On the twenty-seventh day of February, halfway through the hour, Li Fengming came to Xiangxue Garden as usual to pay a "morning salute" to the Empress Dowager.

Not long after the Empress Dowager had breakfast, Mama Hua was holding her under the porch to eat slowly.

Li Fengming approached to greet him, but the Empress Dowager waved her hand and asked eagerly: "Xiao Fengming, has Mingche's reply arrived?" ”

Since the fifth day of the second lunar month, Li Fengming asked Xin Wei to go to Mulan Town to hand over the letter and sweet sauce to the military department, and the old lady must ask this first every day when she sees her.

"Grandma, don't be impatient." Li Fengming stepped forward and grabbed the Empress Dowager's left arm, patiently cooperating with the old man's slightly sluggish pace.

"I asked Xin Wei to go to the flying post in Mulan Town early in the morning. I won't know if there is a reply until she comes back at noon. ”

Li Fengming is tired of saying this, and the Empress Dowager is also tired of hearing it.

From the flying post in Mulan Town to the southern border to see spring town, it only takes six days each way.

Counting the days, if Xiao Mingche replied on the day he received the letter, he should have received a reply in less than half a month.

Now that more than 20 days have passed, there has been no reply, Li Fengming is not in a hurry, but the old lady is in a hurry.

The Empress Dowager flattened her mouth childishly, squinted at her aggrievedly, and complained exaggeratedly: "The two ingots of gold prepared for you are almost pulped in my hands." ”

In fact, Li Fengming didn't really care about this strange gambling contract of "one letter and two ingots of gold", he just played with the old lady.

But the old lady is so concerned, if she doesn't care, it will be too disappointing.

So Li Fengming also learned the old man's exaggerated statement and replied: "I spread my hands and waited to catch the two ingots of gold you gave, and they are about to be spread into stone statues." ”

An old man and a young man sighed, each helpless.

"Mingche, that kid, it's not like that," the Empress Dowager muttered unhappily, "and the front line is busy, there should always be a kung fu to reply to the letter, right?" Even if it's just a red reply to the word 'read'. ”

This is absolutely mindless nonsense.

Xiao Mingche, the king of Huai, was not valued by Emperor Qi since he was a child, and he only had to be crowned the king of the county when he opened his mansion as an adult.

A year ago, the State of Qi decided to marry him and the princess Li Fengming of the State of Wei, and Emperor Qi intended to raise his identity to show goodwill to the State of Wei, so he gave the Prince of Jin.

According to the rules of the Qi State, only the emperor or the crown prince who was ordered to assist in government affairs could reply to other people's letters with the word "read" with the inscription "read".

Hua Mama, who was holding the old lady's right arm, was so shocked that she secretly gasped, and cautiously swept over the nearby maids with her residual vision.

Under the corridor every five steps, there is a maid, although all of them bow their eyebrows and bow their heads, but there must be many people who see all directions and listen to all directions.

Even though everyone knows that the old lady is unintentional, the identity of the empress dowager is different after all. If Li Fengming is not sensible when he answers, he is afraid that he will set off a storm in Beijing.

Across the Empress Dowager, Li Fengming caught a glimpse of Mama Hua looking at her nervously, her eyes seemed to be reminding.

After bowing slightly to the old lady, she smiled and took the Queen Mother's words: "I think differently from you." I guess if he wrote back to me, he would probably only write five big black letters......"

She cleared her throat, followed Xiao Mingche's cold face, and lowered her voice, "'Got it, thank you'." ”

The old lady was instantly amused: "Don't say it, it's not good for him to really do this!" ”

"Isn't it? His Royal Highness King Huai has not talked much since he was a child. Do you remember the Empress Dowager? When you brought His Highness back then......"

Mama Hua laughed with her, diverted the conversation without a trace, and at the same time looked at Li Fengming again as if nothing had happened.

In the past two or three months, Mama Hua has had a lot of contact with Li Fengming, but she has never been able to see through the depth of this young princess Huai.

