On the way back to Beijing, after crossing the Yangtze River and passing by Yangzhou Mansion, Yuan Zhiheng took his wife and daughter to visit the governor again. Governor Qin and his wife both liked Sister Ci very much, and Mrs. Qin gave a pair of auspicious gold locks, necklaces, gold bracelets and other things, and packed them in a small box and took them to the heavy ones in their hands.

Mrs. Qin enthusiastically left Yuan Zhiheng's family in the mansion for one night, during which she talked about Sister Ci with Diancui. When she heard that her slightly darker complexion than ordinary people was caused by being poisoned in the womb, Mrs. Qin felt that this child was even more lovable, so she took off a jade Buddha necklace that had been hanging on her chest for several years, took off more than a dozen beads, and made it short and hung it on Sister Ci'er's chest, which was just right.

"Auntie, this Jade Buddha can't be helped." Diancui hurriedly said, the jade Buddha is a simple green jade, at first glance, it is some years old, it is infiltrated and clear, and it is an old object at a glance.

"Keep it for the child, the jade system of this jade Buddha is not the best, but it is better to have the blessing of the enlightenment of the monk. It has been with me for some years, and now I see that this child is destined to give her to bless her safety and health. Mrs. Qin said and touched Sister Ci'er's forehead.

Sister Ci'er didn't wait for her mother to speak, and said in a milky voice: "Thank you, Grandmother Qin, Ci'er likes it and will be good to it." ”

Mrs. Qin laughed when she heard this, and said Okay, Sister Ci'er must treat it well.

Diancui couldn't cry or laugh, she had seen a lot of Sister Ci'er's appearance, and Su Rili coaxed all the good things that her godmother Xiaolan had hidden one by one.

After leaving the realm of Yangzhou Mansion, according to the original route, he wanted to go to Huai'an Mansion first, but Governor Qin specially instructed Yuan Zhiheng that there were bandits in Huai'an Mansion to disturb the people, and it was not peaceful at the moment. If Yuan Zhiheng was not afraid to meet those rampant bandits on weekdays, but now that he is dragging his family around, safety and stability are very important.

So he turned west and took Fengyang Mansion.

Along the way, seeing people in rags carrying burdens out of the city, Yuan Zhiheng sent someone to sign for inquiry, but said that he was fleeing the famine.

"My lord, why do these people who have been in good weather this year want to flee the famine?" Xue Dachuan and Qingyun were on both sides of Yuan Zhiheng, Xue Dachuan had not been out of Hangzhou Mansion for many years, and he couldn't help but wonder when he saw this situation.

Yuan Zhiheng looked into the distance with a solemn face, this is between the two cities, this way passed by barren mountains and rivers, but the land here is very flat and open, but there are no crops in the field but wild grass. If the fertile land is idle and not planted, the people want to flee the famine, there must be a hidden secret behind this.

"I didn't expect this situation to get worse and worse," Qingyun said lightly, he had already seen people fleeing from the north all the way to Hangzhou Mansion a year ago.

He didn't talk about fleeing from the famine, but about fleeing, obviously knowing something about it.

The women and children on the side of the road were picking up wild vegetable leaves and stuffing them into their mouths one by one, and those men in the prime of life were all like vegetables, but their eyes were shining when they saw their group.

Yuan Zhiheng and Qingyun glanced at each other, Qingyun went to the back of the team with the belly of the horse, and Yuan Zhiheng protected everyone one after the other. Xue Dachuan followed the carriage of Diancui's daughters and children.

Those who fled the famine saw that Yuan Zhiheng and his party were young and carrying knives, and they did not dare to act rashly. Diancui urged the carriage to hurry up, and finally arrived at a small town in Fengyang County before it got dark.

"One, two, three, four...... Mother, why are there so many temples? Sister Ci'er was covered by her mother, so that she could show her head out of the carriage window and be in high spirits.

In fact, not only Fengyang Mansion, but almost every time you pass through a mansion along the way, you will see many temples of large and small scales. However, the further north you go, the bigger the temple becomes, the more magnificent it becomes.

Sister Ci'er was born in Hangzhou Mansion, and she was naturally curious when she saw such a magnificent and towering temple building, so it was no wonder she asked.

Diancui also looked at it, and the streets of this town were not lively, and even a little depressed.

It was past noon, and everyone stopped the carriage and found an inn to stay.

This inn is in the middle of the town, and it should be a bustling section, but there are very few people who come to stay in the hotel.

Diancui asked for a few clean rooms upstairs, and ordered hot water and a few dishes, Xue Dachuan and Li Qingshan unloaded their luggage softly, Du Xiaozhu and Yuan Fu went to tie the horses to feed them, and Sister Ci and Brother Qiu ran around in the inn, which added a little popularity to the store.

"Xiao Er, how can this town be so sparsely populated." Yuan Zhiheng asked, and then touched a big son and threw it to him.

Xiao Er hurriedly caught it, cautiously stretched out his head to look outside, and then lowered his voice and said: "Childe doesn't know, all of us here have run out, if you run slowly, you will be caught to be a strong man and work as a coolie." ”

"Be a strong man?" Yuan Zhiheng frowned, there is no war now, and there is no big river embankment in the north that needs to be built, why do you want to catch a strong man?

"Naturally, it is to build a temple," Xiao Er sighed: "This temple has been demolished and built, built and demolished, over and over again, it is built higher and higher, and the more it is built, the more magnificent it becomes, but there are fewer and fewer people in this town......"

At night, after Yuan Zhiheng put on his wife and daughter to fall asleep, he put on his clothes and left the inn, and Qingyun was already waiting outside.

