Back at the hotel, Tu Yan was a little drunk, drank a bowl of sobering soup, and fell asleep on the couch. Lin Qingyun didn't bother him, took a thin brocade quilt and put it on him, and lay down on the bed to take a nap. When he woke up from a nap, Lin Qingyun finally learned about the banquet from him.

Tu Yan said: "At the banquet, Du Sheng was very tempting to me in his words, but he did not suspect that he was in the city, but was extremely concerned about the situation in Beijing. Tu Yan sneered, his eyes flashed with a cold light: "It's okay for him to deceive others with that trick, but he came to me to do a trick, can he really not know the news in Beijing?" Even if you don't know, you won't find out about the prince's head, but it's still a feast. I could only pretend to be confused, and I had to drink two glasses of wine in the middle of the trip. ”

"Whose man is he?" Lin Qingyun also knew that the prefect was acting strangely, but it revealed that there was a master behind him, and that person actually came to test the apprentice, which showed that he was suspicious in his heart. It seems that we will have to be more cautious in the future.

"Du Sheng and Hu Jun, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, became in-laws, and Hu Jun was the one who was brought up by his father." Tu Yan took a sip of tea and thought: "Hu Jun is indeed capable, his daughter did not marry into the royal or princely mansion, but after marrying a world friend. The wives married by the two sons are the daughters of third-grade officials, which is not out of line, and even in the eyes of many people, they are low-married. ”

"But he won't know Du Sheng, since he dares to be a relative, he must know the master behind Du Sheng." After all, a feudal official, who has been in officialdom for decades, how can he not know his in-laws in such a sensitive period. In this way, Hu Jun just chose Du Sheng's daughter as the second son's wife, which has to make people think a lot. She wondered, "Could it be because he was too cautious?" Now that he is a family member with Du Sheng, he has a little to do with the master behind the scenes, and occasionally he is afraid that there will be a time when the door is wide open. On the other hand, in the end, it is the in-laws, even if something big happens one day, he is not involved, and the Zhujiu clan can't even implicate the daughter of the Du family. Since he was promoted by the emperor, he must understand the emperor's temperament, and for the sake of the old ministers, he must be cautious, and he will be punished for dereliction of duty or bribery. ”

Tu Yan's brows furrowed even tighter: "If this is the case, it will become more and more different to the people behind it, which can make such a cautious Hu Jun tempted." ”

There are only a few people in Beijing who have the ability to compete for the position, and Lin Qingyun does not dare to make a conclusion.

The affairs of Quanzhou still have to be investigated in vain, and Lin Qingyun can only help to explore the complex relationship between Quanzhou and various ports from the mouth of foreigners. Taking advantage of the fact that the sun went down a little, Lin Qingyun took a few people out of the hotel in a sedan chair and went to the lively street of Quanzhou. As for Tu Yan, as a frail prince, he should have a good rest in the hotel at this time.

The market near the port is very lively, and the shops are filled with a variety of goods from all over the north and south, from all over the world, and the market is crowded not only by locals, but also by foreigners of different skin colors and costumes, including men and women, and it is rare to see egrets and other newcomers. It's Lin Qingyun who looks a little fresh. In modern times, she has never been abroad, and even if she has seen foreigners, she is not so complete.

Through the screen window of the sedan chair, I suddenly saw a European woman holding a small umbrella of floating brocade walking into a shop on the corner, although the woman's appearance was not seen, but the intricate and gorgeous and elegant Rococo costume was really eye-catching, even if it was a conservative woman of this dynasty, she couldn't help but look at it again.

Lin Qingyun ordered the sedan chair to stop, got down from the sedan chair, and instructed the guards and others: "You wait here." ”

Then she walked into the store with only the egret Acacia. This shop is located in the corner location, not a Chinese building, but a white European building, the area is not large, but it looks classical and elegant. There is a wooden sign on the door that reads the name of the store: HA.

Mocha! It's a café!

I don't know which country opened the shop, most of the people in and out are foreigners, but there are also a few Oriental female faces, although they are gorgeously dressed, but they are not official women, after all, she has just seen the daughters of Quanzhou officials. These correspondents came from merchant families, and the rules were not so strict, and because of the merchant in the family, they were more receptive to new things from abroad.

