Half of the peach cake yesterday was given to Zhou Baoying, Jiang Xuening felt a little dejected when she remembered it.
She lowered her head and lowered her eyes and followed Xie Wei into the side hall.
Xie Wei didn't look at her, just pointed at the piano table in the hall, and said, "Let's practice the piano."
At this time, Jiang Xuening hadn't noticed it yet.
Xie Wei never spoke much, not a word, she was used to it.
Last time I was restless, but this time I was a little quieter.
After sitting down and playing, she felt pretty good, and wanted to hear what Xie Wei had to say.
Unexpectedly, when listening to the piano, Xie Wei looked out the window the whole time, until the sound of the piano was exhausted, and then he turned to look at her and said: "When I started, I was still too lazy to play, and I played in a hurry. It's a little better, and the end floats up again. Often, after you feel satisfied, you will soon be unsatisfactory. Practice makes perfect, or you should be more familiar with it and calmer."
Jiang Xuening glanced at his fingers thoughtfully.
Xie Wei said: "The finger hook is too fast, the string sound is fast, and you have to wait for the last rhyme to finish before entering."
So, Jiang Xuening finally realized faintly—
But this finding has nothing to do with Jean.
Only related to Xie Wei.
He doesn't always smile, the smile in his eyes is often more polite, but as long as his eyebrows and eyes are softened by half, it always makes people feel like a spring breeze.
Impeccably perfect.
But in this side hall, he would frown and scold her with a cold smile when there was no one else around.
But today everything faded away.
Not cold, just light.
Although his words and deeds seemed to be the same as usual, Jiang Xuening always felt as if he had become a little distant, as if he was separated by a layer.
The idea came too quickly and too directly.
She didn't even have time to sort out where this feeling came from, let alone what clues could be found.
As soon as his thoughts flew, he returned to the piano in the blink of an eye.
"Zheng..."
Jiang Xuening tried again according to Xie Wei's words, but it was worse than before, and it was impossible.
She looked at him a little bewildered.
The girl's eyes were a little confused, as if she wanted to ask him something, but she didn't dare to speak.
Xie Wei thought, she seems to have always been like this, and she is a little afraid of herself.
Learning the piano is always useless.
He moved to Jiang Xuening's side, gently placed the book on the edge of her piano table, and subconsciously bent over to put his fingers on the strings. However, when he leaned over, the wide sleeve robe fell beside the slender arm of the girl, so he paused.
The peach cake thing came back to his mind.
Who does she take him for
Or, who does he consider himself to be
Without changing his expression, Xie Wei directly reached out and moved Qin to the side.
The distance from Jiang Xuening widened.
With his eyes closed, he raised his fingers, hooked the strings and played the part just now, before he returned the qin to her and said, "Try again."
This time it was close and I could hear it clearly.
Jiang Xuening almost understood.
She gave it a try, and it got a lot better.
Just looking up at Xie Wei's figure walking past the piano table, she felt more and more that the feeling that crossed her heart just now was not an illusion.
restraint, alienate.
This feeling of keeping a distance, no matter if it is compared to the smiling scolding in the past, or the face-lifting in the past, it stands to reason that it will make her a lot easier.
After all, she wanted to stay away from Xie Wei from the beginning.
But at the moment, in addition to being relaxed, I feel that something is not right.
But when I thought about it in detail, I didn't know what was wrong.
If this short day may be her illusion, then in the next few days, this "illusion" will gradually deepen into a real perception.
Is really sparse.
Speaking the same way, teaching the same way as the piano, Xie Wei is still the usual Xie Wei, or the Xie Wei who is familiar to everyone in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty. But he didn't have any temper anymore, Jiang Xuening didn't even dare to show the little bit of self-willedness to such a person; there were no more pastries and snacks in the side hall, and he hardly even made tea, even more so. Needless to say, I asked her to drink like the previous few times.
This feeling, like what
It's like a person stepped out, took another step back, and returned to the original place.
Jiang Xuening felt uncomfortable and uncomfortable for no reason.
Her intuition told her that something must have happened secretly when she didn't know it, or maybe she made something wrong unintentionally, but there was so much contact between the two of them that she couldn't think of it. .
Every time I wanted to ask Xie Wei about the truth, I felt hypocritical.
Obviously everything looks the same, so where did she ask her
In addition, the day of Yongyi Houfuyan's approach to the crown ceremony is getting closer, and Jiang Xuening gradually let go of the things next to him, and he didn't have much thought about it.
