A cold rain crept in, and the rain shrouded Fuji Castle like a white mist.

In the Tengwang Mansion, thirteen-year-old Chu Heng was sitting embroidering under the hand-copying verandah by the corner gate. She had finished embroidering a section and had just bitten the thread when she heard a creak behind her, and the corner door was pulled open from the outside.

"Daddy?" Chu Heng put the flower bandage in the basket, stretched out the oil-paper umbrella on the side, and greeted him.

Chu Sanye's hair and cheeks were covered with rain, and the blue cloth robe was already soaked with moisture, and he was bent over his waist at the moment, carrying a thin young man on his back.

"Heng'er." Seeing Chu Heng coming over, Chu Sanye's frowning brows loosened slightly.

"Who is this man?" Chu Heng tiptoed, propped the oil-paper umbrella on Chu Sanye's head, and looked at Chu Sanye's back.

The wind blew and the rain and the cold hit people, the young man coughed twice and raised his head to look at Chu Heng.

Chu Heng had never seen such a handsome young man, his eyebrows were slanted and his temples were slanted, and his narrow eyes were shrouded in a layer of hazy mist, because of his weakness, his face was as pale as paper, and there was no trace of blood, but this unhealthy pale made him like a demonic blooming narcissus in the rain.

"This is your cousin, Su Yunsheng." Chu Sanye took the umbrella, and despite the rain on his body, he lifted the umbrella to Su Yunsheng's body.

Su Yunsheng only glanced at Chu Heng, then lowered his head again and continued to lie on Chu Sanye's back.

Chu Heng looked at Su Yunsheng curiously, since she was adopted as an adopted daughter by Chu Sanye four years ago, she had never seen a single relative of her own.

"I brought Yunsheng in first, he was already in bad health, and let the rain pour all the way." Chu Sanye pursed his lips into a line, with a complicated dark light in his eyes.

"But, Dad, this is the Tengwang Mansion......" Chu Heng saw that Chu Sanye was carrying Su Yunsheng on his back, and he was a little anxious, she and her father were just subordinates of the Fujiwang Mansion, how could they bring people into the mansion without the permission of the master.

Chu Sanye ignored Chu Heng, he stubbornly carried Su Yunsheng on his back and left with Chu Heng's umbrella. Without the protection of the oil-paper umbrella, the drizzle fell directly on Chu Heng's eyebrows and eyes.

Chu Heng was anxious about Chu Sanye, and he didn't care about the rain, so he raised his feet and was about to catch up, but at this moment, a crisp shout came from the direction of the verandah.

"Sister Heng'er, Madame has something to call us!" The little maid Yinzhu ran down the verandah with a anxious face: "Move faster, Madame is angry." ”

"Madame angry? Why? Chu Heng retracted the foot he had stepped out of, and no longer cared about Chu Sanye and Su Yunsheng, but turned around and ran back into the verandah.

"I don't know yet, I just heard the words of the maids beside my wife, and asked all the maids in Qingyan Pavilion to go to the courtyard of my wife to kneel......" Yinzhu's eyes were slightly frightened: "Sister Heng'er, what should I do?" Madame doesn't think we are eating and not working, and wants to sell us all? ”

Chu Heng frowned, he didn't know what to say for a while, so he could only walk towards the Furong Courtyard with Yinzhu: "Let's move faster, don't let Madam wait for a long time." ”

Hibiscus Temple, the courtyard is full of wood hibiscus.

The hibiscus blooms in autumn, and when it blooms, the courtyard is full of white flower bulbs the size of a tea cup, which are fragrant and beautiful.

But now it is the height of summer, and it is not yet the hibiscus flowering period, and the hibiscus trees in this huge hibiscus courtyard are only a few more green than other places.

When he arrived at Furong Courtyard, he saw that more than ten little girls had knelt on the bluestone slab in the middle of the courtyard, and Chu Heng also knelt down.

The rain was still falling, and although it was not heavy, the heavy moisture could penetrate the thin summer shirt in an instant.

"The ground is full of stagnant water...... Yinzhu also knelt down with Chu Heng, she lowered her head and complained in a low voice.

The groundwater of the bluestone slab is extremely poor, and there is already a thick layer of water at the moment. The maids were wearing only a thin layer of summer shirts, and as soon as they knelt down, their knees felt piercing cold.

A quarter of an hour later, more than a dozen maids came one after another, Chu Heng quietly counted, there were four first-class maids in Qingyan Pavilion, eight second-class maids, and sixteen third-class maids, a total of twenty-eight people.

