Today is a good day, the days are long, and the sky is still full of white clouds towards evening. The glazed tiles on the palace wall shine with layers of golden light, reflecting the hurried figures on the bluestone bricks in a soft arc. Min Xuefei strode into the Sigong Terrace, a place that he thought was filthy even if he mentioned it, but now he had to come. The little eunuch at the door was Fu Sheng, who was about to go out to do some business. When he saw him, he immediately followed him and stopped him.
"Master Min, Master Min, why are you here again? It looks like the palace will be banned soon, and if you don't leave the palace, you won't be able to get out!"
Min Xuefei's feet were entangled, so he had to stop, and asked coldly, "Where's your company's young prison?"
Fusheng looked down at his toes: "Lian Shaojian is naturally locked up in a dark room."
Seeing Min Xuefei raised his legs to leave, Fusheng caught up immediately: "Master Min, you are not in compliance with the rules. Even the young prisoner was punished in the darkroom. According to the rules, no one can see him. If our senior prisoner finds out..."
Min Xuefei suddenly stopped, turned to look at him and said, "It's against the rules? Don't follow me, who doesn't know that the surname of Si Gongtai's rules is Lian! Does he know who saved him? The fox knows he will go down the mountain to repay his favor." Does he know? Does he still have a conscience?" He was angry, angry that he risked the world's disgrace on the spur of the moment, and used his quick tongue to save a small power official who was domineering; Clearly ungrateful, he came to Sigongtai again and again to find someone, but was rejected by others, and he also lost the reputation of a eunuch.
He opened Fusheng and went to the darkroom without turning his head. He just said that he had to see Lianzhi no matter what, and asked him to repay his favor, otherwise he would sleep in the darkroom.
Fusheng's head was suffering, but he couldn't stop him, so he had to follow him all the way into the darkroom. The Sigongtai dark room is actually a prison for eunuchs and maids who have made mistakes. The conditions are simple, surrounded by thick earth and stone walls, each room is as big as a palm, and it only takes a few steps to walk from one end to the other. It's all inside, so it's inevitable that there will be some bad urine smell. In the prison, there is only a small hole in the size of the plate above the head that leaks light, and there is only a little light every day at Sishi. Once Sishi passes, the sun will slant, and it will be difficult to see the sun for a whole day.
The eunuchs and maids are a group of trembling people. What they do is to serve the royal family and nobles. What they are most afraid of is making mistakes. They are also taboo to use words like prison, so they use darkroom to refer to this narrow prison.
Min Xuefei came to the Sigong Terrace several times, and was stopped by people the previous few times. Today, she finally entered the darkroom, and did not look for people from room to room. Kicking the moldy straw, the cage went straight to sit down.
Fusheng was frightened, and hurried to pull him: "Master Min, what are you doing!"
Min Xuefei knew that Lian Zhi was definitely not in the darkroom.
Lian Shaojian, who was always thoughtful that day, was absent-minded and careless for some reason. He violated the taboo of the emperor and almost made a big mistake. If it was left to others, he would have been dragged out and beheaded. Thirty boards. This group of eunuchs are the best at observing words and deeds, such faults can be returned in full, and everyone knows that half of the Si Gongtai still has the surname Lian.
The board has suffered, and the confinement must turn a blind eye and close one eye, how dare they really ask the adults to confine them!
So Min Xuefei didn't waste time looking for it from room to room, it would be more enjoyable to wait for the rabbit to come, he sat against the wall, crossed his legs, folded his arms and closed his eyes, calmly said: "Excuse me, Mr. Fu, please close my door when you go out. "
How dare Fusheng really close the door, he has run out of good and bad words, and he can't say a word even if his lips are worn out. Min Xuefei got tired of hearing it, so he stood up suddenly, threw Fusheng out, closed the heavy hardwood cell door, locked himself inside with an iron chain, and said through the door: "Go, go talk to your master about these nonsense explain."
Sitting on the ground, he heard footsteps running away, and then closed his eyes again.
Fu Sheng ran into the residence, knocked on the door, and before Lian Zhi came down to open the door for him, he went in by himself, trotted to the bed, and said anxiously: "Young Supervisor, Mr. Min is here again!"
