Lin Rong couldn't bear to look anymore and patted Cui Qi's hand: "Sixth sister, let's go!"
Cui Qi hurried away and walked to the mountain corridor, holding his chest and letting out a long sigh.
Lin Rong stood beside her silently, trying to help her: "Don't be angry, don't be angry, there will be no one to help you when you get sick."
Cui Qi chuckled: "Where did you hear the limerick?"
She turned around and saw Lin Rong standing quietly next to a few green bamboos, with a pure and happy demeanor. There was no trace of shock or humiliation on her face. She said curiously: "That Lu...that person belittled you like this, but you didn't do anything at all." angry?"
Lin Rong thought to himself, what does this mean? No matter how bad his temper is, it has been smoothed by the grassroots work in the past few years. He blinked: "I don't know him, and I will never see him again. Why are you angry?"
Cui Qi said slowly: "You have been recuperating for the past six months, and there are many things you don't understand. From what I heard from that person, he must be Lu Shen from Yongzhou. Last winter, Lu Shen's 20,000 cavalry attacked Liangzhou. Liangzhou Jiedu envoy It only took two months for Lu Shen to surrender to the city. Now, all the six northern states and five counties, except Qingzhou and Jizhou, have been returned to the Lu family of Yongzhou. In the spring, your Majesty granted him the title of Governor of Yongliang and Governor of Fu. Yuanhou is even more justified. I heard from my uncle that there are eight thousand tiger warriors from Yongzhou stationed three hundred miles outside Jiangzhou City. They go down the river and arrive in the morning and evening..."
With strong soldiers at your side, how can you not look at people's faces?
At this point, both of them were speechless. After walking slowly for a few steps, they heard the sound of silk and bamboo on the water pavilion theater over there, and the singing voice of Yiyi accompanied the flowing water: "The dream returns to the night when the orioles turn." , the years are full of chaos, people stand in small courtyards and deep courtyards②..."
Cui Qi wanted to comfort Lin Rong, but didn't know what to say. He cheered up and said, "Listen, it's the dream you loved before. It's cool and cool across the sound of water. Let's go sit there too." sit."
As soon as they arrived at the door, there was Aunt Rui waiting there, with an anxious look on her face: "County Master, Miss Six, someone from outside just came back and said that something happened, and the master lost his temper and hurriedly called the eldest princess. . The old lady said to ask the county chief to go there. She didn’t say a few words of persuasion, but just interrupted the matter, and it didn’t matter what happened.”
Lin Rong nodded, no doubt that he was there. Although Cui Jue and the eldest princess had a harmonious relationship when they were young, they could not tolerate each other as they grew older and more violent. It is common for an old lady to ask her granddaughter to take a break.
Cui Qi was also not surprised: "Go ahead, let's talk in the evening. The painting you asked me about last time cannot be found. There is another reason."
Lin Rong was overjoyed when he heard this and wanted to take the painting immediately, but Aunt Rui urged her, so she had to say: "Okay, let's talk about it tonight."
Lin Rong followed Aunt Rui to the Mingtang and asked, "What did the people outside say to make my father so angry?"
Aunt Rui just shook her head and said, "The master and the eldest princess are talking in the inner room without anyone in front of them."
The Mingtang house is spacious, with a large area of gold brick paving in front of the court. The beams and columns inside the hall are all made of golden nanmu transported from the high mountains of Sichuan. It is a solemn and magnificent royal style. Every brick and tile is modeled after the Princess's mansion in Luoyang.
Stepping up the white marble steps, I saw a group of maids standing under the platform. They opened the Xiang curtains hanging from the ground and saluted quietly: "County Lord, the princess is talking to your Excellency."
Lin Rong nodded, opened the bead curtain and went in. It was also silent, except for a maid outside who was boiling medicine.
The new little girl was holding a cattail leaf fan for fanning the medicine stove in her hand. She didn't expect anyone to come in. She was stunned and saw a section of Lin Rong's long and fair neck exposed on her sky-blue silk silk. A hard red tassel phoenix hairpin was inserted into Ya's temples, but her figure was timid, which added to the feeling of being invincible.
