Linque

The ninth day, Luyuan.

Chu Heng got up late in the morning, and only set off from Zhenbo Bieyuan near Sishi, and it was almost upright when he arrived at Luyuan.

Chu Yan was very surprised to see him.Yesterday they met at Wangshiju teahouse, had lunch together, and Chu Heng went back to Yuyuan. When they parted, they said that His Majesty would come to Luyuan to see the two of them again in two days. I didn’t want to come here the next morning. .

Chu Yan welcomed him in with a smile on his face, and before he had taken two steps, he suddenly remembered something, his eyes moved slightly, he glanced behind Chu Heng, and said curiously: "Brother,...Brother Gu didn't come with you ?"

"He." Speaking of Ling Ye, Chu Heng laughed instantly, "He committed a crime and was punished at home."

The speaker didn't mean it, but the listener's heart skipped a beat.During the meal yesterday, Chu Yan sat across from him, and he could see very clearly that his brother and the "surnamed Gu" had a very close relationship, and the intimacy between the two was naturally revealed in every move. Chu Yan felt the difference at that time. All afternoon, the more I thought about it, the more something went wrong.

Now Chu Yan doesn't care about whether the "surname Gu" will be punished or not. What he cares about is that his elder brother just said... "home", with a friendly and familiar tone, as if it is his own home.But Chu Heng's "home" in the imperial capital, even if it's not Zhongpinghou's mansion, should be Lishan Luyuan, so where is this so-called "home"? "Gu's" family?

Chu Yan thought for a while, then tentatively asked: "Punishment? Brother Gu, he was punished by His Majesty? Are you all right? Brother just came back from a visit at his house?"

Speaking of this, Chu Heng immediately laughed, shook his head, and said in a brisk tone: "No, it's not that serious, I won't visit him, let him shut the door and reflect on his mistakes."

When he was talking, Chu Yan observed his complexion without any trace. He looked lazy, and there was an indescribable lingering taste in the corners of his eyebrows and eyes. Using an inappropriate word, it seemed that thousands of spring colors were in the eyebrows. Chu Yan's heart skipped a beat.

While talking, Ye Shuli walked in from the outside, saw Chu Heng, and was immediately happy: "Senior brother? When did you come back? It's just right, change into riding clothes, and go hunting together in Shouyun Mountain. My brother is also going. I came here to call you, hurry up."

The order of Lishan's seniors and brothers is very distinctive. At first, they were called seniors and juniors first, but this is not static. Ye Shuli is the second disciple of Lishan's generation after Ji Wuyue, and the second one to stand in the Fuyao Pavilion. The one who came out was the one who was strong from the Martial Dao Sect, and from then on everyone in Lishan would call him "Second Senior Brother".Originally, "Shanhua" Chu Heng was no exception, but he and Ye Shuli grew up together, and they were used to calling him. In private, Ye Shuli would still call him "senior brother".

The day before yesterday, when Chu Yan heard Ye Shuli call him Chu Heng for the first time, he was very surprised, but only after listening to the explanation did he realize.

Hearing the words, Chu Heng looked up at the sun outside, and said puzzledly: "Hunting? It will be noon in half an hour. Besides, isn't Shouyun Mountain famous for its flowers? Why do you go there to hunt and catch rabbits?"

Ye Shuli shrugged, and said with a smile, "Then who knows how they decided."

Chu Heng got up to change clothes as he said, and said casually: "You played polo yesterday, and you hunted again today. It's a very leisurely day. Who made the game this time?"

Ye Shuli said, "Han Chengmiao."

"..." Chu Heng stopped walking, raised his eyebrows, and turned around to ask, "Who?"

His tone was not kind, and Chu Yan who was walking beside him also heard it, and asked suspiciously: "Brother, what's the matter?" Is there something wrong with the Korean prince?

Chu Heng gritted his teeth lightly, and smiled inexplicably.Today, the Eldest Princess held a flower viewing feast at the Shouyun Mountain Private Villa. Mu Xiyun was invited to go and brought Chu Xin along.No wonder he wanted to gather rounds to go hunting, and even "called" Chu Yan to go with him.

