Linque

On the morning of the twenty-fourth day of the first lunar month, after seeing off Mu Xiyun and Ye Shuli, Chu Heng returned to Jiuchongque.

After going to the Hall of Martial Heroes to sell the holiday, and receiving the talisman on duty in front of the imperial court, Chu Heng went to Jingzhang Palace.Presumably it was because of the accompanying sacrifice at the Taimiao years ago and because Mu Xiyun was in Beijing during this time, people inside and outside the palace knew that there was a strong support behind the imperial servant Mo, and they could no longer be underestimated as before. Chu Heng greeted more people.

It was early noon when we arrived at Jingcheng Hall, Chu Heng went into the inner study, and saw Su Lang was there, talking to Ling Ye.

So Chu Heng stepped forward to salute and greet him.

Ling Ye leaned on the couch under the Nanming window, raised his eyes and glanced at him, and said in a flat tone: "Forgive me, give me a seat, I have something to ask you later."

Chu Heng said yes, and sat down on the round stool next to Su Lang.

After listening for a while, Su Lang should be chatting with the emperor about Yinghai Su's lineage, he has been here for a while, and the time of chatting and laughing came to an end after a few words.

At the end, the emperor said: "I will let you take a few days off. You don't have to run back and forth to the palace. Go home and spend more time with your father. After the first lunar month, he will leave for the northwest. This trip will not last for a year or two." Impossible to come back."

Su Lang Shane should be.

Duke Ying Su Que went to Jingqing Erzhou to inspect Fujun and take over the affairs of Yujiang. After the matter was decided at the [-]th court meeting of the first lunar month, the decree was issued last night, and the dust has settled.

Duke Ying Su Que is a pure minister with high merit and high prestige. He is not as good at writing in martial arts as old Duke Zhen Guo. He is the only one who can't guarantee the assistant examiner.There are only so many places for masters, assistants and examiners. There are too many monks, and families of all sizes are racking their brains to figure out how to get more of the pie.Taking advantage of Yu Jiang's matter to send Ying Guogong away in a reasonable manner, others can compete for the vacant deputy examiner seat.

Most of the courtiers in the court thought this way. The eve of the storm was so calm that no one saw the undercurrent quietly gathering underneath—the emperor sent his thighs out at this time, not for nothing. One place.

Chu Heng glanced sideways at Su Lang. There are two legitimate sons under Duke Ying's knees. The eldest son Su Zhao is not in good health.And Su Lang is in the Tianzi Guard Camp, under the eyes of the emperor. He came to the imperial capital when he was six or seven years old.

After reporting the matter, Su Lang retreated and left. When his figure disappeared outside the palace gate, Ling Ye leaned over and grabbed Chu Heng's hand and pulled him to the couch. He hugged him without saying anything, and kissed him twice.

Chu Heng leaned in his arms, raised his eyebrows and said, "Your Majesty asked this question?"

"That depends on who you are asking. Is this the way to ask Shanhua?" Ling Ye laughed and said, "Didn't you have lunch outside? Let's go, let's go back to Ming Cheng Palace."

Speaking of pulling Chu Heng up, the two of them went out from the back door of the study and walked towards Mingcheng Hall without asking the maids to drive them around.

In the early spring, the noon sun is gentle and warm, and people only feel warm when it shines on people. This path leads to the emperor's bedroom, and there are very few palace people coming and going.There are evergreen trees planted on both sides of the trail, which are symmetrical in pairs and trimmed very neatly.

"Let Si Yuan come over with a booklet of flowers and trees later on. Let's pick and choose what flowers and plants to plant. Forget about the royal road outside. These paths leading to the palace can always be decorated, so as not to be so monotonous and boring."

"Huh?" Chu Heng followed Ling Ye's gaze, looked sideways at him, and said with a smile, "Jiu Chongque doesn't want to pay attention to grandeur, you have been walking this road for many years, why did you suddenly think about it today?" Wake up and dress up?"

