The princess was accustomed to this kind of scene, and she still had a gentle smile on her face. But Xie Hanci noticed that she used ivory chopsticks to clip two pieces of fish tart, the hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly, and the fish fillets as thin as cicada wings slid down the chopsticks to the edge of the plate.

Yi Huan was already seven or eight points drunk, she staggered up and walked to the princess of the county, and gave a crooked salute, "Mother, I want to go out to breathe, can my mother come along?" ”

The princess was a little surprised, but her tone was still gentle: "Huan'er, mother can't leave." It's better to let your new acquaintance accompany you. As she spoke, she looked at Xie Hanci and showed a kind and loving smile that did not match her age.

"Mother, you can go shopping with me, the pear blossoms should be in bloom by now. The eldest sister here in the women's seat, and the men's seat over there...... You don't have to worry about it. ”

She said while drunken, she directly stepped forward and grabbed the princess's hand, and wanted to drag her up directly from the seat, but before the princess could react, the woman sitting under her opened her mouth first.

"Stop, Li Yihuan, do you have the appearance of Miss Wangfu, what kind of system has you become? Who allowed you to drink at the table? Even if it's nonsense, there is a limit, and several Uncle Wang are here today, aren't you afraid that your ridiculous behavior will be transmitted back to the capital? ”

After angrily scolding Yi Huan, she still didn't think it was enough, and glanced at the princess of the county contemptuously, "My mother has also been married for three years, and there are no rules in this house, do you still think that she is a bride who can't manage the house?" ”

She wears an indigo placket with a round bun. If it is said that the princess of the county is deliberately dressed up maturely, then she is a genuine old-fashioned man, the corners of her mouth are drooping downward, and there are two deep Sichuan lines between her eyebrows.

Yi Huan did not flinch with the strength of the wine, but quarreled with her.

"The eldest sister is so majestic, she has been married for a year, and she has never come back even on the New Year's Day except for the day of her return. As soon as I come back today, I will educate my mother and me, if you are so worried about your mother's family, simply don't go back to your husband's house, stay in your mother's house to take care of the housework, and the burden on your mother can be easier. ”

Xie Hanci reacted when she heard Yi Huan call her "eldest sister", it turned out that this woman was the eldest daughter of the king of Anchang County-Li Yirong.

Although she looked mature, she was actually only in her early twenties, and she had just gotten married, Xie Hanci couldn't understand why she looked so lifeless, so she peeked at it with her spare eyes.

Li Yirong saw Xie Hanci looking her up and down, only to feel even more annoyed, and slapped the table and shouted: "Okay, second sister, I don't know what kind of ecstasy the new lady poured on you, which caused you to stab me with words like this, and led outsiders to see my jokes." I can't stay at this house. ”

With that, he made a gesture to get up and leave the table.

Seeing this, the princess hurriedly pressed Li Yirong and patted her arm.

"Okay, you're the eldest sister, and you're everyone's daughter-in-law, so don't worry about your sister. When she is out of the cabinet, she will understand the hard work of the eldest sister, and when she hugs you and cries and apologizes to you, you can scold her again, and for now, let her live at home for two days. ”

She listened to the words of the princess of the county, her expression was slightly relaxed, and the princess of the county gave Yi Huan another look.

"Okay, okay, Yihuan, you take this young lady to walk around the garden. I still have some considerate things to say to your eldest sister, and it's not convenient for us to be here. ”

The two of them walked outside, the moon shadow was hazy, accompanied by a little star. There is a faint floral fragrance in the evening breeze, which needs to be sniffed carefully by someone with a heart to distinguish, which is the fragrance of gardenias.

"The princess of the county is really powerful, and it can be resolved in just a few words! If I were to face your eldest sister, I would not be able to say anything except wide-eyed and bored eating. Xie Hanci praised sincerely.

Yi Huan looked back at the glimmer of light from the screen window, and two men's laughter came from time to time.

"It's not easy for my mother, and it's not easy for my eldest sister. What I just said is really wrong. It's not that she doesn't want to go home, it's probably her husband's family who won't let her. ”

Xie Hanci was a little surprised, no matter how misbehaving the king of Anchang County was, in the end, he still had the title of clan, and how could the daughter who married out not even be able to return to her mother's family.

Yi Huan saw Xie Hanci's doubts and smiled bitterly.

"I know what you're thinking, my father is still the king of the county. The king of the county is just a nice title, in the capital, a stone can kill three nobles. If my sister married an ordinary family, she would marry the mother's family of the virtuous concubine. ”

Xie Hanci sighed, no wonder her father didn't like to return to Beijing. Although Concubine Xian is just a palace maid, her brother has relied on his real military exploits to become a general in Zhennan, stationed in the south all the year round, and Concubine Xian's son is the oldest prince of the current emperor, and he can be regarded as a strong candidate for the future prince.

