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Yuan Yu uttered a "huh" sound and glanced at Shi Cui with a questioning look.
Shi Cui shook her eyelids at him, giving him a secret signal, indicating that she had had an argument with Minister Lu.
He silently dragged out a long "oh" and then fluttered his eyelids, probably asking her to take good care of the young lady.
Seeing this, Yuan Cixian glared at them and said, "What are you two doing? Are your eyes cramped?" Then she turned around and walked away angrily. After walking a few steps, she turned around and added, "Brother, you've gotten a lot darker!"
Yuan Yu hated it most when people said he was dark, because if he wasn't dark, he could probably be ranked with Lu Shiqing and Zheng Zhuo as one of the "Three Beauties of Chang'an". He was so angry that he yelled at her from behind: "Yuan Cixian, you need to be punished. Who gave you this savagery?"
Yuan Cihan had already disappeared. He calmed himself down, ordered a few servants to unload the luggage and Xiao Hei from the carriage, and then walked towards the team of Jinwu Guards following behind.
Everyone in the court knew that the emperor had sent the Jinwu Guards to welcome Envoy Lu back to the capital the day before yesterday, but now this group of people followed Yuan Cixian here. It was obvious that this must be Lu Shiqing's order.
The Jinwu Guards were not people that his Yuan family could easily order around. He walked quickly for a while, bowed to the red-armored man in the lead, and said, "It's cold today. You all have escorted my sister back home. You must have worked hard on the journey. Come inside and have a bowl of hot soup."
When a group of people saw Yuan Yu approaching, they all dismounted. The first person replied, "General, we appreciate your kindness, but we brothers are in a hurry to return to report to the saint, so we will not delay any longer. Bye."
Yuan Yu was just being polite and said something polite. Hearing this, he coughed a little awkwardly and said, "Wait, come closer to my ear." When the young guard came closer in confusion, he continued to ask, "What did Minister Lu tell you? Tell me."
The guard said "Oh" as if he suddenly understood something, and replied, "Minister Lu asked us to follow the county lady all the way. The horses' heads should be 12 feet away from the rear of the carriage. We can't go too far or too close."
Yuan Yu laughed and patted his shoulder to show encouragement: "Very good, go back and report."
He just wanted to test what Lu Shiqing's attitude was towards Yuan Cixian, so he asked this question. Now he has an answer.
This phrase "12 zhang" may seem simple, but it has a lot of knowledge in it. If it is farther away, if there is danger, the Jinwu Guards will be unable to reach it. If it is closer, given Yuan Cixian's temper, he will probably get annoyed and chase people away.
It seems that my sister's trip was worthwhile, and Lu Shiqing is becoming more and more concerned about her.
He had made up his mind, so he went to Yuan Cixian's courtyard, intending to act as a peacemaker and ask her to stop being angry. However, he heard that she had just gone to take a bath, so he had to wait in her study.
This study was newly built in March when Yuan Cixian was not at home, and now it is fully furnished. However, she was away at first, so Jianzhi did not dare to touch her things. Just now, with her consent, he ordered the servants to move some of her toys and books that were originally placed in her room here.
Yuan Yu sat for a while, watching the servants busying in and out. He was bored and thought that there was nothing to do, so he stood up to help her tidy up. When he was putting a pile of books in place, he unexpectedly took out a piece of thin paper from one of the volumes.
There was a long list of names written in black and white on the paper. He identified a few of them and found that they were all young men from Chang'an City.
Yuan Yu was confused. She beckoned Jianzhi and Shicui to come over, took the paper and asked them, "Is Cixian choosing a husband behind my back?"
Shi Cui glanced at him and replied, "My lord, that's not the case. About four months ago, the young lady asked me to find all the men in Chang'an who were of the same age as the Sixth Prince, had a close relationship with him, and knew her. After my investigation, I found that the Sixth Prince's interactions with others were mostly casual, and there were very few people he had a close relationship with, or at least it was not obvious on the surface, so I had to include all those who had had the slightest contact with him in the list."
Yuan Yu nodded and looked at the list again: "Why is Lu Zishu not included?"
Shi Cui was startled, and then she leaned over to take a look, and said in surprise, "It's true. I've heard the young lady talking about Minister Lu every day, but I missed him."
Just as she finished speaking, she heard a voice rushing in: "Why include him? It can't be him anyway."
It was Yuan Cixian who came. She was full of the fragrance of floral dew and it looked like she had taken a particularly intense bath.
Yuan Yu took the paper and stood up: "What's possible or impossible? Why are you checking this?"
With servants around her, she couldn't say much, so she just said "nothing" and passed it off. Four months ago, when Shi Cui gave her the list, she had already discovered that Lu Shiqing was missing, but adding him was useless. She was looking for someone who had been secretly in love with her for many years in her dreams, so how could someone like Lu Shiqing, who looked down on others, be the one
Yuan Yu did not ask any more questions. Seeing that she was still angry, he advised: "You are still angry, girl? Come, sit down and tell me, how did Lu Zishu irritate you?"
Yuan Cixian didn't want to talk about it. Forget about the other things, at most it would just be a waste of her conscience and feelings, but the important thing was that she had misunderstood that he would soon die, so she confessed her plan to find him as a backer.
This was actually what made her most angry. After being tricked into telling her true feelings by Lu Shiqing and knowing that she was not sincere, all her efforts over the past six months would be in vain!
Seeing that she didn't answer, Yuan Yu continued: "Hey, how about we find someone to beat him up right now?"
She glanced at him and snorted, "You want to go to jail? He's very powerful. He'll report to the police and arrest people at any time."
"Why, he dares to arrest the future brother-in-law?"
