() The mandarin duck lay on the bed for a while, closed his eyes, but there was no trace of sleepiness, and he felt a little tired after tossing and turning, so he simply got up and got out of bed and walked out of the house.

The courtyard did not remember the snow scene of the imperial city, for some reason, the whole courtyard looked empty, although the wind was still biting, but it could still vaguely feel that it had brought a trace of spring.

"It's been a long time......

The only plum tree in the courtyard is still blooming brightly, the dead branches outside the courtyard wall have also sprouted new shoots, the white clouds are floating leisurely on the blue sky, and the lazy sunlight is reluctant to separate a small ray of light into the world.

I probably recall that when I was taken away from the General's Mansion by Chu Huai, it was the night of the reunion on the thirtieth day of the lunar month, and it was supposed to be a family reunion to have dinner together, but because of my timidity, such a beautiful day lost its best blessing.

[Will my parents think I'm sneaking out to play and don't remember coming home?]

After all these days, will they worry about me......

No, the only thing they were worried about was Wen Mu, who had already become a queen.

How is Obuchi?

With Ah Lan by his side, he should be doing well, right?

I don't know if there was a moment when I appeared in Xiao Yuan's mind. ]

The mandarin duck hooked the corners of his mouth self-deprecatingly, no matter how he thought about it, it was just self-inflicted.

She stood under the stone carved eaves, looking up at the blue sky, everything seemed so leisurely and comfortable, the branches of the plum tree were swaying slightly, her hair was gently brushed up, and the white skirt bloomed into a beautiful flower. It's just that the mandarin duck who went out in a single coat, after a gust of wind, his body couldn't help shaking, and then he realized: it's a little cold.

At the side gate of the courtyard, an eleven or twelve-year-old child walked in, holding a white fox fur cloak in his hand, and running towards the mandarin duck with his legs.

"Miss, why did you come out on such a cold day with only a single coat? What should I do if I catch a cold? "The little boy who is a little shorter than his peers must have put on his feet and put on a cloak for the mandarin duck.

"Are you ......" The mandarin duck wrapped his cloak tightly, and it was finally not so cold......

"I'm the medicine boy here, and the young lady calls me Xiaozhi."

"Medicine boy? Could it be that Huaihua Valley is a place for refining medicine? The mandarin duck called out in confusion to the medicine boy Xiaozhi, who was about to turn around and leave.

"Hasn't Miss heard of Huaihua Valley?"

The mandarin duck thought about it vigorously, the first time he heard this name was in Chu Huai's mouth, and before that, he had never heard of this place again, and finally he could only shake his head regretfully and said, "I'm sorry, no." ”

"Miss, you really haven't heard of it?" Xiaozhi asked again without giving up.

The mandarin duck looked at Xiaozhi's surprised expression and began to think, didn't he say the wrong thing, is this Huaihua Valley really so famous? But why had he never heard of it in the Imperial City?

"I'm sorry, I've thought about it carefully, and I still don't have any clue, can I trouble Xiaozhi to tell me?"

"The reputation of our Huaihua Valley outside is not ordinary, up to seventy or eighty, down to just walking, no one knows who doesn't know our Huaihua Valley, even the medicinal materials in many big medical halls are also purchased from our valley, and there are many very rare medicinal materials planted in the mountains behind Huaihua Valley." As soon as Xiaozhi mentioned Huaihua Valley, he had a proud expression on his face.

"Huaihua Valley is really powerful."

"Isn't it! In addition, our two young valley masters are both medical and powerful, but ......" Speaking of this, Xiaozhi's mood suddenly became a little lower, "It's just that since the valley lord died, the two young valley lords have left Huaihua Valley, this is more than ten years, I have only been here for a few years, so it is not particularly clear, I only heard from the adults that after the flower valley lord went to Jiangnan, there has been no news since then, only Chu Gu Lord, every once in a while will return to Huaihua Valley, but he came back just to pick the medicinal herbs in the back mountain." ”

"Is there such a thing?"

"Huaihua Valley began to decline at this time, so Miss hasn't heard of it, which is understandable, but I thought that adults like Miss who know a lot at first glance will definitely hear about it."

"I'm really sorry, I've never heard of it, but you said that these two valley masters of yours are both skilled in medicine, so who does Xiaozhi think is better in medicine?" The mandarin duck's voice began to become gentle, making Xiaozhi can't help but want to keep chatting with the person in front of him.

"This ......" Xiao Zhi's expression was a little difficult, "I can't say accurately, the medical skills of the two valley masters are two different types, the flower valley lord is a divine doctor, and the Chu valley lord is a poison doctor?" ”

"Poison doctor?" Mandarin Duck was a little curious, this was the first time she had heard that someone was a poison doctor.

"Yes, what Chu Gu Lord is best at is poison, using poison to cure diseases, and fighting poison with poison."

The mandarin duck wanted to ask again, but before he could speak, he was interrupted by a voice outside the courtyard: "Twig! How did you send a dress for so long? The young valley master is still waiting for you to help him collect medicinal materials at the Dan Pharmacy! ”

"Come now!" Xiao Zhi saluted the mandarin duck, winked mischievously, and said, "I'm sorry, miss, I was able to talk for a while, and I almost missed the business of the Chu Valley Lord, and I will have the opportunity to talk to you about the two Valley Masters in the future." ”

After saying that, Xiaozhi ran out of the yard quickly, and smiled embarrassedly at the person waiting outside the courtyard. The mandarin duck only saw a fair-skinned slender hand knocking on the head of the twig, and then pulled him along and disappeared from the mandarin duck's sight.

The courtyard was quiet again, and the mandarin duck stood for a while, feeling bored, and turned back into the house.

……、

The room was very warm, and it seemed that there was no reason to continue wearing the fox fur, so the mandarin duck took off the cloak and threw it on the stone bed.

Approaching the bookshelves carved out of stone, they were filled with all kinds of books, only a few of which were the books that Mandarin Duck had seen in the study of the General's Mansion before, and most of the pages were written with many words that she had never seen before.

"It would be nice to have a dictionary translated by our ancestors to compare it with." The mandarin duck casually pulled a book from the bookshelf and turned a few pages, but he couldn't understand it, "I really want to know what is written on it......"

I searched all over this bookshelf, and I didn't see any similar comparison pages, so I could only put the book back on the bookshelf with a little regret, sat back on the bed, but glanced at the desk, but I was disappointed, the whole desk was empty, and there was no trace of pen, ink, paper and inkstone everywhere I saw.

The mandarin duck lay down on its side, looking out of the window aimlessly, and in a trance, it seemed to hear a dog barking from afar.