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It was getting dark and the rain was pouring down.
A sudden cool breeze blew through the window into the old and dilapidated post station. A thunderclap exploded overhead, illuminating the intertwined figures in the room...
Lu Shiqing woke up to the sound of rumbling wheels. He sat up suddenly, stared at the morning light coming through the gap in the car curtains for a long while, breathing rapidly.
The scenes in his dream flashed before his eyes again - delicate arms wrapped around his neck, wet black hair like vines, scratching his chest and climbing all the way to his shoulders. The soft and gentle young lady swayed her waist, making his whole body tremble.
In the sound of the rain, my bones are shaking and my flesh is flying, and my soul is in a trance.
Lu Shiqing was stunned for a few seconds, then looked down at his underwear. He finally realized the seriousness of the situation and showed an expression of near shock.
*
It was already the next day. Yesterday evening, the governor of Shangzhou made arrangements for Lu Shiqing and Yuan Cixian, giving each of them a spacious and luxurious carriage and sending local soldiers to escort them all the way to Dengzhou.
After driving all night, around noon, Lu Shiqing stopped the convoy to have breakfast.
He was indeed preparing to hurry on his journey because of the delay in his trip, and had no intention of going into the city along the way, but he was not to the point of having to eat in a rickety carriage.
As soon as he called for a halt, Yuan Cixian ran down from the carriage behind him excitedly, holding a jade tray filled with food, and approached the curtain of his carriage and shouted, "Minister Lu, can I come in and have breakfast with you?"
Lu Shiqing's scalp exploded when he heard this crisp voice. God knows how she used this voice to make him lose control in his dream.
But can she be blamed for this? No. He needs to be reasonable.
So he just asked calmly: "Why do you want to have breakfast with me?"
Yuan Cixian didn't dare to lift the curtain now, and stood quietly outside and answered: "The maids in the carriage can only flatter me, which is really boring. I want to talk to someone, you can't ask me to call Brother Zhao, right?"
Oh, that's indeed not possible. Zhao Shu, who was obsessed with beauty and forgot his master, told him this morning that Yuan Cixian sneezed and asked if he should find a doctor for her.
He dismissed him with a word of "nosy". It was just a sneeze, how could it reach the sky
He was silent for a while and said "Come in".
Yuan Cixian pulled aside the curtain and walked in, with a smile on her face. She placed the jade plate on the small table in front of him and sat down opposite him.
Lu Shiqing raised his head and glanced at her hand resting on the edge of the plate. Seeing that it was exactly like the soft hand that he was gently holding and twisting in his dream, he couldn't help but feel moved and then frowned.
This strange dream was so terrible that it turned her into a walking ecstasy, so that even a blink of her eyes or a flick of her hair became a temptation to him.
Fortunately, his attention was quickly diverted.
His eyes fell on the food on her jade plate, and he asked uncomfortably, "Why are all the cakes and pastries on your plate the same type?"
Look at his, they are all in pairs, very auspicious.
Yuan Cixian was stunned and replied, "They gave me too much food. They said this is a local specialty, and that is something that is rarely seen in years, such as spring dew, winter dew, or fairy dew. I can't eat them all, so I just picked one to try." After she finished speaking, she saw that he was so unhappy that he couldn't even drink the millet porridge, so she said, "Don't chase me away. I'll eat it right away and your eyes won't feel uncomfortable."
Seeing her raise her hand to put a piece of snow-white crystal cake into her mouth, Lu Shiqing hurriedly stopped her: "Just eat slowly."
Yuan Cixian paused with her mouth open, and was about to have her eyes sparkle when she suddenly heard him say, "Your brother sent a letter back this morning, saying that if you make any mistake, I will pay with blood. You choked to death, and I can't afford to pay."
"… "
Yuan Cixian suppressed her emotion, curled her lips, lowered her head and slowly began to eat. After she was full, she chatted with Lu Shiqing: "When I just woke up, I saw Brother Zhao took your dirty clothes and threw them away. Did you spill the tea because no one was waiting for you?"
Lu Shiqing had just put a spoonful of porridge into his mouth when he choked suddenly upon hearing the words and almost lost his composure. After calming himself down and swallowing the porridge, he lowered his head and said "hmm", looking a little guilty.
She said "Oh" as if she had suddenly realized something, and then said, "How can you even spill tea? How about I walk with you during the day, serve you tea and water, and then go back to the carriage at night."
In fact, the governor of Shangzhou sent many maids to Lu Shiqing to show his courtesy, but he sent them all to Yuan Cixian. He was not used to others serving tea and water because he thought it was dirty, and he was used to doing it himself. How could he make a fool of himself when no one was serving him
But he had no choice but to refuse without explanation: "No need, I can't afford it."
Yuan Cixian pulled the small table closer to him, looked at him and said, "Can you just consider it as my repayment for saving your life? Give me a chance to provoke... no, honor the majesty of the Great Zhou Dynasty and even the prestige of the country, dear Lu Qinshi?"
She leaned so close to him, blinked her tender eyes, looked at him eagerly, and said the words she had learned from him. Lu Shiqing's eyelids drooped slightly, and his expression softened a little bit, and he said, "Just this once today, and it won't happen again."
Yuan Cixian nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
She had heard of the "principle" of pushing for more. Being able to have breakfast together meant being able to stay in his carriage. Being able to do it once meant being able to do it again.
