Shiqiao Lane is a well-known flower market alley of Wusheng, spring, summer and autumn three seasons of people flow through the shuttle, lively and extraordinary, every time, Shiqiao Flower Lane stall in front of the shop, the alley head and alley, a hundred flowers like the sea charming eyes, thousands of fragrances and ten miles of intoxicating soul, Jin Hai laughs to stop the travelers, magnolia smiles and chooses geometry. The alley is separated from each other by a stone bridge from north to south, so it is named Shiqiao Lane, the water is murmuring under the bridge, the flowers and leaves on the water surface are floating, and the visitors on the bridge are all suspicious whether the water is flowing or the flowers are flowing.

However, the stone bridge lane under the cold winter seems lonely and lonely, the wind destroys the alley and falls in love, and the alley has no intention of going to the end of the alley, there are few pedestrians, the residual snow is a little bit, and occasionally children sell flowers, but the shouting is not a word.

The carriage stopped at Shiqiao Lane, Feng Ziying smiled and leaned out of the window, but found that except for Qionghua Lane, there was not even a pedestrian in sight, she pursed her lips, slightly lost, and turned around and asked: "Xiang Lin, didn't you say that Shiqiao Lane is very lively, why can't anyone see it." Xu Xianglin said: "Ziying, I'm talking about the alleys in spring, summer and autumn, it's winter now, and it snowed heavily last night, so naturally there are no people." ”

The two got out of the carriage, and Xu Xianglin said: "Sanjiu, you go back first, Ziying and I will go back for a walk." After Sanjiu handed him the money bag, he set up the carriage and went home first. Shiqiao Lane is very close to Xu's house, you can go back in less than an hour, the alley is deep, the snow is deep, the two of them walk and stop, like a leisurely walk. Most of the flower shops on both sides of the alley are closed, and only a few are open, but what a poignant word, there are occasional scattered stalls, and the owners are full of old women and old men, dragging a low and hoarse voice to sell.

Feng Ziying quietly looked around, her eyes were a little lonely, when she passed by a small stall, she found that the stall was full of all kinds of bright and beautiful flowers, she was surprised, her eyes lit up, she picked up one and sniffed it in front of her, and then said to Xu Xianglin with a smile: "Xiang Lin, look, this is a lilac, this is a finch tongue, this is magnolia, wow, there are also rat aunts, Ruilian, black kites, will leave, smile...."Feng Ziying said more and more happy, Xu Xianglin only smiled and smiled, where did he know the names of these flowers.

"This lady (note: before the Song Dynasty, the word lady specifically refers to unmarried girls) has good eyesight, and at a glance, you will know what the name of the flower is, such as a number of treasures!" The stall owner is an old man, and after listening to Feng Ziying for a long time, he also nodded in admiration. Feng Ziying said: "Uncle praises, there are thousands of flowers in the world, and the little woman only knows a little bit about it." But you, uncle, must be a person who understands flowers and loves flowers, otherwise how could there be so many flowers, how can the so-called flower sellers not know the reason for flowers. ”

The old man waved his hand and shook his head, smiled silently, then took out a wine gourd from his waist, took a sip, and picked up a vase from under the stall, and said: "I see that the little lady is also a person who loves flowers, but there are residual flowers on this stall, do you have a favorite?" Feng Ziying said: "Uncle, these flowers are so fresh, as if they have just been picked, how can they be remnants." She carefully selected a few, and the old man inserted them into the bottle one by one, and then poured the wine in the gourd into it, Feng Ziying hurriedly stopped and asked: "Uncle, how do you pour the wine into it, isn't this flower going to wilt?" The uncle glanced at her, without words, smiled and poured more than half of the wine into it, and then handed her the bottle, and said: "Ah, don't worry too much about the little lady, this vase of flowers will not wither without the work of March." "Drink up the rest of the wine.

Xu Xianglin was also puzzled, so he went to the mouth of the vase and sniffed it, then asked Yan to take the gourd and smell it, and said: "Ziying, the taste of this wine is very strange, like wine, not like wine, and I have never seen it." Xu Xianglin didn't know what this was for a long time. Feng Ziying's mind was full of questions, and he wanted to ask each other, the old man took out a flower from the corner of the stall, the flowers were golden and bright, and the fragrance was strong, Feng Ziying was surprised again, and suddenly said: "But dream winter flowers?" The old man said with a smile: "It's Mengdong, this flower is given to you." After that, he glanced at Xu Xianglin, put the flower into the bottle, and smiled: "Plant it in a pot and cover it with sand." Feng Ziying nodded in agreement.

Xu Xianglin asked, "Ziying, what is the origin of this flower?" The old man stared at him and smiled from time to time, which made him very strange, and then he thought of something, so he asked Feng Ziying about the origin of the winter flower.

Mengdong, also known as Yuxiang, according to legend, in the Qin period, there was a pair of loving men and women in the palace, the woman was born noble, the man was born poor, according to the law of the dynasty, they could not be together. In desperation, the two had to give up on each other, and then made an appointment to tie a knot on a fragrant tree, which meant that the relationship between the two ended.

But a few years later, surprisingly, the knotted incense tree not only bloomed more luxuriantly than other knotted incense trees, but also had a stronger fragrance, and the matter quickly spread in the palace, Qin Wang Yingzheng has always believed in ghosts and gods, after he learned about it, he thought that this was the gods protecting them, and then drew up a holy decree to give the two to become husband and wife. Since then, the folk have had the custom of tying knots on the incense tree and making wishes, which means that the people who love each other can make their wishes come true, and their affection will last for a long time.

