The willow-lined lake, blowing the cool wind, the layers of ripples on the surface of the lake surging to the shore, gently lapping the smooth stones, making a pleasant sound, a qiē beautiful like a painting, unreal and unreal.

Me and him, right in the painting.

And he and I are also the only thing in this painting that is not flexible, just standing silently, I don't know how long we stand, there are willow leaves falling, scattered on our shoulders, and there is also the wind blowing water vapor on our cheeks, but he and I are still motionless.

I don't know how long it took, but his palm was cooled by the wind.

Then, I felt the calloused fingers move gently across my cheeks, sliding down, to my chin, and he gently held my chin and looked at me.

I was still calm, not even breathing.

But the breath that was close at hand became a little chaotic and hot, and the fingertips that held my cheeks were trembling slightly, not because of instability, but because of a suppressed emotion, as if churning in places I couldn't see, and I even had the illusion that the powerful fingers would break my slender neck in the next moment.

But in the end, it still didn't, he slowly let go of me, and I took a step back gently, and said ramblingly: "Isn't the emperor going to Jingren Palace to see the eldest prince?" ”

"Hmm."

"The people's girl accompanied the emperor over."

“……”

He looked at me for a while, as if gritting his teeth, but he didn't say anything after all, but his breath was a little heavier, and he turned around and continued walking.

After a while, when they arrived at Jingren Palace, those palace maids and eunuchs didn't expect the emperor to follow, and they all knelt down in shock to greet them, Pei Yuanhao was not in the mood to say anything, and walked in with his hands behind his back.

At this time, I heard a deep giggle from the study: "Wow! It's done, it's done! ”

"Your Highness, be careful not to fall......"

"Haha, I'm going to show Aunt Qing!"

I chuckled in my heart, and as soon as I looked up, I saw in front of me, Nian Shen ran out of the study with a big piece of rice paper full of words like last time, and shouted all the way: "Aunt Qing, Aunt Qing, I-"

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly saw Pei Yuanhao, and was immediately startled, stood there for a while, hurriedly walked over, and bowed cautiously: "Erchen greets my father." ”

Pei Yuanhao didn't speak, but looked back at me, and said with a smile: "Aunt Qing......?" ”

I bit my lower lip and said softly, "The folk girl is guilty." ”

Nian Shen also reacted immediately, and hurriedly said: "Father, please don't blame Qing-Qingying, it's Erchen himself who called it that, yes-it was the queen mother who said it, Qingying is a good sister to her, and she is very knowledgeable, she can teach Erchen a lot of principles of life, and let Erchen call her Aunt Qing." ”

Pei Yuanhao looked at me, then at him, and said with a smile: "When did I say that I want to blame her?" ”

Nian Shen raised his head in surprise.

"Your queen mother is right, she—" He looked at me again: "Your Aunt Qing is very knowledgeable, you can learn more from her." ”

Nian Shen grinned: "Really, Father." ”

Pei Yuanhao smiled faintly, with a kind of banter that he could grasp all the time, and said with a smile: "You have no jokes, I still plan to let your Aunt Qing go to Jixian Palace." ”

My heart sank for a moment, but I still didn't change my face, I just smiled and said, "Your Highness, show the emperor what you wrote." ”

"Oh, good."

Pei Yuanhao glanced at me, didn't say anything, hugged Nian Shen, and said with a smile: "Come, show me, what has my eldest prince learned these days." ”

It seems that he rarely has such an easy-going appearance, Nian Shen was a little flattered, happy and nervous that his little face turned red, I followed behind, followed their father and son into the study, Shui Xiu and Xing'er also carefully followed behind to serve, Pei Yuanhao hugged Nian Shen to the table, and asked him to unfold the rice paper, which was densely written with some immature words - it was the disciple rule that I instructed Nian Shenlin.

"Father, please see."

Nian Shen looked up at him, as if he was inviting merit, and was also a little nervous waiting for his review, Pei Yuanhao looked at it for a while, but frowned slightly.

As soon as he saw him like this, Nian Shen immediately became nervous.

Pei Yuanhao didn't speak, just glanced back at me, and I stepped forward to see in my mind, there are indeed some typos in the disciple rules written by Nian Shen, but there has been a great improvement compared to before, especially the mistakes made in the rush chapter, I told him once, he didn't make it again, it is a great improvement.

So I smiled and said, "Your Highness writes so well." It's just that it would be nice if it could be written a little more carefully here. ”

Nian Shen looked at me stunned: "Where?" ”

I pointed to one of the words on it and said, "Disciple rules, sage training, first filial piety, second sincere faith." Underneath this word, there are three strokes, and His Royal Highness only wrote two, is there something missing? ”

"Ah......h

"Prudence means that people should be cautious, and everything they do must be justified and evidenced, and they must not act arbitrarily. It's the same with writing, if you have more strokes and less strokes, it's not that word, and it's not what it means. ”

"Oh......"

Nian Shen nodded, hurriedly climbed into the chair by himself, grabbed the pen and wrote seriously, I stood on the edge of the chair, lowered my head to look at his immature pen, and Pei Yuanhao stood behind me, when he leaned down, his shoulders were slightly against my back, and the breath with the scorching temperature also blew in my ears.

