Although this workshop is inconspicuous, it is running a famous sugar cake shop in the royal capital. The variety of sweets in this workshop is excellent, especially osmanthus syrup. The owner of the yard is a husband and wife, the male owner's surname is Song, and the ancestral hand-me-down craft of boiling sugar is the first in Xinjiang. Every day, the shop sends five servants to many mansions to deliver candy.

"Anyone?" Ziji shouted at the door.

A child came running in response: "Someone, someone." The boy pushed open the wooden door and saw a man with a black hat and a long sword standing at the door, and he couldn't help but be a little afraid. The little boy shrank behind the door and asked, "Guest, do you want to buy candy?" ”

Ziji said: "A pack of three or two pieces of osmanthus syrup." ”

Xiao Tong said: "Five cloth coins." ”

Ziji took out three cloth coins and a small round bronze medallion from his sleeve, on which were carved with the pattern of flying birds. He put all the cloth coins and the small bronze medal in the palm of the child's hand, and said, "I smell that your boiled sugar is very sweet, and I want to buy a pack to taste, but I don't have enough money, and I want to use this bronze medal to pay for it." ”

The child's eyes blinked.

Ziji smiled: "You take the bronze medal and ask your family to see if it can be worth two coins." ”

"Then, then I'll ask you, you wait here." The boy ran into the yard and shouted, "Daddy."

Not long after, the man of the workshop walked out quickly. He has thick eyebrows and big eyes, a white complexion, and a simple and honest appearance. He was dressed the same as his appearance, but also simple, dressed in a gray coarse cloth robe, with a wooden hairpin on his head, and black cloth shoes under his feet, simple and simple.

The man came to the door of the chai, carrying a bag of sugar. He looked at Ziji fixedly. Then, he smiled innocently and said, "Guest officer, the osmanthus sugar you want." ”

Ziji took it and asked, "Is it three taels?" ”

The man laughed, "Nothing more, no less." You take it home, open it and see. ”

Ziji nodded, carried the sugar, and led the horse away.

The man watched Ziji leave, and when the people were far away, the man patted Xiaotong's head and scolded: "In the future, when I see people's mouths, they will have sweeter mouths, and they will eat so much sugar for nothing." ”

After Ziji left the small workshop, he walked a long way and returned to the dilapidated house where he was temporarily staying. The room had been unoccupied for a long time before he came, and it was dilapidated. There are also a few empty houses around the dilapidated house, all of which are uninhabited, so the area is sparsely populated and empty during the day.

With a "crunch", he pushed open the old courtyard door. As far as the eye can see, there is a messy yard covered in snow. There was a tall dead tree in the yard, and a man was waiting under the tree.

The person who came was dressed in black, neatly dressed, and had a short sword pinned to his waist.

"My subordinates have seen Shaojun." Cheng Hai knelt down and bowed.

"Get up and come with me into the house." Ziji closed the firewood door and entered the house. When he entered the house, he took off his hat, revealing a terrible fake face, and then peeled off several fake scars stuck to his face, which made him feel lighter.

"Master, there is a letter from Handan." Cheng Hai took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Ziji.

Ziji lit the brazier with a fire breaker. Reading letters while baking the fire. After that, he threw the letter into the brazier and watched it burn to ashes.

Ziji said: "So, Fan Jijiao took the initiative to form an alliance with us, and my father agreed." ”

Cheng Hai nodded and said, "The lord has already sent someone to take action." Although the precautions on the large side are strict, they are not airtight. We can take him at any time—" He made a neck wiping motion.

Ziji pondered for a moment and said: "The Fan family is cunning, and the third son of Fan is even more ruthless. We can't be gullible. We talk about an alliance as nice, but it's actually about using each other. We can't afford to be on guard. Don't kill the sheep first, design a fire to replace the people. That sheep must have a lot of secrets hidden in his belly. ”

"Yes, my subordinates will order it to go down." Cheng Hai received the order.

Ziji said: "Hold the handle in your hand, just in case." “

He opened the osmanthus syrup he bought today. Sure enough, there was a bamboo slip under the sugar, and a lot of words were densely written on it. Ziji read the bamboo slips carefully, and threw them into the brazier to burn them.

"This sugar is sweet." Ziji finally pinched a piece of candy and put it in his mouth. He felt the sweetness on the tip of his tongue, but sighed heavily.

Fan Di, Miao Yuan

After Mingyun came back outside, he went directly back to Miaoyuan.