The courtyard of the Hibiscus Temple was large enough, but the twenty-eight people kneeling still seemed a little crowded.

The rain was pouring down, and it was getting heavier and heavier. The curtain in front of the courtyard was suddenly lifted from the inside, and the big maid in front of Mrs. Fubai walked out with an oil-paper umbrella, followed by a little maid holding an incense burner.

Chu Heng raised his eyes to look at the incense burner, which had a finger-thick incense stick stuck on it.

Fubai put the incense burner under the eaves, and lit the incense with a fire fold, then turned his head and walked down the steps and looked at the people kneeling in the courtyard: "Madame said, although the prince lives in the capital all the year round and rarely returns to Qingyan Pavilion, you maids can't be lazy, you maids should not be lazy, you should do the cleaning every day, and the incense that should be smoked must be smoked every day, just like when the master is there." ”

Fubai's eyes were red, as if she had just cried, after she said these words, she turned around and glanced at the room, then sighed softly, and turned back to continue to say to the maids kneeling on the ground: "News from the capital, the prince of the world has ......."

As soon as Fubai's voice fell, the kneeling maid immediately exploded.

At first, it was only a question of surprise and disbelief, but after a while, the maids burst into tears.

"Why are they crying so heartbreakingly?" Yinzhu shrank his head, frowned and lowered his voice and said to Chu Heng: "Aren't we all the same batch of people who entered Qingyan Pavilion, we shouldn't have seen the prince of the world, and we don't have any feelings." ”

Four years ago, King Teng took his son back to Fuji City, and lived in the palace for more than a month. Therefore, the twenty-eight maids kneeling in this courtyard at this moment were all new to the Tengwang Mansion four years ago, and no one had the honor of seeing this prince of Qingyan Pavilion at all.

As for why everyone cried so sadly for this faceless person, it was probably because they thought that after the death of the son, they would lose this comfortable job.

On weekdays, the prince does not live in the Qingyan Pavilion at all, and there are only subordinates and no masters in the huge Qingyan Pavilion, and the four first-class maids are better than the young ladies of many people. And a second-class maid like Chu Heng Yinzhu, the sprinkling and sweeping in the yard are not under their control, so in addition to embroidery, incense and flower arrangement are arranged every day, although they occasionally have to help the first-class maid run errands, but compared to the maids elsewhere, she is very comfortable.

"Kneel until this pillar of incense burns out, it will be considered your friendship between master and servant, whether you go or stay in the future, Madame will not force you to ......" Fubai said a bunch of words again, to the effect that the prince of the world is dead, but the Qingyan Pavilion of the prince will continue to exist, but Madame is kind-hearted, and she can't bear to let so many maids guard that barren courtyard in vain, delaying the youth of these maids.

The rain hit the bluestone slab, raising a layer of smoke and mist, and the incense under the eaves burned quietly, and after two hours, the incense was only about half burned.

Chu Heng moved her stiff knees, her face was pale, and only then did she understand the meaning of Fubai's words just now.

At first, Chu Heng thought that Mrs. wanted everyone to kneel, and after paying tribute to the prince, he would either leave or stay according to the maids' own wishes, but those who stayed would always guard the empty Qingyan Pavilion, and would not marry or marry.

But at this moment, Chu Heng understood that Mrs. wanted to kneel down to death and bury the prince with him. That's why the lady chose such a thick stick of incense to make them kneel on the cold bluestone slab in the rain, and let those who knelt and fainted continue to be drenched in the rain.

"Sister Heng'er, I can't kneel anymore......" Yinzhu's face turned pale, and her upper body was swinging, as if she was going to pass out to the ground in the next second.

"Hold on!" Chu Heng turned his head to look at Yinzhu, with a hint of urgency in his eyes: "You don't want to die, do you?!" ”

Yinzhu was taken aback by Chu Heng's tone, she blinked her eyes, stretched out her hand to wipe the rain on her face: "Look at what you said is weird and scary, we are just mourning the son, just kneel, how can we be ...... to death"

Yinzhu is not stupid, she will obviously feel that something is wrong, and as soon as she finished speaking, her face became even more ugly.

"Are you sure we're just mourning the Son?" Chu Heng glanced at the girls who fell to the ground on the side: "If you fall like this, the rain will pour into your nose, and in a few moments, as soon as the water enters your lungs, you will die thoroughly." ”