Prince Yu's capacity for alcohol is very good, he drank five or six out of ten of the jar of Junzhou aged wine buried under the plum blossom tree in Prince Rui's mansion, and he still didn't feel drunk at all. The banquet is facing a pool of fresh lotus, the cool breeze is blowing, and you are about to get drunk. Prince Rui chatted with Prince Yu about love affairs, talking about the kabuki trained by the prince, and the silk string troupe, Prince Yu never paid attention to this, and listened to his rambling talk, but occasionally struck up a conversation.
Prince Rui looked at Prince Yu's eyes, and suddenly said: "Lao Qi, why don't I be a matchmaker for you." Prince Yu happened to have a glass of wine in his throat, and he was almost choked when he heard the words, coughing loudly, and it took him a while to recover angry. Prince Rui laughed loudly and said, "You are a decent person, once you heard this, you immediately lost your mind."
"Sixth Brother, you were joking." Prince Yu looked at the young lotus in a lake with tender leaves like curls. He said calmly: "I really don't have that kind of mood."
Prince Rui nodded and said: "You are also busy - but there is no one at home, so it is not like a family. Alas, it is a pity that the young lady of the Ruan family has disappeared."
As soon as he talked about the pain in his heart, Prince Yu's face couldn't help but look a little gloomy, and Prince Rui suddenly became excited: "Young ministers in Beijing, there are many suitable daughter families, as long as you find someone, I will take care of them." Go make peace for you."
"Sixth Brother." Prince Yu's tone already had a hint of coldness, "I came here because I wanted to talk to Sixth Brother."
Prince Rui waved his hand, all the kabukis in the pavilion retreated instantly, Prince Yu raised his cup, and suddenly sighed: "Sixth Brother, the two of us haven't drank together for four or five years. "Prince Rui raised his brows slightly upward unconsciously, and he could barely see what kind of expression was fleeting in his deep eyes, and immediately the corner of his lips curled up into a faint smile: "Four years."
The last time they had a drink together, Prince Yu returned from conquering the falcon, and the crown prince was the host, inviting several princes to clean up for him. Now that the world has changed, that kind of situation will never happen again.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Although they were siblings, they were half-brothers. They were not close since childhood in the palace, but those prosperous times were always engraved in their memory at the same time, becoming a hazy iridescence , like the lightness of the wind and lotus rolled up under the moon, with the cool and fragrant water vapor, soaking silently in an instant. But this softness is also like the moonlight, and after several years, those pasts finally gradually fell apart in the ferocious years, and the waves washed them away, leaving only sharp debris, which eventually dried up into a fortitude like a copper wall and an iron wall.
The first quarter moon rising on the lake is like a half-shaped remnant, embedded in the dark blue silk sea-like night sky. And the thin and brittle colored glaze, reflected on the surface of the silvery lake, split the lake into countless tiny pieces of mercury, changing rapidly and flowing erratically.
Thousands of tiny silver lights seemed to be reflected in Prince Rui's eyes, which became more and more unpredictable, and his voice was as lazy as usual: "Just now you said you have something to tell me, but what is it?"
Prince Yu rubbed the wine glass with his fingers. The fine Khotan white jade was as greasy as mutton fat and warmed to the touch. The wine in the glass was like honey, with a faint fragrance. His voice was like the faint mist rising from the lake, with the freshness of water: "The Mu family has a family-passed brewing method called 'honey brewing', do you remember the sixth brother?"
It is said that the wine is brewed with nectar from flowers, it is extremely mellow in the mouth, but once it enters the throat, it is scorching hot, as if there is an extremely sharp knife that cuts through the throat all the way to the intestines. The Mu family has been wealthy for a century, and is good at food and drink. It is famous for its exclusive and secret home brewing. Prince Rui took a sip of the wine, and said: "Naturally, I remember that the method of Mu's honey brew is said to be passed down to sons but not to daughters. Now that Mu's family has no descendants, it is estimated that this honey brew will not be available in the future."
