In the eighth year of Yingzheng, the original palace examination was postponed for half a month, and then it was held as scheduled. Such an important matter was postponed, and everyone in the capital speculated about the reason, but the news was strictly sealed in the palace, and outsiders did not know the inside story.

Since ancient times, there have been many secret histories of the imperial palace, and this one is not bad, and when a new thing arises again, others will forget about it. After all, three days later, when the ranking of the palace examination was announced, people's eyes naturally focused on the body of the first jinshi.

Three days before the originally scheduled palace test, Shang Si had an accident when he went to King Xian's Mansion, and was sent back to the Prime Minister's Mansion by the people of Yingning Palace's Mansion the next evening. It took a few days of coma to wake up, but when he woke up, he couldn't remember what happened when he went to King Xian's mansion.

Half a month later, Shang Si still participated in the palace examination. However, after that day, his spirit was always in a trance, which finally affected the state of the palace examination. Although he was not as expected and missed the champion, he finally won the test and was awarded the rank and rank.

After the palace test was released, the champion stayed in Beijing, and the list and Tanhua were arranged to serve in other places. The prime minister cherished his talents, and saw that Shang Si was talented, so he left him in the capital, prepared to invite the saint, and arranged for him to enter the Hanlin Academy.

The emperor Ben also had a very good impression of Shang Si, so he approved the prime minister's invitation, and Feng Shang Si entered the Hanlin Academy as a servant, assisting the Hanlin Bachelor to revise the national history, and then slowly promoted to the Hanlin Bachelor. Two years later, Shang Si officially visited the scholars of Hanlin to draft an edict for the emperor and participated in the planning of the edict.

Shang Si is young, but he is over twenty and three, and he has such an achievement, and he is dignified, and he has become the object of secret admiration of many unmarried women in the capital. It's a pity that everyone knows that this young bachelor is already the prime minister's future son-in-law, and he has a marriage contract with his righteous daughter.

For the second year of the Beijing official, according to the ancestral system need to return to the hometown to worship the ancestors, Shang Si asked the emperor for leave, and then set off, accompanied by Pingli. The name is accompanied, but those who know the inside story know that they returned to their hometown this time, and the elders of the family are very likely to let the two of them get married, after all, Pingli is now seventeen, and he has reached the age of marriage.

When I returned to my hometown, it coincided with the New Year, and I was full of lights and joy. And Shangjiang Academy is a little more lively than before. Yixi Shangsi's brilliant achievements today, high-ranking officials are generous, and the future is bright. Second, the Shang family also began to prepare for the marriage of Shang Si and Pingli, intending to let them get married before returning to Beijing.

The front hall is bustling with people, while the backyard is much quieter. Shang Si avoided the people who kept coming to congratulate him and hid in the backyard alone.

He lay quietly on the roof, with one hand behind his head and a string of rock sugar gourds in the other, but he just watched and didn't move for a long time. The delicate and delicate face seems to be a little melancholy and melancholy.

Suddenly, there was the sound of small footsteps from below, and then the wooden ladder moved lightly, and someone came up.

"Little four." The sweet voice gently came into his ears, and Shang Si raised his upper body slightly, and saw Pingli climbing on the wooden ladder.

Shang Si sat up, reached out and slightly supported Pingli's cuffs to help her up. Pingli thanked him, then took out a clean handkerchief and wiped the position slightly, and sat down beside Shang Si.

Shang Si smiled at her slightly, and then said, "Auntie, are they gone?" ”

"No, they said they wanted to see you, so Aunt Shang asked me to look for you. I guess you don't want to go, and when I saw that you weren't in the house, I helped you find a reason to push it out. ”

"Thank you." Shang Si shook his head helplessly, "I just felt a little annoyed, so I hid here." But how do you know I'm here? ”

"Tiny says you're here." Pingli pointed to the rock sugar gourd in his hand and said, "She said that if you are in a bad mood, you will come here to eat the sugar gourd." ”

Although Shang Si is already a high-ranking official in the imperial court, he has a beautiful face, and after changing his official uniform and wearing Confucian clothes, he looks like a young scholar who does not know the world, and at this moment he is holding a string of sugar gourds in his hand to make him look more like a child. Pingli covered his lips and smiled lowly, "But I didn't expect you to like these children's stuff too." ”

Shang Si looked down at the rock sugar gourd in his hand, slightly shining. In fact, he doesn't like rock sugar gourds very much, but I don't know why every time he is in a bad mood, he wants to buy a bunch. In the depths of his heart, there always seemed to be a familiar voice comforting him: "Little four, let's eat sugar gourds, you and me, I'll help you bear the bad mood, and then share the good mood with you." ”

He tried his best to think about whose voice it was, but he couldn't remember.

"Little Four, what's wrong with you?" Pingli beside him saw Shang Si's detracted appearance and touched him gently.

"Huh?" Shang Si came back to his senses and said, "It's nothing, just think of something." By the way, what are you looking for me? ”

Pingli hesitated slightly, and then shook his head gently, "No, I just want to accompany you, I always feel that these days, your mood is not very good." ”

Looking at Ping Li, who was worried, Shang Si said with some apologies: "Ah Li, I'm sorry, I brought you back but left you out in the cold and didn't treat you well." ”

"Why are you still so polite to me?" Pingli smiled gently, revealing the small dimples on the sides of his cheeks. Suddenly thinking of something, Pingli lowered his head, looking slightly shy, "Little Si, do you know the date set by Aunt Shang?" ”

Shang Si was slightly stunned and did not answer, and then lowered his head again, looked at the rock sugar gourd in his hand, and remained silent.

Hearing no response, Pingli looked up at Shang Si, only to see him twisting the stick, spinning thoughtfully.