"Why don't you go to Chongshan for hunting? What's on Shouyun Mountain? You can't catch rabbits. Why don't you go drink the northwest wind at noon?" Chu Heng went out, glanced at Han Chengmiao up and down, and asked bluntly.

Along with Han Chengmiao were Xiao Gaomin, the son of Marquis of Yong'an, and Su Lang from Yingguo's mansion. They were a little surprised to see Chu Heng suddenly.The younger brother doesn't know the twists and turns, but the older brother knows it very well.

Su Lang laughed, his eyes flicked over Han Chengmiao, who was slightly stiff, and he was very loyal to smooth things over for his good brother: "It's not the same wherever you go this season, but it's the New Year's Eve when you have nothing to do and come out to have fun. The scenery on Yunshan Mountain is good, you can’t hit anything, and it’s not bad to run a horse.”

Xiao Gaomin said casually: "I heard that Princess Eldest is holding a flower banquet in Shouyun Villa today. If you don't catch anything, just go there and grab a meal."

Han Chengmiao coughed lightly.

What if I didn't catch it?Definitely can't catch it.

Still hunting?This is clearly the drunkard's intention not to drink, but to hunt "peach blossoms", right?

Chu Heng glanced at Han Chengmiao, didn't say anything, just swung his whip and slapped the horse and left.

Chu Yan doesn't quite know what's going on between his brother and the Korean prince?It didn't look like there was a real holiday, otherwise my brother wouldn't have been invited to go hunting, but it always felt like he was picking on something.

Chu Yan was wondering, when Han Chengmiao suddenly came over on his horse and said to him, "Let's go."

"Ah?" Chu Yan recovered, "Okay."

A group of people galloped in the direction of Shouyun Mountain.

At that time in the villa, Mu Xiyun and Chu Xin happened to meet Mrs. Wen Xinhou, Mrs. Lin, her eldest daughter Shen Dai, and several other wives and young ladies from aristocratic families, chatting together.

After greeting each other, Mrs. Lin introduced Shen Dai: "This is the little girl Shen Dai."

Shen Dai stepped forward to salute, and looked at Chu Xin who was beside Mu Xiyun unobtrusively from the corner of her eyes.

Although she just came to the imperial capital not long ago, after more than a dozen banquets, the noble ladies from all the big families recognized her face well, but this was the first time she saw her.

Shen Dai looked at her calmly, and had to say that this little-known second young lady of the Chu family really had an excellent color, especially her eyebrows and eyes, all of which were beautiful and charming. pleasing to the eye.

Looking at this face, Shen Dai couldn't help thinking of another person, and subconsciously clenched her handkerchief tightly.

The Yanhe Shen family and Lishan didn't have a deep friendship, but they belonged to a family of sixteen generations, so they had to exchange pleasantries when they met.

Mu Xiyun praised Shen Dai a few words, but before she took the initiative to introduce Chu Xin beside her, Mrs. Lin opened her mouth first: "The girl next to Mrs. Mu looks familiar to me, she is the second lady of Zhong Pinghou's mansion, right?" ?”

Chu Xin quickly responded, and saluted and greeted dignifiedly.

Mrs. Lin said "Okay", and then said: "Why did you only see you, why didn't your mother and your sister-in-law disappear? Could it be that they didn't come, and you are the only one here?"

Chu Xin froze when she heard the words, and pursed her lips. She could hear the sting in Lin's words, but she couldn't answer the words no matter what, she just lowered her head slightly.

