Early the next morning, the three people who had successfully rendezvous at the West Palace Gate got on the two horses prepared by Li Zhu'er—one for Lu Zhaoling, and one for Li Zhu'er and Bai Heng—and came to the blacksmith shop in the sky before dawn.

Niu Da and Niu Er, who had been waiting at the door for a long time, waved their arms to greet their boss, and they were just short of a string of colored flags. When they saw the boss still following the two of them, the two brothers were a little deflated. However, due to the majesty of the boss, the two only exchanged pitiful glances with each other and did not speak.

"I forgot to mention yesterday that there are two more people who rub rice today." Lu Zhaoling handed the reins into Niu Da's hand and said apologetically.

"Oh? Got something delicious? Bai Heng came up with Li Zhu'er with great interest, and Niu Da asked Niu Er to take the reins of Li Zhu'er with an unhappy face, and said with a straight face and a little urn voice: "Yes, yes, yes, all have." After speaking, he led the horse into the yard with Niu Er.

"What's the fun today?" Bai Heng didn't care about Niu Da's attitude at all, and asked eagerly.

"Don't worry, you still have to practice and work after eating, and there is no place to play early in the morning." After Lu Zhaoling finished speaking, he also followed into the courtyard.

Bai Heng was not too disappointed, he was already very satisfied when he could leave the palace. Li Zhu'er, whose enthusiasm had faded after the night, looked a little lacking in interest at this time, probably still sleepy, and looked very unenergetic, until she smelled the aroma of the broth.

"What is this?" The smell was so fragrant that it clearly whetted her appetite.

"Uncle Niu's meat porridge is a must in Jingyang." Lu Zhaoling said proudly.

"It smells so good!" Bai Heng also sniffed deeply and couldn't help but praise.

"Hahaha-" The man who came in with a big pot of meat porridge was a burly middle-aged man, with dark skin and a strong body, and his smile was also full of confidence and very hearty, "Coarse tea and light rice, that's all I can do." ”

"Nonsense! Uncle Niu's meat porridge is one of the best in the whole Anping country! Lu Zhaoling said the words of praise wholeheartedly, and his saliva was about to flow out.

"Count your mouth sweet!" Uncle Niu said happily, put the pot on the big table, and took the bowl and put it up, "My wife left early, these two rabbit cubs gave birth to a rough life, but the young ladies of the school are picky eaters, forcing me, a rough man, to learn a little craft." He babbled and said, and Lu Zhaoling laughed with "hehe" on the side.

"Okay, there's not much meat, I added some rice just now, let's make it and eat it."

"Thank you, Uncle Niu!" Lu Zhaoling said, picked up the bowl and ate it.

"Uncle Niu doesn't eat it?" Bai Heng saw Uncle Niu turn around to leave, so he asked.

"I don't like this, go buy a few buns on the street." Uncle Niu waved his hand, turned around and walked out the door.

Li Zhu'er was not polite, and couldn't wait to sit around the big table with Niu Da Niu Er and eat porridge, only Bai Heng was still a little hesitant, and after sitting down, he couldn't help but ask: "Is it that we are here, so Uncle Niu has no porridge to eat?" ”

"You can eat it, my father can't eat porridge, he has always loved to eat the steamed buns of the old Zhao family opposite." Niu Da urged impatiently, and Bai Heng finally picked up the bowl with peace of mind.

Lu Zhaoling finished eating her porridge first, she licked her lips with satisfaction, looked at Niu Da Niu Er who was still gobbling up, and Bai Heng and Li Zhu'er, who were also not very elegant, and suddenly laughed.

Li Zhu'er glanced at her strangely, and asked vaguely while eating, "What's wrong?" Lu Zhaoling just shook his head.

Bai Heng, who was still dressed in brocade and jade belt yesterday, was wearing a cow's coarse cloth clothes at this time, and her hair was tied in a bun like a boy from an ordinary family, and the delicate and domineering Li Zhu'er was also wearing a dress that was about from a family member, revealing a small piece of green and white thin arm from the wide sleeves that did not fit her figure, which actually made Lu Zhaoling feel a little cute.

Lu Zhaoling's hometown of Liuguo, legend has it that the founding monarch was a real horse thief in the Western Regions, and for some unknown reason - according to unverifiable news rumors, he dug up the tomb of a wealthy emperor - and became rich, this man with great ambitions and unwilling to be a horse thief led his horse team to open up this barren land, and finally established such a small country, ending the turbulent life of the nearby homeless.

