"Thank you, Brother Huang. The Wang family is prosperous, King Zhao is in power, and this chess game is more and more unfavorable to the emperor's brother. The royal brother still cherishes himself a lot, so don't be distracted by Jingxian. Jingxian barely squeezed out a smile, and asked the maid to send off the guest.

Li Jingting said a few more words of greeting uneasily, then got up to say goodbye, and walked out of the princess's mansion surrounded by maids, and the bright sunlight flowed down.

Li Jingting instinctively squinted, and suddenly heard a stabbing sound in the air, as if something fell out of the air-

"Lord be careful!"

As a shadow guard, Nie Ke's eyes were quick, and he turned over and kicked the falling thing away.

Grunt. The thing rolled on the ground twice and stopped.

A ball. Balls (Note 1).

Li Jingting looked up at the scorching sun, and his eyebrows crossed to wipe his doubts, but when he saw the oncoming shadow, that doubt was instantly solved.

"Thank you for helping the courtiers pick up the ball!"

A woman walked this way surrounded by everyone, without the slightest fear of "almost injuring the prince by mistake", but the smile on her face was a little brighter than the sun.

"Si Ying greets the prince. Zheng Siying walked up to Li Jingting, Ying Ying bowed, and her red face was still covered with beads of sweat.

Li Jingting raised his eyebrows: "Do you still bow on a hot day (Note 2)?"

"Courtiers like to bow, but whenever the sky changes, they can only be stuffy in the room. So the Wang family built a rain garden for the courtiers, no matter the four seasons, wind and rain, the courtiers can bow in the garden. ”

Zheng Siying's voice was like a warbler, and she spoke eloquently. Xu Shicai kicked the ball, and he was in high spirits, and his usual ladylike demeanor couldn't hold it, he didn't hide his lips with a smile, and he showed half a circle of broken rice teeth, and his eyes were as bright as water spirits.

Li Jingting looked away noncommittally: "I have only heard that there is a Ziyu Pavilion (Note 3), but I have not seen a Ziyu Garden." How strange it is, you can bow in the summer. Compared with Miss Zheng, this king is still lonely and unheard. ”

There was a faint chill in the man's words.

One side is the royal Li family, one side is the five surnames and seven wangs, who is high and who is low, is the weight of the Ding, the princes of the seven tripods, the nine tripods are the king, and the competition is never limited to the battlefield.

Zheng Siying didn't care, waved her jade arm, and smiled brightly: "The prince is a heavenly family, and the courtiers are just a minister's family, how can the careful thinking of the minister's family be compared with the weather of the heavenly family." If the prince is free, why don't you follow the courtiers to watch?"

Li Jingting nodded lightly, and walked first, Zheng Siying followed, and in less than half an hour, the two came to Ziyu Garden.

This is a garden built in the east of Chang'an City.

It looks like an ordinary garden, and the powerful family thinks that their courtyard is too small, and they will also circle the beautiful scenery of Chang'an, and build their own back garden, which is located in a prosperous place, facing the green mountains, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

However, when Li Jingting stepped into the garden, he couldn't help but gasp.

A very large palace in the shade of flowers and plants, covering an area of 100 hectares, has no walls on all sides, only the pillars are dry. The top of the cloud-like palace is paved with glazed tiles, and the tiles are like a concave rain storage pond, and the rain is accumulated in it.

At this moment, the summer rain is slowly descending from the top of the palace, like a water curtain of zhang wide, flying four injections, converging into a small ditch dug artificially under the eaves, winding like a stream, surrounding the palace pavilion, after storing the water of the water curtain, and then draining back to the pool at the top of the palace, the cycle is repeated, the water curtain is endless.

The palace is full of water in all directions, just like a natural crystal curtain, exquisitely clear, the mechanism inside is ingenious, and people don't know. The viewer can only hear the sound of the spring on the house, and see the four eaves flying, the overhanging waves like waterfalls, and the air becomes a cool breeze (Note 4).

Although it was the height of summer, the temple was like autumn. It's not just a bow, but I'm afraid that if I stay for a long time, I will have to build a fire.

The fine sweat on Li Jingting's back disappeared in an instant, and a gust of water breeze blew, and he couldn't help but cage the light silk summer shirt, and looked at Zheng Siying with a smile.

"The Wang family is so generous. Miss Zheng has such a big face. ”

What a big deal. The Ziyu Pavilion was already regarded as a wonder by the royal capital, but the Wang family simply repaired the entire Ziyu Garden.

What a big face. Just because Zheng Siying likes to bow, but she suffers from the unpredictable sky, the Wang family directly built a garden for her.

"It's cold. This water curtain has to be adjusted by the craftsman, the water flow is too strong, even in July, it feels cool. ”

Zheng Siying snorted half-jokingly and half-seriously, "It's so cold", then turned around and ran to the hall, stretched out her legs, kicked Ju Ke's ball back into the field, and said with a smile: "I invited the prince of Jin to watch the game! Don't be lazy, use all your good kung fu!"

This hearty style is not half of everyone's beautiful appearance. Li Jingting was a little unfamiliar, but he was unexpectedly not disgusted, so he didn't mention leaving, so he stood in front of the hall with his hands in his hands, and really "watched" the battle.