Feng Ziying looked at Mengdonghua lovingly, and said a word, her eyes were sometimes lonely, sometimes warm, and said: "Thank you, uncle, the little girl must take care of Mengdong to make this flower bloom more brightly." The old man smiled and said, "Dusk is approaching, it's time to close the stall!" Talking about sorting out the stall, Feng Ziying didn't say a word, helped take care of it, Xu Xianglin took out the money bag and paid for it, although the old man repeatedly refused, he finally accepted it under Feng Ziying's persuasion.

After that, before dark, the two bought some vine seeds in the open flower shop, and prepared to plant them in the backyard of Xufu in the beginning of spring.

Xizhao was sad alone, but the figures were in pairs, Feng Ziying held a bottle full of flowers, satisfied, and smiled lightly, this may be the happiest day after she came to Xu's mansion, Xu Xianglin looked at her intoxicating eyes, and his heart was also happy, he couldn't help but take her hand, his fingers were interlocked, envious of dusk and alley.

"Ah, my daughter, wake up! Why is the life of our mother so bitter! When the two of them passed by the stone bridge, they saw an old woman leaning on the bridge, ragged, crying sadly, holding a woman tightly in her arms, about fifteen or sixteen years old, the old woman cried and cried, and did not know what had happened.

Feng Ziying hurriedly stepped forward and asked with concern, "Why is the eldest lady crying here, what happened?" The old woman touched the woman's face, wept profusely, and cried: "Little lady, please be merciful and save my daughter..." Xu Xianglin said: "Auntie, where do you live?" The old woman shook her calloused hands and said, "It's over there..." she pointed to a dilapidated small house on the west side of the bridge, Xu Xianglin immediately went to ask for a doctor after knowing about it, Feng Ziying slowly helped the old woman up, and the two worked together to put the woman back to the small house.

About two hours later, Xu Xianglin came in a hurry with the doctor, and the doctor checked the pulse, but he hesitated, not daring to easily determine what the disease was, Feng Ziying asked urgently: "Doctor, what disease does this woman have?" The doctor shook his head and said, "I don't dare to draw conclusions, but one thing I can be sure of is that this disease must be caused by poisoning, and as for what kind of poison, I really don't know, so I don't dare to prescribe it easily. When the old woman heard this, she fell to the ground and wept profusely, and then the doctor went out.

Feng Ziying wrung out the cloth towel, carefully wiped the woman's face, she was a delicate person, and then said: "Xiang Lin, now only Liang Gong can cure this disease." Xu Xianglin paced back and forth, saying: "I have this intention, but where to find him..."Feng Ziying said: "Xiang Lin, it's getting late, you go back first, tomorrow tell Sanjiu to find Liang Gong, I will stay here to take care of her." Xu Xianglin wanted to speak, but when he saw that the old woman was grief-stricken and the woman was bedridden and critically ill, he didn't say much, and hurried back to Xu's mansion in the night.

As soon as Xu Xianglin returned to Xu's mansion, he instructed Sanjiu to leave early tomorrow morning and be sure to find Liang Yong, and then called Ruolan, and learned that his mother was fine and her complexion was much better, so he ordered the two to rush to Feng Ziying and let Ruolan stay and take care of her.

"Auntie, how did Sister Qinglian get poisoned?" Feng Ziying frowned and asked. The old woman had red eyes and sobbed: "The old body doesn't know how the little girl could suddenly be like this, and during the day, she accompanied the old body to the stone bridge alley to sell flowers, and went to the stone bridge, but she fainted for no reason, and she couldn't wake up no matter how she screamed... Qinglian's life is too bitter, I'm afraid I won't be able to survive tonight! Lady Bodhisattva heart, please save my daughter! Feng Ziying asked again: "The eldest lady is also a flower seller?" The old woman said: "Qinglian her father died early, my mother and I depend on each other, this year there is a big drought, the crops are all drought in the ground, hard work to save some food, and take it to pay the rent, helplessly, then and the little girl every day by selling flowers to make a living, who expected that now there is this kind of thing, so how to live the old body..."

Ruolan helped the old woman and said, "Sister, you don't know, this year is a year of great drought, I heard that many farmers can't pay the rent, and it has been delayed for more than a few months. Feng Ziying pondered for a moment and said, "Does the eldest lady know who the tenant rent is to?" The old woman replied: "It's that Master Xu Zhaoxu..."Ruolan was shocked and said: "That's not us Xu..." Feng Ziying's heart tightened, and she hurriedly stopped her, and said: "Auntie, the top priority is to save Qinglian, just now you said that your mother and son make a living by selling flowers, can you let me take a look at what flowers are sold?" The old woman was not suspicious, and immediately took her to the side room.

Feng Ziying opened the messy and dry pile of flowers, looked for a long time, but did not find the flower she wanted, she sighed, got up and wanted to go back, but found a pot of flowers by the window, the flower color was golden, slightly fragrant, she stepped forward to take a look, and immediately smiled, and said: "Auntie, where did the honeysuckle come from, great." The old woman said: "It's all planted by Qinglian, but why is the little lady laughing?" Feng Ziying replied: "Auntie doesn't know, honeysuckle is a good medicine for detoxification and fever." The old woman was skeptical, Feng Ziying told her in detail, and the old woman was relieved, and then instructed Ruolan to root this flower into the water and boil it for half an hour.

After feeding the decoction, Feng Ziying finally breathed a sigh of relief, the night was getting deeper, and she didn't know if Qinglian could wake up at dawn, she had been quietly guarding the bedside.