A country founded by horse thieves, the folk customs can naturally be imagined. As the princess of Liuguo, Lu Zhaoling has been learning swordsmanship and archery with her father since she was a child, and watched her brothers and sisters play polo on grand festivals. She was supposed to tame her first wild horse when she was eight years old, but she was sent to Anping before that.

There are all kinds of delicate gadgets in the deep palace, silk and satin dresses, embroidered shoes with gold thread, carved bronze mirrors, and fragrant powder. Even the maid of the palace combed her hair in a complicated bun, her face was like two flour doughs, she looked white and soft, and she felt that she would sink if she poked it. It seems that everything in the palace is fragrant, quiet, and the speech must be soft, as if it is afraid of disturbing the flowers and plants on the side of the road.

Lu Zhaoling didn't like this quiet deep palace, not because the princess and the ladies were unfriendly to her, but because she felt that all this was too hypocritical. She has just been in the palace for two years, and often sits alone in the quiet courtyard in a daze, always feeling like she is floating in the clouds, and she doesn't understand why the people here are all fake, cautious, as if they made up a dream together, and accidentally pierced something, and the dream was shattered.

When she eats porridge at Uncle Niu's house, she thinks of her hometown. Almost all the people in King Liu's city have been rubbed by her, which grandmother's golden silk cake is crispy and sweet, and which grandfather's roasted mutton is tender and delicious, she knows it clearly. Every time she appeared on the streets of the royal city, people from all walks of life would greet her lively, "Our princess is here to eat again!" Want to try your Miao Ah Gong's fish soup today? She can still think of Miao Ah Gong's smile and the layers of folds on his face, which is very kind.

"Eat enough, eat enough." Li Zhu'er wiped her mouth and said very satisfied, interrupting Lu Zhaoling's memories, "What are we going to eat at noon?" ”

"You know how to eat!" Lu Zhaoling laughed at her with disgust, "I'm going to practice swords later, and I'm going out to do chivalrous deeds, just follow Niu Da and Niu Er, you two don't know anything, just watch Uncle Niu strike iron here, and have a long experience." She spoke with the air of a leader.

When Niu Da and Niu Er heard this arrangement, they understood that these two newcomers could not threaten the identity of their younger brothers, and their attitudes were immediately much kinder.

"It's so boring to watch the iron strike all morning." Li Zhuer was a little dissatisfied.

"I'll teach you something fun when the boss is practicing for a while, and I guarantee that you won't get tired of playing for a day." Niu Da, who had changed his attitude, said mysteriously.

After everyone finished eating, Lu Zhaoling took her scimitar and ran to the courtyard to practice. Niu Da and Niu Er cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks, rummaged through the boxes and cabinets for a while, and mysteriously took out a thing, called Bai Heng and Li Zhuer, and also went to the yard.

"It's called a spinning top." Niu Da looked at the two newcomers with a curious look, and secretly despised their ignorance and short-sightedness, and learned that Lu Zhaoling made an expression that he thought was arrogant, and demonstrated playing the top.

Bai Heng, who had been trapped in the deep palace since he was a child, had never seen such a play, and he was immediately attracted to all his attention, listening to Niu Da teaching him the way of exerting himself very carefully and diligently, and his eyes never left the spinning wooden spinning top on the ground for a moment.

"You try." Niu Da was very satisfied with this serious "apprentice", and after smoking for a while, he handed the whip to Bai Heng and encouraged him to do it himself. Bai Heng pinched the whip handle nervously, recalled the knowledge imparted by Niu Da, and twitched it carefully.

"Not bad, not bad." Niu Da praised on the side.

Bai Heng did not live up to Niu Da's expectations, and twitched twice, as if he was already skilled. Li Zhu'er, who had been watching on the side for a long time, was also a little eager to try at this time, but she still had to show disdain to show her knowledge: "I've seen this play, there's nothing difficult about it." As he spoke, he took the whip from Bai Heng's hand and pumped it down with confidence.

Unexpectedly, this whip was whipped on the spinning top, making an unusual noise, and the spinning top, which had been spinning well, lost its balance at once, turned it crookedly twice, and then rolled to the ground.

"This ......" Li Zhu'er looked at the spinning top that stopped at her feet in disbelief.

"Niu Er, you come and smoke one." Niu Da unabashedly laughed at Li Zhu'er and called Niu Er, who was following Silly Le on the side.

"Okay big brother!" Niu Er took the whip, wrapped it around the top, and jerked it, and the top spun happily.

"What a joke!" Li Zhu'er felt very angry when she watched Niu Er's smoking, but she was unwilling to accept her failure, and she didn't want to say that she didn't play this kind of thing, so she had to make a meaningless complaint.

