Outside the Deer Garden is a large sycamore forest and a lake planted with lotus flowers. A road that can accommodate four carriages running side by side connects to the official road outside. After passing through this beautiful sycamore forest, you will arrive at the Deer Garden. From a distance, outside the Deer Garden is a dark red high wall. Above the high wall, there are pine trees, bamboo forests, and the tops of locust trees emerge from different places behind the high wall. Behind the colorful trees, you can also see a tall rockery and a pavilion on the rockery.
As a royal estate, the entire Deer Park is full of royal style.
People in the imperial capital probably know that the Deer Garden is across the sycamore forest and that ordinary people are not allowed to enter, so no one would deliberately turn to this road to wander around, so as not to get themselves into trouble. This makes the outside of the Deer Garden even quieter.
"Li Qiang, the Deer Garden is in front of us. The head of the Deer Garden is Eunuch Liu from the palace. The Lord has already greeted a eunuch in charge in the palace yesterday. All the formalities have been completed. You can go directly. Just tell us your name and someone will take you to see Eunuch Liu..."
Yan Liqiang retracted his gaze from the direction of Luyuan and nodded, "Okay, Brother Liang, I'll remember that. Brother Liang doesn't need to see me off!"
"Then take care of yourself and don't waste this opportunity!" Liang Yijie looked at Yan Liqiang earnestly, "I know that you are not someone who is willing to be lonely, otherwise you would not have followed the adults to the imperial capital. But in this imperial capital, there are so many talented people, and it is not easy to stand out. But as long as you have real skills and can endure loneliness, you will definitely have the opportunity to stand out when the opportunity comes. It is natural to stand out. Although this Deer Garden is quiet, it is also a royal place with natural nobility. Liqiang, you must seize the opportunity here..."
"Brother Liang means..."
“Li Qiang, you are so smart, how could you not understand!” Liang Yiji smiled, “Okay, I won’t say any more, we’ll see each other in a month! I hope to see your cultivation further improved by then, Li Qiang…”, after saying this, Liang Yiji simply turned his horse’s head, waved to Yan Liqiang, squeezed his legs against the horse’s belly, and the Rhino Dragon Horse under his crotch galloped away in the blink of an eye.
Looking at Liang Yiji's receding figure, Yan Liqiang touched his chin, smacked his lips, then smiled and said to himself, "Brother Liang, could it be that while I am cultivating here with peace of mind, I should also not forget to seize the opportunity to cling to a big thigh. The biggest thigh here is that eunuch Liu. Could it be that eunuch Liu is still a great figure in the palace..."
If Shi Dafeng was here, he might have looked down on him when he heard that the steward of Deer Garden was a eunuch in the palace. However, Yan Liqiang had lived two lives and had heard a lot of historical stories about eight thousand years old and nine thousand years old. Therefore, even though he knew that the steward of Deer Garden was a eunuch, he did not dare to look down on him in the slightest.
Seeing Liang Yiji walking away, Yan Liqiang gathered his thoughts, rode on the black cloud covering snow, greeted Huangmao, and walked slowly towards the Deer Garden.
For some reason, Yan Liqiang suddenly thought of Wei Xiaobao in "The Deer and the Cauldron" at this time. In "The Deer and the Cauldron", Mao Shiba brought Wei Xiaobao from a brothel in Yangzhou to the capital by accident, and then let Wei Xiaobao enter the palace. Unexpectedly, Wei Xiaobao started a different life from then on. He didn't know whether he had Wei Xiaobao's luck.
When he was still some distance away from the main entrance of the Deer Park, he saw the two rows of soldiers stationed at the main entrance of the Deer Park looking at him, so Yan Liqiang dismounted and walked over leading the Rhino Horse.
"Stop, who is it?"
Seeing Yan Liqiang coming, a soldier immediately shouted.
"I'm Yan Liqiang. I'm reporting to Luyuan today. Please meet Eunuch Liu!" Yan Liqiang said politely to the soldier guarding the gate of Luyuan.
