In the season when the twelfth lunar month is lightly snowing and all the flowers are dying, there are a few thick wintersweet plants in the east garden of Yanxi Palace, which are blooming very well. The jade and gold clothes are in full bloom in the cold, and the plum blossoms are full of fragrance before entering the palace gate. , floating in the cold winter, refreshing.
Today there was a delay in the court, and Ye Tianling came to Yanxi Palace a little late, but he was not in a hurry, he just walked slowly.
Every part of Yanxi Palace exudes peace and tranquility, even in the cold winter when everything is bleak, greenery can still be seen everywhere in the palace. He vaguely remembered that some flowers and trees were planted by himself with the Queen Mother himself. Among them, there was a row of honeysuckle vines not far away. When the sky and the earth were quiet, they climbed the deep blue color in the shadow of the Zhuqiang Garden, and the snowy feeling became a foil instead. , even more emerald eye-catching. Every summer, the vines and trees bloom, gold and silver are intertwined, and the clear spirit is unfolding, which is even more pleasant. He paused a little under his feet, and there was a slight arc on his usually cold lips.
A gentle breeze passed by, and the thin snow rolled up a thin layer of wind. The wintersweet tree in the garden swayed slightly, and a few petals of fragrance fell, followed by a few women's soft laughter. He turned around and looked over there, and saw a maid standing under the wintersweet tree, and it seemed that someone was picking plum blossoms on the tree.
The lightly pleated long skirt of jade white flitted across the branches, shaking Meixiang a little, he heard a maid said worriedly: "Princess, you'd better come down, I'll ask the servants to fold it."
Among the twigs and snowy shadows, it was Qing Chen who was holding a small bamboo basket in one hand and a branch of plum blossom in the other. He stepped on the protruding flower branches with some thrills on the wooden ladder under the tree. From here, it looked like a plum blossom. It is standing pretty in the shadow of a tree of jade-colored flowers, and the clothes flutter when the wind passes.
With a light movement of Xiu Bai's fingers, she held a few winter plums in her palm. From time to time, she lowered her head and talked to Baguio who was standing under the tree. Seeing that Baguio was frightened, she said with a smile: "What are you afraid of such a short tree?" ? How interesting it is to collect by yourself."
Bi Yao said: "If the Empress Dowager finds out, she might be punished."
Qing Chen said: "If you don't tell, who knows? If you know, you said it!"
Dan Qiong was also among the branches like Qing Chen, and said, "That's right, if my sister doesn't tell, no one will know!"
Baguio said angrily, "You're the one who talks too much!"
Qing Chen smiled and put a few more wintersweets into the basket, looked up, and this direction happened to be facing the Lotus Pond Palace.
She supported the flower branch, and through the double eaves of the flying horns, she thought of the only palace in the Dazheng Palace named after the concubine, and she seemed to see Concubine Lian's stunning and indifferent expression. What kind of role did this woman, who was more beautiful than Youyou Qinglian, play in the two generations of emperors for decades? For several days, she thought over and over again what Mo Buping said that day, how true or false is it in the confusion? If everything is true, what kind of situation will everyone face
Just as he was thinking wildly, he suddenly heard Baguio calling from below: "Your Highness Fourth!"
She looked down and saw that Ye Tianling was standing under the tree with his hands behind his back, his eyes had just turned from the direction of the Lianchi Palace, and fell into her eyes faintly, and there was a strange look in them silently. The two looked at each other up and down for a moment, Qing Chen felt a little guilty when he looked at him, facing such a penetrating gaze, it seemed that those secrets related to him didn't know where to hide, and they couldn't escape him no matter what. Eyes, nowhere to hide.
Ye Tianling asked, "What are you doing on the tree?"
Qing Chen leaned on the branch and said with a smile: "Picking wintersweet, do you want it?" He leaned over and showed him a plum blossom in his palm.
Ye Tianling looked down, and saw that the plain yellow petals were lightly blooming, among which the fine stamens were distinct, which lined her soft hands as lightly as if carved from thin jade, carrying the unique mellow aroma of wintersweet. Qing Chen motioned for him to raise his hand, tilted his palm, and put the flower into his hand. He seemed to smile slightly and said, "Come down, it's dangerous up there."
Qing Chen looked at the basket: "I only picked half of it."
Ye Tianling said: "There are so many below, why do you choose the branches?"
Qing Chen smiled and looked up: "Look, the plum blossoms on that branch are different from the ones below. It seemed that there was a freezing rain before the snow yesterday, and those few wintersweet branches are different."