Lin Rong turned his head and smiled at her: "Is there something on my face? Why are you staring at me?"
The noble man cannot look directly at him, so the girl was so frightened that she immediately knelt down and said, "My Lord, please forgive me, but I don't dare to do that anymore."
Aunt Rui immediately walked up and gestured to her left and right hands to cover her mouth and drag her down: "This girl doesn't learn the rules well. Send her back and learn again."
The girl looked to be only thirteen or fourteen years old. She was so frightened that she cried. She covered her mouth and let out a whimpering sound. Lin Rong frowned: "I'm just talking to her."
There is no rule without rules. Just as Aunt Rui was about to persuade her, she heard the sound of breaking porcelain in the hall and an angry voice: "This beast dares to defile his own sister's wet nurse. How can there be any human ethics?" ? 'Three fathers and eight mothers, one of whom is the wet nurse. The eldest son has an affair and gives birth to a son, and he manages the family improperly, but he can manage the army' ①, I, Cui Jue, have such a son, how can I go to meet my ancestors? Who is coming? , someone came and called Li Huaiyi and asked him to send my sword to Xinnan. If that scoundrel is still a little ashamed, he should kill himself with this sword immediately to thank his ancestors."
This roar shocked everyone outside the palace. They suddenly heard the secret and heard that their master actually wanted to ask the eldest son to kill himself. For a moment, they lowered their heads and held their breaths.
A gentle female voice came from inside: "This is just a one-sided statement. If you want to fight or kill me right now, it is more serious to call you back and ask for details. Ti'er was raised by you first-hand, and his character and knowledge are also top-notch. How can he do this? What is unethical? You don’t believe in him, but you don’t even believe in yourself?”
Cui Jue lamented: "What are you still asking? Isn't it true that the wet nurse is not true? That the child is born in adultery is not true?"
But there was only one sentence, and the voice inside gradually became quieter and almost inaudible.
It was difficult for Lin Rong to go in for such a thing. She waved to the girl to come forward and asked in a low voice: "Are you new here? Why haven't I seen you before?"
The girl was afraid that she would be sent to learn the rules again, and would be beaten and starved again. She knelt down in front of Lin Rong, her voice still trembling: "Back to the county master, my name is Qingtung. She was originally a maid from Luo Tai's medical family. She was good at decoctions and medicines." After boiling it, it was given to Master Cui, who learned the rules for three months and asked the steward to wait outside the Mingtang."
Good at making decoctions? Lin Rong uncovered the prescription on the small table. It was scrawled in traditional Chinese characters. Some characters were different from the traditional Chinese characters, so it was difficult to recognize them: "gold shavings, silver shavings, raw silver, lead frost, yellow elixir, red mercury, purple quartz."
Although she did not study Chinese medicine, her family has been a famous doctor in Guanzhong since the Xianfeng period. She grew up with medical books and soup songs on her back when she was a child. When she went home during the summer vacation from college, she could prescribe a few prescriptions under the care of her elders. I murmured in my heart that if I took this medicine for a few more months, I might get heavy metal poisoning. However, Taoist priests and doctors are not separated here. Taking elixirs when you are sick is common and elegant.
She opened the lid, and sure enough she smelled an unpleasant smell of metallic minerals, and frowned: "Who prescribed this prescription, and what disease does it treat?"
Qingtung whispered: "This is Jinshi Powder prescribed by Doctor Luo Shen. It can prevent and treat epidemics, and can also cure heart palpitations in adults."
This Dr. Luo was originally the imperial physician of the imperial palace. Later he left the imperial palace and traveled around. He arrived in Jiangzhou some time ago and was a guest of the princess's residence.
Lin Rong turned the lid, and an old waiter in green robe came out, smiling and looking kind and kind: "The county lord is here, why don't you go in?"
Lin Rong stood up and tried to smile as sweetly as possible: "Ah Weng, I think this little girl who serves the medicine is interesting. Let's ask her about Dad's medicine."
