship. But no matter what, they should be regarded as relatives. Why do they have such deep hatred."

Wang Chengen raised his eyebrows. "Do you know what are the crimes that Zheng Fu fell into Mr. Wen's hands?"

"I don't know."

"You will understand after reading the scriptures." Wang Chengen paused every word, and said mysteriously, "The first crime is the stick and the mother."

"So that's how it is." Li Quan opened his mouth, with a look of sudden realization, "No wonder, no wonder... Father-in-law is really well-informed and has a clear mind."

A trace of complacency flashed across Wang Chengen's eyes, and he leaned on the back of the chair and lazily moved the back of his neck: "Besides, I have heard people say that in the early years when a student was recommended, Zheng Xun once refuted Mr. Wu's face and refused to recommend him. The son of Mr. Wu, the two have formed a relationship since then. I just don’t know if it’s true or not.”

"In that case, it's not surprising that Mr. Wu hates Zheng Yan. It's just that Mr. Wen is so shrewd, how can he be willing to be used by him?"

"It's not about Wen Zhenmeng first." Wang Chengen said, stopping the movement of his hands.As soon as the crunching walnuts stopped, the sudden silence was very unaccustomed. "As the saying goes, flies don't bite seamless eggs. If Mr. Wen hadn't extinguished the embers in his heart, how could he be provoked for nothing?"

Li Quan smiled and flattered Wang Chengen a few words, then picked up the pen again, lowered his head, thinking of something, his smile gradually subsided, and hid in the deepest part of that fair face.

two

After embarking on the journey back to Beijing, Chongzhen never brought up the subject of the imperial mausoleum, Fengyang, or the imperial court.Just as the events of the past few days never really happened, what the two of them talked about is far from the scenery and allusions they passed by, and the most recent is only the accommodation and meals tonight. , The road ahead is long, and I have never decided where to go. The whole of this trip is just the journey itself.In the eyes of passers-by, these two are just ordinary young sons, they travel together and travel together.Xizhao could see that Chongzhen was very lingering with such gazes.Every time he heard such ordinary titles as son and official, he seemed to be a real son, with a smile like a child's, without any disturbance of state affairs.And when the coachman talked about where to stay tonight and arrived in the capital in a few days, Chongzhen suddenly felt a layer of tiredness, consciously or unconsciously, out of sight of others, sighed silently.

"You two officials, you can already see Baoding City in front of you!" the coachman shouted from outside the curtain, with a hint of excitement in his words.

"Okay." Xi Zhao responded, and turned to Chongzhen, "My lord, the villain has the final say, and today happens to be the opening day of Baoding Night Market. Do you want to drink Liuji's haggis soup?"

"Very good." Chongzhen smiled and nodded.Xi Zhao also smiled, but behind the smiles of the two of them, there was a trace of loss that could not be ignored.The last time I came to Baoding was the first day I left the capital, and now I have returned to Baoding Mansion, which means that there is only one day left for the two of them to escape from the palace.Xizhao knew the helplessness in the emperor's heart, and Xizhao herself did not want to return to the palace any more than Chongzhen.If it was said that she was still greedy for the comfort and money in the palace before, now, there is almost no other reason for Xizhao to stay in the palace, except for the emperor beside her.If I left, I don't know if there is anyone who can accompany the emperor wholeheartedly; if I don't call this "Master", I don't know if the emperor will be tightly bound by the curse of the lonely family and can no longer breathe.Although every time this thought arises in her mind, Xi Zhao feels that this is too self-righteous—there are hundreds of eunuchs and concubines in the palace, how can the emperor still have no one who can talk to him?But all the while, it was still difficult to erase such imaginings, unable to let go, reluctant to let go, and tied the reins firmly to the emperor with his own hands.

Besides the emperor, there was one person that Xi Zhao could not let go of, of course——that was the girl who made her heart shattered the night before leaving the palace.

Since the sloppy parting that night, Xizhao always avoided thinking about everything related to her, not thinking about that lovely and pitiful figure, not thinking about that determined look in her eyes.But he himself understood very well, if he really didn't care, why should he avoid it.It was right not to hinder her decision, Xi Zhao affirmed this point over and over again with reason, but how could reason be able to control the situation of emotion.He was going back to the palace tomorrow, and no matter what he said after returning to the palace, he had to give her an explanation.And Xi Zhao was afraid of facing the difficult choice too early, and wanted to go back early to see how she was doing, but there were still people bullying her.Xi Zhao felt that she had never been so contradictory about anything before, and she only hoped that after returning to the palace, this understanding girl would also forgive her feelings this time, and don't force herself to waver between emotion and reason again. Suffering.

