Pei Gonggui

Hot water came, the bed was made, Pei Jun took a bath and sat on the bed, at least he felt the reality of returning home.He blew out the corner lamp, touched the bottom of the buckwheat pillow at the head of the bed, and breathed a sigh of relief, then lifted the quilt and lay down, fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow, and didn't wake up until the next day when the sun was bright.

Although Dianmao couldn't catch up, fortunately, the Ministry of Officials had already approved his sick note.This made him feel more at ease.After breakfast, he went back to the house to pack his clothes, preparing to go out to meet Jiang Yue with half a meal.

Uncle Dong prepared a sedan chair in the outer courtyard, but he couldn't wait around for Pei Jun to go out. When Su Su went back to the inner courtyard to look for him, he found Pei Jun still in the room arranging his clothes. Seeing him coming, he even asked: "Uncle Dong, I remember that I have a white shirt made of silk. Where have you kept it?"

Uncle Dong felt wronged: "When did you have a white shirt made of silk? Can I eat it for you?"

He leaned on the door frame and looked at Pei Jun like a monkey, his eyes were full of novelty: "Are you looking for a regular shirt to wear?" : "Oh, don't bother, the clothes are all here. The new and good ones have only been awarded a few sets in the palace, and the high-quality materials sent from other places have been put in the silk, and you can't take off the mending coat." Come try it out, I haven't cut a new dress for a year or two, if you want it, I have to write it down and make it for you."

After he finished speaking, Pei Jun muttered: "I remember wrongly? Tsk, that white shirt wasn't made this year?"

Immediately after, Pei Jun stood up from the suitcase again and sighed, "I'm getting old, I really don't remember", then he raised a plain blue gown and asked him, "Then, can I still wear this color?"

Uncle Dong didn't understand: "Isn't it right for you to wear this color at your age? It's just sent by the palace tailor for the New Year. It looks good."

Pei Jun pulled the collar and compared it under his face: "It's so pretty?"

Uncle Dong let out a long hum in his throat, frowned and took two steps forward, reached out his hand suspiciously to his forehead, and clicked his tongue.

Pei Jun blocked his hand and didn't wait for him to ask carefully, so he put on his gown and ordered in a low voice:

"Uncle Dong, I'm afraid it's time for Pei Yan to add more money today. You can send a few more boxes to Fang Mingjue later. The more the better. We'll just rely on him to be able to get along with Li from Dali Temple." Duan Cheng has something to say, so he has to have the confidence to say it. I went to see Cui Yu before, and I saw that Pei Yan was alright, and it should be that the money is still available right now, and we will have more money in the future. Give it away, no matter how long it takes, it will take more than a month before she will be able to come out."

"Hey, okay, don't worry, I'll do it later." Uncle Dong stepped forward to straighten the shoulder collar of his clothes, and sighed with his old brows, "Thanks to your wealth accumulated over the years, otherwise Sending hundreds of taels out of the mansion in three days, which family can withstand such a toss..."

Pei Jun raised his hands to straighten his sleeves, without a smile on his face, he said, "It's because Prince Jin took care of the other half for us, otherwise the clan members of Old Jiang's family would have to drag Pei Yan to find me on my head." Yinzi, then our house will collapse."

Uncle Dong was startled, and said in a low voice: "Hey, how many scoldings did Prince Jin have to stop for us..."

Pei Jun paused slightly with his hands straightening his clothes, lowered his eyebrows and sighed: "That's not it."

Uncle Dong paid attention to his expression, pulled him and said worriedly: "My lord, now that Prince Jin is gone, won't the big thing you planned with him be lost? Then what do you plan to do in the future? So what? You have to hold on to your own life and don't do anything foolish."

Pei Jun couldn't tell him the truth about Jiang Yue, so he had no choice but to walk out with his arms all the way, saying: "Let me think about it for myself. I plan to live in Zhuangzi in two days, so you can As long as I take a break, I will tell you when I come back."

Uncle Dong sent him out all the way to get into the sedan chair. Hearing what he said, he couldn't bear to bring up this matter again after he was instructed. He only asked him if he could come back for dinner, and then he gave a long drink and asked the driver to pick up the sedan chair and take him to the west of the city.