This time, Pingli didn't bother him, one hand was raised to the cuff, stopped there, and gently pressed the slightly bulging place.

After a long time, I heard Shang Si's low voice coming, "I'm sorry, Ah Li." ”

Pingli clenched his fists slightly, the expression on his face remained unchanged, and he just asked softly, "What's wrong?" ”

Shang Si took a deep breath and said slowly, "I can't marry you now. He turned his head to stare into Pingli's eyes, and said, "I've been thinking about this for a long time, and I know that saying this now will hurt you, but I don't want to wait until after I get married, that will only delay you even more." ”

As if she had been prepared, although her eyes were slightly tearful, Pingli's mood was still very calm, she lowered her head, not letting Shang Si see her expression, and said in a low voice: "Can you tell me the reason?" ”

Shang Si opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say. Calming down, he thought back to himself for the past two years.

He always wondered what had happened when he went to King Xian's Mansion that day, but no one could tell him the truth. went to ask King Yingning, he only said that the virtuous prince had something to invite him to come to the palace, but something happened on the way, he was hurt by someone, so he fainted, and he couldn't remember the events of that day, and King Yingning happened to meet him and sent him back to the prime minister's mansion. But he knew that something unusual had indeed happened that day, but King Ying Ning didn't want to say it, as if after he was also seriously ill two and a half years ago, his family always avoided talking about his past, and he was also confused, as if he had walked out of the fog, and he couldn't figure out what had happened in the past.

Although he didn't know, in the past two years, he had some strange dreams more and more often, the things in the dreams that had not happened in his memory, but they were so familiar, as if he had been cherishing them in the deepest part of his heart.

The more dreams like that, the more it seems that there is another self desperately trying to break through the oppressive net, as if as long as that self comes out, everything will come out, and the clearer this feeling is, the more confused he is about his peaceful future.

In the silence, Pingli said in a slightly choked voice: "Little Si, do you have any other women you like?" ”

Pingli always kept his head down, and he couldn't see Pingli's face clearly, but listening to her voice, he could also detect the sadness in her heart. Shang Si was stunned, then shook his head and said in a low voice: "No, you know that I have always liked only you." ”

"But there's one more person in your heart." Pingli took out a stack of calligraphy and paintings from his sleeve, spread them out carefully, and said softly: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to turn over your things, I just went to your room to look for you, you are not here, but there are these on the table." When you were in the capital, you often hid in your study alone and painted, did you think about this person in the painting? ”

Xiao Si didn't answer, just quietly looked at the drawing paper in Pingli's hand.

It was a stack of simple paintings, with two figures, one large and one small, the older one being the girl and the smaller one being the boy. Although nothing like this happened in his memory, it was a familiar scene he dreamed of in his dreams.

There was a girl walking in front, and the little boy timidly pulled the girl's sleeve to the side; A girl lay on the bed with the little boy in her arms, and put one hand on his back, as if to soothe him to sleep; There was a little boy sitting on the ground, one foot was injured, and the girl helped him with medicine, although it should have been very painful, but the little boy had a sweet smile on his face; A girl flicked one sleeve and reached out to him and asked him to test how to do acupuncture on her; There were two people on the hill, a beast in front of them, and the girl held a long sword behind the little boy.

There are only these two people in the thick stack of paintings, but the boy can see that he looked like a child, and the girl's face is always blurred, and the older the characters inside, the more difficult it is to depict the face.

The one he drew today looks like an adult woman, but there is only the back of him gradually moving away.

"Little Four, can you tell me who she is?"

"I don't know." Shang Si shook his head, "There is no such person in my memory, although the memory of childhood is a little vague, but I remember that I was always just one person when I was a teacher. But for the past two years, I have been dreaming strange dreams, always dreaming of someone, but the more I want to know who she is, the more I can't remember. ”

Pingli's hand holding the portrait was trembling slightly, and with a "click", the water droplets fell on the paper, blurring the ink, and Pingli hurriedly wiped it with his sleeve, but made the portrait even more mushy, "I'm sorry, I'm clumsy and made your portrait dirty." Hurriedly handed the portrait back to Shang Si, Pingli choked up, but more tears fell.

Shang Si took out a white handkerchief from his sleeve and gently put it in Pingli's hand, although he felt very guilty in his heart, he still said: "It's me who should say I'm sorry, but if I can't guarantee that I can give you happiness after marrying you, I can't delay you." I want to figure things out on my mind, but I don't know how long it will take. ”

Pingli raised her head, Qingli's little face was stained with tears, she still looked at Shang Si with a glimmer of hope, and said, "It's okay, I can wait for you, until the day you think clearly." ”

Although she had expected a long time ago that Xiao Si might have a secret that no one knew, and that secret would make her lose him, she really liked Xiao Si very much, and she really didn't want to give up.

"Ah Li, don't wait for me, I don't know when I'll remember something I may have forgotten, maybe a year, maybe longer." Shang Si paused, although it was very hurtful, but these words had to be said clearly, "Maybe after thinking about it, I understand that it was a dream from beginning to end." But maybe when I think about it, I'll go to the person in my dream. Ah Li, don't wait for me, go find someone who can give you happiness. ”

"I volunteered, and if it bothers you, I'll wait a year, okay?" Although she was cowardly by nature, Pingli still mustered up courage at this moment, she wiped away the tears on her face and said, "But if you like me in the end, can I still be with you?" ”

"Okay." Shang Si looked at her for a long time, saw the joyful and shy smile that suddenly bloomed on her face, and said softly, "I'm sorry." ”

Maybe one day he will remember it, but he knows that the day he remembers, there will always be only one person he will not let go.