After the turmoil subsided, Uncle Li Guo's wife entered the palace and hinted to Jinshang that Li Wei and the princess were getting older and it was time to get married. Now he ordered to allocate funds to build the princess's mansion, which was handed over to Li Wei to supervise the work, and the marriage date was discussed later.

Soon after, some people who were afraid of chaos in the world deliberately "lost" a court newspaper in front of the Yifeng Pavilion, which contained the content of the chapter on the impeachment of the concubine Li Wei by the official Fan Zhen: "The commander of the concubine, Li Wei, instructed the small bottom, and there are forty or fifty people, and the people who come and go under the door are all lucky scoundrels. and built the Lord's house, and the service was excessive...... Li Wei is young, and he is just learning, and he mostly makes lucky scoundrels around him, builds a living room, and restores luxury, which is not the so-called acceptance of goodness......"

This newspaper was later delivered to me, when Zhang Chengzhao was by my side, came over to read it, and said with a smile: "These things were actually displayed by the mother of the horse when she entered the palace last time. I heard that she praised her son to the official family, saying that he had no white contacts, and his friends were all children of wealthy families...... She also deliberately asked the official family for more land, saying that the concubine wanted to build a shot field in the princess's house, and the official family really agreed. ”

I asked Zhang Chengzhao: "Do people in the palace often talk about these things?" ”

"But isn't it," he said, "as soon as Mrs. Guo's wife left, the people around the official family laughed secretly, saying that the paper money chiseled by her family had become real silver, and they didn't know how to spend it, and they wanted to stick it on their faces and pile it on their bodies for everyone to see." ”

I lit a fire to the newspaper and warned him, "Don't talk about it before the princess, so that she can't hear it." ”

He said yes repeatedly. But there are a lot of people who know about it, and there must be a few long-tongued people who have revealed some news to the princess, and in the next few days, the princess is obviously more depressed than before, except for the emperor and queen of Dingxing, she is often stunned, and sometimes she caresses her heart, and there are tears scattered when she plays.

After the official family recovered, everyone tacitly agreed not to mention the princess's refusal to marry and Cao Ping, as if this had never happened, including the princess herself, so her dissatisfaction with that marriage could only be transformed into silent sadness, eating away at her happiness and health, and making her haggard day by day.

Miao Shuyi saw it in her eyes, she was very distressed, but she had nothing to do, she could only pray to God and worship Buddha all day long, burn incense and pray, and every time she said something in her mouth, she couldn't hear what she was talking about.

One day, she told the princess that she had gone to Tianqing Temple to make a wish in front of the relics of the Dingguang Buddha and pray for the speedy recovery of her husband's daughter when she was sick. Now that her wish has been fulfilled, she should go and repay her wish, and the princess should go with her as a sign of her sincere gratitude.

The princess had no interest in this, but could not resist her mother's persuasion, and finally agreed to go with her.

Tianqing Temple was built in the period of Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty, there is a temple tower of Xingci Pagoda, which enshrines the relics of Dingguang Buddha, but it is commonly known as Fanta. The body of the tower is very high, and there is a folk song in Tokyo that says: "The tower is high, the tower is high, and the tower only hits the waist of the tower." ”

I and a few attendants, insiders with Miao Shuyi and the princess along the inner road of the pagoda circled, climbed for a long time to reach the front of the Buddha shrine, at this time through the window overlooked, the scene is really as Su Shunqin said in the poem of the pagoda: "The carriage and horses are full of ants, and the river is a sewage canal." ”

After paying homage to the relics, the princess looked around and found that the inner walls were inlaid with painted Buddha tiles, including a group of Tisha Le Ren bricks, depicting the scene of the musicians playing the pipa, conch, drum, cymbal, pan flute, transverse flute and other musical instruments.

The princess was gradually attracted and looked at them one by one, while Miao Shuyi said: "It's too high here, and the wind is strong, I'm a little dizzy, so I'll go down first." ”

When the princess heard this, she wanted to go with her, but Miao Shuyi bowed her head again and said, "Since you love to see these brick paintings, just stay for a moment and see them clearly." I'll go to the main hall of the temple to burn incense first, and you can come down with Huaiji in a while. ”

After that, she left with the rest of the attendants and the abbot and monk who accompanied her, and before leaving, she secretly glanced at me, and looked at the princess, as if she had made a request. I thought it was just me taking good care of the princess, so I bowed my head and signaled to obey.

The princess continued to look at the brick painting, and finally her eyes lingered for a long time on the piece of the drawing of the musical flute, probably remembering the old story, and she was in a trance, not paying attention to the footsteps that sounded again on the wooden path in the tower, until a man came up behind her and called her "princess".

The moment she turned her head, she didn't know whether she was sad or happy, the smile on her face appeared and then disappeared, and she grabbed the wrist of the comer, as if she wanted to confirm his existence, and as if she was afraid that he would disappear suddenly. Staring at him with tears in her eyes, she choked up and said softly, "Brother Cao...... How are you? ”

Cao Ping pulled the corners of his lips slightly, but his smile was gloomy. I haven't seen him for a long time, he has lost a lot of weight, his eyes are dark, and his gaze is blank, far from the high-spirited appearance he used to be.