Ye Tianling followed her fingers to look. It turned out that there were several plum blossoms on the high branches covered with freezing rain. The weather was suddenly cold and covered with a layer of ice. Looking at it from the thin sunlight, it looked like a piece of clear ice. Falling, hanging high on the branches. Occasionally, a clear luster flashed in the ice, as if the plum blossom in the center had been inlaid with a crystal coat.
Qing Chen tilted his head and smiled and asked him, "Does it look good?"
Ye Tianling's eyes fell on her delicate face from among the flowers of wintersweet, paused for a while, and Fang said lightly: "Not bad, very beautiful." But he stretched out his hand to signal, and still wanted her to come down.
Qing Chen walked away from the branch along the ladder, leaned on his hand and jumped to the ground, and said, "It's unfortunate that you came today, the Queen Mother has not woken up from her afternoon nap, if you are not in a hurry to leave, just wait."
Ye Tianling nodded, and stretched out his hand to help her press down the flower branches. Qing Chen picked a few flowers from the top and said, "Change a branch, so that we can remove a few flowers each, and Kazuki's flowers are still dense and dense, so that the original beauty will not be destroyed."
Ye Tianling said: "No wonder you picked it so slowly." Even though he said that, he didn't seem to be in a hurry, he casually picked up the flower branches and asked Qing Chen to pick them.
So the two of them walked and stopped under a few trees, Qing Chen raised his head and pointed to choose, Ye Tianling was tall and tall, and he could reach places that she couldn't reach with just a stretch of hand, and after a short while, he picked half of them again. Basket, she said with a smile: "If you come earlier, I don't need to trouble you."
Ye Tianling looked relaxed, with a faint smile on his lips, and said, "What do you want so many winter plums for?"
Qing Chen saw that the flowers were enough, so he went to the palace with him: "Winter plum clears away heat and detoxifies, smooths qi and relieves cough. Plants and trees are very useful. Look at the honeysuckle vine. Its flowers are cold and sweet. Breathing, calming cough, promoting blood circulation in the body, can relieve the symptoms of cold and numb hands and feet, but you can’t eat too much, because it is slightly poisonous. There are also some flowers and trees that are now covered by ice and snow, but they are all useful.”
Ye Tianling walked slowly with his hands behind his back, looking around the palace that he had been very familiar with since he was a child, listening to her narration, it was like a different cave, with a different scenery. He seemed to be extra free today, staying in Yanxi Palace to watch Qingchen play with the wintersweet he had picked, and he stayed with the Queen Mother all the time after dinner.
After the meal, Baguio and the others presented some Xiuyu small cups, and Qing Chen said: "This is a tea made from the sun-dried wintersweet flowers soaked in water. The Empress Dowager and the Fourth Highness have a taste. It has a slightly sweet taste, and it quenches thirst."
The queen mother said to Ye Tianling: "What kind of flowers and plants have many wonderful uses once they are in her hands. Now I have more than a dozen kinds of scented tea here."
Ye Tianling said: "If I had known this, my grandson should have planted more vegetation with the emperor's grandmother."
Qing Chen said with a smile: "I heard from the Queen Mother that many plants in Yanxi Palace were planted by His Highness the Fourth Highness himself." The maid took clean water to wash her hands, she turned her head to look at Ye Tianling as she spoke, Seeing that his sleeve robe was slightly swept up, he wore a string of black beads on his wrist, which was exactly the string of obsidian she had seen a long time ago.
The string of beads showed a subdued luster, calm and quiet, Qing Chen looked at Ye Tianling's strong and powerful wrist, holding the teacup with a lot of thoughts for a while.
She had asked Mo Buping in detail about the Nine Turns Linglong Formation. Mo Buping is very clear about the origin of the Wu Clan and the Linglong Kistler, because Mingyi Building itself was inextricably linked with the Wu Clan. However, since Mingyi Building was attached to the Celestial Dynasty, the power of the Wu Clan has gradually withdrawn from it. Now that nearly a hundred years have passed, the Wu Clan has withered and it is almost difficult to see their whereabouts. As for the soul-shifting forbidden technique she was concerned about, Mo Buping only heard about it and didn't know the details, and pointed out that the so-called forbidden technique must violate the principle of yin and yang, go against the sky, and its methods are often cruel or weird, so it is just Imprisoned, nine out of ten have already been lost.
And this Nine-Turn Linglong Formation has never been seen before. Most of the Nine Dao Linglong Crystals were lost during the war, and those that survived in the world were brought into the palace after Emperor Taizu ruled the world. Regarding these statements, Qing Chen felt that the matter seemed to have made a little progress, but it made people feel disheartened after careful consideration. At this moment, she suddenly remembered that she was looking at Ye Tianling's wrist in a daze, and she couldn't help but hear Ye Tianling's words. Ling coughed lightly.