Yi Huan said hatefully: "Three generations of their family are just blacksmiths, although my father is a little lustful, but it is not their turn not to see, not to mention that my father is my father, he has a bad character, what does it have to do with my sister?" Could it be that if I go back to my mother's house more often, I can follow my father to learn badly, and go home to get two little fathers and put them in the backyard? ”

Xie Hanci sneered: "Your sister doesn't look like she can raise a little husband." ”

She really couldn't associate Li Ningyu's serious face with this kind of thing, Yi Huan immediately understood Xie Hanci's thoughts, and laughed out loud.

Above the garden of the county king's mansion, the hearty and brisk laughter of the two girls echoed.

At night, the stars and moon were covered by dark clouds, and the house was silent, but there was a muffled sound from the lake in the garden.

The cold, fishy water of the lake kept pouring into the woman's mouth and nose. The wide peach-colored skirt that had lined her skin during the day was now unusually heavy, dragging her to the bottom like a lead stone.

"Help—help—"

She struggled in the water, calling for help to the figure standing at the railing, reaching out her hands in vain, and finally tearing off only two lotus leaves.

A ray of sunlight shone on the chaise longue through the window, Xie Hanci was here yesterday to read the legendary story that Yihuan gave her, and dreamed of a group of foxes circling around her at night.

Xie Hanci bent down and picked up the book "The Biography of the Fox Niangniang" from the ground and put it on the kang table, the maidservants of the county king's mansion had already fetched water and entered the door, Jingjing was not there, Yan Qitong had been a fake maidservant in the Jinchun Temple for two days, and she couldn't set up dishes and chopsticks, let alone serve her to make up.

As soon as the maidservant girl in the house entered the door, she saw the book on the kang table, her eyes lit up, and she asked in a Beijing accent: "The young lady from Shu also likes to read this story?" ”

Xie Hanci looked up blankly, still recalling last night's dream.

When the maidservant saw that she did not speak, she hurriedly lowered her head, thinking that her words had annoyed her.

"The slave is talkative."

Xie Hanci hurriedly waved his hand.

"No, no, I just read this story before going to bed, and I dreamed of the fox lady in the book at night, but I can't remember it, I just remember that she was dressed in red like in the book, and combed her tail slowly."

While combing her cross hair, the maid looked at Xie Hanci in the mirror and said: "There are many people near the capital who worship fox fairies, from the beautiful boudoir lady to the dusty woman who sells laughter for a living. It's not uncommon for a girl to dream of it, maybe she will be blessed by the fox fairy and become more beautiful. ”

Xie Hanci was puzzled: "Why didn't you become a married little lady, don't you love beauty after marrying a wife?" ”

The maidservant girl smiled: "The ladies naturally also want to be beautiful, so that they can tie their husbands firmly." It's just that some people say that this fox fairy wants to suck the essence of men. The young lady who has not left the cabinet is not afraid, and the happy woman is not afraid, only the lady who is in the head is unwilling to exchange her husband's life for her beauty. ”

Xie Hanci looked at the book "The Biography of the Fox Niangniang" that already had creases on the edges, and Yi Huan turned this book to the point that it was rotten, I don't know if he also paid tribute in his boudoir.

After breakfast, Xie Hanci and Yihuan played chess in the gazebo in the garden.

Xie Hanci thought he was a stinky chess basket, but he didn't expect Yihuan to be even better. Half an hour later, it ended with Xie Hanci winning two games in a row.

Yi Huan threw away the chess pieces in his hand and complained: "My chess play is really bad!" No one in the entire county palace was willing to play chess with me, and I finally caught you, but I didn't expect me to lose! ”

Xie Hanci pretended to be angry: "Okay, you know that you are playing bad chess, and you want to compare with me, do you think that my chess will definitely be worse than yours." ”

Yi Huan immediately apologized to her with a hippie smile: "Oh, Miss Xie has a lot of don't worry about me, I don't think we smell the same, maybe we can play chess at the same level." ”

It's almost noon in the blink of an eye, even if you stay in the gazebo, it makes people feel a little hot, Xie Hanci dried the tea in the cup in one go, Yi Huan took the teapot, and prepared to pour a cup for her in person, as an aparation.

As soon as she stood up, she was startled by the sight of the lake and almost knocked the teapot on the stone table. I saw more than a dozen arm-length foreheads in the pool, all of which were red and white, floating next to a few newly haired lotus leaves.

Yi Huan took two steps back and called the maidservant to find the king's housekeeper.

Xie Hanci got up and walked to the railing, pointed to a fish that kept struggling and said, "These forehead reds should have just died, and you can see that one is still rolling up and down in the water." ”

She went around the gazebo again to look elsewhere, but found that only the fish near the gazebo were like this, and the fish in the other places were still good. There are also many fewer lotus leaves here than elsewhere, and there are many residual leaves floating on the water, and it is the beginning of summer, which is the time when the lotus leaves grow, and it stands to reason that this should not be the case.

Steward Wang soon came over with the servant woman who fished for the fish, and the servant woman took the net to salvage the corpse of the dead fish.

Xie Hanci looked at this lake strangely, and stood aside and watched the servant woman catch fish.

Sure enough, when the servant woman was fishing for a dead fish next to the railing, the net pocket touched a clump of lotus leaves, and the lotus leaves flipped over, and a woman's embroidered shoes floated up from under the lotus leaves.