In the early morning, two people, an old man and a strong man, stood outside the gate of Dali Temple.
The old man crossed his arms and seemed to be carrying something in his arms. The strong man stood up straight and stared at the gate of Dali Temple.
Finally, the gate of Dali Temple slowly opened. He Shengbai was walking at the front, and behind him a group of government officials were escorting Jiang Fengqing who was sitting in a carriage.
He Shengbai glanced at the steward of the eldest prince's palace and the deputy general of the Red Dragon Guard with a blank expression, then got on his horse and left with the officials.
Li An stepped forward with a smile and said, "Master He, can you be accommodating and let me have a few words with the eldest prince?"
He Shengbai said with some displeasure, "We still have to rush to the west gate. We are busy with official business, so we cannot waste this time."
"Sir, please be accommodating, just a few words." Li An's eyes turned red, he took out several steamed buns wrapped in layers of oil paper from his arms and begged, "I will give a few to the eldest prince. Steamed buns, he can’t eat anything else.”
An Zicheng frowned and looked at He Shengbai, his hands already clenched into fists. Jiang Fengqing, who was surrounded by many government officials, just squatted in the corner of the carriage, turning her head from time to time to look through the gap between the government officials at Li An, who seemed to be older, and An Zicheng, who was still tall and tall.
He Shengbai didn't seem to hear, and continued walking with the government servants minding their own business.
"Plop"
Li An fell to his knees and shouted, "Sir, please. Show mercy!"
He Shengbai rode his horse for a moment, and the government servants behind him also stopped.
But the next moment, He Shengbai continued on his way, and the back of Li An was deeply impressed in Li An's eyes. Li An tightened his grip on the bun in his hand, and the oil paper burst. Jiang Fengqing waved her hand without looking back, and she didn't know whether Li An and An Zicheng could see it.
West gate.
Li Ergou was as sleepy as usual, standing at the top of the city with his head hanging down.
After moving his hands and feet, Li Ergou turned around and suddenly saw a group of figures approaching the city gate from a distance.
"Why would anyone want to leave the city at this point?" Li Ergou felt puzzled, so he went to the city wall and squinted his eyes to look carefully.
The figure was getting closer and closer, and he recognized the person leading it. It was He Shengbai, the minister of Dali Temple, but the young man in the carriage escorted by a group of government officials behind him felt familiar to him, but he Can't call out the name.
Li Ergou watched them arrive at the gate of the city. The soldiers guarding the city briefly asked a few questions before preparing to let them go.
At this time, a burst of guqin sound suddenly came from an alley on the street.
The sound of the piano hovered in this quiet street, and the faint rhyme of the piano lit up the coolness of the morning.
Li Ergou didn't understand the melody of Yangchun Baixue's silk and bamboo, but when he saw that the Dali Temple minister below was not in a hurry to leave the city, he looked towards where the sound of the piano was coming from, nodding from time to time, and seemed to be listening carefully to the sound of the piano.
Li Ergou also listened carefully for a while, but he didn't hear anything special, but it was still somewhat different from the piano sounds he had heard.
When he has nothing to do, he always likes to go to the Fugui Tavern in the West Market for a drink, not because the wine there is delicious, but because the Feng Lai Building is opposite the pub.
Feng Lai Tower was naturally not accessible to a poor guy like him, but he was very satisfied with being able to take a look outside. Whenever the sound of the piano came from inside, he would close his eyes slightly, sometimes frowning, sometimes smiling, while tapping the wine table rhythmically with his index finger, making it seem like he really understood the music.
But every time he listened to the sound of the piano in Feng Lai Tower, he always had the urge to go in and spend a lot of money. But now the sound of the piano in his ears reminded him of his first love.
She was a maid from the Huo Mansion in Dongcheng. Her father died early and her mother had been bedridden for many years. The family relied on her to support herself.
Later, by chance, the two met and fell in love soon after. In those days, he kept talking to the captain every day. He was assigned to guard the East City Gate.
He didn't just want to get out of the sun early at the east city gate, so he could get less sun. Just because standing on the wall of the east city gate, he could see beyond the tall wall of Huo Mansion and see a beautiful figure in his heart slowly walk out of the back door in the evening, and then show him the most beautiful smile under the setting sun.
But he has never been to the East Gate since three years ago. The captain was also surprised. He planned to put Li Ergou directly in charge of the East City Gate.
Because she is dead. The steward of the Huo Mansion said that she accidentally fell into the well and drowned while fetching water, and gave her mother a large sum of money. However, her mother cried all day long and died a few days later.
He actually didn't believe what Huo Fu said. After working as a maid for so many years, she actually fell down while fetching water. Moreover, with so many people in the Huo Mansion, no one discovered a living person falling down a well in time.
But what can he do? He is just a nobody, but the Huo family is the largest family in Chang'an. Almost half of the merchants in Yongzhou are members of the Huo family.
In Huo Mansion, no one would care about the life or death of a maid. In Chang'an, naturally no one cares about the happiness and anger of a pawn.
After so many years, he thought he could let go of her in his heart and his own incompetence.
But under the sound of the piano, he became a little panicked. A hint of saltiness gradually appeared at the corner of his mouth. He raised his head and wiped the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand, as if sand had just blown up and entered his eyes.
At this time, he looked down at the city again and saw six government officials escorting the chariot out of the city gate. He Shengbai also turned around and took the remaining government officials back.
The sound of the piano stopped at some point, and Li Ergou looked at the thin figure huddled in the corner of the carriage.
He vaguely recalled that when he was drinking at Fugui Tavern last night, the old storyteller seemed to mention that today was the day when the eldest prince was exiled to Yumen Pass.