"Pumping a spinning top still depends on skill. You have to watch the timing and whip it up when it slows down, and this angle......"

The daylight was brilliant in Niu Da's endless narration, the sky was already bright, and Bai Heng, who was listening intently to Niu Da's words, suddenly felt that something was shaking the corner of his eye, and his eyes chased over, and he saw Lu Zhaoling who was dancing with a scimitar on the other side of the courtyard. The morning sun shone on her neat ponytail, reflecting the warm golden light in Bai Heng's eyes. Bai Heng looked at her deep eye sockets, high nose bridge, and skin that was a little whiter than that of the Central Plains, and suddenly felt a charming drunkenness in this cool morning breeze.

After practicing the knife, Lu Zhaoling entrusted Bai Heng and Li Zhuer to Uncle Niu, and took Niu Da and Niu Er to do good. The three of them went around Jingyang City all morning, punished a thug who robbed on the street, and helped a girl in a green house drive away a guest who was pestering at the door and wanted to take advantage of him if he had no money. On the way back, she remembered that Bai Heng and the others were busy being chased and broken through by their entourage yesterday, and they probably couldn't taste the food of Jingyang City freely, so she bought a pack of cold water cakes on the way.

In Lu Zhaoling's heart, the cold water cake that ranked third in Jingyang cuisine - the first is meat porridge, and the second is sugar gourd - was easily favored by Li Zhuer. She quickly finished one piece, and when she ate the second one, she muttered, "What is this so delicious!" What is this made of? ”

"Cold water cake, made of glutinous rice." Lu Zhaoling replied.

Li Zhu'er quickly finished eating the second piece, she looked at the remaining two pieces in the package, and stole a glance at Bai Heng, and finally decided not to steal the cold water cake from her sweetheart.

Bai Heng was not in a hurry to taste the food that was praised by Li Zhu'er, but asked about the afternoon's arrangement: "Do we still go to the teahouse to listen to the book?" ”

"No, I'm not going, the teahouse is playing the piano and singing music today, and there's nothing to see. Let's go put paper kites and catch crickets in the afternoon. ”

"I've seen my dad fight crickets with others!" Li Zhu'er grabbed the point where she could show off and said happily.

"Do you know how to catch crickets?" Niu Da on the side deliberately asked badly.

“…… No. Li Zhu'er was suddenly a little depressed.

"By the way, if you're not in the palace when you have lunch, won't anyone look for you?" Lu Zhaoling suddenly remembered and asked Bai Heng.

"I have instructed my personal palace maid Xiao Yu'er, and I said that I am unwell and don't want to see anyone, as long as she serves the meal alone." Bai Heng said preparedly, winning Lu Zhaoling's appreciative glance.

They ate out for lunch, Lu Zhaoling, Bai Heng and Li Zhu'er. Lu Zhaoling said: "I helped Uncle Niu chop wood and burn the stove, you are different, you can't work, you can't eat Uncle Niu's food for nothing." Niu Da still wanted to try her best to keep it, but Lu Zhaoling sternly refused, she said to Niu Da seriously: "Little brother, you and I study hard, this is a matter of principle." After speaking, he patted Niu Da on the shoulder, which was very deep.

The three of them greeted Uncle Niu and left, and Lu Zhaoling said very generously: "I have a treat today." Then he led the two little gluttons to a noodle restaurant. It is said to be a noodle shop, but it is actually a simple stall, with four bamboo poles supporting a piece of oilcloth, which can shade the sun and protect it from the rain. She shouted at the boss very familiarly: "Three bowls of Yangchun noodles, one bowl with green onions." Then he asked the other two about their preferences for green onions, and after receiving two casual answers, they nodded in satisfaction.

Three bowls of noodles were quickly served on the table, and Lu Zhaoling's bowl was full of green green onions. Li Zhuer didn't want to eat eggs at first, but after being grabbed by Lu Zhaoling and saying "give it to me", she became protective of food and categorically refused to let the eggs out. She tossed the egg aside, took a bite of the noodles first, and felt that she had an appetite for the egg.

"This noodles smell so good." She couldn't help but boast.

"That's it." Lu Zhaoling has absolute confidence in his ability to taste food, "The Yangchun noodles here are fried with purple onions and scallion oil, which is much more fragrant than the golden onion crisp." It looks like a clear soup and white noodles, but it is actually full of salty flavor. And a bowl only costs ten cents. ”

"I'll go back and ask my cook to learn from this stall owner!"

Lu Zhaoling, who was recognized, was also very happy, and his eyebrows danced when he ate a bowl of noodles.

