"Mandarin duck, are you awake?"

Chu Huai's voice sounded outside the room.

There was no movement in the room for a long time, so long that Chu Huai thought she was still asleep and was about to leave. The door suddenly opened.

"What's wrong, Master?" The mandarin duck rubbed his eyes, and his eye sockets looked a little red.

"Are you crying?"

"No, it's just a dream about the past." The mandarin duck turned his head sideways and covered it slightly with his hair.

"You should prepare a little bit, the time is almost up." Fortunately, Chu Huai didn't ask much, and after saying this, he turned around and left.

"Master walks slowly......"

The mandarin duck stood outside the door for a while, and the wind was still so cold that she sneezed violently. Let's just say it's still early in March.

She hurried into the house and closed the door again, but in such a few moments, the heating in the room was blown away a lot, she looked at the charcoal basin placed under the table, thought about it, or took her eyes back, and stood in front of the closet.

There was only a fox fur cloak sent by Xiaozhi not long ago and the long white dress that she was wearing when she came, which had been washed and neatly folded in the closet.

This place is not like being in the general's mansion or the palace, there is no maid to change her clothes, she has to do it herself, put the clothes in front of her and look at it, is this really how she wears this clothes?

Looking at the bronze mirror, her clothes were already a little crumpled by herself, and her heart was full of bitterness.

She used a silver hairpin that looked a little old, and pulled her long hair loosely, which was the first gift Xia Yuan gave her, and she had always treasured it in the jewelry box.

The mandarin duck put on the fox fur cloak, pushed the door and walked out, and the medicine boy Xiaozhi she had seen that day was already standing in the courtyard waiting for her.

"Miss, this is for you." Xiaozhi handed the small burden in his hand to the mandarin duck's hand.

"It's ......"

"Some medicinal herbs, maybe they will be used."

"Thank you."

The mandarin duck carried the burden on his back, and then walked out of the yard with Xiaozhi.

Only then did she realize that this courtyard was built on the mountainside, and the outside of the courtyard was like a huge garden, which was full of strange flowers and plants of different forms, including flowers that could be named by mandarin ducks, and colorful and delicate flowers that she had never seen before, shaking their heads in the wind; A one-man tall leaf looked down like an old man, watching the two of them walk past him.

"These are all left by the old valley master." Xiaozhi noticed that almost all of the mandarin duck's attention at this moment was on these flowers and plants, and there was even a tendency to go slower and slower, "How is it, beautiful?" These are all rare and exotic products that the old valley owner has found from various places. There are still many on the mountain, if Miss has the opportunity to go back to Huaihua Valley, I will take it to see it again. ”

"Okay, I'm tired." The mandarin duck looked at it a few more times before following the twig and walking out of the garden from the side.

The way down the hill is different from the garden just now, which is usually colorful, only a single green, distributed on both sides of the stone steps, but it is also particularly eye-catching. Every few steps, you can see the towering trees planted symmetrically on both sides, the dense branches and leaves almost shelter the entire road into a tree-lined path, the leaves are green all year round, and the sunlight can only shine through the gaps between the leaves, dappled on the body of the mandarin ducks.

The scene in the dream overlapped in front of her eyes for a moment, and the figure of the man seemed to be waving at her at the foot of the steps not far away, still the face that smiled softly, as if bathed in the spring breeze.

Then a gust of cold wind blew her consciousness away, and there was still the figure of that person in front of her, she smiled self-deprecatingly, what did she think, shouldn't he be his emperor in the palace at this time?

The bottom of the mountain looks more populated than the mountain, there are a few wooden huts scattered around, almost every house has some medicinal herbs that the mandarin ducks don't know on the roof, and the air is filled with all kinds of faint medicinal smells. Occasionally, a wisp or two of green smoke would come out of the window and mischievously disappear into midair. The mandarin duck thought to himself, that was probably refining medicine.

These houses are also surrounded by a forest, which is the Huaihua Valley. The mountains up and down are like paradises, so quiet and beautiful.

"Master Chu Gu, Miss Mandarin Duck is here." Xiaozhi led the mandarin duck to one of the small rooms that was not drying medicinal herbs, and knocked on the closed door.

"Well, you go down and let the mandarin ducks in."

"Yes, miss, Xiaozhi won't bother you for now." Twig lowered his head and turned into a room where smoke was still bubbling out.

The mandarin duck pushed the door, the door was not locked, it was easily opened, Chu Huai was sitting at the table drinking tea at this moment, but what she didn't expect was that there was another person sitting opposite him, this person's head was wrapped in a white brocade cloth, and it seemed to be held up by something, like a high hat in the picture book, and his body was a coat that was slightly too brightly colored, and his face was covered with a light veil, but this could not hide his feminine appearance, and the tears at the corners of his eyes dotted his whole face more charming, The mandarin duck couldn't tell whether it was a man or a woman for a while.

"Mandarin duck, you're here, come in." Chu Huai finally put down the tea in his hand and fell his eyes on the mandarin duck who had been standing at the door and did not come in.

The mandarin duck looked at him for a while, and asked suspiciously, "Master, who is this?" ”

"This is Shu Shan, the leader of the Western Regions, and he will come to Huaihua Valley every year at this time to get medicinal materials."

Shu Shan didn't speak, just stood up with a smile and bowed to the mandarin duck.

The mandarin duck hurriedly returned the salute.

"Master Shu, could you please show us the way to the Western Regions this year?"

Shu Shan sat down again and nodded towards Chu Huai.

Only then did the mandarin duck notice that the person in front of him didn't seem to particularly like to talk.

"Master, who is the guide?"

"The guide, as the name suggests, is the one who leads the way, the Western Regions are foggy all the year round, and we must pass through a swamp to reach it, if there is no guide, we are likely to lose our way halfway."

I saw Shushan take out a pen from his arms, pour some tea, and write on the table: When.

"Is it possible today?" Chu Huai turned to ask Xiang Shushan.

[But, just our herbs?] ]

"I've already ordered me to go down and get ready, and it should be about the same by now."

As soon as Chu Huai's voice fell, there was a knock on the door outside the house: "Master Chu Gu, the things you want have been packed for you." ”

"Bring it in."

Soon, a boy wearing the same clothes as Xiaozhi, but looking slightly older than Xiaozhi, pushed the door in with a few pills, "Master Chu, I've put it here for you." ”

After saying that, the little boy lowered his head and withdrew.

"You check?" Chu Huai pushed the medicine bag in the direction of Shushan.

And Shu Shan shook his head and put it directly into the bamboo box on the side.

[Let's go.] ]

Shu Shan stood up, carried the bamboo box on his back, took the staff leaning against the edge of the table, and tilted his head to look at Chu Huai.

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