"You are so quiet today, but you are not feeling well?"

The night falls quietly, and the lights of the night market are only at this time, it is particularly warm and bright.Xizhao followed Chongzhen, and stopped among the vendors in the night market. Suddenly hearing the emperor's question, she realized that she had been thinking about something on her mind and hadn't spoken for a long time.

"No, thank you for your concern. I'm probably just a little tired. It's okay." Xi Zhao explained.

"Oh?" Chongzhen stopped, showing concern, "Then why not go back to the inn to rest today."

"No, no, it's so easy to have such a bustling market, Dexiu also wants to go shopping again." Xi Zhao quickly waved his hands and declined.Today is the last night of this trip, how can I spoil the emperor's interest just because of myself.

"Hmm...that's fine." Chongzhen hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Tell me when you want to go back."

"Yes."

"Peach!"

Just when Xizhao opened his mouth to answer, a shout came from nowhere, the voice was not loud, but it pierced directly from Xizhao's ear to his heart in an instant.He raised his head suddenly and looked around hastily.Chongzhen was a little puzzled, but he didn't need to think about it, and he got a general idea.He smiled lightly, didn't say much, turned around and walked a few steps, and went to the booth in front to have a look.Xi Zhao searched for a long time, but couldn't find who the caller was, a bit discouraged, and felt a bit ridiculous.Bi Tao must be in the palace right now, maybe she has already rested, so how could she appear in this night market in Baoding.After all, Bitao is just an ordinary name that can be seen everywhere, or maybe I heard it wrong, and what people call it is not the word Bitao at all.Xizhao thought about it, sighed lightly, cheered up and walked to Chongzhen's side, and watched around the stall with the emperor.

The stalls are filled with stationery decorations, such as bamboo pen holders, bluestone paperweights, and jade seals that have not yet been engraved.Xi Zhao looked at everything one by one, and suddenly found a woman's hairpin, lying quietly in the corner of the stall, unremarkable, but caught Xi Zhao's eyes.Xizhao took a closer look, and saw that the hairpin was made of silver, with some simple decorations carved on it. The head of the hairpin was inlaid with two small flowers carved from jasper. Although it was not as exquisite and luxurious as those worn by ladies in the palace, it was also elegant and simple. , don't have a charm.Xizhao picked up the hairpin, looked at it again and again, and refused to let go for a long time.Seeing this, the stall owner stepped forward and greeted with a smile: "Which girl do you want to give it to, young master? This hairpin is most suitable for young women. If you want it, young master, I can sell it to you at a low price."

Xi Zhao blushed slightly, and hurriedly put down the hairpin, but she couldn't bear to leave her eyes. She just stared at it tightly and asked again: "Excuse me, the stall owner... what kind of flower is carved on the head of the hairpin?"

"This hairpin was made by a friend of ours, and I'll sell it for him, and I don't know what kind of flower he carved." The stall owner smiled innocently, and took a closer look, "In my opinion, this jasper carving looks like a peach blossom. "

"Peach Blossom..." Xi Zhao bit her lip and said again, "This hairpin... how do you sell it?"

"Hehe, this hairpin was supposed to be sold for three taels of silver, but if you see the young master's face is kind, let's just sell it for two taels of silver, how about it?"

"..."

"it is good."

Before Xizhao could answer, someone beside him answered first.Xizhao turned his head to look, only to see Chongzhen smiled slightly, took out the silver from his arms and handed it to the stall owner, then picked up the hairpin, looked back and forth, and handed it to Xizhao: "This hairpin is for the one who once Have you ever taken care of your Bi Tao?"

Xizhao was startled, his face turned red like a ripe tomato, and his tongue became knotted all of a sudden, "Mr, how does your lord know?"

Chongzhen smiled again, with a rare mischievous look in his eyes. "Guess." After saying that, without waiting for Xizhao's answer, he patted Xizhao's shoulder and continued walking forward.