June 8th, Taiyang City.
On a painted boat on Changming Lake, beautiful girls all dressed in blue dresses were playing and playing on the bow, causing pedestrians passing by the shore to look at the boat.
Yan Sihai was wearing a dark robe. He was standing at the stern of the boat. A gust of lake breeze blew in his face, making his robe flutter, giving him a somewhat fairy-like feeling.
"Brother investigated Lao Zhou's business in the north."
Behind him, Chang Sheng, who was sitting on the Taigong chair with his eyes closed and meditative, handed him a letter.
Even Taiyang City, which is located in the Central Plains, is not much cooler than the south in this midsummer season. Therefore, the nobles in the capital always like to go to the lake to hide in the cool air at this time.
"He should be on his way to Youzhou now."
Yan Sihai looked at the contents of the letter and said calmly.
Chang Sheng nodded slightly
"Brother asked us to pay attention to what's going on in the capital."
Yan Sihai frowned
"Does he think something will happen in the capital?"
Chang Sheng thought for a while, shook his head and said
"I can't guess what my brother is thinking."
At this moment, Chang Sheng's heart tightened inexplicably. For some reason, she suddenly remembered the young master named Fu Shuwu whom she met on the street that day.
"Old Yan."
"What's wrong?"
"Do you still remember the young man we met on the street that day?"
Yan Sihai was startled, wondering why she asked this
"What are you asking that boy for?"
Chang Sheng lay lazily on the chair with a suspicious look on his face
"That day I vaguely heard that he seemed to want to say something to us."
Yan Sihai Road
"He's just a petty official who committed a crime. What's there to think about?"
At this moment, a girl in a blue dress ran to the stern of the boat panting.
Yan Sihai turned around when he heard the sound, looked at the girl with a leering look, and said with a smile
"Oh, little Taohua, why are you running so fast? Hurry, come to me for a drink of water."
As he said that, he walked up to the girl named Xiao Taohua, took her white and tender little hand, and was about to pull her away.
Chang Sheng rolled her eyes at him and cursed.
"Get away."
Yan Sihai immediately walked back angrily.
Xiao Taohua said out of breath
"The city lord is in trouble, the little red flower fell into the water."
Yan Sihai suddenly became anxious
"What happened? It's such a hot day. Don't let my little red flowers freeze."
As he said that, he jumped up high and crossed the middle cabin from the stern.
Chang Sheng said
"Let's go and have a look."
When Chang Sheng arrived at the bow of the boat, the girls in blue skirts were all in tears and crying. They just stood on the bow of the boat and stamped their feet, looking at the little red flowers fluttering in the lake and crying about the little red flowers. It seems that as long as they shout hard enough, the little red flower will come up on its own.
A thick hemp rope was thrown in front of their eyes and smashed into the lake.
"catch!"
Yan Sihai's voice came from behind them. Little Red Flower, who was constantly drinking in the water, was fluttering like a headless fly. Fortunately, the thick rope thrown by Yan Sihai was very close to her, and she caught it. Got the rope.
Yan Sihai used his luck and pulled Xiao Honghua out of the water and threw her onto the deck.
"Little red flower!"
All the women in blue skirts gathered around him.
After everyone left the bow of the boat, Chang Sheng saw that their boat had collided head-on with another boat. She thought that the girls were having fun and did not pay attention to the boat coming from the opposite side, so the little red flower fell in a hurry. Lake.
At this moment, the bows of the two ships collided together, and they were inseparable for a while.
But I saw someone on the other side of the ship leaving the cabin and coming to the deck.
A man wearing a bamboo hat stood on the bow of the boat, looking at Chang Sheng and Yan Sihai from a distance.
Chang Sheng was the first to nod in greeting and said
"Maybe the girls at home were playful and accidentally bumped into your husband's boat. I would like to apologize to him."
The man's face was hidden behind a bamboo hat, and his expression could not be seen clearly. He was dressed in clean clothes. Although not fancy clothes, it showed that he was an elegant man.
The man saluted Chang Sheng and said
"I was offended."
Judging from the voice, the man must have been in his thirties, and his elegant southern accent sounded particularly pleasing to the ear.
At this time, Yan Sihai also came forward, but saw that he had a complicated look on his face, silently looking at the pair of men on the boat, without speaking.
At this time, another person walked out of the cabin of the opposite ship. Xi Shusi, who was full of alcohol, staggered to the bow of the ship. He looked at Chang Sheng and Yan Sihai opposite, sneered and said incoherently.
"Hey, why are there two ships? Am I being blinded?"
As he spoke, he rubbed his eyes vigorously. As a result, he still saw two ships and two people standing opposite, one tall and one short, one old and one young, one male and one female.
Seeing the beautiful face of the woman and the charming temperament, she suddenly burst into laughter and raised the shoulders of the man in the bamboo hat.
"Brother Pingchuan, I have fallen in love with a girl from a certain family. I will ask you to marry me."
Chang Sheng was not angry when he heard Xi Shusi's wild talk and smiled lightly.
"Master Xi, how are you doing lately?"
Xi Shu thought for a moment.
"Hey, this girl actually recognizes me. She seems to have a good background. Let me see which family you are from."
As he said that, he really looked over attentively. Chang Sheng's appearance gradually became clear in his pupils. When he could see the person in front of him clearly, he suddenly broke out in cold sweat. He had already woken up from the wine.
"The lower official deserves to die. I didn't know that the Lord of the City was here..."
Chang Sheng paid no attention to him, but took a deep look at the man in the bamboo hat. In her eyes, this man was like a bottomless pool, which was difficult to see through.
