"What's that?"

"A cat?"

"Why did the queen's cat come here again?"

"Those cats are very capable, flying eaves and walls, no problem."

"Do you want to catch it back and give it to the queen's mother, otherwise her old man will find out which cat is missing, and call us all over the palace in the middle of the night to look for it."

A group of guards spoke, approaching the lantern to reflect the cats on the ground.

The three-flowered cat sat upright, tilting its head to look at them.

I saw that she was clean, with a beautiful posture, delicate facial features, and smart eyes, and she tilted her head like this, as if she could talk and ask them what they were muttering.

"It's a three-flowered cat? I haven't heard of when the queen mother raised a three-flowered cat! ”

"This cat is so beautiful!"

"This little thing is still smart, I'm afraid it's cold, lie on the lamppost to warm up."

"I heard that His Majesty is entertaining guests in Changle Palace today, and the invited immortal master brought a cat, which is His Majesty's honored guest, can't it be this one?"

"Cats? Guest? ”

While everyone was muttering, they saw that the three-flowered cat tilted its head a little more with their words, and still stared at them with a pair of talking eyes, as if they were more and more confused about their words.

At this moment, a voice came from behind him:

"Let's go, Sanhua Niangniang."

“！”

The cat turned its head in an instant.

The guards also followed, only to see a young Taoist standing there, several inner attendants standing behind him with lanterns, and the three-flowered cat in front of him seemed to understand the words, stretched his waist, and jumped down from the lamppost lightly, glanced at the guards, and then ran to the Taoist.

The Taoist raised his eyes and saluted the guards, and then he took a step.

The chamberlain and the cat followed him.

The voice over there could be faintly heard, as if the Taoist was talking to the cat.

"Why did Sanhua Niangniang come here?"

"There's no fun in it."

"Isn't it more fun out there?"

"There's a cat in there! And rats! ”

"There must be a lot of rats in such a big place."

"The people here are amazing!"

"What's going on?"

"There are so many houses here, and the pillars are so big, it's amazing!"

"It's the accumulation of predecessors."

"The accumulation of predecessors~"

"Yes."

"It's fun to talk to a few people over there."

"What's fun?"

"Silly."

"It's a bit rude to say that."

"Hmm!"

The cat followed the Taoist's feet, the Taoist bowed his head to the side, she looked up to the side, and the two chatted while walking, but she was also curious: "Why did you come out so quickly?" ”

"There's no fun in it."

The Taoist learned from the cat's reply.

"Isn't it more fun out there?"

"It's better outside."

"The air outside is better~"

"The sky should be better."

"The sky is better too~"

"Scholars."

"You've also learned from Sanhua Niangniang! You're learning cat spirits! ”

“……”

The Taoist shook his head and looked up into the distance.

Today did not delay too much time in the palace, the gradient color of the sky has not faded, the eaves of the palace have become silhouettes under the skylight, and the stars have appeared in the sky, which is as beautiful as a dream. The Taoist was sobered up a lot by the night breeze, and continued to talk with the cat while walking, going farther and farther.

The head of the inner chamberlain and the two senior attendants listened to their conversation, and the senior attendants seemed to be dyed by the childlike fun, and their hearts that had been trapped and smoked by the palace for a long time seemed to be quieter, but the head of the inner chamberlain listened to it and only cared about walking with his head down, trembling, and did not dare to say a word.

Out of the palace, Song You refused the carriage of the chamberlain, and instead took the cat and walked all the way home.

You can see yourself in solitude and tranquility.

So the night walk has also become a pleasure.

After returning home, Song You wanted to persuade Sanhua Niangniang to rest and rest, like a cat in the palace, to be lazy, but she didn't listen, she wanted to go out to catch mice, and she wanted to read at night.

In a few days, it was the emperor's birthday.

The whole Changjing City is very lively.

The king's birthday, rejoicing with the people, saying that the whole world celebrates together is an exaggeration, but it is still no problem for the whole capital to celebrate together.

The king wants to be happy with the people, naturally not to tell the people, today is my birthday, please have fun with the people, the people will laugh, and there must be a substantive policy to benefit the people.

In practice, it is generally to reduce or reduce rent, and will also give porridge in the government yamen to help the extremely poor people.

In addition to renting a house for shopkeepers, renting a private house must also go through the fangyazi, and the contract must be placed in the official mansion, which is equivalent to going to the official mansion. Therefore, when encountering any festival or the emperor's birthday, the birth of a dragon child and other days worth celebrating, or the days that need to comfort the people in extreme weather and natural disasters such as earthquakes, heavy snow, and extreme heat, the rent will be reduced or reduced, which is not only convenient for the government to operate, but also a real benefit for the people.

Since Song You returned to Beijing to live in a small building, he also had to pay rent every month.

If the shopkeeper didn't come to collect it, he sent it to the door.

This reduction of rent for a few days also saved him money.

……

The tenth day of the first month of winter.

The weather is getting colder and colder day by day, but fortunately I went back to Changjing to recuperate, and if I am still walking outside, I will be guilty.

However, I heard that there are several states in the south, even if the cold winter is like early summer, it is not cold at all, but the smoke is full of miasma, and it is not prosperous.

In short, Song You, who was in Changjing, got up early in the morning, went to the market to buy fish, sliced them into thin slices, rolled a pot of white rice porridge, and prepared to treat Sanhua Niangniang, who was busy until midnight last night.

