Jade Moon

Chapter 11: Xia Ling [10]

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When did the little girl who grabbed his sleeve grow up

That day when he and Mu Yuan were competing in the shooting garden in the back garden, he saw her from afar accompanied by Jin Xiang on the bridge, wearing a light yellow single shirt, like the most gentle touch of spring on the soft willows in February, When it hit the eyelids, it was so delicate that it made people feel a little distressed. After Jiji, the chances of meeting him were almost gone, so when they bumped into each other by chance like this, they saluted respectfully: "I met Sixth Brother."

As usual, she held a white fan painted with ink and wash landscapes in her hand, which covered most of her face, revealing a peony with a slanted hairpin on her temples. The petals were delicate and beautiful, trembling slightly in the spring breeze, making her bright eyes still as vivid as in her memory. The eye waves are full of circles, as if the spring breeze blows infinite ripples. He just felt his heart thumping, and there was an endless surge of emotion in the world, which melted into her eyes.

He poured another glass of wine for himself, drank it slowly, the sky was full of moonlight like water, and he saw his figure in the pavilion reflected on the red pulu, lonely and desolate.

He turned his face away, with a smile on his face, and said to Meng Xingzhi: "Since Lao Qi is already afraid of that move, this king will simply let him go."

Meng Xingzhi said: "My lord, you don't have to be in a hurry, it's not good to lose your composure."

He still had that lazy and lazy smile on his face: "We can hold our breath, but some people may not be able to hold our breath."

The Emperor's Longevity Day is on May 15th, and because the system is still in place, all celebrations are kept simple. Even so, the director of ceremonies was already very busy in April, preparing banquets and other matters. In the huge palace, where to receive banquets, where to sing and dance, and where to travel, everything must be done. After arranging them one by one, I was so busy that I turned my back on my back. Unexpectedly, as soon as May entered, the emperor suddenly changed his mind and wanted to visit Donghuajing in advance to celebrate the Longevity Festival in Donghuajing.

Because of the hot summer in Beijing, the emperors of all dynasties were lucky to escape the summer heat in the summer palace in Donghuajing every June, and returned to Luanxi Changjing in early autumn. The emperor always liked the cold and feared the heat, and he thought it was because he was afraid of the heat on the road in June, so he moved the summer vacation day forward by one month. Now it was time for Prince Yu to be anxious, because he was stationed in command. The ten-day journey to Donghuajing has always been a long journey, and the palace family members take a boat along the Dongjiang River. Hundreds of civil and military officials, and the imperial camp of the internal guards, thousands of retinues, there are post stations along the way. The palaces, roads, bridges, and sittings everywhere need to be surveyed and arranged, and the police must be arranged.

"The time is too short, I'm afraid it will be difficult to prepare, my brother, please think twice." When the imperial prelude was right, Prince Yu said, "Your Majesty must be safe and sound."

The emperor was very stubborn for some reason, he said: "I'm going on horseback, so it's faster." After a pause, he said, "It's okay for the family members to take the boat." Prince Yu hesitated for a moment, and the emperor said again: "I mean It has been decided." Prince Yu had no choice but to bow down to receive the order, and when he was able to withdraw, he immediately ordered people to find Cheng Yuan. Cheng Yuan is the most careless when he is on errand, seeing him far away, he bowed down and said in his mouth: "My lord, Wanan." The status of the relatives is noble, above all the officials, even the chief assistant has to bow down, not to mention the imperial lord. The name is a small internal official. Prince Yu ordered: "Get up." Cheng Yuan hurriedly said: "Thank you for your kindness." He put his hand on Prince Yu's elbow, helped him sit down on the stone bench under the tree, and said, "If you have anything to do, just Just ask someone to come and give orders to your servants." He also ordered someone to brew a new cup of tea and serve it to Prince Yu himself.

