Abandon the ship from the wharf to take a carriage into Jiangning City: thousands of miles of warblers crying, water villages and mountains, towers and ponds, mountain pillows and cold currents, worthy of the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. It's just that the winter sunset and snow, the splendid song is remnant, not as prosperous as spring.

The winter in the south of the Yangtze River is not like the northern part of the capital, which is more cold and damp. Du Zhe wrapped his jacket tightly, and couldn't help but pick up the curtain curiously to look out, the streets and alleys of Jiangnan, the rows of willows planted along the official roads, the green tiles and white walls hidden behind the willows, and the passers-by hurrying on the street.

The so-called Jiangnan Water Show, Yuxiang Wine Country, makes people linger and forget to return, and they are emotional at a glance.

"Dongliu, we're here."

The car stopped, obviously in a house deep in the inner city, but Du Zhe didn't seem to have seen enough, and always felt that time passed too quickly. Looking at the snow scene in the south of the Yangtze River, Du Zhe was led by Cao Xueqin into the small courtyard where he had lived in Jinling for more than a year-

The Cao family has been operating in Jiangning for three generations, Cao Xi, Cao Yin and Cao Hao all live in Jiangning Weaving House, and later the Cao family suffered a disaster in the Yongzheng year, and the family was retained, and now there is no residence for the descendants of the Cao family in Jinling.

Tired from running all the way, after Cao Xueqin took Du Zhe to see the small courtyard, Du Zhe was already so sleepy that his eyelids were fighting, and after finally forcing himself to eat something, Cao Xueqin asked Du Zhe to lie down and rest first, "Dongliu, you can sleep first, I still have some things to explain to the steward here." ”

"Oh......" Du Zhe responded, rubbed his eyes and said, "I...... Leave a light for you. ”

Hearing this, Cao Xueqin leaned over and placed a kiss on Du Zhe's forehead, pinched his earlobe, and said with a wicked smile, "No, I forced you along the way." However, if you can't get out of bed tomorrow if you want to, just stay. ”

Du Zhe snorted, turned his head sullenly, lifted the quilt to cover his head, and fell asleep after a while. Cao Xueqin saw that he was asleep, afraid of smothering him, so she folded the quilt again for Du Zhe before turning off the lights, closing the door lightly and exiting.

The sun had set and the moon had risen outside, and the snow had stopped, but the moonlight was not very bright, and the person standing in the small courtyard waiting for him was Cao Xueqin's steward in Jinling. Seeing Cao Xueqin come out, the steward said respectfully, "Master." ”

"Are you all right?"

"If you go back to your father, it's all right. It's just that Buzhuang's side has been a lot more vigilant because of what happened last time, and I'm afraid that Ah Si and they will have to find a reason to withdraw first. ”

Cao Xueqin frowned, and said in her heart that Jiangning Weaving was also a slippery old fox, and he was so cautious and careful with a little wind. He nodded, and then asked, "I heard that the governor has been in the city recently?" ”

"Yes, the Governor sent someone to ask me before. These days seem to be living in the Weaving Department, Lord...... Going to say hello? ”

"No, no," Cao Xueqin smiled incomprehensibly, "Don't worry, the weaving master can't sit still, we just have to wait." You tell those who are planted in the weaving department to pay attention, don't ask the weaver to find any opportunity to get close to the governor. ”

The steward was ordered to leave quietly, Ding Rong looked at the direction where the steward left, and then at Cao Xueqin, looking like he wanted to speak and stopped. After admiring the embarrassment of this little ghost, Cao Xueqin coughed lightly, "If you have something to say, when did you spit out like this in front of me?" ”

"Master, I don't understand," Ding Rong lowered his voice, "Why do you want to deal with Jiangning Weaving?" Although others are a little more obscene, they have no grievances with our family? ”

"Rong'er, let me ask you, what is the position of Jiangning and Suzhou in the eyes of the emperor?"

"Jiangnan Town?"

"That Rong'er, let me ask you again, when grandpa and grandpa were there, what was our Cao family doing in Jiangning? And why was it that his house was raided? ”

"Of course, it's because of the weaving office, and the management of the two rivers and salt and iron cloth, but there is a ...... of money and food" Ding Rong replied with a straight look, only half of what he said, and suddenly his eyes lit up, "Master, what do you mean......?!" ”

Cao Xueqin smiled and said nothing, signaling Ding Rong not to say it, he stood with his hands in his hands, looking at the crescent moon in the sky, slowly emerging from behind the dark clouds, "It seems that tomorrow will be a bright day——"

On the second day, the sky was clear and the clouds dispersed.

Du Zhe and Cao Xueqin were discussing that they would take advantage of the good weather to go to various places in the city today, but the steward brought a person from the Jiangning Weaving Department. It turned out that this person was a member of the Jiangning weaving family, and their lord heard that Cao Xueqin had returned from the capital to report on work, and prepared a feast at home, and wanted to invite Cao Xueqin to come over.

