As if seeing a treasure, Rong Changan snatched the manuscript from Chuntao's hand, wanted to read it, but was afraid that Chuntao would see it too, so he turned around and read it alone. There are two lines of poems written in regular script on the pink manuscript paper.
"On the willow twigs on the moon, people make an appointment after dusk."
After reading the poem, Rong Changan frowned, a little confused about the meaning of the poem.
"Queen, when I saw the manuscript just now, I was so excited to ask for it, but now I got it and saw it, but I'm worried, what's wrong?" Chuntao chuckled.
Rong Chang'an said: "I don't quite understand the poems."
Chuntao said: "It's written in the willow twigs on the moon, people make an appointment after dusk?"
Rong Changan was taken aback, and glared at Chuntao angrily, "You girl, you are getting more and more unruly! You dare to peek at the letter he gave me! You are not afraid that I will punish you, are you?"
Chuntao quickly apologized and said: "Damn this servant, I shouldn't have spoken to the queen in that tone! But this servant has never read the text in the manuscript."
Rong Changan wondered, "Since you haven't read it, how do you know what's written in it?"
Chuntao said: "When I was not in the palace, I used to go wandering in the market. I heard the old man's storytelling in the Sang's house. They all told stories about talented scholars and beautiful ladies. When those gifted scholars and beautiful ladies want to meet each other, they must write poems. Liu Shaotou, make an appointment after dusk', this is already a routine, that's why the servant said so."
Don't look at her as a fool, this Chuntao knows quite a lot.
"Okay, I don't blame you!" Rong Changan put on a gentle expression, "Tell me, what does he mean by this sentence?"
Chuntao felt very strange, "Queen, isn't the poem written clearly? The prime minister wants to meet you!"
Rong Chang'an said: "I know this verse on the surface. What I mean is that he wants to meet me. Where is it? Such a huge imperial capital, I can't look for it one by one, right?"
Chuntao chuckled, "Queen, will you recite this poem in its entirety?"
Rong Changan looked a little unhappy, "Of course I will, so it goes without saying! Last year when the full moon was full, the flower market lights were like daylight; on the moon, the willow branches were on the top, and people made appointments after dusk..."
Chuntao clapped her hands happily, "The answer is in the previous sentence. The lights of the flower market are like daylight, so it is the place to meet."
Rong Changan pondered for a while, and thought so. I was in a hurry just now, but I didn't expect that the answer was in the previous line, which made Chuntao see a joke.
"Then I'll go to the flower market to meet Yan Li?" Rong Changan said.
Chuntao inserted a pink peach blossom on Rong Changan's hair near the ear, walked a few steps, looked at it with admiring eyes, clapped her hands and said: "The queen put this flower on her hair, it really looks like a fairy girl who came down from the sky. I think Prime Minister Yan can recognize you at a glance while walking in the flower market."
A trace of sorrow suddenly flashed across Rong Chang'an's radiant face, "Chuntao, when you came back from outside, did you hear that the emperor is going to hold a garden party or something like that in the palace?"
"I have never seen it, nor heard it. All the maids in the palace said that this year's Lantern Festival is the most boring. The emperor favors Ziyan noble concubine and neglects other noble concubines. The emperor takes Ziyan noble concubine alone in the back mountain. It’s running a flower market.”
Thinking of Ziyan's obsequious and artificial face, Rong Chang'an felt nauseous.
"It's better if there are no activities, and I don't have to meet that bitch anymore! Make arrangements, and we'll go to the flower market right away."
Chun Tao is also a girl who likes to play, so she was very happy when she heard that she was going out, so she quickly agreed: "Queen, this servant is ready to go!"
In the chilly spring, a full moon unknowingly climbs up from the southeast, and hangs far away but close to the city tower, illuminating the glazed tile roofs of the imperial palace and rich people's houses, and the moonlight shines on the river under the Hongqiao. Sparkling, charming and intoxicating.
Lantern Festival parades are popular in the imperial capital, and Jin Wu can't help it. The streets are full of people, shoulder to shoulder, really a bustling scene. And among the mortal world and the purple streets, orange Kongming lanterns float out from time to time, and the wonderful sound of new songs comes out, making people linger and forget to return, only afraid that the spring will soon pass away.
The flower market was even more lively, Rong Changan and Chuntao were almost crowded by tourists. And I often hear the sweet and crunchy voice of girls selling flowers: "Although the basket pick spring is small, red, red, white and white are good. I have sold it to the owner of the lane and the west of the lane. The maid outside the curtain has entered the newspaper. Should I buy plum blossoms or peach blossoms?"
Not to mention seeing a basket of flowers, just the voice of the flower girl is enough to make people drunk.
"Today, I bought peach blossoms from that flower girl. She looks so sweet." Chuntao said excitedly.
However, Rong Changan's mind was not on the flower girl who only heard her voice but never saw her, nor on the colorful flowers on both sides of the street.
"We've been out for a while, why don't you see Yan Li?" She looked around on her toes.
Chuntao said: "The flower market extends all the way to Hongqiao, let's look over there."
Chuntao was pulling Rong Changan away when she suddenly saw a person in front of her, Chuntao smiled, pointed at her and said, "It's you..."
The flower girl showed two small dimples: "It's you..."
"Why, are you trying to persuade me to buy flowers again?" Chuntao said.
The flower girl stretched out her hand: "No! No! I'm here to deliver a message. A young man asked me to take you to a place."
"What son?" Rong Changan asked.
The flower seller said: "He didn't say his name. He just talked about the abandoned garden ahead, and he was there."
Rong Changan and Chuntao, you look at me, I look at you.
"I guess it should be him, let's go there!"
Rong Chang'an was somewhat suspicious: What if it was Zi Yan and Li Hai's people
But she was eager to see Yan Li, so she followed Chuntao all the way to the abandoned garden.
At this time, the abandoned garden is full of flowers, all white, as if covered with a layer of snow. There are also ladies having a banquet and drinking wine, with Kongming lanterns on the side.
Suddenly, a slender figure came out from under the peach and plum tree, and said in a cold voice, "You guys are here!"
Wide-sleeved white robe, face like a full moon, whoever it is if it's not Yan Li!
"Prime Minister Yan, why did you ask the queen to come here! There are few people here, not as many people as there are in the flower market." Chuntao said.
Yan Li smiled slightly: "The less people go to the place, the more you can see the stunning scenery in the world."
Chuntao chuckled, looked at Yan Li, then at Rong Chang'an, "I've never heard anyone say that!"
Rong Changan's face turned red, but the light was dim, no one could see it. Rong Changan also told Chuntao the last time in the Beicheng Tower.
"Oh, who did you hear that from?" Yan Li didn't know, so he asked Chuntao, "There are people like me like that!"
Chuntao smiled more happily, but Rong Changan was even more embarrassed.
"Go and play in the flower market, and I'll come back later, I'll find you!" Rong Changan poked Chuntao's ribs.
Chuntao also knew what was going on, and bowed to Yan Li politely, then left the abandoned garden and wandered in the flower market.
Rong Changan looked at the dimly lit abandoned garden and asked, "Why are you here? It seems like we are doing something shameful."
Although it is said that it is not doing something shameful, it always feels weird that the mother of a country has a tryst with the prime minister of a country.
"I was afraid that someone from the palace would come out and see us, which would be bad, so I chose this place."