At the beginning, I only felt that she was beautiful, gentle, and generous, and she was also able to make the Queen Mother happy. In addition, there are no bright strengths, like a soft persimmon that is very easy to handle.

But after Fang Cai's terrifying questions and answers, Mama Hua suddenly felt that this princess from a foreign country seemed to be not so simple.

He Qinguoshu said that she was the daughter of Li Dian, the king of Wei Guoyu. Li Dian is the cousin of the current Emperor Wei, far away from the center of the imperial situation, just an idle prince.

But Mama Hua looked at it, Li Fengming's performance in the electric light just now can be described as lightweight. The joke dissolves a sensitive storm invisibly, as if he knows very well how to survive near the core of power.

She wasn't quite sure if Li Fengming had hit by mistake, or if she really realized the danger in an instant, and easily resolved it with jokes.

If it is the latter, it really doesn't look like the daughter of an idle prince, but like ......

*****

The Empress Dowager didn't sleep well last night, and her spirit was not good today, so she didn't stay with Li Fengming more, and exempted her from greeting at dusk, and told her to come over tomorrow.

Mama Hua explained: "The crown princess and Princess Heng will bring their daughters to visit tomorrow. At that time, there will be a lot of people, and it will not be good for anyone to be left out in the cold. The Empress Dowager has just recovered, and her energy is limited, so she has to bother Princess Huai to help take care of it. ”

"Mama Hua is polite. As a junior, I can help my grandmother bear some scenes, this is a lift, why bother? ”

Li Fengming said with a smile, the standard is a virtuous, sensible, hard-working great-granddaughter-in-law.

After Mama Hua blessed her, she accompanied the Queen Mother to praise her, and Li Fengming's "Morning Provincial Ceremony" today is over.

*****

Since coming to Dicui Mountain more than two months ago, Li Fengming has lived in Changfeng Garden.

Because Xiao Mingche was taken to the palace by the Empress Dowager when he was nine years old, he lived in Changfeng Garden until he was sixteen years old.

After he passed the coming-of-age crown ceremony, Emperor Qi allowed him to open a separate mansion in Yongjing City, and then moved out.

After returning to Changfeng Garden after the end of the morning province, Li Fengming retired to the palace maid and entered the study with Chun Yudai's attendant.

In the past few years, if Xiao Mingche is free, he will also visit the old lady in the palace, so there are still some books in the study that he has not taken away.

Recently, as long as Li Fengming didn't go to Xiangxue Garden, he would "hunt for treasure" in this study-

Although Xiao Mingche is not loved by Emperor Qi, he is a prince in the end. Many of his books here, especially the "History of the State", are only for the prince to study, and it is rare to see them outside.

Through these books, Li Fengming can be regarded as reacquainting herself with many things in Qi State, which greatly helped her sort out her thoughts and take every step in the next step.

She took off her shoes and sat on the couch by the window, hung her head cross-legged, and pressed the unfinished "History of the Country" on the small table with one hand, thoughtfully.

Chun Yudai brought hot tea to her, and whispered a word of concern: "Look at His Highness, his expression is not right, but what happened to Xiangxue Garden?" ”

Li Fengming has always been steady in front of others, but Chun Yu Dai followed her and knew the subtle changes in her emotions well.

"The old lady said the wrong thing in a daze," Li Fengming took a sip of tea and moistened his throat, and continued, "Fortunately, I am ...... my father."

She raised her head to meet Chun Yudai's vigilant and reminding eyes, and said with a smile: "Fortunately, I am clever." Otherwise, you will have to cause trouble for Xiao Mingche. ”

Xiao Mingche's mother died early, and there was no uncle to rely on behind him. If he is involved in the whirlpool of right and wrong in the "battle of storage positions" at this time, it will not be of any benefit to Li Fengming.

Chun Yudai took the teacup she handed back and whispered: "It is difficult for the emperors and heirs of any country to be peaceful, especially the current Qi country." If you don't answer a word, it must be a splashing 'lively'. It's also a shame that His Highness is comfortable with this kind of thing. ”

"If it weren't for the fact that I still have this skill, I wouldn't have come over to kiss," Li Fengming leaned back on the couch and raised his eyebrows, "By the way, speaking of excitement, there will really be a show to watch tomorrow." The crown princess and Princess Heng are coming. ”

It is not a secret that the crown prince and King Heng are fighting openly and secretly in the court.