"Aunt Xin, what is Mother doing?" Mingyun asked the nurse Bai Xin while changing clothes.

"Back to the master, the lady is in the house, and I said not to disturb anyone." Bai Xin replied that when she helped Mingyun sort out her clothes, she saw that the green jade pendant she wore out in the morning was missing.

"Why is there a jade pendant missing?"

"I threw it away." Mingyun said.

"Thrown? Why? The nurse frowned in confusion.

"I won't tell you." Mingyun raised her eyebrows and laughed.

In the main room, separated by a flower and bird brocade screen, Shi Miaoshu sat alone in Lang Kuo's inner study. Her eyebrows were curled and her eyes were drooping with a secret letter. The amber dark clothes are full of white plum blossoms, each of which is extremely luxurious and exquisite, and every word on the silk paper secret letter is also like plum blossoms falling on the paper. At first glance, a cluster of flowers, however, under the gorgeous pen, whether it is a brocade of pen and pen, or a word killing, only the person who wrote the pen knows.

Gently putting down the pen, Shi Miaoshu took out a moire bag from her sleeve, and there was only one thing inside, an oval white jade seal carved into the shape of a white lotus. Dip it in cinnabar and press it gently, and an oval seal composed of the word "Miao" and moire engraved on the seal is clearly printed in the lower right corner of MeSign.

On the bookcase, there is a small round copper box inlaid with silver five-petal flowers, only half the size of a palm, which looks like a box of rouge, in fact, when opened from the normal opening, it is indeed filled with a layer of vermilion and bright rouge, but there is a mechanism on the lid. Turning a dark pattern at the bottom of the box with your hand, the petals of the silver five-petal flower covered with the top of the box rotate and open layer by layer, revealing a specially shaped keyhole. Shi Miaoshu pressed the lotus head of the seal, rotated, and with a "click", the box opened.

After sealing the secret letter, Shi Miaoshu gave an order outside, and soon, Luo Ying walked in with a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl.

The girl was just dressed as an ordinary rough little maidservant, but when she raised her head, she was not, there was no trace of cringe and timidity on her face, but her expression was like a fierce beast, and it was a fierce beast that had just been released from the cage. Her facial features are deeper than ordinary people, her skin is white, her eyes are large, the tails of her eyes are slightly raised, and her eyes are a little different from the amber color of the Central Plains. It was the little maid that Meng Yun had just noticed.

The incense burner is full of aroma, and the fragrance of magnolia flowers is quiet in the room. There was silence all around, and only the laughter of girls in the yard could be heard in the distance.

"Take this letter with you to Quwo." Shi Miaoshu tapped the box with two fingers and pushed the copper box forward.

"Yes, ma'am." When the girl's hand touched the box, Shi Miaoshu exerted force on her hand, her chin was slightly closed, and a pair of eyes looked closely at the girl's eyes, and said word by word, "Be sure to hand it over to Huanyu with your own hands." ”

The corner of the girl's right mouth was slightly raised, and her amber eyes were not afraid to look at the sergeant Miaoshu, "Fang Wei will live up to the trust of his wife, and will bring this letter to her", her words revealed a little confidence and determination.

"After the year, I will leave to return to Quwo, we don't have much time, within half a month, I will receive a reply, I will not be alarmed, along the way only go to our own post station, the horses have been prepared, are fast horses, this trip must not be delayed." Shi Miaoshu took out a black box painted red again and pushed it over, "Ice and snow all the way, these bento boxes are entangled." ”

Fang Wei took the box, and she was not taboo, she opened it on the spot, a box full of gold beads, her cunning big eyes flashed, the corner of her right mouth was raised widely, she covered the box, and gave Shi Miaoshu a salute, "Thank you Madame this time, I should do our best." If Madame has no other instructions, I will retreat and immediately set out with my men and horses to Quwo. ”

Shi Miaoshu waved her hand and motioned for her to step back. After Fang Wei retreated, Shi Miaoshu sighed, her daughter was still laughing in the yard, the immature laughter was far and near, she pressed her temples with her left hand, rubbing them one by one, her eyes were lowered, and the index finger of her right hand knocked on the table again and again, not knowing what she was thinking.

As for Fang Wei's side, from the moment she stepped out of the house, she reined in her edge, lowered her head and lowered her eyes, pretending to be a servant. She held the box of gold beads rewarded by Shi Miaoshu in both hands, and dodged under the porch and blended into the team of servant girls who were also holding things, and when she reached the end of the line, she walked out of the courtyard.