There was no words from behind the bed curtain for a long time, and it took a long time for a plain refusal to come out: "Just say that I am being punished."
Fu Sheng said distressedly: "I said it, but we can't stop it. Mr. Min has already gone to the darkroom. And he said, he said..."
Lian Zhi opened the curtain, lying on the bed in obscene clothes, and asked with a slightly pale face, "What did you say?"
"...Say, even foxes know they want to repay their kindness, so I ask you if you have a conscience." Fusheng hesitated, and said rather embarrassedly, "Mr. Min even locked himself in the dark room, saying that if you don't go to see him, he will sleep in the darkroom." Inside."
Lian Zhi was stunned for a while, then laughed angrily, but still showed no signs of moving, just lying on the pillow and quietly flipping through a book, and after a while he ordered: "Don't worry about him. He's delicate and expensive, and he doesn't eat much What kind of suffering is he going through? In a place like the darkroom, he won’t be able to take it anymore after staying in the darkroom for half an hour, and he will leave by himself. You stay in the darkroom, pay attention to it, and let him go when he wants to go. Go.”
Hearing what he said all the time, Fusheng couldn't say anything more, so he could only retreat quietly.
Lian Zhi flipped through the book lying on his stomach, but he couldn't see the true meaning of the book, and his back from being hit by the board hadn't recovered yet and was still in severe pain. He fell asleep, and this sleep lasted for an hour or two.
When I woke up again, it was already dark, the palace gate had already been locked, and stars could be seen shining through the half-opened window.
He forced himself to sit up and called Fusheng a few times, but no one answered. It took a long time before a little eunuch who heard the calls ran in and helped him get dressed and get out of bed. With his support, Lian Zhi walked a few steps inside the house, exercising his exhausted muscles and bones, and only then remembered to ask Fu Sheng where he had gone.
The little eunuch whispered: "Eunuch Fu is in the darkroom."
Lian Zhi stopped, frowned and said, "What time is it, why are you still there?"
"It's been two quarters since Haishi." The little eunuch replied, "Master Min refused to leave, he refused to open the door, and insisted on waiting for you to go. It's getting hot, and there are already mosquitoes in the darkroom..."
Before finishing speaking, the little eunuch felt that his hands were empty, and Lian Zhi pulled away, grabbed a piece of clothing casually and draped it over his shoulders, and then walked out. When he reached the door, when he lifted his leg, he pulled the wound on his back again, and he was in pain. After a while, I held back, and still walked briskly towards the darkroom.
Min Xuefei sat stiffly, and lived with all kinds of insects, mice, and flies. He felt like there were insects crawling in his hair. He closed his eyes and suffered another wave of bites. The door of the wooden prison was knocked again. Min Xuefei said angrily: "roll."
"it's me."
Hearing Xu Xu's gentle voice, Min Xuefei immediately opened his eyes, waved away the mosquitoes and flies coiled around him, and stood up on his legs. However, he sat cross-legged for too long, and his lower body became numb. A pang of soreness shot up and down from his waist, causing him to stand up when he staggered and fell to the ground with a bang sound.
"What's the matter?" The voice outside the door changed from slow to urgent, and shouted at the little eunuch beside him, "Open the door soon!"
Fusheng was in a dilemma: "Master Min took the chain into it..."
"It's okay, it's okay. I fell down." Min Xuefei got up tremblingly, rubbed his numb legs, limped to the door, fiddled with the heavy chain in the darkness, only heard click. Then he fell silent for a moment, and said with a wry smile, "Okay, this time it's really locked."
Lian Zhi was so angry that he wanted to laugh many times, so he had to ask the guarding eunuch to remove a key from here, and stuff it in through the gap at the bottom of the wooden door. Quasi keyhole.
After tossing for a while, the chain fell to the ground with a splash, and the door finally opened.
Everyone else retreated outside, and only went in with a lamp. Min Xuefei sat down on the ground. Anyway, his clothes were already dirty, so he just smashed the jars and asked him angrily what he was doing here. Zhu Ying jumped up and down, Lian Zhi stood in the small and cramped room, looked down at him, and said helplessly, "Didn't you ask me to repay the favor?"
