The two of them walked slowly under the moonlight. The moonlight was like frost, lengthening their silhouettes, sometimes separating and sometimes overlapping.
Looking back on the past events of the previous dynasty, Lu Anran suddenly realized that it was no wonder that the second prince in the main palace was held in high esteem by all the stars, but the prince had less sense of presence.
Yun Qi's casual words rang in his ears, "Compared to the great reputation of the second prince, our prince of the Ning Dynasty is too low-key."
Lu Anran said casually: "The same goes for the prince."
Yunqi turned the jade bone fan around, tapped his left shoulder, and chuckled: "You don't have to arrange for me all the time."
"Arrangement?"
"Everyone in the world knows that there are two young masters, one from the south and the other from the north. One is a young master, and the other is a drunken and dissolute man." The moonlight flows in Yun Qi's peach blossom eyes. Although he mercilessly belittles himself, he always maintains a faint smile on his lips. Looks like he doesn't care at all.
Lu Anran was speechless for a moment and explained for a moment: "I want to say that the prince is also famous." That's not what I meant.
Yun Qi folded his arms and raised his eyebrows, "But they weren't wrong either."
Lu Anran: "..." Are you very proud?
Before returning to the main hall, Yun Qi glanced at Lu Anran's skirt and asked, "Why don't you change it?"
The cat's claws are very sharp, and they are drawn across the embroidery of a lotus flower and divided into two sides, so it looks particularly obvious.
If your skirt is torn when you go out, regardless of whether it is inappropriate to have a banquet in the palace, it is not good for others to see it, especially if you are a woman.
Lu Anran looked down, pulled up his cloak, and said, "At this hour, it's too late to go to the outer hall to change."
Only the disciples of Jixia Palace were eligible to enter the Yanqing Palace, and all the other servants and maids were left in the outer palace. So even if Lu Anran wanted to change clothes, he could only go to the outer hall to find Chun Miao first, and then find an empty room. It would take at least half an hour to go back and forth, but the Enrong Banquet was almost over.
The cloak is fiery red, and the clothes underneath are plain white, forming a bright color. A corner of rags is exposed outside the cloak, like a decadent white lotus, with a sad and wilted waist.
Fortunately, it was dark and the position was close to the ankle, so no one would look down specifically, so it could be fooled.
Just as Lu Anran was thinking this, she saw Yun Qi approaching suddenly, and the fragrance of cold green bamboo came to her nose. She was stunned when she saw Yun Qi's slender fingers grabbing the belt of her cloak and tugging, and the cold wind rushed into her throat. Mouth, she was so cold that she shivered.
But soon, a thicker warmth covered her body. Her eyelashes trembled, and she raised her eyes to meet a pair of watery eyes. They were frivolous but not frivolous. A smile was outlined at the end of her eyes, like a blurred ink painting.
Lu Anran opened her mouth: "I don't have to..."
"Don't speak nonsense, don't speak or behave in a disrespectful manner, dress appropriately, and don't make noise." Yun Qi looked at her with a smile, and said jokingly: "Miss Lu, did you break the palace rules when you first entered Jixia Palace?"
Lu Anran lowered his eyes and put his fingers on the collar of the fox fur. It seemed that the cold bamboo scent of the other party still lingered, and even his breathing was slightly stagnant after entering his nose.
but……
Yunqi's fox fur was on her body, directly covering the insteps and completely covering the long skirt. Moreover, the two were of the same color and blended well together.
"Prince Yun, thank you for your thoughtfulness, but it's just against the rules." It's not that Lu Anran doesn't accept Yun Qi's kindness at all, but it's just that men and women are on guard, and it's obviously inappropriate for her to wear each other's clothes like this.
Yunqi picked up Lu Anran's bright red cloak, running through it with his jade-bone white fingers, like human snow falling on the red maple on an autumn night. Red and white alternated, the color impact was strong, but unexpectedly appropriate.
Yun Qi leaned forward slightly, tilted his head slightly, and almost said in Lu Anran's ear: "You have behaved inappropriately in front of me many times, and this is not the least of them."
The soft breath blew in his ears and straight into his heart. Lu Anran raised his head and looked into a pair of smiling black eyes, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
—
After the Enrong Banquet was over, the palace maid led them out of Yanqing Palace and met Chun Miao waiting in the outer hall.
Chunmiao waited for a long time, and finally waited for her young lady. When she saw the fox fur on Lu Anran, her eyelids twitched. She couldn't hold it back anymore and asked in a low voice: "Miss, what's going on? I was watching the moon just now." I suddenly brought your cloak, what happened? Also, is this the one you are wearing?"
Lu Anran remembered what happened before and stroked his forehead, "We'll talk about it when we get back."
One of them was full of questions, and the other didn't know what he was thinking. After they followed the palace maid who led the way for a while, they suddenly realized that something was wrong.
Logically speaking, everyone is entering the palace together for the banquet, and they should leave through the same palace gate. Why is it that after a while, except for their master and servant and the maid leading the way, where are the others?
Just as he was about to ask, the palace maid turned a corner and disappeared.
There are so many people in Yanqing Palace, but you can't feel it with the palace lanterns lit everywhere. It's pitch dark here, the palace walls are deserted, the trees are bumping against each other, and the north wind is whistling, making it seem a bit ghostly and gloomy for no reason.
Chunmiao trembled: "Xiao, Miss, where is this? Where is Renrenren?"
