When the two returned to Qianfu, Qin Nanxiang immediately got busy again, went to see the dinner in person, saw if it was in line with the taste of the north, and asked people to prepare more cotton jackets, saying that an autumn rain and a cold were about to freeze.

Cheng Yingyu sat in the bamboo shadow and knocked on the sunflower seeds, and was offered to the Buddha, very embarrassed: "Mrs. Nan, do you want to rest?" I have only experienced that kind of thing in the daytime, and my body is not yet complete, so I just need to make the rough maid do it. ”

"The master of the house told the slave to serve the girl, and the girl must not do it." Qin Nanxiang folded a change of clothes for Cheng Ying and spoke softly.

Cheng Ying scratched her head, and really felt that it was inappropriate: "The head of the family is probably thinking about my partiality, and he is afraid that something will be missing in time." Madame doesn't have to make herself a slave, you are more or less half of my elder, and you are the only mistress of the Qian Mansion, wouldn't you torture me. ”

Qin Nanxiang shook his head and refused simply: "The slave is just a concubine, a small one, not an elder, let alone a hostess." Mrs. Nan, and the people below look at the face of the head of the family, so let's call it, it can't be true. ”

Cheng Ying couldn't laugh or cry: "Madame, how can people despise themselves so much." You are the only woman by the side of the head of the Qian family, so you have to be confident. ”

Qin Nanxiang put away his clothes, got up, flicked the yellow bamboo leaves falling on his skirt, and stood by the shadow wall of the white wall and black tiles, like the beauty walking down from the painting, and said: "Second girl, the slave thinks that people should not be too greedy, but ......"

After a pause, Qin Nanxiang looked at Cheng Ying's eyes a little flickering, and smiled: "However, it shouldn't be too easy to bully." ”

You shouldn't be too greedy, but you shouldn't be too bullied.

These words came out of the mouth of a woman who was not considered noble, which really amazed Cheng Yingyu for a while, and thought that her only request was to be a concubine, and she was really clear.

"The clothes that the second girl changed out of today have been washed, and the slave took it to incense, does the girl have any incense that she is used to?" Qin Nanxiang held the clothes and asked the slave to light a small incense burner.

"Lilacs." Cheng Yingyu didn't think about it.

Qin Nanxiang was stunned. Because cloves are never incense that can be used alone for lavengarment (Note 1). Although cloves are common incense, because of their very light taste, they are mostly used as an ingredient and mixed with other spices to make the fragrance of lavender.

For example, stir-frying ginger and garlic with white meat can make a good dish, but no one stir-fries a plate of ginger and garlic alone.

"Are you sure there's only cloves?" Qin Nanxiang tentatively, "The girl went to Caofu Medicine Pavilion today, and she was afraid that her clothes would be stained with a bad smell, and if she only used cloves, she was afraid that she would not be able to suppress it......"

"Just smoke cloves, get used to it." Cheng Yingyu nodded.

Qin Nanxiang was puzzled, but he still arranged it according to his words, and his clothes were smoked with cloves, as if they were not smoked.

Cheng Yingyu was still sitting in the bamboo shadow, blowing the cold evening breeze, Guiying was squirming, she gathered her thin jacket, the house was already busy, the Boshan stove was crackling, and the slight sound was particularly clear in the night.

There is a faint aroma and is cloves. Although the world thinks it is too faint, I am afraid that I can't smell it at all, but Cheng Yingyu is too familiar, and her nose keenly captures it, and it is mixed with the freshness of autumn air.

As soon as I looked up, the night sky swept across the egrets returning to the forest.

"The blue bird does not pass on the message outside the clouds, and the lilacs are sad in the rain."

Cheng Ying chanted lightly, and then at that moment, she remembered.

Why butterflies come to her.

……

Cheng Shisan, who is locked in another mansion, likes butterflies.

At a young age, Cheng 13 likes to sit under the eaves, sway his little short legs, and watch the butterflies in the yard. And the teacher Gongzi Fei behind the Su embroidery screen called "back to study" with a helpless face.

The palatial flower garden of the mansion is purple and red, and the butterflies are also flying colorful and mighty, Cheng Shisan can stare at it for a few hours, and he is willing to be punished by Mr. later.

It's just that the butterflies are circling around, and in the end they will cross the high red wall and fly outward, until Cheng Shisan can't see it, and go to a distant place where she can't go.