Min Xuefei flapped her clothes and sat up straight: "Then you report."
"..." Lian Zhi stood there without saying a word, looking through the dark orange light at a red envelope bitten out between his eyebrows by a mosquito, after a long while he reached out to pull Min Xuefei, trying to pull him up from the ground, but he He was beaten, but it was Min Xuefei's opponent, who pulled the clothes off his shoulders instead. He withdrew his hand in a rustle, knowing that he was deliberately trying to compete with himself, so he gave up altogether, stood still and sighed: "Then what do you want to do?"
Min Xuefei was dumb and didn't speak, he didn't know what he wanted to do.
"Okay." He didn't say anything, Lian Zhi thought he didn't want to say it, so he bent down to pick up the chain, threw it out of the door, and followed him, "The door is reserved for you, you have enough for yourself." Let's go back. There are many mosquitoes here, tomorrow's face will be bitten, and you won't be able to go up—"
"I won't go back." Just now he was silent, but this time he said it simply.
Lian Zhi had already walked out of the prison door with half of his body, when he was interrupted by ruthlessness, his heart suddenly burst into flames, he turned around abruptly, just about to speak, his eyes caught the stubborn face of the other party, he suddenly Feeling tired again, her voice dropped instantly: "Min Xuefei, can you stop making trouble?"
Min Xuefei stood up abruptly, and looked straight at him: "You are being unreasonable, why am I making trouble? Who is in the Yushufang interceding for you, and who is protecting your life! I just want to see you, but I was pushed away by your people three times." Four refusals... You have such a great reputation as a young prisoner, why is it so difficult to see you?!"
"Who told you to intercede for me? Who asked you to protect me?" Lian Zhi retorted immediately, "That was Feng Jianjian who taught me a lesson. Even if you don't make it, I won't do anything. Besides, I'm dead What does it matter to you if you don’t die? Who told you to be that early bird, you deserve to be called a eunuch!”
Min Xuefei was going to get angry: "I saved you by mistake, didn't I! Lian Zhi, something has eaten your conscience!"
The two were arguing inside, and the sound spread out, and a few young eunuchs outside looked at each other, but they didn't dare to go in to persuade them. Fortunately, the darkroom was under the jurisdiction of Lian Zhi, and the guards were all Lian Zhi's confidantes, so they were inside. There was a lot of noise, and even half a word of this word would not spread. Fusheng coughed lightly, wanting to remind them to keep their voices down.
Lian Zhi woke up, took a deep breath and said, "Yes, you saved the wrong one. I don't have a conscience in the first place."
His body swayed, and Min Xuefei quickly grabbed his waist, and his waist fell into Min Xuefei's hands. Just like what he dreamed day and night, this waist was so thin that he could touch his ribs.
Lian Zhi trembled for a moment, and jerked out of the way. As a result, he took too big a step and hit the door. He groaned in pain and fell to his knees weakly. The candle lamp also swayed with him, seeing that it was about to overturn and burn his clothes—Min Xuefei subconsciously snatched it, and took the candle lamp into his own hand without caring that the splashed wax oil dripped onto the tiger's mouth, but he didn't know that he had committed a crime. What the fuck, I took it to shine on Lianzhi's face.
He said, "I'll just ask a question, and then I'll leave."
Lian Zhi stood up slowly, Xu He asked.
Min Xuefei looked at the face that had appeared in his dreams countless times, with milky cheeks and bluish-like brows, flickering in the shadow of candles, a little more beautiful than a man, and a little more handsome than a daughter. He still remembered the words in his heart when he judged him in Huanfu Palace: If such a person was not an eunuch, and did not do those things that turned black and white in favor of a tiger, he would be such a stunning little prince.
But he was already there, and Min Xuefei couldn't help feeling regretful. After hesitating for a while, he opened his mouth and asked, "You... that day in the carriage in front of the Prime Minister's Mansion, what did you want..." He still couldn't come out. , but the meaning is already here. He was finally able to ask Lian Zhi for an explanation to this question that had troubled him for too many days.