The women of Qi respect their husbands, and the prince and the king of Heng pinch each other, and the princess and the princess of Heng also have to say goodbye to each other.

All the clan mansions in Beijing got the news, and they became a little confused after knowing that the Empress Dowager was seriously ill.

Therefore, most of the wives in charge of the family will negotiate in private in advance, and each family will come to the palace to visit on staggered days, so as not to have too many people, and even more so to make the old people confused.

But the crown princess and Princess Heng prefer to come on the same day, probably to compete in front of the queen mother, so that everyone can see which one the old man is closer to.

Chun Yudai shook her head and sneered: "This kind of practice is not effective at all, who loses and who wins?" ”

"It's not that they're not smart. If in the Great Wei, the battle between the emperor and the heir, of course no one will do this," Li Fengming was very sober, "But the women of the Qi country are restricted everywhere, and they do not promote 'husband and wife co-governance'." They want to help their husbands, but they can only work on these useless things. ”

"That's right. That's it, Your Highness will talk less and listen more tomorrow, just keep Mingzhe safe," Chun Yudai ended the topic and said, "That volume of "History of the Country", will Your Highness continue to read it?" ”

"Look. Anyway, Xin Wei hasn't come back yet, and he is idle. ”

People just can't say it, as soon as Li Fengming's words fell, Xin Wei, who went to the Mulan Town Feiyi in the morning, actually came back.

*****

"Your Highness! You've got two gold ingots! Xin Wei smiled as soon as she came in, "In addition to the letter, there is also a can of black tea, which may be a local specialty." ”

Li Fengming happily accepted the letter: "I didn't see it, His Royal Highness King Huai is quite good at being a man." "Not only replying to the letter, but also attaching a return gift, which is really exquisite.

Chun Yudai took the black tea jar and smelled it, and whispered to Xin Wei and said, "This is not Qi tea, it is the 'Su paste black tea' of the Song Kingdom." Once upon a time, our Highness was able to pass, have you forgotten? ”

"Song Guo tea? It looked like a winning battle. Presumably, he also captured or beheaded the opponent's high-ranking generals. ”

Li Fengming lowered his head to open the letter, but he caught Chun Yudai's words attentively: "Ordinary soldiers of the Song Kingdom would not bring 'Su Paste Black Tea' to the battlefield. ”

Chun Yudai nodded in agreement, but when she looked at her eyes and smiled into the shape of an ingot, she couldn't help but laugh helplessly: "Your Highness has these two ingots of gold, and it is a big step away from the savings of ten thousand gold." ”

"Go, go, don't think I can't hear you're laughing. Although the two golds are not much," Li Fengming unfolded the letter, "but the sage said...... Well?! ”

The contents of the letter made her dumbfounded.

"What's wrong?" Chun Yudai and Xin Wei spoke in unison.

"It's not a secret," Li Fengming blinked expressionlessly, "I want to take back the sentence that I just said, 'His Royal Highness King Huai is quite good at being a man'." ”

Seeing her like this, Xin Wei was so curious that she scratched her liver, so she stretched out her head to look at the letter paper-

"Poof, hahaha! Your Highness, what a bargain you have earned! ”

Li Fengming passed the letter to Xiao Mingche, the title and payment were in accordance with the rules, and the content of the text was like racking his brains to make up a dessert recipe, and there were always two or three hundred words.

But Xiao Mingche's reply letter, the letter paper was empty, except for the registration place stamped with his idle seal, there was only one "um" word with black ink, force through the back of the paper, and a pen wandering dragon.

is far more perfunctory and excessive than Li Fengming's expected "I know, thank you".

"Xiao Mingche is really the best in the world," Li Fengming supported his forehead sadly, "Isn't this letter brought to the old lady equivalent to executing me in public?" ”

She must speed up the pace of accumulating money and strive to break up with this guy as soon as possible.