After a whole night of snowfall, the heavy snow finally stopped on the morning of the Chinese New Year's Eve, and the streets and buildings were covered with a layer of snow, and the whole capital was filled with a sense of tranquility and serenity. Three or two sparrows stopped on the branches, and the finches stepped on the flower branches, and the snow between the branches trembled slightly. After the heavy snowfall, the sky bloomed with sunshine that had not been seen for many days, and such a good weather seemed to be the first New Year's gift from God to the people of all things.

The snow had been cleared from the streets, but the ground was still a little slippery. Although it has not yet officially entered the New Year, every household has already put up couplets, and the doors of rich families have even begun to be decorated with lights. The streets were crowded with children, dressed in new clothes, happily chasing and fighting on the streets, and the sound of firecrackers rang out from time to time. The adults are busy shopping for ingredients and preparing a sumptuous dinner to celebrate the night. Everyone's face was filled with joyful smiles, as well as infinite anticipation and yearning for the New Year.

The palace maids and eunuchs in the palace are even more busy today, and everyone is making final preparations for tonight's New Year's banquet. From this day onwards, the emperor and the officials of the court and the central government officially began to take vacation, and the early dynasty would also be suspended for a period of time due to the New Year, and it would not be until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month that the affairs of the court would be resumed.

Today, Xu is the relationship between people and happy events, and Emperor Liang Yinhao was in a very good mood, and he went to the Queen Mother's bedroom with the queen early in the morning to greet the New Year. Subsequently, the concubines and relatives of the palace also entered the palace one after another to congratulate, and the queen mother's bedroom has never been so lively in this year.

After the greeting was over, the emperor began to give gifts and rewards. Not long after Liang Yinhao ascended the throne, the heirs were not abundant, and the princes were young and useless, so according to the practice of previous years, the objects of rewards were mainly the ministers of the clan, and the rewards were distributed one by one according to the rank and official position. But this year, which is slightly different from previous years, Rui Wang Liang Yinhuan is also on the list of rewards this year, and the rank of the imperial gift is second only to Prime Minister Huo Pei'an and Zhongshu Ling Wei Ming. Although King Rui has not spent much time in the court this year, his recent appearance is particularly prominent, from cleaning up the deficit of the household department to supervising the revision of the assessment system of the Ministry of Officials, everything is obvious to everyone, so except for Huo Pei'an's disdain, other clan officials are also convinced of this, and have no objections in private.

At dusk, the sound of silk and bamboo sounded in the palace, and this year's annual banquet was held in the Jinyang Palace. In addition to the emperor, the queen and the queen mother, all the concubines, princes and clan relatives also came to celebrate, drinking and celebrating the New Year, so lively. Everyone's face is filled with a happy smile, whether it is true or false....

However, Rui Wang Liang Yinhuan sat on the seat with an indifferent face, leisurely poured himself a drink, and rarely talked to other officials except for a few words that the emperor had hypocritically echoed. Today's Liang Yinhuan has a sense of indifference to see through the red dust, just like now, although he is sitting in the most lively and luxurious, gorgeous and extravagant hall, but for him, it is as if he is sitting alone in the empty courtyard to enjoy the moon and drink, which is extremely leisurely.

For some reason, Liang Yinhuan sat in the hall of bright lights and candles and mist, and suddenly felt a sense of boredom that he had never felt before. The princes and nobles around him were full of hypocrisy and pretentiousness, which made him feel so sick that he had no appetite at all. So, Liang Yinhuan found an excuse to leave first and walked out of Jinyang Palace alone.

The white plum blossoms in the imperial garden are just right, without the majesty of pines and cypresses, and without the delicacy of red plums, but they have a unique elegance and simplicity. The white plum clusters, like snowflakes still in the air, float in the dark fragrance, which is particularly moving. Suddenly, there was a faint flute sound in the distance, and the sound seemed to be far away in the clouds and close to the ear, ethereal and ethereal.

Liang Yinhuan felt strange in his heart: At this time today, who will still play the flute in the corner of the imperial garden?

Liang Yinhuan followed the sound of the flute, the closer he got, the more he was attracted by the clear and tactful sound of the flute, the tune was soothing and soft, like the warm breeze of early summer, gradually blowing away the deep cold loneliness in this palace. In the end, Liang Yinhuan found the flute woman under a plum tree. Judging from the back, this person is dressed in gorgeous clothes, and she should not be an ordinary palace maid, and Liang Yinhuan feels even more strange in her heart: Is it a concubine in the palace?

The piper stood quietly in the cold winter, the cold wind through the white plum blossoms that were whiter than the snow, quietly caressing her clothes, the distant flute sound seemed to suppress the cold and biting night wind, the sky was far away, and the desolation was endless. A woman dressed in gorgeous clothes is like an immortal in the plum, looming in the branches and snow, just like a painting. No! No matter how good a painter is, he can't vividly copy the indifference of this moment. Liang Yinhuan only watched and listened quietly from a distance, as if getting close to half a minute was a blasphemy against the posture of this celestial man.

The sound of the flute stopped abruptly, and the woman seemed to sense that someone was coming, turned around in a panic, and then stepped into the quiet and bright moonlight. Through the moonlight, Liang Yinhuan finally saw the woman's appearance clearly, this person is the emperor's favorite concubine who is in full swing at the moment, Concubine Chen.

Mu Qing was also stunned for a moment when she saw King Rui, but she quickly put away the tension and panic on her face, regained her calmness, leaned over, and said softly: "I have seen His Royal Highness King Rui." ”

"Concubine Chen." Liang Yinhuan also gradually recovered from his surprise, and bowed his head, "This king didn't know that Niangniang actually had a study of the sound of silk and bamboo. ”

Mu Qing lowered his head and smiled, and said modestly: "Don't dare to be, it is difficult to get into the elegant hall of carving insects, so the prince will laugh." ”

Although Liang Yinhuan has seen this concubine a few times, he is always in the palace banquet and has no communication. Even when he had just returned from Fuzhou that day and met Concubine Chen for the first time when he entered the palace to visit the Queen Mother, the two did not talk much. Liang Yinhuan asked politely: "Why did Niangniang leave the banquet and be alone in this imperial garden?"

Mu Qing put away the bamboo flute in his hand, looked at Liang Yinhuan, and said with a light smile: "I am not strong enough to drink, and I feel very dizzy after drinking two glasses, so I will come to the imperial garden alone to blow the wind and dissipate the smell of alcohol." I accidentally walked into the imperial garden, and saw that the white plums here bloomed very well, and it was rare to be so quiet, so on a whim, I thought of playing a song. ”

Liang Yinhuan nodded in agreement, but he didn't expect that in this palace, in addition to himself, there were other people who also didn't like to be lively. "It's really quiet and pleasant, and it's a great way to get away from it all."

Mu Qing is no longer as restrained as he was when he first saw it, and thought: If you come, you will be safe. She changed the topic, and Rourou asked, "I heard the emperor say that His Royal Highness will go to the Hanlin Academy to report on his work after the New Year?"

When Liang Yinhuan heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned, and raised his eyebrows to look at the woman in front of him. I didn't expect this woman in the deep palace to care so much about the affairs of the court. (To be continued.) )