Because of the characteristics of his position, the actions of the Mirror Envoy have always been low-key and secretive, and Xia Dong did not publicize it after returning to Beijing. But it's not difficult for people with a heart to detect her actions. However, Xia Dong did not deliberately keep secrets about the many pairs of eyes in the open and secret. After she publicly entered and exited these three places, she lived in the palace, Ningguohou's mansion, and Mu's capital, and stayed in the palace of the Xuanjing Division. Ya within.
However, to the surprise of the court and the public, the expected storm of the "land invasion case" triggered by Xia Dong's return to Beijing did not explode immediately. Guo Gong Baiye had already been sick at home, and according to the imperial doctor, he was not pretending to be sick.
Another thing that everyone expected did not happen. The person who was rumored to be the county horse was still in front of the guest in the Ningguohou mansion. The emperor gave him two calligraphy, and announced that he would enter the palace to play the qin and drink tea once, but the marriage news. But there was no sound at all. On the other hand, Nihuang County Master sent someone to hand him a letter the day after Xia Dong's visit, and he didn't know what medicine these people were selling in the gourd.
The prince, who had thought about it behind closed doors, performed extremely well. Although it was inconvenient for him to publicly apologize to the county master because the real reason was covered up, the people in the prince's east palace would turn sideways when they encountered people in Prince Mu's mansion. The Mu family, who was so angry, couldn't afford to provoke the thorns, and the relationship between the two sides failed to publicly deteriorate. After being demoted, Concubine Yuegui was even more bitter. The rapid aging and haggard made the emperor feel pity gradually, and his anger was not as good as before.
In such a stagnant and dull situation, Su Zhe, who has become a celebrity in Kyoto, leisurely picked a sunny day and invited a few young friends to go out with him.
Mottled white walls, broken cornices, and a gaping parapet from time to time, the walls are covered with withered stems of wisterias, creepers and wild roses that grow wildly. Looking around, there are only decaying grass, half-dry lotus ponds, crumbling rockery and rocks and long corridors full of spider silk everywhere. Only the outer wall built along the slopes still firmly surrounds this small manor that has not been popular for a long time.
In the middle of the manor, you can vaguely see the outline of an arc-shaped flowerbed, but there are no flowers in the garden anymore, only vines and weeds are left, and the scorched yellow extends to all directions.
However, in the middle of this dry and messy weeds, there were a few people in beautiful clothes standing in unison, all looking around, as if they were admiring the decaying scenery around them.
"If I hadn't looked up and could see the spire of Chongyin Pagoda, I really don't know where I've been..." The person who spoke was the eldest son of the uncle's mansion who was handsomely holding a fan in winter, "I didn't expect that. There is such a desolate place in Jinling City, how did you find this place, Brother Su?”
"I didn't find it myself," said the man in green with a wry smile. "I just asked a firm to buy a garden in the city, and the owner recommended it and said it was excellent..."
"Excellent..." Xie Bi repeated these two words like an echo gallery, and fixed his gaze on the half-collapsed flower terrace not far away.
"You believe it when he says it's excellent? You pay without looking at the place? The Jiang Zuo League is already rich like this?"
"I... I sent Fei Liu to see it, and he said it was excellent..."
"Excellent..." The echo wall rang out again, and Fei Liu's figure seemed to be cooperating with him, flashing from the front and disappearing into the maze-like rockery, which seemed to be having fun .
Yan Yujin folded his arms around his chest, tilted his head and looked at the handsome man in front of him. Asking a commercial house to buy a garden, and only sending a child to see it and pay for it, is this the way of a unicorn genius? really different...
"Actually, it's not too bad here," Mei Changsu said with a smile, "at least the location is good and the size is right. It's not surprising that no one has lived in it for many years, so it's not surprising that it's abandoned like this. It's just that I need someone to repair it. , it should be very beautiful when you clean it up, and Fei Liu also likes it... Do you think it is, Jing Rui?"
The young man who didn't speak much from the beginning to the end hummed as a response.
"What's wrong?" Xie Bi leaned over, "Brother Su was deceived by buying a garden, why does it seem that you are more depressed than him?"
Yan Yujin glanced at his friend from the corner of his eye. Instead of teasing him with Xie Bi as he used to, he slowly tapped the palm of his other hand with a fan, pacing around leisurely, as if I wanted to see the garden more clearly, but after only walking ten steps, the person disappeared with a sudden "ah" sound.
