In the west of the capital, near the imperial palace, there are mostly government offices, with no civilians living there. The roads are wider than other places. After walking past a row of majestic and magnificent government offices, there is a low-key and shabby government office at the entrance of the alley. This is the frightening place. Xingbu Yamen.
Originally, the Punishment Department Yamen was not so scary. Since Zhu Chunyang moved in, the majestic and solemn place has become more sinister.
Turn along the yamen and then turn into another alley. The houses in the alley are simple, and a clump of green bamboo sprouts from the high wall, adding a bit of life to this gray place.
Two guards in soap clothes stopped in front of a house. The house had a small front and no plaque.
"Open the door, change the shift." The guard shouted.
The door opened from the inside, and two guards walked out.
"You must be honest." The two parties chatted casually.
"Be careful what you say..." Someone whispered and glanced inside, then stretched out his hand and pointed upward, making a look that said you understand.
The visitor nodded, watched them go out, and closed the door.
After bypassing an exquisite screen wall, although we are in a small and cramped courtyard as usual in the south, the layout in front of us is extraordinary.
Exquisite hanging flower door, three-story bluestone steps, fine iron-wood doors, carved beams and painted columns in the east and west wing rooms, the corridors in the courtyard are all paved with bluestone, and there are dense swaying bamboos on both sides, but maybe it’s because no one has lived here for a long time. These originally gorgeous buildings have a gray and desolate air. Although the yard has obviously been cleaned, the scattered weeds and spreading flowers in the corners reveal the fact that they have not been taken care of for a long time.
The two officers walked up the steps and scanned the bright room. They saw no one, and their brows jumped involuntarily.
Before he could speak, he heard footsteps coming from the side.
"Can I go to the backyard?" Gu Shiba Niang asked.
"Of course." The two guards turned around, forced out a somewhat stiff smile, and looked at the woman standing in front of them, holding a large handful of yellowing grass in her hands.
Gu Shiba Niang nodded, smiled, and walked past the two of them into the house.
"It's really unprecedented for a prisoner to reach this point..." A police officer laughed softly.
The two turned around and walked towards the concierge.
"What's the matter? If you are willing, there is another room next door that is even better decorated than here. You can live there for the rest of your life..." the other one chuckled.
"Don't mention it, I'd rather go back to my shabby yard..." the former policeman said with a smile.
The conversation between the two people outside the house was not shy, so Gu Shiba Niang could hear it clearly. She couldn't help but stop picking the grass blades in her hands and was slightly stunned.
Yes, nothing is more precious than freedom...
She looked at the corner of the wall and saw the lines she had lightly scratched with a pen. She had been locked up for half a month before she knew it. She didn't know what happened outside, how her mother was doing, or how her brother was doing...
As time went by, she couldn't help but feel a little panicked in her heart. Her destiny had changed. Who knew if the things she had bet on had also changed...
If he really changes, what awaits him is not as simple as being imprisoned for a lifetime.
There are some things that you actually don’t know if they are right or wrong. The only thing you can control is that you don’t regret when you do them.
Gu Shiba Niang nodded, a smile reappeared on her face, she once again looked at the grass blades in her hand, and picked them up carefully.
There was the sound of gentle footsteps, and then stopped again.
Gu Shiba Niang didn't pay attention. She knew that in addition to the two guards in the courtyard, there were countless people hiding in the courtyard, waiting for her "accomplices" to come after hearing the news...
Every move she makes is under surveillance. Once she's used to it, it doesn't matter.
After slowly picking the grass leaves, the sunlight falling on my body gradually became slanted.
"Okay... this is enough..." Gu Shiba Niang sat and stretched, talking to herself.
"What are these for?" came a voice from outside the door.
Gu Shiba Niang was startled and looked outside the door. She saw a young man in white standing at the foot of the bluestone steps. His expression was indifferent, and the sunlight shone on him, adding a bit of warmth to the cold and dull early spring courtyard scene. meaning.
"Your Highness..." Gu Shiba Niang was stunned for a moment, then stood up in a panic, kowtowed to the ground.
"It's not like I've learned some rules, but why do I kneel down? I'm still panicking and falling down..." Prince Wenjun said, stepping forward with a faint smile in his voice, "It doesn't look good at all..."
"Your Highness, please forgive me, but the daughter of the people is panicking..." Gu Shiba Niang replied softly while lying on the ground. She heard the sound of her clothes whirling, and the person passed by with a gust of wind, and stood still in front of her.
"Get up."
A sentence floated down from the top of my head.
Gu Shiba Niang responded, thanked her and stood up with her head bowed.
"Sit down." King Wenjun raised his hand and said, taking the lead in sitting down on the chair.
There is a table in this room with a chair on each side.
Gu Shiba Niang naturally didn't have the guts to sit on the other side, and she didn't dare to say she wouldn't sit. She clearly remembered that the prince had a bit of a weird temper. That time he was fine in the plum garden of the palace, and she didn't say anything, so he just Changed his face and left.
This time, we can't let him walk away before the words are clearly spoken.
Gu Shiba Niang thanked her and saw the wooden bench she had brought in to put the dustpan in the corner of her eye. She hurriedly walked over, took down the dustpan, and sat down.
The two people were sitting high and low in the room, looking a little weird.
Prince Wenjun suddenly smiled.
Gu Shiba Niang was in a turmoil, and when he smiled, she became even more flustered. She had just organized what she wanted to say but didn't know how to say it.
"These are mugwort leaves?" King Wenjun suddenly asked, pointing to the grass leaves placed aside.
"Oh, yes." Gu Shiba Niang replied.
"It's not the Dragon Boat Festival yet, what do you want with these?" Prince Wenjun asked, looking very interested.
"Make mugwort charcoal..." Gu Shiba Niang said.