If she said this, the girl would not be punished.
The old eunuch smiled and welcomed Lin Rong in: "The county master has always been filial."
As soon as I entered, I was greeted by the strong fragrance of agarwood. On the arhat bed inlaid with huanghuali treasures, sitting in front of me, was a woman with towering cloud temples. She had no accessories, but was wearing a semi-old homely narrow-sleeved dress. Her face was like Silver Plate, extremely graceful, stretched out his hand and beckoned: "It's the National Day, and grandma said that you had a fever again this morning. You can't stand it like this. When you go to the north, I might not be able to bear it even more."
Cui Jue was in his fifties, a native of the South and the Prime Minister of the North. He was tall and handsome, a well-known scholar in Jiangzuo. He was best at conversation and good at taking elixirs. He was sitting aside, with anger still on his face. He was blowing the bubbles in his tea bowl. Ye frowned when he heard this sentence: "What Beidi? There is no need to talk about this matter in the future. How can my Cui Jue's daughter..."
Chapter 3
How could my daughter, Cui Jue, have the right to be a concubine? Thinking that my daughter was here, I swallowed the second half of the sentence.
Be a concubine? When Cui Jue thought of these two words, he felt unlucky. He placed the tea cup heavily on the small table and said vaguely: "Even if I, Cui Jue, can afford to lose face like this, the Cui clan will never be able to afford to lose face like this. "
The eldest princess smiled and glanced at him: "Okay, okay, I just said this in vain, who is forcing you? You, the fourth and third prince named Cui, can't afford this shame. How can I, who is nameless and nameless, afford this shame?" ? Eleven, come on, come over and ask grandma to take a look."
Suddenly hearing these words, the clouds and mountains were surrounded by mist. After thinking about it carefully, Lin Rong understood it completely. He knelt down and saluted, and called out: "I have seen father and mother."
Xiaobu walked over, sat in front of the eldest princess, and asked her to hold hands and look at her carefully: "I have been ill for a while, and although I have lost some weight, my temperament has become calmer, which is good."
After Lin Rong recovered from his illness, they all knew that he could not remember the past: "Mom, it's boring to stay in the house, I want to go out for a walk."
The eldest princess, Zhao Yuansong, was over forty years old. She was the elder sister of the current emperor and the eldest daughter of the late emperor. She was able to intervene in the military and political affairs of Jiangzhou. She was a well-spoken figure. When she heard this, she suppressed a smile and seemed a little distant: "Outside people There is chaos everywhere, and there is an epidemic. I heard that all ten houses in Shu are empty, and your father and brother are sending troops to Dingzhou. The war is in chaos, and this is not the time for you to go out and wander around."
Lin Rong lowered her eyes. Ever since she woke up, she had wanted to go to the mountain stream where the car crashed. She fell into the mountain stream with her senior brother. When the car crashed, the guy was so scared that his whole body hung on Lin Rong. I wonder if he is okay. , I didn’t come here. If I came, where would I be now? It's just that people usually need to keep a close eye on her. I mentioned it to the eldest princess many times but was rejected.
The eldest princess smiled and said: "The temper of a child will not matter if you get married in the future. From now on, when you serve the family, you must behave like a good lady. You can't think about going out to play all day long."
Lin Rong gave a smile: "I just wanted to go to the mountain stream and have a look, maybe I can remember something. I have completely forgotten everything in the past, and I don't even remember the kindness of my parents in raising me. I really shouldn't."
The eldest princess's face changed slightly, and she tapped her forehead: "Confusing words!"
As soon as Lin Rong came in and interrupted, Cui Jue felt uncomfortable. He sat for a while and said to the eldest princess: "There is no need to mention this matter again. Even without him, Lu Yongzhou would not be able to defeat Jiangzhou. "Say it, and then go to the front to have a feast.
The eldest princess didn't care and smiled at Lin Rong: "Your father has this temperament. If he gets involved in a small matter, it will become a big deal. As for the talk of death, don't worry about him."
