The summer of the sixteenth year of Jiading.

"Hua'er, what are you looking at?" The girl's sudden voice startled Yunhua, and he suddenly looked up and saw Zhang Zhong'er smiling and putting a bowl of cold fruits soaked in well water on the desk.

"Little aunt, don't make trouble." Yunhua, who was thirteen years old at the time, had already added some calmness, and he gently closed the book for Zhang Zhong'er's joke. "Hua'er, you recruited from the truth, who is the portrait in the book? I stood at the door for a long time, and you could see that I didn't even lift my head. Zhang Zhong'er's eyes were clear, and she looked at Yun Hua in front of her and reddened her ears: "There is no portrait, little aunt." The boy refused to admit it, but one hand pressed the book tightly, fearing that something would be exposed.

"In the few days you've been in the school, have you made new friends?" Zhang Zhong'er no longer pressed about the portrait, she walked over lightly and sat on the chair opposite Yunhua's bookcase, and changed the topic to Yunhua's study in Luyang Hall. "Yes, there is an elder brother, a few years older than me, his surname is Zhao Minghong, the word Bangxian, and the number is ...... I don't seem to have heard him say that he has a number. He is also a native of Lin'an, his character is very valuable, and his knowledge is also excellent. There is also the son of Master Xiang's family, whose name is Xiang Kang, and he is very compatible with me. Yun Hua replied seriously.

Zhang Zhong'er twisted his handkerchief in his hand, and said with crooked eyebrows: "Then I'll rest assured, I'm afraid that you have no friends there, and you'll be flustered." "It's not boring, little aunt, and there's one more ...... Forget it, nothing. Xiao Yunhua was just interested and wanted to talk about someone, but when he saw Zhang Zhong'er's eyes that wanted to find out, he took the words back.

"What's there?" Zhang Zhong'er asked reluctantly, but Yunhua only laughed, and said to the guest: "Little aunt, I'm going to study, I'll go back to the school tomorrow, Mr. Tong will ask." With that, he picked up a copy of "The University" from the table, pressed it on top of the book where the portrait was hidden, gently turned a page, and read it aloud. Don't you say that I also know that there is a 'fairy in the painting', right? The girl laughed to herself, and sighed at the end: "Hua'er, you have grown up." ”

Behind the book, Zhang Yunhua's eyes flashed a trace of panic that he had seen through his heart, and his ears turned even redder: "No, little aunt, don't talk nonsense." It's just that...... It's just a classmate, I draw it casually. His panic was seen by Zhang Zhong'er, and he couldn't stop laughing: "Okay, okay, I don't talk nonsense, Hua'er reads." After that, she stroked the gown embroidered with white peony flowers on her body, stood up and said, "I'll go first, Dongqing and the others kick the shuttlecock, I'll be stubborn for a while, and I'll come to see you later." ”

"Eh-" Yunhua seemed a little uneasy, and stopped Zhang Zhong'er and said, "Little aunt...... Don't tell your mother about the portrait. "Zhang Zhong'er and Yunhua's mother, although they are sisters-in-law and have a big age difference, they get along very well, Yunhua is worried that Zhang Zhong'er will leak the portrait and cause unnecessary punishment." Hua'er is confused, your secret, when did I tell others. Zhang Zhong'er shook his head, looked a little reproachful, and then smiled again: "If you don't believe it, we can pull the hook." With that, a finger as white as a shallot stretched out in front of Xiao Yunhua.

"Oh, good." Yunhua also stretched out her little finger and hooked it with her hand. In the long hot summer day, amid the endless sound of cicadas, the boy and his little aunt, who was three years older than him, laughed together.

In the autumn of the first year of Baoqing.

It rained heavily in Lin'an City for three days, and there was waterlogging everywhere in the city, and the people were closed. In the Hening Gate of the Imperial City of Lin'an, a young man in official uniform walked out quickly, he didn't seem to notice that it was pouring rain in the sky, but just walked forward with a frown, and his clothes, hats, shoes and socks were soaked.