The closer to summer, the hotter the weather.Pei Jun felt bored sitting in the sedan chair all the way, and because of his poor status he couldn't raise the curtain to fan, so he waited until he was half full to get out of the sedan chair, and the sedan chair took a breath, took out the fan, and slapped his head.

Without slapping him twice, he was suddenly patted on the back shoulder, and looked back in shock, only to see that Jiang Yue was still wearing a dark blue Taoist robe, standing behind him at this time, and he did not know how early he had arrived.

"You don't make a sound, it's so scary." Pei Jun closed his fan and scolded him, looked behind him to see if he saw the sedan chair, and said strangely, "How did you come here?"

Jiang Yue's eyes flicked to his green shirt, and then turned his head to show him a big gray-haired and white-hoofed mule on the corner of the street: "It's easy to attract people, so I came here on a mule and told them Follow from afar."

Pei Jun's eyes widened, and he almost laughed: "Aren't you afraid of being recognized?"

On the contrary, Jiang Yue said very peacefully: "The small hermit hides in the wild, the middle hermit hides in the city, and the big hermit hides in the court. A Taoist priest riding a sedan chair and a carriage is unavoidably abrupt, and no one will care about riding a mule to swagger through the city. Wouldn't it be more thoughtful?"

Hearing the words, Pei Jun intuitively felt that although his reasoning was true, it was too bold to act like this, so he shook his head, looked at him dumbfounded and said, "Jiang Yue, you are really a wonderful person."

Jiang Yue didn't know whether the words were praises or criticisms, and he wanted to talk more, but before he could make a sound, Pei Jun pulled his sleeves and pulled him into the half-cooked room.For a moment he was interrupted by the Shengge in the building, looked up, and saw that the guests were still laughing and fisting during the half-cooked meal, and the melody of the qinsheng was still melodious, everything was joyous as ever.

Even though several great events have happened in central Beijing, the lively people in the restaurants and teahouses still love to be lively, just like when the flood flooded their insteps, they would just stand on tiptoes in another place. Looking around, I don't worry about whether the drowning water is clear or muddy.

Tang Sheng saw Pei Jun enter the door from afar, and ran around the field to welcome Pei Jun to go upstairs to sit, and then called someone to invite Mei Linyu, the young master, to come over and wait on him.

Pei Jun led Jiang Yue up the stairs, turned sideways to let Jiang Yue enter the room, turned around and ordered several students to stand guard outside the door, and then went in to sit with Jiang Yue.Before the two of them sat on the warm chairs in the room, Mei Linyu had pulled the curtain and turned to the door, and was about to greet Pei Jun, but a pair of phoenix eyes bumped into Jiang Yue in the room first, and she quickly retracted her body and said: " Hey, brother brought a Taoist priest here today?"

As he said that, he piled up the Mei family's usual smile, clasped his fists and saluted Jiang Yue: "Ordinary Mei Linyu, I have met the Taoist priest here, did you ask for the name of the Taoist priest?"

Before Jiang Yue could speak, Pei Jun pressed his arm and said to Mei Linyu: "Mei Liu, you have met this Taoist priest before."

"Have you seen it? When have you seen it?" Mei Linyu was surprised, and looked suspiciously at Jiang Yue beside him, only to see that Jiang Yue had already raised his hand to take off the mask on his face.

After seeing Jiang Yue's face clearly, Mei Linyu's eyes widened in fright and she stepped back three steps, slammed into the partition behind her with a bang, and said with a pale face, "It's so blue... I opened my eyes to God Erlang in broad daylight ? This, isn't this Prince Jin..."

As he said that, he looked back and forth at Pei Jun and Jiang Yue, and said in complete disbelief: "Didn't Prince Jin die? What's going on!"

Seeing that he raised his hand and blinked his eyes hard, Pei Jun felt that he was pitiful and happy, so he hurriedly got up to help him and said, "You got Mei Liu, don't be afraid, Prince Jin is fine, he is just fighting with soldiers and horses." It’s just a play, how will this play work out in the future, I’m still here to ask you for help.”

Mei Linyu thought she saw a zombie ghost, her eyes were full of horror in the clouds and mist, her eyes were still staring at Jiang Yue in disbelief, when she heard Pei Jun's words, she woke up completely, and hurriedly pushed him away Holding his hand, he said in a low voice, "What? Prince Jin is feigning death? Isn't this deceiving the emperor!"