Lian Zhi's heart felt cold, and he was even more disheartened than waiting in front of the imperial study that day for a beheading decree. Beheading was just a big scar on the bowl with a knife in his hand, and Min Xuefei opened his mouth to gouge out his heart. He lowered his head and smiled, and replied: "What's the matter, I just want to taste what it's like to be a precious person like you. After tasting it, I don't think it's interesting, and I'm no better than others. Min Your Excellency has come here again and again, if it is because of this matter, then Lian Zhi is sorry for your Excellency, Lian Zhi will slap himself a few times first..."
"Lianzhi!" Min Xuefei grabbed his arm violently, "Did I say something, didn't I just ask? It was the same last time, you ran away after kissing, and you always act like this in the palace?"
Lianzhi's pale face became even paler, and his back covered with medicine was in hot pain, and even the wrist he held in his hand trembled slightly: "Then what do you want to hear? It’s here to repay your kindness, and I’ll give you whatever your lord wants.”
Min Xuefei also couldn't think of what he wanted to hear from him, so he reported it seriously: "The palace gate has been locked, and I want to sleep with you overnight."
Lian Zhi paused, but did not refuse, and said, "Okay."
Immediately, the subordinates went to do it, and carried a soft couch in the Lianzhi room, and a pair of brocade screens separated the bed from the couch, so that Min Xuefei would not feel uncomfortable seeing him. Just as he was about to say that he should take a break earlier, he turned around and saw the man standing in front of the table, anxiously scratching his back where he couldn't reach it. There were many mosquitoes in the dark room, and I especially liked him who had such delicate skin and tender flesh. Lian Zhi sighed, called Fu Sheng back who had just retreated, and ordered a bucket of hot water to be boiled for Mr. Min to take a bath.
While scratching his itch, Min Xuefei looked at the furnishings in his room. There were still some fine flowers and plants, but there were not many big gold and silver utensils, most of them were plain white porcelain blue lamps, and there was still a sweetness in the air. The aftertaste of sweet incense wafts out from the hanging incense balls of white cranes spreading their wings, and there are a few pictures of the four seasons in the blank space on the wall... It doesn't look like the inner room of a powerful official, it's as light as a study room, only In the depths, on a babu bed, there are big crabapple peonies carved, which are the most luxurious things in his room.
Seeing a brocade box on the desk, he opened it for a look, only to see a pile of fragments, Lian Zhi closed the box lid from behind with a "bang", then stretched out a hand to scratch him. Inaccessible itches. Min Xuefei withdrew her hand, looked up at the painting on the wall, and asked, "Did you draw it?"
Lian Zhi said "Yes": "It's just a stubborn painting, if you don't like it, tell them to take it down."
Min Xuefei said casually: "I will ask Shu Luan to teach you a few strokes tomorrow, he is an all-rounder in calligraphy and painting." He stopped his voice, and when Lian Zhi stopped talking, he suddenly realized what Lian Zhi's identity was, and what Ji Shuluan was How could it be his turn to teach an eunuch how to paint, so he shut his mouth wearily.
The two remained silent, and when Fusheng brought the bathtub in and filled it with hot water, the whole room was filled with steaming water vapor, and even the tables, chairs and benches were covered with light moisture. Min Xuefei wiped his finger. , frowned and said: "How can this work, the paper scroll will be all crumpled after a while."
Fu Sheng threw some fragrant beans into the bathtub, and replied: "Even the young prisoner used to go to the clean room to take a bath, but the place is not as clean as the master's house, so he ordered us to move the bucket here. Come."
Lian Zhi waved him to go down, went up and pulled Min Xuefei's clothes, and drove him into the bucket. After taking off the last piece of clothes, the man's strong body stood in front of him with fresh heat, his narrow waistline was in the crotch Suddenly tightened, submerged in a thick ink forest. He stared blankly again, in a daze, turned his head away for a while, and then didn't reach out to touch it.
Min Xuefei sank into the bucket, watching the watery white flowers adhere to the pictures of the four seasons on his wall, the molan, red plum, golden chrysanthemum, and green lotus all faded with a thin layer of smudges, and the flowers faded away. After looking at it regrettably, he said, "Just pick those few pictures and give them to me."
Lian Zhi sat by the bucket, wiped his body with a towel, looked up when he heard the words, saw that he was talking about the pictures of the four seasons, didn't say anything, nodded and said "OK".