Even so, Lin Qingyun was dressed in an apricot red gauze dress, a white pleated skirt, and a red butterfly beaded silk ribbon tied around her waist. She didn't use the guard of honor when she came out today, the guards were also wearing regular clothes, and she herself was dressed lightly, with jade beads on her head, gilt inlaid treasure pressed sideburns, a small and delicate silk inlaid treasure golden phoenix hairpin, phoenix wings as thin as cicada wings trembling slightly, and a round and full dragon's eye big east pearl in the phoenix's mouth. In addition, there is only a pair of emerald bracelets on the wrist.

At the entrance of the coffee shop there was a welcoming waitress, a young girl with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Good afternoon, madam, welcome." The waitress was entertained in Chinese, probably because of the frequent contact, although the pronunciation of this sentence is not authentic, but it is very fluent.

Lin Qingjun first glanced around the store, which was still a little different from a modern coffee shop, but the environment was indeed elegant. There were not many customers inside, whispering to each other, and some people took newspapers and books from the newspaper cabinet next to them. She saw that the café was still open to the back garden, and that there were also guests entering and exiting at the back door, and guessed that there were also open-air tables and chairs in the back garden, so she asked the waitress, "Has Baroness Lawrence arrived?" ”

"Are you Mrs. Lin? The Baroness had arrived, and in the back garden, Madame invited me to come. "The waitress doesn't learn much Chinese, and these words are expressed in a mixture of Chinese and Western.

Lin Qingyun bowed slightly, and did not correct her title.

When she replied to Scarlett earlier, she said that the two made an appointment to meet in a coffee shop on this street, first, she didn't want to expose her acquaintance with Lawrence in front of the prefect of Quanzhou, and secondly, she was also curious about the café, so she naturally wanted to come and sit down when she had a rare opportunity. As a result, the trip was not in vain, women from all over the world gathered here, dressed in the fashionable costumes of eighteenth-century Europe, elegant, refined, gorgeous, and extravagant.

Through the back door, under the ivy shelf, Scarlett had already greeted her.

"It's been a long time for Madame to wait." Lin Qingyun went up first to hold the other party's hand and avoided the other party's salute, after all, her identity could not be preserved. She still wants to play quietly for a day.

The two sat down on the white elegant table and chair under the ivy, the waitress brought coffee, and a few small European-style desserts, and Lin Qingjun asked the other party to pick up a recent newspaper. Although Scarlett is also accustomed to socializing in China, she is inevitably a little nervous because she sees her reading the newspaper and talks to her about some news in Europe. There are many things that have not been reported in the newspapers, and Lin Qingyun listened to them with relish, and also found traces of the wheel of history. It's an amazing feeling.

Lin Qingyun sipped coffee and chatted with him casually, and the afternoon sun seemed to be less hot. The mocha coffee at this shop has a very fragrant flavor, and the mocha beans are infused with a small amount of chocolate, which is different from the fancy mocha that is drunk in modern times.

The atmosphere gradually improved, and Scarlett tentatively mentioned what her husband wanted to find out.

"Your Royal Highness the Princess, one thing is really sorry, our merchant ship is back to Europe this time, my husband and I will go back together, I am afraid that we will not come back in the near future, and we will not be able to bring anything for Her Royal Highness the Princess in the future. This is my apology for my husband and I, and I ask Her Royal Highness the Princess to accept it. Scarlett pushed a box of silver chisel jewelry.

Lin Qingyun glanced at her, didn't pick up the box, and asked casually: "Why is this?" Something delayed at home? ”

Scarlett stopped talking: "It's my husband, the seizure of the merchant ship last time scared him, he heard the rumors, saying that the political situation here has not been stable recently, and he is afraid of being implicated." After all, we are foreign businessmen, and although Lawrence is reluctant to give up the route, his family is more important. ”

Sure enough, it was said by Tu Yan!