After saying the word "death", he felt disrespectful, and quickly slapped himself: "Look at my mouth!" Then he knelt on the ground with the help of a stool, and wailed to Jiang Yue:

"My lord, please forgive my sins, forgive my sins! The grass people are deceived by lard, and they believe everything they say outside, and I hope the lord will not blame them. The lord is auspicious, and people have their own fortune. It is not that bad luck. It's annoying, the grass-roots dog mouth made a slip of the tongue, it is definitely not disrespectful to the prince..."

Jiang Yue couldn't hold back his babbling appearance, and hurriedly got up to help him: "Master Mei is serious, please get up quickly. I didn't even inform Mr. Pei about this in advance, and today's sudden visit is also for Master Mei. I'm frightened, I hope Young Master Mei won't worry about it."

As soon as Mei Linyu heard that he was being polite, she quickly waved her hands without asking him to help her, and panicked as she got up, "How dare you, how dare you, the prince is broken."

He stood up quickly, but at this moment he found that he was being framed by Pei Jun and Jiang Yue, and the eyes of the two of them looking at him seemed to be very kind, which made him confused and couldn't help but think of Knowing that he had witnessed the intimacy of these two people, he couldn't help but feel extremely embarrassed, so he thought about it, swallowed his saliva, first took out his hands, and said cautiously: "Then... grass, grass people, let's go out first Serving vegetables for my brother and the prince? Does the prince have any taboos? Is it still the same as last time?"

Jiang Yue didn't know much about wine and vegetables, so he just nodded and shook his head when he heard it, and his eyes naturally looked at Pei Jun.Pei Jun hooked Mei Linyu's neck and went out the door, gave a few usual instructions, and after a while, Mei Linyu led the people to serve the dishes.

During the dinner, Pei Jun and Mei Linyu brought up the matter of the water coming out of the west city, and asked him to run errands for the plan of King Jin's resurrection.Mei Linyu was originally concerned about the family of the Mei family, so she couldn't help but hesitate on this important matter, but once she thought that Pei Jun had nothing to do with the Mei family's business, even if she didn't help at this time, she probably couldn't justify her troubles in the future Blame, so after thinking about a few glasses of beer wine, he also accepted the matter, and said that he would start preparations immediately.

This finally relieved Pei Jun, so he asked him if the boat was ready.Mei Linyu said that the boat had docked last night.So the three of them finished their meal, and Mei Linyu invited someone to drive the carriage, and invited Pei Jun and Jiang Yue to watch the boats at the pier.

The carriage drove all the way to the mouth of the Jingnan Canal. On the way, Mei Linyu trotted or walked behind the carriage after pointing the coachman to start driving. Even when Pei Jun lifted the curtain and asked him to sit on it, he only said that he was still there. With sincerity and good deeds, you will never sit in a car.

After getting off the car, the three of them walked towards the waterside. Amidst the shouts of the noisy sailors around, Mei Linyu wiped off her sweat and chattered about the mess at the pier. After a short while, she led Pei Jun and Jiang Yue to Mei's The firm's dock.

Mei Linyu asked the gatekeeper to get the key, and opened the wooden gate on the side of the dock to lead Pei and Jin in.For a moment Pei Jun raised his head and saw a large sand ship tens of feet high suddenly standing in the dock, about a hundred feet long from front to back, black and brown all over, with a wide seat and a flat bottom. They are all hung like winged white sails, and you can smell the smell of tung oil after it has dried.

Pei Jun led Jiang Yue and walked with Mei Linyu to the deck along the escalator beside the ship.When the three of them walked into the upper cabin, Mei Linyu grabbed a hidden stick on the edge of the cabin door and pulled it hard, a door suddenly popped up on the floor, looking inside, it was a dark and empty cabin.

"This is the empty mezzanine that my brother was going to open." Mei Linyu said, "As spacious as it is on the top, the interior is as spacious as it is. It's only used to transport goods, so it's only six feet high. No matter how high it is, it won't hide Yes. The boatman deliberately hid the mechanism on the side. If the bolt is installed from the inside, even if the mechanism is found outside, it will not be easy to open. At that time, laying a layer of hay or blankets will make it more concealed."

"This boat is exquisitely made." Jiang Yue walked up to Pei Jun and looked in the mezzanine, and hit the nail on the head as soon as he made a sound, "The mezzanine here must be used to transport stolen goods?"