The people next to him were startled and rushed towards the mysterious disappearance of the living person. Xiao Jingrui was the best, and was the first to arrive, shouting at the same time, "Yujin! Yujin!"
"Here..." a muffled voice came from the ground, "pull me..."
After Xiao Jingrui grabbed his wrist and pulled it out from the ground again, his uncle's beautiful robe was covered with black dust and withered grass clippings. Xiao Jingrui slapped him back and forth with his hands, throwing out the dust all over the sky.
"It's a dry well, it looks gloomy..." Xie Bi cautiously looked down at the weeds that covered the well. "The wells are all collapsed, no wonder you didn't notice..."
"Fortunately, I was very skilled and caught the mouth in time." Yan Yujin pulled the grass stem in his hair, his face stretched out, "It's really unlucky!"
Xiao Jingrui said thoughtfully: "Fortunately, it was you who fell. If it was Brother Su, he would definitely not be able to catch anything and go straight to the end..."
Yan Yujin gritted his teeth and looked at his best friend as if he was looking at a white-eyed wolf, and said bitterly, "What do you mean it was me who fell fortunately? You unconscionable..."
Mei Changsu also came over to help him tidy up his body, and asked warmly, "Is anyone hurt?"
"No, no, how could a master like me get hurt so easily?" Yan Yujin smiled and waved his hand with a nonchalant expression.
"That's right," Xie Bi nodded solemnly and agreed, "he is very good at grabbing something and hanging it in the air. I used to see him hanging like this in the tree garden..."
Fei Liu also arrived at the scene at some point, his eyes widened as he stared at Yan Yujin, who was filthy all over, seeing that his whole body was not right, and he felt even more embarrassed.
"I don't know where there will be danger in the deserted garden. It's better for everyone to walk on the flagstone road when they go out." Xiao Jingrui warned, and looked back at Mei Changsu again, "Brother Su, you walk in our footsteps."
"You're too careful," Xie Bi laughed. "No matter how desolate a garden is, it's just a garden. How can there be wells everywhere?"
"Be careful not to make a big mistake," Mei Changsu defended Xiao Jingrui with a smile, "Although the grass is dense just now, if Yujin is more careful, he will not necessarily stumble. This place is covered by grass, and it is uneven, and it is indeed time to return to the Lord. It's on the road."
The older people spoke differently, and everyone followed his advice and returned to the main road together. After strolling around the places they hadn't walked, no matter how much they walked around, it was just the same desolation everywhere. The garden was not big, and soon we arrived at the rear corner door. The two door panels were actually closed and locked with a rusted iron lock. Except for Fei Liu, no one wanted to walk back through the garden again, so Xie Bi, who was walking at the front, stretched out his hand to pull the door. Who knew that the entire door would fall off when he pulled it.
"My God, it's so rotten, maybe only those few blue brick houses are still good, right?" Yan Yujin shook his head and said, "There's almost nothing that needs to be repaired..."
"I'm afraid the doors and windows of that house will have to be replaced. Even if it's not rotten, it's too dirty." Xie Bi also said, "Who is Brother Su, how can he live in such a simple garden? I heard that there is a good... "
"Forget it," Mei Changsu cut him off with a smile, "the money has been paid, what else to say? As Yujin said, our Jiangzuo League is not that rich yet, we can buy a few gardens in the capital city. Come and leave."
Xie Bi hurriedly said: "The garden in Dongcheng doesn't need money, His Highness said..."
"Xie Bi," Xiao Jingrui said annoyed, "Brother Su will plan these things himself. What do you say so much?"
Xie Bi was slightly annoyed, and was about to retort when Mei Changsu interposed between the two of them, jokingly said, "No matter how bad this garden is, since I bought it, I can live with it no matter what, or the brothers in the non-alignment should scold me. I've spent money indiscriminately, and you can't bear to see me being scolded, right?" As he spoke, he was secretly thinking about which His Highness Xie Bi was talking about earlier.
"I'm afraid it will take more than a month for this garden to be built to live in." Yan Yujin smiled, "But anyway, Brother Su is not in a hurry, and Jing Rui doesn't want you to move out so soon. Look, it's just coming out today. Looking at the garden, he looks like he is divorced."
Xiao Jingrui pursed the corners of his mouth and did not refute Yan Yujin's words. After being silent for a while, he slowly asked, "Brother Su really... do you have to move out?"