Their pace was very slow, slowly moving forward in the sky, Ling Ye took Chu Heng's hand, while gently scratching his palm, while appreciating the surrounding scenery that he had never paid attention to before, he raised his eyebrows and said: " Living with you, this is not just Jiuchong Que. Of course, I have to take good care of it in my own home. I want to pick every flower and tree now, tidy up this path, plant some flowers, plants and bamboo trees, and wait until the summer is full of emerald trees. Walking in it is refreshing and cool, and it is more comfortable than driving the imperial path."

Chu Heng thought for a while, and said: "If we go in summer, besides the flower trees, we will plant a few plants of Chiliflower and tuberose along the road, so as to drive away mosquitoes."

While walking and discussing, after a while, Ling Ye shook his head and changed his mind: "In summer, we will move to live in the Yuhua Palace on Mission Hills Lake. It is surrounded by water and surrounded by pagoda trees and willows. It is the coolest place. No matter how well-decorated the summer scenery here is, I don’t go away often, or I’d better plant some ginkgo and red maple? When I come back to live in autumn, I’ll have the scenery along the way.”

……

Walking forward comfortably and leisurely, they arrived at Mingcheng Palace not long after. Ling Ye asked people to go to Yuzheng Palace to bring Qingyan to eat roasted venison for lunch.

They hunted the deer in Shanglinyuan yesterday afternoon. The blood released was soaked in deer blood wine, and the fresh venison was marinated to taste. They only waited for Chu Heng to come back at noon to roast together.

Set up an oven outside and set up a barbed wire fence to taste the wine. Qingyan arrived, and as soon as he was carried from the car to the ground, Dabai Tuanzi stepped over the threshold and trotted over. He first called Ling Ye "Father Emperor" and then ran In Chu Heng's arms, he stared at Chu Heng's face with wide eyes without blinking. After a while, Tuanzi looked at Ling Ye suspiciously: "Where are there peas like dewdrops, there is nothing..."

Tuanzi is at the age where he wants to see everything, and he is also very curious about chickenpox. Chu Heng couldn't help laughing, and pinched his small round face, "It's all good, why are there still? Wouldn't it be good for you to see that?" Want to pass it to you?"

"Hmm..." Tuanzi touched his face, tilted his head and asked, "Will Ayan grow dewdrops in the future?"

This is not a funny thing, Chu Heng couldn't laugh or cry, thought for a while, and replied: "It's not good to say whether it will grow or not, but you can't touch the acne, otherwise it will stay on your face forever, just like this—" As he spoke, he dipped a drop of deer blood wine into Dabai Tuanzi's nose and asked the maid to show him a mirror.

Qing Yan held the gilt mirror, looked at the red spot on the tip of his nose with wide eyes, reached out and touched it tentatively, shook his head after a while and put the mirror back into the palace lady's arms, and said childishly: " It's not fun, Ayan still doesn't want Doudou."

Chu Heng rubbed his head and chuckled lightly.

The Dabai Duanzi has arrived, everyone is here, and the venison is ready to be grilled.

Ling Ye asked the waiter to bring a cup of sugar-steamed crispy cheese to the dumpling, and he raised his hand to pour wine into Chu Heng's glass.

But Chu Heng blocked his wrist, took a look at the wine glass in his palm, then glanced at the wine in the jug, shook his head and said: "This jadeite bucket was picked up just now, and the color of the bucket is too dark to match it. The color of the wine is so bright, I remember there is a set of white jade cups with lotus leaf mouths, last time I used them to pour plum blossom wine, so let’s use that one, it’s pretty.”

"White jade with vermilion wine?" Ling Ye thought of something, smiled slightly, nodded and said yes, and called the servant to get it.

The marinated fresh and tender venison has a rouge-like color. Add a few drops of vegetable oil and put it on the wire mesh. It will emit a tempting aroma after a short time under the charcoal fire. Dip it in the juice dish, not to mention how delicious it is.

It took more than half an hour to eat this meal of roast venison, and it was not until almost noon that the work was called off.Take a walk in the garden of Mingcheng Hall, send Dabai Duanzi to the side hall, and then go back to the dormitory to take a nap.