Lin Qingyun frowned slightly, and only said after a while: "You are just foreign businessmen, what do you have to do with the political situation of this dynasty?" In this case, you will stay for two days, and I will ask the prince what he means. ”

Scarlett's eyes lit up, and she hurriedly smiled: "Thank you, Your Royal Highness, if you can keep this route, you and Prince Chun will be the benefactors of our Lawrence family." ”

Two days later, Lin Qingyun came to the café as usual and informed Scarlett of her earlier plans. After hearing this, Scarlett gave an answer the next day. After all, it is only to guide the merchant ships in the East, although it may be a dilution of his own interests, but Prince Chun said that in addition to tea, the merchant ships here only transport official goods, and those official kiln porcelain and official brocade fabrics are luxury goods that foreign merchants dream of, and ordinary merchant ships can't get them at all.

Tu Yan dared to take official things to ocean trade, but he had an idea after seeing the Qi family in Jiuhua Mountain earlier, and wrote a secret fold into Beijing to present it to the emperor, and when he arrived in Quanzhou, he was approved by the emperor. The emperor agreed to his suggestion, but let him run secretly, and it was not appropriate to make it public for the time being, but the emperor would order someone to prepare it for him, and the rest of the things would be handled by himself.

Tu Yan had such thoughts and did not seek his own benefit, so he dared to speak directly to the emperor, saying that this would be beneficial to the country and could increase the savings of the treasury. The emperor has been on the throne for many years, and the already small amount of silver in the treasury is not enough to taste, and the emperor has no money, so he can't do many things. Seeing that some people were restless, the emperor was worried about where to get the pen and silver, and happened to see the fold of the vain Yan. The excerpt described in detail the various risks and benefits of a trip to the ocean, and the emperor was moved almost on the spot. Foreign merchant ships dare to cross the oceans, but can't their ships? It is strange that the ocean trade is so prosperous, and the profits during it are shockingly huge.

After doing this, Lin Qingyun still comes out from time to time, not limited to meeting Scarlett.

She asked Scarlett to introduce the wives of several large merchant ships, and only said that she wanted to talk about foreign news, and by the way, she bought some foreign goods and returned to Beijing to give them away. Although Scarlett had only just come to the East, Lawrence had a wide range of contacts, and Scarlett soon became acquainted with several foreign shippers and wives who often traveled to Quanzhou.

Seeing that Lin Qingyun was so interested, he said: "If Her Royal Highness the Princess is willing, I will hold an afternoon tea party and invite them to come and meet Her Royal Highness the Princess." ”

During this period, the prefect's wife also came to invite twice, and Lin Qingyun pushed it back, but she was not afraid that the other party would know about her low-key outing. After all, in the eyes of those people, she is a princess who likes foreign things, and she is not very gregarious.

On this day, I went to the tea party held by Scarlett, and I gained a lot, and I just came back and heard the prefect's wife ask to see me.

Tu Yan didn't go out today, and waited for her to come back to listen to the news, and when she heard that Mrs. Fu was here again, she couldn't help frowning: "It's too attentive." Your attitude is here, and I have not participated in politics, even if I have the heart, I may not be able to help Du Sheng, why did she come so close to you? ”

"It's always profitable." She now really understands that the prefect's wife is completely unprofitable, and if she has interests, she is extremely patient and scheming, if such a person is born as a man, he will definitely achieve something in the officialdom. According to the temperament of the prefect Du Sheng relayed by Tu Yan, it is the prefect's wife who dominates the relationship, and it is conceivable that this person is powerful.

The prefect's wife came with her daughter-in-law, this young Grandma Du and the prefect's wife's mother-in-law are completely different, it is said that she comes from a scholarly family, she is beautiful, but she is very shy, and every time the prefect's wife goes out to sit with her, she hardly opens her mouth.

The prefect's wife brought a lot of things, and said humbly: "The courtiers know that the princess likes Western things, and there are many foreign ships here in Quanzhou, and there are many of these Western things, and the things are not expensive, so she can pick the good ones first." The princess naturally has good things in Beijing, but these things from the West are just interesting to look at. ”

When Lin Qingyun looked at it, there was a small chiming clock on the table, a gold-plated self-propelled boat, a box of pocket watches, and several foreign materials: red feather yarn, feather satin, finch gold, doro, and shearling, etc., all of which were of various colors, all of which were the best among the foreign tributes. If you look at it locally in Quanzhou, it is indeed convenient to buy these, and the quality is slightly more expensive, but it is also much cheaper than selling them to the capital. As the saying goes, rare things are precious, and if these things are not necessarily very precious in Europe, they are like the silk tea and other things in the East, which have crossed the ocean to Europe, and they can immediately become popular among the European aristocratic royal families.