"It looks like I'm going to stay in the capital for a while, and I'm always harassing me in the house, and I'm not stable." Mei Changsu's gaze was very soft, but his words were very polite.
"Xuelu is a guest house, and it won't interfere with the main house, so what is there to disturb." Xiao Jingrui said sullenly.
Mei Changsu smiled lightly, "I know that Marquis and the eldest princess don't care, but it's always a little inconvenient..."
Although this sentence is simple, it has deep meaning in the words. None of the people present were stupid. Thinking that sooner or later, he would be an important staff member of a certain palace, he naturally knew where the inconvenience was, and for a while, everyone was silent.
"It's better to move out and live, anyway, it's not far away. For me, it's more convenient to visit Brother Su here than to go to Xie's house." After a while, Yan Yujin broke the dull atmosphere with a loud laugh, "But Although this place is not big, it is a whole garden, how can you live with Fei Liu alone? You should add some servants to guard it."
"I've never liked being served by people, and Fei Liu has always taken care of himself. But I do have to hire a few rough servants to sweep the courtyard, so it's not that difficult... As for the guards, when Fei Liu comes, Second, there are a few friends who are staying in the capital, and you can invite them to stay."
Xiao Jingrui remembered that Yan Yujin had said that the four masters who escorted him to the capital had not left yet, and he suddenly realized that he couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable, but at the same time he felt a little relieved.
"It's good to live with more people, but..." Yan Yujin thought of something again, squeezing his eyes and smiling, "Abandoned gardens and abandoned houses, there are many tree monsters and flower monsters. After Brother Su and friends came to live, only I'm afraid to be careful, if there is a beautiful woman knocking on the window in the middle of the night, you must hold it, it is best not to even open the window to look at her, so as not to be hooked."
"Cut," Xie Bi spat, "how do you know it's a beautiful woman without even looking at it?"
"Once the goblin has the power of illusion, of course, it has to imitate a good-looking appearance. If it is imaginary like the appearance of Mr. Sun, it is better to show the original shape."
It is well known in the capital that Xiao Xie and the others are amused when they think about his appearance, Xie Bi also laughed and scolded: "What kind of heart is it to judge people's appearance! It's just you! You look handsome, where did Master Sun provoke you?"
Yan Yujin snorted, opened the folding fan and shook it, and said triumphantly towards the wall, "Listen to the vine spirit tree monsters, if you want to change your mind, you should change the appearance of this young master, and everyone will praise it after the change. Yushu faces the wind…”
If it was normal, it would be fine, but at this moment, although he still has a handsome face, there is a little mud all over his body, and his hair is messed up when picking grass roots. Where is the jade tree facing the wind, it is clearly the chicken coop facing the wind, Not only did the two old friends laugh and bend over, but even Mei Changsu turned his face to one side, his shoulders trembling slightly.
"How did you learn how to be able to fall in three steps against the wind in a short time?" Xie Bi laughed, coughing and said, "I'd better ask Brother Su to clean up a room for you alone, and come and stay for a few more days. , let those spirits take a closer look..."
"I don't care about you," Yan Yujin turned his head and said to Mei Changsu with a serious expression, "The two of them have been jealous of me since childhood, I'm used to it."
"Yes," Mei Changsu nodded solemnly, "I also think they are jealous of you."
"Go back and change your clothes," Xiao Jingrui punched his friend, laughing consciously, feeling a lot more at ease, "The reputation of the number one embroidered pillow in the capital is hard-won, at least you have to keep this pair of skins."
"I'm obviously cultivating both inside and outside, okay? You're a jealous man..." Yan Yujin sighed, and then lowered his head to brush the front of his clothes, which he couldn't clean. Suddenly froze.
"What's wrong?" Mei Changsu immediately noticed the difference and asked hurriedly.
"It's gone..."
"What's missing?"
"My Cui Yue Jue..."
"Ah?" Xiao Jingrui and Xie Bi both knew how precious Cui Yuejue was to Yan Yujin, so they took a step forward and said, "Would you not bring it out?"
"Cui Yuejue is inlaid on this belt, the belt is still on the waist, why didn't you bring it out? I touched it before I went to find you..." Yan Yujin said, his face turned pale. .
Although Mei Changsu didn't know what treasures they were talking about, but seeing the expressions of the people, he knew that it was unusual, and hurriedly said: "It must have fallen off. Let's quickly look for the place where you came out today, I'm afraid we can still find it. find it."