Prince Wen said, "Why don't you make some moxa rolls?"
"It's not enough at this time. You have to pick it in May to make moxa..." Gu Shiba Niang replied.
King Wenjun said, not talking.
There was silence in the room.
Gu Shiba Niang recited the words she had thought about several times in her mind, then gritted her teeth and said: "Your Highness..."
"Won't you treat me to a cup of tea?" Prince Wenjun spoke first.
Gu Shiba Niang was stunned for a moment. Seeing that there was no one else in the yard, she had obviously been turned away. She quickly stood up, took the teapot, washed the teacup on the table, poured a cup and handed it to him.
Prince Wenjun took it and seemed to be really thirsty. He took a big gulp and frowned slightly.
"There is no good tea here..." Gu Shiba Niang looked at his expression and said hurriedly. After saying that, she felt bad, and then explained, "I don't drink tea either, so..."
For a suspect like her, it would be nice to have water to drink, but to ask for so much really makes people feel that she is going too far...
Prince Wen smiled, turned the tea cup, and looked at the slightly dark tea.
"When I didn't have good tea before..." He seemed to be talking to himself, his eyes suddenly lit up, he put down the teacup and stood up.
Gu Shiba Niang thought he was going to ask someone to bring tea, but she saw him walking away.
Is this a sudden departure again? Gu Shiba Niang was stunned.
Prince Wenjun stood in front of the bamboo bush in the corner, stretched out his hand and pulled off the thin bamboo branches.
"Have you ever had bamboo leaf tea, Your Highness?" Gu Shiba Niang followed over and asked, reaching out to pull the bamboo branches as well.
The Dafu bamboo grown here is slender, with straight and extremely tough stalks. If it loses its balance, it will bounce back, which is quite embarrassing.
"... In the school in Xianren County, my husband planted some plum green bamboos. Ask your brother, he should still remember... I looked good, so I often picked the leaves and boiled water to drink... My husband didn't know either, but I found that the bamboo leaves were growing less and less, and I was very worried. I checked the book to find out the reason, and later I invited a craftsman to ask..." Prince Wenjun said with a faint smile, and the more he talked, the more he smiled. For the first time Grinning toothily.
Gu Shiba Niang was very surprised when she heard this and couldn't help laughing.
"Sir, you didn't even know it was you until the end?" she asked, reaching out to take a handful of young leaves from King Wenjun, and blurted out the words without even noticing that she didn't have an honorific.
"Sir, you will never suspect a gentleman like me..." Prince Wen once again pulled a thin bamboo branch and said with a smile, not noticing that he had changed his title. "There are always people who are not gentlemen and are suspected by sir..."
Gu Shiba Niang's mind automatically jumped to the three people who sent the meal that day to blackmail her, and she laughed.
"Heat hot water..." King Wenjun looked at the bamboo leaves in his hand and felt that it was almost done, so he let go of the bamboo branches and said.
"Hey, I'm good at this. Your Highness, try my skills..." Gu Shiba Niang shook her hand and smiled.
"Please." Prince Wen looked at her and nodded with a smile.
After receiving the order, a chamberlain lowered his head and respectfully brought in a small iron stove, then quietly exited with his head lowered.
Gu Shiba Niang boiled water, washed the bamboo leaves, and then gently pounded them with a pestle.
"When it comes to making tea, there are a lot of herbal medicines... However, they are three parts poisonous, so we don't dare to use them lightly..." Gu Shiba Niang said, holding the brewed bamboo leaf tea to Prince Wen, " I made tea with winter jasmine flowers yesterday..."
"The taste is much stronger than what I made at that time..." Prince Wen took a sip, nodded, and looked at her, "Are the winter jasmine flowers blooming?"
Gu Shibaniang nodded and pointed outside the courtyard, "It's just at the corner, a little bit open..."
Prince Wenjun followed what she pointed at and saw that among the messy weeds and flowers in the corner diagonally facing the door there were indeed some bright yellows. If you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't be able to tell. Although there were few pink and yellow clumps, they were still there. If you work hard, you will be strong.
"Originally there weren't many, but I picked some again..." Gu Shiba Niang said a little embarrassed.
"It's very beautiful..." Prince Wen said, looking up at her and smiling.
I don’t think it’s nice, but it’s very effective in treating wind and cold... Gu Shiba Niang answered in her heart, but of course she didn’t dare to say it with her mouth.
After Prince Wen said this, the room was silent again.
"...Are you okay?" Prince Wen asked as he put down his teacup.
"It's okay, it's okay..." Gu Shiba Niang lowered her head and said hurriedly, while bowing down and saluting, "Thank you, Your Highness..."
Finally entering the current reality, the atmosphere suddenly became dull. Prince Wen didn't speak anymore and drank tea slowly.
Gu Shiba Niang quietly raised her eyes and glanced at him. It seemed that His Highness must be in a good mood...
"Your Highness, my mother and brother..." She gritted her teeth and said, kneeling down again.
Prince Wen stood up the moment she knelt down.
"Your Highness..." Gu Shiba Niang was anxious and couldn't help but kneel and take a few steps forward.
"My heart is selfless and the world is wide..." Prince Wen said, stopping in his steps, "Don't worry..."
Gu Shiba Niang looked up at him with a complicated expression, but she didn't dare to say what she wanted to say.
Prince Wenjun's gaze fell on her face condescendingly, and he suddenly smiled.
"Gu Xiang..." He pursed his lips and said, "Have you ever trusted someone?"
Gu Shiba Niang was startled, could she trust a person? Of course she has... She once believed in everyone, and then she was pushed into the abyss by the people she believed in...
There was a sound of footsteps, and Prince Wen's figure disappeared around the screen wall.
"Farewell to Your Highness..." Gu Shiba Niang muttered while lying on the ground.