Prince Yu said indifferently: "Mu Yun is still alive and has fled into the territory of Qierwu." The princes of the Tian family are the most particular about self-cultivation. With a look of surprise, he just said thoughtfully: "Dinglan Pass is extremely dangerous, and it is known as the number one in the world. The city walls are more than ten feet long, and they cannot be crossed except by birds.
"Namuyun was picked up by someone who killed Xie and fled. The people who picked him up escorted him all the way. In Gongzhou, people from Dongying found his whereabouts and intercepted them. Six people were killed and three were injured. Although these three people were seriously injured, they did not wait to be questioned. Confession, immediately ate poison and committed suicide. These people are all well-trained dead soldiers. Gongzhou's intelligence came from the sixth day of the first day, and another letter was received on the seventh day of the first day. Dongying fought with him in Shuhe, and this time the opponent died Five of them were killed, among them was a dead man pretending to be Mu Yun, who was hit by three arrows and rode for more than 20 miles, leading away the pursuers. There were fights on the ninth, eleventh and twelfth day of the lunar new year, and Dongying was transferred to Fuzhou There was no success in the heavy encirclement and suppression. There were twenty-five dead soldiers on the other side, and only three of them could follow Mu Yun to Dinglan Pass. The four changed horses and galloped all the way to Dinglan Pass. Dressed up as spies, they used gold medals to command arrows to open the city gate, and then crossed the gate. The three led the pursuers away, and confronted Dongying for a day and two nights in the rock formations of Miluo Mountain. Finally, they shot all the arrows. Throwing stones to resist. When Dongying finally went up the mountain, it turned out that the three people had already taken poison, and the poison penetrated into their blood vessels. When they slashed down with a sword, the blood was as thick as the honey wine in this cup, slowly corroding along the edge of the sword. The blade." Prince Yu said unhurriedly, "If it wasn't for the other party's treasonous crime, I really admire these dead men."
Prince Rui frowned slightly as if affected by the bloody scene, and took a sip of his wine.
Prince Yu sighed silently: "Twenty-five lives were exchanged for Mu Yun's escape. I just don't know what the intentions of this envoy are. Mu's family has commanded troops for many years, and they have all the essentials in the art of war. The Celestial Dynasty has been on the border for many years, and Mu Yun fled into its territory. If he colludes with him, one day it will become a serious problem for our country and society.
Prince Rui said casually: "Since even the Dongying elite trained by the seventh brother can't stop this person, this person probably deserves to die."
Prince Yu smiled indifferently, and asked back: "Could it be that Sixth Brother is actually a person who believes in the destiny?"
Prince Rui laughed, and said: "The destiny is like this, what if you don't believe it?" He casually stretched out his hand to hold the pot, and raised his voice to call out, "Come on, the wine is cold, warm it up again, and change it to a big cup, today I want to have a drink with my seventh brother one time."
Prince Yu got up and said, "Thank you for the good wine, my brother is too strong to drink, and I'm already drunk. I can only get the gift from my brother another day, and I will confess my crime to my brother today. My brother still has some miscellaneous matters, so I have to ask my brother first. Retire." Prince Rui didn't want to persuade him to stay, and sent him out.
After Prince Rui returned to the water pavilion, he dismissed the crowd, picked up the jug himself, poured a cup of the cold wine, and drank it slowly. After a long time, he seemed to be talking to himself: "What's the meaning of Lao Qi's move to shake the mountain and shake the tiger?" ?”
Meng Xingzhi walked out silently from behind the purple gauze screen with red sandalwood painted with gold and painted landscape figures, and said: "My lord, the word 'knock on the mountain and shake the tiger' is very good. In my humble opinion, this Prince Yu came here for Knocking the mountain and shaking the tiger, he obviously suspected that the prince sent someone to rescue Mu Yun, so he told the prince the matter, which meant that he already knew the behavior of the prince, and warned the prince not to act rashly."
