capital
The people gathered in front of the notice board in the city in twos and threes, and there was an imperial list that announced to the world:
"Fengtian Chengyun, the emperor's edict said: The eldest princess of the widow is Shushen, diligent and submissive, graceful and pure, gentle in nature, virtuous and virtuous; and the prince of Pingyang, Li Zhong, noble and frugal, Follow without delay, Ke Zuoyi, Duanhe, Dunmu Jiaren, especially the eldest princess and Li Zhongzi, have a good marriage, wait for the expiry of Queen Huiwenduan's rule, choose auspicious days to give gifts, Yuanding twenty-eighth year On the twelfth day of the twelfth month, I am here."
"Yo, the eldest princess is getting married! There hasn't been such a big happy event in the capital for a long time."
"Yeah, this year has been a very eventful year. First, the Empress Huiwenduan came first, then the King and Concubine of Chu was assassinated, and Concubine Wen Gui passed away. There has been no such happy event in Beijing for a long time."
"Although the imperial decree has been issued, there are still more than two years to be released. I heard that this eldest princess is the most favored by her majesty. "
"I have seen the prince of the Marquis of Pingyang, and he is suave and romantic, and you haven't heard of it? Some time ago, the prince of the Marquis of Pingyang accompanied the princess to the north to visit General Li Mu, maybe, just to report a happy event. Now, and when I came back, the prince was robbed by the robbers to protect the princess. After the princess was safe, the prince was killed by himself from the bandits' den, and the kidnappers were called a piece of armor! It's really a tiger! The father has no dog, do you still remember the Pingyang War? The Marquis of Pingyang became famous in the first battle, and I saw that the prince of the Marquis of Pingyang was even more brilliant, and he and Her Royal Highness the Princess are really a pair of beautiful people."
"What you said is so impressive. Could it be that you also participated in the kidnapping?"
"Bah, bah, I don't dare to say that, my third uncle is the royal horse of the Marquis of Pingyang..."
…
The heavy snow of goose feathers slowly floated down from the sky, and the snow stained the crown cap and turned into water stains.
The winter of leaving the country has come all the way from north to south. Finally, this imperial capital also ushered in the first heavy snow this winter, and the people around the royal list who are full of interest in "intercommunicating" royal "secrets" also because of this heavy snow In the end, the snowflakes fell finely, and their footprints were quickly covered up, leaving the sky and the earth a vast expanse of white…
Inner courtyard of the Imperial Palace · Miming Palace
The brazier in the main hall was burning red, and the swaying orange flames released warmth. The long palace dress was mopping the floor. Li Xian stood in front of the half-open window, casually resting her hands on the window rail, watching the goose feather-like snowflakes in front of her. , slowly covering the entire courtyard of the Unming Palace.
Xiaoci stood behind Li Xian, holding a red cloak with hundreds of butterflies and flowers in both hands, and said softly, "Your Highness, these few days are getting colder and colder. body."
However, she saw that Li Xian did not respond. She was still standing there, not knowing where the scenery outside the window was sucked in, and she did not move.
Seeing this, Xiaoci sighed faintly, shook off the cloak in her hand, and put it on Li Xian gently.
"What are you looking at, Your Highness?" Xiao Ci stood beside Li Xian, and looked out through the half-opened window, but found that it wasn't too surprising. He had lived in this Unming Palace for more than ten years, no matter how delicate he was. The scenery has long since faded.
"His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince has come down." The voice of the eunuch in charge came from outside the door.
Only then did Li Xian withdraw her gaze, and with a faint sigh, there was some helplessness between her brows, and she said softly, "Pearl is here, you lead him to the study to see me."
Just as Li Xian sat down in the study, Xiao Ci invited Li Zhu over.
Pushing open the door of the study, Li Zhu walked in, and Xiaoci wisely closed the door and turned to leave.
Li Zhu came in a hurry today. After getting off the Taixue, he went straight to the Weiming Palace. He didn't even change his uniform. At this time, he was still wearing the crown of the Crown Prince, and he was wearing a black dragon on his forehead. The prince's court dress, wearing a python and white fox armpit on the outside, with some snowflakes on it, even though the snowflakes turned into water when entering the room, but it did not touch the big coat at all, but condensed into droplets of plump and clear water droplets. Hanging on the tip of the hair, shaky.
Li Xian looked at Li Zhu quietly and suddenly realized that: I haven't seen each other for some time, her younger brother has grown a lot taller, and although the frozen red face is still a little immature, as the crown prince has become more and more imposing. thicker.
"Is this a gift from Qi Wangxiong?"
Li Zhu was slightly startled, but nodded anyway: "How does my sister know?"
Li Xian chuckled lightly and replied, "Brother Qi Wang has a heart. This snow fox is extremely precious, and only he has the most fiefs. If it were someone else, let alone a concubine, it would not be easy to make a shawl."
"elder sister!"
Li Zhu didn't seem to want to do this with Li Xian, so he interrupted Li Xian's words, stepped forward and looked at Li Xian with a very solemn expression on his face.
Seeing Li Zhu like this, a hint of helplessness flashed across Li Xian's brows. She calmed down, looked at her brother, and waited for him to continue.
Seeing Li Xian like this, Li Zhu hesitated a little, but she finally made up her mind, stepped forward again, and came directly to Li Xian's case, her small brows raised a puff, and said irritably, "Sister is going to marry. Li Zhong?"
