The decision on my disposition was discussed and decided in a mild atmosphere. Today, he once again stated that he would not expel me from Beijing, but only transferred me to the former province, and re-mentioned the matter of promoting me to be an official of Tianzhang Pavilion, I politely declined, saying: "There has always been a fixed procedure for the promotion of ministers, and they must come in order. The rank of the minister is insufficient, and he cannot take on this important task, if His Majesty is promoted, there will be a discussion in Taiwan. ”

So he asked me, "What do you want to do?" ”

I said, "The minister was transferred from the Academy of Painting to the Hou Province back then, and now I ask Your Majesty to allow the minister to return there." There is no need to let the minister hold any official position, if the minister can be an ordinary servant in the painting academy, and sort out the painter's drawings every day, it will be enough to make your wishes. ”

And so it was decided. I, the original princess house official, was transferred to the former provincial painting academy to serve the yellow door, even a few steps down, and far away from the harem, in the eyes of outsiders, it is tantamount to being severely punished, so this will announced that the background advice is also acceptable, and no longer mention the demotion of me.

During this period, Li Wei had left Beijing for Weizhou, perhaps at his behest, and his brother Li Zhang asked for permission to divorce Li Wei and the princess: "Wei is stupid, not enough to inherit the grace of heaven. Begging to be gone. ”

The emperor tentatively asked the princess for her opinion, and I also took out Li Wei's painting and told the princess about the situation before and after Li Wei drank the imperial wine, and the princess looked at the painting and ordered someone to put it away, but she still shook her head: "I know he is a good person, but it is not suitable for me." We are like two logs tied to both sides of the car, it seems that we can walk through thousands of mountains and rivers together, but we will never meet one day. ”

So, in March of the seventh year of Jiayou, it was announced that Li Wei had fallen to the rank of Ma Duwei and was demoted to the observer of Jianzhou. At the same time, in order to show fairness, he also demoted the princess of Yanguo to the princess of Yiguo, and according to Sima Guang's wishes, he damaged her lordship.

The title of the princess of the dynasty is similar to the name of the woman, the name of the country is different, and the invitation of the lord is also different, and the country of Yi is far inferior to the country of Yan, however, this punishment has almost no effect on the princess, as far as she is concerned, the least important thing is the title and money.

Jinshang apologized to the Li family, although Li Wei was defeated by the captain of the horse, but now he treated him with kindness, and gave him two hundred taels of gold, and ordered someone to pass on the word to him: "Mortals are rich and noble, and they may not be princesses' husbands." ”

When the dust settled, it was time for me to say goodbye to the princess. The night before I left the Princess's Pavilion, the princess begged Concubine Miao Xian to allow me to spend another night with her, so that the two of us could be alone and finally talk.

Seeing that Concubine Miao Xian was very hesitant, the princess smiled faintly, her eyes were desolate: "Sister, as soon as tomorrow dawns, Huaiji and I will never see each other again in this life." ”

We had made an agreement that once we parted, we would not try to see each other in the future, not even at festivals, both to keep the promise we had made to the present and to avoid the uncontrollable feelings after we met.

Hearing her daughter say this, Concubine Miao Xian couldn't help but have red circles in her eyes, so she agreed to her request.

This night, the Milky Way is shadowy, and the jade is dust-free. I sat side by side with the princess in front of the steps in the corridor, the wind chimes under the eaves, the incense steps were red and piled up, she was cowardly when the wind rose, I stretched my sleeves to protect her, she also leaned on my chest, we snuggled up to each other like this, watching the night fragrant mist scattering the empty court, watching the moon light like a flooded tower, speechless for a long time, but listening to the leakage of the voice.

At that time, the peach and plum withered, and the plum makeup was gone, but there was a bush of begonias blooming in the shadow of the atrium in the atrium, and the tuli frame next to the short wall was also decorated with white flowers, and the breeze passed through, and the fragrance was endless.

The princess was a little interested, and took off the lacquered crown on her head, and went to the court to pluck the flowers and put them on the crown. I also went with her, chose bright flowers for her, and let her decorate the crown. In a few moments, her crown was full of red, red, white and white begonias and tulips.

"Like a bride's flower crown?" She asked me with a smile and a crown.

The crown was dotted with flowers, like a red valerian dyed light veil, and it did look a bit like the flower crown used in the wedding, so I nodded at her with a smile.

Her eyes lit up, and she suddenly made a suggestion: "Now I wear it, can I worship with you?" ”

I was shocked and looked at her speechless.

"I heard Jia Qingzi talk about her wedding to Cui Bai, it's very interesting, it's different from the ceremony when I descended." She said, with a wistful look. Her wedding ceremony was formulated by Ouyang Xiu and other scholars according to Zhou etiquette, which was quite ancient, and it was indeed very different from the weddings of the common people.

"I'd like to have a wedding like hers...... It was the princess who married Li Wei at the beginning, and now it is Hui Rou who worships Huaiji......" She lowered her eyelashes and asked softly a little shyly, "Huaiji, are you willing?" ”

I finally said yes to her. Previously, Concubine Miao Xian had dismissed all the attendants according to the princess's request, and now there are only me and her in the princess's pavilion. Besides, it doesn't hurt even if someone sees it. Is there a worse outcome? Even if it were death, it wouldn't be a threat to me.

So she put on the flower crown with joy, and went to the room to find a colored satin, and tied it in a concentric knot, so that I could hold one end of each end with her, and put it on my hand, and she walked backwards and slowly led me into the bedchamber.

"It's called 'scarfing.'" She told me.

Then we bowed to each other in our rooms and sat down opposite each other in bed. I cut out a lock of hair as she instructed, and she did the same, then tied our hair together in ribbons and knotted it in concentric shapes. I observed her movements, and suddenly realized that this is the gift of "bun", also known as "knotting hair", which is a very important ceremony at people's weddings. When the princess declined, Ouyang Xiu said that the gift of the bun "does not know what to use, and it is not enough for future generations", so this section was missing from the wedding of the princess and Li Wei.

The princess asked me to take two silver wine cups, connect them with ribbons, and then drink one with me, which is commonly known as "handing over glasses of wine". After drinking, she told me that we should throw the wine cup and the flower crown under the bed, and then watch the wine cup close on its back.

I did as I was told, and threw the wine cup and the flower crown with her. She was very concerned about the result, and urged me to get out of bed and look at the wine cups, but when I checked them, I found that they were not satisfactory, and the wine cups were all mouth down on the ground.

"How?" Seeing that I was speechless, she asked nervously with a frown.

"Very good, one up and one down." I smiled at her. At the same time, I quietly reached under the bed and turned one of the cups upside down, so that the mouth of the cup was upward.

She was still not at ease, so she got out of bed to check, and when she really saw the situation of one back and one close, she was relieved and smiled happily.

There is no part of the guest congratulations, and then it is time to "cover the bill". We tacitly lay on the bed with our clothes and clothes, keeping a distance of about half a foot between the two of us, and did not touch each other for the time being.

After a long silence, she asked me, "What time is it, Huaiji?" ”

"It's time for the third watch." I replied, "Princess, go to bed early." ”

"I don't sleep." She sighed gloomily: "I'm afraid that when I wake up, you will no longer be by my side." ”