He also said that the set of thin-bodied celadon cups on the table was pretty good, and even the branches offered to give him away; after a while, Min Xuefei begged for more than half of the flowers, plants, vases, calligraphy and painting decorations in the room, and he had never seen it before. Like the world, he doesn't even blink, and just nods when he wants anything. Min Xuefei suddenly turned around, startled Lian Zhi who was holding a can of anti-itch cream to apply on his back.
"In that brocade box, is it a fragment of the glazed tree? I heard it's your treasure." Min Xuefei said, seeing that Lianzhi didn't answer, he poked someone's vitals again, "Do you give me whatever I want? .”
Lianzhi lowered his eyelids, and used his fingers to pick out the ointment and put it on the red envelope around his neck: "It's not a valuable thing. It's their good fortune to be liked by Master Min."
"..." Min Xuefei didn't intend to listen to these flattering words, he just got bored, slipped down into the water, and washed away the ointment that Lian Zhi had applied to him. Lian Zhi frowned at him in a muffled voice, a little unhappy, Min Xuefei said again, "Turn through my clothes, there is a gourd bottle in my sleeve pocket."
Lian Zhi really took out what he said from inside and handed it to him.
"Here for you, the wound medicine that Ji Hong's family left me last time is very effective, you take it." Min Xuefei sniffed the mouth of the bottle, and after confirming that he took it correctly, he casually threw it to Lian Zhi, muttering a few times "Do you know how hard it is to see you once, am I a jackal or a tiger, can I eat you or something?"
Lian Zhi was forced to take the small medicine bottle he threw over, and held it in his hand in a daze.
Min Xuefei didn't drink much just now, but he was a little fuzzy in the dizzy sound of the lights and water. He looked at Lianzhi carefully by the candlelight, and really couldn't figure out what this young eunuch was trying to plot on him. It was impossible for Feng Jian to send an eunuch to seduce him to make a mistake, and he didn't believe that he was born well, otherwise the one who secretly kissed him should be Ji Shuluan, who is famous all over the capital. He is neither dull nor stupid, and after counting all the impossible conspiracies and tricks, there is only one possibility left.
However, these years, he has never had a good word for this person, and he dared to call him an eunuch in front of his face, which was so vile that it made this "possibility" feel ridiculous just thinking about it. But that day in the imperial study room, when Lian Zhi was dragged out by someone, the last look was indeed thrown at him. It was so earnest and hot, not a look of begging, but a look of relief. It was the last moment of life. The cherished things are firmly in the eyes.
Min Xuefei was touched for a moment, and when she came back to her senses, she had already opened her mouth to intercede for him.
He leaned against the wall of the barrel, turned his head, and suddenly saw a small silk-yellow umbrella with a handle carved with green tassels hanging in the screen of the Babu bed, which seemed familiar to him. Min Xuefei took a few fixed glances and said, "That umbrella..."
Lian Zhi immediately said: "That can't send you off!"
Min Xuefei: "..."
Lian Zhi's face showed a bit of pleading: "That's an old umbrella, it can't hold the rain anymore, it's useless if you take it."
Min Xuefei has never seen him guarding anything like this. After all, the glazed tree that is said to be a relic of his parents can be smashed, but now he cherishes an old umbrella. Although he is curious in his heart, he will not really do that. The good villain just took a second look, then kept silent, lying back in the bucket and looking at the beam above his head.
He didn't eat anything all day today. He drank a pot of spicy Shaodao on an empty stomach, got angry with Lianzhi in the darkroom, and now he was soaked in a bucket of hot water to steam, and soon he had stomach cramps. , head swollen. A strong dizziness came up along his spine, and it was as if a drop of ink had been dizzy before his eyes, and stars filled his entire field of vision.
In his dizziness, he seemed to hear Lian Zhi's panic-stricken voice calling him, first "Master Min", then "Min Xuefei", and finally "Xuefei" anxiously, but he could clearly hear it, but couldn't do it. Any reaction, hands and feet seem to be heavy.
... and the sound of water coming from nowhere, it seems like a dense rain has fallen in the whole memory.