So the children in this wall, their eyes were soaked in loneliness, and they were expected and wanted to dream.

"Ah, the butterfly flew away." Cheng 13 stretched out her little hand and tried to pounce, but she couldn't keep it, so she could only stretch out her little hand to the sky in vain, the only square sky she could see.

"Yes, fly away, Butterfly can't stay in the garden forever." The young man behind the screen knocked on the ring ruler and feigned anger, "Okay, come back and study, there will be a punishment." ”

Cheng Shisan did not respond. Still stupidly watching the butterfly fly away in the sky, beyond the red wall, over the lock, what is the world like for the butterfly?

She didn't know, she couldn't even imagine it, but there should be more and more beautiful flowers than Chengfu Flower Garden, blooming to the end of the world.

"When will butterflies come to me?" Cheng 13 lowered his little hand and said in a low voice.

The boy was stunned. He was not yet weak, but he still had childlike innocent thoughts, so he silently burned a scar on the tip of his heart.

Yes, I want the butterfly to come to his little thirteen and accompany her through the years of being alone.

His little thirteen is trapped in the world, and he will ask for butterflies and bring them back to her.

……

"Lady Nan!" In the shadow of the bamboo in the south of the Yangtze River, Cheng Ying called loudly, "May I ask where there are lilacs in Qianfu?" ”

"Lilacs? It seems to be a butterfly, ah, by the way, only the butterfly owns. I don't know why, it is estimated that the butterflies raised by the head of the family like light fragrance. Qin Nanxiang, who was busy with smoked clothes in the house.

Cheng Ying took a deep breath, even though it was the autumn evening in September, her eyes were sour.

……

At the age of twelve, Cheng Thirteen, who was locked behind the Zhu Gate, received the sealed Huang Aya Holy Decree and also received the dictionaries of Mr. Gongzi Fei.

"Mr. wants to go back to Jiangnan?" Cheng 13 sat behind the Su embroidery screen, his small brows and small eyes frowned, "Then when will Mr. come back?" ”

The figure cut out by the sunlight on the screen has grown taller, and Lang Jun, who is like a green pine, has a much thicker voice: "Xiao Thirteen wants to enter the palace as the queen, so naturally he doesn't need to study anymore." ”

Cheng Thirteen lowered his head, looked at the poetry book in his hand, and smashed it behind the screen angrily: "Little Thirteen is stupid!" I haven't learned this collection yet! Look, how to pronounce this word, Mr. still has to teach Little Thirteen! ”

Lang Jun behind the screen chuckled, picked up the poetry collection, and said slowly: "There will be a good person to take care of Xiao Thirteen in the future." If Little Thirteen misses Mr., write to him. ”

Cheng Shisan's eyes lit up, in the end, it was the heart of a half-grown child, and the unhappiness that suddenly rose immediately turned into a smile: "Okay!" If that person is good to Little Thirteen, I will write to Mr., and if he is not good to Little Thirteen, I will also write to Mr. ”

After a pause, she frowned again: "But I heard that the palace wall is very high, higher than the wall of the other mansion, and the south of the Yangtze River is far away, even farther than the imperial palace to the Cheng Mansion." How do I write a letter to my husband? ”

Lang Jun looked up at the sky, half-serious and half-joking: "On the seventh day of July, on the Chenghua Palace, in the middle, suddenly a blue bird came from the west and gathered in front of the hall. asked Dongfang Shuo, Shuo said, this West Queen Mother wants to come. There is a queen mother to (Note 2). The book I read before, Xiao Thirteen forgot? ”

Cheng 13 immediately retracted his hand behind him and responded: "Remember to remember!" Little Thirteen is the best student! It is said that the blue bird is carrying a message for the Queen Mother of the West. Ah, what Mr. means is that if a young man trusts a book, no matter how high the palace wall is, no matter how far away the Jiangnan is, he is not afraid, right! ”

The gentleman behind the screen nodded. So Cheng Thirteen's palm was safe, and he patted happily: "Little Thirteen still knows!" I also know that the blue bird lives in the West! So how can I summon the bluebird and preach it to me? ”

"The blue bird does not pass on the message outside the clouds, and the lilacs are sad in the rain."