He also ordered the palace maid to bring in new tea, and personally warmed and washed the tea with boiling soup. She also taught Lin Rong: "This tea needs to be roasted over a slow fire and fried over a live fire, so that the tea fragrance can be released." There is a kind of frivolous people who claim to be frivolous As for the famous officials and hairpin-tasseled clan, the tea sets are either the blue urns used by Tea Sage Lu Yu or the spring ribbons of Princess Hanzhang from the previous dynasty, and the tea is either plum blossoms, snow or lotus dew. It’s ridiculous to look at it. , but when making tea, you just boil water and make it muddy once or twice. It is simply a drink for savages."
She glanced at Lin Rong and chuckled softly: "These poor people can never imitate the petty mentality of poor people. When it comes to tea, washing the tea, waiting for the soup, and even choosing the charcoal are all sloppy. Tea has different properties. , naturally the water used is also different. No matter what kind of tea, it is a joke among experts to mix all the tea with plum blossom, snow lotus and flower dew. Huqiu tea should be matched with Huishan Spring, and Longjing should be matched with Hupao Spring."
After she finished speaking, Lin Rong saw that in the fine white porcelain covered bowl, the clear water was full, the enamel was floating, and the smell was long and fragrant.
The eldest princess handed over the tea bowl and smiled: "This is Huoshan tea from Xuanzhou this year. It is fragrant and strong. It tastes good to me. Try it and see if it suits your taste."
Lin Rong took it and took a sip. It was bitter at first, but then it became sweet. He thought, everything here is not good, I am not used to everything, but the tea alone is very good. I have only been here for half a year, but I have been drinking it for more than 20 years. Great tea.
Lin Rong only remembered the painting Cui Qi mentioned in his mind. He couldn't sit still and thought about going back after taking two bites. The eldest princess was a calm person, but she pulled her to talk this time. She talked about things for a long time, and then said: "Eleven, do you know that Lu Shen, the governor of Yongzhou, is now in our house?"
Lin Rong was shocked after hearing this, her heartbeat couldn't stop accelerating, and her eyelids became heavier and heavier. The tea in her hand also fell on the gold-woven peony carpet, and the base of her tongue was numb: "I...I...tea... …”
The eldest princess said quietly: "Eleven, don't blame mother, we are in trouble in Jiangzhou now. Even princesses have been married since ancient times. When things come true in the future, mother will definitely take you home."
She clapped her hands, and the old eunuch brought another cup of medicinal wine and forced Lin Rong to drink half of it.
The old eunuch had watched her grow up since he was a child, and he couldn't bear it: "Princess, the county master has a strong temper. If we force her like this, we are afraid that when she wakes up, what happened in Qiandangya will happen again. Let's slowly Please advise, the county owner will always change things."
The eldest princess scolded her with a cold face: "That's enough. She is young and doesn't know anything about this. It's because you have always spoiled her that you made her wanton and indulgent. She doesn't know the rules of heaven and earth."
I don't know what was mixed in the tea and wine. Lin Rong felt groggy. For a moment, she felt hot all over her body and her heart itched unbearably, as if in the clouds.
Somehow, the disgusted voice of the eldest princess emerged in her mind: "You are the head of the county, and you come from a famous family, with a distinguished status, but today you want to elope with a scholar named Liang. I would rather you die than have someone like you." Daughter, today, you either have to obey me and go back with me. Or, if you have the guts, just jump off this cliff, and I will give you a respectful compliment."
The wind roared fiercely on Qiandang Cliff, and the girl's voice was decisive and tragic: "Okay, you gave me my life, and now I give it back to you, so I don't owe anything to you."
It turns out that Cui Shiniang was not surprised by the refugees, but jumped off the cliff herself...
Lin Rong sighed, his consciousness gradually disappeared, and he felt cruel.
…
Lu Shen couldn't stand De Gong's nagging, and seeing that he couldn't be persuaded by the previous set of arguments, he pulled out the story of the fourth and third generations of the Cui family. The whole dynasty had old traditions. If he accepted the Cui family, he would get all the seeds of reading in the world. Lu Shen didn't take it seriously, managed to deal with it, and then came to the study alone.
