Chapter 35: What about people?

"What, back?"

Beside the clear water, in the water pavilion surrounded by snow gauze, leaning on the railing leaning on a slender figure, hearing the maid to report, after an uncontrollable whisper, when he turned around, just like the remaining bait in the palm of the pink stamen fell on the surface of the lake, attracting a group of flower koi to fight.

"Miss, Madame sent a slave maid to pass the word, saying that His Royal Highness King Wei has returned to Beijing, and he entered the palace yesterday afternoon to face the saint, this news was said by Princess Gaoyang herself, there will be no falsehood." The maid replied again, and secretly raised her head, even though she saw such a beautiful woman as her wife every day, but when she saw the beauty of the girl in front of her, she still couldn't help but lose her mind.

Beijing people have a saying: Read all the flowers, only one night. Although this is a bit exaggerated, but anyone who has seen the third lady of the eldest grandson's family who regards it as a treasure, few people will ignore this praise, there are many beauties in Chang'an City, but it can be called stunning, in comparison, I am afraid that there is only such one.

"What else did my eldest sister say?" The timbre is tactful, if the jade flute is full of ears, the words are round, like Longwen reciting silently, it should be the voice that a beauty should have, but the tone is a little eager.

"Madame also said that the emperor saw the strange things in the world, customs and people recorded by His Royal Highness King Wei in the past two years, and the dragon's heart was very happy, and today the people of the Special Department of Internal Affairs arranged a banquet in Furong Garden, and chose the good day of the eighth day of the new year, and asked everyone to go to His Royal Highness King Wei to pick up the wind and wash the dust."

"The eighth day of the first month, the eighth day of the first month" The girl who was sitting on the railing muttered for a while, and the panic that she heard the news at the beginning disappeared, leaving only the complicated taste of joy or sorrow or hope in her heart, no one knew.

East Palace

In the inner sanctuary, the rich aroma of night wafted out of the gold-domed incinerator, covering up the smell of rot in the room, but it could not hide the heavy wheezing and groaning behind the shaking gold jacquard curtains.

"Prince... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince... Well, slaves, slaves can't stand it..."

"Give, give it to Honguya, bear with it." With an unbearable low snort, the curtains swayed a little more.

As soon as he heard a low roar mixed with painful screams, a figure hurriedly walked in at the door of the temple, knelt in the inner hall, and said:

"Your Royal Highness, the emperor ordered the Department of Internal Affairs in the morning, asking them to go to Furong Garden to prepare for a reception banquet for King Wei, which is scheduled for the eighth night of the first lunar month."

Hearing this, a sneer sounded behind the curtain, followed by the sound of objects hitting the ground, and the palace people who came to ventilate raised their eyes slightly, and saw a disheveled figure crawling out from behind the curtain, and their eyes swept over the red and swollen on the other party's flat chest, and the palace people frowned, and then lowered their eyebrows again.

"Catch the wind? It's a good pick-up, and the palace is still the father and the emperor who only cares about caring for the ninth brother, but he hasn't forgotten that there is that cheap seed. ”

"Your Highness, be careful."

"Hmph, this palace is in its own palace, I can't even say a word Liu Cheng, this palace has endured you a few times, if you dare to be so presumptuous again, even if you are left by the queen mother to this palace, you will never be spared"

"The slave knows his mistake, and His Highness is angry."

Wei Wangfu study

"Lord Wang, this is the list of guests for the banquet in the Furong Garden on the eighth day of the first month, please take a look." Du Chuke handed over a thick paper fold with both hands, and asked for instructions with a red face.

Behind the desk, Li Tai roughly skimmed the list, took the brush handed by Ah Sheng, ticked off some of the names, closed the list, and put it on the other side of the desk, Du Chuke picked it up again, and after confirming that it was not an important person who was erased, his expression was full, and he said:

"Your Royal Highness, you have been away from Beijing for two years, and all the big and small things in Chang'an City, I think that Steward Li has already reported to you, so I don't say much, but there is a matter of urgency at the moment, but it is a top priority, if you can meet the good day of the eighth day of the new year, it is a happy event."

Li Tai glanced at him, folded his hands on his lap, closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, neither asking him to speak or saying that he did not want to speak. It's not that Du Chuke didn't see that Li Tai's complexion was not very good in the past two days, but he was only tired from the journey and didn't rest, but Ah Sheng was an understanding person and knew why his master was so worried, and when he saw Du Chuke being hung there, he said loudly:

"The master is a little tired, Lord Du, please speak up if you have something."

"That's right," Du Chuke cleared his throat and said: "Miss Mingzhu of the Oriental Lord's family, it is now the twenty-eighth year, and this marriage has been more than two years, so it is reasonable to be able to get married as soon as possible, in addition, in the two years that the prince has not been in the capital, Katsumi has also secretly visited, looking for some young ladies with good conduct and good looks, it is the age of marriage, and I hope that His Royal Highness can choose a few as appropriate to serve as a back house, so as to make plans for the birth of an heir as soon as possible." ”

"Cough," Ah Sheng coughed, regretting how long he had to open his mouth just now, and glanced at Li Tai, who had his eyes closed and his face was expressionless, knowing that his master was asking him to solve it by himself, his throat was bitter, and he said to Du Chuke:

"Lord Du, His Royal Highness has just come back with documents from all over the world, and it is at the critical juncture when he is busy revising the "Kun Yuanlu", how can it be at this time——"

"Steward Li's words are wrong," Du Chuke interrupted him with a disapproving expression, and said, "It is precisely because His Royal Highness is busy with foreign affairs that this huge Wei Palace's mansion needs concubines to manage. And the prince has two in his twenties this year, and the prince, the king of Chu, the king of Wu, the king of Qi, and the king of Shu all have queens, but the prince has no heirs, which is really not conducive to prosperity. ”