"......" Du Zhe flattened his mouth, aggrieved, turned his head and saw Ding Rong, and immediately laughed and asked, "Xiao Rong'er, you-go out with me?" ”

Ding Rong was embarrassed and hurriedly looked at Cao Xueqin for help. Cao Xueqin's face sank, grabbed Du Zhelai, pushed the person in front of the person and said, "This is the friend I brought from Beijing, you go back and tell your master, add an extra seat, let's pack up and go over." ”

When the steward went out from the man, Du Zhecai muttered unhappily with a dough in his mouth, "Hey, people invite you alone, what is the matter with you taking me like this?" ”

Cao Xueqin dragged his head and took a bite of the dough right from his mouth, he looked at the stunned Du Zhe, licked his lips and laughed, "You want to hook up with someone else behind my back, I want to find a way to tie you to my side." ”

When Du Zhe heard this, he also played with it, and threw himself down with a "wow", hung on Ding Rong, and wiped his tears with his sleeve and said, "Xiao Rong'er, your second master bullies men and women, bullies the slave family like this, and you don't say a good word for the slave family——"

Ding Rong had goosebumps all over his body, and he didn't dare to get involved in the matter between the two of them, he pushed Du Zhe away and took two steps back, before he smiled and dropped a sentence, "But Master Qu, don't you just like our master to bully you?" I see that your heart is full of joy, why should I, a minion, say anything good? If there are really good words, it is also for you to be with the second master and Meimei, and grow old, hahahaha-"

Du Zhe smiled angrily, stood up and went to chase Ding Rong, Cao Xueqin watched the two of them make a mess in the courtyard, shook her head, and sighed helplessly, but she still couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth.

When they arrived at the Jiangning Weaving Department later, Cao Xueqin and Du Zhe learned that the guests who came today were not only the two of them, but also many businessmen and officials from Jiangning and Suzhou. One of the most important is Yin Jishan, the governor of Jiangsu, who came to Jiangning to inspect the river fortifications.

Looking at the importance and courtesy of this group of Jiangnan scholars to Cao Xueqin, Du Zhe was very happy and a little relieved. Notice:

When the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, they took bloody repressive measures against the remnants of the Southern Ming Dynasty and the remaining forces. "Jiading three massacres, Yangzhou ten days" is a famous tragedy in history, although this Jiangning weaving is a scholar, but claimed to be the ancestors of the old Mr. Pavilion a lot of care, to see the Cao family of the old man returned to his hometown, very gratified.

Over there, Cao Xueqin and her former colleagues greeted each other, but here Du Zhe happily hid to the side to watch the excitement and observe the scribes in the hall: Jiangnan scholars are mostly polite when they speak, and greetings always have to be twisted and turned. But it's very elegant, and there are a few of them who talk well.

Du Zhe didn't notice it himself, in fact, when he was watching the excitement, there happened to be another person watching him. This person is not an outsider, it is Yin Jishan, the governor of Jiangsu.

In fact, since Du Zhe followed Cao Xueqin into the house, Yin Jishan has been secretly observing this beautiful young man, he has been a secretary of the criminal department in Beijing for three years, and he always feels that this person's appearance is a little familiar. Yin Jishan had a doubt in his heart, so he deliberately came up to ask.

Du Zhe was picking up a bowl of tea, but when he saw a kind middle-aged man walking towards him, he quickly put down the tea bowl in his hand and stood up. Yin Jishan smiled slightly and asked him his name, but Du Zhe didn't care too much, so he said bluntly.

Unexpectedly, Yin Jishan was stunned for a moment when he heard the words "Qu Beiyi", his face changed slightly, and he suddenly smiled, and said loudly, "It was Boss Qu, but when I saw it in front of the hall, I didn't dare to recognize it!" ”

Du Zhe didn't expect that there would be people in Jiangnan who recognized him, and he didn't know how to deal with it for a while. Yin Jishan is the most noble person in this class of Jiangnan scholars, seeing that he "valued" Du Zhe so much, everyone immediately gathered around to bow to Du Zhe, and asked with a smile, "Boss Qu?" Are you and Lord Yin old acquaintances? Don't know what business you're doing? ”

"I ......"

"Boss Qu's works "Burying Jade" and "Secret Oath" are excellent, who doesn't know the meaning of mentioning Kunban's famous Dan song in Beijing?" Yin Jishan smiled and picked up, but there was no smile in his eyes to take Du Zhe a look, "I heard that later Boss Qu, you pulled a troupe by yourself, and you are still called in Beijing, and even Prince He is willing to saddle the horse for you, what?" Boss Qu doesn't stay in the capital, but he is willing to come to our small place to do 'business'? ”

As soon as Yin Jishan said this, even if he was as dull as Du Zhe, he could see that the faces of the group of Jiangnan scholars were different, and he remembered that the Manchu Dynasty was particularly popular, and their actors were all inferior to the same as advocating excellence. At that time, I understood Yin Jishan's insidious scheming, but I couldn't do it anymore.