Lu Anran looked around. It was her first time entering the palace. She didn't know anything more than Chunmiao. She shook her head: "I don't know. Let's go back the way we came from and have a look."
"But..." Chunmiao rubbed her arms, "Why did the palace maid disappear just now?"
Of course Lu Anran couldn't answer. Just when she was about to turn around and take a step forward, she frowned and took a few steps towards a certain place.
Chunmiao chased after her: "Miss, what's wrong?"
He stopped suddenly, looked ahead, opened his mouth, and almost screamed.
The surroundings were dark, with only a beam of moonlight penetrating the treetops and casting on the blue bricks, revealing a bloody scene in front of the two of them.
A pure white cat was lying on the ground with its head tilted. Rich and bright red blood was still flowing, covering its abdomen and limbs, and its tail was slowly dyed red by the blood. The bright red blood was like the claws of hell. , covering it bit by bit, trying to drag it down into the endless abyss.
Lu Anran looked at it, and for some reason, he suddenly remembered that big red cloak brushing between Yunqi's fingers. The same red and white, but no longer the tenderness of red maples stained with white snow in autumn, but the soul-stirring cry of death.
Chun Miao was shocked to the extreme, but she became strangely quiet, biting her lip, "Why is there a dead animal here... not, not dead?!"
The cat's head moved slightly, and it opened its eyes. A pair of green eyes looked at them dully.
Lu Anran saw it clearly and said in an unpredictable tone: "Xiangxiang."
"ah?"
"The prince's cat."
Chun Miao bit her mouth until it bled. She let go in surprise when she heard this, "Then help..."
"Walk."
Lu Anran dropped the word and turned neatly towards the way he came, his steps faster than when he came.
Chunmiao hurriedly followed with questions in her head. Just when she opened her mouth, she heard Lu Anran say: "Shut up."
Lu Anran's serious tone was different from usual, which made Chunmiao's heart beat wildly for no reason. She had already sensed that tonight would be unusual, as if something was about to happen.
—
Just after Lu Anran and Chun Miao left, three figures gradually approached.
The person walking at the front was a woman, holding a palace lantern in her hand. Only when she got closer could she see her appearance clearly.
The woman was wearing palace robes, and her face could not be described as outstanding, but she was generous, dignified and elegant. Her brows were slightly furrowed, hiding a trace of worry.
When she saw the cat on the ground in a pool of blood, her expression changed drastically: "Xiangxiang!"
The person in the middle suddenly stopped, and the light only illuminated his body in apricot color, which fell in the shadow of the trees behind him, like the sun covered by thin clouds. There was a kind of haze floating around, making it difficult to see his face clearly.
Instead, the guards around him rushed out and shouted angrily: "Who did it? Which palace doesn't know that Xiangxiang is the prince's cat, and which palace with a dog dares to harm Xiangxiang."
"Be gentle." The woman shook the palace lantern in her hand. After giving him a look, she carefully looked towards the apricot side. "Prince, Xiangxiang is dead."
There was a gentle breeze under the tree, and the hem of the apricot-yellow clothes rolled up. I don't know how many times the hem of the clothes turned, but the owner of the clothes had turned around, without even looking at the white cat lying in a pool of blood.
The woman sighed softly, and the worry between her brows turned into sadness.
The guard couldn't help but complain, "You don't think much of Huayuan. It's hard for the prince to find someone he likes."
Hua Jian squatted down, lowered her eyes for a long time, reached out and touched the head of the dead white cat, and said sadly: "My fault."
"I'm not...Oh!"
At this time, two cold words drifted from the distance, from the side of the person who had walked away: "Buried."
Hua Jie finally couldn't help it, turned her head and shed two lines of tears silently.
—
On the other side, somewhere is a palace.
"What? Didn't meet him? Trash!" Without saying anything, he slapped him.
The palace maid who fell on the ground quickly got up and kowtowed: "Princess, please forgive me, Princess, please forgive me. The servant clearly followed the princess's instructions and led them there. After that, the servant hid in the dark. Everything was going well, but they didn't know it." He ran away immediately after arriving."
The palace maid was in trouble. If a normal person saw her and screamed in fear, she should check carefully. There must be no one like Lu Anran who turned around and ran away.
Wearing luxurious purple clothes and shining golden light, she is none other than Princess Ding'an. She raised her chin slightly, with a look of contempt and arrogance in her eyes, and sneered: "I let you mess up a good show like this, you say, How will this county reward you?"
The palace maid trembled all over as she listened, shaking her head repeatedly, "No, no, I can't afford the reward from the princess, I don't dare."
It's a pity that Princess Ding'an didn't even look at her, and said coldly: "I heard that there are a few moonlight fish in Chi Nuan Lake. I haven't seen them yet. You guys come over and use her as bait to catch two for me. Princess, take a look."
"Princess, my servant is working for you. You can't do this. Princess, if you are like this, who will dare to do it for the princess in the future..." Faced with the cold eyes of Princess Ding'an, the following words were in his mouth and he could not spit them out. .
How could she forget that Princess Ding'an was graceful and noble on the surface, but in fact she was more ruthless than anyone else behind her back?
Princess Ding'an sneered: "Threatening me?"
The palace maid's eyes widened suddenly, but before she could speak, Princess Ding'an had already said extremely cruelly: "Tie her sister in the palace together."
The red lips curled up, and a hint of sinisterness appeared in her eyes, "Throw it into the river to fish."
