The next day, Chun Tao collected the deed of sale given by the princess and returned to her parents. Before leaving, she bid farewell to the princess, and the princess ordered someone to take out a hundred taels of money for her, and told her that if she was in trouble in the future, she would come back and say that she would help. Chun Tao was very grateful, knelt down and kowtowed with tears, and repeatedly expressed her gratitude. The princess lifted her up and smiled, "Don't thank me. Seeing that I can make a good marriage, maybe I'm happier than you. ”

This kept her in a good mood all day, and it was the first time since she had landed so happily.

In the evening she summoned the maids she had brought with her and said to them, "You have served me for many years, and now you are all old enough to marry, if you are interested in someone, tell me, and I will let you go back to your mother's house to be married, and I will prepare you a small dowry." ”

The maids thanked each other, but none of them applied to return home. The princess asked again, and only the citron stood up and said, "The slave and maid are not unintentional, but the parents in the family are old, and the slave and maid have no brothers, and the sisters are all married, so ......."

The princess understood, and before she could finish speaking, she said, "Okay, then you can go home." I will give you some extra money to buy a few fields or a small business, and then I will recruit a son-in-law to serve your parents with you. ”

The citron was overjoyed and thanked again and again. Later, two more little girls expressed their desire to return home, and the princess agreed to release them and give them generous property. When no one said anything more, the princess reaffirmed her desire to give them freedom, and made them a long-term promise: "Whenever you find a suitable person, or miss your parents and want to go home, you can tell me and I will let you go at once." ”

All the maids were happy, bowed and thanked the princess, and praised the princess for her good deeds. After they retreated, I asked the princess with a smile, "The princess has let them all go, who will serve the princess in the future?" ”

"Isn't there still you?" The princess glared at me, and then sighed gloomily: "I hope that each of them can find a good husband, leave the princess's house in the future, teach each other husband and children, and live a happy life, not like me, trapped here for the rest of their lives, and cannot get out." ”

I didn't expect her happiness today to end in this topic of predicament, and my smile froze.

"And you, not as good as them." Seeing that I was silent, she pretended to be relaxed and said in a joking tone, "I won't let you go." If I'm locked up here for the rest of my life, you'll be here for the rest of my life! ”

These words are like the spring wind, blowing the warmth in my heart like ripples. I bowed my hand at her and said, "Thank you." ”

After the landing, the princess needed my company a lot more than before. When she was in the palace, she had to save her parents every day, and she also had many female companions, such as the adopted daughters of the concubines, and young concubines like Qiu He, who were not too different in age from her, and her interactions with them were enough to fill her leisure time. And now, as the most noble hostess in the princess's house, she does not have to bear the obligation to serve her aunt, not to mention that since the incident of Chun Tao, the Yang family has become more and more unpleasant to her, and avoids her everywhere, except for the usual greetings and family banquets, and does not take the initiative to come and talk to her, the brothers of the concubines all have their own houses, and the concubines do not often come and go, so the princess is quite lonely, in addition to practicing Konghou, she will use the fun of things to kill time, and at this time I am generally asked to be a companion.

At first, the unfamiliar feeling of the environment gradually disappeared, and we gradually adapted to this new life, playing the piano and flute, playing chess and tea, or reciting poems and lyrics with little interruption, and occasionally I would guide her to write and paint. She is now far more patient with Hanmo Danqing than she was when she was a child, and she no longer wants to run out with two random strokes, and she can practice in her study all day to complete a satisfactory work. I was amazed at her change and asked her, "Didn't the princess say that practicing calligraphy and painting was a waste of time, and it was usually done by the old master?" ”

She replied, "That's right." As you can see, I have a lot of time, and besides, I'm getting old. ”

Although they did not stay together, Li Wei often came to see the princess, but the two rarely had anything to say, and even during the meal, Li Wei could only find a little dispensable question to ask the princess, such as whether a certain dish was suitable for the princess's taste. The princess is usually casual and perfunctory, but Li Wei can remember every word she says. Once the princess just mentioned that the drunken crabs in Jiangnan tasted good, but there was no stock in the palace, and the next day there was a plate of drunken crabs in Jiangnan on the princess's table, and I don't know where Li Wei found it.

In his quest to please the princess, he shows infinite sincerity, but sometimes it is self-defeating.