"If you don't have a festival, what do you do with so many gifts? I'm not here to beg for anything. Lin Qingyun glanced at it, and her expression was still as light as usual.

Originally, she was wary of people giving gifts, and the prefect's wife was so attentive, if she gave Western paintings or books, it was still a good vote, and she had already agreed with those foreign ladies about these furnishings and fabrics, and asked them to pick out the best eucalyptus from their own goods and send them, and she did not say that she would buy them with silver, but only exchanged them for official kiln porcelain or official leno and other materials. If you really take the money, those people will not dare to accept it, and they will not accept it, if it is bartered, where are those beautiful ladies willing to refuse, it is not easy to get these things in ordinary times.

The prefect's wife smiled: "The princess said that she was joking, this is just a little bit of the courtier's heart, for the princess to enjoy when she is bored." If it's a New Year's gift, it's too simple. ”

It seems that the other party is really a simple gift, and the person next to him left without opening his mouth.

Lin Qingyun also ignored it, and directly informed Tu Yan of the news he had learned from Western merchants.

Tu Yan was not surprised when he heard this: "I think that the original incident was not an exception, and the emperor punished them before, and those people reined in a little, maybe they were waiting to see and wait for the rumors to pass." ”

The things that Tu Yan secretly investigated were not very smooth, just because those people did restrain their deeds, and the connection with the outside was basically broken. Tu Yan couldn't, seeing that the small half moon had passed, it was inevitable that some people would reflect after staying for a long time, and in desperation, after a night of rain, Tu Yan was sick. The prefect and others all came to visit the patient, but Tu Yan did not see anything, and outsiders saw the smell of medicinal herbs wafting in the restaurant every day, and the kitchen bought out the meat and fishy dishes and made vegetarian dishes, and there was no doubt about Tu Yan's illness. At the same time, Lin Qingyun, as the princess, also stopped going outside and gatherings, and served decoction at the bedside every day.

Of course, the above are all for outsiders to see, but in fact, the two of them talk about poetry and painting every day, but they are very comfortable.

After five or six days like this, a person suddenly came in, although Lin Qingyun didn't remember the name of this person, but he knew that he was one of the palace guards. After listening to the report with the chess pieces, Tu Yan waved his hand to order him to retreat, followed by a general, curled his lips and smiled: "I found it." ”

Lin Qingyun also sighed, and his heart was relieved: "Then do you want to continue here?" ”

"Two more days."

At the same time, the news was released to the outside world, only saying that Prince Chun's condition was relieved. The prefect and others came to greet him again, and Tu Yan saw Du Sheng. When Du Sheng came to the small courtyard, he saw Tu Yan half-lying in a chair, leaning on a soft pillow, his face was slightly pale, his spirit was not good, and he looked like he had just recovered from a serious illness.

After Du Sheng left, Lin Qingyun came out of the room, instructed the egret to fetch water, and personally scrubbed his □□ for him. This kind of trick is enough to fool Du Sheng, after all, Tu Yan is the prince, Du Sheng didn't dare to look at it with a big prick or two, and he couldn't see the abnormality on his face at all with one or two eyes.

Tu Yan lay down, tilted his face, and let her gently wipe his face, a jade bracelet on his snow-white wrists shook slightly, and a faint fragrance wafted out of his sleeve. He couldn't help but move his gaze to her face, a plain face, like clear water out of hibiscus, so close to look at it, the skin is still white and delicate, like a peeled egg, the red lips are slightly pursed, delicate and fragrant.

Lin Qingyun was about to get up, when she suddenly felt that there was something more on her lips, and it was in vain that she reached out and pressed it on her lips, and the look in her eyes was focused and hot.

"Wiped it off." Lin Qingyun panicked inexplicably, turned around and was about to leave.