In the last life, she prepared a birthday gift for Yan Lin, but she failed to send it out in the end;
In this life, she prepared the same gift, only hoping to make up for the regret of the previous life and hand it over to the young man.
When he was out of the palace for a rest again, Jiang Xuening didn't even have time to ask You Fangyin how things were going, so he ordered people to go to the Sword Casting Workshop in the west of the city.
In the book, it is always written that the sword must be named.
But in fact, it is only a craftsman who can make a good sword. The sword is never chosen by anyone, and those who can make a lot of money are themselves "lords".
Obviously, this "Second Girl Jiang" who they are not familiar with is such a wealthy "Lord".
As early as half a year ago, the crown ceremony of Yanlin, the young marquis of Yongyi Hou’s mansion, has attracted most of the capital to look forward to it. I don’t know how many people who have a girl to marry are waiting for the day when the young man is crowned and named, and the matchmaker is everywhere. The ice people even prepared the roster early, waiting for the crown ceremony to break the threshold of the Hou Mansion.
However, no one expected the current situation.
However, in just half a year, the Marquis Mansion of Yong Yi, which used to stand side by side with the Xiao family, is now in danger, and there is a risk that the entire mansion will become a prisoner at any time. In the past, people used to curry favor with each other, lest they would be ridiculed by Beijing when they were not invited when the little prince was crowned; but now they are distributing gold-gilded invitations to the prefectures, either behind closed doors or not. Back, for fear that he would have anything to do with the Hou Mansion and cause trouble.
Humanity is warm and cold, but that's it.
Except for Jiang Xuening, all the companions in Yangzhizhai have little personal friendship with Yan Lin, and most of them were originally seeking profit and avoiding harm and did not intend to go.
But Shen Zhiyi couldn't bear to go.
Not only did she want to go, she also wanted to go openly and with great fanfare.
Everyone was the eldest princess' companion. When Shen Zhiyi said that she was going, they hesitated a little, and then Xiao Shu said that she was going, and the rest of the people were put on fire, and it was not good if they didn't go.
As soon as the big guys discussed it, they all accompany Shen Zhiyi.
In this way, if something goes wrong in the future, it has nothing to do with the family behind them. It's just that a bunch of little girls accompany the eldest princess down.
Therefore, on the eighth day of the eleventh lunar month, everyone rode together in a car, set off from the palace, and went to the Marquis of Yongyi together.
Shen Zhiyi originally said that she would go with Jiang Xuening, but she was called by the Queen Mother Xiao before she left, so she had to let them go first and come later.
This time, Jiang Xuening happened to be in the same car with Zhou Baoying.
After the "borrowing cakes" last time, the relationship between the two has become much closer. But Chen Shuyi, Yao Xi and others seem to be very concerned about Zhou Baoying's affection for Jiang Xuening, and they are afraid that this little girl will be abducted by her vixen, regardless of whether she is studying in Fengchen Hall or in Yangzhizhai. , all dragged Zhou Baoying, and was very guarded against Jiang Xuening.
Zhou Baoying was also confused and didn't seem to care about these things.
Anyway, if you have something to eat in your mouth, and a chess game in your hand, you can sit for a whole day without hearing anything outside the window.
This time, Zhou Baoying danced with joy for a while because she was in the same car.
After all, the last peach cake was so memorable.
As soon as she got in the car, she hugged the big throw pillow, and Baba asked Jiang Xuening: "Sister Ning, they won't let me talk to you, nor let me come to you, these days they've almost killed me! Peach cake, do you have any more?"
This is really which pot can't be opened and mentioned.
Jiang Xuening has also been talking about it for several days.
It's a pity that it was neither made by her, nor by her cook, nor by the imperial kitchen in the palace. Xie Wei never mentioned anything other than piano and literature these days. Apart from the teacher-student relationship, Jiang Xuening really has no other relationship.
but…
This seems to be true.
Therefore, Jiang Xuening became more and more afraid to ask questions, because he was afraid that he might have done something wrong and angered him, or that he might be too eager for the matter of appetite, causing him to think of old things and be afraid of her.
At this moment, she was sitting in the car, feeling a little helpless, smiled lightly, and returned to Zhou Baoying and said, "No more, just those. After giving half of it to you, I will eat the rest."
Zhou Baoying's small face suddenly collapsed.
She frowned and complained in a low voice: "I knew this earlier, when Mr. Xie took it away, I shouldn't have been so generous. I didn't even eat a few slices myself..."