"That's right," Xiao Jingrui agreed, patting his friend's vest to persuade him, "It doesn't matter if you can't find it today, the reward is hanging up, and you'll be able to find it."
Yan Yujin was worried and did not want to say more. He turned around and crossed the back door that was torn to the ground. He re-entered the deserted garden, turned the grass and turned stones along the road, and searched carefully.
After Mei Changsu whispered to Xiao Jingrui about Cui Yuejue's general appearance, the three of them also rolled up their sleeves and bowed to help them search together. Fei Liu was hanging on a tall tree and dangling, curiously looking at the scene below which he couldn't understand.
This trip back to the deserted garden took nearly an hour longer than when I came here. All the places I had stepped on in my impression were turned upside down, and there was a pile of garbage, but there was no trace of jade.
Finally, everyone straightened up their aching waists and turned their eyes to one place at the same time.
The dry well that collapsed in the weeds.
"It wouldn't be so coincidental, would it?" Xie Bi said with some uneasiness, "It's not easy to find it if you fall into this well. Even if there is no water, I'm afraid there will be a thick layer of silt..."
Xiao Jingrui frowned, nudged his second brother with his elbow, turned around and patted Yan Yujin's shoulder with a smile, and said in a relaxed tone, "It's just a dry well, if you have anything to worry about, I'll go down right now and I'll find it for you. come out!"
"I'll go down by myself," Yan Yujin understood his good intentions and returned a smile, "Anyway, my clothes are already dirty, why should I drag you into the water..."
"Go," Xiao Jingrui gave him a half-truth, "what is clothes? It's dark below, my eyesight is better than yours at night. Besides, isn't your eldest young master the most afraid of snakes? In this deep, wet and muddy land, the most It's a snake..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he received four contemptuous glances from his younger brother and friends, and while he was a little confused, Mei Changsu whispered: "Jing Rui, it is winter now, and snakes are going to hibernate..."
"… "
"Don't pay attention to him," Xie Bi gave his brother a blank look, "I'll find a rope, no matter who gets down, it must be tied up." He turned to leave, but was stopped by Mei Changsu.
"Fei Liu has already gone to look for him, he moves faster..." As soon as he explained, the young man's figure swept over quickly, holding a thick hemp rope in his hand.
Xiao Jingrui grabbed it first, and tied one of the ends to his waist. Yan Yujin knew that when he was in the dark, he would be blind like a blind man, and he was not polite. He said softly, "Be careful."
"Yeah." Xiao Jingrui agreed, looking back to see Mei Changsu squatting on the ground pulling the withered grass, he couldn't help but ask strangely, "Brother Su, what are you doing?"
"Make a small torch with hay and sticks, and you can take it with you."
"No, I can see things clearly at night. They all say I look like an owl."
Mei Changsu chuckled, shook his head and said, "It's not for lighting, this well doesn't look shallow, and the wellhead is covered by weeds, so the airflow must be poor, and the air below must be turbid, if you go down, the torch can't continue to burn. , people can't stay for a long time, otherwise it's easy to suffocate."
Yan Xie and the two were taken aback, and hurriedly squatted down together to help pull the weeds. Soon the simple torch was tied. Mei Changsu took out a pair of small flints from Fei Liu's body and lit the torch. Xiao Jingrui stood there. In his hand, he slowly hoisted it down from the well. Xie Bi and Yan Yujin held the rope tightly and lowered it little by little, while Mei Changsu leaned over the wellhead, keeping an eye on the brightness of the flames.
Since Cui Yuejue is something that can be attached to a belt, its size will not be too big, so Xiao Jingrui went down for a long time, only to hear him keep calling down and put down, as if he still found nothing.
"Stop, it's over, the silt is really thick." After a long while, Xiao Jingrui's voice came from down the well, and the sound of the moss-covered well wall made it sound a little deformed, "It's not easy to find, I'm going to turn it around for a while. That's fine, the grass on the torches is about to burn out, don't worry if you see the fire going out..."
"But..." Yan Yujin bit his lower lip, feeling very sorry in his heart, just as he was about to say it again, he felt a heavy weight on his shoulders, and a hand pressed on him, looking back, it met Mei Changsu's smiling eyes. .
"Don't worry, the flame has been burning steadily, it should be fine."
Seeing his eyes that understood everything, Yan Yujin couldn't help lowering his gaze, and said in a low voice, "Jing Rui... originally the most clean person..."