Prince Rui was silent for a while, but Meng Xingzhi said: "I would like to congratulate the lord." Prince Rui's eyes flickered, and Meng Xingzhi said, "Prince Yu intends to frighten the lord so that he can restrain himself. Since he suddenly has this If you do it, it means that the lord is doing the right thing." Prince Rui said: "This person is loyal to the fourth child, he must have some scruples, so he came to warn me, it seems that he should also know that tactic Killing is due to my arrangement."
Meng Xingzhi smiled and said: "What's the use of knowing? The reason why you kill is because you know it's an extremely sharp blade, but the other party has no choice but to meet you with your body." His voice was extremely soft, but The words fell into my ears, "My lord, the death of Concubine Mu will not be in vain."
Late at night, the dew is heavy, the moonlight is getting clearer, the Qinghua is like water, and the clothes of the people are like frost and snow. Prince Rui drank too much and felt drunk. Outside the jade railing is a circle of peonies, the world is full of fragrance in April, and the flowers outside the railing are already half-bloomed, one petal was blown by the night wind, and it happened to fall on his sleeve, and he stretched out his hand to pick it up. She always loves hairpin peony. There is a kind of peony flower called "Golden Thread Silver Snow". The pure white petals are sprinkled with gold threads, and the hairpin is very delicate and beautiful when it is placed in the hair like a pile of black clouds.
"Sixth Brother." She had called him that way since she was a child, her face was almost bloodless, and she just said, "I'll go." These two words, which were very light, came out of her lips, but they seemed to be extremely heavy. In an instant, he was almost unable to breathe. Instinctively, she turned her face to the side, only to see a peony blooming on her temple with cicada wings, blooming like her former smile.
That sentence is so cruel, but I have to ask: "You go? Do you know what the future is?"
There was a faint smile on her face: "I know, but for Sixth Brother, I am willing. I know that Sixth Brother has no capable people around Prince Yi, and it is a rare opportunity for him to propose marriage now."
When she was fifteen years old, she was only twelve years old, and he took her out of the Mu Mansion to see the peony flower festival in Daming Temple. She wore a green dress and tied her hair, pretending to be her servant, and came out of the middle door. Her heart was beating fast and fast, until she got on the horse, and she suddenly leaned on the saddle and laughed loudly. Angry again, she called her by her baby name, and asked: "Linyue, what are you laughing at?" She turned around on her horse, and got so close that the tickle was right under her ear, her breath was blue, and her voice had an indescribable sound. The voice is clear and sweet: "Sixth brother, so you are more scared than me."
He snorted and turned his face away. In fact, he was not afraid, but worried. The Mu family has the strictest family upbringing. Although I treat Mu Dajun as a disciple, I am a prince after all. If something goes wrong, Mu Dajun will not punish him too much, but I am afraid that she will be severely punished by his father. The half-grown boy didn't want to say such things to others. He just put on a straight face, pretending to be an old man, and said, "Anyway, I'm not afraid."
Mu Linyue made a grimace, there was still childishness in her brows, she could vaguely see the sweetness of the young girl, and when she looked back and smiled, her eyes were full of waves, as if intoxicating. He blurted out, "You can't smile anymore." She had long eyelashes flickering like butterfly wings, and asked, "Why?" He said, "When you smile, people will see that you are a girl." She Said: "Then I won't laugh anymore." After saying a word, she couldn't help smiling, with a dimple on her left cheek, infinitely charming. He had no choice but to say with a stern face: "If people find out that you are a girl, they will hurt me, so I won't take you with me." As he said this, he wanted to raise his hand and whip his horse, but she hurriedly grabbed his shirt Sleeve, said repeatedly: "Sixth Brother, Sixth Brother, I just stop laughing."