The scene cooled down, Yin Jishan was about to say something, but Cao Xueqin came over and said very unceremoniously behind Du Zhe, "Lord Governor, colleagues, the capital is far away from here, Dongliu and I are a little tired, if there is anything to talk about, we will talk about it tomorrow." ”

After they left, the officials stared at Cao Xueqin and Du Zhe for a long time, and one of them sighed, "My son-in-law is such a peugeot, it was originally a drama." ”

"How can the descendants of Mr. Dongting be hooked up with this bad thing?!" Yin Jishan was heartbroken and shook his head again and again, "I'm afraid that I am downcast in Beijing and no one will guide his heart, so I have embarked on a crooked path!" ”

"It's not," Jiang Ning Weaving thought deeply, "A few years ago, my mother had a lot of troubles, and I wanted to tell Cao Erye about family affairs but he refused, but I didn't expect it to be a good girl......

Yin Jishan was a feudal official, and he admired Cao Yin very much, and he couldn't ignore Cao Xueqin playing tricks and embarking on the "crooked road". So he discussed it with this group of Jiangnan scholars, and everyone came up with a few ideas, which were bound to "lead Cao Xueqin into the right path".

This group of literati has a lot of troubles, but they don't know that there are people outside the house who really hear what they say and say! While they were unprepared, the man who listened to the root of the wall stood up, jumped out on his waist, and went out of the gate around the two courtyards.

At the door, Cao Xueqin was putting on a blue and blue coat for Du Zhe, and when she looked back and saw him come out, Cao Xueqin glanced at him, he nodded and immediately dodged back into the crowd on the street, without letting Du Zhe notice half a point.

"Dongliu, now that we're free, I'll take you around the city, how about I?" Cao Xueqin said, and went to Laduzhe's hand. Unexpectedly, he asked Du Zhe to dodge without a trace. Du Zhe took a step back, and he couldn't see what the expression was on his face.

Du Zhe didn't speak, Cao Xueqin naturally calmed down, he stood opposite Du Zhe and was silent for a long time, pretending to sigh aggrievedly, "Dongliu, you hate me......"

"I didn't!" Du Zhe hurriedly denied it, "I, I'm just ......"

The wavering in Du Zhe's eyes could not escape Cao Xueqin's eyes, but he also saw Du Zhe's trembling lips, and resisted the urge to take Du Zhe tightly into his arms, Cao Xueqin took a step forward slowly, "That's it, let's go back first." ”

◎◎◎

"Master, Master Qu, why did you come back?" It was Ding Rong who came to answer the door at the door of the small courtyard, "This Jiangning weaving is so picky?" I won't even serve you a meal? ”

knew that Ding Rong was joking, but neither Cao Xueqin nor Du Zhe had the heart to respond. After the two walked into the courtyard, Du Zhe hurried back to his room. Cao Xueqin was also full of evil spirits in the courtyard, Ding Rong didn't expect Cao Xueqin and Du Zhe to go out happily to be guests, but when they came back, they became like they didn't talk to each other.

Ding Rong was pondering to himself, but the little guy who had followed him to Jiangning Weaving Mansion earlier also came back, and bowed respectfully to Cao Xueqin, "Master-"

Cao Xueqin glanced at Du Zhe's house, lowered her voice and asked, "How?" ”

"The minions have heard it, as you expected, Jiangning Weaving did intend to contact Lord Yin, but Lord Yin was upright and did not promise anything. It's just that Jiang Ning Weaving speculated on Lord Yin's mind and said a lot of bad things about Master Qu......"

Cao Xueqin nodded knowingly and snorted coldly, "What did he say?" ”

"It's inconvenient for you to listen to those ugly words, it's just the confused sour words of the literati of the Southern Dynasty, you are being reused by the emperor, and Qu Ye is the great benefactor of the queen and the crown prince of Duanhui, even if they have the courage to do anything."

Cao Xueqin shook her head, with a killing look in her eyes, "You pay attention in the dark, if they want to be unfavorable to Dongliu, the evidence I asked you to collect a few years ago, as well as Ah Si on the cloth village, Chen Liu and others in the mansion, it will be the right time!" Since I have brought Dongliu here, I will not allow anyone to hurt him in the slightest! ”

"Yes, the minion understands!"

"Dongliu ......over there," Cao Xueqin instructed, "Don't miss half a sentence, you know?!" ”

"Don't worry, the slave knows the right thing."

Cao Xueqin waved his hand to tell the person to stand back, he looked up at the dark clouds that were gradually accumulating, the sky was getting dark, and he was afraid that there would be another heavy snowstorm later. The winter snow in the south of the Yangtze River is not as cold as the capital, but it is more humid, and I don't know if Qu Biyi is used to it.

It did snowed a lot that night, and he didn't wait for Cao Xueqin to buy more winter supplies for Ding Rong, but Du Zhe really fell ill: the high fever did not go away, and he always said a lot of nonsense, of which there was only one sentence that was reversed, maybe not a sentence, but a person's name-

CAO Xueqin,

Cao Xueqin.