"Are you Yan Liqiang?" An officer in his thirties with a moustache who was guarding the gate of the Deer Garden suddenly came out and looked at Yan Liqiang seriously.
"Yes, I am Yan Liqiang!"
"Well, follow me!"
"I also brought a horse and a dog. Can we let them in?" Yan Liqiang asked good-temperedly.
"What do you think the Deer Park is? Anything can come in?" The officer looked at Yan Liqiang unhappily and snorted, "Leave your horse here. There are stables in the Deer Park, and the soldiers here will naturally make arrangements. As for your dog, don't blame me for not reminding you. If you dare to get close to the Deer Park gate, don't blame me if you die!"
After hearing the officer's words, Yan Liqiang hadn't even opened his mouth yet, but the yellow-haired man who followed him bared his teeth and made a gurgling sound of encouragement in his throat, showing obvious hostility towards the officer who was speaking, which made the officer feel a little surprised.
"Huangmao, go play at a distance for a while, I'll call you later..." Yan Liqiang said to Huangmao. Huangmao looked at Yan Liqiang, and Brick ran to the sycamore forest not far away.
Seeing the yellow-haired man running away, Yan Liqiang followed the officer into the deer garden.
As soon as he entered the Deer Garden, Yan Liqiang was stunned. The grandeur and style of this royal garden is really incomparable to ordinary places. In this Deer Garden, every scene, every object, every brick and tile, every blade of grass and every tree are all unique and ingenious, integrating the interest of nature with the essence of humanities.
As Yan Liqiang followed the officer, he muttered to himself, if the Old Summer Palace was still intact, it would probably look something like this.
After circling the Deer Garden for several times, the officer finally brought Yan Liqiang to the outside of a courtyard shaded by green trees. Outside the courtyard, there were two guards. When the two guards saw the officer bringing Yan Liqiang over, they stopped the officer directly.
"Please tell Eunuch Liu that the person he wants to see has arrived!" The officer bowed to the two guards.
A guard looked at Yan Liqiang carefully, then walked into the yard. Half a minute later, the man came out without saying much. He just nodded to the officer who brought Yan Liqiang here, and took Yan Liqiang into the yard.
There was a small bridge over the courtyard, with running water, birds singing and flowers blooming. Under an old pear tree with lush branches and leaves, an old eunuch with gray hair, a white face and no beard, wearing a purple robe, was lying on a rocking recliner under the pear tree with his eyes closed, leisurely basking in the morning sun. Two young eunuchs, who were not much older than Yan Liqiang, were serving the old eunuch. One of them was half-squatting beside the old eunuch's recliner, controlling the rocking of the recliner with his hands, acting as an "artificial motor". Another young eunuch was fanning an exquisite little stove with a fan not far away, on which water was boiling. When Yan Liqiang arrived, the water on the stove had just begun to gurgle and bubble.
"Eunuch, the person has been brought here..." the guard who brought Yan Liqiang in bowed and reported.
"Well, you go down..." The old lady lying on the recliner heard someone talking, then she slowly turned her head, opened her eyes, waved her hand, and let the guard go down.
"Are you Yan Liqiang?" The old eunuch asked lightly while lying on the recliner.
"Yan Liqiang greets Eunuch Liu!" Yan Liqiang respectfully bowed to the old eunuch, and then could not help but look at the old eunuch again. This was the first time in Yan Liqiang's two lifetimes that he saw a eunuch. Apart from having no beard, the eunuch lying on the recliner did not look much different from an ordinary person. Although his voice was a little shrill, it was not harsh. It just sounded a little crisp and was not offensive.
"Can you make tea?" Eunuch Liu suddenly asked a question that Yan Liqiang did not expect.
"I can boil water and make some tea, but I'm not an expert..." Yan Liqiang replied calmly.
"Xiao Chunzi, please move aside and let him make a pot of tea for us!"
Hearing the old eunuch's words, the young eunuch who was tending the small stove next to him stood up and handed over the fan in his hand.
Yan Liqiang didn't say much, he just walked over, squatted on the ground, took the fan and started fanning...
(End of this chapter)