Daming Temple is full of pilgrims, crowds of people, attendees, those who burn incense, those who sell incense watches, those who sell food, those who hire sedan chairs, those who drive donkeys... The noise is like frying pans, her eyes are as bright as paint, novelty I can't wait to look forward to it. Afraid of being separated from her by the crowd, he repeatedly told her to pull his sleeves, and they squeezed into the temple, sweating profusely. There were more people in the hall, and the golden statues were dignified. Countless people prostrated themselves and bowed down piously. The incense sticks in the tripod in front of the Buddha are piled up like a mountain, and the flames are raging, countless cigarettes are rising up, so that people can hardly even open their eyes. Through the lingering incense, she asked curiously, "Sixth brother, what are they asking for?"
In fact, he didn't know, so he answered her casually: "Pray for wealth and blessings, always ask for things they don't have."
Her eyes are so bright, as if there are stars shining: "Then I don't need to ask, I have everything. I have a father who loves me, and my brothers, and you."
Hearing her mentioning herself and her relatives together, he felt a strange feeling in his heart, but he said: "If I hadn't brought you here, you wouldn't have spoken so nicely. Let's go see Shaoyao."
The peonies of Daming Temple have enjoyed a long-standing reputation, and the peony flower festivals over the years have been even more prosperous in Xichangjing. People in Tongcheng just went to the temple to play in the name of looking at the flowers, in fact, they meant to go to the temple fair. Those who really go to see Shaoyao, apart from scholars and literati, are those who have read a few volumes of books and are bent on being arty and refined. They went straight to the back of the temple, and as they walked, the number of tourists gradually decreased, but they were stopped by the monks in the temple when they reached the outside of the peony garden. Dao is the female family member of the richest man in the city, the Lu family, who came to enjoy the flowers today, so all the idlers and others were excluded.
Dingzhan was made a prince at the age of nine, and since he was a child, his father loved him very much. For more than ten years, he has never been called a "idle person". Immediately annoyed. But after thinking about it, these monks are stupid, if they do something, although they may not suffer, but it will be difficult to protect them. What's more, he and she sneaked out, if it really broke out, it would not be a good thing if someone found out their identities.
Mu Linyue was also afraid that he would get angry, so she tugged on his sleeve lightly, and said, "Sixth Brother, let's not force our way in."
Through the betel nut eyes on the flower wall, it can be seen that the flowers in the garden are as prosperous as the sea, as brocade as brocade. Going back at this point is really not reconciled, he changed his mind, and immediately he was concerned, he obediently agreed, turned around and left with her. After walking a long distance, looking around, seeing no one was paying attention, he said, "Come with me!" The two of them walked along the wall and walked to a secluded place behind the mountain house. This is the end of the flower garden, few people come here, there is a huge old elm tree outside the wall, thick enough to embrace, with slanted branches and green leaves. He turned his head and asked Mu Linyue: "Can you climb a tree? Otherwise, I'll carry you up."
Mu Linyue already understood what he meant, and only thought this matter was very interesting, so she was already eager to try it: "Don't underestimate people, General Mu's daughter, don't talk about climbing trees, she can also go to the battlefield to kill the enemy." He rolled up his sleeves, revealing a frosty wrist, and a white jade bracelet was wrapped around that wrist. The skin color and jade color were so white that it was almost impossible to tell which was the wrist and which was the jade bracelet. She changed into men's clothes, but she forgot to take off the bracelet, and only realized it when she rolled up her sleeves. "Oops" and said: "Grandma gave it to me, don't break it." He took off the bracelet and tucked it into his belt. She was light and nimble, and sure enough, she climbed up the pagoda tree, sat on a branch, and beckoned Ding Zhan, "Sixth brother!"