Several soldiers guarding the gate are surrounding a general holding a book, listening to the division of labor on duty recently, the change of era name, naturally there are various personnel arrangements, the new monarch needs a new palace mechanism to operate normally immediately, and it is necessary to properly divide the labor everywhere. Seeing that someone was coming, they stopped talking, and only looked at this soulless adult in surprise, and an old soldier opened his mouth to persuade: "My lord, this rain is too urgent, take shelter here at the palace gate." ”

"No need." The young man stared ahead and muttered a few words in his mouth. The rain was so heavy that his voice was like a needle falling on the sound of the golden drum, and it was covered by the sound of rain in an instant. "What?" Naturally, they didn't hear what he was saying. "You don't have to call me sir." The young man raised his voice a little, but he didn't stop, and plunged headlong into the autumn rain.

Out of the Hening Gate, facing is a wide road, called Huaimin Road, along the road to the north in turn through the Jade Fang, Shoucheng Fang, White Horse Temple, these Lin'an people love to linger in the street market, then to the Ningzong Dynasty flourished at the time of the true sage. Walk along the gate wall for dozens of steps, pass by the front street of Baominfang, and then go east for five miles, turn an intersection, it is Lingdan Lane. There is a pharmacy in this alley, called "Rejuvenation Hall", and the pharmacy is connected to the Zhang family's mansion.

How can home be so far away? The young man's steps became more and more rapid, and the water on the road was quite deep, and every step he stepped into the water, as he walked forward, brought out the sound of rowing like "whoosh-whoosh-" water. Before turning into Lingdan Alley, the young man took a deep breath and seemed to have made a lot of determination, before he reached the mouth of the alley, he raised his head and looked at the trees and houses on both sides of the alley: fortunately, there were no lanterns as expected.

He ran and turned the rain into huge splashes. When passing by the Rejuvenation Hall, the young man on the cabinet inside heard the sound of treading water by the window, and muttered in his heart: "Who is running outside in such a heavy rain, isn't it stupid?" But when he saw the figure of this person clearly, he was so frightened that he stood up from his chair: "Young Master?!" He just wanted to stop Zhang Yunhua, but his young master had already hurried over. The young man was very puzzled: why was there no one in the house to pick up the young master in such a heavy rain today, and taught him to run back in the rain like this.

When Zhang Yunhua stepped on the courtyard outside the gate of the mansion, the rain on the eaves of the door had almost become a water curtain, and the plaque with the word "Zhang Fu" written on it in the water curtain had been hung with four red and green brocade peonies. A few family members are using a ladder to hang colorful satin on the left and right sides, and while hanging, they are still talking about the weather.

"A little to the right...... I said, "It's not necessarily a good sign that it's raining so hard this fall." "Hugh wants to talk nonsense, such a happy event as sending a young lady into the palace in the house, the wind and rain are smooth, why is it not a good sign?" "I'm not talking about this...... A little further to the left...... I heard that this official family is not the son and nephew of the former emperor, you said that this rain, could it be that God has condemned him? "Why don't you stop it, it's a mess of this kind of thing, how many heads do you have?"

Several people were talking in a low voice, and suddenly saw Zhang Yunhua step up, they were all taken aback, and the two family members on the ladder below stepped forward and said with concern: "Young master, the carriage that went to pick you up hasn't left yet, why did you come back?" Zhang Yunhua gasped, looked up at this "joyful" outfit, and asked sadly: "Who made you hang?" ”

The family members were a little surprised when they heard him ask, and one of them hurriedly said: "A few ladies have arranged it early in the morning, and they originally planned to fill the whole alley, but the rain was too heavy, so they had to hang the hanging door and the courtyard of each house first." After that, he looked at Zhang Yunhua, and said, "Young master, come in, you are all soaked, quickly call someone to replace it for you." Another family member hurriedly took a large oil-paper umbrella from under the threshold, intending to send Zhang Yunhua to the back house. He crossed the threshold in one step and ran towards the courtyard.

At this time, Zhang Zhong'er was sitting in the room, while drinking tea, while looking down at the various jewelry boxes piled up on the table, the maid Dongqing took two little girls, and copied the congratulatory gifts sent by relatives and friends in the house and the city, and the room was very quiet. Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps outside, coming towards Youhuangxuan, Dongqing heard the voice and beckoned the little girl: "Go and see who is coming." ”

As soon as the little girl walked to the door, she heard someone outside the door say through the door: "Girl, it's not good, the fourth master and the little master are quarreling." Zhang Zhong'er hurriedly put down the cup, glanced at Dongqing, and asked eagerly, "What's the matter?" The servant outside the door said: "We didn't hear clearly, we only knew that there was a lot of noise, and the eldest master and the second master were also there, so we couldn't persuade them." ”