After the three of them finished eating noodles and were drinking noodle soup to eliminate their food, Niu Da and Niu Er came over with paper kites. They walked all the way to the grass on the outskirts of the city, and the afternoon sun was a little shining, and a few teenage children squeaked and ran to the only big tree in the middle of the meadow, and sat in the shade and chatted.

Li Zhu'er talked the most, and shouted "Ah Heng" without leaving three sentences. Bai Heng didn't speak much, he listened with a smile all the time, and occasionally answered a sentence. Niu Da and Niu Er competed with Li Zhuer to raise the bar. Lu Zhaoling, who usually talks a lot, seems to be a lot quieter, she casually folded a blade of grass and bit it in her mouth, looking at the empty distance, unconsciously stroking the scimitar on her waist in her hand, quietly thinking about her distant hometown.

"Zhao Ling," Bai Heng suddenly shouted, so intimate that she was in a trance, "How old are you this year?" The lord has never held a birthday banquet for you. ”

"Huh? It's going to be fifteen. Lu Zhaoling replied casually.

"Zhu'er and I are both sixteen years old this year, older than you." Bai Heng laughed.

"So you're younger than me!" Li Zhu'er suddenly felt that her status had improved a lot, "Call my sister quickly!" ”

“…… You're so short. Lu Zhaoling said with disgust.

"What's wrong with the shortness! An elder is an elder! Li Zhu'er has been choked several times in the past two days, but she has never been discouraged, she is still determined, and she fights with reason.

"I'll call if I win." Lu Zhaoling touched the scimitar and said with a wicked smile.

After the hottest part of the afternoon, the sun seemed to become milder, and a cool breeze lifted the ends of the two girls' hairs. Niu Da and Niu Er ran out with the paper kite first, and Li Zhu'er followed, seeing that the paper kite seemed to be alive in their hands, and easily flew into the sky, floating high and steadily. Lu Zhaoling looked at Li Zhu'er's stupid appearance of looking up at the paper kite, couldn't help but chuckle, and was about to stand up, but was pulled by Bai Heng at the corner of his clothes. She turned her head and saw Bai Heng staring at her with a smile, and said, "You are so good-looking." ”

“…… Not as good as you. She somehow had a hot brain, and when she said something like this, she couldn't help but feel a little hot when she saw Bai Hengle's straight smile. She awkwardly broke away from Bai Heng's hand and shouted not far away, "Boss!" Niu Da responded: "It's coming!" So he jumped up, patted his buttocks, and ran over.

Bai Heng was the only one left under the tree, he had no intention of walking away, he leaned on the trunk of the tree and found a comfortable position to sit down, looking at a few teenagers running with paper kites. Niu Da led the line in front, and the others followed, and they ran and laughed meaninglessly, as if how bright the sun was, how brilliant their joy was.

The light and shadow quietly changed positions with the passage of time, and a small beam of sunlight flowed down through the gap in the leaves and shone on Bai Heng's face. He felt a little sleepy in the warmth of the sun, and closed his eyes gently.

The sun is gradually setting in the west, and the coolness in the air is getting thicker. Lu Zhaoling calculated the time, and when it was close to the unitary hour, he asked Niu Da to close the line and ran to the tree to call Bai Heng by himself. At this time, Bai Heng had already fallen asleep unconsciously, and Lu Zhaoling looked at the young man under the tree who was breathing lightly and sleeping peacefully, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Ahh

Bai Heng suddenly sneezed, startling Lu Zhaoling, who was looking at him blankly. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and sniffed softly.

"Got a cold?" Lu Zhaoling asked, Bai Heng woke up from his daze, he looked up and saw that it was Lu Zhaoling, laughed happily, stood up and said, "It's okay." After speaking, he waved his hand and yawned, "Do you want to go back?" ”

"Well, it's almost time."

"Don't you catch crickets?" Bai Heng blinked and said.

"If you don't catch it, you must go back before three o'clock." Lu Zhaoling crossed his arms and turned his head to "hum", saying that he had already seen through Bai Heng's "beauty plan" that wanted to delay time.

"Ah Heng Ah Heng!" Li Zhu'er jumped over and hugged Bai Heng's arm, "We'll come back tomorrow!" Niu Da said that he wanted to play empty bamboo! ”

"Okay." Bai Heng smiled and rubbed her hair.

"Then you go back to bed early today, see how sleepy you are in the morning." Lu Zhaoling said to Li Zhu'er.

"Got it!" Li Zhuer, who is still on the rise, is obedient this time.