"It's just the silt in the well, it's not that it can't be washed away," Mei Changsu said with a smile, "He doesn't mind, what do you mind? That Cui Yuejue is very important to you, right?"
"Yeah," Yan Yujin nodded, "that's the family's heritage, my grandfather gave it to me before he died..."
"So," Mei Changsu smiled slightly, "helping a good friend find his most important thing is also very important to Jing Rui."
Yan Yujin took a deep look at him, then suddenly smiled, lying at the mouth of the well and shouting loudly, "Jing Rui - it's rare to have a chance to be courteous to me, you have to work harder -"
"Go to hell!" There was laughter and scolding from below, "Wait until I come out and wipe you with mud!"
Mei Changsu couldn't help but laugh at the two of them, and Xie Bi shook his head while laughing, and the atmosphere became more relaxed for a while. After about half a cup of tea, there was a lot of chatter below, as if nothing was noticed.
"Jing Rui, come up if you can't find it, it doesn't have to be here..." Yan Yujin shouted.
"Just a moment..." Xiao Jingrui's voice came from the urn, but before the lingering sound fell, the rope suddenly swayed, and at the same time, he heard an exclaimed "ah" from below.
"What's wrong?" Yan Yujin was startled, leaned down half of his body, and shouted loudly, "Jing Rui! Jing Rui!"
The underground paused for a moment and Fang You responded: "Nothing..."
"It's nothing scary?" Yan Yujin couldn't help cursing, then turned to Xie Bi and said, "Let's pull him up!"
"Don't panic," Xiao Jingrui hurriedly said to stop, "There are still places that have not been turned over, it will be fine soon..."
Mei Changsu persuaded softly: "Don't worry, Jing Rui will talk about something. Since we're down, at least find out."
Yan Yujin frowned and sat down again at the wellhead, holding back his temper and waiting for a while before he heard another voice from below: "Pull me up!"
Going up is naturally much easier than going down. In the blink of an eye, Xiao Jingrui's head popped out. As everyone expected, he was covered in mud, and his hands were also black.
Yan Yujin silently grabbed one of his hands and wiped it roughly with the inside of his shirt. Instead, Xie Bi asked, "Did you find it?"
Xiao Jingrui raised his other black hand, curled his fingers into a fist, and then slowly spread it out. On his palm lay a small crescent-shaped hard object covered with black mud.
"Yeah, it really fell here," Xie Bi took out the handkerchief from his sleeve, wiped Cui Yuejue clean, and handed it to Yan Yujin, who silently glanced at it, took it back with his hand, and put it in his arms. inside.
"Just find it, two stinky ghosts, go back and take a bath!" Xie Bi breathed a sigh of relief, and one of them clapped behind the back.
"Second brother," Xiao Jingrui turned his head and said solemnly, "Let's go back to take a bath, but I have to trouble you to go to Jingzhao Yin Yamen."
"Jingzhao Yamen? What are you doing?" Xie Bi didn't understand.
"Report. I saw the skeletons of people in the mud..."
"Ah?" Everyone was taken aback, Yan Yujin lost his voice, "You called that because you found a corpse?"
"Um."
"Then why don't you come up quickly?!"
"I saw a little green light on the other side of the dead leaf at the time. Cui Yuejue is so small, if I come out first and let people pick up the corpse, it will definitely be turned over somewhere, so I want to look for it again, fortunately It really is."
"Idiot!" Yan Yujin gritted his teeth and cursed, "It stinks, go take a shower."
"Hidden corpse in a dry well..." Xie Bi's face turned pale, "It sounds like you are a jerk. You are so brave, you can stay down there for so long... I would have crawled out already..."
"Can you compare with Jing Rui? He's half a Jianghu person anyway!" Yan Yujin immediately shifted his target.
"Yes, I'm the most useless official!" Xie Bi laughed at himself and shrugged, "Let's go, Brother Su."
Xiao Jingrui glared at him strangely, "Where did you ask Brother Su to go?"
"Go to Jingzhao Yamen to report the crime!"
"Can you just go?"
Xie Bi raised his eyebrows, "Brother, this garden has now been bought by Brother Su. Of course, he is the most suitable to come forward and report the crime, right?"
"Xie Bi is right," Mei Changsu's eyes swept across the wellhead in the grass, "I really should go."
Xiao Jingrui thought about it and it made sense, plus the smell and stickiness of the whole body was very uncomfortable, so he didn't say more. The group of five was divided into two groups, and after leaving the park, they each went their own way.