When Xue Mu came back from the palace, the sun was almost setting. He asked Nian Tang about Liu Qinghuan's whereabouts, and then went to look for her in the attic of the inner hall.
Liu Qinghuan was still sitting on the bed eating crispy cheese to cool off, when she saw Xue Mu coming in, she quickly got up and greeted her: "Master Hou."
Xue Mu took her and sat down on the bed, and then said: "A few days ago, a new Hu caravan came to the West Market, bringing many strange things. If Qingqing is interested, I will accompany you to the West Market tomorrow. City for a walk?"
Liu Qinghuan thought for a while, and said: "No need, Lord Hou is busy on weekdays, I just ask the maidservants to accompany me out." She was thinking for Xue Mu, but after she finished speaking, she was worried that he would be angry, so she paid attention his look.
Xue Mu just looked at her and didn't speak. It wasn't until she nodded in agreement that she laughed again: "I'll pick you up tomorrow morning."
After Xue Mu left, Liu Qinghuan still didn't understand why he was so obsessed with this matter.
At night, Xue Mu still slept beside the lotus. He looked at the blooming lotus in the lotus pond, and a small figure appeared in front of him, crying to him with snot and tears.
"Amu, the eldest sister and the second sister sneaked to the West Market to play, and they didn't take me with them. They said there were many orchids there, and Hu Xuanwu danced beautifully. They also visited silk shops and clothing stores Eldest sister also secretly bought Meidai and lipstick!" When she said this, she said to Xue Mu proudly: "But I told Auntie, Auntie took all the things she bought, and she is still in the house now Train them both."
Xue Mu gave a low laugh, and helped her wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes: "Qingqing wants to go to West Market?"
"Well! But mother doesn't like me going out and running around."
Xue Mu thought for a while and said, "Then I will secretly take you to the West Market tomorrow, okay?"
Liu Qinghuan looked at him with bright eyes: "Really? But if A Niang finds out, she will definitely punish me."
"Let's go and come back quickly, just don't let her find out, don't tell your eldest sister and second sister."
"Okay! Then I'll wait for you at the back door tomorrow!" After Liu Qinghuan finished speaking, she stretched out her right hand to Xue Mu, raised her little finger slightly, "pull the hook!"
Xue Mu hooked her little finger and said to her, "I'll pick you up tomorrow morning."
…
He didn't expect that he had waited seven years for this tomorrow.
The cool summer night breeze blew over the surface of the pool, and Xue Mu's hair moved slightly. He glanced in the direction of the main room and closed the window.
When Liu Qinghuan changed her clothes the next day and went out, Xue Mu had already been waiting for her at the door for a while.
Liu Qinghuan was still riding the same horse from the last hunt. The reason she chose this horse was that it was the same as Xue Mu's beloved horse Zhao Ye, a pure white horse.
Then she named it Xiaobai.
Liu Qinghuan's naming style was the same from childhood to adulthood, so Xue Mu just smiled and didn't speak.
There are many people in West Market, and there is an endless stream of pedestrians and horses coming and going. Even in the hottest summer in Chang'an City, the voices of people are still buzzing.
There are many rare gadgets in the shops of Hu merchants, as well as their special silk capsules. It is said that it takes three years to weave one, which is invaluable. She was also dazzled by all kinds of eyebrow creams and lip balms, so she picked one at random, and the shopkeeper told her with a smile that this lady really has vision, this is a Persian snail, worth ten gold.
Liu Qinghuan twitched the corners of her lips. She had always been the one who lied to others, trying to get money from her, but there was no way. But Xue Mu still bought the Persian snail Dai worth ten gold.
With Mei Dai, the shopkeeper tricked Xue Mu into buying the eyebrow inkstone and eyebrow pencil together, and then there are silks and satins, gold hairpins and jade bracelets... Regarding his style of spending money like water, Liu Qinghuan felt that it was necessary to return Have a good talk with him in the future.
The two of them wandered from West Market to Yiningfang. There were three raging fires burning in the Ao Temple, and several priests in long robes came in and out.
"It's the Zoroastrian Cult." Xue Mu looked at the masked priests, his eyes changed. The forces behind the Zoroastrian Cult are complex, and probably related to the King of Lingnan. The emperor has always suspected that the Zoroastrian Cult is their contact point.
He withdrew his gaze and said to Liu Qinghuan, "Let's go."
"En." Liu Qinghuan took another look into the Ao Temple, and the burning flames of the three altars were reflected in her eyes, flickering on and off.
After returning to Chongrenfang, Xue Mu looked at Liu Qinghuan who was driving beside him, and asked, "Qingqing, let's go back, shall we?"
"Okay." After riding a horse for a day, she also wanted to go to the ground to move around.
Xue Mu asked the servants to send the things they bought back to the Hou's Mansion first, and took the horse with them, then walked with Liu Qinghuan in Chongrenfang.
Unfortunately, just a few steps away, the sky suddenly began to rain. Pedestrians on the road started to run, Liu Qinghuan's brows twitched, the weather turned so unpredictable. Fortunately, she still had an umbrella in her hand. It was originally intended to be used for shade, but now it can be used to shelter from the rain.
She opened the umbrella and walked to Xue Mu's side, and raised the umbrella over his head. Xue Mu glanced at her strenuous appearance, smiled and took the umbrella in her hand: "Let me hold the umbrella."