After a long while, the two ships finally separated. The four of them were getting farther and farther apart. Chang Sheng suddenly said
"Master Xi, is this gentleman a staff member in your house?"
Xi Shusi nodded hurriedly and said
"Reporting to the Lord of the City, Mr. Hirakawa is a great talent among the people, and he is currently serving as the manager of the quarry outside the city."
Yan Sihai stared at the man in the bamboo hat and frowned slightly. Chang Sheng looked at Yan Sihai's expression and said
"What's wrong?"
Yan Sihai shook his head
"You just talked about the young master named Fu Shuwu. If I remember correctly, the officers and soldiers seemed to have said that he was guilty of hiding stones secretly."
Chang Sheng nodded silently. She also noticed it, but other than that, there was nothing else.
"If you want to verify what you and I think, just ask His Majesty."
Yan Sihai lay down on the deck and said
"I want you to go. I don't want to look at that old-fashioned Human Emperor all day long. If I look at him for too long, I'm afraid I'll become stiff."
Chang Sheng shook his head and walked back to the cabin, too lazy to argue with him.
Wherever the bow of the boat passed, the lake surface was split into forked shallow rippled waves, which continued to surge towards both sides of the boat.
The man in the bamboo hat and Xi Shusi stood at the bow of the boat, staring intently at the waves on the lake.
"Is it really possible?"
Xi Shusi asked with her cheeks flushed and a strong smell of alcohol coming out of her mouth.
The man in the bamboo hat was silent for a long time and nodded slowly.
"It should be feasible. Although I have never had the opportunity to practice it, I have sketched it in my mind countless times."
…………
Inside the Prime Minister's Mansion
"When will you leave Beijing?"
The Prime Minister looked at Bu Qingwen in front of him. He seemed to be a little emotional, and his words were filled with a trace of anger.
Bu Qingwen said
"Come on, the chess pieces have been laid out. We're just waiting for the start. We can leave tomorrow."
The Prime Minister was surprised for a while, then quickly calmed down his shock and asked again
"How many troops are you planning to bring?"
Bu Qingwen shook her head and said confidently
"I alone am enough."
"Snapped!"
The Prime Minister was so angry that he wanted to smoke, and pointed at him angrily. He cursed but couldn't open his mouth. He flicked his sleeves and paced back and forth beside Bu Qingwen.
After a long while, he finally stopped. After thinking about it, he didn't know what to say, so he snorted coldly and shook his sleeves fiercely.
"Hmph! Just go with it!"
He said and left angrily.
Behind him, Bu Qingwen bowed deeply towards the back of the Prime Minister, and then slowly left the Prime Minister's Mansion.
…………
Late at night, there was a cool breeze blowing by the Changming Lake, and the colorful boats on the lakeside were bustling with activity, making the palace on the other side look particularly deserted.
The sounds of warblers, swallows, and silk and bamboo seemed to be riding on the cool breeze from the lake, blowing from the lakeside to the palace gate on the other side.
The two imperial guards in front of the palace could not help but swallow their saliva.
"It's been a while since you saw that Qihong girl."
One of them looked at the guard who was on duty with him and suddenly joked.
"When I went there the day before yesterday, she asked me about you."
The other person looked solemn and stared ahead. Hearing his companion's words, his mind suddenly wavered, but then his expression changed again and he scolded in a low voice.
"There was such a big incident in front of the palace a while ago, and several brothers were dismissed from their posts. You are still thinking about this mess all day long."
"What are you afraid of? Isn't the strictness dead? Now there is peace in the capital."
While talking, the two of them felt a chilling air approaching them at the same time.
"who!"
After all, they were the Imperial Forbidden Army, and the momentary foreboding was enough to cheer them up.
But in an instant, they felt a buzzing in the back of their heads, and the next moment, they both fell to the ground.
Two eunuchs stood behind them and knocked them unconscious. Then, they looked outside the palace gate and saw a dozen men in black suddenly rushing out from both sides of the road.
The two eunuchs winked at them and waved their hands.
"Quick! Come with us.
Deep in the palace, the human emperor's study room.
At this time, the study room was still brightly lit. On the desk of the Emperor, there were piles of memorials as high as a hill, hiding the Emperor's whole body behind them.
"saint."
Suddenly, Wang Huan's voice came from outside the door.
"Come in."
Behind the memorial, the rich voice of the Human Emperor sounded.
Opening the door, Wang Huan walked in with a bowl of soup. He looked at the Human Emperor with his head buried in the pile of memorials and said with a smile.
"Sage, it's late at night. The emperor and empress personally made you a bowl of five-color soup and asked you to drink it and rest."
The Human Emperor slowly raised his head and looked at the five-color soup Wang Huan was holding in his hand. A smile appeared on his pale face, and he stretched out his hand to take the five-color soup.
"Why haven't you slept yet?"
Wang Huan lowered his head slightly. Outside the study, a gust of wind blew in through the open door.
"The empress said that the saint worked day and night for the affairs of the country, and she thought of him so beautifully that she couldn't sleep peacefully."
The Human Emperor picked up the five-color soup, took a small sip, and said with a smile
"The emperor and empress were playful in nature when they were young, but now they are becoming more and more..."
Before he finished speaking, the Human Emperor suddenly frowned. As soon as he swallowed the five-color soup in his mouth, he felt something was wrong with the taste.
"This five-color soup made by the Empress..."
Wang Huan asked
"What's wrong?"
The Human Emperor looked a little ugly and said
"delicious…"
Then he looked shocked and quickly threw the bowl on the ground.
"This was not done by the empress!"