Prince Yu just now had a lot of things to do in the imperial prelude, complicated and troublesome, now sitting under the lush green shade, with the breeze blowing between the skirts of his robes, it was very cool, he felt refreshed, and took another sip of the tea , I just felt full of saliva, and couldn't help saying: "Sure enough, I can serve people, and I'm not in vain who was trained by Lao Zhao." Cheng Yuan smiled and said: "It's cultivated by the prince on weekdays." Prince Yu said: "I'm fine. I just want to ask you, is your Majesty still quiet these days?" What kind of person Cheng Yuan is, he laughed immediately: "Your Majesty's words can't be understood by servants."

Prince Yu's smile faded, and he said coldly: "Even your master doesn't dare to put on a show in front of me, do you dare to try it?" Cheng Yuan said anxiously: "I don't dare, my servant has the courage to not Dare to fool the lord. It was the master who didn't allow it to be said outside, but the servants in front of the lord would never dare to hide it—" He lowered his voice, "Long live Lord and Miss Mu these days seem to be not quite right."

Prince Yu let out an "oh" and asked, "What is it for?"

Cheng Yuan thought for a while, and said: "I don't know what's going on, this slave and maid. If you say something disrespectful, it seems that Miss Mu is not very happy, so she gives Long Live a face." This sentence is incredible, I'm afraid Since the beginning of the dynasty, no concubine dared to show the emperor's face, let alone a court lady with an ambiguous identity. However, Prince Yu recalled that when she caught a glimpse that day, her whole body was carved like ice jade, with a faint sense of arrogance and domineering, clearly not paying attention to everything in the world. When he said that she dared to be arrogant and arrogant, he believed it somewhat.

Cheng Yuan said: "Long live Lord has nothing to say to Miss Mu, give him what he wants. It's a pity that Miss Mu has a bad temper, and she has been making troubles these days. Lord Long Live is angry and loses his temper when he sees her. Don’t lose your temper any more.” He said with a sad face, “Not to mention the slaves, even the master is worried.”

So it turned out that Prince Yu was worried, but he didn't show it on his face, he only asked: "Then this time around Donghuajing, is she following her?"

Cheng Yuan said: "I don't know." Then he added, "When Miss Mu is mentioned, the emperor will lose face. The master ordered not to make the Lord Long Live angry, so none of the slaves dared to ask."

In this way, it lasted until the third day of May, and he was about to leave on the second day. Seeing that Zhao Youzhi couldn't make it through, when he was waiting for the emperor to change his clothes at night, Fang bit the bullet and asked: "I'm going to drive tomorrow, are the servants all ready?" Follow me to serve the Lord Long Live?" The emperor has been grumpy recently, so he glanced at him lightly and said, "I see that you are tired of doing this job."

Zhao Youzhi has often been blamed these few days, but he is an internal official who has embraced the emperor since he was a child. After seeing the emperor's temper, he quickly said respectfully: "Slaves should die." ?” The emperor said: “An insignificant person let her take the boat.” Zhao Youzhi was obviously a little bit angry, but Zhao Youzhi was secretly amused, and respectfully answered “Yes”.

It had been half a day since the emperor set sail before the fleet of palace family members weighed anchor from Shangyuan Wharf. The mighty boats are connected with each other, countless Jinfanlou ships are connected end to end, mixed with large and small internal officials and ships guarding the imperial camp, winding for more than ten miles, slowly going down the East River, quite spectacular. In early summer, the water is full, the river is wide, and the boat travels very smoothly. Weeping willows on the green embankments on both sides of the bank, the houses in the distant ruins, and the outline of the green willow village nearby are like an endless scroll, slowly laid out outside the cabin window.

Rushuang is not a concubine, so she is not qualified to use a boat alone, but the head of the inner palace still treats her differently, and allocates a large boat to take her with her. The two maids she was used to were originally from the imperial court, and they all left with the king early this morning, so Concubine Hua temporarily assigned two maids to take care of them on the boat here. Rushuang got up very early today, she was able to get on the boat, the boat sailed smoothly, and she was tired in the afternoon, so she had a good sleep in the cabin, by the time she woke up, the sun had already set to the west.