Looking through the water curtain, the eight people in the hall are all powerful women, and their faces are not unfamiliar to Li Jingting.

The woman jumped a harrier, her body was as light as a swallow, she jumped up and hooked, her legs flew together, the ball was passed into a white line, and the traces were drawn into a spider web in the air, until her eyes couldn't keep up with the woman's body, only to see the ball flying in mid-air, and the red clothes were floating.

Zheng Siying is also dressed very chic today.

Wearing a water red caviar Valerian small sleeve beard suit, silver thread embroidered peony clusters, pedaled gauze pants and fragrant cloud boots, no half fat powder gaudy vulgar, but very heroic.

The narrow sleeves, narrow waist, narrow trouser legs, and red ribbons are tied at the ends, which are convenient for movement, and when they fly, the ribbons are flying, which looks even more fluttering and swaying, and there is a state of romance in the clouds.

The posture is like a swallow, light and vigorous, a ball is like a star, and the clouds are full of red clothes. No matter how Zheng Siying kicks, this scene alone is enough to teach people to take their eyes off.

Bang. The ball was kicked into Merry Eye by Cheng Siying (Note 5).

The four suddenly cheered like thunder, and all the nobles stepped forward to congratulate. Zheng Siying stood pretty, but her eyes only looked at Li Jingting: "Lord Jin, how are the courtiers doing?"

"In the past, I only heard that Miss Zheng was good at chess, but now this king has opened his eyes. Li Jingting's tone was still faint, like a lump of ice in the laughter of the garden.

"How many strange people are in Chang'an, how many heroes are in the world, and the prince can't say everything. In this case, it is not unusual for courtiers to bow in addition to chess skills. However, the prince was able to read it peacefully, instead of directly throwing his face and leaving, and the courtiers opened their eyes. Zheng Siying grinned.

The second half of the sentence was teasing. But it's not annoying, but playful.

Lined with Li Jingting's cold face, this playfulness added to the heartiness of not being afraid of the sky, in short, Li Jingting didn't frown when he wanted to.

"The surprise that the Wang family and the girl gave to this king, how can this king not read it. Li Jingting has something to say.

Wang's surprise. It is the whole self-rain garden, it is a handiwork, and it is also an ambition.

Even if Zheng Siying gags, Li Jingting pulls the chess game everywhere, one is Fengyue, the other is calculating, like a flower encountering a stone, and the only way to play the piano against a cow is to overcome rigidity with softness.

Zheng Siying smiled as before, and tilted her head: "The surprise of the Wang family is like this, where is the surprise of this girl? If it is a surprise, the prince's vision is not so vulgar." ”

Li Jingting's eyes flashed. got up and walked over, picked up the ball that was bowed, weighed it twice in his hand, and responded: "With this ball, with the girl's foot strength, even if the garden and the princess's mansion are close, it is impossible to kick it so far." I'm afraid that the girl was there in advance, so she kicked it nearby, and then deliberately attracted the king to watch the scene. ”

Zheng Siying is still smiling. It's just that the corners of the lips are a little stiff.

Although it is a trace that cannot be checked, Li Jingting, who is a veteran chess player, keenly captures it, and there is a faint light in his eyes.

"Zheng Siying. What are you planning on this king?"

Call it by name. Let the already cool self-rain garden freeze in a flash.

exegesis

1. The ball of the juju: Xu Jian, a native of the Tang Dynasty, wrote the "Beginner's Record": the ball of the juju "used hair to entangle it in ancient times, and now use the skin, take the cell as the inside, shhh

2. Ju Ke: also known as "Ju", "Keqiu", "Ju Yuan", "Building Ball", "Kicking Circle", etc., refers to the activities of the ancients to kick, kick and kick the ball, similar to today's football. At that time, from the inner courtyard of the Imperial Palace to the common people's homes, Keju was used for fun. The "Song Taizu Juju Picture" painted by Qian Xuan in the Yuan Dynasty is to depict the scene of Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin playing football with Zhao Jiong, Zhao Pu and others. Citizens also often play Keju and other things in the Royal Street and Hengjie: "When you raise your eyes, you will swing and laugh, and when you touch it, you will be crazy." (Source: Sogou Encyclopedia)

3. Ziyu Pavilion: Tang Dynasty's "Feng's Wenjian Ji" Volume 5 The first house contains: "In the Tianbao, the imperial historian Wang Ji was guilty of death, and the county official recorded the Taiping Fang house, which could not be completed for several days. There is a self-rain pavilion in the house, and the eaves are flying on the four notes, when the summer is placed, it is like high autumn. There is also a Baodian well fence, I don't know its price, but he claims to be. ”

4. Excerpt from "Old Tang Book".

5. Merry eyes: Ma Duanlin said in the "Literature General Examination and Music Examination Twenty": "The cover began in the Tang Dynasty, planting two bamboos, several zhang high, and the network was on the top for the door, so as to measure it." The work is divided into left and right friends, and the corners are won and lost. "Kemari matches with goals are generally single-goal, and most of them are held at court banquets. When the ball is built, two clubs with a height of three feet are erected in the center of the court, and the diameter of the upper goal is about one foot, which is called "Merry Eye".