"This-" Ah Sheng hesitated, "What Lord Du said is right, but the master and concubine are not married, so I am afraid that it is not appropriate to admit so many women into the door." ”

Du Chuke looked at Li Tai, who was "pretending to be deaf and dumb", and then looked at Ah Sheng, remembered some messages, his face was slightly gloomy, and he raised his hand at Li Tai and saluted, and said in a muffled voice:

"Your Royal Highness, forgive yourself for being rude, you have been away from Beijing for two years, this Beijing is no longer what it was at the beginning, after the death of the eldest grandson and queen Xian, the ninth prince King Jin was raised by the emperor by his side, and he saw that the holy family was prosperous, it has overshadowed you at the beginning, the king of Wu was left in Beijing, and the prince was more participated in the imperial history, and the waste elephant was waiting. Now that you are back, it is time to plan carefully, how to regain the Sacred Heart, and do more things that make the emperor happy. Miss Mingzhu is your personal choice, how can there be any reason to regret it, according to self-denial, you need to enter the palace tomorrow to invite the emperor, choose on the eighth day of the first day of the banquet, the edict of the wedding is. ”

Du Chuke's words, standing in the position of a staff member who has surrendered, is not wrong at all, every sentence is for Li Tai's sake, as the governor of the palace, he is not wrong to care about this, but it is really suspected of overstepping Li Tai to ask Li Tai to do this and that.

Ah Sheng has been following Li Tai for so many years, and he knows that this attitude is the most taboo for Li Tai, and when Du Chuke finished speaking, he quickly interjected to lead the topic:

"Lord Du, you are wholeheartedly thinking about Your Highness, but have you forgotten that the young lady ordered by our Wei Wangfu is not just one of the Dongfang family."

Hearing this, Du Chuke's face faded, he deliberately did not mention the jade, but he was named, how could he pretend to be deaf, he saved his hand, and lost the eagerness to mention Li Tai's marriage just now, and wrote lightly:

"That Miss Lu is not yet married, although she can get married, but she is not a good time to have an heir."

Saying this, Du Chuke thought of another thing in his heart, although it has been two years, if the remaining jade is carried out in a righteous and bright way, someone will remember the tragic death of the eldest grandson's son-in-law back then.

Ah Shengshi didn't expect that when Li Tai came back, Du Chuke's courage was so big that he actually raised the concubine who had not passed through the door to the face for childbirth, and he didn't dare to take it anymore, for fear of being angry by Li Tai, so he just shut up and simply became dumb.

"Lord Wang—"

The knock on the door sounded before Du Chuke spoke again, Ah Sheng ran to answer the door with a sigh of relief, and when he heard the report from the next person, his face was happy, and he trotted back, leaned into Li Tai's ear, and whispered a few words.

So Du Chuke's eyes widened, and he saw that Li Tai stood up unhurriedly after listening to Ah Sheng's words, glanced at him quietly, and walked away without saying a word.

At this glance, Du Chuke's heart was cold, and he faintly felt that something he didn't want to see was about to happen.

Longquan Town

In the afternoon, two horses drove into the town with a brown-painted carriage, and Ah Sheng drove the cart in front, and the pedestrians on both sides of the street consciously avoided it.

On the carriage, Li Tai sat upright alone, his back was habitually straight, one hand on his lap, the other hand holding half a volume of manuscripts reading, his mind was distracted by other things, and his face showed some subtle expressions from time to time, or frowning, or pursing lips.

At this time last year, he left Pusaro City and went to Pingzhou in the northeast to run errands, not counting the round-trip journey, it also took half a year, and when he finally decided to return, he was injured due to an accident, so he sent a letter to Pusaro City to pick up the Yu Yu back to Beijing, but he lost the person.

In the past year, except for the three words on her letter, there was not a word from her, although he was full of confidence, but also when he arrived in Beijing and she did not return, there was a trace of unease. When this party heard that there was movement in the house in Longquan Town, they couldn't wait to come in person.

is obviously a little regretful that he has been separated from her for a whole year, and the funny thing is that the person who said that he wanted to give her a chance to choose was himself.

The carriage passed by a red fruit forest, stopped in front of a mansion with white walls and red tiles, Li Tai lifted the curtain and got out of the car, and glanced at the three delicate inscriptions of "Puzhen Garden" on the refined door, which was after she wrote before leaving Beijing, he found someone to engrave and send, which is the name of this courtyard.

Ah Sheng went to knock on the closed door, in the past two years, Yu Yu and Li Tai left Beijing, he did not run to Longquan Town, the attendant who came to answer the door recognized him, just glanced at Li Tai, he knew his identity, and he did not pass it on, so he bowed down to greet people, Ah Sheng asked with a smile:

"Your young lady is back?"

The attendant touched his head, as if he didn't know how to answer, turned his head and asked another subordinate to run to the simultaneous interpretation first, and then stretched out his hand and said, "Please come with the little one." ”

Li Tai and Ah Sheng followed into the mansion, through the corridor east of the door, after walking through a small garden, there is a flower hall in the north, the door curtain is rolled up, you can hear the faint voice, and when you walk up the stone steps, the people in the door have greeted you, bow, and said:

"See His Royal Highness the King of Wei, the subordinates did not make it clear, the Lu family did not welcome him from afar, and please atone for his sins."

Li Tai's eyes swept over the Lu family who spoke, Mrs. Zhou standing behind her, Han Li, Han Shiyu, and even two maids, but he didn't see the person he wanted to see, his voice was slightly deep, and said:

"What about people?"