The sun outside was very strong, Chu Qiao was lying on the couch and was drowsy, most of the cicadas on the tree were dead, only a few remnants remained, screaming without a sound, she dozed off slightly, trance In a trance, I was about to fall asleep.
I don't know how long it took, but the surroundings suddenly became quiet.
Startled, Chu Qiao suddenly opened her eyes, but was taken aback for a moment. I saw a woman in her fifties standing in front of her, her eyes were calm, but her complexion was a little pale, as if she hadn't been exposed to the sun for a long time. I saw that she was looking at herself carefully, very attentive.
Seeing Chu Qiao wake up, the lady nodded her head as a greeting, and then asked, "Do you want some water?"
Chu Qiao looked at her with a frown. This person was dressed plainly, but after careful observation, one could still tell that the fabrics of the clothes were luxurious. She seems to be a high-ranking nanny, but she is a little more noble. If she has been in the top position for a long time, she has a little less majesty in power. I saw that she was wearing a string of sandalwood beads on her wrist, which was very old and seemed somewhat incompatible with her identity.
Seeing that Chu Qiao didn't speak, the woman went straight to the shade of a tree, picked up the teapot from the small table, poured a cup of tea, walked back slowly, and said, "Drink, the mouth is most prone to dry mouth at the beginning of autumn, and young people want to drink tea." Take care of your body."
Chu Qiao took a sip of tea, and indeed felt much more refreshed. She looked at the woman in embarrassment, and then said cautiously: "I'm sorry, I just entered the palace and I don't have much experience, so I don't know what your name is?"
"Me? My surname is Yao."
Yao is Bian Tang's common surname. In this palace, from the empress to the ordinary maids, one out of ten have the surname Yao. In these few days, Chu Qiao has already known no fewer than seven or eight aunts surnamed Yao.
"Can I sit down?" The woman pointed to a chair beside her and asked politely.
Chu Qiao nodded quickly and said, "Please sit down."
Seeing Chu Qiao looking around, the woman said, "The queen is here, and all your maids have gone out to pick her up."
Chu Qiao looked at her with a somewhat suspicious expression, obviously asking: "Then who are you, why don't you pick up the queen when the queen is here?"
The woman smiled, she should be a person who seldom smiles, her smile is a bit stiff, and there are no wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. She looked at Chu Qiao and said, "I'm fine, I just want to see you."
She spoke so thoughtlessly that Chu Qiao didn't know how to agree. There are many rules in this palace, and the people are also complicated, and everyone keeps a seven to eight points in their words. Chu Qiao was thinking about the identity of the woman, and the woman said again: "You are fine."
Chu Qiao smiled lightly and said, "Thank you for your compliment."
"I'm not complimenting you, you are indeed very good, but I don't think you are suitable for living in the palace."
Chu Qiao suddenly understood, was he another lobbyist who mistakenly thought he was the jealous of Li Ce's new favorite
"Don't worry, I won't stay here for long."
"No, that's not what I mean." The woman shook her head and said, "Everyone is not suitable at first, but they gradually get used to it. This court is like this, it can polish all the edges and corners that you are not suitable for. I think you are good, if you live in, maybe this palace will change a little."
Chu Qiao frowned, and looked at the woman suspiciously, not knowing what she meant.
"The prince is going to demolish the Buddhist hall in the palace, do you know?"
Her speech was very jumpy, Chu Qiao was taken aback, shook her head, and said, "I don't know."
"He wants to enshrine Huanxi Buddha in the palace, alas, I really..." The woman frowned tightly, as if she was very troubled, she looked at Chu Qiao, and said slowly, "If you are free, please persuade him. He After all, he is the prince of Bian Tang, so he can't be too nonsense."
"I'm going first," the woman stood up and said to Chu Qiao, "You're injured, don't send it away." Then she walked out of Mi Heju slowly through the side door.
This person came as soon as he said it, said a lot of nonsense, and then left, Chu Qiao couldn't help but feel a little strange.
After a while, Qiu Sui and the others came back, and the little maids all had strange expressions and were a little uneasy.
"Qiu Sui, what's going on, is the queen here? Why didn't you call me?"
Qiu Sui said: "Aunt Xi came to send a message that the queen has arrived at the gate of the palace. Seeing you asleep, she said that you are sick and there is no need to pick you up. We will go together."
"What about the queen?"
"We waited for a while, but the queen didn't get out of the car. Later, she said she was unwell, so she went back."
"Oh." Chu Qiao nodded, as if she understood something, "Help me in."
The little maids agreed, and a servant stepped forward, lifted Chu Qiao's soft couch, and went back to the palace gate.
Speaking of which, Chu Qiao hadn't seen Li Ce for two whole days. She didn't think much of it, but Qiu Sui and the others were very depressed. After all, Chu Qiao was seriously ill that day, and Li Ce reopened Mi Heju, where she lived when she was a child, for her to live in. No one in the whole court knew the deep meaning of this.
However, what happened next made Mi Heju's servants a little depressed. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who had just shown a few traces of devotion, summoned all the ladies of the palace that night to drink and have fun in the Prince's Palace. It is said that there were as many as eight people attending the bed that night. And in the past few days, he didn't set foot in Mi Heju, but held a banquet. It is said that a large-scale construction project will be carried out recently to build a palace for a newly favored court lady.
Qiu Sui and a few little palace maids have been moaning and sighing all day long these days, as if they have been left out in the cold, they don't even talk much, the whole Miheju is so quiet that people can almost hear people's breathing.