The porridge had just been cooked, and the aroma was already spreading along the heat.

Song You filled two bowls, and was about to go upstairs to call his roof down to eat, when he saw a cat in a daze, half-squinted, appeared at the corner of the wooden ladder, cast a misty gaze at him, and asked vaguely when he saw him:

"What are you cooking......

"I was about to invite Sanhua Niangniang to get up and eat, and Sanhua Niangniang came down by herself."

"Sanhua Niangniang smells the smell......"

"Sanhua Niangniang has a keen sense of smell."

"What are you cooking?"

The cat stopped in place, looking at him with its head down, barely opening its eyes and making a small sound.

"Fillet porridge."

"Fillet porridge ......"

"Come down and eat."

"Hmm......"

The cat looked at him, looked down at the stairs below him, stood up and took two steps by instinct, but he really didn't want to walk, so he simply fell sideways, and the whole cat lay down and slid down the stairs.

The body is soft, and the process is silky, as if it flows down the stairs.

It wasn't until she fell to the ground and felt a different texture from the wooden ladder that she got up, shook her head, shook her body, looked up at the Taoist priest again, and walked over casually.

Serve lightly.

Continuing to glance at the Taoist in a daze, she saw the Taoist holding the bowl and drinking porridge, she also stretched out her paws to the bowl, wanting to hold the bowl, but found that it was two cat paws, and she couldn't hold it up at all, so she sighed helplessly, slowly leaned over, lowered her head and licked and ate.

"Did Sanhua Niangniang steal the cow last night?"

"Sanhua Niangniang doesn't steal cows." The cat lowered its head and talked as it licked.

"How do you feel like Sanhua Niangniang built the entire Great Wall alone last night."

"Sanhua Niangniang is not a person." The cat still licked and replied, "Sanhua Niangniang will not build the Great Wall." ”

"Sanhua Niangniang won't stay up reading all night, right?"

“！”

The cat's ears were instantly erected, and the action of licking the porridge also paused, and it returned to normal after a while, and while continuing to lick the food, she said vaguely: "Sanhua Niangniang is going to catch mice." ”

"I see."

Song You nodded and said more.

Concentrate on drinking porridge.

This cat is really strong.

The Taoist teased her, saying that she didn't wake up, she was confused, and suspected that she studied all night last night, I don't know whether she wanted to show that she was not sleepy or wanted to prove that she didn't study hard all night. After being rejected by the Taoist, she refused to sleep, and had to hold on downstairs, pretending not to be sleepy, I don't know how long it took, before she muttered to herself, "Anyway, there is nothing to do, it is better to sleep", and then lay on the table and fell asleep.

The Taoist opened the book and covered her just right.

Smelling the scent of ink and falling asleep, I don't know if I will read in my dreams.

Just then, a visitor came from outside the house.

Song You raised his eyes and was stunned.

The person walking in front looked nearly sixty years old and looked familiar, but compared with his memory, there were many more vicissitudes and wrinkles, and the silver frost on his hair was also visible to the naked eye. is still as well-dressed as when I first saw him, his hair is meticulously combed, he is official and gentle, but he doesn't wear hairpins, which is less elegant and more stable.

There is a person behind him, but it is much closer in memory.

The former is the governor of Yizhou back then, and now the imperial historian, Yu Jianbai, and the latter is the governor of Yidu County back then, and the Pujun Taishou who I saw in Hezhou later.

"Distinguished guests......"

The two sides looked at each other through the door, and the Taoist spoke first.

The two of them looked at each other outside the door, a little embarrassed, and hurriedly bowed to him.

"Someone Liu has seen Mr."

"After a long absence, I don't know if Mr. Yu still remembers someone?"

"Naturally, I remember Zhizhou." Song You bowed his head sincerely, and said in return, "The felt blanket given by Zhizhou when he said goodbye is still in use now, and it has been nearly six years since the beginning, and in the past six years, I don't know how many landscapes I have walked through, how many times I have slept in the wilderness, and the felt blanket given by Zhizhou does not know how many cold days I have spent in the next, I should thank Zhizhou." ”

Then he hurriedly invited them in.

By the way, I poured tea for them too.

I heard that after he left Yizhou, Yu Zhizhou in Yizhou widely issued good policies, Yizhou governance is very good, Mingde three years of Yizhou earthquake, Yu Zhizhou earthquake relief, outstanding performance, and attracted praise from the DPRK and China.

Although Yizhou is a big state, and the governor of Yizhou is also a feudal official, Yu Zhizhou was originally a member of the court, and going to Yizhou is considered a move, so that the court knows about his changes, and an official name has been added to the literary name, everyone knows that this Yu Jianbai may not be simple in the future.

However, the reason why he was transferred back to the capital so quickly and took on a heavy responsibility is related to the national teacher.

After Song You left Beijing, the national teacher also went to Fengzhou quickly, and no longer interfered in the politics of the court, and the prime minister was not very capable and could not take over the burden of the national teacher, so the national teacher was transferred back to Yu Jianbai and served as the deputy minister.

Seeing each other at this time, Song You saw the changes in Yu Zhizhou at a glance.

For example, when he first saw this man in Vasher, he felt that his future must be extraordinary, and when he saw him again in six years, the future had already arrived.

(End of chapter)