"Mr. Xie?"
Jiang Xuening was startled suddenly.
"You said Mr. Xie?"
"Ah." Zhou Baoying nodded, looking a little dazed, then she pouted and said, "Sister Ning, you don't know, the peach cake you gave me last time, I took it back and ate a few pieces, and the rest The ones I put down were counted before going to bed at night before they were put into paper bags, and I wanted to save them for the next day. I didn’t expect that when I secretly ran outside the hall to eat the next day, I was caught by Mr. Xie.”
Jiang Xuening finally realized where he was wrong.
Zhou Baoying's bun face was still a little angry: "I didn't expect that Mr. Xie is such a person! He asked about peach cake, and I couldn't help answering it. Before entering the palace to study, my father taught me how to Respecting the teacher, I asked him to taste it. I thought he only took one slice, but how could he know that he took the rest and asked me what was wrong! People are reluctant to eat it themselves... "
"… "
Jiang Xuening's long eyelashes fell, and she was a little dazed for a while.
The hoofs clacked, and the carriage shook slightly.
The things that had been sealed in the old memories of her previous life suddenly became clear in the fog.
It is one of the strictest rules of the aristocratic clan when a gentleman cooks from afar, just like women in some places cannot enter the ancestral hall.
Xie Wei is a gentleman and a saint.
But at that time she was just a wild country girl. She didn't know his identity or the rules of this slut. After listening to the words of those who came to pick her up in the mansion, she never doubted, she only thought he was the real one. What a distant young master who went to the capital to join Jiang's house.
After encountering the mountain bandits, they wandered between the mountains and the wild, unaware of other people's news, or even how to get out of the predicament.
High mountains and deep valleys are like prisoners.
At that time, Xie Wei was not seriously ill, he only looked weak, and he had a cough that had been there since he had just traveled to Beijing with her.
Jiang Xuening already knew that she was the direct daughter of the Jiang residence.
The other party was just a distant relative who couldn't get along with each other.
She was afraid that others would think she was a country girl and would be embarrassed to go to Beijing, and she was also afraid that others would look down on her because of this, so even if she was in trouble, she still wanted to use Xie Wei to pick some wild fruits to eat and hunt some prey to satisfy her hunger.
The result, of course, was immobility.
Since falling into a predicament, Xie Wei has held his qin on his knees and sat on the collapsed rock, watching the fading sky between the mountains.
He couldn't seem to hear any other sounds.
In fact, he seemed to be thinking about something more serious than suffering, as if he had entered another world. But Jiang Xuening couldn't see it at that time, just thought that this person didn't give him face very much, so he was still a little angry.
Had to go by myself.
Of course, this is not very down to the stage.
But Jiang Xuening had no other choice at that time. With his head spinning, he forced himself to find a reason for himself: This sick seedling looks like it is about to fall in two steps. These wild fruits, maybe even a stagger can break a leg in the forest, so wouldn't she have to think about how to carry this person with her by then? That won't work.
So I quickly adjusted my mind.
So the skills that the nobles in Beijing seemed to be very inexperienced on the farm finally came in handy.
There is no fruit in the winter forest.
But she tossed a trap with her hands and feet, and managed to catch a stupid gray hare with great luck, and hugged her in her arms all the way back to the bottom of the rock.
The stupid rabbit in the mountains had never seen anyone before, and when he was first caught, he fluttered desperately.
But it was probably Jiang Xuening who was comfortable in her arms, and it stayed in her arms after a while.
She couldn't help showing off happily to Xie Wei who was sitting above: "Look! The rabbit I caught is good or not?"
Hearing the voice, Xie Wei finally turned his head to look at her, and also at the rabbit in her arms. There was super dusty indifference in his eyes, and maybe even a little pity.
Jiang Xuening also reached out and touched its soft fur.
Xie Wei asked her calmly, "Are you making a fire?"
At that moment, her whole body stiffened.
Blinking his eyes, looking at Xie Wei, he couldn't return to God.
Because, it was not until Xie Wei asked this question that she suddenly remembered: The purpose of catching this rabbit is to eat, she and Xie Wei have not eaten for some time, very hungry, very hungry.
She stood there without answering.
Xie Wei waited for her for a while, and when it was getting dark, he probably knew that she couldn't answer, so he didn't ask any more, but carefully placed the piano in a corner where it was safe from the wind and rain, and then walked aside. , Pick up firewood and make a fire.
The fire was lit.