Without calling anyone, she took a fan with lacquer gold and peony patterns on the cover, and used an ivory handle with apricot-colored tassels to lift the fan handle. She pushed aside the gauze curtain on the cabin window and looked out of the window. But seeing the afterglow reflected on the surface of the river, like ten thousand golden snakes dancing wildly, the sparkle is dazzling. There are building boats going down one by one from the beginning to the end, and countless slanting brocade sails meet the setting sun, which is gorgeous and dazzling. The embankment is like a winding emerald belt, and the weeping willows are embroidered with delicate patterns, slowly retreating from the front of the eye, making people dizzy if you look at it for a long time.

"So the girl is awake."

Rushuang lazily looked back at the crisp voice, it turned out to be one of the two maids temporarily assigned to the ship, named Jian'er. Jian'er was very attentive and said: "I'll fetch a basin of water so that the girl's face can be evened out again." The meticulously painted eyebrows gradually became clear in the makeup mirror. Back and forth, boasting: "Girl's hair is really nice, so dark, and so thick." When I was at home, it was usually Xiaohuan's job to comb my hair. Every time I finished combing, I always held up the hand mirror and reflected it in the makeup mirror. Let her see for herself.

There is a little water and light reflected in the mirror, and a red gold phoenix hairpin is inserted between the hair as thick as a dark cloud. The phoenix has nine tails, and each tail is decorated with pearls, and the bottom is decorated with golden beads. The fine golden beads are rustling on the sideburns swaying. After looking at it for a long time, I feel dizzy as if I was seasick just now. There are two large boxes of red sandalwood and Luodian in her hand, which are full of pearls and emeralds. After entering the palace, she once liked these things very much. The emperor ordered the inner treasury to search all the essence and send them to her. . At this time, she opened the box, picked up a pearl the size of a longan, and looked at it in the dim light of the cabin at dusk. Jian'er boasted: "This pearl is really good. Even though I have served the imperial concubine, I have never seen such a big and round pearl."

Rushuang didn't say a word, she raised her hand lightly, before Jian'er exclaimed, she watched helplessly that she had thrown the pearl out of the window, and Jian'er went to grab it with her body, but she couldn't get it. There was only a soft sound of "dong", and the pearl had already fallen into the river, but seeing the surging blue waves, a little white pearl light sank quickly, and disappeared in an instant. Such rare treasures are rare in the palace, who would have thought that she would throw away waste like this without hesitation. Jian'er was so frightened that he didn't even dare to say anything. Rushuang casually picked up some of the glittering pearls in the box, and casually picked up a jade pendant, the jade was white and flawless, exquisitely engraved, and tied with two concentric ribbons underneath. Jian'er was afraid that she would throw her into the river again, so he hurriedly closed the window. Seeing her close the window, Rushuang didn't say a word, played with the jade pendant in her hand for a while, then suddenly stretched out her hand and said, "This is for you."

It was the first time that Jian'er heard her speak since boarding the ship, her voice was rough and unpleasant, she gave Jian'er a jump, and after a while she quickly apologized and said with a smile: "Thank you for the reward, such a valuable thing, slaves dare not accept it. "

Rushuang stared at her steadily for a while, and finally spit out two words: "Open the window." Jian'er was startled again, and hurriedly said: "Girl, girl, I will accept it." Give a salute, "Thank you, Miss Mu."

Rushuang also looked dispensable, got up and walked to the window, through the gauze curtain, you can see a horse team galloping on the embankment from a distance, it is the imperial army under the command, galloping here from the sidewalk exchange messages. Jian'er saw that she was staring at the imperial cavalry on the river bank in a daze, and smiled apologetically, "I don't know how fast the driver is going. How many stops have we reached? But the palace family members are all on board." Rushuang didn't bother to answer her, especially the last sentence. Superfluous, holding a fan against his chin, just counting the distance silently. Every 12 li is a station, and each station has a place for sharpening. Every 50 li, there is another palace. Thousands of civil and military officials and imperial battalion officers and soldiers surrounded the big chariot, and they were mighty and full of ceremonial staff, and they could only travel tens of miles a day. I'm afraid I can only rush to Lechang Palace to stay before dark tonight.