The smile on Mu Xiyun's face faded by two points, and she squeezed Chu Xin's hand under the cover of her sleeve, and said, "I don't know. As an aunt, I haven't seen girl Xin for quite a while, and I miss her so much. The day before yesterday, I took their siblings to stay at home. Mrs. Lin knows that I only have a kid under my knees, but I really like my daughter. Today is just in time for the eldest princess to invite me. All the wives are bringing their daughters. Come on, me, I can only talk to Zhong Pinghou's mansion and bring this new 'daughter' out for everyone to see." ①

As soon as these words came out, the smile on Lin's face froze for a moment. I only heard that Chu Heng's biological mother had an old relationship with Lishan, but I didn't think that this "old" would make Mu Xiyun sisters worthy? "Aunt" was called out in public, which clearly means that Lishan is not only Chu Heng's teacher, but also his mother clan.

The wives didn't know why Mrs. Lin said this, so they hurriedly smoothed things over.

One of them said: "We were talking about this Zhuangzi just now. It is so well built by the mountains and rivers. Does Mrs. Mu know its origin?"

Mu Xiyun also skipped the unpleasant remarks just now, and said with a smile: "I only heard that this was awarded to the eldest princess by the former emperor, but I don't know about the rest."

The man lowered his voice and said, "Let Sister Lin talk about it."

Lin took over the words and said: "It's nothing. My family used to study history, so I know a little bit. The plum blossoms all over the mountains and plains outside the village are the most beautiful scenery in the imperial capital in winter. Later generations only know the beauty of Shouyun Mountain, but they don't know what lies behind it. It's an affair."

Her tone was slightly contemptuous, she paused at this point, looked across Mu Xiyun's face, turned to Shen Dai and said: "Girls, it's better not to listen, so as not to damage your ears, you and Miss Chu Go for a stroll in Zhuangzi, be careful, don't get lost, and please greet Princess Yangjia."

Shen Dai resigned according to her words, and went with Chu Xin and the others.

Seeing them walking away, Lin continued: "It is said that all the varieties of plum blossoms in Dayin Jiuzhou can be found in this village. This is not something that ordinary nobles can afford. This Zhuangzi is quite old, is Your Majesty’s great-grandfather was also built by Emperor Ping for his sweetheart, and it is said that every pavilion, every pavilion, every flower and every tree was carefully inspected by Emperor Ping himself, that’s why it is so good, the scenery in the village has been unbeatable for a hundred years.”

"The surname of Emperor Ping's sweetheart is 'Mei', and people love plums very much. The emperor waved his hands to build this plum blossom village for the joy of his sweetheart. This is what we see today."

This matter was novel, and as soon as Lin's words fell, several wives immediately discussed it. One of them was familiar with the history of the country, and asked suspiciously: "Mei? Sister Lin, did you remember wrongly? I haven't heard of any of the concubines of Emperor Ping. Is it Mei?"

Mrs. Lin smiled slightly, took a look at Mu Xiyun, and slowly replied: "Because this Mrs. Mei is a man, more bluntly speaking, he is a male favourite, and of course he is not worthy to be included in the official history of concubines. , if it’s not all in place, there’s him.”

"The family presided over the revision of palace history, so I know a little about these old things. Speaking of which, there is a reason why this Mei family man did not keep his name. The body monopolized the Sacred Heart, interfered with the harem, and of course ended badly in the end, and died on the road to exile at a young age. Such a Zhuangzi was left behind, but his name was also lost. In other words, it is all a cocoon, if a person does not Self-knowledge, wishful thinking beyond one's own strength, that is nothing more than adding some jokes for future generations."

After she finished speaking, the wives sighed unceasingly. Mrs. Lin looked at Mu Xiyun, smiled slightly, and asked, "Mrs. Mu, what do you think about this?"

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① "Mrs. Mu" and "Mrs. Lin": There is no husband's surname in the article, and it is more convenient to address them directly with their real surnames, so as not to cause confusion.In fact, there are also ancient times, such as Mrs. Wang in "A Dream of Red Mansions", and Wang Zhaoxuan's wife in "Jin Ping Mei" is also called Mrs. Lin.In addition, "Mrs." also refers to a kind of royal title, Mrs. Gaoming.

②Han Chengmiao likes his younger sister, which was mentioned in the previous article, and here is a brief mention, so the text will not have too much pen and ink to write.Hua knew about this, but her younger brother didn't know about it yet.