As soon as Li Zhiyun came from the front hall, the maid greeted him with a smile and said that the lady was waiting for him in the room. She led Li Zhiyun to the lady's boudoir, made tea for them both, and then went out.
Li Zhiyun and Liu Yinglian sat face to face, their eyes facing each other, big eyes staring at small eyes. We haven’t seen each other for half a year. I don’t know if it’s because of excitement, but Liu Yinglian’s face is red, and even her neck seems to be coated with a layer of rouge. Her peach cheeks are like jade, and her naturally charming eyes, dark eyebrows and fan-shaped eyelashes show graceful curves, which are breathtakingly beautiful.
Li Zhiyun's heart surged with impulses. If it were to be seen in future generations, the two people had not seen each other for such a long time. Once they met, they would inevitably hug and kiss each other. However, this was in ancient times, and no one was allowed to do anything inappropriate. No matter how much desire he had in his heart, he could only suppress it.
Liu Yinglian's cheeks burned under his direct gaze, and she lowered her head in shame. According to common sense, men from outside are not allowed to enter the lady's boudoir casually. But Li Zhiyun was different. Firstly, he had a distinguished status. Secondly, although the Li family did not offer a big gift or formally propose marriage, his father had already verbally agreed to the marriage, and he could be considered her future husband. Therefore, she made an exception and allowed Li Zhiyun to enter. own boudoir.
Li Zhiyun saw that he was staring at Liu Yinglian so shyly that he had no choice but to look away and start talking without anything to say. The two chatted for a while. Li Zhiyun suddenly remembered the conversation with Liu Hong just now. An idea flashed in his mind and he quickly said: "Alian, in two days, I want to go to Pizhou with your father to find a rich businessman to discuss business. Why don't you? , will you go with us too?"
"Going to Pizhou? That far?"
"What's the point of being afraid of being far away? It's a carriage ride anyway. Besides, we can walk slowly and visit places with beautiful scenery."
Liu Yinglian thought for a while and said, "Okay, let me think about it."
"Don't think about it. The weather is neither hot nor cold now. Wouldn't it be boring to stay at home all the time? It's better to go out for an outing..."
After convincing Liu Yinglian, Li Zhiyun asked his father to tell him that he would leave Chang'an for a while to inspect government affairs. Who told him to still carry the title of Yongzhou Shepherd? Abba couldn't object, so he agreed.
When the prince goes on tour, there must be a guard of honor. However, Li Zhiyun's trip is mainly a private matter, and the official affairs are just a cover and incidental matter, so the battle should not be too big. Nowadays, there are no remnants of the Sui Dynasty or bandits in Haiyanheqing in the Guanzhong area, so there is no need to bring the new army. In addition to bringing along two subordinate officials, Li Zhiyun also selected a hundred guards in the Marriage Palace and Zhang Nei Palace of the Chu Prince's Palace to form a guard of honor and escort.
Liu Hong took ten guards with him and drove a carriage. Liu Yinglian took her personal maid with her and rode in her father's carriage. The two groups met at Yanping Gate, left Chang'an City together, and meandered northwestward.
The team marched along the official road. Li Zhiyun and the guards were all riding horses. Behind the team were several carriages. These carriages were not for people, but for pulling things.
The road to Pizhou is long, and although there are inns along the way, the distance between the two inns is not close. The post station is mainly used for accommodation and food for couriers and officials who are out on business. Most of these couriers and officials travel with one person and one horse, or at most two or three people traveling together. They rode horses for a day's journey, stayed overnight at the inn, and changed horses before setting off again the next day. Therefore, the distance between the two stations is set according to a day's journey of a fast horse. As for Li Zhiyun and the others, there are more than a hundred people, and the station does not have that many horses for them to exchange. If they ride horses all day long, then in a few days, all the horses will be exhausted, and then they will be gone. Leg strength. Therefore, they could only ride horses half a day and lead horses half a day. In this way, the speed of the team's progress was greatly reduced, and it often got dark halfway. Therefore, they had to camp in the wild, and the carriage was loaded with Tents, cooking utensils and food for camping in the wild.
The team marched for a day, and the sun was already setting in the west. Li Zhiyun saw a small river in front of him on the right. The terrain beside the river was flat and suitable for camping, so he asked someone to inform Liu Hong, who was sitting in the carriage in front.
The team stopped and set up camp on a flat piece of land. The entourage was busy setting up tents and burying pots to make food. Others led the horses to the river to let them eat grass and drink water. Liu Mansion's guard also unhooked the horses from the carriage and led them to the river bank.
After dinner, Li Zhiyun saw Liu Yinglian going to the tent, so he called her to stop and said: "It's not dark yet, it's too early to go to bed now, let's go for a walk by the river?" Liu Yinglian thought for a while and nodded.
The two people walked along an overgrown path to the river, with the maid following behind, six or seven steps away from them. Li Zhiyun glanced back and saw that this girl was wearing a double bun that represented Yunying's unmarried status. When he first met Liu Yinglian in the backyard of Guitang Villa, Liu Yinglian was asking her to use a bamboo pole to pick up a kite hanging on a branch. Later, the three of them went to Pingchang Town together.
Seeing the maid walking alone, Li Zhiyun regretted not bringing Aunt Ying, otherwise, they could be companions. This time, if he hadn't traveled with Liu Yinglian, he would have taken Aunt Ying with him. The reason why he didn't bring one was not because he was afraid that Liu Yinglian would be careless, but because he didn't want her to see that he took a maid with him wherever he went, as if he was a child who had not grown up. How shameless would that be? He wanted Liu Yinglian to feel that he was a man brave enough to conquer the world.