"Father's imperial decree has been issued, why does Pearl ask for it knowingly?"
"But Gu heard that the father and the emperor gave the elder sister three candidates in total. Why did the elder sister choose him alone, from the King of Chu?"
Li Xian looked at her younger brother, listening to him keep calling himself "lonely", her mood was extremely complicated.
"Pearl doesn't like her sister marrying Li Zhong?"
"Of course!" Li Zhu raised her chest with a determined look.
"Pearl knows that the imperial decree has been issued, and there is absolutely no possibility of change?"
"This… "
"Pearl doesn't like her sister marrying him, is it because she doesn't like Li Zhong's person, or because he's from the King of Chu?"
Li Xian's tone was light from beginning to end, maintaining the same tone, as if he was talking about a trivial matter.
"This..." Li Zhu's high chest has collapsed unconsciously, and an embarrassed look flashed on her face.
But Li Xian didn't seem to see it, she smiled at Li Zhu as usual, and said calmly, "Pearl has grown up."
Hearing Li Xian's words, Li Zhu's expression froze, and she simply acted coquettishly towards her sister: "Pearl doesn't like Brother Chu Wang."
"I know."
"The Marquis of Pingyang and the Mansion of the King of Chu are on the same page. A few days ago, the father and the emperor gave the King of Chu the military power, and now he is open and aboveboard with his sister's idea. Pearl doesn't understand, why did so many young and talented sisters choose him?"
Li Zhu raised her eyes and met Li Xian's deep and smiling eyes. She immediately felt as though she had been seen through. Her heart tightened and she continued to say Ai Ai regularly, "Besides... Besides..."
"And what?"
Li Zhu looked at his sister and felt a little regretful in his heart, but he understood that it was useless to twiddle things up to this point, so he gritted his teeth and stomped his feet, as if sullenly said: "Besides, girls are outgoing, and when my sister is married, she is considered to be with her husband. Family name, even if my sister loves Pearl, I'm afraid it's mostly helpless."
After Li Xian heard this, she got up from her seat, bypassed the jade case and came to Li Zhu's side, stretched out her slender jade hand and gently placed it on Li Zhu's shoulder, and comforted her softly, "Pearl, elder sister wants you to remember, You will always be the closest person to your sister, and no one can replace you."
After all, Li Zhu was a child under nine years old, and it was very useful to get the comfort of her sister, her face immediately softened, and even her limbs were no longer tense and stiff.
Li Zhu snuggled into Li Xian's arms obediently, and let Li Xian gently pat his shoulder with her hand. The lost sense of security was finally found.
The siblings just stood there quietly, and the study was quiet.
After a while, Li Zhu slowly opened her mouth, as if she was coquettish and asked worriedly, "Why did my sister choose Li Zhong, can you really tell Zhu Er?"
Hearing this, Li Xian's heart was filled with a trace of sadness. After pondering for a long time, she finally answered softly, "Because my sister wants to stay in the capital and watch Pearl grow up."
"But... But if my sister wants to marry anyone, she can stay in this capital."
Li Xian smiled and didn't say a word. She would never tell Li Zhu that among the three, Li Zhong was the only one who had a soft spot for her, and it was because of this that what he would say in the future, that Everyone will agree, if you marry the other two, you will be constrained everywhere in the future...
This is the sadness of being a woman. Whether you are a folk woman or a princess of a country, after you get married, you will be more or less restricted by your husband. If you are a little careless, you will fall into the notoriety of stalking women and deceiving their husbands. For the sake of Li In the future of Zhu, she must not leave such a reputation.
But these words... Li Xian couldn't say anything about her own younger brother.
Li Xian caressed Li Zhu's shoulder gently, and said softly, "Pearl still remember what the queen mother said to Pearl before she died?"
"Remember, the mother asked Pearl to listen to her sister."
"Then don't ask again."
"Um."
After Li Xian comforted Li Zhu's uneasy young mind, she left Li Zhu to eat at the Weiming Palace.
After seeing Li Zhu away, Li Xian returned to the study with a cold face. She did not expect that someone would dare to reach out to the prince after only a few days away from the palace.
Li Xian took a piece of silk cloth, squinted her eyes and wrote a few lines, and ordered someone to send it out.
…
"Liguo Tongnian Zhi" is a chronicle, which is collected once a year. It mainly records the major events that happened in the Liguo Dynasty or the locality in the past year.
The last page of this "Li Guotong Nianzhi" in the 28th year of Yuanding records the last "big event" that happened in the 28th year of Yuanding: Yuanding 28th year· In winter, on December 28th, Taifu Ling Fengyue ate a bowl of steamed hog meat with flour at his home. He died of choking without checking it. He was forty-five years old. He read that he taught the prince that he had meritorious deeds, and he was specially given a burial with the honor of a Marquis of Wen. , his son was extremely filial and grief-stricken. On the day of his burial, he suddenly vomited blood and died.
This incident even became a topic of discussion for the common people after dinner in the twenty-eighth year of Yuanding: I heard that this Taifu likes meat and must eat a bowl of steamed pork every day, but I didn't expect that after eating for decades, he would end up choking to death. It can be regarded as a famous mansion, but in the blink of an eye, the family of three died, and they haven’t passed the New Year’s Eve. It’s really impermanent...