The temperature around her gradually rose, and the not-so-fiery flames dipped into the thick black night, and swayed and threw it on the ground according to the figure of her holding the rabbit without letting go.
Xie Wei stood in front of her.
He is much taller than him.
The light from the fire next to him reflected on his face, and there were different shades of light and shade due to the depth of the outline. A pair of gloomy pupils gathered brilliance, and he only reached out to her to take the rabbit.
Jiang Xuening subconsciously hugged a little tighter, raised his head and looked at him and said, "Let's, let's eat something else, I-I'll hit something else..."
Xie Wei looked at her silently: "Are you willing to eat the next one?"
She stood there dumbfounded, not knowing how to answer.
Xie Wei's hand still stretched out.
She hugged the rabbit hard, not wanting to give it to him. But it was probably because she tried too hard that it hurt the rabbit, and it bit the back of her hand, causing her to let it go at once.
It ran into Xie Wei's hands.
He actually took out a short knife tightly tied to his wrist from his wide sleeve robe.
Only then did Jiang Xuening know that this man had a knife on his body.
Thinking about it now, what kind of a sickly distant young master, a scholar with no strength, what kind of knife does he carry with him? Anyone who has a knife hidden on his body is walking on the most dangerous road, always prepared for any accident.
But at that time she was still stupid and didn't know what to think.
Xie Wei grabbed the rabbit tightly, pressed it on the stone next to it, and wanted to use the knife.
But she stood beside her trembling.
Probably red eyes.
When Xie Wei saw it, the movement of his hand stopped. After a while, he finally didn't say a word and walked away with the rabbit. When he came back, the stupid rabbit, who was still alive and kicking, had been flayed, gutted, put on a sharpened branch, and lightly placed on the fire by him.
The man even found some wild leaf spice to sprinkle on.
Jiang Xuening hugged his knees, sat by the fire, buried his head and bit his sleeve, so that he didn't shed any tears.
Xie Wei baked the rabbit and broke a rabbit leg and handed it to her.
She saw that the skin of the rabbit leg was golden brown, and the fat from the hot fire was oozing out, and it was stained with some unknown spices. came out.
Cry until you choke, cry until you burp, cry until you are out of breath.
Xie Wei has nothing to do with her.
No one picked up the rabbit leg that was stretched out, and she was not familiar with her, and he didn't know how to persuade him, so he had to put his hand back again, and ate it by himself without any disturbance.
After eating half of it, she was still crying.
He stopped, looked at her for a moment, took out a clean handkerchief in his arms, opened it and put it beside her.
There were a few peach slices in there.
It's just not much. It's in his arms, wrapped in a handkerchief, and crushed a lot. It doesn't look very good.
Xie Wei said to her: "Eat this if you can't eat it."
Jiang Xuening was still hungry after all.
She also knew that the rabbit had to eat, but when she thought of how it had just shrunk in her arms, she didn't want to eat it, nor did she dare to eat it. Although she was not used to seeing this sick relative from a distant room, she still picked up the handkerchief and took the peach cake inside to eat.
It was the best pastry she had ever eaten in her life.
Sweet and soft.
Even though there were tears in it, I didn't feel the pain.
But after all, there is only so much.
After eating, it made me feel more hungry.
So get very angry.
Annoyed that he is a spineless person, in the end he still took the other rabbit leg that Xie Wei handed over, he continued to cry while nibbling on the perfectly roasted rabbit meat, and he even tried to find a reason for himself: " Who, who told it to dare to bite me..."
Xie Wei looked at the fire quietly from the side, seemed to laugh a little, then disappeared and didn't speak.
The fire at that time had been burning for a long time.
The pine branches thrown in made a thin popping sound.
Jiang Xuening actually didn't remember much about the smell of the rabbit, but he still remembered the soft and sweet taste of the peach cake, and Xie Wei's clean white clothes were hanging on the ground, stained with some smokey dust, polluted some black...
When people are in a desperate situation, there are many things they can't care about.
He will do things he would not normally do, and say things he would not normally say.
People may not be the same as usual.
In the face of life and death, everyone strips away the layers of hypocrisy that they used to live in the world, revealing their truest, perhaps best, or ugliest side.
But is it true that they are trying to survive in a short-lived desperate situation
Or is it true that the people who work hard in the flashy world are real
Jiang Xuening really didn't know.
Zhou Baoying saw that she didn't speak for a long time, and she didn't know whether she was happy or sad. She felt a little uneasy in her heart. She was afraid that she had done something wrong, so she carefully tugged at her sleeve and asked, "Yes, yes where is wrong?"