Ding Zhan's movements are even more neat, with his left foot kicking lightly on the locust tree, his right hand has already grabbed a branch, he bounced up with his strength, and landed on the horizontal branch lightly and delicately. Mu Linyue couldn't help clapping her hands and applauding: "Sixth brother's 'small hands' move is even more beautiful than big brother Shi." Ding Zhan raised his index finger and hissed on his lips. Mu Linyue felt that she had forgotten her feelings, but luckily no one heard her. Ding Zhan jumped off the wall first, and when he stood still, he turned around and opened his arms to her. Mu Linyue smiled and said, "Catch it, don't fall to me." Like a swallow, he fell from the top of the wall, who knows The branch caught her hat, and she jumped down, letting her long hair fall like a waterfall in the wind. Although she was brave enough to jump off such a high wall, she was still a little scared in the end, and she couldn't help closing her eyes. Ding Zhan only felt a strong impact, but he hugged her tightly and didn't let go. He took several steps back, and finally hugged her with a "gudong" and sat down among the peony bushes. Green, purple, and yellow peony flowers are as gorgeous as brocade embroidery, clustered in clusters, and countless flowers and leaves rush up, trapping them deep in the soft flower sea. In the eyes of a dazzling color, I can only see her face close at hand, like a white peony in full bloom, so clear and beautiful, with hair flowing like clouds. Her breath was fragrant and sweet, and he could almost hear his own heart beating, thumping. Her eyes are so crystal clear, like two pills of the fullest black mercury. Extremely far and extremely high is the blue sky, a cloud is slowly passing by, and there seems to be a cloud in her eyes, with an indescribable haze, he doesn't know that she should let go, her hair scratches her face and itches Yes, I couldn't help but sneezed two extremely loud sneezes.
These two sneezes were broken, and immediately someone shouted and asked, "Who is there?"
The two children who were already guilty and pampered had never experienced such a situation. Mu Linyue panicked: "Go! Go!" Ding Zhan was also afraid of being caught, so he hurriedly said, "I'll push you up the wall, you go first." He squatted down and let her step on his lap, and then climbed up on him. shoulders, pushing her against the wall. Mu Linyue saw three or four monks coming this way from afar on the top of the wall, and she was very anxious, and shouted: "Brother Six, go!" Ding Zhanwan leaned over and folded two peony flowers in his busy schedule, and held them in his mouth , rushed forward, took advantage of the momentum to kick two steps on the wall, and jumped onto the top of the wall. The two slipped down the big tree, Ding Zhan took her hand and ran all the way.
The two ran out of the temple gate in one breath, but they saw a sea of people in front of the temple, they couldn't move, they just stopped, Mu Linyue was dragged by him and ran all the way, at this moment, she was only gasping for breath, and couldn't even straighten her waist. Tired, angry and funny, Ding Zhan handed two peonies to her and said, "It's really not worth it just for these two flowers." Looking around, she pulled out the brocade handkerchief in her sleeve and said, "Quickly tie up your hair." Mu Linyue took the brocade handkerchief, tied up her long hair again, picked up the two flowers, and sniffed. Sniffing the stamens, he sighed sadly: "Such a beautiful flower doesn't smell fragrant at all. It can be seen that everything in the world is unsatisfactory." Ding Zhan said: "What a child, some flowers are fragrant, and some flowers are not fragrant. What does it have to do with the success or failure of the world?" Mu Linyue smiled sweetly, and her smile was actually more beautiful than the flowers between her fingers. Ding Zhan didn't dare to look any further, and said, "Let's go." He went out with her to find the horse, and got on the horse to go back to Mu's residence.
It was dusk when she returned home, she quietly slipped into the second gate, Jin Xiang, the girl who met her, was already in a hurry, seeing her coming in, she hurriedly supported her, and said: "Madam has asked me several times, but I can't hide it anymore. " Linyue was about to follow her, when she suddenly remembered something, reached out to touch her belt, and said in a voiceless voice: "My bracelet is missing." Ding Zhan had already walked several steps away, when he heard her say this, he turned around and saw her. Her face was pale, and she guessed that she might have landed in Daming Temple, so she comforted her: "It doesn't matter, I will look for it for you."
After a few days, I finally had the opportunity to see her, and told her while she was not prepared: "I went to the flower garden to search for it twice, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it was left on the road, and it may not be picked up by someone."
She replied in a low voice: "I didn't find it—that's all." But there was a look in her eyes that was rare for a little girl, which made people feel infinitely melancholy.