In the evening, the sky was a bit dark, Chu Qiao was standing in front of the window, and suddenly heard a melodious flute sound. Across a pool of smoke and water, one can hear from a distance that the sound of the flute has a faint lingering sound, three times and nine turns, which is particularly moving.
Chu Qiao listened carefully, then turned around and asked, "Do you know who is playing the flute?"
The little maids shook their heads and said they didn't know. Chu Qiao stood up and wanted to go out to have a look, so scared that Qiu Sui and the others were startled, and each of them pulled her desperately, fearing that she would hurt her body if she moved casually.
Chu Qiao had no choice but to agree to come down, and lay quietly on the couch until everyone in the room retreated, then she came to the window, flipped out lightly, her feet were soft when she landed, and she almost fell down.
She was only wearing silk inner shoes, and it was a little cold when she stepped on the stone road. I didn't meet a single person along the way, the white gauze skirt was dragged softly on the ground, wet with dew, but there was no dust, the light was faint, and the distance from Mi Heju was getting farther and farther.
It is the water pavilion in the middle of the lake again, facing the wind on all sides, standing far above the water. The man is dressed in plain clothes like snow, holding a purple flute, standing against the wind, and his belt is light. Xiao Xiao's figure stood in the cold moonlight, adding a bit of warmth and tranquility that is hard to see on weekdays.
Chu Qiao stepped onto the black wooden bridge slowly, and saw the man turn his head, and the melody stopped abruptly. He didn't panic when he saw Chu Qiao, but smiled evilly, flipped the flute playfully in his hand, and said, "It's the middle of the night. You don’t sleep, no wonder people say that you have become a pig during the day, but it turns out that you are obsessed with going out late at night, and you sleep until the day.”
Chu Qiao smiled, and teased him: "I'm okay to say, but I heard that you have been playing songs every night recently, and you have exhausted your energy. Do you still have the strength to play the flute?"
"Haha," Li Ce said with a laugh, "I have very good physical strength. If you don't believe me, you can come and verify it."
Chu Qiao blushed and scolded: "No one is serious."
Li Ce rolled his eyes, "Only Yan Xun is serious, with a sullen face all day long, as if everyone in the world owed him money and didn't pay him back. I said, Qiao Qiao, are you really going to spend the rest of your life with him like this? I promise, This man must have no interest in life, as a lifelong event for your daughter, you have to think about it carefully."
"You are so boring," Chu Qiao stared at him, "You are the only one who has fun."
"That's it," Li Ce smiled triumphantly, "This prince is a handsome young man, rich in learning, suave, and unparalleled in beauty. He is the number one young talent in the entire land of Ximeng. Looking at him secretly, from a three-year-old girl to an eighty-year-old woman, all of them were fascinated and bowed at the knees of the crown prince."
Chu Qiao covered her mouth and smiled and said, "Yes, you look better than Song Yu, you look like Pan An, and you have a thousand charms like Long Yang."
"Who is Song Yu? Who is Pan An? Long Yang, is it a person's name?"
Chu Qiao smiled and said, "It's a famous handsome man, haven't you heard of it?"
"Beautiful man?" Li Ce snorted coldly with disdain, "If you have the opportunity, you must see it."
The moonlight was like water, pouring silver light all over the ground. When the night wind picked up, Li Ce stood up and said, "I'll take you back. It's windy at night, and you're injured."
"Okay." Chu Qiao replied.
Li Ce glanced at her embroidered shoes, the soft silk shoes were already wet with water, he frowned slightly, and said, "Why did you come out wearing these?"
Chu Qiao said indifferently: "It's okay, and I can't die, I used to walk barefoot, how can I be as delicate and expensive as you."
"Qiao Qiao, you have to remember that you are a woman, not a soldier." Li Ce's face suddenly became serious, and there was even a hint of anger in his voice, "What's the matter with Yan Xun, there are some things you can't do by yourself Are you a woman, why don’t you stay at home and wander around? You don’t care about your body, you don’t talk about how many injuries you have, and you will be covered in scars in the future. Let’s see how you marry! I want to see who is willing want you?"
Chu Qiao shouted: "You can't get married, so don't worry about it."
"Hmph, I don't need to take care of it, I just want to take care of it!"
Chu Qiao frowned, "Hey, Li Ce, you look down on women very much!"
"I just look down on her, what's the matter?" The man squinted at her, acting like a ruffian.
Chu Qiao stepped forward and walked first, ignored him, and said: "I don't like talking to you, I'm going back."
As soon as the words fell, a whirlwind suddenly hit her, and when she came back to her senses, she was already tightly hugged by Li Ce.
"Hey! What are you doing? Let me down!" Chu Qiao was startled, and hurriedly pushed him.
Li Ce half-closed his eyes, squinted at her, snorted and said, "I won't let you go."
There were small flames rising in Chu Qiao's eyes, and she said crisply, "Will you let it go? I'm welcome if you don't let it go."
Li Ce didn't care, stretched his neck and said: "You have a knife tied to your arm, and you also have a knife on your leg. I know it all. If you cut it here, I will look down on you if you don't cut it."
Chu Qiao said angrily: "Li Ce, why are you such a rascal!"
Li Ce glanced at her impatiently, as if to say: You didn't just find out today, did you? The wind blew past, gently blowing the robes of the two of them, like fluttering butterfly wings.
The night was slightly cool, surrounded by clear lake water, Li Ceheng held the woman and strolled on the ebony bridge, willow branches drooped on both sides, and occasionally koi jumped out of the water, causing ripples in the pool.
Li Ce was humming a cheerful little tune as he walked. The tune was extremely joyful, and like the smile on his face, it was always very bright.