Shen Yan, who was following behind him, said: "Master, this Jiangzhou is quite respectful. The study where the old aunt used to live here is still well preserved. It seems that it is often cleaned."
Lu Shen hummed, walked towards the sandalwood bookshelf, and asked, "How's it going, sir?"
Shen Yan replied: "It's already time for him to die."
Lu Shen sat down in front of his desk, opened a book and fell into meditation. I don't know how much time passed, but I could hear the woman's suppressed moans behind her. The sound was like fingertips plucking a broken string, forbearing and resentful, as soft as if it were dripping on jade soaked with water.
Shen Yan, who was accompanying him at the side, had his eyebrows twitching. When he came to Jiangzhou this time, the wealthy families in Jiangzhou had many offers of beauty. The more respectable ones, such as the Cui family, talked about marriage; some rundown wealthy families asked their noble daughters to recommend themselves as pillows. Not a few, but I don’t know what the trick is this time?
Lu Shen frowned, feeling a sharp chill. He walked slowly over and saw that there were one or two red hairpins scattered on the ground, with gold supports, dots of emerald green, and silk tassels.
With solemn eyes, Lu Shen stood in front of a plain silk screen and told Shen Yan, "Go in and take a look."
Shen Yan lowered his head and sighed secretly. Looking at the jewelry here, it must be a noble girl from Jiangzhou. The noble daughter of Jiangzhou may be looked down upon by her master, but she cannot be humiliated by a domestic slave like herself.
Just as he was about to persuade him, he saw a bright wrist stretched out from the spring couch behind the screen. The slender jade fingers were like catkins. There were two jade rings on the wrists. If he moved slightly, the jade rings would make a cold sound. .
Shen Yan immediately didn't dare to look anymore. He tilted his head to look at the plain silk screen, only to see a hazy shadow: "Master, look at the emblem on the jade bracelet, it's Cui's daughter."
Lu Shen was noncommittal, and with a slight push of the ebony fan handle in his hand, the screen fell to the ground with a crash. The first thing that catches the eye is a waterfall of black hair. The woman is lying leisurely on the spring couch, with two or three dots of fragrant sweat on her forehead, her eyes closed tightly, and she is breathing slightly.
The woman seemed to be in a deep sleep. When she heard the sound of the screen falling to the ground, her starry eyes opened slightly and stared blankly at nowhere in front of her. After a moment, she slowly closed them again.
Lu Shen took a step forward and saw sky-blue outer clothes scattered on the ground. The woman was only wearing a thin coat, and was soaked all over, revealing her exquisite curves. However, her face was flushed and her pink face was full of spring.
He snorted coldly, with infinite disgust in his eyes. Just as he was about to tell Shen Yan to get the person out, he heard a flurry of footsteps outside: "Your Majesty, wait a moment, Your Majesty, please stay."
The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and they were in front of the door in a matter of seconds. Lu Shen sighed, and before everyone came in, he finally took off his cloak and covered the woman.
Following from outside was Cui Jue, the envoy of Jiangzhou Jiedu, accompanied by a famous Confucian scholar of the time. Cui Jue entered the thatched cottage and saw a woman named Zhu Chai walking around. He looked towards the spring couch next to Lu Shen and saw a woman with disheveled hair.
Cui Jue felt that he looked familiar. When he looked closer, he was shocked: "Eleven, Eleven, you are not at the family table, why are you here?"
He called out, but unfortunately the smell of medicine and alcohol was released at this moment, and Lin Rong was unconscious and couldn't answer a word.
He only had one daughter, whom he regarded as the apple of his eye. His eyes were red, and he looked at Lu Shen with an angry tone: "Yongzhou Mu, Fuyuan Marquis, why is my son here?"
The accompanying Confucian scholars were also shocked. They looked at Lu Shen's counselors and said, "Gong De, this... what should I do... how unworthy is this..."
Shen Yan looked at his master's livid face and couldn't help but feel chills running down his back...