Liu Qinghuan withdrew her hand, looked at Xue Mulu's half body outside the umbrella, pursed her lips and said, "Master Hou will get wet like this."
Hearing what she said, Xue Mu suddenly smiled: "It's okay, I have a big head."
Liu Qinghuan: "..."
Was Lord Hou telling a joke just now? His head...isn't that big either!
Xue Mu saw her staring at him inquisitively, and said with a light smile, "I don't know which naughty ghost gave me the name."
That year he told Liu Qinghuan that his name was Xue Mu, Liu Qinghuan wrinkled his face and thought for a long time: "Is it wood?"
Xue Mu said: "Wood is not wood, it is Mu of admiration."
For the three-year-old Liu Qinghuan, Mu, who admired and admired, obviously had no wood to understand, so she insisted: "It's wood!" After she finished speaking, she squatted down. body, wrote a big log on the snow with his fingers.
Xue Mu twitched his eyes, and wrote the word "Mu" next to the crooked wooden letter, one stroke at a time, clearly and neatly.
Perhaps seeing that the Mu character looks much better than the wooden character she wrote, Liu Qinghuan pouted and began to play tricks: "I don't care, it's just wood!"
"It's the admired Mu!"
"wood!"
"admire!"
Liu Qinghuan puffed up her cheeks, held her breath and looked at Xue Mu for a long time, and finally said angrily: "If you don't want to be a log, then you should be a big head! Big head and big head, don't worry about raining, others have umbrellas, you have a big head!" After Liu Qinghuan finished singing, she applauded for herself.
Xue Mu: "..."
He couldn't understand the logic of this small group at all.
But he didn't know that after he left that day, Xiaotuanzi practiced calligraphy alone on the table, and the same word was written on a full sheet of paper.
Mu.
"Big head, big head, don't worry about raining, others have umbrellas, you have big head." Liu Qinghuan sang cheerfully, seeing Xue Mu looking sideways at herself, she smiled at him. Who is so bold and dares to give Lord Hou such an interesting nickname hahahahaha!
Seeing the malicious smile in her eyes, the corners of Xue Mu's mouth curled up, and he didn't care about her.
The rain came and went quickly, and the sky had cleared up before the two of them returned to the Hou Mansion. Liu Qinghuan checked Xue Mu's clothes, and sure enough they were already drenched: "Master Hou, don't forget to take a bath after you return home, it will be fine if you catch a cold."
Xue Mu smiled and said, "I was exposed to the sun and rain on the battlefield, how can I be so delicate."
Liu Qinghuan thought about it for a while, and said nothing more.
In Tang Zibo's mansion, a person was leaning on the couch, looking at him with a half-smile: "I heard that Xue Mu took Liu Qinghuan to the West Market today, and spent a lot of money for her."
Tang Zibo took a sip of the wine in front of him and didn't answer. The man said again: "It doesn't feel good to get the chess piece out of your hand, right? Well, I can't blame her. If I were a woman, I would fall for someone like Xue Mu." .”
Tang Zibo finally knit his brows together, glanced at him and said, "I have already informed my adoptive father about Liu Qinghuan, and the foster father will have his own opinion."
The other party smiled and did not speak again.
In the Hou Mansion, Liu Qinghuan ordered Qing Zhi to boil some ginger soup in the small kitchen, and prepared to send it to Xue Mu. Although he said that he was not that delicate, no one could say for sure about being sick.
When passing through the lotus pond, Pengpeng was sitting alone on the lotus pavilion and sighed.
Liu Qinghuan blinked, walked up and asked, "Pengpeng, what's wrong with you?"
"Ulala?" Pengpeng looked up at her, then sighed dejectedly: "It's nothing."
Liu Qinghuan rolled her eyes, and sat down opposite him: "Let me guess, um...it must be the lady from Pingkangfang you like who was redeemed by another gentleman."
"That's not it!" Pengpeng jumped up excitedly, "It's Anaye! Anaye!"
Anaye? This guy didn't even let the Hu people go.
"Ah—" Pengpeng sighed heavily, and sat down on the ground cross-legged, "Recently, a new team of Hu merchants came to the West Market, and they brought a lot of novelty things."
"Yes." She had heard this before.
"Along with the team, there is another orchid named Anaye. Her Hu Xuanwu is the best among all orchids." Peng Peng looked at the lotus in the pond with a sad expression, "I and She hit it off right away, and went to Xishi to watch her dance every day. But... but... she will soon be bought by a rich businessman."
Liu Qinghuan thought for a while and said, "Being bought by a rich businessman is better than drinking with you in West Market, right?"
Hearing what she said, Pengpeng retorted fiercely: "That rich businessman already has thirteen concubines, so let's not let Anaye go!"
Liu Qinghuan: "..."
This rich businessman is really in good health.
Peng Peng continued to belittle: "Not only that, but his appearance is even more appalling!"
Liu Qinghuan thought for a while, and asked curiously, "How did he fall in love with Anaye?"
Pengpeng said: "In three days, he will hold a banquet at home, and Anaye is going to dance."
Liu Qinghuan frowned: "Huh?"
Pengpeng said: "Think about it, Anaye dances so well, he will definitely be attracted to him!"
Liu Qinghuan: "..."
Sir, are you kidding me