The sun was just right at this moment, warm but not dazzling, Chu Heng lazily squinted his eyes and stretched his waist, saying that he didn't want to go to the bed in the inner room, so he basked in the sun intermittently outside.Ling Ye didn't refute, and asked the servants to bring the wide couch, and put it in the place where the sky was brightest. The sleeping lady took a box and put it on the table next to the couch. Ling Ye nodded, waved away the crowd, and said to Chu Heng: "Come here, let me undress you."

In broad daylight, Chu Heng didn't doubt that he was there, stood in front of Ling Ye and stretched out his hands. Ling Ye untied his clothes, took off his outer robe and inner shirt, and sat down on the side of the couch with only one layer of inner clothes left. With her hands still on his shoulders, she gently stroked his earlobes and asked, "White jade filled with vermilion wine, does it look good?"

"Huh?" Chu Heng raised his eyes, was a little puzzled when he heard that, nodded and said, "It's pretty."

Ling Ye raised the corners of his lips and said in a low voice, "I think it looks good too."

"What?..." Chu Heng didn't hear clearly, but before he finished speaking, Ling Ye put some strength on the hand on his shoulder, pushed him down on the couch, and lifted the curtain on the bedside with the other hand. From the box, they took out a pair of bracelets and ear clips. The red blood jade had a very good water head. Under the reflection of the sky, the color was a little brighter than the stag blood wine they drank at lunch just now.

Chu Heng knows this thing too well, it was a gift given to Ling Ye when Jing Xueli met, especially the pair of men's blood jade ear clips, which Chu Heng once wore under Ling Ye's hard work Once, when I woke up the next day, I locked the thing and threw it into the warehouse, never wanting to see it again. ①

Who would have guessed that Ling Ye would find out again today.

In Chu Heng's heart, the alarm sounded instantly, and he raised his arms to cover his chest and was about to step back, with a firm tone: "Don't even think about it! You can't say anything about this!"

Ling Ye grabbed his hand to stop him from retreating, picked up a blood jade bracelet and put it on Chu Heng's wrist, and said with a smile: "I won't wear it there, this time it's serious..." He picked up a blood jade bracelet and put it on Chu Heng's wrist. The jade pendant compared to Chu Heng's fair earlobe, "White jade filled with vermilion wine...it's so beautiful."

Some things were familiar at first, Chu Heng blushed, but he didn't push away, allowing Ling Ye to put the pair of pendants on his ears, and just turned his face away from looking at him.

Ling Ye stared intently.

There are good things in the night, and there are good things in the daytime, maybe it's the fault of the cup of deer blood wine, or it's the unbearable feeling of not having a skin-to-skin contact for a few days, but when the love is so strong, you can't help yourself, Ling Ye fixed his eyes on the earlobe, Hands stretched in from Chu Heng's neckline, stroking down inch by inch along the spine, and the maids in the outer room closed the door and retreated out of the hall in unison.

Chu Heng knelt on the couch, wrapping his arms around Ling Ye's neck. The pair of blood jade bracelets on both wrists inadvertently touched each other, and with a crisp sound, he bit Ling Ye's shoulder.

The pair of blood jade pendants swayed and swayed on the white earlobes following the movements of the owner, and under the reflection of the sky, they were really dazzlingly red.

……

Some people in the world are happy while others are sad. This day is the twenty-fourth day of the first lunar month. The Empress Dowager Zhong stood on the nine-fold tower to see off her son. All the princes and princes of the four directions, including King Jing, left the imperial capital and went to the towns.

This year's festival has passed so peacefully. The shock caused by the emperor's shadow guard taking over Qiannuolou's lair a few years ago seems to have gradually been forgotten with the end of this year's festival. With extremely high fighting spirit, he devoted himself to the competition of Enke examiner.

On the twenty-fifth day of the same day, there will be a grand court meeting in the Xuanzheng Hall.

The emperor was annoyed by the quarrels of the ministers of several parties who disagreed with each other in the court, and ordered them to go back to draw up their own regulations, but on the [-]th day, it stopped a lot.

However, it was only a few days of silence. On the second day of February, when the dragon raised its head, Duke Ying Su Que left the capital to govern the two prefectures of Jingqing in the Northwest. Yulan.