Tu Yan grabbed her wrist and looked at her with a smile: "I don't have much energy at this time, I want to sleep but can't sleep, Weiqing read to me." ”

Lin Qingyun was suddenly angry and funny, and put the ambiguous embarrassment behind her: "The prince can really make people ......" The rest of the words stopped abruptly, just because Tu Yan suddenly dragged her and hugged her, the other party's warm snort brushed on her face, she only felt that her cheeks were red and hot, her heart was like a drum, she wanted to get up, but for some reason she never moved.

"I haven't hugged you yet." Tu Yan's slightly sighing voice came into his ears, and there was a tingle.

"Isn't it too heavy?" After a while, Lin Qingyun pushed him away, and sat aside and was embarrassed to look at him for a while. He took the book he hadn't finished reading from the table, flipped through the page with the bookmark, and read it softly.

Tu Yan looked at her side face, and sighed slightly in her heart: she won't be in time until June next year, and she has always felt that time is fast, but this is the first time that she feels that time is so slow.

Two days later, the group boarded the ship and left Quanzhou under the congratulations of the prefect and other officials. Before leaving, all the officials gave gifts, and there were things given by several foreign wives that Lin Qingyun had just met, which were full of several large boxes, plus the Tuyi foreign goods and other things she bought earlier, there were too many things. She estimated that she would definitely buy it in Guangzhou, after all, it costs a lot of money to socialize, and these foreign goods are very decent to make gifts, and besides, the Zhuang sisters and the Jia sisters she knew have been out of the cabinet in the past few years, so some things must also be prepared. Of course, most of this is for Daiyu, although Daiyu has three years to get married, but it should be prepared earlier.

It was almost August, and the ship was not only cool when it docked in Guangzhou, but it was still extremely hot.

With the experience of Ningbo and Quanzhou, Tu Yan was also familiar with it, and paused in the name of visiting the landscape. The officials of Guangzhou and the big and small saw it, but they did not see the king of Nan'an County, and only afterwards did they learn that a few days ago the king of Nan'an County led his troops to the sea for drills, but he was afraid that he would not come back for ten days and half a month.

The two of them were not in a hurry to do anything, they just rested for the first two days, and walked around the hotel again, as if they were really here to visit.

When I arrived in Guangzhou, I found that there were more foreign merchants here, and the ships came and went more frequently, mostly from some countries along the West Sea, and not all of them used Jianli ships. Lin Qingjun couldn't help but think about the prosperous Hong Kong in the future, but I am afraid that this will still be a wild place. Earlier, I looked at the map of Guangzhou on the ship, and there was a Xin'an County, which was about the predecessor of Hong Kong. She saw Tu Yan take a pen and draw two circles in the location of Xin'an County, and said to her: "This place is close to Guangzhou, and the geographical location is special, if it can be developed, it will be a new port, and it can also share the pressure of Guangzhou Port." ”

At this time, he didn't expect that someone would come to seize Xin'an County, after all, this is not an isolated island, and the court will not tolerate anyone who moves wolf ambitions. Naturally it is calm now, but what about a hundred years from now? Therefore, Lin Qingyun has always been very supportive of his ideas and supported him to strengthen the water division.

Tu Yan led her to a high-rise building near the river, and with the thousands of boats competing in the distance, one after another big ships Yang Fan went away, gradually disappearing at the end of the sea.

"Foreigners say that the world we live in is a round ball, and call it the earth, and the ship disappears at the end of the sea, not falling, but going to the other side of the earth, where the human eye cannot see. The geocentric theory and heliocentric theory are really interesting to think about. "Tu Yan is open-minded, quick to accept foreign things, and makes his own analysis, and is often fascinated by them.

He often felt that the world was so big, that what he had seen and known was so limited, that if he was only trapped in a corner, what was the point of sitting on the world? Perhaps the princes are destined to compete for power and profit all their lives, whether active or passive, their identity determines their future. Tu Yan is different, he gave up the throne as early as a child, from the beginning of fear, resentment, and despair, to today's indifference, he has no ambition for the throne, and his natural ambition as a prince is no longer in the court.