"You said that this large-scale arrest of strong men to build temples is inseparable from the second prince's faction, is there any evidence?" Yuan Zhiheng asked.

Qing Yun smiled bitterly, even if there is evidence, how did his Yun family get wiped out, isn't it because he wanted to rush to catch Emperor Xu's brutal and unkind handles. Love Book House

"The Xu faction collected money in various places this time and built temples in a big way, nominally to make a congratulatory gift for the birthday of the Queen Mother two months later, but in fact it was for their own selfish interests." Qingyun said hatefully: "Pity them for being such a fishy people, and building a temple not only gets the favor of the Queen Mother, but also responds to the preferences of the saints." Now that the saint is old, he is becoming more and more deaf......"

"Be careful!" Yuan Zhiheng interrupted him, the reason for the current situation is not only because the emperor spoils his young son, but also because the court is full of miasma. In the past, there was the Yun family, and King Gong's lineage could still compete with the second prince, but now the Yun family has been destroyed, King Gong lives in the East Palace, and the two princes are more and more out of control of the government and the opposition.

For example, Fengyang Mansion, which is not far from the capital, has such a thing, and other remote places are even more hot.

Yuan Zhiheng and Qingyun hid in the night, found a temple under construction, and the two went up to the wall. I saw those shirtless men with heavy loads on their backs, all with yellow faces and thin muscles, shuttling through the messy construction site, and after the slightest hesitation, they were whipped by the official with a whip, causing a wail and begging for mercy.

The half-finished golden-clothed Buddhas in the temple seem to have closed their eyes and sealed their ears at this moment, not seeing or listening to the suffering of the world under their feet. A few monks in brocade clothes, holding prayer cylinders in their hands, holding their heads high, walked past the coolies and officials, indifferent like the clay Buddha. When the official saw them, they all nodded and bowed, very flattering.

"If the monk is in charge, the country will not be a country." Qingyun said coldly.

"That's the prefect of Fengyang Mansion, I didn't expect it to be here." A person wearing a cyan official robe with a white pheasant on his chest dropped a sedan chair at the gate of the courtyard, and was just looked at by Yuan Zhiheng.

This is just a remote town under the jurisdiction of Fengyang Mansion, and this prefect actually came here in person in official uniform in the middle of the night, is it to meet some important person?

With the arrival of the prefect, a few more sedan chairs came, but they did not get off the sedan chair at the door, but carried them directly into the temple that was being renovated.

Yuan Zhiheng and Qingyun wanted to go in and take a look, but they found that there were suddenly several secret posts with strong martial arts around the temple. The two of them couldn't move any further, so they had to retreat.

The two of them had traveled through most of the town to the inn, just as the rooster was crowing.

After dawn, the maids got up to dress up for the ladies, and the maids went to feed the horses and dress up.

"But you want to go on?" Diancui thought that he should go to the market to eat something good first, but this town was too desolate, and Diancui thought that he would go to the more crowded place in front of him to rest his feet.

"I heard the little two in this store say that there is a river ahead, if it is difficult to walk by land, it is better to rent a boat and take the waterway." Diancui said again.

"Okay, we'll go find the boat after breakfast." Yuan Zhiheng knew that Dian Cui was frightened by the refugees who fled the famine yesterday, most of the people on the waterway were Cao Gang or businessmen, and the refugees naturally couldn't go on the waterway without money.

"Mother, I don't want to ride a boat, I want to ride a horse!" Sister Ci'er was not happy, she took too many boats, and felt that there was no novelty, so it was better to ride a horse.

"How old are you, you want to ride a horse, do you know how to ride?" Diancui couldn't help laughing.

Sister Ci raised her head and said naturally, my father taught me!

"Yes, Sister Ci can ride a horse," Yuan Zhiheng touched Sister Ci'er's head, and laughed: "But your little foal didn't follow us, the horses next to him are too tall for Sister Ci to ride." ”

A doll that is more than three years old, can't walk smoothly, where can she ride any horse, even if she rides the smallest and most docile foal, she has to be carefully led by Yuan Zhiheng. She herself thought she could ride a horse.

When Sister Ci heard this, her little black face suddenly wrinkled. Xue Qiu, who was next to her, saw that she was unhappy, so she moved over and comforted her softly, Miss, don't be in a hurry, when you get to the next town, I will ask my father to buy a beautiful jujube red pony, and you can ride it as much as you want.

In order not to attract attention, a few people hurried on the road after breakfast.

The next town was really bustling and lively, and Sister Ci asked the adults to buy her a foal, but Diancui flatly refused. People are still nervous along the way, where is there still the effort to raise a foal.

The foal that she was thinking about didn't buy it, and Sister Ci pouted that the boss was unhappy, so Diancui went to the market and bought two candy men with her.

Sister Ci looked at the two sugar men, rolled her eyes, and shouted that I am not a child anymore! I hate sugar people! This appearance is very unbeatable, which makes Cui a little angry, but Yuan Zhiheng is very happy.

There is only a mother, and there must be a daughter......

At noon, Yuan Zhiheng and Qingyun took advantage of the rest of the group and returned to the previous town again.

It's a pity to take a look again, the prefect and the small sedan chair are nowhere to be found, the two of them went into the temple to investigate, but they didn't find anything wrong. Because it was daytime, I didn't dare to make a big move, so I had to go back first.

When I went back to the inn where I stayed, I saw that it was already messed up.

"Your Excellency, you're back!" When Aunt Xing saw Yuan Zhiheng coming back, she hurriedly stepped forward: "Miss and Brother Xue are gone!" Madame, Xin'er Dongxue, Mrs. Xue and Lord Xue have already gone out to look for it, it has been more than an hour, and they haven't come back yet! ”