On the fifth day of the second lunar month, there was a grand court again, and I thought the chief examiner would be able to confirm this, but this time, it turned out that the people who bothered me were civil and military officials.

On the fifth day of the lunar new year, the emperor rested.

On the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, at the Hall of Xuanzheng, Han Zhuo, the imperial historian, raised his head and asked for His Majesty's will.The emperor on the throne was silent for a while, the twelve crowns blocked the face of the sky, the courtiers couldn't see His Majesty's expression clearly, they only knew that he was silent for a while, opened his golden mouth, and said two words: "Let's discuss again."

Full of uproar.

The emperor has always been decisive in dealing with affairs, and it is the first time he has hesitated to make up his mind like this. Whether it is the pure officials headed by Han Zhuo, the Yan Party led by Prime Minister Yan, or the aristocratic family represented by Marquis Wenxin and Shen Wende, they are more or less different. Some panic.

Finally, on February [-]th, Yan Xiang seemed to be the first to be unable to hold back, and went to the Hall of Jingcheng to see the emperor.

Yan Xiang stayed in the Jingcheng Hall for an hour, and no one knew what he said, but Chunchen and the aristocratic family were not far behind. Han Zhuo and Shen Wende also went to meet Sheng on the same day.

The spontaneous meeting of several parties seems to have played a role in the emperor's decision.

Two days later, on the fourteenth day of the second lunar month, Jingzhang Palace issued a decree to the Shangshutai, promoting Shangshu to order Yan Mao to be the chief examiner of Enke, and he will be in charge of all matters.

As soon as the edict came out, the ruling and opposition parties were stunned.

Although Yan Xiang has a high voice in the court, the discord between the emperor and Yan Xiang is well known throughout the court. With Yan Xiang's status and power, it is easy to get a deputy examiner, but the master, even if Han Zhuo is inappropriate, it is still possible. And Shen Wende, everyone in the literary world, why is it Yan Mao's turn?

What's more, people even suspect that His Majesty was threatened by some means by Yan Mao, right?Or do it the other way around, combined with His Majesty's uncharacteristic hesitation before, perhaps to use this as a trick for Yan Mao?

But no matter what the reason behind it is, once the imperial decree is made, there will be no turning around——

Yan Mao is the chief examiner of Enke, so it was decided.

And there's no need to fight—

The next day, February [-]th, is the day to welcome the gods and worship ancestors after the beginning of spring this year.

In the twinkling of an eye, it was February [-]th, Ling Qi, the leader of the Shadow Guard of the Son of Heaven, was still investigating the case in Gyeongju, but Chu Heng still went out to the palace in the afternoon. , I picked a few of the most outstanding articles from them, and planned to pick a time to meet the real person.

The place is in the backyard of the Lishan Wangshiju teahouse, the teahouse is in the outer city, and passing the Lishan Bookstore on the way, Chu Heng recalled that Ling Ye had been in a low mood a few days ago, thought about it, and told the driving Tianzi Yingwei to turn back to the palace. It's time to pick up a few casual books, and bring them back to relieve Ling Ye's boredom, so that he can relax.

The shadow guard nodded in response.

Among the people to meet in Wangshiju this time was Wu Wubu, who was a bookmaker and speculator. When Chu Heng saw the real person, he was full of enthusiasm as he had imagined.

However, he also knows how to advance and retreat, understands etiquette and righteousness, although he needs to be sharpened, he is really a talent.

Wu didn't know that he was very eloquent, thoughtful and eloquent, and he had been advocating for two minutes after chatting with a few students.

Chu Heng took their travel papers and planned to go to Luyuan to meet Qi Feng in person. This time Enke thought that there would be changes. It is okay for these students to get a ranking in the exam, but it is hard to say if they will be awarded officials later. Li Shan is willing to take care of him if he has the ability.

When Luyuan was approaching Youshi, the sun was setting, Chu Heng entered the door, and casually asked a guard, "Where is Uncle Qi?"

When the guard saw that it was Chu Heng, his expression changed a few times inexplicably, and his eyes finally froze into faint admiration, and he stretched out his finger in a direction.

