"Yang Langjun, I heard that a distinguished person came to visit today. I wonder if you have anything to do?" Xia Houyue asked anxiously and concernedly as soon as Yang Qingfu sat down.
Recently, Yang Qing's reputation has become so great that many celebrities have come to him. Although most of them come to ask for advice on poetry, there are also some people who are jealous of the wise and capable and come to him with ill intentions, which makes Yang Qing quite uncomfortable. Xia Houyue also knew these things. Before her family was defeated, they had a wide range of friends and contacts with high-ranking officials. She understood that getting to know noble people was not necessarily a good thing.
She also saw that although the carriage of the person coming today was not luxurious, the people accompanying him to protect him were extraordinary. In her opinion, these people were probably elites in the army. To be protected by these people, the identity of the owner was certainly extraordinary. . She was afraid that although Yang Qing was extremely intelligent, he was from a poor family and might not be aware of the dealings of the upper class, so after seeing the person leave, she immediately invited him over to ask questions.
Yang Qing thought for a moment, and then understood Xia Houyue's worries, and said movedly: "Thank you, Madam Xiahou, for your concern. The people here today are of high character and will never harm me."
"Besides, with their status, if they want to harm me, Qing can't escape." Yang Qing said with a smile again.
Seeing Yang Qing's answer, Xia Houyue was extremely curious: "Oh? Can Mr. Yang tell who Yue'er is?"
"It's okay to tell my wife, but please don't make any noise."
Although Huang Yueying and her daughter would never care about this, Yang Qing felt that it was better for him to keep a low profile before meeting Zhuge Liang to avoid any complications. After seeing Xia Houyue agreeing, he said softly: "They are the wife and daughter of Prime Minister Zhuge."
Although Xia Houyue was used to seeing big scenes, she never expected that the prime minister's wife would come to visit Yang Qing today. She couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's them." Yang Qing never told Xia Houyue that Zhuge Liang had any objections to him. Otherwise, she might be even more surprised if she knew about this.
"I wonder what the prime minister's wife is here for?"
How did Xia Houyue know that today's trip of Huang Yueying and her daughter was all driven by Zhuge Guo? She just thought it was all Mrs. Zhuge's idea, and Zhuge Guo came with her. Therefore, when Xia Houyue asked the question, she naturally thought of Mrs. Zhuge as her representative. host.
Yang Qing picked up some words and briefly explained the purpose of Huang Yueying's mother and daughter's visit. Xia Houyue then learned that Prime Minister Zhuge was going to summon Yang Qing, and Mrs. Zhuge had already known him. This time she came to take the exam in advance for the Prime Minister. A little bit of school.
Although she already knew in her heart that although this person was now dressed in white, he would one day soar like a swan, but she never imagined that this person would be appreciated by Prime Minister Zhuge now, and his future was unfathomable. Xia Houyue was shocked and then thought that she had become a pair with Yang Qing. With his ability, the incident might still happen to this person in the future.
Xia Houyue suppressed her calculations and congratulated Yang Qing: "It is really gratifying and congratulatory for Yang Langjun to be appreciated by Mrs. Zhuge. He will definitely be able to show his ambition after meeting Prime Minister Zhuge in the future."
"This is still a matter of fact. Madam Xiahou must not say congratulations." Yang Qing waved his hand and said humbly.
Xia Houyue then joked: "But until then, Yang Langjun must not forget the little girl."
"Mrs. Xiahou, please don't make fun of me. She has taken great care of me since I met you. How dare you not bear this in mind?" Yang Qing added, "If I really can become an official in the court in the future, Mrs. Xiahou, if necessary." When you need help, you can still speak to me directly, and Qingding will give you my fullest help."
After getting along with Xia Houyue these days, Yang Qing has already noticed that this woman is interested in making friends with him. This is of course understandable. Besides, Xia Houyue has asked him for help in the case of searching for Xinlan. So far, There are no other requests yet, and Xinlan's matter is more for other people's affairs, so Yang Qing will not refuse regardless of reason or reason. After all, he spends a lot of time eating and drinking at other people's houses these days.
The two talked for a while, and when Yang Qing saw that it was getting late, he was about to leave, but Xia Houyue wanted to keep him here for dinner again. Even though Yang Qing had already eaten not long ago, he still couldn't shirk it, so he had no choice but to agree. .
Xia Houyue planned to cook in person, leaving Yang Qing alone in the living room. Seeing that he had nothing to do in the house, and there was still some time before dinner, he walked out of the room and walked around in the courtyard. Speaking of which, he has been to Xiahou Mansion many times, but he has only visited the front and middle courtyards, but has never been to the side courtyards and back halls on both sides.
The back hall is where people sleep, so he would not go there. After stepping through the arch on the right side of the front yard, Yang Qing looked up and saw a pond with crystal clear water and dozens of goldfish in the water. Going back and forth, this pool takes up about half of the yard. Going inside the pond and close to the southeast side wall, there is a rockery about three feet in diameter and about two feet high. There is a small pavilion on this rockery, which is obviously where the owner can climb up and enjoy it. There are all kinds of exotic flowers and plants planted all over the courtyard. At first glance, they seem to be planted randomly and can be seen everywhere, but upon closer inspection, it turns out there is a special arrangement. The flowers, plants, rockeries, strange rocks, ponds, and pavilions echo each other and form an interesting contrast. Although the place is not big, it is an elegant courtyard.
Since there is a pavilion at a high place, why not go up there for a while? Yang Qing decided to climb up and look into the distance to appreciate this elegant little garden. When I came to the back of the rockery, I saw the entrance of the cave, and then entered a small pavilion with a path leading directly to the top of the mountain. He half-bent down and entered the cave entrance, and was about to go up the stone steps when he suddenly noticed something in the corner where the yellow light of the setting sun shone through the gap in the rockery.
