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Yuan Cixian turned her head when she heard the noise and smiled when she saw him: "The master is here!"
Lu Shiqing avoided looking at her, and nodded and lowered his eyes as usual, saying: "Xu greets the county lady."
She waved her hand to indicate that there was no need to be polite, and held up a rosewood bird cage inlaid with gold threads in front of the window for him to see: "Do you think it looks good, sir?"
He took a look and asked, "Are you asking about the bird or the cage?"
Yuan Cixian smiled coquettishly: "It seems that you think that the bird and the cage are equally beautiful and equally ugly."
"Yes. Xu thought the bird cage looked good, but the bird wasn't."
"Why?"
"Because the bird is in the cage."
"Sir, you are really a man of temperament. Birds locked in cages lose their vitality and are naturally inferior to those outside." Yuan Cixian opened the cage door, glanced at the thrush still staying inside and said, "You see, it has been in the cage for too long, and even if I want to let it go, it won't leave.
Lu Shiqing said "yes".
She handed the bird cage to the maids and asked them to take it away. She gestured to him to sit across from the chess table and said, "I don't like raising birds, so I asked my brother to buy me one because I wanted to see if an ordinary thrush is easy to raise."
Lu Shiqing seemed to understand something: "The county lady is wondering why the thrush that the Sixth Prince gave to your brother died within a few days."
She smiled and said, "Nothing can be hidden from you, sir."
He explained, "That thrush bird has been specially trained to send messages through its calls. Your Highness did not fully trust your brother at first, so although he delivered the message, he also fed the bird with poison to avoid any evidence."
Yuan Cixian seemed very satisfied with his honesty and nodded, saying, "It is much safer to use the thrush to deliver messages by voice than by parrots. Later, the master asked my brother to mention this bird in the letter he sent to southern Yunnan, deliberately letting the spies of the saint see it, so as to dispel his doubts. It is really wonderful."
Lu Shiqing was silent for a moment, then imitated her previous words and said, "Nothing can be hidden from the county lady."
She smiled faintly and called two chess boys over: "Let's not talk about this anymore. I invited you here to watch the game of chess."
"What kind of chess game would you like to watch?"
She pondered for a while and said, "Sir, do you still remember the game of chess in Xunyang where we defeated Mr. Xu? My father is obsessed with chess and once spent a lot of money to get the chess record of that game, but he only met some charlatans."
Lu Shiqing said with a smile: "It happened twelve years ago. On that day, Xu and Mr. Xu met by chance at the head of Xunyang River. On a whim, they wanted to play a game, but they had no chess pieces, so they decided the winner by oral method. Naturally, there is no chess record left."
Yuan Cixian suddenly realized: "No wonder."
"Since the county lady wants to see it, I will tell you orally again. If your father needs it, you can draw it into a chess record for him."
"Will this not break the rules, sir?"
He chuckled, "Xu has no rules."
Two chess boys came forward, each holding a chess pot in his hand. According to Lu Shiqing's instructions, one played the black piece and the other played the white piece.
"From the east five to the south nine, from the east five to the south twelve, from the west eight to the south ten, from the west nine to the south ten..."
It was quiet, people were talking in low and gentle voices, and the sound of chess pieces falling was crisp and clear. Yuan Cixian felt a tingling sensation in her heart, as if she was being brushed by fine grass. She seemed to be looking at the chessboard with her eyes downcast, but her mind was wandering somewhere else.
The Xunyang River must be very beautiful, she suddenly thought.
There are willow banks with spring breeze, young men full of vigor and vitality and old men with white beards and long eyebrows, and peerless chess manuals that have not been sung by the world. The only thing is that there is no intrigue and deception in the imperial city, just like the southern Yunnan that she loves so much.
Just as she was lost in thought, she suddenly heard someone calling her, "County Lady?"
She came back to her senses in an instant, and seeing that the chessboard was already filled with densely packed pieces, she hurriedly said, "I'm here."
Lu Shiqing didn't seem to understand the flash of longing in her eyes, and asked, "Xu has made the decisive move. Do you want to try to solve this chess game?"
She did not answer for a moment, and asked the chess boy and the servants to leave. Then she asked, "Sir, is the landscape in Xunyang beautiful?"
Lu Shiqing was slightly stunned and said, "It looks good."
"When you were there, what did you do in your spare time?"
"Fishing."
Yuan Cixian smiled and said, "Then why did you come to Chang'an? Even the fish and shrimp here are more cunning than elsewhere, and it is difficult to catch them."
Lu Shiqing was silent for a long time before he said, "The world is turbid and it is difficult to be pure. The county lady thinks, if one day the mountain in Chang'an collapses and the water dries up, what will happen to Xunyang?"