Jiang Xuening's eyes moved, and only then did he come back to his senses.
She curved her lips as if she had no idea, sighed softly, and said, "It doesn't matter."
Xie Wei, his heart is really smaller than the tip of a needle.
The coachman who was driving the horse in front stopped the carriage and said to the inside: "Miss Jiang, the sword casting workshop is here."
Jiang Xuening said to Zhou Baoying: "I want to go down and pick up something, you wait a moment."
Zhou Baoying said "oh" and sat in the car obediently waiting for her.
The people in the sword-casting workshop knew that she was coming to pick up the sword today, and they were well prepared.
The sword was three feet and two minutes long.
The blade of the sword is made of meteorite iron, and polished into a wave-like edge. It is not decorated with gems or cast with gold and silver like the swords used by Yan Lin before. It is just that simple and straightforward.
As soon as Qingfeng came out, the cold light was threatening.
In the last life, she didn't know the depth of the world, she just thought that Yan Lin was born in the door, and in the future, he would also lead troops to fight, and he should have a killing sword;
In this life, everything has gone up and down like smoke, and looking at this sword again, it reveals a cruelty that is too timely and tragic.
How much do you think about that young man, always as fiery and brilliant as the scorching sun
But God forbid.
The wolves with their fangs in the dark are not allowed.
After the swordsmith showed her the sword, he put it in the box and handed it to Jiang Xuening with both hands.
Unconsciously, she hugged it diagonally like a piano.
But after walking out the door and reaching the carriage, I remembered that the sword box is not a piano and must be placed flat.
Due to a delay at the Sword Casting Workshop, Jiang Xuening and Zhou Baoying, the carriage, arrived at Yongyi Hou's mansion just in time.
Probably because of Yan Lin's crown ceremony today, the heavy soldiers who were originally besieging the mansion retreated to both sides.
Not so scary at first glance.
The guests who came were not many, but not so few. They were all in front of the door, handing them over one by one, and the smiling butler led them in, as if they were no different from the old days of the Hou Mansion. .
After Shen Zhiyi left the palace, she arrived almost at the same time as Jiang Xuening.
As soon as the curtain was lifted, he saw her and shouted, "Ningning!"
Jiang Xuening got out of the car holding the sword box.
Shen Zhiyi jumped out of the car directly, ignoring the face of the palace servant who was waiting, she walked over and pulled Jiang Xuening up and ran towards the gate of the Hou residence: "Go, let's see Yan Lin go!"
Who in the house does not know her
No one stepped forward to stop her, and they all made way for her.
She also asked the person serving next to her, "Where is Yan Lin now?"
The housekeeper laughed, with a very kind face: "The prince is talking with His Royal Highness Prince Yanping and the others outside Qingyu Hall."
Shen Zhiyi knew the location.
She had been to Yongyi Hou's mansion many times when she was a child, and she could walk with her eyes closed. At this moment, she was reluctant to take a break for even half a minute. I saw people outside the Qingyu Hall by the water.
Shen Zhiyi then stretched out her hand and waved over there, shouting loudly, "Yan Lin!"
Everyone over there looked at it.
The boy who was standing under the waterside porch with his back facing them, was tidying up a fold at the corner of the new robe for him. Hearing the voice at this moment, he turned his head and looked at the sound. When he saw them, the originally flat brows suddenly brightened. Ruochen rose like a star, scorching hot and bright.
Yan Lin's first smiled at Shen Zhiyi and said, "You also come to join in the fun."
After speaking, her eyes fell on the person beside her.
Shen Zhiyi turned her head and saw that Jiang Xuening was still standing there in a daze, and pushed her, Jiang Xuening was pushed forward two steps, and stood in front of the boy a little caught off guard and at a loss.
Some days have not seen, the outline of the youth has become more and more clear, and it is more severe than before.
But when looking at her, everything softened.
"You are here too."
The most intimate word "Ningning" was quietly buried in his heart, but he didn't want to call her "Second Girl Jiang" as unfamiliar as others, so he simply greeted her like this.
The Hou Mansion was in a critical situation, and it seemed that this moment did not exist.
He looked down at the box she was holding, and asked her with a smile, "What is this?"
Jiang Xuening only realized at this time, after a lifetime of life and death, he finally held the sword box in both hands and handed it to the young man, looked at him, and smiled back at him: "Birthday gift."
for you.
I wanted to give it to you in the last life.
May you always be like this sword.