It was after the Lantern Festival that they arrived at Qingsi Palace. It was early February in a flash. This year was exceptionally cold, with several snowfalls. However, Xie Wangzhi never saw Changsheng again. Even the coal briquettes that he usually went to the Shangshi Bureau were nowhere to be seen.
Since she was already here, she might as well make the best of it. Xie Wangzhi had no intention of trying to get in touch with the Qingsi Palace. Since the Seventh Prince did not serve meals, she did not take the initiative either. She only helped a few palace servants in the small kitchen. Except that she could not go out at will, it was no different from when she was still in the Shangshi Bureau.
But after being so depressed for a long time, Xie Wangzhi couldn't help but ask Changzu. Changzu didn't know what the Seventh Prince meant, but thinking about the courtesy he showed her, she scratched her face and agreed.
Xie Wangzhi could go out for a walk. She didn't dare to go far. She walked out of the courtyard and slowly circled along the palace road. After circling a little, a cat head suddenly emerged from the half-dead bushes on the side. Its fur was shiny black, and its amber eyes stared at her. Its ears trembled twice.
"Coal balls!" Xie Wangzhi exclaimed in surprise and walked over quickly. Just as he was about to bend down, a black cat in the bushes suddenly jumped out.
The cat's body was indeed completely black, without a single stray hair, but each of its front paws had a white stripe, as if it was wearing two hand guards.
… not briquettes.
Xie Wangzhi was a little disappointed, but seeing the black cat running forward, he had nowhere to go anyway, so he simply followed it.
Following the cat around the palace path and shrubs, we came to a secluded corner, next to the rockery and the base of the wall. The flower bed next to it had obviously not been taken care of for a long time. The flowers planted in it were almost withered, and instead, weeds were growing wildly, with some green stubbornly sprouting even in such a cold day.
Green dots popped out of the soil, and there were also more than a dozen cats on the ground. Those farther away were sitting or squatting, while those closer were piled together, rubbing their furry heads against each other and crowding together to take bites of food from the bowls.
The man feeding the cat was a teenager, who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. He was squatting on the ground, his ankle-length cape dragging on the ground, his long black hair spread over the cape, with the ends of his hair slightly curled.
Xie Wangzhi felt that the young man looked familiar. He stood by and watched him for a while, then asked hesitantly, "Excuse me, are you a Huihe?"
“…Yes.” The young man seemed to have just noticed Xie Wangzhi and stood up in a hurry. He seemed to only know how to have simple conversations. After a while, he said, “Xudar, nice to meet you.”
"Thank you for forgetting."
Sudar responded and turned his head away.
It was not known whether he did not want to pay attention to her or he was unable to respond, but Xudar had no intention of continuing the conversation. Xie Wangzhi did not want to force him to talk, so he could only stand aside in silence and watch the cats eat.
As he watched, Xie Wangzhi's gaze shifted from the cat to Xudar.
To be fair, Xudar looked pretty good, and he was different from the high-nosed, deep-eyed Hu people in Xie Wangzhi's impression. It was obvious that he was not a Han Chinese, but his features were not weirdly sharp, and it would be better to describe him as "handsome". His nose was indeed higher and his eye sockets were slightly deeper, but his thick eyelashes were blinking, and his green pupils flickered, which actually gave him a hint of the Han Chinese's implicit melancholy.
Xie Wangzhi asked tentatively: "Can I ask, where is Princess Changning?"
"Fei Guang is at home."
Feiguang, it sounds like a name or nickname. The fact that he can address her so directly shows that Xudar and Princess Changning are very close. Xie Wangzhi nodded: "Are you feeding the cats here?"
"Well," said Sudar, "it's winter, and the cat has nothing to eat."
Xie Wangzhi discovered the strangeness of Xudar's speech. He spoke Chang'an Mandarin without an accent, and his punctuation and intonation were normal, but short and simple. He sounded like a five or six-year-old child, which was inconsistent with his appearance.
But she didn't think it was strange and smiled: "Yes, I see these cats are thinner."
Xudar didn't know how to respond and was silent for a moment: "Sorry, I didn't speak well."
"Actually, no, it sounds good to me." Xie Wangzhi said quickly, "Besides, you are a Huihe. I heard that Huihe has its own language. How can you force people to speak the official language of Chang'an?"
She thought for a moment and deliberately asked, "By the way, does my husband still speak Huihe language?"
"Fei Guang can speak Huihe." Xudar nodded, "The Seventh Prince can speak it, too."
"...Seventh Prince?" Xie Wangzhi really didn't know about this. "He can do it, too?"
"Yes. The Seventh Prince also knows other things, such as the Western Regions." Xudar said, "His mother is Xian..."
"Hey, you're here?" Two people suddenly came out from behind the rockery. One spoke first, and the other's eyes fell on Xie Wangzhi, "Oh, there's another young lady?"
The two people who were talking looked similar, and their clothes were the same style, one blue and one purple. They should be twins, and they looked a year or two older than Xudar. The two boys were not bad looking and dressed neatly, but Xie Wangzhi felt uncomfortable instinctively under the scrutinizing gaze.
She lowered her head to avoid his gaze and knelt down to salute: "Hello, both of you."
Fortunately, the two men didn't take her seriously. They looked her up and down for a few times, then retracted their gaze. The young man in blue punched Xudar on the shoulder with a muffled sound: "Okay, you ran away without us and hid here to be with the young lady?"
"Sneaky," the purple-clothed youth said, "Aren't you afraid of making Chang Ning angry by doing this?"