The young man who has grown up, his voice is still familiar and gentle, but he is soaked in the sadness, and the twelve-year-old Cheng 13 is still too stupid to notice it, so he just bites the pen and thinks about it for a long time, and his eyes light up.

"The sorrowful cloves are burned, and the blue bird comes to deliver the message! I know! It's the burning of cloves that summons the bluebird! ”

"Little Thirteen uses a lilac lavender (Note 3), everywhere he goes, there is the fragrance of cloves, and if the bluebird smells it, it will naturally come." The boy who grew up behind the screen lowered his head, heavy.

Cheng 13 didn't notice anything unusual. As always, I was happy because I answered my husband's question correctly, and with the pride of looking forward to the reward, the sullenness of parting dissipated.

And then this parting is seven years.

So Empress Mingde of the imperial palace smoked cloves for seven years.

It's just that there is no blue bird to come, and there is no gentleman to return, the gears of fate turn, and the passing years have become a sea.

Until smoking cloves has become a habit, a habit that forgets even the reason for calling the bluebird, day after day, year after year, the child who answered correctly back then is still repeating it almost in vain.

……

The clothes are cloves, and no one in the world smokes them like this (Note 4). A unique taste, trained to recognize only cloves of butterflies, smell the fragrance and recognize the deceased.

After seven years of waiting, butterflies are coming to you.

……

Fourteen years later, in the small courtyard of Qianfu, in the autumn, Empress Mingde became Cheng Yingyu again, the past was like a dream, and she was once salvaged from the long river of years, but she still remembered it vividly.

Her husband was right.

If she is sure that she will believe the naïve jokes, she will smoke the cloves year after year, even if the reason is forgotten, it will become a habit, and it will linger in the years.

Cheng Yingyu looked at the vast night sky, it was no longer square, some people had grown up, some people had grown up, some people had grown up, their memories were blurred, but some things were still hot.

It's just a pity that it's too late.

Cheng Yingyu got up and walked into the room, Qin Nanxiang was busy with smokers, and when she saw her come in, she smiled: "The second girl is sitting cold in the courtyard?" After a few days, it gets cooler and colder, and the sun goes down and you have to add a jacket. ”

"Mrs. Nan doesn't need it, she doesn't need to smoke cloves." Cheng Ying took a deep breath, and it seemed that it would take some effort to say the second half of the sentence, "I don't need it in the future, please change the herb." ”

"The aroma of Huoxiang is rich, and it is indeed much more suitable than cloves, so the slave will go away. However, why is the second girl so sudden? Didn't you say you've been using cloves for a few years? Qin Nanxiang was about to greet him with his hands and feet, but he was stuck, puzzled.

"It's been used for too long, and it's tired, so I'll change it. Just ask Mrs. Nan to convey this letter to the head of the family. Cheng Yingyu nodded.

Qin Nanxiang didn't talk much, answered, and went out to prepare incense. Cheng Yingyu was left in the house, looking at a stove of cloves in a daze, the autumn wind was blowing, and the green screen window sounded.

The vicissitudes of life do not refer to the world, but to the hearts of the people. It's over, it's over, so why miss it.

exegesis

1. Clothes incense: Clothes are the presentation of the ancients' way of paying attention to the quality of life. In Yuan Zhen's "White Clothes", "lotus silk shirt and willow flower skirt, empty agarwood and slow fire", is to describe the use of agarwood to smoke clothes. The practice of lavender, especially in the Tang Dynasty, was part of women's clothing. The incense recipe also pays attention to the collocation and tamping of various spices, and the Tang Dynasty medical works "Preparation for Emergencies", "Qianjin Wing Fang", and "Outer Taiwan Secrets" are all included in the lavender incense formula. (Source: Lavender, "wearing" the fragrance on the body)

2. Blue Bird Sentence: From "Art and Literature Gathering" volume 91 "Bird Department in the Blue Bird".

3. Clove: Cloves were an essential spice in ancient times. The six-flavor lavender recipe in Ge Hong's "Elbow Reserve Emergency Prescription" in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. They are: agarwood, musk, Suhexiang, white gum, cloves, and Huoxiang. The combination of these six flavors laid the foundation for various lavender recipes in later generations. (Source: Lavender, "wearing" the fragrance on the body)

4. Don't smoke cloves alone: This is a novel, don't delve into it.