One day, the princess was in a bad mood and was reluctant to go out in the pavilion, Li Wei carefully suggested that she go to the garden to relax, and the princess lazily replied: "This garden is so big, every corner has been walked, what is there to see?" ”

Li Wei thought about it and said, "The day before yesterday, I went to Yichun Garden and saw a large piece of wasteland nearby, more than three times larger than our garden. I went back and inquired to see who owned the land, so I bought it and built a large garden with pavilions and pavilions for the princess to enjoy. ”

The princess said: "That's it, it took a lot of time to build this princess's house, if the garden is three times bigger, it will cost a lot of money to buy land and build a house. ”

"It's okay," Li Wei immediately responded, "I don't lack this money." ”

Maybe he was unintentional, but I heard Shang Jue's harshness, let alone the princess. The princess frowned slightly and stared at him for a long time, and finally replied indifferently: "Okay, you can do it yourself." ”

Li Wei didn't seem to realize the reason why he was unhappy with the princess, and continued to give gifts to the princess frequently with the least amount of money he lacked. Seeing that the princess often practiced Hanmo, she soon sent a batch of study utensils: agate inkstone, tooth tube pen, gold inkstone box and jade paperweight.

"I really wish that even ink was made of gold and silver." Looking at the pile of glittering gifts, the princess said with disdain.

Soon after, Li Wei gave the princess another piece of famous ink, although it was not made of gold and silver, but it also did not get rid of the self-defeating fate.

On the day of the winter solstice, the Son of Heaven will be congratulated by hundreds of officials as usual, and all officials with official titles in Beijing must wear hairpins and court clothes to enter the palace to participate in the court meeting, which is solemn as a big ceremony, and this ceremony is called "Pai Dong Battle". After the winter battle, the emperor would feast his ministers and give them new clothes and gifts.

Li Wei, the commander of the horses, also entered the palace to participate in the court meeting, and as soon as the banquet ended, he rushed back to attend the family banquet in a hurry, and as soon as he entered the door, he took out a piece of Ting Qimo and presented it to the princess: "Princess, this is the official family reward today." Last time, I wanted to find a piece of ancient ink for the princess, but I didn't find a suitable one, and now I just happened to make up for it. ”

Shezhou Li Tingqi is a famous ink-making master in the Southern Tang Dynasty, its ink can cut wood, the fall ditch is not bad for the month, and there is a strange fragrance, has always been respected by the scholars, and by Li Tingqi personally made Li Mo has become less and less, and there are not many in the palace, so the people of the world are proud of being given Tingqi ink. Now Li Wei presents this section in the shape of a double-spine dragon, with the word "Tingjue" on it, which is indeed a treasure that Li Tingjun paid tribute back then.

The princess took it and looked at it, noncommittal, but asked Li Wei: "Is this what Daddy gave you?" ”

"Not really." Li Wei replied truthfully: "The official family gave me another piece, judging from the name engraved on it, the ink worker is also surnamed Li, called 'Li Chao', probably a descendant of Li Tingjue......

"Oh," the princess asked him again quietly, "then why did you come back with the Ting Ink?" ”

"Later, I found out that the scholars around me were given Tingqimo, maybe Tingqimo is not much in existence, and the official family has always been courteous to scribes, so it was given to the scholars." Li Wei explained: "I borrowed his Tingqi ink from Mr. Cai Junmo and Mr. Cai next to me, and he probably saw that I liked it, so he offered to exchange ...... with me."

The princess couldn't help sneering: "So you exchanged Li Chaomo for Ting Juemo?" ”

Li Wei nodded, and did not forget to praise Cai Xiang: "Bachelor Cai is willing to cut his love, which is really generous." Of course, I can't accept his favor in vain, and I will prepare some gifts for him in the future. ”

The princess had nothing to say, put Ting Qimo on the table, pushed it back in front of Li Wei, then got up and left silently.

Her reaction was naturally not what Li Wei expected, which made him at a loss, and only after standing up and watching the princess go away did he turn his head to look at me, and asked anxiously, "Mr. Liang, did I say something wrong?" ”

I thought about it again and again, and finally decided to tell him the truth: "Duwei, Li Chao is Li Tingjue's father. ”

Li Wei was stunned and stunned. And Mrs. Yang, who had been watching from the sidelines, was also interested in this ancient ink at this time, and asked me: "Mr. Liang, is this ink expensive from Li Chao or from his son?" ”

I replied: "People in the world love to collect ancient ink, and the more ancient the ink family's fine works, the rarer the surviving quantity, the more valuable it will be." ”

Mrs. Yang was immediately furious, poked her son's forehead, and scolded: "You loser, you actually took a good thing to exchange for a bargain!" If you can't do business like this, no matter how much you have ten times your family wealth, you will lose everything, no wonder the princess doesn't look down on you! ”