"I came out to feed the cats, and I met someone I didn't recognize." Xudar frowned slightly, enduring the dull pain in his shoulder, "The princess won't be angry."
"That's right, Changning is very open-minded." The young man in blue looked at his brother, hinting, "She got a dog two years ago, and the dog ran away all the time, but she didn't seem angry. Guess what she said?"
"Let me think..." The purple-clothed youth patted Xudar's shoulder, "It's just a dog, why are you mad at it?"
Xie Wangzhi initially thought that the twins were familiar with Xudar, and that she did not understand the ways of the world, but once this was said, she knew it was wrong no matter how dumb she was. She racked her brains, thinking about how to start, when Xudar's eyes suddenly moved over.
He was very calm, neither sad nor happy: "You can go back."
"them… "
"They are friends," Sudar said. "It has nothing to do with you. Go back."
Xie Wangzhi couldn't force him to stay, so he said "hmm" and turned away reluctantly.
When she left, no one was looking at her. Xudar was a taciturn person and would not make a sound even if he was hit. The young man in blue felt bored and said, "Let's go to the princess's mansion. Changning said she would hold a banquet."
He was born in the Lanling Xiao family, and was a cousin of Concubine Xiao and the Crown Princess. He was usually arrogant and used to walking in the front and taking the lead. The purple-clothed boy hurriedly caught up, turned around, and whistled at Xudar like calling a dog.
Xudar still had no expression on his face and followed calmly. The moment the purple-clothed boy turned his head, he lowered his eyes, and his dense eyelashes fell, suddenly covering half of his pupils.
**
Back at Qingsi Palace, Xie Wangzhi still had nothing to do. It was not mealtime, and the Seventh Prince did not serve food. It seemed that he did not have the habit of eating snacks. It was too strange to send a food box to him for no reason. She could only wander around outside the kitchen. Fortunately, when she was on the third circle, Changzu came.
"How have you been lately?" Chang Zu initially thought that Xie Wangzhi was nothing special. She was only paying extra attention to Li Qishen's instructions. As time went by, he felt that this young lady was down-to-earth and could talk more. "It's been cold lately, my lady, be careful not to catch a cold. Do you have enough charcoal?"
"Yes, everything is fine." Since moving in, he didn't have to work, and the house was still burning silver charcoal. How could Xie Wangzhi dare to say anything bad? "Are you free now?"
Changzu was a little nervous: "What's wrong?"
"…Oh, nothing, it's not my business." Xie Wangzhi said quickly, "I want to ask you something."
"Ask." Chang Zu breathed a sigh of relief.
"I have been in Qingsi Palace for quite some time. It must be the Seventh Prince who sent someone to call me here."
Chang Zuxin said that he was not sending someone to call you, he was going there in person, he wished he could carry you here with his own hands, he looked at Xie Wangzhi: "Yes."
"... I'm from the Imperial Food Bureau, so I should be here to cook." Xie Wangzhi felt that Chang Zu's eyes were a little strange, but he couldn't tell what was strange. He pursed his lips and continued to say, "Well, I want to make some snacks and send them over now. But the Seventh Prince didn't send anyone to ask for the meal... Is that not good?"
"This..." Li Qishen was probably going to sneer at someone else sending him food, but the young lady in front of him was obviously not considered an "other person". Changzu thought for a moment and shook his head, "I think it's a good idea. Do you want to send some snacks to His Highness?"
"right."
"How about this. You do it first," Changzu said, "I'll go and tell His Highness for you."
Xie Wangzhi nodded: "Then what should I make? What does Your Highness like to eat?"
Chang Zu really couldn't answer this question. After serving Li Qishen for so many years, he couldn't tell what Li Qishen liked to eat, and he couldn't even figure out what he liked. Li Qishen looked like a bright young man, but no one dared to assert what was in his bones, otherwise the royal family wouldn't have avoided him like that, secretly saying that he was a lunatic.
"I dare not say anything about your highness's preferences." Chang Zu thought it would be better to let Xie Wangzhi think for himself, "Just think about what to eat in winter to warm your body... It probably won't go wrong."
He meant to make something hot. After all, it was not appropriate to eat Sushan in the middle of winter. However, Xie Wangzhi misunderstood and nodded seriously: "Okay, I understand. Then I'll do it."
"Okay." Chang Zu nodded, "Don't worry, take your time. His Highness hasn't returned to the palace yet."
Xie Wangzhi was about to leave, but when he heard this, he paused: "You said that... Where is His Highness?"
"At Princess Changning's residence. The princess is holding a banquet today and she insisted that he go. Oh, Mr. Cui is also there. I don't know when he will be back."
“I see.”
"Alas, we can't explain the things above clearly." Changzu waved his hand, "Just take your time."
Xie Wangzhi nodded, turned and walked into the kitchen, thinking about what to cook.
It should be eaten frequently in winter, preferably slightly hot, so that it can warm the body...
… I have it. Why not make a sweet soup and add a little more sugar according to the taste of His Highness the Seventh Prince
The author has something to say: Changsheng: …Take it away!!!
I went to get glasses today. I could have justified my lack of vision by saying that my pupils were dilated, but they didn't dilate my pupils during the eye test. They just put on astigmatism lenses (…) How could this doctor be so stupid (spitting smoke)? Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angel who cast [mines]: 1 Shanlu Yuan Wuyu;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [nutrient solution]:
28943347 10 bottles; Wanrong Qingzhu, Speech under the National Flag 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!