Yuan Cixian was stunned when he heard this.
Seeing her like this, Yuan Yu explained, "Oh, you don't know yet. The Saint summoned me several times a few days ago to discuss matters. One time he talked about your marriage. From what he said, he probably intended to grant you a marriage with Lu Zishu. He said that we can discuss it in detail when our father and mother come to Chang'an in the twelfth month."
Yuan Cixian was so shocked that she almost slammed her head on the table: "It's such an important matter, why didn't anyone ask for my opinion?"
Yuan Yu glanced at her and said, "You have pursued Lu Zishu all the way to Shuzhou. The whole court knows your opinion, isn't it? If you really want to ask, I'm afraid you have to see if he is willing to marry you."
Yuan Cixian was so angry that she was stunned.
Wow, we haven’t seen each other for three months. Who did her brother drug
She stood up and said, "Do I regret it? I won't get married anymore. Let him marry me instead!"
Yuan Yu was stunned for a while, waved away the servants, and waited until Yuan Cixian was the only one left in the room before saying, "Cixian, didn't you say that Lu Zishu is the future imperial tutor who will assist the Thirteenth Prince to ascend the throne? We must win over this big man as an ally as soon as possible, right?"
Yuan Cixian sighed, "Originally, this was fine, but I suddenly realized recently that history might not follow the original trajectory. After all, because of my involvement, many things are different. Take Lu Shiqing for example, how do you know that he will have a bright future in this life? Maybe he will be obsessed with my beauty and achieve nothing?"
What she said made a lot of sense. Yuan Yu was speechless. He paused for a while and asked, "What do you think?"
"No more teasing, no more teasing, let me rest for a while and observe for a while."
*
Yuan Cihan was indeed tired from running around, and she rested for several days in a row. It was not until Jianzhi reminded her that Xu Sanniang had been waiting for news in Chang'an City for several months that she slapped her head and came to her senses. She began to arrange the matter and asked someone to pass a message to Xu Shan, roughly explaining the cause and effect of the matter.
Xu Shan did not refuse the invitation, but said that he had something important to do the next day and was afraid that he would arrive later. Yuan Cixian went to the place where she had agreed to meet Xu Sanniang. When she arrived at the bank of the Lushui River, she saw a narrow black-sailed boat moored on the frosty shore. The boat sail was very delicately woven with bamboo strips, and you could faintly see that the planks inside the cabin were painted red.
This is a scene that can be seen in the water towns of the south of the Yangtze River, and it is rare in Chang'an.
The people in the cabin heard the approaching footsteps and bent over to greet them. They seemed a little surprised to see Yuan Cihan, but they quickly restrained themselves, smiled at her, and didn't even ask who she was.
She didn't ask Yuan Cixian about it, but Yuan Cixian couldn't help but looked at her calmly.
The woman in front of him had black hair, almond eyes, red lips, and rosy temples. She looked pretty and didn't look like a 24-year-old. Her figure was just the right amount of graceful and plump, not the thin and frail figure Yuan Cixian had imagined. Her clothes were not simple, but her primrose-colored dress was complicated and decorated with beads. She didn't look like an ordinary "talented woman".
Yuan Cixian smiled back at her and explained simply, "Sir, something delayed you, and you'll be there soon."
Xu Ruqing nodded slightly: "It's cold outside, come into the boat."
Yuan Cihan got off the shore and followed her into the cabin. He immediately smelled a clear odor of alcohol. He lowered his head and saw a pot of wine on a small red clay stove in the middle of the deck.
She suddenly remembered what she had just seen: Xu Ruqing's face was flushed, and it seemed that he had indeed drunk some alcohol.
Seeing her eyes fall on the wine pot, Xu Ruqing smiled and asked, "Would you like a bowl of wine to warm yourself up?"
Yuan Cixian waved her hand: "No, thank you."
She always felt that the atmosphere was a little awkward, as if it was not the right time to drink.
Xu Ruqing didn't seem to care much. After asking her to sit down, she poured wine and said, "I made this black-sailed boat myself. It took me more than two months and I finished it a few days ago." She took a sip of wine and smiled, "The first time I met him was also in a black-sailed boat like this. At that time, I was traveling with my grandfather and met him at the head of Xunyang River to destroy my grandfather's stage."
What she was talking about was probably the chess game between Xu Shan and Mr. Xu twelve years ago.
Yuan Cixian didn't say anything and just listened quietly.
Xu Ruqing continued, "He was only eighteen at that time, and I was only twelve, so I didn't understand many things. The second time we met was three years later on a spring night, when I was fifteen and had reached the age of marriage. We were on a black-sailed boat, and I got him drunk..."
When she said this, she glanced at Yuan Cixian's unmarried appearance and said with a smile, "You are still young. I was drunk and said something wrong."
Yuan Cixian was indeed a virgin, but since she had said it so clearly, how could she not understand? She just pursed her lips and smiled and passed it off.
At this moment, Shi Cui's voice came from outside the boat: "Young lady, Mr. Xu is here."
"Okay." She agreed, glanced at Xu Ruqing sitting opposite her, stood up and said, "You and the gentleman can chat about the past here."
Xu Ruqing nodded.
Yuan Cihan leaned over and saw a man in a wide robe with big sleeves and his hair tied up with a wooden hairpin walking slowly towards the black-sailed boat.
She nodded to him as a greeting, but in her heart she was thinking about Xu Ruqing's words just now. She didn't pay attention to her step for a moment, and when she stepped onto the shore, she took a wrong step, slipped on the frosty mud, and was about to fall.
Lu Shiqing really didn’t expect Yuan Cihan to have such a “wonderful” performance. Without thinking much, he grabbed her arm and held her in his arms.
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