How could she know when the suspect would be arrested? With such an opportunity at her disposal, she should treat every day as her last and not waste a single moment.
But Lu Shiqing really couldn't bear her serving him, so he just let her sit beside him and watch him work. After a morning, when he finished reviewing the last stack of documents related to disaster relief, he saw that she was so bored that she was drowsy, and he was afraid that this endless sleepiness would spread to himself, so he planned to talk to her.
It just so happened that he did have something to ask her.
He took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Does the figure of the man who led the fight yesterday look familiar to you?"
Yuan Cixian was caught off guard by his words. She looked up with a start, thought for a moment and said, "It seems not."
"If these people might come from outside the region, do you have any idea?"
Yuan Cixian frowned and asked, "Could it be Nanzhao?"
"how do I say this?"
"If there are any outsiders who have a grudge against me, they are probably Nanzhao, and the brutal methods used by these people are indeed similar to their style. But this is too unbelievable. Shangzhou is close to the capital, and is the political heart of our Great Zhou. How could the people of Nanzhao come and go so freely?"
Lu Shiqing smiled and said, "If there is an insider, why not?"
"What did you find out?"
He shook his head: "It is precisely because I can't find it that I think it is so."
The words he said to the other party yesterday were not only to force the enemy to retreat, but also to test them. If they were really from the Great Zhou, they might not leave so easily.
Yuan Cixian was silent, as if thinking about something.
Lu Shiqing thought for a while, looked at her and said, "The Crown Prince of Nanzhao once forced you to marry him. You should have seen him and remember what he looks like."
His eyes were so light and vague that she felt inexplicably guilty.
She replied, "I have seen him before, but I don't remember what he looks like. He is not your Minister Lu."
"Last time you were in the Purple Palace, you told the Saint that he had a shifty look." The implication was that she clearly remembered it.
"Really?" Yuan Cixian blinked, "But 'sly' is a derogatory term! You won't be unhappy, will you?"
"Why should I be unhappy?" Lu Shiqing said in a calm voice, as if whether the Crown Prince of Nanzhao was a dog or a pig had nothing to do with him. "I just asked you if the man yesterday could be the Crown Prince of Nanzhao."
Well, she was just being too sentimental.
Yuan Cixian smiled awkwardly and began to think seriously: "I remember that the prince of Nanzhao was named Xiju, and he was good at both strategy and martial arts. In terms of stature, he was a bit taller and stronger than you..."
Before she finished her recollection, she was interrupted by Lu Shiqing with a gloomy face: "Just tell me if it is possible or not, what are you comparing with me?"
Yuan Cixian looked at him innocently: "You are the only one in my eyes, and you don't allow me to use you as a reference?"
Lu Shiqing choked. He was worried one moment and happy the next, as if he had some kind of mental illness.
Realizing this, he became more annoyed and his expression became even uglier: "Stop talking so slickly and talk business."
Yuan Cixian and Xi Ju had indeed met once in Chunye two years ago. At that time, the sun was setting and she was leading her horse to drink water by the stream when she ran into him asking for directions. She didn't know who he was and didn't pay much attention to him. She pointed the way and rode away. She vaguely remembered that he was about twenty years old, with dark honey-colored skin and a very deep voice.
If there was any intersection between them later, it was on the battlefield. He sent troops to trap her father, and she led the army to rescue him, risking her life to break through the Nanzhao garrison and help her father break through the siege.
But the man yesterday was wearing a mask and didn't say a word, so there's really no way to verify it. But the body shape is basically the same.
She told Lu Shiqing everything in detail, and he just said "hmm" and nothing more happened.
*
Five days later, the imperial envoy team crossed Dengzhou and entered Tangzhou, and the governor of Tangzhou took over all Lu Shiqing's travel matters.
After Tangzhou, it is Huainan Road, but for some reason Lu Shiqing suddenly slowed down and settled in Tanghe County.
It was on this day that Shi Cui and Cao An were able to rush over with Xiao Hei to meet them. Both of them were injured, but fortunately they were not seriously injured. When they saw Yuan Cixian and Lu Shiqing, they did not even have time to catch their breath before reporting the latest news to their masters.
Cao secretly said, "The news of the assassination of the young master reached Chang'an that day. The emperor was furious and immediately ordered people to investigate the matter thoroughly. Until this morning, there has been some progress."
Lu Shiqing did not want to reveal the truth and let the world know that a group of unidentified men wanted to kidnap Yuan Cixian, so he told the surrounding states that he was assassinated.
Of course, this matter could be concealed from local officials, but not from Emperor Huining. However, he was also concerned about the Yuan family. In order to prevent Yuan Cixian from being innocently involved in rumors before the case was fully revealed, he made the same announcement to the public.
Lu Shiqing asked: "How?"
Cao An replied: "In fact, it was not found by the saint. Last night, Liu Shaoyin of Jingzhao Prefecture accidentally discovered a group of mysterious people in black clothes near Chang'an City..."
Lu Shiqing sneered, glanced at Yuan Cixian who was also in disbelief, and said coldly: "Is Liu Shaoyin joking with me, or did these assassins get their heads damaged by the rain and bump into the blade themselves?" He asked with interest, "Then, where did these people go?"
Cao An hesitated for a moment, as if it was difficult to speak, and said: "My dear, they went to Princess Shaohe's princess's mansion."
Yuan Cixian was slightly stunned, and said affirmatively: "Impossible."
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