He walked closer and knelt down to take a closer look. It turned out to be a pile of burned ashes. It looked like someone had burned something here. Yang Qing picked up a piece of gravel on the ground and dug into the ashes. Sure enough, he found a few unburned black rags. Now he understood that someone had burned clothes and other things here. It was just that I don’t know why they were burned here. Could it be that someone burned clothes here and didn’t want others to see them?
Yang Qing couldn't figure out the reason for a moment, shook his head, decided to ignore it and stepped up to the stone steps. At this time, the sun was setting in the west, and the sunlight passed through the gap and shone on the ground not far from the pile of ashes. There was a purple-red flower blooming. He took a closer look and found that it was a pine-leaf peony. It's just that the ground in this rockery cave is covered with low grass and moss, but for some reason there is a flower blooming here.
Did someone deliberately sow flower seeds here, or did flower seeds fall here accidentally? Yang Qing felt very strange, but these seemed to be insignificant things. He was always open-minded. Whenever he couldn't figure something out, he would consciously stop thinking about it, so as not to get into trouble and end up in a narrow way of thinking. Trapped.
Yang Qing no longer thinks about this matter. He also wants to enjoy the beautiful scenery here. He goes up to the small pavilion and looks down. Under the reflection of the setting sun, the scenery of this courtyard is even more intoxicating.
"What a beautiful scenery!" Yang Qing couldn't help but praise.
"Yang Langjun, it turns out that you are here, making it easier for the maid to find you." Mulan didn't know when she came to the corridor on the right side of the courtyard.
"I have nothing to do, so I came here to take a stroll." Yang Qing said, "How is the meal?"
"My husband is smart. Dinner is ready. Madam asked me to invite you over."
"Then I'll come down right now."
"The flowers here are so beautiful." When he got down to the ground, Yang Qing pointed to some autumn chrysanthemums in the distance and said to Mulan.
"So that Yang Langjun will know that this garden was carefully created by my old master when he was still alive." Mulan replied: "Langjun may also have heard that my old master has been depressed since he became an official, so he often His thoughts were placed on the mountains, rivers, flowers and plants. This garden was his favorite place to stay. After the old master passed away, my wife has been taking good care of this place. The seeds I collected last time were planted here. of."
"Look, Yang Langjun, those pine-leaf peonies were planted by my wife a few days ago. This kind of flower grows very fast and has already bloomed in less than a month." Mulan pointed to a few flowers in the distance. Fuchsia said.
Looking at the pine-leaf peonies that were the same as the purple-red flowers in the rockery cave, Yang Qing's expression looked the same, but his heart was filled with ups and downs. He remembered that Xia Houyue and the others had said that the flower seeds collected a few days ago were all of the same kind. Silk bags, Xinlan's are rose flowers, and as Mulan said, Xiahouyue's are pine-leaf peonies. In that case, could the one in the rockery cave be the flower seeds collected by Lady Xiahou?
"Mulan, these pine leaf peonies are quite rare. Have you ever grown them in your house before?" Yang Qing asked casually.
Mulan shook her head and said: "This flower has never been planted in the mansion before. This is the first time it has been planted in the mansion."
"Oh? Then there are only these seven?" Yang Qing asked again.
Mulan shook her head again and said, "Originally, I bought nine pine leaf peony seeds, but for some reason, when I was planting flowers a few days ago, I took my wife's silk sac and opened it, but there were only seven seeds."
"How do you remember it so clearly?"
"Of course, I put those pine leaf peony flower seeds into my wife's silk sac one by one." Mulan said firmly.
So that's it. Yang Qing nodded and asked again: "Two flower seeds are missing. Does your wife know the reason?"
"My wife didn't even know that there was a shortage of flower seeds. When I was planting flowers a few days ago, I went to my wife and directly took the silk sacs containing the flower seeds and planted them here. My wife was not present when the flowers were planted."
"Then there are fewer flower seeds, why didn't you ask Madam Xiahou?"
"It's not a big deal if two seeds fell, so why bother my wife?" Mulan smiled and said, "Mr. Yang, let's go to the dining hall, so that my wife won't have to wait too long."
Yang Qing smiled and said: "That's right, let's go there."
With something on his mind, Yang Qing hurriedly finished his meal and left home. At this time, the sky was completely dark, and a crescent moon hung in the sky. The clouds that came from nowhere covered half of it. While pacing in the courtyard, he thought about the anomaly he discovered in the garden of Xiahou Mansion.
What do the unburned black cloth inside the rockery and the pine leaf peony that should have been planted outside mean? Did Xia Houyue burn the black clothes while hiding in the rockery? Could it be that the flower seeds were also dropped in the rockery cave when she burned her clothes? These flower seeds were all bought on the morning of Xia Houyue's birthday. Could it be that the same day she burned clothes here?
These questions turned over and over in Yang Qing's mind, giving him a headache. He couldn't help but wonder in his heart that there were so many things going on on Xia Houyue's birthday, which made him so upset at the moment.
Wait... that day seems to be the day Xinlan was killed. Wait a minute, black cloth... black silk... fallen flower seeds... Could it be... Yang Qing has a terrible thought in his heart at this moment? He didn't really want to think about it, but he couldn't stop the thought once it came out.
Yang Qing secretly thought that he would have to wait until tomorrow to verify it. He hoped that his assumption was wrong. He stopped and looked at the night sky. At this time, the crescent moon had been completely covered by dark clouds, leaving only the distant sky. A little starlight.
