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Normally, a draw in a chess game is a very rare thing. But at the moment, the two of them are indeed trapped in a vicious cycle where they can never tell who is winning or losing.
Yuan Cixian thought she was daydreaming, but she didn't know that Lu Shiqing was aiming for a draw. After all, it was actually more difficult to lead a draw than to make her win.
He pushed the chessboard aside and frowned, saying, "Let's talk about it after nightfall." It seemed that he had no intention of playing a second game.
Yuan Cixian thought about it and agreed. For someone like Lu Shiqing who was so stubborn and would say one thing and mean another even when he was hungry, he would not do it again after making such an obvious move to give in. Therefore, it was not a good idea to ask for more.
The rainstorm did not last long. By the time the two men finished their game, it had stopped. The carriage turned and headed for a piece of flat high ground that had been selected in advance to protect against mountain torrents.
When they arrived there and everything was arranged, Shi Cui brought the rations that had been prepared earlier to Yuan Cixian and Lu Shiqing, and then went with Cao An and Zhao Shu to settle the minor officials who were accompanying them.
There was no shelter on all sides, so everyone just used their raincoats to avoid the rain, hoping that the sky would clear up at night. However, they did not expect that when they were about to go to bed, it started to drizzle again.
Light rain wets clothes the most. Although this situation will not cause any other danger, it can easily make people catch cold.
As soon as Yuan Cixian saw the outside, she felt embarrassed to use the same trick again, so she used the strategy of retreating to advance and drove Lu Shiqing out.
She had just made many attempts while the weather was fine, such as trying to move the things in the other carriage here, letting him sleep on her bed while she squeezed into the back. However, after measuring it, she found that it was not spacious enough. It would be better for her to lie outside in the breeze than to lie there folded for the whole night.
Lu Shiqing had not spoken to make a decision, busy in her carriage reading several important documents sent from Chang'an. Yuan Cixian was sensible and usually did not disturb him at work, but he felt sleepy and had to ask, "Minister Lu, has your 'later talk' yielded any results?"
He paused holding the paper, looked up at her, and seemed to think for a moment before remembering this. He said calmly, "You take a rest. I'll read the documents and wait for the rain to stop."
The implication is that he was probably going to stay outside later.
Yuan Cixian could fall asleep even with a candle, but she was not a heartless person. Thinking back to the time when he gave up the game, she felt even worse. She hesitated and said, "I'd better wait until you find a place to sleep before I rest."
After she finished speaking, she continued to sit there with her eyelids propped up, her head drooping down from time to time like a chicken pecking at rice. When she suddenly hit nothing, she woke up, rubbed her eyes and continued to accompany him.
Lu Shiqing's actions today were nothing more than taking advantage of the right time, right place and right people, intending to awaken the "conscience" of this girl that had been dormant for a long time. However, when he saw that she was really fooled, he suddenly felt a little bit of pity, especially when he saw her trying so hard to hold on, his heart softened and the plan failed.
After a while, he finally closed the document in his hand, raised his head and frowned, "You go to sleep."
Yuan Cixian waved her hands to refuse, but secretly felt happy. She was really sleepy and had real feelings in her heart, but the appearance of "chickens pecking at rice" was fake.
She looked at the clouds in the sky and expected that the rain would last at least most of the night, so after some thought, she had already made a decision to let Lu Shiqing sleep in her carriage. But before that, she had to make him feel enough sympathy for her, otherwise, later on, when they were alone in such a cramped place, what if he did something bad to her
Seeing her insistence, Lu Shiqing sighed, stood up, lifted the curtain and said, "I'm going out."
There is a long way to go, so there is no need to rush tonight.
Yuan Cixian uttered an "Ah" and grabbed his sleeve: "Minister Lu."
He turned around, lowered his eyes to look at her white jade fingers grasping his sleeve, and his breath stagnated. She did have the habit of pulling his sleeve, but this time was different from the past.
Lu Shiqing raised his eyelids slightly and looked at her. In this situation, what did this action mean? Did she know
She obviously knew it, and quickly said, "You can spend the night with me in the carriage."
Lu Shiqing raised his eyebrows slightly but didn't say anything. He felt that she had something else to say, so after a moment's silence, he really listened to her continue: "But you also know that my brother and father are very fierce, and Shi Cui is also outside now. They must know about this. I am afraid that you will be beaten when you return to Beijing, so please bear with it for a while..."
Well, he was afraid that the Yuan family would break his legs, and it would be the third one.
Lu Shiqing listened attentively.
Yuan Cixian hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll tie you up with a rope, so I can explain to my family later."
“…” This girl is quite good at playing.
Lu Shiqing curled his lips, not seeming to agree: "No, I'll sleep outside."
She curled her lips and said, "If you get gonorrhea, I will feel bad... To compensate you for your loss, you sleep on the bed and I sleep on the footstool. I promise that I will never tell anyone except my father and brother about this matter and embarrass you."
She had thought it through, so he turned around and sat down again, asking, "Are you sure?"
Yuan Cixian nodded.
Lu Shiqing had his hands tied with a piece of cloth and slept on her bed. Of course, the bedding was replaced with his own. The carriage was destroyed just now, and Cao An rescued those items in time.
Yuan Cihan spread her original bedding on the footstool, extinguished the candle, and lay down in her clothes.