I was burned all of a sudden, looked back into his eyes, didn't say anything, silently moved to the side, at this time Nian Shen had finished writing, didn't seem to notice the undercurrent in the room, turned around and held the paper to show us: "Father, Aunt Qing, is this time right?" ”

Pei Yuanhao looked at the crooked and twisted word, smiled, and reached out to rub Nianshen's heart.

Then, he raised his head to look at me and said with a smile: "You have taught very well, and it is not in vain that I plan to appoint you as the main character of the Jixian Palace." ”

This time, my heart sank hard.

Jixian orthography! Is he going to let me go to the Jixian Hall to take up a post?

Although the Celestial Empire does not allow women to be officials, Jixian Hall is an exception, and there was a precedent for female scholars in the previous dynasty, which is not unusual, but - he asked me to serve as the main character of Jixian Palace, and if I want to leave, it will be even more difficult......

Nian Shen didn't feel my mood at all, just looked at the emperor happily and said, "Father, really? ”

"Didn't I say it, you don't have any jokes." Pei Yuanhao looked at him with a smile: "Your Aunt Qing has made the Jixian Palace, and she will go to the Jixian Palace to watch you in the future, if you don't have to study, I will be punished." ”

Nian Shen was so happy that he almost jumped up, but he still tried his best to suppress himself and nodded vigorously: "Erchen knows!" ”

As he spoke, he walked up to me again and raised his little face to look at me: "Aunt Qing...... Aunt Qing? He looked at my blank expression with some surprise, tugged at my sleeve, and said, "Aunt Qing, what's wrong with you?" ”

"......" I lowered my head in a trance, looked at him, and then looked at Pei Yuanhao over there, and finally gritted my teeth and reluctantly made a smiling expression: "No, it's nothing." ”

Pei Yuanhao came over again, reached out and pinched his face: "Look at you, why is there ink on your face." Someone—"

Shui Xiu and Xing'er hurriedly walked in: "Your Majesty." ”

"Take the eldest prince down and wash it up."

"Yes, slave and maid."

After saying that, the two of them stepped forward and carefully went down with Nianshen, and only me and him were left in the study.

This time, the atmosphere became more and more heavy.

I glanced at him, didn't say anything, just silently walked over to clean up the pen, ink, paper and inkstone on the desk, he also walked over silently, standing behind me, the same distance as just now, as long as I moved a little, I could stick to the warm body behind me.

I simply stood at my desk and didn't move.

But he was not angry, and could even feel a faint smile when he spoke, and whispered in my ear: "There are still some things I want to discuss with you." ”

Consult......

This is a word that the emperor does not use, I glanced back at him and said, "I don't know what the emperor commands?" ”

"There was news that Fu Badai was attacked in Huzhou on the way to Beijing."

"What?!" I was taken aback and hurriedly said, "Then he-"

"People are fine."

"......" My heart was about to jump out of my chest, and I was relieved to hear that people were okay: "It's—it's great." ”

Pei Yuanhao's voice was a little cold: "It seems that some people don't want him to enter Beijing." ”

This is natural, the emperor wants him to enter Beijing, naturally there will be people who do not want him to enter Beijing, such a great Confucian into the court as an official, how much impact on the students of the world, it is really difficult to estimate, those students are a big help in the future, but who to help, may also determine the future war and peace of the Central Plains.

I said softly: "However, since he promised the emperor, no matter how difficult the road is, he will definitely come." ”

Pei Yuanhao said: "I also know that it is really difficult to summon him to Beijing. ”

“……”

"So, I want to treat him with great courtesy."

“…… Gift? ”

I turned around and looked at Pei Yuanhao - of course, I wouldn't think that he was purely respecting Fu Badai, someone attacked Fu Badai, this matter must not be hidden, but the emperor treated him with great courtesy, which is an attitude for scholars in the world.

He really won't pass up every opportunity.

Pei Yuanhao said: "I originally wanted to let hundreds of officials greet him, but he hasn't accepted the canonization yet, he is a citizen and not an official, and it is not in line with etiquette to let hundreds of officials greet him, so I want to welcome him with ancient etiquette." However, since the royal family entered the customs, many of the ancient rites in the past have been abandoned, and I heard that Xichuan is still using some ancient rites, I want to know, what ancient rites will Xichuan people use to treat such a great Confucian? ”

I thought for a moment and said, "Far away." ”

"Far away?"

"Yes," I nodded, "and people nowadays often say, 'There is a long way to go,' because this ancient rite has been abandoned. If the emperor wants to treat him with great courtesy, he must leave the imperial city and go to a distant place to greet him. In this way, it will not be out of line, but also to him, and to the world's scholars to express the emperor's thirst for talent, and the corporal of courtesy. ”

He pondered for a moment and nodded, "Hmm." Then I can let people prepare. ”

As he spoke, he looked up at me again and smiled slightly: "When the time comes, you will accompany me and go with Nianshen." ”