"Your words are wrong." Pei Jun supported him from behind, smiled and told him to be careful, and followed his words: "What are stolen goods? They are also greedy according to the public. We are not. After a while, Zhang Santong Qian Sheng went south together, so I intended to let them go on this boat, and let Qian Sheng pay some good salt and sell it with official salt. Although this looks undecent, it can really reduce the high price of official salt. , and can save some supplies for us, isn’t this a concern for the great cause? How can it be called stolen goods?”

"I really can't talk to you, so it's what you say." Jiang Yue smiled and refused to argue with him, and didn't have anything to ask, so he just went to the bow to look at the rudder.

Pei Jun took a look around on the boat, and walked with Mei Linyu from the exit under the mezzanine to the bottom of the cabin to check the oars, and then walked back to the uppermost deck, and heard Mei Linyu report the cost and wages.

After hearing this, he intuited that every good thing on this boat was carved out of silver, he sighed for a while, and when he got off the boat, he couldn't help raising his hand to caress the wooden hull, and asked Mei Liu:

"Mei Liu, you said that such a big ship, if it is fully loaded with expenses, where is the farthest place it can go?"

"Are you saying that the journey is non-stop?" Mei Linyu finally wiped the sweat from her forehead, and put the silk into her cuffs, "Counting the cost of the sailors and crew, if the boat is fast, it is possible to go to Nanzhu Kingdom stop."

After he finished speaking, he saw that Pei Jun was silent, but he seemed to be in a daze, so he bumped Pei Jun's arm suspiciously: "What's the matter, brother, why did you ask this suddenly?"

"Just ask." Pei Jun prevaricated him, turned his head and walked to the stern, but Mei Linyu didn't stop because of this.

"What, did my brother hide something from me?" Mei Linyu chased behind Pei Jun in two steps, and suddenly grabbed his sleeve and said, "I was in a hurry to get a boat a while ago, and I was only thinking of raising money for Sister Yan. I used it for salt, but I forgot...Brother, when you first asked me to take this boat, Sister Yan was fine!"

This made Pei Jun's heart skip a beat, and he pulled out his sleeves and didn't answer him, but Mei Linyu stepped forward to block Pei Jun's way, looked into Pei Jun's eyes solemnly and said: "Brother, didn't you start this boat from the beginning?" To transport goods to make money? If not, then what did you want this cabin and this mezzanine for in the first place?"

Under Mei Linyu's unyielding questioning, Pei Jun knew that he couldn't avoid it, so he turned his eyes away first, not looking at Mei Linyu's too clear eyes for the time being.At this time, he raised his eyes to look at the big ship in the dock, and after asking this question after question, he suddenly recalled in a flash the time when he first thought about sailing this ship a few months ago.

At that time, his dismal life seemed to finally have a chance to start again, but everything he saw when he opened his eyes was still old and unchanged.

He was still sleeping on Jiang Zhan's bed. Most of the messy things that should have happened have already happened, and most of them are determined to be unchangeable. However, none of the injuries and pains that should have happened have not yet started to happen, calling him It's not even enough, and there's no reason to blame and take revenge on that person in this life.He looked at the golden tiles and emerald greens of the imperial city, and felt that the carved beams and painted buildings were all empty, and even the various memories related to it were stained with the blood of his previous life's grievances, which made him feel sick one by one.

However, those memories still happened one by one - the New Deal, the salt case, the vote draft... Only he knows what the end of all this leads to.But when his old friends in the past were full of vigor, each one of them was still young and talented, and they were still young, and when they returned on a moonlit night, only his heart was eaten by the insects of time and betrayal, and only his In my mind, there are long-lasting scars that are difficult to heal.

The existence of these scars is unknown at all, but they spread one after another under his flesh and blood, tormenting him day and night where he can't see, reminding him with little things that he will never return, just like every day Pouring bitter water down the slit throat of his previous life.Therefore, when the crowd dispersed and the nightmare fell, when he woke up again and again in the middle of the night and clutched the handle of the knife under his pillow, the confusion that traversed life and death filled him with horror, emptiness and incompatibility that he could never tell others.

So what did he want the boat for?

"elder brother."

Under the dim scene of the dock, Mei Linyu grabbed his wrist, frowned and asked him:

"At that time, did you want to leave?"