When he thought of the eldest prince, he thought of the young man in red armor who entered Chang'an fiercely that day.
He watched with complex eyes as the car disappeared into the gloomy morning.
The morning bell of Qingcheng Mountain came from the distance, and Li Ergou was thinking about where to go for a drink tonight. I have to say that a person's life is quite free. One person is full and the whole family is not hungry.
In the palace, the guards patrolled as usual.
Liu Dali is the newly appointed captain of the bodyguard. Of course, he bought it with money from his father.
His father ran a rice store in Chang'an and his family was quite wealthy. This allowed him, who was ordinary, to go from an unknown bodyguard to a captain of the bodyguard in charge of more than a dozen people within one year.
Liu Dali felt the wind blowing on his feet. Every flower and tree in the palace looked very cute.
He looked back at the four subordinates behind him, thinking that yesterday he was wearing the same dark patterned long coat as them. However, today, I have put on this bright yellow gown.
"It's not enough to say that I was dirty in the past, but now my debauchery is limitless!" Liu Dali said with a smile.
"Your Excellency, your literary talent is truly extraordinary! I am so impressed with you!" The subordinates behind him all echoed in compliments.
Just when Liu Dali was beaming with joy, he was intoxicated by the compliments from his subordinates. I caught a glimpse of a figure standing on the ridge of a palace not far away.
A sharp-eyed subordinate noticed Liu Dali's displeasure and said quickly, "Sir, the third princess likes to stay on the ridge of the palace to bask in the sun and enjoy the wind."
Liu Dali was also surprised when he heard this. In Chang'an City today, the third princess Jiang Zhiyuan is a household name. When the late emperor was still alive, he loved his only daughter very much and specially arranged 300 guards in her palace to protect her. These three hundred guards are all third-level masters. And now, there are rumors in Chang'an that King Xiaoyao is in love with her and will marry her soon.
Thinking of this, Liu Dali shivered. No wonder the previous captain of the guard pretended not to see the figure on the ridge of the palace. These three princesses are not so easy to offend.
"Although the spring breeze is happy, the horses' hooves cannot be moved. I can't see them all in one day, but there are only one tree in Chang'an with flowers."
A slightly aged sound came slowly from the ridge of the palace.
Liu Dali looked up and quickly knelt down and saluted, "Greetings to the Prime Minister."
All the men also knelt down in a hurry.
Wang Daofan was seen standing on the ridge of the palace, watching them.
"I'm just bored and want to see the scenery here. Is it going to interfere with your routine business?"
"No, no, you guys won't disturb the Prime Minister's view of the scenery. Please resign now."
Liu Dali nodded and left in a hurry, and all his subordinates followed him hurriedly.
When he reached the corner of the corridor, Liu Dali couldn't help but look back, only to find that there was an extra figure on the palace. He was trying to see the other figure's face clearly, but found Wang Daofan looking at him with a smile in his eyes.
He hurriedly tried to turn his head back, but found that he couldn't. And my face seemed to feel a little slippery.
All the men looked at him in shock.
"Sir...sir, what's wrong with you?"
"Send your Excellency to the imperial doctor quickly!"
Liu Dali closed his eyes and felt the world spinning. He tremblingly picked up his hand and wiped it on his face. His hands were covered with blood! The men were shocked and saw two lines of blood flowing out of Liu Dali's eyes, his face was hideous and terrifying.
Liu Dali fainted, and his men hurriedly carried their master to find the imperial doctor. Although they were afraid, their master was not dead after all. If they were to pursue them afterwards, life would not be easy in the future.
On the ridge of the palace, Jiang Ruoting looked at Wang Daofan curiously and said, "What should we interpret by what the Prime Minister just said, 'You can't see all the flowers in one day, one tree in Chang'an'?"
Wang Daofan chuckled and said, "I just said it casually, why is it so serious, Your Highness?"
"What the Prime Minister said always has profound meaning, and I have benefited a lot from it." Jiang Ruoting looked at the west gate of Chang'an in the distance and said, "The scenery here is very moving. No wonder the third sister always likes to see the scenery here."
"But those who look at the scenery have now become part of the scenery in Chang'an." Wang Daofan said softly, holding his hands.
"King Xiaoyao is not a peaceful person either. He was recalled to Chang'an from Yumen Pass and has no military power under his command. He is just a paper tiger in name only." Jiang Ruoting looked at Wang Daofan and said, "But my father left his third sister with three hundred guards. In today's Chang'an where there is no Yan Guards, if this paper tiger is equipped with fangs, I am afraid it will hurt a lot of people."
"It is a disaster to let a child hold a sharp sword and hurt others and himself." Wang Daofan said calmly, "But it is not easy for King Xiaoyao to get these three hundred guards. Concubine Liu Guifei is not as easy to coax as the three princesses."
"After all, how many people will finally win the deer, but they will dream about being fish all day long." Jiang Ruoting's eyes were a little erratic, and he said, "All women in this world are like wine. I only respect the gentleness that is unparalleled in the world, and I will not rest until death."
"I wonder if that unparalleled gentleness is just for getting drunk, or if you want to savor the mystery of this wine?" Wang Daofan chuckled.
"The Prime Minister hasn't explained what the 'Chang'an tree flower' refers to?"
Wang Daofan looked deep into the palace, pondered for a long time and said, "Have the magnolia flowers in Qinxin Palace bloomed? It's a pity that I have never seen them."
A gust of breeze blew by, and tranquility returned to the ridge of the palace, as if no one had ever been there. Several eunuchs carried water and cleaned up the blood stains in the corridor.
The palace is still magnificent and bright.