At this moment, he gently withdrew his hand, avoided the princess's touch, took two steps back, and said, "Thanks to the princess, the minister is very good, and Princess Xie is worried." ”

His demeanor and tone were distinctly alienated, and the princess couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. I suspected that it was because I was present, and he was apprehensive, so he avoided the door, but he did not dare to go far, so he waited by the door.

Because of the proximity, they could still hear their conversation afterwards. Then it was Cao Ping who spoke first, and he said to the princess politely and calmly: "Princess, the minister is here to bid you farewell this time. The minister will go to Bishui to guard the tomb of his great-grandfather, and I am afraid that there will be no chance to pay homage to the princess in the future, so I came to say goodbye today, and I hope that the princess will cherish it......"

Before he finished speaking, the princess was shocked and asked in a trembling voice, "You want to leave Jingshi?" Why? Who told you to go? Daddy? Or is it a? ”

Cao commented: "Don't guess, princess, the minister is willing to go, not forced by others." ”

The princess didn't believe it, and there was a cry in her voice: "Why are you leaving?" Wait, I'll figure it out...... When Daddy is better, I will beg him to fulfill our ...... He was very nice to me and will definitely say yes......"

"Princess," Cao Ping interrupted her and asked rhetorically, "Are you sure that your uncle will agree to your request?" Can you guarantee that the bad things that happened in the past will not be repeated? ”

The princess was speechless. Cao Ping sighed and continued: "The minister used to be like a princess, thinking that my uncle doted on the princess and my aunt was the queen. However, looking at it now, we think about it too simply. ”

The princess was still silent, and Cao Ping said again: "When I returned from the Guozijian that day, I told my parents about us. My mother was so shocked that she cried and scolded me for being ignorant, but my father did not punish me, but said, 'If the official family is willing to give you the princess, he did so ten years ago.'" Then he turned and went to his study, where he wrote a request for his dismissal...... Since then, my house has been monitored by the Imperial City Division, and everyone who enters and leaves will be checked...... My uncle didn't hesitate, and even said the words 'the queen plotted rebellion', and our people were panicked when they got the news. Under the patriarch's inquiry, my father told me about it, and the patriarch was sad and angry, regardless of his serious illness, he personally walked up to me on crutches and said: 'If there is a mistake this time, not to mention that the century-old honor of the Cao family that your great-ancestor Rong Ma has exchanged for his life will be destroyed in your hands, I don't even know if the hundreds of lives of the Cao family can be saved!' ’”

"Daddy wouldn't do that!" The princess retorted, "What he said that time was only an ill gossip......"

"Talking about illness is actually the same as talking about drunkenness, you can more or less reveal some inner thoughts." Cao commented. His tone has always been unexciting, he should have thought about it a lot these days, and what he said to the princess at this time was just a conclusion drawn from his heart, "It was only then that I learned that my aunt was not as I once thought, she was trusted by my uncle, and she sat firmly in the middle palace and was unshakable." And my Meng Lang's behavior has deepened my uncle's misunderstanding of my aunt, maybe he will think that my aunt asked me to seduce the princess......"

The princess denied it repeatedly: "No, Daddy would not have such thoughts...... but her unthinking words seemed very weak.

"Listen to me, princess." Cao Ping stopped her, her voice was very soft at this time, a little more warm than the polite and distant before, "I never thought that my family would be so affected by my behavior...... The elders of the family were anxious and angry, my father was worried, my mother was crying all the time, my brother was confined to the house, and my sister, who had helped me to deliver an umbrella to the princess, was hastily promised to someone she did not like, because my parents thought that if something happened to me, that person's family could save my sister's life...... But the saddest person should still be my aunt, I can't imagine what kind of difficult situation she will be in the palace in the face of my uncle's accusation of 'rebellion'. ”

After a pause, he added, "I think the princess will feel worse than I do during this period." So, Princess, now that it's all over, let's leave it as it is, and let's not go wrong and don't affect those we love anymore. ”

"And the people you love, including me? If the status quo is maintained, I will marry that stupid and vulgar Li Wei, how will I live at that time? The princess asked him at once.

Cao Ping was silent. At this time, the princess was in a state of great emotion, and suddenly said hopefully, "Or we will run away, and we will flee from here, and we will go to a place where no one can find us......"

"Princess!" Cao Pinglang called out to her to raise a little pitch to signal that she was calm. Then he said something that silenced the princess completely: "I like the princess very much, but I love my family even more. ”

I listened intently, but I only heard some of the shredded wind intermittently passing through the quiet time in front of the Buddhist shrine.

Later, there was a knee-touching voice, and Cao Ping bowed down to the princess: "I wish the princess peace and well-being, longevity, and eternal happiness." ”

After the ceremony, he strode out of the door, and before going downstairs, he gave me a deep bow and said, "Mr. Liang, please take more trouble in the future and take care of the princess." ”