Although the boat travels smoothly, the river turns round and round, which is much farther than the detour. Fortunately, the buildings and boats are comfortable. At night, the boats are moored and connected end to end to form a palace, and the palace family members all sleep on the boat. Seeing that the sky was getting dark, the leading ship lowered its sails first, hung a string of bright lights on the mast, and then blew the horn. The sound was extremely muffled but could be heard for several miles. Then a ship behind also blew its horn, and the sound was passed on to the rear, and the small boat of the imperial camp rowed to the rear to take care of it. Countless iron chains were thrown out, and the iron chains at the bow of the boat were hooked to the iron bolts at the stern of the front boat, and then put on the springboard, and each boat was connected together like this. As the night darkened, the lights in the cabins of each ship gradually brightened up, like a dragon of lights, lying quietly on the water. From a distance, I can see the bright lights in the buildings and boats, just like the clear Qionglou Yuyu, each floor is full of bright lights, reflected on the river, like countless meteors passing through the water, the stream is shining, and there are court ladies and officials. As the lantern passed slowly on the springboard, the star was a huge star, which suddenly crossed the dazzling star curtain, and was shattered by the wind into thousands of finer stars, which jumped and flowed on the top of the waves.

Rushuang had slept for a long time after noon, and was not tired at this time. On both sides of the embankment, countless stars gradually dispersed, and some of them meandered into a long dragon of torches. It was the imperial camp for night watch, and the way for people to come and go. Calling soldiers, the rumble of hoofbeats was mixed with the crisp sound of luan bells, which could be heard very clearly in the quiet night of the wilderness.

Jian'er and another court lady, Li'er, tidied up the bed, unfolded the thin quilt, put down the smoke-colored shark gauze tent for her, took the fan and drove the tent carefully to make sure there were no bugs or mosquitoes, so they could tuck it in. Going out of the tent, she said to Rushuang: "Miss must be tired today, besides, it's already up, the night on the river is cool and windy, so you should rest earlier."

Rushuang was trying her best to distinguish the ringing of Luan's bell from the clutter of hoofbeats, and she was in a daze. Qian'er had heard that she had a weird temper, so she didn't dare to say any more, so she turned on the light for her, and she and Li'er retreated to the outer cabin silently up. Rushuang heard the ringing of the luan's bell gradually approaching, the ringing sound was clear and distant, no matter how far away it was, it could be heard clearly, only the ringing of the luan's ring made of purple gold had such a crisp sound. Her mind turned like a wheel, turning over several thoughts in an instant, hearing the luan bell approaching gradually, she was clearly on the embankment not far from her own boat, she made up her mind, and blew out the light with a "chi" , but did not move, sitting quietly by the table.

There is no moon this night, but the sky is full of good stars. Through the silk veil on the window, the starlight is dimly reflected in the cabin, and everything is outlined in the hazy darkness. The tall one is the cabinet, and the short one is the table. On the table at hand is a thin white porcelain vase, which holds clean water for several branches of willows, which she casually folded at the pier before boarding the boat. The elegant breath of the willow leaves, together with the incense in his sleeves, was almost too faint to be smelled. But bathed in such a night, everything became soft and clear, and the sensitive and untouchable thoughts in my heart floated up clearly one by one. Where to go, it's not something she can decide. In the wilderness, the starry sky is thousands of miles away, the sound of the waves under the ship is swallowed lightly, and all human voices are out of reach. Suddenly, it fluttered, like flimsy butterfly wings fluttering. The painful and bloody panic in the past finally retreated for a moment.

At the moment when she lost her mind, a tall figure suddenly flickered outside the window, it was clearly the figure of a man. The internal officer should have a crown, but the figure outside was clearly reflected on the window paper. This person did not have a crown. After thinking about it, she immediately opened her mouth and shouted: "Come on, there are..."