She woke up and looked up, the queen mother was looking back with a smile, and Ye Tianling looked at her with a bit of inquiry in her eyes. She pursed the corners of her mouth listlessly, smiled apologetically, and lowered her head to drink tea slowly. Ye Tianling wondered, he wanted to ask, but it was hard to ask in front of the Queen Mother, so he didn't know where to start.
After that, Qing Chen seemed to be in a low mood, not talking and laughing like in the afternoon. Ye Tianling looked at her from the side, got up and said: "It's getting late, the emperor's grandmother has a rest earlier, and the grandson will come back tomorrow when he is free."
The queen mother nodded and said: "Qingchen, you go see off the Fourth Highness."
Qing Chen was stunned, Ye Tianling came and went every day, and never asked anyone to see him off, Yanxi Palace was like his home, and he would never get lost. But since the queen mother gave the order, she accompanied Ye Tianling out as she said. She didn't say a word all the way, she lowered her head and walked to the palace gate in a rather dazed way. Seeing that Ye Tianling's personal guards were already waiting there, she was blessed: "Fourth Highness, go slowly, Qing Chen will not see you off."
Unexpectedly, Ye Tianling didn't move, she raised her head in confusion, and saw that he was looking sideways at her, his deep black eyes were like lacquer, with a deep meaning: "When did so much courtesy come out?" He seemed to say casually .
Qing Chen put aside the complicated emotions in his heart for a while, and said: "In the Forbidden Palace, you are always His Royal Highness Ling Wang. If I am not big or small, I will make trouble for you and me, fourth brother." The last two words whispered softly She came out, smiled at him, and pointed to his wrist: "By the way, this obsidian is best worn on the right hand, so as to drive away evil spirits and avoid harm, and protect peace."
Ye Tianling raised his hand: "You were looking at this just now?"
Qing Chen nodded: "It's rare and... well suited for you."
Ye Tianling raised his eyebrows slightly: "This is a gift from my father, otherwise I will give it to you."
Qing Chen knew that the things bestowed by the Emperor of Heaven should not be freely given to others, so he smiled and said: "Then I can only think about it."
Ye Tianling's expression carried a hint of joking: "You can tell me in private what you like, and don't be dazed in front of others in the future."
Knowing that the Queen Mother had just seen a joke, Qing Chen blushed pretty, and muttered: "If you can control it, you won't be called a daze."
A smile flashed across his eyes, Ye Tianling stood in front of the steps and turned his head to look at the brightly lit Yanxi Palace, and said: "The emperor's grandmother has been in good spirits recently, and her chronic illnesses for many years have actually eased a lot. I would like to thank you for speaking."
Knowing that he was extremely filial to the Empress Dowager, Qing Chen said: "The Empress Dowager has so many grandsons, but you are the only one who misses you every day, and you are the only one who comes to Yanxi Palace every day."
"It's quiet here." Ye Tianling said flatly: "I grew up with the emperor's grandmother since I was a child, so I am naturally different from others."
Qing Chen asked casually, "Why not with Concubine Lian?"
As soon as she said this, she immediately regretted it. She saw Ye Tianling's originally clear and gentle face suddenly flitting a sliver of haze, and the stars in her eyes were shattered, as if something was shattered and never reappeared. The night wind blew up her sleeves with the slight chill of early winter, and she shivered slightly. All the relaxation and leisure in the whole half day suddenly seemed to be swept away by the wind and snow, and the winter really took over the eyes in an instant.
Ye Tianling's cold voice came into his ears: "The night is cold, let's go back." After saying that, he turned back, and in the scattered night, the blue gown of that day drew a different color, and in an instant, the thick darkness merged into one , disappeared in the depths of Miyagi.
Qing Chen stood there in a daze for a long time, feeling a little sad coming from his heart, and the wisps slowly became the whole piece and spread out. It was not because of his sudden cold face, but looking at his leaving back and the coldness in his eyes at that moment, she knew that he was just using that cold face to cover up something, some unspeakable pain, helplessness or Yes, alone.
For a moment, Qing Chen had an urge to tell him all the secrets she knew in her heart. If she could untie the knot in his heart, if she could keep the softness in his eyes, she was willing to try. However, his figure could no longer be seen in the darkness, Qing Chen turned around to face the numerous palace gates, the night sky was like a curtain, the bells and drums were slow, and the huge forbidden palace was a little deeper, approaching silently, gradually covering everything.