Without the candlelight, the carriage was silent again. The sound of rain outside could be heard clearly. The subtle rustling sound brushed Yuan Cihan's ears again and again, tickling her heart.
She had just tied Lu Shiqing's hands perfectly, using the unbreakable binding method her father taught her. She thought everything was fine and she could finally fall asleep, but she didn't expect that the sleepiness she felt at first would disappear without a trace.
She felt puzzled. She had not had any concerns the last time they met him at the post station, so why was he so nervous this time
Maybe she understood the reason for his feelings, she thought.
Yuan Cixian couldn't sleep for a long time. He tossed and turned in boredom, thinking about this and that. After a while, he heard Lu Shiqing sigh, and he felt as if he had been pardoned. He asked, "Minister Lu, are you asleep?"
Lu Shiqing's faint voice sounded: "Falling asleep."
"… "
"How can you lie with your eyes open?" she said to him.
"Why do you ask when you already know the answer? How can I fall asleep if you keep moving around?" he replied.
The carriage was not warm enough. Yuan Cixian shivered, blew her nose, and wrapped herself up like a silkworm pupa, leaving only her head exposed. She smiled and said, "Let's chat for a while."
What the hell. Lu Shiqing actually regretted staying here overnight. God knows how tormented he was when she kept rustling around.
Seeing that he didn't answer, Yuan Cixian asked, "Minister Lu, have you ever been to Jiangzhou?"
This question diverted his attention. Qizhou, where they were at the moment, was adjacent to Jiangzhou in the Jiangnan West Road. The reason why she asked this question was probably because the scene reminded her of "Xu Shan".
Oh, sleeping in the same carriage with him, but thinking about another man. Lu Shiqing sighed in his heart, and said calmly: "I've been there once."
"When did you go?" she asked.
"Last spring, you accompanied the King of Southern Yunnan to the capital to receive the title."
Yuan Cixian was stunned: "Weren't you in Chang'an the day I was in the palace for the ceremony?"
“No.”
This was strange. Since Lu Shiqing had never seen her before, how could he recognize her at first sight when they first met in Luting? She was about to ask, but he said first: "Why are you asking this?"
Yuan Cixian felt a little guilty and answered vaguely, "Oh, I heard that the crabs from Poyang Lake are especially delicious during this season."
If you want delicious fish, ask "Xu Shan" to catch it for her.
Lu Shiqing sneered in his heart but remained silent on the surface.
Seeing that he had stopped talking, Yuan Cixian changed the subject and asked, "By the way, I just saw the document sent by the court about repairing the Huai River embankment. It said that the court officials had different opinions on this, and several of them strongly disagreed. The flood disaster in Huainan was closely related to the loosening of the Huai River embankment. Naturally, we should learn from the lesson and repair it properly. Why do these people oppose it? I don't quite understand."
The Sixth Prince was the only one who opposed the repair of the river bank. She went around in circles, but to put it bluntly, she was still concerned about Xu Shan's feelings. After all, Zheng Zhuo's every word and action was planned by him behind the scenes.
Lu Shiqing felt uncomfortable, but answered her for the first time: "They are not against repairs, but they want to delay this action. In the short term, stabilizing the river bank is indeed a strategy to control floods and benefit the people, but it is definitely not something that the current Great Zhou is capable of accomplishing. Do you know how many corrupt officials there are in the country right now?"
"To repair the Huai River embankment, at least tens of thousands of able-bodied men will be recruited. However, the wages allocated by the higher authorities will be deducted by local officials along the way. I am afraid that they will not even be able to get enough food. Over time, the embankment has not been repaired, and the people are resentful. Moreover, before that, how to recruit able-bodied men is also a problem."
"In order to fulfill their duties and cooperate with corvée labor, local officials will inevitably ignore the will of the people and recruit people everywhere. Those who refuse to obey will be conquered by force. Even if the court sends ten imperial envoys, they may not be able to handle such a matter. A thousand-mile levee is destroyed by an ant hole. Not only will the people along the Huai River suffer, but people with ulterior motives may also take advantage of this and attack the rule of the Great Zhou. What do you think is better, is it better to postpone the repair of the river levee and find other ways to remedy the disaster, or let the entire Great Zhou fall into war in the near future?"
He finally concluded: "If you want to control water, you must first control greed. These opposing voices are not wrong."
Yuan Cixian was choked up. On the one hand, he was impressed by the insights of Xu Shan and Zheng Zhuo, and on the other hand, he was surprised that Lu Shiqing, who seemed to be indifferent to people's livelihood, also had such thoughts.
Seeing that she was speechless for a moment, Lu Shiqing's lips curled slightly.
Yuan Cixian actually had some understanding of the inexplicable feelings that Xu Shan had for him. Xu Shan's appearance was obviously not an advantage, and what attracted her most was his broad mind. As the saying goes, "living with the emperor is like living with a tiger." In order to avoid the emperor's suspicion of the true intentions of his many actions, he had to hide this fact when he was Lu Shiqing, which probably left her with a narrow-minded impression.
That's why he patiently had a long talk with her tonight, hoping to take advantage of "Xu Shan" and correct her ideas.
Yuan Cixian was silent for a while, then hummed softly, blinked and said, "You are right."
The future of the Great Zhou Dynasty should be bright with such an imperial teacher. This was the first time she sincerely thought about it.
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