"There will no longer be any fish or shrimp in Xunyang."
He nodded. “That’s why I came.”
"You wanted to save the fish and shrimp in Xunyang, but why did you choose the Sixth Prince?"
"When the prince came to look for me, I asked him three questions. The first question was why he came. He answered for the world. The second question was that the world was in the hands of the saints, so what did he, an unfavored bastard prince, have to do with it? He said, 'Father likes to exercise power, but power can cure father's heart disease, but it can't cure father's world. I want to make the rotten wood in the world rejuvenate, the dead grass regenerate, the talented and ambitious people have their talents to be used, the people have happiness to enjoy, and all the countries in the eight directions congratulate our great Zhou for its prosperity, but they dare not go beyond the line.'"
Yuan Cixian's eyes flickered, and she blinked very slowly: "What about the third question?"
"Xu asked him, if he were to gain control of the world one day, how would he rule it? If it wasn't political tactics, then would it be bows and horses, or gold, silver, and money?"
"How does your highness answer?"
"Virtue educates the people, justice treats scholars, propriety stabilizes the country, law governs the country, military power controls the four regions, and benevolence cultivates the world."
Yuan Cixian was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "Sir, how do you know that what His Highness said is not empty talk?"
Lu Shiqing also seemed to smile: "Words are empty. Xu listens to empty words with his ears and sees the facts with his eyes."
She curled the corners of her mouth, lowered her head and stopped talking.
Seeing this, Lu Shiqing lowered his eyes and changed the subject: "Is the county lady still watching chess?"
"Of course." She glanced at the chessboard. "You just asked me if I wanted to try to solve this decisive move... If I solve it, will there be a reward?"
Lu Shiqing suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart. But he knew that she couldn't solve this difficult situation, so he said with confidence: "What reward do you want?"
"I was just joking. You showed me the chess game, so I should thank you. My brother and I will host a small banquet in a few days. Would you like to come?"
He shook his head and declined: "It's just a game of chess, why bother mobilizing so many troops?"
"Then I'll make you a bet. If I figure out the next move, you'll have to come to the banquet."
Lu Shiqing paused, still not believing that she had such a great ability, and gestured with his hand, "Please."
Yuan Cixian did not study the chess game any more. He stood up and picked up a pen. After dipping it in ink, he returned to the chess table. His eyes rolled around and he painted a white piece black. Then he smiled at Lu Shiqing and said, "Sir, I solved it."
Lu Shiqing looked at the chessboard and was choked up. This female scoundrel is really...!
…
Yuan Cixian successfully made an appointment with "Xu Shan" to return. After sending him away, he called Jianzhi over, picked up a chess record he had just drawn, and said, "There is something important. Please go south to Xunyang for me, take this chess record and visit Mr. Xu to find out what he has to say. Remember not to be targeted by others."
Jianzhi agreed and asked, "Young lady, do you want to verify Mr. Xu's identity?"
She nodded and sighed, "I heard that Xu Congxian lost his father and mother when he was young and has no relatives. Now he is thirty years old, but he still has no wife. I'm afraid the people who know him best are the Xu family."
Jianzhi saw that she looked depressed and asked with concern, "Young lady, are you in a bad mood?"
She shook her head.
She was just thinking about what Xu Shan had just said. Since Zheng Zhuo had such bright ambitions and pure ideals, how could he do such a cruel and dirty thing as abandoning the donkey after it has done its work and destroying the bridge after crossing the river? Why did he and her Yuan family have a grudge? Was it really as simple as a change in the engagement
Seeing that she didn't answer, Jianzhi explained, "I don't know what Mr. Xu said to you, but in the final analysis, he used to be an idler, but now he is a politician. Politicians' words are offensive, and they are intended to persuade the other party and seek benefits for themselves. Don't be swayed by common sense and believe him easily."
Yuan Cixian remained silent and did not comment. After a moment, she changed the subject and asked, "Jianzhi, I haven't been out for a few days?"
"It's been about ten days."
She smiled and said, "I have been staying at home recently and not bothering Minister Lu. Firstly, I really have to perform for the saint, and secondly, it is because of the method of playing hard to get that my brother taught me. Do you think these days are enough to make him miss me?"
"As the saying goes, one day without seeing you is like three years. I think that if Minister Lu's heart is not made of stone, he will miss you to some extent. If you don't bother him anymore, he will misunderstand that you have retreated."
"That's right." She knocked on the table and asked, "Is there a court meeting tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow is not a day for court attendance, but Minister Lu may go to teach the Thirteenth Prince."
Yuan Cixian pursed her lips and smiled: "Okay."
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