Liu Yinglian probably also noticed the little girl's loneliness, so she stopped, turned around and said to her: "Tui'er, the prince and I just went for a walk by the river. You can go back." The maid hesitated for a moment and said: " Then, miss, you have to go back early, otherwise the master will be anxious."
"knew."
After the maid returned, the two of them continued walking forward, and soon they reached the river. This river is probably a tributary of the Wei River. The river surface is not too wide, about seven or eight feet. The river surface is very calm and the flow of the river water cannot be seen.
Across the river are endless fields with criss-crossing roads and fertile fields. Occasionally, one or two farmers and cattle are still working hard in the fields. The Qingming Festival has passed, and the days have lengthened a bit. At this moment, the last ray of sunset is still burning in the sky, brilliant and gorgeous, like a rich and colorful oil painting.
"The scenery is so beautiful!" Li Zhiyun couldn't help but sigh.
However, what is more beautiful than the sunset is the woman next to her. Her black hair is only held up by a jacquard wooden hairpin with white bell tassels. Her face is like peach blossoms, her eyes are like clear springs, and her strong nose is like greasy jade. She is so beautiful and beautiful. Li Zhiyun was so intoxicated by her charming appearance that he couldn't help but kiss her on the cheek.
Liu Yinglian was startled, touched her cheek with her hand, glanced around again, and then said angrily: "What are you doing?"
"Nothing, just a kiss."
Liu Yinglian frowned and said, "When I return to the tent later, I have to get a knife and dig out this piece of flesh on my face."
"Why?" Li Zhiyun was puzzled.
"Have you not seen what is written in the biographies of women? There is a woman who lost her husband. One day she was washing clothes by the river. She rolled up one of her sleeves and exposed a section of her arm. By chance, she was seen by a man passing by. She replied When I got home, I chopped off the arm with a machete. If she was kissed by a man like me, why not just dive into the water and drown?"
"Don't, don't," Li Zhiyun said with a smile, "Don't dig out the flesh on your face. What if it doesn't grow back? Even if it does grow back, it will leave a big scar. If I see it at night, why don't you remove it?" Am I scared to death? Besides, I don’t want you to be a martyr, I just want you to be a queen and give me a lot of little princes in the future.”
"You're not serious again. Forget it, I won't tell you anymore. I'm going back." Liu Yinglian was really angry and turned around to leave.
Li Zhiyun stopped her quickly and said, "Okay, okay, let's not talk anymore. Let's talk about something else. What should we say?" He thought for a while and said, "Let me tell you about a scholar who was once crazy." So. , he told the story of Xu Zisheng. Liu Yinglian listened and praised: "He is really a loving and righteous man. It would be great if all men in the world were like him."
"He is indeed a good person. Thanks to him, we eradicated Lu Chongmao, captured Xia County, and rescued my cousin and others from prison..."
After the team camped in the wilderness for a night, they continued to move forward the next day. After a tiring day's journey, they arrived at Yunyang County in the evening. The procession entered the city from the south gate. Although it was not as grand as the emperor's patrol, which shook the earth and the mountains, it still had bright clothes, angry horses, ceremonial guards, and gongs to clear the way. People on the street stopped to watch and pointed.
There is an inn for the King of Chu in the county. However, Li Zhiyun went on a tour under the pretext of testing the performance of officials. As long as he was within the boundaries of Yongzhou, he could live in the inn in a grand manner. Not only did the inn receive him attentively, he did not have to spend a penny of his own money. .
After staying at the post station for one night, the county magistrate, led by the county magistrate and the county lieutenant, came to see him at Mao o'clock the next day. Then he respectfully invited him to the county government office and made a report to him face to face. Li Zhiyun pretended to ask some questions, and spent another hour looking at everything he needed to see.
In the afternoon, Li Zhiyun and Liu Hong went to the inn and wine shop to inspect the operating conditions and checked the accounts. When they came out of King Chu Winery, the sun was already setting. The two of them walked side by side toward the inn. In order not to disturb their conversation, the guards and guards who followed them kept a distance from them.
Liu Hong had long wanted to talk to Li Zhiyun about his daughter's marriage. The daughter was already eighteen years old and had already reached the age to leave the court. However, because everyone in Chang'an City knew that her daughter had been favored by the King of Chu, no one dared to come to propose marriage. Of course, Liu Hong also wished that his daughter could marry into the Prince of Chu's palace. His two concubines had good stomachs, and one of them gave birth to a fat boy, which finally kept him from losing his love. If he can marry into the royal family, then the bright future of his two precious sons will be guaranteed.
Because of concerns about Li Zhiyun's age and the frequent wars, Li Zhiyun went to the front line for half a year, and Liu Hong never urged the marriage. However, a girl's youth passes in a flash, so her daughter must get married next year at the latest. Liu Hong is not too worried about this, because Li Zhiyun will be seventeen next year. It was the right time for a man to marry and start a family at the age of seventeen. His only worry was that Li Yuan would not agree.
Because of the "name should prophesy" incident, Liu Hong severely offended the current emperor. Although Li Zhiyun is the king of Chu, marriage matters require the orders of his parents and the words of a matchmaker. How can he, a child, be the master of his own affairs? Moreover, marrying the royal family is not an easy matter. Therefore, this matter has always been a worry for Liu Hong.