He stared at Chu Heng, his expression was too tangled, Chu Heng was a little puzzled, but the sun was getting late, and he wanted to go back to the palace later, so he walked towards the direction pointed by the guards without asking any further questions.

Unexpectedly, along the way, the people he met head-on were all like the guard, staring at him hesitantly, their eyes revealing admiration and admiration, as if they were looking at a warrior, Chu Heng didn't understand why.

This doubt was answered when he saw Qi Feng. At that time, Qi Feng was sitting on a recliner under the flower corridor, holding a book in his hand, laughing while reading.

Chu Heng called "Master Uncle", Qi Feng poked his head and saw that it was him, put the book aside, and said with a smile: "Ah Yue is here."

Chu Heng responded, and handed the selected travel paper to Qi Feng. After finishing the important matter, he drank a cup of tea and was about to go back, but Qi Feng also looked at him with a different teasing expression than usual, and couldn't help but wonder. Said: "Uncle, what's wrong with me? Why do you look at me so strangely today, just outside..."

Qi Feng laughed, and patted Chu Heng on the shoulder twice, "I have to ask you, your young people's thoughts are really strange..."

"Ask me?" Chu Heng was even more confused.

Seeing that he seemed really puzzled, Qi Feng let out a "huh" and handed him the scroll in his hand, "Isn't this the idea of ​​you and Shuli? I thought of such a way so that the imperial capital will not doubt you in the future." Identity, although a little absurd, is indeed quite useful. Except for a few people who know the inside story, even our own people believe it. Didn’t you see it when you came? Those people outside Luyuan think you are now He is the No. [-] warrior of our Lishan Mountain, who dares to fight with..."

What Qi Feng said behind, Chu Heng didn't hear at all. He held the thin book in one hand, his eyes were like a torch, and the fingertips pressing the desk turned slightly white due to the force. With a "crack", the boxwood desk Under his finger, it fell apart and collapsed, and the teapot on it was pulled by an invisible force, hanging still under his palm, like the last remaining hope.

"This book is selling very well at the bookstore, especially yesterday at the Huachao Festival..." Qi Feng was in the middle of speaking, and was startled when he heard the sound. When he looked up, his Dongjun's face turned green.

Chu Heng stared at this shoddy script. He knew the two protagonists, but he "couldn't understand" them together.

One of them, surnamed Chu, is the "mountain flower" on the top of the mountain. It is not mentioned in the name book, but because the Chushan flower was born on August [-], the day of the year when the moon is the roundest, it has a nickname "A Yue".

He is also very familiar with the other one. To be precise, in the entire Dayin Kyushu, except for the juvenile children, no one knows this one. He also didn't write his name, but he is a big brother at the top of the mountain, and there is a word "month" in his name.

The title of the story book is straightforward but charming, it is called "Those Secret Things That Have to be Telled Between the Two Moons of Lishan Mountain".

In Qi Feng's words, the wonderful thing about this book is that there is no word "love" in it at all, but everyone who has read it says that every word and sentence in the book is not about romance.

Chu Heng took a deep breath, turned his head and asked Qi Feng calmly: "Master, how long did you just say that this book has been sold?"

Qi Feng felt that something was wrong, but he still answered truthfully: "About ten days, it is the best-selling book in the bookstore, and they recommend it to everyone." Moon's love history?

As soon as the words fell, the teapot hanging under Dongjun's palm in mid-air thumped and fell into pieces on the ground.

"Push every person..." Chu Heng's hand holding the book trembled slightly. If he remembered correctly, when he drove his shadow guard back at noon, he said——

"By the way, go to the bookstore and pick up a few idle books of stories and bring them back to His Majesty, so that he can relieve his boredom."

"Excuse me..." Chu Heng murmured blankly, and after a while, Dong Jun gritted his teeth and roared, "Ye Shuli, I'll kill you!"

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①The matter of the blood jade bracelet and the blood jade pendant is in No.80 Chapter 84 and Chapter [-], it is a prop anyway.

②Ye Shuli: How could I know that you were having an affair with His Majesty?